Last year I brought mine Saturday morning. Just make sure you get there early so you can get it dropped off, parked, setup, etc. I think I was there like 1.5 or 2 hours before show open. They will tell you when you sign up (make sure you tell them your plan so they know). Tools, well, that depends. I hate when machines go down and get turned off, so I brought a ton of extra parts and a soldering iron. I wanted to be prepared. But there are other people there that have that stuff too usually, so if you ask around, you would probably find something. I ended up not needing any of the stuff I brought for my 2 pins, but better to be safe then sorry is my feeling. Make sure you stay around saturday night, its way more fun to play then since its only game bringers