Quoted from westofrome:The vast selection of games, the concentration of talent, the location accessible from east coast and midwest, the history and banners hanging from the rafters, it all makes it a special time and I really hope it can be preserved.
Location is great... but still not a compelling reason to travel to pitt for 4 days, two times a year.
History and banners... you do realize that the building is for sale and Kevin Martin (former owner of that property and all it's contents; now owned by Replay Foundation) has almost completely removed himself from the entire PAPA organization, right?
That "former" PAPA building and all the games are great but that entire collection, maintaining the games, and the building itself has been in limbo for at least a few years now. There is no way PAPA WC's generated any funds at all this year and if ReplayFX came close to breaking even this year, I would be shocked.
I realize it's a non-profit but if you are 50K in the hole at the end of the event/year and Kevin isn't going to pay the difference any longer, I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news but it's just not going to survive. It was fun while it lasted but I see the ReplayFX event as the future and it is definitely the more family friendly event and caters to the pinball enthusiasts and gamers in general, very well.
If it can't survive, and in turn generate some funds for the other events like Papa World Championships, and maintaining the collection in general, I fear that papa.org is doomed. I mean, I volunteered many times for nothing in return, help organize the donation of machines to PAPA, and I hope more than anything that it continues!
However, I am a realist and not a dreamer. What other entity is going to come forward and support this organization no matter how it's books look?