Looks like it's video games, I'm out.

There's a big pinball PAPA circuit tournament. There are probably 40 or so pinball machines on free play and plenty of vids. They do not sell or trade pinball machines. Thousands of young people - many half naked - indulging in cosplay.

There is no fee to join the tournament (beyond $70 weekend event fee). As such, there's also shit for prizes as far as money but I did win a cool trophy and $150 in "Magfest dollars," and a nice haul of wpprs! I also won the respect, admiration, and fear of my pinball peers, which of course you cannot put a price on. GThere were maybe 100 entrants? I expect it will be bigger this time around. I'll be there! Can't say about pinside attendees as most my pinball friends aren't on Here.

It's a shitload of pinball with qualifying running till 4 am and the finals wrapping up after 2 am Saturday night. It was a pretty crazy atmosphere with loud music, darkness and lasers, and drugged out kids everywhere. Some of the players were complaining about it but I thought it was pretty cool, and since that's generally the environment I play in i think it helped me out.

I'd be your friend if you would stop beating me.

Only two more days! I had to choose between Magfest and Pinburgh this year, and chose Magfest. I might be crazy, but I just have more fun playing the Magfest tourney while checking out all the other cool stuff that's there.

There were many complaints last year from seasoned pinball vets about the music, lasers, and half naked 20-year old girls walking around, and people were begging the TOs to move it to the hotel convention room style board game area. As much as I enjoy playing in an empty, quiet room with flourescent lighting and nobody watching (like every other tournament) I hope this stays where the action was like last time, really made it unique! I guess we'll find out.

I asked Kevin on the FB event and he said it is staying in the arcade, this time dead center. It won't be next to the DJs. I understand the complaints about the noise and distractions but like you said, it makes the tourney more fun and special IMO.

Hard to wait 2 more days!

I did pretty well in the tournament last year (7th), but I don't think I'm going to survive this year. Three straight days of unlimited qualifying is just brutal. There's too much other stuff I want to do at MAGFest and I'm not good enough to qualify without banging my head against the lines for 30 hours. Looking forward to seeing everyone and playing some games though!

Yeah, I got sucked into the qualifying loop and ended up missing some things which I regret now. It's easy to get lost in qualifying, but with so many other fun things going on I'm going to try and timebox better this year.

I'm just gonna play pinball for 30 hours straight like I did last year.

You can certainly take breaks, go outside, etc., but I'm going for the tournament.

We are also getting there early this time so will have some time to check the other stuff out. Tournament won't get started till after 8PM on thursday.

And hey, if you suck badly enough in the tournament you'll have all or some of your Saturday free, plenty of time to see stuff then.

Oh yeah all of this was just so awful

Why isn't this also listed under Events? That's how it seems to be for many of these shows. Can anyone add the event, or does it need to be done by the promoter?

This is not a buying and selling show, nor is it really a pinball show though there are some games there to play. It would not interest your average pinsider. There will be no mods or LED kits for sale at this show.

If you want to keep up on competitive pinball events you should frequently visit https://www.ifpapinball.com/

17 pins on the way in this truck

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This is happening....

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That's how you party in a hotel room!

Very jealous... im about to head down that way now lol...

Neverdrains.com/magfest2017 for the tourney results.

Crazylevi won our respect, fear, and admiration.

Tournament bank was..

Totan
Quicksilver
Bride 2.0 (swapped for whirlwind because of beta code issues)
Flash Gordon
Mustang
Tron pro (mine)
Funhouse
Monster bash (my restoration)
Rolling Stones LE
Paragon

The flippers guys brought up 19 solid games this year, and our northern Virginia crew brought 30. All in all there were over 60 games to play.

Definitely lots of half naked 20 year olds, loud music, and a ton of arcades old and new including a few rarities such as an environmental discs of tron.

Only complaint was the young kids that didn't understand that a line forming behind them meant they shouldn't keep starting new games.
Other than that it was an awesome weekend.

To be fair I only finished 2nd after finishing #1 seed! Congrats to andrew on his big big win in overtime match to snatch away my crown and end my title defense.

I'll be back! Another great Magfest. Bought a cool Atari art book with my winnings, paid a friend for pizza, and kept one of the $20 Magfest coins - they were actually very cool medals this year unlike the cheap plastic tokens last year.

Wanted to point out I did get a chance to check out some of the other stuff this time around - a couple of the 8-bit thrash metal bands, and the market. Plenty of breaks back at the atrium view hotel deck for drinks, and trips across the street to visit restaurants. It's hard to resist playing pinball the whole weekend but you need to take breaks!

Again a cool, different event! I like walking around and being old, it's a cool perspective to watch these youthful nerds doing what it is they do.

Seeya next year!