All it would really take is making Road Kings tournament viable and figuring out how to handle all the extra poo those 100 players would generate. If no one had to eat, poop, or park, we might be able to take you up on this.

This Saturday is the Maryland Pinball Championship near DC.

https://www.facebook.com/events/657259120972661/

pinball at the zoo in april.
its 3 days this year and the tournaments will be bigger as well.
wesbite still not updated with all NEW info yet..will be soon thow.
www.pinballatthezoo.com

Here's hoping the MPE games are not bastardized like they were last few years, otherwise PAPA.tv videos will be filled with alot of bad words...

Very true. Hope they delay the broadcast by 5secs like they do most live events for censoring.

People don't park and poop if they just go to check the place out?

There are a couple of Pittsburgh tournaments coming up:

https://www.facebook.com/events/796200853730381
https://www.facebook.com/events/1443401939204966

For anyone interested the Pirates home opener is Monday after the tourney. Day game against the cubbies.

I (personally) hope they do this too.

There was a kerfuffle in a Polygon article comments section recently where a high school teacher wanted to use some Twitch.tv recorded streams of a challenging video game speedrun in one of his classes, but was prevented from doing so due to the language.

I find it interesting that there are a number of audiences for these videos beyond catering to the (primarily) adult audience. The censoring action does take a fair amount of time and effort, but if we want to keep attracting kids, I can only see leaving the language in as a barrier. This whole streaming thing is fairly new though - wouldn't surprise me if they have bigger challenges to take care of first.

we're going off topic, but related, Michael Sheiss of the Pacific Pinball Museum uses pinball to teach about art and physics. There's one set up in the museum showing the angles of shots etc so there's def more use of pinball/videos than just us nerding out over good play

Not to forget the transparent pinball machines at both the Pacific Pinball Museum and the Exploratorium in San Francisco.

you really want to see the cubs lose live?

i promise not to pee, poop, or park. now lets expand that field!

Little known fact: Turtles can do all three of these things through their cloaca.

Rather see the Phillies, White Sox or the Yankees loose but I'll take what I can get. After loosing all weekend at Pinburgh it will be nice to watch someone else's misery.

FYI, the Marriot Courtyard and the Double Tree that PAPA had the special rate for are all spoken for. The Courtyard still has rooms now but they are $139/night and even those will all probably sell out. The ESA is around $95/night and still has rooms. The Red Roof inn still has rooms for $71-81/night. The Days Inn airport is $60 but the reviews are so bad it scared us off! There is also a Holiday Inn Express just down the road from the Marriot. Prices are north of $100.

Hence the effect of "Pinburgh" on the Pittsburgh area economy. A good sign indeed.

Does anyone have any experience with trying to find a place to park when arriving there around 10am on Friday? My flight gets in at 910am and I'm envisioning having to invent my own parking spot. Someone please tell me it's going to be alright. Thanks, Charlie

Last year, PAPA rented out a neighboring business parking lot. They also gave official parking passes to vehicles with 4 or more players, which obviously eased the parking situation. A couple of the official hotels also have a PAPA shuttle (run by PAPA), which also helps. If PAPA adds the rented parking, you should be fine. I'm sure you'll be fine regardless, but note that the neighboring businesses are much more restrictive about their parking spots on Friday than on the weekend.

EDIT: Per Bowen, no PAPA shuttle this year. See below.

bowen, you doing the elite parking for carpools again?

There is also a Hampton Inn close to the Double Tree that has rooms.

Check out hotels.com or any other travel site. Just booked the marriott courtyard for 119 a night. Same as the papa rate.

-Jim

Too late now, but thanks for the info. I think the Hampton Inn near the Double Tree would be ideal since it's only about 2 miles from PAPA and you don't even have to get on the interstate. We found out too late on that one as well. We will be at the Red Roof Inn, about 5 miles from PAPA, $81 for a king bed room.

Anyone know which hotels would have PAPA shuttles? And will they run Thursday night since I'm thinking of coming out early. I thought I saw it on the site before but doesn't look like it's there now. Not sure I want to rent a car and battle with parking. I'm probably going to end up at the Red Roof maybe the ESA.

Last year the shuttle stops were the Marriott Courtyard / Hyatt Place / Extended Stay America. Hyatt Place isn't listed on PAPA's site at all now (no clue why) but it's just down the road from the Marriott and is comparable in price, plus free breakfast. Marriott is probably guaranteed to have a stop since that seems to be the "preferred" hotel.

There is no current plan to run a shuttle from the hotels to PAPA HQ. Last year, the shuttle failed to run on Saturday, and no one was affected, giving the indication that it is not necessary.

A final decision on this matter has not yet been made.

A group block at Hyatt Place is in the works but not yet finalized, so their information is not currently posted to the travel page.

The group block at Courtyard Marriott has been expanded, and will continue to expand until we fill the place.

#255

I may have missed the post. Is the additional parking at that business lot available again this year?

I booked at Marriott specifically because papa.org listed a shuttle. I have no driver's license so I can't rent a car. I am very affected by having no shuttle.

There are lots of Pinburgh people who will be driving to and from the Marriott. Other than having to coordinate getting a ride and finding the person at the end of the day, I don't think you'll have a problem.

Bummer about the shuttle- i booked at the extended stay america partially because i used the shuttle last year in august. I'll taxi and/or hitch a ride so it's not a huge deal for me but still a bit of an inconvenience.

I also booked at ESA due to the shuttle that we used last year. It was a bit of a disaster though since on Saturday evening it took like an hour and a half for the shuttle to eventually come pick us up so we could grab dinner. It definitely affected us. probably would've walked had we known it would've been faster .

I also booked my hotel on advice given on the Papa website about there being a shuttle available. Also it's my first trip to the states and I done this to make sure it all ran smoothly

no shuttle? hmm I def had shuttle rides on saturday last year. I'm at the extended stay, was hopinh a shuttle would be running. hmm..

me too! Guess we'll have to make more friends!

I'll split a room with someone and I'll be bringing my car.

The only issue with this is that it clearly stated "Shuttle to PAPA HQ" in the PAPA.org travel page. Specifically the page referenced in the "You Are In!" emails sent by Kevin. One of the main reasons I stay at the Marriot is the shuttle, otherwise I'd probably go for a super cheapo hotel.

I also noticed that the travel page has been changed and no longer mentions the shuttle. I'm just saying the shuttle reference probably should have been removed before the Pinburgh registration went live.

Oh well, my dad likes the breakfast at the Marriot so he'll be happy!!

Ron...

PM sent

-Jim

Sorry for the confusion, Ron. I am guessing that page hadn't been updated since August, unfortunately.

Hotel reservations are generally cancelable with no fee, if you prefer the El Cheapo Inn

I agree that it would have been preferable to update that page before registration went live. Better next time.

Since there is no shuttle and the mention of limited parking has been brought up numerous times I have to ask is there going to be enough legal parking. We need to know these DETAILS when planning our stay. For me it makes the difference whether I come in on Thursday or Friday. PLEASE LET IT BE KNOWN!

I anticipate no reason for there to be parking problems. We would like as many people as possible to come for Thursday's practice session, Pingolf, and the Circuit Final.

I therefore LET IT BE KNOWN that you should come for Thursday!

Update on hotels: we are nearly done setting up room blocks at Doubletree and Hyatt Place, and the room block at Courtyard has been expanded ... again.

Thank you for the update. This is not a cheap trip when you don't have someone to share the cost with and having some of the details really helps with the planning.

I just noticed that the schedule has been posted. Not sure how long it's been up.

http://papa.org/pinburgh-2014/#schedule

FYI I just booked the airport Marriott for $55 a night on priceline.

Wonder if I can cancel my room and rebook for that rate!

I want to clarify that we DO have access to the same nearby parking lot that we used for Pinburgh last year. This will be made clear on the PAPA website shortly.

When exiting route 79, the parking lot is attached to the first building on the right. It is the lot attached to the building beside the Vesuvius building, not the Vesuvius building itself. It will have a sign hanging with our logo on it to help guide you.

Im trying to remember what the deal with the lockers was last year? rent or just bring a lock? anyone remember?

Lockers were $5

New info video just posted: Pinburgh 2014 Information in 200 Seconds

http://papa.org/2014/03/24/pinburgh-2014-information-in-200-seconds/