(Topic ID: 214253)

Pinball Expo 2018 Reboot (Wheeling, IL)

By RobCraig

5 years ago


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  • 1,674 posts
  • 270 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 3 years ago by Joe_Blasi
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    Topic poll

    “For those that have attended the Expo Banquet before, what would you change?”

    • Nothing 16 votes
      6%
    • Skip the fancy food, make it Burgers and Fries at a cheaper cost. 46 votes
      18%
    • Shorten the event, make it super cheap or free, and have no meal at all. 19 votes
      7%
    • I don't care about the banquet. 178 votes
      69%

    (259 votes)

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    There are 1,674 posts in this topic. You are on page 30 of 34.
    #1451 5 years ago

    I didn’t get the whole “no outside alcohol allowed” thing. I thought that meant no drinks from your room but it’s ok if it was from their bar. We got drinks and were told we couldn’t bring them into the freeplay area but we walked right in with them past two cops and security in the vendor area. Is it ‘no alcohol period”? We were getting mixed messages.

    #1452 5 years ago

    I walked in with a stainless lowball glass and had 0 issues. I heard they were giving people a hard time with beer.

    You're right about it saying "outside" alcohol, that certainly did imply that their booze would be allowed.

    #1453 5 years ago
    Quoted from pindude80:

    I am taking my EBD to Pincinnati and it doesn't have a free play setting ...

    There is a patch for the ROMs that allows you to set the game to free play using the DIP switches. See this page for more info:

    http://www.pinball4you.ch/okaegi/pro_soft.html

    #1454 5 years ago

    "Just imagine if one person was removed from the ann arbor show it would be dead, no clay, no machines, no head tech."
    that quote is incorrect. And i love how people comment on our show when they haven't even attended it!

    The Ann Arbor show has over 400 pin games, if you're counting. And about 40 people working the floor(s) as techs and general help. It's far from me doing it. In fact, i don't even run the show. They try and keep me out, as it's the general opinion is that i complicate things. About the only thing i'm allowed to do is find parts in the shop. But the games are fully vetted ahead. We know where the problem children live, and have done our best to make sure they all behave. This is why the show starts with 400+ games working, and ends with exactly the same number working.

    Banning has about 500+ games but their condition is variable. And traditionally a lot of them don't work (or don't work correctly). Efforts have been made to fix that, but it's patch work (opposed to full restorations.) I love the Banning show, it's very impressive. It's one of my favorite shows.

    As for people bring games to the Ann Arbor show, i'm fine with that. But we just don't let people bring any game. We vet them before they show up. And we don't let people bring titles we already have. There's no sense in that. We ask a lot of questions when people want to bring games. That way no junkers show up. But we don't need to pad the game numbers. If you took 400 games and divided with the hours we are open, it would be like 3 1/2 minutes per game play time. In reality i don't think anyone has pulled that off and played every game (or even close)...

    -14
    #1455 5 years ago

    Suggest no Video games at Pinball Expo seems like this was a last ditch effort to fill a hole after purchasing ALL the space at the hotel so to block Mike to not to try "have his show" in any form.

    #1456 5 years ago

    Just a few random thoughts. Expo was fun and definitely seems to be moving in a positive direction. I made a last minute decision to go this year and happy I did.

    Not sure what the official rules are about alcohol, but I brought a few beers with me anyway and was just smart about it. It should be more clear though.

    I didn't make any of the seminars as I was too busy socializing and playing in the vendor and free game area, but it would have been nice if there was a big schedule posted somewhere to remind people what is going on, when.

    I still wish the main tournament at least was streamed like it used to be.

    First time playing that Nightmare Before Christmas homebrew, and it was awesome! Really shot well and love all the ramps and diverters. Would be really cool to see that be officially released at some point.

    Doubt it would ever happen, butI still wish it could actually be in Chicago at some point. Festivals like ReplayFX which is downtown make it so much more easier and fun to come and go and actually do other things for the weekend.

    #1457 5 years ago
    Quoted from PINTEC:

    Suggest no Video games at Pinball Expo seems like this was a last ditch effort to fill a hole after purchasing ALL the space at the hotel so to block Mike to not to try "have his show" in any form.

    I agree with this too.

    #1458 5 years ago

    I think the security team did a very good and professional job. They did what they were instructed to do.
    The dealers room didn't get ripped off this year like it has been in the previous years?

    #1459 5 years ago
    Quoted from PINTEC:

    Suggest no Video games at Pinball Expo seems like this was a last ditch effort to fill a hole after purchasing ALL the space at the hotel so to block Mike to not to try "have his show" in any form.

    Disagree.. as I've said before, the arcade games deter the crowds (kids and adults) leaving shorter lines at the pins in every room while still collecting the same amount of money. If you look at most show (MGC, Banning arcade show, replay FX, southern fried gameroom) they all have a smattering of arcade games. I don't think it's a last ditch effort to fill space at all, I don't remember that room being used in years past. Also if that's the case, should those pong games and chexx hockey games in the vendor hall be considered "fill"? How about all the virtual pinball, I mean it's not real pinball right?

    I grew up mostly on video games, rarely played pinball until about 1988. I love reliving past games I haven't played in a while, and seeing some stuff I missed. The only thing that was a shame was not having circuits prepped to handle the load of having them all on at the same time. I really hope galloping ghost returns next year with some other stuff. I know I can visit there anytime, but it's tough to make it out there from the burbs.

    #1460 5 years ago
    Quoted from Trekie:

    I think the security team did a very good and professional job. They did what they were instructed to do.
    The dealers room didn't get ripped off this year like it has been in the previous years?

    The people going in and out the side doors of the hall (the 'old' entrance and on the far end, both) all weekend long disagree.

    #1461 5 years ago
    Quoted from epthegeek:

    The people going in and out the side doors of the hall (the 'old' entrance and on the far end, both) all weekend long disagree.

    That was is a precondition from the hotels automatic door lock system. The security team had no control over that. They were stationed where they were told to be.

    #1462 5 years ago
    Quoted from cfh:

    "Just imagine if one person was removed from the ann arbor show it would be dead, no clay, no machines, no head tech."

    Clay, if you didn't have the location AND all of these machines and had to rely on a community of people to supply games to your show, AND volunteer, then it would be a similar dynamic and challenges. Nobody is shitting on your show, you just seem to simplify the challenges to your experience which honestly is mostly irrelevant.

    The only similarity is keeping the games running, which thankfully you don't have to break down, hump across the country, and set up. You also own the majority of the games, so you simplify dealing with 30++ owners to just dealing with one dude who owns and runs the place. You can target your volunteers to just policing the door and games instead of doing everything else.

    It's different. It's great that you have what you have, expo doesn't and has too rely on people working with people to make it happen.
    Sometimes you just need to put your differences aside and try to mend relationships.

    #1463 5 years ago

    With the entry door on the 'front' hall and the high number of games to play in the main vendor hall (several free play banks, pin stadiums huge row, american pinball's bank, jjps bank, sterns setup, cgc) I think a good number of people never even went down the hall to the freeplay room.

    I know traffic in Rob's room was down, I've heard comments that the free play hall wasn't crowded at any point and every time I was in that hallway it seemed pretty barren.

    #1464 5 years ago
    Quoted from genex:

    Anyone know what game Nudgy was/is? I didn't see that actual name but man that was fun. There was a woman playing it with us as well who was also obsessed!

    it was berks, and cool. bonus, since it was pure EM and no mechanicals on the field it actually worked well.

    #1465 5 years ago

    I saw that Nudgy in one of TT's videos of the expo. Very cool looking.

    #1466 5 years ago
    Quoted from Zablon:

    I saw that Nudgy in one of TT's videos of the expo. Very cool looking.

    And surprisingly super fun to play! I love the manual ball loading and simple handle that controls the field.

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    #1467 5 years ago
    Quoted from myork82:

    About 45 min later I get my lanyard and stuck my armband in my lanyard pouch. Same guard walking down the aisle comes straight to me and I just showed him my name tag. His reply “WHERES YOUR ARMBAND!?” I flipped my pouch over and showed it to him. He was like “YOU NEED TO PUT IT ON!”

    so... put your armband on like you are supposed to (so they can't be passed around)

    #1468 5 years ago
    Quoted from epthegeek:

    With the entry door on the 'front' hall and the high number of games to play in the main vendor hall (several free play banks, pin stadiums huge row, american pinball's bank, jjps bank, sterns setup, cgc) I think a good number of people never even went down the hall to the freeplay room.
    I know traffic in Rob's room was down, I've heard comments that the free play hall wasn't crowded at any point and every time I was in that hallway it seemed pretty barren.

    I felt the vendor hall was always crowded. Adding a lot of free play games in Vendor hall created a better energy in main vendor hall. I thought this was a great show. Looking forward to next year.

    #1469 5 years ago

    SDTM EPISODE 76: Expo Discussion and Exclusive New Pinball Manufacturer Information

    #1470 5 years ago
    Quoted from Chisox:

    I didn’t get the whole “no outside alcohol allowed” thing. I thought that meant no drinks from your room but it’s ok if it was from their bar. We got drinks and were told we couldn’t bring them into the freeplay area but we walked right in with them past two cops and security in the vendor area. Is it ‘no alcohol period”? We were getting mixed messages.

    "outside" means "not bought from the hotel"

    It's typical for hotels and sites to mandate that F&B be sourced from the venue. It's also a ABC issue in most areas that if you are selling and regulating alchohol use within your boundary, you can't mix in outside sourced stuff. Because it's not stuff you can control and becomes a liability for you.

    #1471 5 years ago
    Quoted from epthegeek:

    With the entry door on the 'front' hall and the high number of games to play in the main vendor hall (several free play banks, pin stadiums huge row, american pinball's bank, jjps bank, sterns setup, cgc) I think a good number of people never even went down the hall to the freeplay room.
    I know traffic in Rob's room was down, I've heard comments that the free play hall wasn't crowded at any point and every time I was in that hallway it seemed pretty barren.

    I agree that traffic was down in the free play hall. Better signage would help. Or some games set up as a trail of breadcrumbs that are also available after hours.

    #1472 5 years ago

    That Nudgy was Neos as Im reading the tag on the machine.

    #1473 5 years ago

    Nice custom backglass on Nudgy.....

    #1474 5 years ago

    I thought the show was great! The vendor hall was hopping the whole time, and every vendor I talked to seemed to be in a great mood. I can assure you, this has not always been the case in the past. I brought a game, and the load in procedure was very smooth. I didn't even know about the VIP party until they handed me my wristband for it, but it turned out to be a great perk. They actually had a quite a nice spread with salad, mini cheeseburgers, chicken fingers, toasted ravioli, pizza, dessert, beverages, etc ...

    My Farfalla wound up in the overflow room, and it lasted the whole show without a single problem. Then again, my game got a lot less plays than the ones in the main free play area. Not only was the overflow room closed along with the vendor hall, but there were also just a lot less people in that room in general. They definitely need to do more to advertise that room. I think a lot of people didn't even know there were games in there. Every time I went in there to check on my game, the room felt kind of empty.

    I personally liked having the arcade games there. While I prefer pinball, I still have a lot of nostalgia for those old games, and it was fun playing them. I had a blast playing that color vector game where you have to shoot inside the mother ship to blow it up. The team based play reminded me a lot of one of my favorite games from that era, Rip Off. Can anyone tell me the name of that game?

    The one thing that I really missed this year was the Expo Brawl tournament. Expo just didn't feel the same without it, and I hope they bring it back next year. I know one of the main complaints in the past was that the tournament monopolizes the free play hall on Friday, but with so many pins in the overflow room, it would have been easy to run the tournament in that room without disrupting anything else.

    #1475 5 years ago

    My review of Expo ... good show, better than most of the smaller pinball shows. Room for improvement with the organization and logistics, but nothing terrible to be upset about.

    Seminars

    Dialed In - Very interesting for us for Pat L. to show pictures of the process he goes through for game design. Watch the rerun when it is available. Something that I didn't know is that Pat is director of new game designs (or similar title) at JJP. That'll be good for JJP to keep him on board long term to help direct and mentor the game designers while still giving them their freedoms. Keith is the code director (or similar title) for JJP. This was the best discussion/seminar that we saw at Expo.

    Gomez - Very interesting to see how Stern goes through the game development process as well. Some differences from JJP, but generally the same. Pat seems more "hands on" for making the physical game model mock up, but Stern has a much bigger team to work through details and issues.

    Deeproot - Not a interesting presentation. I thought it was a "classy" protest that no one applauded JPOP twice, while applauding others loudly. That was probably awkward, but made the point without outbursts or heckling from the crowd. His part of the talk just seemed to ramble on and could have been shortened in half with the same content. It should be interesting to see what Deeproot comes up with and hope it is good to give us pinheads even more options.

    AP - The reveal was presented in a fun way. Interesting information was provided on their concept, game design, and eventual modes that will be developed. Should be a fun pin for locations ... jury is still out on if I would eventually want to own one. Their next 3 pins will be unlicensed and they don't plan to do a licensed pin anytime soon. After the presentation, their top people were friendly and walked around and talked with people. They approached us to talk instead of the other way around.

    JJP - It was interesting, not a lot of prying questions from the crowd. I would have liked to at least see some teases of the next title coming. Jack has a great personality and is fun to just have a conversation with. He was walking around the show and talking with people quite a bit in the vendor hall. Eric was there most of time answering questions and talking with people playing JJPOTC - this is good to see happen.

    Pinball Museum - Interesting insight on what they have to go through with Vegas and the zoning issues. Very costly effort and hope they do good at their future location.

    Steve Richie - Like others have said ... would have been better if he teased on his next pin or something else

    Stern-o-rama - Only Deadpool pins? This is where they should have brought more of their games for a party type of atmosphere like last year. A LOT of people were just getting their free beers and walking the halls to the other rooms. It was great that they did a mini-autograph session for Deadpool there with a lot of the Stern people that were involved - thank you for that!

    We arrived at the end of the hall of fame inductee ceremony and it was good to see Gomez talking with Pat Lawlor and his wife socially. Since they are both directors of new game design at different companies (don't want to say competing companies to bring out the trolls), I'm glad to see that they can approach and talk to each other socially without "trying" to avoid each other. It's good to see that.

    ******

    Free Play - Would have liked to see more of newer games here that we could play while the vendor halls were closed. Not much was there from the last couple of decades - maybe only 5-10 pins from the recent era. I know that is dependant on what people bring, but some of the newer games that owners brought were put in the Vendor Hall. More than half of the newer pins in the Pinstadium display were Berks. If those were in the free play area, it would have made a big difference. To counter that, it was good for Pinstadium to have the larger variety of pins in his booth to showcase his mods.

    Vendor Hall - Lots of vendors, but the booth prices seemed to have excluded some of the smaller mod people that we would have liked to see. It was a great showing for the latest pins (which was one of the best parts of the show for us). Not super long lines, except at the AP booth and occasionally at JJPOTC pins. We bought lots of stuff and have our eye on a few more things that we saw there. The hours for Friday were too short for the content of what was in the hall for the show. I know vendors will disagree, but waiting for the hall to open made parking lot watching more interesting (just a joke for @gravitar)

    Meet & Greet - always good to meet other pinsiders that are just as geeky about pinball as us. It just encourages us more and we all need more encouragement, right? A big "thank you" to JJ for organizing and buying the first round.

    Pinball Life - We went on Thursday (instead of waiting most of the day for the vendor hall to open), had a real good time and purchased lots of discounted pinball items. Plenty of games to play and only had to wait for the player playing to finish their game to get a turn. Everyone followed the proper etiquette. Thank you very much to Terry and company for continuing to open up your place and organize/do this for us. It helps to make the trip worth it for us.

    Just my opinions ...

    #1476 5 years ago

    I had an absolute blast!!!! It was my 1st time going to this expo, and I am already counting down to next years. I was there for about 7 hours and as it was closing, I was wishing there was more time. A recommendation I have which was mentioned already by another poster, is the games that were there just for the side tourneys(like the Haunted Shooting game, and the bowling game) you should have the option to just try it out and play it for a minute or two for $1. While I happily spent $10 on the Haunted Shooting arcade, I also wanted to try to roll one or two balls down the bowling lane, but didnt feel like spending $10 to enter the tourney.

    Great job on everyone who put this together, you did a great job.

    #1477 5 years ago

    Great show, security was perfect. Rob Berk did just what he said he was going to do, “make it a better show” and it was, can’t wait till next year.

    #1478 5 years ago
    Quoted from PinMonk:

    This one?
    [quoted image]

    Oops yeah - the one in the 24-hour room had an alternate backglass and wasn't sure if it was the same game since i couldn't find it in pindigo but I guess since it's flipperless it's not in there very fun!

    11
    #1479 5 years ago
    Quoted from gweempose:

    The one thing that I really missed this year was the Expo Brawl tournament. Expo just didn't feel the same without it, and I hope they bring it back next year. I know one of the main complaints in the past was that the tournament monopolizes the free play hall on Friday, but with so many pins in the overflow room, it would have been easy to run the tournament in that room without disrupting anything else.

    Im actually opposite of this. If they have expobrawl next year, I wont bring as much if its run the same way as in the past. I have never liked a tournament being played on games that I brought, and the public who I brought the games for cant get to them to play. If they want to rent my games for a tournament, go right ahead. Otherwise, whoever runs the tournament can find a way to get the machines they want themselves and have them in a specific area so that the public can enjoy the ones brought for the freeplay hall

    #1480 5 years ago

    This was my 31st Expo. It was pretty good. Lots of games to play – always playable games open to just walk up to. I even managed to play some new Stern games – normally I never get near them. I played more games at this Expo probably than any other one in the past.

    The custom games section was good. I played a lot of Jeremy’s Hot Rod game in an attempt to experience multiball.

    I appreciate all of the classic old games in good shape. I always enjoy the games Phoebe brings. The Gottlieb row of later model games was pretty nice. Genesis was a simple and fun game to play and it was in really nice shape.

    The Stern-O-Rama party with free beer was nice and I was able to enjoy a game of doubles with my wife on Deadpool.

    They probably could have closed the main vendor hall down at 8pm on Saturday to allow the vendors to party and have a life too. I don’t think too much buying and selling was going on after that time?

    #1481 5 years ago
    Quoted from Tilt:

    Im actually opposite of this. If they have expobrawl next year, I wont bring as much if its run the same way as in the past. I have never liked a tournament being played on games that I brought, and the public who I brought the games for cant get to them to play. If they want to rent my games for a tournament, go right ahead. Otherwise, whoever runs the tournament can find a way to get the machines they want themselves and have them in a specific area so that the public can enjoy the ones brought for the freeplay hall

    We'll put!!

    John

    #1482 5 years ago
    Quoted from terrycumming:

    They probably could have closed the main vendor hall down at 8pm on Saturday to allow the vendors to party and have a life too. I don’t think too much buying and selling was going on after that time?

    Exactly!! I would love to close up at that time if I were still a vendor there but I've not been one in the last four years I think and this is one of the main reasons why. If they haven't bought it in the first two days there not going to buy it at 8pm on Saturday night.

    John

    #1483 5 years ago
    Quoted from flynnibus:

    so... put your armband on like you are supposed to (so they can't be passed around)

    I did. I literally had just gotten it like 10 mins before and was busy helping setup. Thanks for the tip!

    #1484 5 years ago

    I don't think I've ever bought anything at Expo. I might have checked out my cart at the Marco booth for free shipping once. That's it.
    I was after two things this year. A powerball, and a single 1/4 turn lamp socket. Couldn't find either.

    #1485 5 years ago
    Quoted from Tilt:

    Im actually opposite of this. If they have expobrawl next year, I wont bring as much if its run the same way as in the past. I have never liked a tournament being played on games that I brought, and the public who I brought the games for cant get to them to play. If they want to rent my games for a tournament, go right ahead. Otherwise, whoever runs the tournament can find a way to get the machines they want themselves and have them in a specific area so that the public can enjoy the ones brought for the freeplay hall

    I completely agree with this.

    #1486 5 years ago
    Quoted from tamoore:

    I don't think I've ever bought anything at Expo. I might have checked out my cart at the Marco booth for free shipping once. That's it.
    I was after two things this year. A powerball, and a single 1/4 turn lamp socket. Couldn't find either.

    What no pin-stadiums?

    I bought 2 translite for my Sega games, 2 flipper bats. There really wasn't too much to buy unless you want mods, games or lights. Only one good junk booth, and I had most of that junk already .

    I would like to see some of the smaller vendors there. I didn't bring my trash this year for people to rifle through, so I guess I can blame myself partially .

    #1487 5 years ago
    Quoted from PINTEC:

    Suggest no Video games at Pinball Expo seems like this was a last ditch effort to fill a hole after purchasing ALL the space at the hotel so to block Mike to not to try "have his show" in any form.

    The video games were a nice touch and despite power issues most in the 2nd room worked.
    I hope they make a return next year as well.

    #1488 5 years ago
    Quoted from valgalder:

    Just a few random thoughts. Expo was fun and definitely seems to be moving in a positive direction. I made a last minute decision to go this year and happy I did.
    Not sure what the official rules are about alcohol, but I brought a few beers with me anyway and was just smart about it. It should be more clear though.
    I didn't make any of the seminars as I was too busy socializing and playing in the vendor and free game area, but it would have been nice if there was a big schedule posted somewhere to remind people what is going on, when.
    I still wish the main tournament at least was streamed like it used to be.
    First time playing that Nightmare Before Christmas homebrew, and it was awesome! Really shot well and love all the ramps and diverters. Would be really cool to see that be officially released at some point.
    Doubt it would ever happen, butI still wish it could actually be in Chicago at some point. Festivals like ReplayFX which is downtown make it so much more easier and fun to come and go and actually do other things for the weekend.

    There were 2 or 3 schedules pisted on the walls near the registration and 2nd frre play room.

    #1489 5 years ago
    Quoted from CraigC:

    I agree that traffic was down in the free play hall. Better signage would help. Or some games set up as a trail of breadcrumbs that are also available after hours.

    If the hotel would allow it, do like MGC did one year with numerous stickers arrows and they led you to the rooms. ( ooh piece of candy)

    #1490 5 years ago
    Quoted from cfh:

    i don't think anyone has pulled that off and played every game (or even close)...

    Challenge accepted.

    #1491 5 years ago

    By moving the entrance for vendor hall there was not s much traffic down that hall where the game hall was.. not sure why they did that... also i believe the traffic flow was better coming in side door but thats just me... I wonder if rob anthony traffic was down as well .. also the hercules and flintstones was a draw in that hall way.. we will see what happens in court. may be back next year

    #1492 5 years ago

    Where are the results posted for the tournaments?

    #1493 5 years ago
    Quoted from Apollyon:

    Where are the results posted for the tournaments?

    https://www.neverdrains.com/expo2018/

    #1495 5 years ago
    Quoted from Tilt:

    If they have expobrawl next year, I wont bring as much if its run the same way as in the past. I have never liked a tournament being played on games that I brought, and the public who I brought the games for cant get to them to play.

    I totally get that, and it's a legitimate gripe, but wasn't the overflow room closed during the hours that Expo Brawl is typically played anyway? It's not like the general public had access to the games in that room on Friday morning/afternoon, so wouldn't that have been an ideal time to have the tournament?

    I'm not saying there aren't potential hurdles, but the fact of the matter is that a lot of people love Expo Brawl. I talked to many friends over the course of the weekend who were really bummed that there was no Brawl this year. It's a unique tournament because there is much more emphasis on the social aspect of it. Hopefully, something can be arranged for next year that will make everyone happy.

    #1496 5 years ago

    Speaking of Friday morning - I'm not sure I understand the logic of the vendor hall not opening until 6pm on Friday. It's not like that was day 1.

    #1497 5 years ago
    Quoted from mikepin:

    By moving the entrance for vendor hall there was not s much traffic down that hall where the game hall was.. not sure why they did that... also i believe the traffic flow was better coming in side door but thats just me...

    There were essentially three main areas: vendor hall, galloping ghost / homebrew arcade, and freeplay room. I'm not quite sure how they decided which games went in the galloping ghost arcade vs freeplay room. It seemed to me that many of those games could have been moved to the 24 hour freeplay room. Anyway, I think the move in door locations for the vendor hall was good. It kept that entrance between the other two. It seems to me that the ideal setup would have two rooms the size of the vendor hall.

    13
    #1498 5 years ago

    As a vendor, let me chime in with two thoughts:

    1. Vendor hall should open earlier on Friday, like noon. Yeah, hours are long for vendors, but we travel a long way and put a lot into shows so having extra hours for sales are a good thing.
    2. One of the great things about Texas is that everyone and everything is in the same room. As a vendor, you don’t want people leaving the room. Now, this raises issues about 24 hour free play as you need to secure the vendor hall, but I would ask whether 24 hour play is needed. You may have less broken games if there is down time to fix games properly.

    Overall, we have no complaints about the show, had a great time meeting people and seeing new games and we will definitely be back next year. We could not have asked to be treated any better.

    #1499 5 years ago
    Quoted from Dayhuff:

    Exactly!! I would love to close up at that time if I were still a vendor there but I've not been one in the last four years I think and this is one of the main reasons why. If they haven't bought it in the first two days there not going to buy it at 8pm on Saturday night.
    John

    As a hypothetical solution, how about this:
    1. A room for free play, long late hours or 24 hours
    2. A room for the new pin distributors and vendors that want long access from 9AM - 11PM, vendor can close up at 9PM as an option
    3. A room for vendors that want shorter hours, maybe noon to 6PM
    4. Let the small mod makers setup 6 foot tables in the outer corridors for 1/4 price that can come and go as they please and must clear out their stuff when they close up for the day - no pins allowed at these booths.

    #1500 5 years ago

    Agree vendor hall should have been opened earlier on Friday, I can see Noon or even 3:00PM and then closing it down at 11:00 instead of midnight on those days.

    Signage was pretty good, except for seminar room which was non-existent and so far from everything else not like you would stumble across it. Would still like to see audio announcements of seminars, even if it is a town square cryer with a megaphone walking through the seminar and free game rooms. Missed a few I would have liked to have seen, since so easy to lose track of time.

    Be good if free game room and vendor room were open to each other, when they are both open.

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