My wife and I want to get as much as possible out of Expo again this year. Since Thursday Pinball Life starts at 10AM, we would have to leave about 5AM to get there. We don't want to rush a long car ride for a long day of pinball, so once again we are going to go to Schaumburg the evening/night before (Wednesday), go to Level 257 (Pacman Entertainment or something like that now), have some drinks and play a few hours of pinball as a warmup. Then head straight to Pinball Life in the AM with a fresh start. We'll be in the neighborhood so come on up and visit with us. Anyone else is welcome for the pre-party as well.

It sounds like you have a good plan! If you're going to eat while around Pac-Man, the food there is good. But if you want some great burger options, Kuma's is nearby:

https://kumascorner.com/location/kumas-schaumburg/

You may run into some pinheads over there as well.

No I live about 20-25 minutes away. I got tickets for Thursday will be there by 6:00 when it opens. Same as last year.
Cheers

I'm seeing $66 for the hawthorne suites on hotels.com. I'm at the Embassy Suites and not looking to change plans now. Also of note for DC area folks - Spirit has some really attractive rates for a round-trip from Baltimore to Chicago right now.

-Rob
-visit http://www.kahr.us to get my daughterboard that helps fix WPC pinball resets or my Pinball 2000 H+V video sync combiner kit

What is the pinball life tour?

Never been thinking of going to expo w my son for first time

Get to see the Pinball Life building inside with party and games.

LTG : )

I just rebooked at $206 including tax for three nights through booking.com. there is no housekeeping service on weekends, it's an extended stay hotel, so don't be surprised when your bed isn't made on saturday, lol. Place is a little quirky, but good overall.

Anyone know if PDI glass will be sold at the show?

All night Friday is cool, just wish Thurs night was the same.

I've never seen a vendor offering PDI glass, but I'd be in for a sheet or 2 if someone did offer it

I think Pinball Expo does not really have breaks. There is a long tradition of parties *before* Expo, though.
.................David Marston

Equally interested.

remember things are A LOT better without mike there?? NOT I was on top of everything all the time and was always open on the beer thing the seminars and the overnight hours. Maybe I should get some support to bring back mike OR buy berk out Remember my deal with him was I got the WEstin and the dates and he was moving to shaumberg. and i was partnering with the Midwest guys at westin BUT berk took westin right after i cashed his first check AND when I filed suit to get westin back he stalled court dates for 2 years... I was expo 25/7 365. yes had a few tangles with some people BUT things were really pretty smooth and lax overall

I wish you and your table would be right inside the door on the right. Especially since it's the 35th anniversary of Expo. And since you wouldn't have all the pressure of running the show. People could appreciate you as one of the Expo founding fathers.

LTG : )

They are better, I know at least one volunteer who's coming back now that you're gone. Last year was low stress, it was fantastic.
Just go back in your hole.

Sad you gotta talk trash. Even sadder you have to hide behind a troll account and not your main. Have fun at Expo.

I meant afterwards open invitation to my arcade for those interested.

This is my only account. Look at my posts you'll know why, won't take long there only a few you'll figure it out. I gave up helping on this place years ago. I never post here anymore unless there's a good reason. Pacak is a very good reason.

If this is your only account, why are you posting from Faustria about your account Fpacak ?
I think you forgot to sign out of one to sign into the other before responding.

Your account has been active for a month. So how have you been helping people on this site for years if this is your only account?

I understand there is unresolved stuff between the past organizers but it’s a pretty big buzz kill for people who are excited about Expo to have it repeatedly dredged up in this thread. Maybe we can split that topic off into a separate one?

Ignore it Ryan. Once you get to expo the buzz will be level 10! I'm bringing 3 games again this year and can't wait to see what new treasures lurk.

That's where I am. Excited to be going as it is my first Expo, and since we are only a few weeks away I am concentrating on building inventory to bring for my vendor space. ryanwanger , remember when we traded vendor shirts a few years ago at Expo? I was wearing my blue Comet Pinball tee last week!

-Rob
-visit http://www.kahr.us to get my daughterboard that helps fix WPC pinball resets or my replacement LED display boards for model H & model S Skee Ball

How does the size of this expo typically compare to MGC as far as free to play machines go?

It's about the same "pinball size" as MGC. I think overall MGC has more community and home brew support which ends up with some really cool things showing up. Expo has more pinball related seminars.

Marco and Stern are back this year, but head over to pinballlife to see the spooky stuff.

-c

Honestly I think this years mgc had more pins than last yrs expo. With the Marco games that were bought for sure. Although last yr expo there were more pins in the vendor area than previous expos which helped a lot. The free play room at expo though has been.....quiet. Look up pinball expo Chicago 2018 on YouTube, there are several good walkthroughs. Judge for yourself.
Where expo beats mgc is in the vendor hall, as far as pin related merchandise. At expo it’s 95% pin stuff, and a lot of it. At mgc is maybe 5% pin stuff and it’s random. So expo is worth it for me in that respect alone. I always goto both, and enjoy both for different reasons.

How many arcade games were at expo last year?

I skipped last two years and am curious.

40ish? A lot or rare and not usually seen ones. Since I'm not very big into video games, I would have liked to have seen some better known titles, as the 'rare' ones meant nothing to me.

Last year doc Mac from galloping ghost brought prob 50 arcades. That’s a guess tho, they had their own room down the hall. Lots of rare cool stuff in the lot. Before he started coming their might be 10 arcades in the free play room. I believe he’ll be there again. I’m a supporter of bringing arcades to a pinball show, it increases the odds of families coming. Dad may be a pinhead, but kids may prefer vids. This way dad gets to come, enjoy his pins, and kids leave him alone playing their vids. Win win. Plus show makes more money for next yr, win win win.
It also exposes more people who haven’t played pins to them. There are people who like both vids and pins, but there are definite cliques, this way it can bring the two together. Which means bigger shows, bigger names, bigger draws.

I believe marco and Stern will be at expo this year and some rare games should round out the show. Last year was somewhat transitional...

Im really looking forward to this yr! I think youre right on about last yr in transition.

Yes, we will have PDI glass. We are the only reseller of Pinball Decals PDI glass. We live close to Pinball Decals and Joey allows to us to sell at Pinball Shows only.

The PDI glass will be at Joey's price of $299.99 per sheet CASH and will be wrapped in kraft paper, no box. You can verify with Joey at pinball decals.

Limited to stock on hand, no preorders, no holds, but we will hold at show if paid for.

Easy to spot our booth, Lightedpinballmods.com, we will have the hologram toppers that will make you say "OMG"

Dan

We will have PDI glass, limited quantities.

Dan

MGC alone had 102 or more NIB. Games set up.

MGC has had more pins the last couple of years than Expo usually has. Hopefully the pin count will rebound for Expo. Having Marco return to Expo is definitely a good thing.

when did they stop selling pre-registration tickets - I got hit by this last year and again this year? shows still weeks away so seems strange to stop selling them so early?

Neil.

I was at the MGC expo this year and I was at Wheeling expo last year. The free play room to me at the Wheeling seemed to have double the pinball that MGC had. And while the vendor room seemed to have the same amount of vendors, I think Wheeling had more pins setup...
Just my feeling and thoughts.
I didn't measure or count.

Either way, its a damn good time.

MGC had approx 50 more games last year based on actual numbers. Also expo has notoriously been poor quality, non working, and turned off. At least outside of the 50 or so collector games that are brought which are super sweet

Sounds like Expo may be stepping it up this year to get more? Fingers crossed

Sept 20th was the last day I believe.

I am a vendor at both and contribute as much as I can to both as I like all pinball shows.

As for NIB games, MGC blows expo out of the water. We had over 60 NIB games that we opened up for our booth, and Marco had around 50. Compare that to expo and they are not in the same league. Trent will have 6-10 NIB show games available in the tournament area. CGC will have a 1/2 dozen games that are not for sale. I will be setting up some CGC games that are presold (4). Then JJP will have something im assuming, but havent heard of any show prices, so I dont think they are selling anything. American pinball will havea few of each model for sale, and Spooky does not come to expo. So only maybe a dozen - twenty NIB games will be sold. so very Big difference

Used game, freeplay area. They are very comparable in numbers, and honestly, in quality to. Both shows have assholes that bring a non-working game in to get the free passes. But generally, most people bring in decent stuff. And regardless, you will have assholes bitch about it even though they didn't bring a game at all. Im constantly checking my games to make sure they are fine, and ifthey go down, I get them working right away myself, and if I cant figure it out, I get Gavin or Rob to get it up. Last year I had a coil stick on my Totan, from the time I got the text to the time it was done and playing again, it was 30 minutes, yet some ass still managed to bitch about it being down that long. If I knew what the guy looked like, id go shut off all the machines I brought if he walked up to them, and last year I had a whole row of 12 games. screw idiots like that

Your totan was awesome! I mean seriously, played like a dream. Thank you for bringing it, it was my fav at the show. My son even said “ I never got this game, until now,.....I really like it now”

This was a BIG surprise for me last year and I LOVED it. The vids were rare and a real treat to see outside of the Galloping Ghost. Kudos to Mac for sharing some of the rare pieces. I will be staying 2 days at EXPO this year and I will be spending a lot more time in the vid room!!!

Just bring a game and skip the tickets entirely. I think this is the most not-communicated part of expo. I know it's a hassle, but free admission and more free play access.

Pro-tip: Revolution brewing cans look like an ice tea or go with a beer coozie. Get a cooler that looks like a tool bag and jam it under a game.

It’s not terribly practical to bring a game if you live overseas ...

Things are changing a bit this year to move out or not set up games that have no chance of running during registration. Effort is going toward game management and repairs to hopefully make this a lot better.

Agreed! But if you're local-ish, why not?

I always forget to look at the country circle

-c

I'm late to this thread, but I am coming to town on Friday late morning and leaving Saturday after 8pm. If I bring a game, it is too late in the convention to get a pass for the event? I usually bring game(s) to Pinball at the Zoo so this would be a first time bringing one to Expo