I'm in. My KAHR.US Circuits graphic is on the home page already! https://texaspinball.com/tpf/

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

Price alert - looks like some pretty good airline deals right now. I adjusted my Southwest flights to lock in the better prices (which for Southwest means I have credit $$$ now for future use). Quick check on Kayak from DC showed a bunch of nonstop options for $310 round trip and one (built around spirit air...) for $279.

-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 and model S Skee Ball

Doesn't labnip drive from the Austin area? I kinda remember he came in some big gas-guzzling rental truck last year.

Also, Megabus has frequent departures to Austin from Dallas for under $50. https://us.megabus.com/journey-planner/journeys?days=1&concessionCount=0&departureDate=2019-03-24&destinationId=320&inboundOtherDisabilityCount=0&inboundPcaCount=0&inboundWheelchairSeated=0&nusCount=0&originId=317&otherDisabilityCount=0&pcaCount=0&totalPassengers=1&wheelchairSeated=0

-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

You're driving? From up here in Virginia...

-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 and model S Skee Ball

I'm bringing KAHR.US Circuits to the show again this year - I'll have a small booth somewhere in that huge facility. Of course, stop by if you need a daughterboard, but also stop by if you've never seen my Skee display boards, or to meet my Uncle Paul, or to just say hello. Looking forward to next month!

-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

There are a lot of us flying down - maybe break it down into pieces and we can each carry part of it back for you?

Seriously, NicoVolta is driving back in a truck (reference https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/official-2019-texas-pinball-festival/page/4#post-4806240 ) - he's at least in our State. I also think "Pinballs On The Move" has taken his trailer there in the past.

-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

Certainly not the scale of a natural wonder but a couple years ago after Sunday tear-down I had a couple hours to kill so I went to a park a couple miles west that was on a lake and just sprawled out on a picnic table to enjoy the warm weather and sun. The flight home is always super fast because the show is so busy for so long that I' much instantly sleeping. It's a pretty urban/dense suburban area so I don't think there's "natural wonder" quality but one can always find an effective park.

-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

Here is a screenshot from hotels.com - show is in the center of the 4 grouped red points (hotels without rooms). The green points are walkable hotels with available rooms:

Screen Shot 2019-03-11 at 8.04.38 AM (resized).png

The two on the very bottom of the image - Sandman and Staybridge - are a much longer walk than the two at the very top of the image (Homewood suites and Aloft). I'm staying at the Hampton Inn - red dot that is essentially across the street from the two at the top of the image. It might be a 5 minute walk from there to the main entrance of the venue.

On their site I plug in my dates and then re-order the results by distance from dr. pepper ballpark - this will ID the closest ones for you. Looks like the Sandman and Staybridge are around $110 and all of them are $150 a night or more.

-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

The deal is they are a bad deal (or perhaps a "borderline scam") for visitors. The rental car companies use the toll roads as a source of revenue. Here is what is on the toll road web site about the topic: https://www.ntta.org/custinfo/tolltag/tolltagrentalcars/Pages/default.aspx

And here is what it ends looking like to a traveller looking through their rental car agreement: https://thepointsguy.com/guide/avoid-rental-car-toll-charges/ . This year I'm going to tell google maps to avoid toll roads.

-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

Good thinking foot - It's possible for TPF... I didn't rent a car last year. The round-trip cost of Lyft from Love field equaled the cost of renting a car. But with one side trip you are better off with a car and I need to make two this year. But your advise is solid - I'm presently finishing a 5 day trip to Miami Beach without a rental car. In my mind it didn't make sense to rent a $40 car just to park it at a hotel for $35 a day. That's a lot of Lyft, plus no parking stress/cost at our destinations. We went to Everglades NP today so I rented an Enterprise car for the day for a whopping $35. Picked it up at 9:30 and I'm turning it in this evening.

Sometimes I feel a little bad climbing in a Lyft that pulls up past the parked taxis out front, but the service is so much better than the traditional taxis.

Anyway, see you all next week!

-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

Three days after the time I took Megabus I had strep throat.

-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

Whelp, I finished building out stock for the show last night - here are the last 20 Pro Daughterboards ready for packaging. Next is figuring out how to get everything in the bags and keep them under weight maximums.

20 Pro Daughterboards

Safe travels to everyone traveling today. I'm flying Friday morning.

-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

Ouch - That should be enough to make the Capt. B Zarre in your avatar frown.

I just finished packing up; I'm on a morning flight from DCA.

-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

Same here in DC. Here is a good sign to see:

B65C3EAA-BCCD-45EF-94F3-2639A4885155 (resized).jpeg

Last year I was 5 mins from missing the plane - this year I have an hour of buffer.

-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

51E8405A-BCB3-4E39-9EDE-6FD589F8C4B9 (resized).jpeg

Here is how my booth looks this year. A couple folks said I was hard to find - I’m directly across from P3.

-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

Cool - thanks for letting me know! I don't use facebook so i never would have known. Obviously we were aware as it came by because it was a 3-person production and they talked with us on camera but I didn't know who or what it was for.

-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

Agree 100%. I too want to be part of the show; not a sideshow. I was able to enjoy many of the games near my booth and, as an earlier pic showed got an early game or three on Oktoberfest Sunday morning.

You guys stayed open till 1 am? Wow - I closed around 11 and played on the floor for about an hour before punching out. I had traveled early Friday morning from DC to get there in time to set up - reached my booth around 3:00 pm and was ready for opening at 5:00 although my first sale was for a resetting WCS around 4:30. My last sale was on Sunday about an hour after the show ended to a vendor who had also worked all weekend but wanted to catch me before I headed home. Thanks to all who stopped by with success stories or who checked out my products for the first time!

-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

Don't move on - the tournament is an essential part of the successful TPF calculus.

So why not put the crappiest part of the show in the side rooms that housed the tournament this year? That would be the heat-lamp pizza and stadium nacho chips the hotel had in the main lobby of the place. They could have an "in" door and an "out" door for that food vending and the common dining tables in the hallway would attract enough attention to keep sales level. Having the tournament set up where that stand/dining space was would be high-visibility. Seems to me it could be configured such that the crowd wanting to witness the event could surround it on 3 sides behind a rope line and the only player access could be through the main hall - like through the doors over where the PinSound booth was this year. Heck, even people without paid admission could watch the event if they so desired.

-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

If it was set up where the 4 large dining tables sat the tourney could be very visible roped off from entry