Looking forward to it.

If I can get a decent T-Rex together by then, I'll probably bring JP. Otherwise I might bring something else.

I sold Dracula. Thanks for the offer to help. I'll let you know if I need to take you up on that.

I have registered to bring JP with the hopes of LAX 2015 being the public debut of the improved T-Rex.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/jurassic-park-improved-t-rex-work-in-progress#post-1167404

Even if I don't have a final version together by then, I'll at least have a prototype that should hold up. An expo will be a good test for it, too.

Is there a running list of what people have registered to bring? I was thinking there was on the site last year, but I'm not seeing it now. It might affect what people commit to bring so that there aren't a lot of duplicates, but it's also fun to review and anticipate playing specific games.

There was someone selling them last year for $25 each or 5 for $100. He started selling them Thursday night during setup. I got 5 as soon as he rolled them out. I'm not sure if he sold out quickly or had some available later into the weekend.

Games are generally supposed to be set up on Thursday. I think some people aren't able to get there until Friday, but for the most part things are set up by the time the expo opens on Friday. If you're only planning to go one day, in my experience Friday is the ideal day to go for number of games that are set up and crowd size.

Of course, if you bring a game, you might just get some crowd-free early access on Thursday...

This t-rex is preparing for her public appearance.

IMG_20150217_125027.jpg

I won't be able to sell any at the expo. I'm not ready yet. I'm still working out some things before I start selling. The expo is going to be a big durability test for it.

Is a skill crane the same as a claw machine?

Brent from Brokentoken hosted a warehouse sale in Louisville over the summer. They had claw machines for $10. I don't have space so didn't even consider it. I don't know if they actually sold any or if they had any left or what, but he said that was going to be the last time there would be a sale at that warehouse. Couldn't hurt to ask, though... He had several games for sale at Louisville Arcade Expo last year so may have the means to bring one to the show if still available.

Says the guy who complains he doesn't have room for his current collection!

What is the range of time on that Thursday for setup?

Friday's a fine time to go. I believe most games are set up on Thursday. Saturday might end up with a couple more games brought in, but there's also the possibility that someone will buy a game on Friday and remove it so it might be a wash.

Even during busy times, the lines on most games seem to only get a couple people long. There's usually someone on every game, but sometimes that's just because someone's camping out at a game and keeps playing because no one has come up behind them yet. The exceptions are the newest Sterns and WOZ which can get long, but not too bad.

Wow, thanks! Everything's coming together. In fact, the t-rex is good to go. I've still got a list of little things here and there I want to do to my game to get it show-ready, but if I ultimately don't get to them, it shouldn't be too big of a deal.

If I get them in time, I'll be displaying the new Titan Pinball Competition Silicon Rings in my game.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/new-product-competition-silicone-rings

People play together, for sure.

The forecast is showing sunny and above freezing (for the highs) for Friday-Sunday. Let's hope tomorrow's anticipated snow doesn't stick around...

Let's hope we all survive Snowpocalypse...

If the roads are decent, I'm planning to bring my game tomorrow evening, otherwise hopefully at least Friday before opening time.

I'm officially hosting a complete set (minus a couple of the tiny post rubbers I forgot to order) of Titan Competition Silicone rings in my JP. I'll be curious to see how they hold up and what people think of them. I just finished up the installation and haven't played yet, but I think they look great.

Anyone who's there mind letting us know the status of the parking lots and roads around the venue? I'm hoping they get plowed clear.

I can't see any major roads from my house, but my neighborhood is certainly buried and I think a lot of businesses are staying closed today.

While breaking down JP, I broke LCD I have installed in it with the DMD Extender...

Most of the damage is outside of the viewable window, but there are vertical lines in the screen now. That's just how it's going to have to be for the show. I don't want to mess with mounting a standard DMD back in... I'm super bummed out that this happened.

Let's hope nothing else breaks in transit.

At this point I'm planning to bring the game tomorrow.

Anyone know what time we can get in and set up today before opening?

After hours of messing with it, JP is finally up and running at the show.

Not that I specifically looked, so I might have missed it, but I didn't see any pinball parts vendors. Can anyone confirm?

I haven't had much exposure to EMs. I happened to find my wife on Nip-It and watched her play.

The the owner came by and pointed out that there was a third flipper button that simulates having the gator eat the ball at the top of the playfield and get it to go down a lane that scores some good points. I gave it a try and it has some really awesome features that seem beyond what I've come to expect from pinball. It has a really cool feature where when a specific target is hit, the flippers slide towards the center to completely close the middle off when they're down. When you roll over a different switch, they move back out. Really cool stuff and has me considering this as a pin I want to track down for my collection!

I think a lot of this had to do with the bad weather.

I left for the night. Apparently a ball got stuck in JP. I'll have to get it in the morning. It's off for the rest of the night. At least it wasn't an issue with the t-rex!

JP (and I) made it home safely. Thanks to all who played and commented. The t-rex mod seems to have survived and the overall toy was still working at the end.

It was great meeting those of you I happened to run into.

I guess I missed out on meeting some who where there. We need Pinside name-tags or something, or maybe I just need to be more social... For me it was generally Pinsiders coming up to me when I happened to be at JP opening it up or just generally standing near it and talking about it.

Did anyone notice the colored silicone Titan rings in my game? Any opinions on how you thought they played in JP?

By the way, I mentioned something that I thought everyone knew about and was very surprised that it was news to some collectors I was talking to. In most games that I've owned from early solid states to 90's DMDs, once a game is on ball 2, holding in start ends the game and starts a new one. This is handy when you end up at a game that someone abandoned in the middle of a 4 player game. I hated seeing people on JP reaching for the power switch and always stopped them since it has to go through t-rex diagnostics every time.

I heard one of the BrokenToken guys saying to the other to make sure the box doesn't get messed up because someone had bought it! Who buys a box!? What can you possibly do with a large cardboard box!?

Scenario 1:
Step 1: Buy box.
Step 2: Put random worthless broken pin in box and pack it up.
Step 3: Sell it as NIB BTTF for a high markup to some sucker and run away with the money.

Scenario 2:
Convert into a play fort.

Scenario 3:
Fill house with large piece of garbage.

Power had been cut before I got to check end of show audits on JP, and I just got it set back up at home. It had 586 total plays.

I had cleared the audits before the expo, but forgot to clear scores. I was very surprised to see that all the high scores were still mine... and I'm not even good. We're talking some that are less than 200 million up there and my lifetime high of 500 something million. Granted, I earned my scores after hours of continuous play while most people at the expo, with the exception of those jerks who purposefully start 4 player games when there's clearly a line behind them, get one game in before having to let the next person play.

I wanted to give a big shout out to LouMatt for helping me unload JP, and futurepinhead and his cousin for helping me set up.

Yeah... I have to do it for about every pin I bring home. It's hard to get into my basement (or the SUV) with the head on, plus makes the load lighter when removed so I can move the game on my own.

Seems to be in-tact. I haven't had the energy to do a thorough inspection yet, but just a quick inspection makes me think there's no discernible wear.

As for the t-rex mech, that ended up being put through the ringer... A screw fell out of the bottom of assembly at some point (hopefully on the move back home and not while people were still playing) causing parts of the assembly (not the t-rex itself) to grind and hit stuff that it shouldn't when moving left.

After replacing the screw, everything seems to be in working order.

I know weather is completely unpredictable since March around here doesn't know whether it wants to be below freezing or above 60, but is the show locked into the first weekend of March? Could it be a week or two later? That might lower the chances of snow/ice impacting the show.