The banquet the way it is (was) terrible. It has the bad stigma of being a means to keep you held hostage until the hall opens up again watching everyone pat themselves on the back and congratulate themselves just to get to the part to watch industry insiders get fleeced for the charity auction is tiring. Now, the auction itself is a great thing and I'm not trying to slight those efforts, and the charity angle in the least. But the whole thing has a stuffy furniture doily approach to it that needs updating.

I envision something a little more free form, more of like an after party, with a quick to the point news session and game/both of the show announcements are presented. Perhaps roll the stern party into it and make it good quality time with new games and the designers engineers companies that made them possible . This should also be the part where people who went out of their way to support the show by vending and bringing games are thanked (They should get free tickets).

The auction should be a separate event with more attendance to generate more excitement, like the auction used to be long ago.

Just some quick thoughts.

Ideally it should be all vendor inclusive but not vendor sponsored. Spooky, JJP, stern, American, ccp, etc. I know that's a bit kumbayah, but all in one place is better than everyone fracturing off into their own after parties. Make it fun, get along, throw out more things from Steve kordek's desk at Williams. No "pinball is going to die and you're all going to hell with me" speeches.

This isn't "the warriors" It's not that cool.

Completely agree. I own 2 TPF shirts but have never been. It's a great way to advertise and make money at the same time.

Vendors need to pack the hall and really feel like they are being taken care of. No pens. No chocolate pretzels... Have that stuff somewhere else. You will need to fluff these guys to make it worth their while. GAP should be there every year , fix the P3 row relationship, where is Rob Z?, Put bangerjay in a kissing booth, get creative. So many people make great things, get them to the show.

Shorten the vendor hall hours, or have a separate section for boutique games from the guys (and gals) who bring palettes of wares who are tired of sitting in a booth with no relief for hours on end and just want to grab something to eat. At TPF security will camp in your both if you need a break or want to step
away. This is a great idea.

FFS advertise! Beer mats cost nothing. get them to the barcades with rad art on them. Sell them and shirts/posters/stickers (worth owning) at the shown this is where a real artist needs to be paid. Rob Craig had someone awesome at the super show, steal these ideas!
Vendors get free shit! They're really not making out like everyone thinks they are.

Use the loading dock on the back side of the hotel right_ by the hall! Man, loading in games sucks. I would say make it not rain every time also, you know if you can call in favors.

The boutique games can be in the small partition section of the room. Late night this can be closed down so everyone, including vendors, can play. If a vendor wants to be up all night they can get booth space there, if not they can do booth space in the big section. This is also where the tricky door that never closes is....

I was all go for MGC south. I'm torn now.

Pinfest sure was a great show this year!

-c

I would be in this contingent. But I go out of my way to ensure my game runs all weekend. I think this is a great idea for certain types of people who are hands off, or for those who bring in fresh off route games.

Berk was great at getting someone to look at his games when texted. I texted him on a few games and Rob Craig and I chased down some sold but off games. It would be good to have signage that states "If a game is broken please shut off and text the number on the card" if that person doesn't want more texts, fix the game or put a sign on the game. If irreparable, free play staff will move the game to free up space.

I saw some games in rows that should never have been set up on legs (tiger). There should be a separate room for project games for sale to free up free play space. These games should not qualify for free admission until they are working. Things happen, I've restored games that have had an amazing fault when brought to expo, but it sucks to gobble up valuable space.

Rob Craig was great in the coordinator role and it takes a special kind of person to handle all of the issues that arise and also be a great down to earth human being about it. The amount of work is huge, unappreciated and there is no way that I would hose up a valuable pinball weekend beyond just being dumb available muscle. Andrew Barney was also great historically and the efforts these people put in are huge.

This. I do this on EM games just by bending the coin return wire.

Rob Anthony has, had? A kit that fit in place of a coin mech that can be wired to the coin switch. This worked great on my bowler.

Calling is annoying as you can never hear in a pinball show. just sending a text is a quick way to communicate without having to go through pleasantries .

"Hey guy, your comet has a ball stuck, I turned the game off".

"ok I'll get there in 10 minutes, thanks"

there has to be software that sends out group texts, like what's app or something. I would help debug games for people if needed. I would trust any of the mafia guys to look at my game. I would think the Cincinnati folks might want someone they know to look at theirs, so perhaps a few group channels?

-c

Signage would help. If you don't want to get contacted don't put your number down.

It's easy to say "we", when almost all of it is you. It's a lot harder when there are 30 other "Clays" to navigate with different levels of engagement.

These are all good things to work on for next year. It would be great to have you rove the lanes bringing games up to spec and I'm sure people could learn a lot from that. I for one am glad you are volunteering to do this and wouldn't turn this away.

They are mostly Clay's games. You guys aren't starting with an unpopulated room and having to Unload and helpset up 300 pins. I'm not trying to short your efforts, but it's a different dynamic.

Copy that, well said. I'm just an idealist who naively thinks we can all work together at something and just be excellent to each other. I guess I'm the weirdo .

I have no idea how you guys move vids all of the time, they are crazy heavy. I agree on putting in the time to make things solid and not just just hoping for the best. The stuff doc brought was rare and cool to see while it worked, with the power issues in that room it was probably good that not everything was running

Much harder to move up stairs, I guess is what I was thinking. If you have first floor space that would be a non issue. I usually pull the monitors to keep my spine from shooting out of my ass.

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.

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.

I completely agree with this.

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 .

It was great meeting Gryszzz. It was for not long enough, I'm sure we could have'old punk rocker' bonded longer. Next time.

I'm cool with the vids, start some crossover and mix up the seminars. With pinball we know all of those stories already, get some fresh meat in there.

Just need to get the power figured out ahead of time.

-c

Star race was in there for a while. System 80 games changed the board and door configuration just about every other game.