15 minutes into this deeproot talk.. zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Are eggs and baseball bats allowed in the room?

No.. but much too late we had the idea of hiring a clown to come in a throw a pie at Jpop..

It's so brutal... hard to explain really. Sitting here I really am excited tho for John Norris, he made some cool system 3 games on a shoestring and sounds elated, excited to see what he will be able to do..

Is anyone recording it at least? No-one's streaming it.

Very excited for norris. Made my favorite games, and always had a throwback to oldschool games when he did. Cant wait to see what he does

First time I have seen or played these ever. Rat race is insanely hard.

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Joust is Awesome! They should remake it!!! Varkon as well! Never played rat race but looks cool!

But if you go to Gene & Jude's, you'll have to bring your own Ketchup. You can buy packets next door at the sign of the fallen arches....

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One of JPop's "customers" jumped him!

Had a very abbreviated Expo trip this year unfortunately. Got there Wednesday night and left this AM. Had a great time. Played some great games. Bought some much needed (and some not needed) parts, caught up with friends, and great eats (horseradish encrusted filet Wildfire was awesome (washed down with a couple Makers)).

Thanks to Rob and Brigitt and all that put the show on. I’m sure today and tomorrow will be awesome. Sorry I had to leave.

Snapped a couple pics while there. Hopefully back next year and longer time with brother Jim.

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I'm surprised no one has tried to remake it if it's any good. Only 90 made and no idea how many survived.

Pic from the best part of expo. The meet n greet GEX puts on at Twinpeaks. Great time socializing with pinheads and enjoying some food and drink while playing some pinball. Many thanks to GEX for having the event. Oh ya. Putting the gc score on deadpool was fun also. Also Gary showed up and stated Deadpool is his favorite game.

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Where is that nightmare before Christmas machine and the other homebrew pins?

He says this about whatever the current game is these days. He also said he can sell a box of lights.

Those are in the galloping ghost arcade room on the left as you enter

I have to agree about the free play room. Too many (broken) EMs, not enough SS games. Lots of broken games overall. Some owners fixed their stuff pretty quick, but seemed like lots either didn't care, weren't there, or maybe couldn't get parts or something. Vendor area was pretty nice, but it would be nice to see more there. Not sure who brought the WW, but that was one of the more popular machines. I played a bunch of games on it, and always waited in line. At least I put up 2 GC scores....lol. thanks to whomever that was, love that game. Same with whomever always brings the whirlwind with the sub. That setup is awesome.

I think the totan with color dmd and mirror blades was our favorite. Wish more people were brushed up on ettiquette, we waited for several games and those on them just started new games. So few high demand machines, just a ughhh moment for sure.

Glad you enjoyed totan, I've have had a bunch of people come up to me to thank me for bringing it. It's the comments like that which keep me bringing games to shows. The people that bitch on here is what keeps some from doing it.

Tired of people complaining about some of the games that go down. Yes there are some poor quality games. But seems many forget that the games are going to be on for over 70 hours straight. I bet most of those that bitch have never had a game on that long, things happen, pinballs break.

Lastly, I truly appreciate those that call to say an issue about a game. Between the twelve games I've got here, I've had around a dozen or so balls trapped, when I get a call, I'm usually there within minutes. But I only have had about six calls to tell me. If you have something happen while playing one of my games, I do appreciate you shutting it off, but please go one step further and call or text, this way I can take care of it.

Found it! Sweet room!

JPop was the only one who did not get applause after he did the self introduction. Or was that just me?

(((overheard))) a few fellows behind me were pissed he was here as they lost some money due to his last venture...…(((((again overheard)))

It was nice meeting you at the meet and greet (I was the guy that knew you from the Todd Tuckey pic).

I hope your son has had fun and isn't too wiped out!

It was great meeting everybody today! My son barely made 9pm, lol. Between the drive, and not sleeping last night due excitement....he’s pretty worn out. At least tomoro is a new day!

Lets see I get blamed for expo being down last few years.. Berk for years brought hardly any games yet I brought many many rare games to include Big BANG Bar and King Pin when I owned them. This year Berk brings like 60 pins from his basement and moved in another 40 or so from others.. And hauled the vids from Galloping ghost .. Last year he brought 32 games and 16 were down for 3 days.. He put very little effort into expo for years and years.. I put my heart and sole into expo for 33 years yet I am banned from coming.. And yes I am pissed not seeing my pinball family of 33 years.. No reason at all..Yes he owns pinball expo name.. BUT in the agreement I had the right to do a show and he told me in writing and in person I could do a show at westin yet he took contract after he aqquired expo name.. ALL misleading. A court case is pending and I wanted to be heard before this years show however he has managed to stall every hearing since july... we will see hope to have show there next year with the MGC guys which was the pan for this year until taken away..As well my hercules came to show for years..gee no hercules .Bottom line if he had made any input or effort in past years as this together we could have made it greater.. not fair to me at all.. I greatly miss all my friends from expo MIKE PACAK
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Hotdog and wonderful should never be used in the same sentence. There are not too many lower quality foods than a hotdog. If I am eating one I will put whatever the hell I want on it to make the taste more palatable.

https://today.yougov.com/topics/lifestyle/articles-reports/2011/10/07/ketchup-challenges-mustards-hot-dog-supremacy

OK fellas I ain't exaggerating when I say that it smells like someone's damp, musty basement in the Free Play room tonight.

Very odd because the air conditioning is able to keep up with the current load, it is warmer in the Vendor Hall.

Just saying, it doesn't smell normal or good in the Free Play hall.

More airspace and less density in the vendor room....

A lot of whiners on this thread.

People are just getting cranky from having to smell so many hot dog, sauerkraut, mustard, and relish farts.

Attended Expo for just Thursday this year due to other commitments. A few observations:

1. Vendor hall was better. More vendors. FAR more pins available to play. I spoke with several vendors and they ALL commented this has been the best Expo for them in several years.
2. The vids in the hall, which I'm assuming are all from Galloping Ghost, were absolutely fantastic. A tons of very uncommon, if not outright rare, games in excellent condition. I spent as much time with those games as the pins. Turkey Shoot, Blaster, Crazy Climber Deluxe, Splat, Exterminator..... Just awesome.
3. Games in Free Play room were above last years. But a lot of games in the evening were off. I found that, frankly, most weren't broken. Just turned off I'm assuming because they were sold and buyer didn't want more plays.
4. Signage and organization were the best I've seen. The only snafu was that the doors to the vendor hall were closed and I saw a lot of people who thought the hall was closed only to go in when someone else opened the door.
5. I didn't notice much more traffic with the increased advertising, but it was Thursday night and I would expect the increased traffic would on Friday/Saturday.
6. Hotel seemed far less "bitchy" this year. I stayed at the Westin and this was the first year the front desk staff seemed friendly towards the Expo.

Enjoyed the day! Hope to see it next year in Schaumburg? (Way more to do and more hotels to stay in the area).

We'll, today I attended my first pinball expo in the dozen or so years I've been in the hobby. Having read countless Pinside threads over the last few years, I really wasn't sure what to expect.

Since I have spent 30 years myself helping and working trade shows in another industry, I can appreciate what I saw in the 10 hours I was there today. First off, I didn't find the free play hall any more 'smelly'than any other trade show, especially considering the cramped quarters and when you consider its full of used equipment all over 30 years old that generally lives in basements.

Secondly, although some machines were broken, I also saw a lot of people doing the best they could getting the majority of them back up and running.My heart goes out to whoever it was that was working hard to fix the left flipper on Xenon.

Personally, I would like to thank each and every one of you who brought machines for us to play and for those who organized the show. I know a lot of work went into that, most of it thankless. I'm sure anyone who employs even a little bit of emotional intelligence will realize that we as attendees get far more out of it than anyone who is bringing machines, even if they sell them. I saw a lot of smiles on faces when they saw kids playing their machines. That's all that needs to be said. Who cares if they leave balls on a game. It's not that big a deal. We were all young once too.

I will definitely be back next year, but I will also be there the whole time, not just one day. I have a lot of machines of my own which I didn't see at this show. If it brings a smile to the face of even one kid, or even one Pinsider it'll be worth it. They aren't doing a hell of a lot of good sitting in my basement collecting dust and hopefully I'll get to know some of you in the process.

I know both Mike and Rob. I agree 100%. Rob has stepped up this year but in prior years he really took the backseat. It is too bad that they could not work it out.

I typically lurk here. But I made a donation just to post this because I felt it was important and I hope it’s fixed next year.

So my tickets were not honored at the expo tonight. I’ve been to a bunch of Chicago expos in the past, done the factory tour, the whole bit. Now I work third shift and this year Friday night was the only time I could go, and I knew I’d miss the exhibit hall, I was fine with that, I just wanted to play some games. I purchased 2 tickets from Groupon, for Friday, so a co-worker and myself could go and play some games. We drove about an hour from home to the expo. We arrived at about 3:30 am. There is 1 security guard in front of the game hall, and she absolutely will not let us in without a wrist band, tells us registration opens at 8am, and basically we’re screwed.
She wont look at my groupon voucher, or attempt to use any common sense in the situation. It’s a wristband or nothing, and I’m told “everyone is sleeping”. I look inside and see maybe a dozen people inside the game hall at most. I see a friend of mine inside the game hall and we both attempt to find a reasonable solution but to no avail. I ask the guard who she works for, the hotel or the event, she says the event. At this point I’m frustrated and ask her what will happen if I go into the game hall with a ticket and not a wristband? She just says I can’t. I say if the organizers have a problem with someone with a ticket being in the game hall, they can come and let me know. I literally take a single step in the hall, and the guard calls the Wheeling police.

Look, I understand I didn’t have a wristband, but I did have tickets I paid for, and I just drive over an hour to come to the expo to play pinball for a few hours at 3am. Now I’m having to deal with police.

In the past there was ALWAYS someone with a cash box and wristbands at the game hall all night. The fact that the expo sold groupon tickets to an event with a 24 hour game hall and then stopped giving out wristbands at midnight is insane.

This is on the pinball expo website:
“Attendees who purchase daily tickets can play in the “24 Hour Game Hall” overnight until the "Registration Table" opens the next morning for people to purchase the next day's pass. Daily ticket prices for the “Vendor Hall” and “24 Hour Game Hall” are $30.00 Thursday, $30.00 Friday and $35.00 Saturday.”

It seems like a reasonable expectation to believe that , like previous years, would be able to access the game hall when they arrive with prepaid tickets, even if you chose to not sell tickets between midnight and 8am as in past years.

This was the only day I could attend this year. I’m filing a chargeback with groupon and my credit card. I’ll be posting this to various pinball groups, boards and communities. It’s 6am right now and I’m fuming. While I’m angry, I’m hopeful that this will be fixed for future expos. It’s likely that I won’t be able to arrive next year until after midnight as well.

The fact that the police were called by whoever was hired to check for wristbands really doesn’t sit well with me. Images of the response by wheeling PD as I left.

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That's super crappy and I'd be pissed as hell as well. Super stupid that the mall cop at the door wouldn't listen to your very reasonable situation and let you in, and really idiotic that they called the police for nothing whatsoever. I hope this gets fixed for next year.

Here is the full response from the wheeling PD as we left
https://imgur.com/gallery/fIzjkgA

It was kinda surreal, I was leaving before the cops arrived, one was walking in the door as I was leaving. I think he could tell I was mad, because after I said hello to him he was like “everything alright?” And I was like no, I got tickets and they won’t let me in, and he said they got a call about a “wristband issue” how petty.

this is false. there has NEVER been some at the registration desk or game hall all night 24 hours with a cash box. first off, the game hall doesn't need a cash box. they are there for game hall registration only. never saw them have a cash box. Registaion ALWAYS has hours posted. it's on the seminar schudule. not 24 hours.

so you decided to take it upon your self to not follow security guards orders. you need to redeem your groupon tickets. you know that. You just can't walk in the free play hall without a wristband. do you think your better then everybody else? what is the girl at the door checking wristbands suppose to do? force a grown man out that can't follow the rules. maybe you should checked that registration was open at 3a.m. before you drove a hour.

honestly kudos to security for actually checking wristbands this year. unlike in the years past. funny that this guy is mad. he even stated "I know I didn't have a wristband" lol

I think he meant guy and cashbox at the Freeplay room entry. Which if I remember correctly there always was after the main table closed.

This is above is false. The guy at the entry door to the former vendor hall that connected to the free play room was indeed there with a cash box that had wrist bands in it as well around 1:30 am when my son & I arrived four or five years ago. We checked in to the hotel and went down there with cash. I asked him can we buy wrist bands and he said sure. He opened the cash/wrist band box and we paid and gained admittance. He also reminded us that those wrist bands were only good until 7 AM.

Back then the vendor room was open but all the booths were closed and merchandise was covered or secured. I know the situation changed after some stuff was stolen from closed vendor booths and the vendor room was then locked and the flexible partition wall was put in place with a different entry door at night in recent years.

The person at the entry door not accepting a Groupon for a wrist band should be fired immediately. Even if family.

3 cops cars for that? I guess every Friday night in Wheeling is pretty slow.

Sorry you guys didn't get this worked out, I'd be pissed as well.

That stinks, the security should have had wristbands in exchange for unique barcoded groupons or the website needs to be changed to address this exact issue.
But what’s done is done, hopefully they see take fault and makeup for it.

Partial view of the fringe of the South parking lot.

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You do indeed remember this correctly. Mike covered all bases well.

I've only been to Expo twice: this one and two years ago. There was no doubt this Expo was better and I have never experienced any of the previous drama issues noted by others. This is just event vs event. I don't know how it was in the "good old days", but that's my take. Thank to the organizers, volunteers, vendors, game bringers, and all who made this event happen.

PS: I don't know a lot about Groupon, but couldn't a printed piece of paper be copied or passed around by multiple patrons? It seems like it would need to be scanned and collected, so either way it's different then just having a cash box.

l don't blame them for not accepting them after hours. Perhaps they need to make that more clear on the Groupon page, but if I was in the shoes of the upset person, I wouldn't have assumed that piece of paper was an "event ticket". You exchange that peice of paper for your wristband at the registration table. If you can't make it until after hours, maybe email them in advance to ask if they could make some exception for you.

Agreed!

Which is why I didn’t hesitate to purchase the groupon tickets. Especially after seeing and confirming on the website that daily passes are good until registration open the next day. There was no indication that I had to be at the expo before midnight to get a piece of paper for my wrist to get entry to an unattended game hall. Which when I peeked had people sleeping, drinking around machines and of course playing games. I wanted to play some damn pinball, I was treated like I was a menace to society. She saw I purchased tickets. I understand it’s not her job. While she was calling the cops she left the game hall and I personally counted at least a dozen people go in and out while the door was unattended.

For her to say you can get a wristband at 8am was beyond infuriating.