They’re like Ticketmaster each one has an unique code.

So, I'm still on the fence about coming to the Expo today being it's the last day. Is it worth my drive from the southwest suburbs and my time. Will machines be packed up early from the show floor throughout the day? Will a lot of them be broke down? I'm hearing mixed things...Decisions, decisions..What are others that have been to the Expo this year have to say about it that would entice me to come up to visit he show?

The show is worth it. No one will pack up!

Call BERK right now to discuss. PM me if you need his number. To be fair, it's posted on some of his machines in the hall.

Babes/eye candy.

I would have walked in and started playing while she left to call the cops. I would have showed the cops the Groupon ticket and let them make the call.

Terrible advice.

This incident with the groupon would have never happened with me involved and should not have happened .. first off yes my people sold armbands all night. secondly if there were ever any problem any time my people called me even at 3 am if needed.. Someone i guess never told door people to do this.. sad WOw that police had to get involved in this..

True but a lot of shitty things did go down with you at the helm...

Each ticket has a unique barcode, and groupon gives the vendors software to verify the code on each ticket is only used once. As I said before, many years in the past, myself or friends meeting me have arrived after midnight when registration has closed and there is always someone from the expo watching the game hall door, not a hired, outside security guard. They would also sell a wristband good for the free play room for the remainder of the night until the next morning’s registration booth opened around 7-8 am.

I guess we need to figure out ways this could have been handled better:

1. Have someone from expo staff the game hall door between midnight at X am each day until the registration booth opens. (I also had my friend who had a wristband look around the hall for anyone from the expo who could help us out and there was not a single person. And it’s worth noting, less than a half an hour before this at 3am someone was live streaming with Todd Tuckey in Stern’s Facebook page. I saw it on the ride in).
https://www.facebook.com/sternpinball/videos/331154201022931/

2. If you absolutely dont want to sell wristbands after midnight at least allow hired security to distribute wristbands to prepaid ticket holders after the registration booth has closed.

3. Have someone representing the expo available nearby. The fact that you have a 24 hour room and the only person facing the public was a hired guard looking for a wristband and immediately called the local police on me because I had a ticket and not a wristband is beyond crazy.

4. Stop advertising a 24 hour free play room. It’s really a game room with after hours access, which you must arrive during the normal exhibit hours to receive access.

I’m angry, not entitled, but I’m bummed out because I missed one of my favorite events and felt shafted and then had the situation escalated by someone who isn’t even a part of the expo team, I’m mainly venting but I just don’t want this to happen to anyone else, or myself next year.

Security guard isn't equipped nor empowered to make such calls. They did what they were supposed to do when someone isn't compliant.

You made and assumption about redeeming your Groupon.... they didn't play out. But there is also some personal responsibility to acknowledge that buying tickets at 330am is not typical.

Sucks you don't have other times to go... but take the human approach, not the "i am owed" approach.

Groupon is a third party coupon.... stories of challenges redeeming go on for pages in all kinds of scenarios.

Either way... doesn't negate there is a registration/redemption process for the event beyond paying money. That wasn't available after hours... that is your true sole complaint.

Thank you for verifying that your door guard(s) sold wrist bands after the registration desk was closed; Proving that cavalier88z24 is full of shit. Plus others have also mentioned that "after registration desk hours" cash wrist band sales have taken place. I know, as I have purchased them before.

So the reason I even stepped in the room to begin with was to kinda gauge her response honestly, I really couldn’t tell if she was putting off a “look I’m trying to do my job, but I’m looking the other way thing.” Or I’m serious, I know you have a ticket but you have to wait until 8am. I directly questioned her, what would happen if I went ahead and went inside with just a ticket and not a wristband and just got my wristband at 8am when they opened and I just kept getting the same canned response “you can’t go in there”.

So when I said I went in. I literally look like maybe a dozen steps. Didn’t touch anything, and walked back to the door, because, I understand she there to do a job, but it was clear we had tickets , and just wanted to play pinball. Her response was to call the cops the second I walked back to the door (literally 10 second later) to go back to my friend.)

Legally, the cops probably would have sided with her I think. It’s a private venue,although I think they probably would have had to get the hotel management to kick me out. I wasn’t there to cause trouble. I just wanted to play pinball.

Well I wasn’t buying tickets, I already had tickets. No where was it stated that I had to exchange my prepaid tickets for magic wristbands while registration was open. Typically registration is for people buying tickets as they walk up. Now as I said, I’ve done this exact thing many years in the past and paid cash for tickets late into the morning without issue. The verbiage on the website, made no mention of any restriction and said daily passes , which I purchased, were valid until the next day. There is absolutely no mention of a requirement to get a wristband to obtain entry.

Also just for the record here are the instructions for the vouchers that I received.

0926D458-10F1-4923-8D0D-C3F0F465FF60 (resized).png

At a 24 hour, full-service Hotel with an event advertised/billed as having a 24hour free-play room, I would say it is typical. When I arrived at 1:30 am (2:30 am in my body clock as I drove in from the Eastern Time Zone), I was welcomed into the room with my payment in cash. My hotel room was reserved. Had I not arrived, I would have been charged for the night as the Expo room block rooms have a 3pm cancellation requirement the day prior to checking in. For my reservation that began on Wednesday this year, I needed to cancel by 3pm Tuesday otherwise I had to pay for the first night.

Don't agree. She should have done something, like, call one of the organizers to find a solution for a paying customer.

Fully known, just inserted it for comic relief.

Oh yes, now for everyone's favorite pic series. North lot picture 10am. My theory on the lot being empty is fact expo booked all the event rooms at the hotel. So no weddings, Scrabble, or mahjongg tournies taking place to jam the lots. Heck, my hotel stay has been great with no one occupying the rooms near me for entire stay.

1540043687383-574799569 (resized).jpg

This years expo was so much better than last few years. Guess what is missing? The leader of the jerk squad that was always stressing the vendors, volunteers, attendees. Let that sink in. Your banned not because of what you have or contributed. It’s because of your attitude that was destroying a once great event.

There's a reason Expo has stayed the same size for 20 years while MGC has grown from a high school cafeteria to a massive convention center.

What are others that
have been to the Expo this year have to say about it that would entice me to come up to visit he show?

The vendors area alone is simply awesome. Well worth it. I've gone the last 2 days. Cheers

I get why the guy was frustrated, but its not the cops fault...he/she was just doing their job...the guy should have called ahead to get details on wrist bands

If you say you are going to open 24 hours then doesn’t make sense to have someone or policies in place to ensure those that have paid can get entry. If the show didn’t want to honour the groupon during late hours it should have put restrictions on the purchase of that ticket in the fine print. Feel bad for the organizers as it is easy to criticize for missing this, but I think the organizers blew it on this one. What was the harm in taking the groupon and allowing them into the room. They travelled a long way, they bought a ticket, just for the sheer bad press I would have let them in. Worse they escalated the situation and called the cops without trying to defuse the situation themselves. Hate to say it but this type of behaviour was one of the reasons why I stopped going to the show and choose to go to others. I had hoped with new organizing group in place this kind of stuff would not happen.

Richie Wrench made an appearance last night.

20181019_214553 (resized).jpg

20181019_215142 (resized).jpg

20181019_215406 (resized).jpg

20181019_215502 (resized).jpg

20181019_215503 (resized).jpg

20181019_222110 (resized).jpg

20181019_223411 (resized).jpg

20181019_223414 (resized).jpg

20181019_224251 (resized).jpg

20181019_225036 (resized).jpg

the people never sold wrist bands AFTER registration hours at the free play hall. NEVER. been denied many times. had to wait til the registration desk was open for that days wrist band color. true

There has to be a better policy for security to follow beyond calling a disproportionate police response over.

I won't blame the security, she did what she was trained or instructed to do, or fell back to past training because she was told nothing different.

Seems all of this could be solved if someone was working in a customer relations role if the event is operating. Security had no way to deal with a groupon, so make sure someone there is. Calling cops with guns to deal with a groupon customer is crazy.

You are making the assumption that the purchaser of the Groupon has been to Expo before and is aware of the wristband process. Which is a bad assumption when they are advertising heavily to the general public this year. The instructions on the Groupon are very clear. Based on the information on the Groupon there is no reason he shouldn't have been allowed access to the 24 hr hall. I also agree with others, that there should be an emergency contact number(Rob Berk perhaps) for the guard when there is a situation that the guard can't handle.

I'm sorry for the situation they went through, but this is normal for conventions/gatherings/etc. They only have 'registration' during certain times. If you don't make it during those times, you don't get in. Tickets or not. Been through this a few times myself. He was basically breaking the law when he tried to push the issue and step through the door. It was the guards responsibility to act because it would have been on them if they'd let him in and then games were destroyed and/or stolen. It also isn't fair to assume someone is going to man ticketing 24 hours (although it would be nice if that was possible).

The lesson learned here though is that whoever handles the groupon (or any ticketing) for it, needs to have them put on the registration hours.

The best part of the Expo is the games in the vendor hall. In my mind, they would have been sunk if the vendors didn't bring all of the newer games to be used in their exhibits. The 24hr free play area was weak. So, if you are going during the time the vendor hall is open, definitely go.

Not making that assumption at all....my point is that its not the security guards fault as he/she was just doing their job. The operators should have the registration open 24 hours. Not sure whether the website says when registration is open or not....if not than it should

Totally agree the security is only doing what the organizers tell them to do. In any show you need supervisory coverage for the event, if your event is 24 hours then you need proper coverage. If you can’t do that then don’t do a 24 hour event. The organizers put the security team in a really tough position they didn’t train their staff to handle this particular situation and they did not have someone on site to try to support and defuse the situation. Hopefully there are some lessons learned here to fix the process. Hope the rest of the show goes without a hitch looks like a good time.

I feel bad that you weren’t able to get in and agree the show organizers should have anticipated this Groupon ticket issue. However, the moment you effectively challenge the security guard and physically move into an area you have been told not to and say “what will happen if I do this” you more or less give up your moral position. Situations like this at 330am can quickly escalate to violence, so I’m not surprised she called the police, you shouldn’t be either.

So, you're saying the posters, including myself and one of the former organizers are lying in posts 1242, 1243 and 1258. Got it.
Maybe the door guy was pocketing the money but I got my wrist band that year as I didn't want to buy the full admission packages.

Don't think 24h is super weak. Wh20, totan, IJ, pinball magic, Houdini, appolo 13, transformers, and a bunch of B lister dot matrix. I'm happy with it.

honestly in years past because I live in wisconsin. I would have a girl friend drive down after work straight to the hotel and if i didn't get a wrist band in time, she wouldnt be able to get her in the free play hall. I can remember 2 years of all the years I've been going that happened.

I think the free play room is good. Nice mix of all eras. Too many games off or not working, though.....

I never had to get wristbands after hours, but I remember going into the game room in the middle of the night, and seeing the guard (who never seemed to sleep) sitting at a table, yawning, with a lock box in front of him

Getting ready to head home. I think the show was great! The people working the registration table were very friendly. The vendor hall was full of new games. I wish CoinTaker and Marcos had been there, but I was able to get all the parts I needed at PBL’s open house. Loved the new MBr, definitely see that in my future!

The only game I didn’t get a chance to play was Octoberfest. The wait time/lines for it last night were really long mainly due to long ball times.

An interesting surprise was getting to play the Pong coffee table. It’s neat but kinda hard to justify the $3k price. I’d rather put that toward my next pin.

I agree that the free play room had the “grandparent’s basement” odor, but with a bunch of 30+ year old games in one smaller room that’s probably to be expected. Thanks to everyone who brought games and maintained them during the show! I’m sure that’s no easy task when they are running and getting played 24/7.

53CFA834-5F37-456D-91DE-21CFFBDD6B3D (resized).jpeg

CCEA826C-DB4A-4775-8FE7-75C6D3C1198F (resized).jpeg

There is a difference between bitching and the truth. There are some shit machines there just so someone can get a wristband for the 4 days.

I have 3 pins and 3 arcades that are on for 11 hours a day, 5 days a week, and 6 hours on Saturdays at my shop. Shit happens, but these machines were built to withstand that kind of use, even in horseshit environments.

Absolutely. Cant get them fixed quickly if the owners don't know about it. Different story if the owner(s) just don't care about it.

So, not to break up the complaining about the wristbands, but I was curious if anybody had a write-up of sorts of what went on? I would have loved to see Pat's seminar or some of the new stuff discussed. I've seen the Oktoberfest and MBr games, but there was a lot more going on -

See www.pinballnews.com

Just had awesome lunch at superdawg. Best part is 20% got donated to juvenille diabetes research. If youre still around its a left out of lot and straight like a mile on left side. Great food, great cause!

DD7B580F-B3CD-4984-9B99-7D4B19F67DC8 (resized).jpeg

Needs more sport peppers.. make sure to get a shake to go with it and head to Lou malnattis directly after for a sausage deep dish.. I’m pretty sure this is why the free play area was so “musty”

That looks great. Now I'm hungry.

Ummm.. Where's the ketchup????

145pm. South lot full as expected due to high winds. North side still barren. Semi really stuck now.

1020181340 (resized).jpg

The gal at the freeplay room was a bit snarky, but the microcop was real nice. I don’t know why she didn’t just call him. I commited to buy one of the machines in the freeplay room, but left it for the seller to bring back to St. Louis. I had to leave to get back to work.I was impressed with the row of machines on the back wall, Mati Hari, Waterworld, and the hockey themed pin, I don’t remember the name. (Geordie Howe?)

There will be plenty of reviews on here of the show so I’ll be brief. The show was great, and definitely worth attending.. lots of fun, sessions were great, homebrew community was well represented, really enjoyed talking to vendors and seeing all the cool products.

My only criticism is, the vendor hall didn’t open until 6pm on Friday. I don’t know if there was something else going on in there or not (didn’t seem like it). Next year, the vendor hall should be opened a lot earlier if possible. Give vendors more time to sell stuff otherwise they will focus time and energy on other shows.

Thanks to Rob Berk for bringing tons of games from his collection, and all the others that shared their games with us.