They also offer the paid alternative afterparty at garcade. Good option for those that don’t bring hames

Huzzah! Not dead passing through Minnesota! Parked in the dells till Friday morning now.

Had a couple real close calls, the ice on I90/94 today was no joke. Be careful people.

Whew. I was worried. A friends friend had a trackor trailer take out cars in front of them on 90-94 heading the other way. Glad your safe.

Today for me was far worse than the drive home last year. Almost the entire time on I90/94 today was rain or sleet, and it kept hovering above and below freezing. So ice appeared and disappeared with no warning, with a steady 30-40mph head wind.

Supposed to be worse Thursday.

If anybody is planning this route, and I80 is a reasonable alternate, I’d suggest staying on the south route.

Glad you are keeping it on the road - safe travels

If I'm staying at SpringHill Suites, whats my cheapest option for parking for the weekend?

What days and times will Butch Patrick be signing stuff?

Pincades
Figured I should put up a list. Original pac man x 2
Extremely nice DK (boards been converted to 60-1 by previous owner ) original Nintendo monitor
Eagle shot golf
Hydro thunder sit down (if presold or someone else has a single with same version we can link them)
Sega Power Drift
Original House of the Dead
Raven pinball with led's
F-14 tomcat Pinball custom coin door and leds
Slugfest with new topper, leds and card catcher
As well as there is still time till I am in route! Things may change LOL

See you fellas later or in the AM.
Everyone have safe travels

Pincades
JT

Will MGC have Wi-Fi?

Hello everyone, we just wanted to put a quick post up and let everyone know that we will be in the Stern/Marco booth as the official MGC distributor teaming up with Marco to bring you over 50 new out of the box pinballs set up on Freeplay including the New Black Knight Pro and Premium. Most of these games are all pre-sold and there is a small handful of games available at the show brand new out of the box that will be available through us at a very nice discount. Unlike most of the pre-sold games, these remaining games it is not absolutely necessary you take the game home with you. We will have the means to transport it back to our facility and ship it or deliver it locally in the Chicago area for you. PM or text me for details please. I will try to watch my inbox this weekend.... you can PM or text at 630-792-8910 or email me at [email protected] for specific details of the titles available yet and pricing. There is only a handful of games available. We will also have a small amount of games available from Chicago Gaming, Jersey Jack and American Pinball as well. Here's your last chance to get in on very nicely discounted brand new games! These games will only have the plays on them from the show. We are opening the boxes up today.

We'll also have a slew of stern accessories for sale along with brand new playfield glass (both standard and HD) along with a few other goodies.

For those of you who we have not had the pleasure to meet please stop by the booth and say hello to myself and Mark.

See everybody up there and have a safe journey wherever you're traveling from. A little Breezy out there today

Please visit www.hemispheresamusements.com for latest new and used inventory.

Here’s my “loaded up” picture. Now I have to kill an hour and a half.

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I just used their valet parking last year. It was reasonable and easy.

same

it was nice to use and easy and relatively cheap since I park once and leave the car in one spot for the whole weekend

I think with all the anticipation of BKSOR and JJP new pin, if the power grid does not fail there maybe structural damage to the building. I know I can't wait!!

Is the vendor hall opening at 9/9:30ish am again for pre-sale ticket holders on Saturday? Just trying to figure out when to show up

FYI, if you’re going south on 6th, the left turn to the ramp is blocked.

If you get off on kilbourne, go straight and come around the block.

Travel warning : we just had a hail ice storm here in Madison. 9:00 am. It's stopped but likely heading to Milwaukee next.

Six months until Expo!!!

Now THAT'S an event!!

I called the Hyatt and they stated parking in the ramp is $18 a day. I noticed the Hilton has MGC rate of $9 a day, considering parking there, anyone know how to take advantage of the show rate? Once i park i generally don't leave for the weekend.

Last year I stayed at the Hilton and the MGC parking rate was on my bill when I checked out because I had stayed as part of the MGC block of rooms. Not saying you can’t get the rate without the stay, but it might be difficult.

everyone can just say they are staying in your room and get the parking

Never been to this show... looks really good!

Moving kingpin in.
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Now we just need someone to leak some pix!!

Coming in Friday night but don't have a ticket for MGC. What other cool places nearby are good for pinball? 1983, Blackbird, Up-Down, Finks, Mary's?

If y’all need an extra hand I’m off work today. :p Though I do have a bit of a weight limit restriction on lifting. But I can hand cart pinballs no problem.

BTW I'm bringing my EPROM programmer and UV eraser box this year if anyone needs help with that sort of thing.

Also if anyone's got any dead Stern node boards would love to poke around.

Safe travels!

I just noticed this in the arcade hall setup email..

"Game removal times are expected to be Saturday, April 13th from 7pm-8pm or Sunday from 3:30pm-11pm. Game removal at other times may be accommodated by the Wisconsin Center by paying a $50 “dock fee” to get the personnel open docks at that time. This is per-vehicle fee."

That really presents a problem for me, I just don't have the ability to stick around that late on Sunday (even on the early end). Looks like I might be coming sans game - bummer.

Can you pay the $50 dock fee? Sounds like you can pull the game any time of the day if you can.

FYI ... The Bucks first playoff game was just scheduled for a 6pm start time on Sunday.

The Fond Du Lac avenue exit is going to be slammed heading east around 4-5pm up until tip off. Typically heading west bound around game start time you should be OK; however, if you stick around later and don’t leave until sometime between 8-9pm when the game is over you might want to drive north and get on 43 at the north avenue on ramp.

If you try to use the Fond Du Lac on ramp when the game is letting out you are going to be sitting in quite a bit of traffic cop controlled traffic.

And so it begins

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Here's a couple pics of all the nib's here so far.
Best I can do without ripping them open, and I'm tempted.

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Blackbird is great but maybe 10,15 min away.

Hard pass on Finks and 1983.

Granted , I do work at Up-Down, but it has the largest lineup in Milwaukee proper (Garcade has more, but in Menominee Falls.

15 pins currently at UpDown:
WWE prem
T2
WC94
South Park
MET
IM
TWD
GB
AF(spec ed with cousin it bonuses)
AFM
SM
Tron
FG
GoT
MMr

Most have color dmd and all play for ONLY 1 TOKEN!!

Exciting!!! Thanks for the pics.

Stern?!? Ew.

I meant pix of Wonka!

Cowboy Junkies are playing Turner Hall on Friday night, I'll probably be going to that show if anyone else is a fan.

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very cool! I'm heading to MGC this year as my first time! How difficult is it to qualify for the Sunday finals in the tournament? I'm a slightly above average pinball player (casual tournaments, league play) -- do I have a chance with the 5 games???

Love Blackbird, and Up Down. Not to mention, Up Down has Killer Queen, which is a must play.

I'd show up more if they had a TNA though...

What happened to the picture of the JJP Wonka bars?!?

All loaded up for MGC !

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And that's just Kingpin's "booth"???

It's gonna be an awesome year this year!

Anyone have an extra Friday ticket or one they no longer need. I have a friend who didn’t buy in time because of a work conflict (but is now available). Please dm me if anybody has one.

I started ripping them all open! Couldn't find a Wonka anywhere.

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Balrog defeats Lionman!

Worst part about pinball is getting the things out of my evil basement. Lost one of the two trees I used to anchor my winch to and made a new cart to slide up the track. Things were going great until I realized that I neglected to account for the longer tow rope that now needed to travel a shorter distance.

doh

Was able to adjust and found success on the second trip. Swords of Fury is in the garage and ready to load tomorrow.

Saturday can't come soon enough!

This year's show is going to be great. If you are on the fence about attending, definitely make it to the MGC this weekend.

Yuuuuup, and you can’t even see all of it. Marco is next door with 50+ more.

Hey Madison MGC goers,

I’m getting a show game, and the vehicle I was planning to haul the pin back to Madison is no longer available. I’ve got some contingencies if necessary, but if any of the Madison crew has room in their vehicle on the way back and could take my game, there’d be $100 in it for you. I’d help load up the game at MGC, and you could drop it off at my place Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday evening. Please PM me if you’re interested. Thanks!