Glad you are happy with your pickups. Before you know it, you will have 5 more games.

That's not really a Spooky designed game though. Yeah I like TNA, but wouldn't want to own it.

As if Stern uses a single designer?

Iron Maiden fits the exact same description and it's the first Stern I've been excited about in a long time.

Not really the same.

TNA was not just a PF design, but an entire game design, including non-conventional cabinet, displays, game elements, components, etc. Spooky didn't convert TNA to a spooky design or force TNA to use shared Spooky concepts/parts... spooky effectively built Scott's game.

Contrasted with...

Archer was a prototype, whose playfield design and mech ideas were made into a Stern game... that uses Stern concepts, parts, common elements, and then built by Stern.

Great show with great people. A few thoughts:

- Stayed at the Wingate and it was awesome. I swear it was the comfiest bed I've ever experienced. Sorry for more hotel talk, but we'll be back there next year for sure.

- El Patron, the tiny Mexican restaurant downtown, was freaking excellent on Friday night. They had to lock the door after me and 32 other Canadians walked in (capacity in the place is about 40) but they managed to put out some great food under pressure. We gave them about an hour's notice that we were coming. Next year we'll call the day before, just to be polite. Will definitely be back.

- Scored a well-played re-import Rescue 911 that I'm really looking forward to working on. Rob was great to deal with. Not sure what his pinside ID is.

- Thanks to Tom and Ryan for the excellent/smooth pre-arranged deals.

- This was my 10th or 11th Pinfest and it was definitely the biggest in terms of machines on the floor to play. It might be my imagination, but I feel like the flea market area has been getting smaller each year since it came inside. Maybe this is a sign that the old projects are drying up?

- Prices were generally at a premium for non-premium/unshopped games. Par for the course in 2018, I guess.

Already looking forward to next year.

Corey

flea market was definitely light this year. Not sure if it's more because of pre-arranged sales or because of the formality of flea market space inside vs wild west outside. Indoors is very convenient, but maybe more constraining?

Maybe there should be an arranged saturday-only swap meet.. to try to balance things out. I think everyone leaning 'earlier and earlier..' every year makes Thursday and Friday the big day.. leaving saturday a bit lonesome.

Show was bigger for sure.. since they used almost the entire backwall, where usually that was a dead zone. The last vendor rows were almost full.. and tournament on the back wall instead of in that vendor row meant al ot more space used too.

Thanks Lee, beer was awesome. Savoring my last few bottles. See you next year. Are you doing York?

Lots of pictures below from the Tournament.

Full recap on the Tournament Thread: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/pinfest-tournament-may-4-5-2018

Main Event:
A-Division
1. Jason Zahler
2. Adam Mckinnie
3. Levi Nayman
4. Steve Bowden
5. Bowen Kerins
6. Eric Wagensonner
7. Elliott Keith
8. Alberto Santana

B-Division
1. Jay Robinson
2. Basci Dinc

C-Division
1. Eric Moberg
2. Jason Mawson

D-Division
1. Scott Wilson
2. Clark Fraley

E-Division
1. Francesco La Rocca
2. John Moran

Match Play:
A-Division
1. Rob Wintler-Cox
2. Tony Makowski

B-Division
1. Dave Peller
2. Jason Plourde

C-Division
1. David Reil
2. Nitzan Gabai

We have all the Finals match-ups on paper, so please give us a few days to get all the results translated into MatchPlay and submitted to the IFPA.

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Cole did he offer $500?

In my opinion this was the best PinFest of the last three years I attended- Great game selection, great people, lots of vendors, lots of fun. And my son won the kids division in his first time playing a tournament!

My games fared very well; total play count was:
Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure 366 plays
Family Guy 258 plays
The Getaway: High Speed II 316 plays
Dr. Dude 371 plays (Thanks to bluespin for delivering this new acquisition to the show for me!)

I am just glad there is finally photographic evidence to show we are not just one asshat with 2 pinside accounts

Had a great time but was just there for Friday. i stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn near the airport which was not too far and nice. There are a few places to eat over there too. The pretzel wraps were great and glad i read about them on here. I picked up the Pinball Refinery decked out MMr. I wanted to get an EM but just dont have space..... I played the ACNC which I have a deposit and I thought it was beautiful. I also enjoyed the Iron Maiden.

Colson, I have the seller's contact information.

Would like to but it's always an insane time of year for me so I haven't been able to make it in the past... Hopefully things won't be crazy and I can make it... We'll see!

I played your dr. Dude, nice game, played well. Thanks for bringing it, first time I ever played one.

Mike, your games were beautiful. My wife and I played them. They were getting raves from everyone. Best IJ I’ve ever played.

My 2 cents. Ramada bar staff needed Mydol . Folks who like to raise a little hell and play pinball all night don’t forget Pintastic end of June. Lots of games kid and alcohol friendly. If you get the right pass or have met the X Games for Free Play, you go to the private party room full of great titles it closes ar 6 AM. There is a bar right outside the Free Play room and you can drink inside without being hassled: the hotel and show are one in the same. Next to the show is a liquor store, no DUI just saying.

Looks like 2 deals went sour, this is a Pinfest thread and calling each other out is best kept in PM’s. What about a deposit , it’s just that, cash is king. A handshake used to mean something but I guess now it’s an E-shake .

I had a great show but had vehicle issues that were just bad luck, chit happens,

What most people don't seem to understand these days is it is nearly impossible to get a deal on "project machines". I started in the hobby 10 or 12 years ago and I could typically pick up a couple project machines just about every week with little to no effort finding them. I also had a couple "flipper" friends that would drop machines they found off to me at "fair prices". Over the past 3 or 4 years project machines have basically totally dried up. If it wasn't for the couple warehouse deals I made last year I don't think I would have been able to bring anything to the flea market but a few parts this year. I can't even remember the last time I picked up a machine from Craig's List but it had to be two years ago (or more). 10 years ago I was buying 8 or 10 machines some weeks.

These days people who have "junk" or projects for sale think they are worth as much as fully working machines. Dealers have no magical source to buy machines - they are chasing them just like everyone else they just work harder at it! With the "spread" so small between purchase price of project machines and what you can actually sell them for it is hard to justify the time it takes to buy them and get them to a show. Last year I took 56 machines to Allentown and sold 48 of them either at the show or as a result of those machines being at the show. After expenses I made less than $25 per machine on what I sold. How many people want to move 300+ pound pinball machines 5 or 6 times to make a $20 bill?

Allentown flea market has changed because the supply of machines (and even parts) is drying up. I am hoping to finalize things with "Phase 2" of my Virginia deal sometime soon and if that happens I'll have some machines for York & Allentown but if not all I'll have at Allentown in 2019 will be "finished machines". If you can't find stuff to sell at decent prices it is hard to bring machines to a show and sell them in the flea market area!

Times have changed - pinball is much more popular than it has been in years - there are less old machines every year that are just sitting somewhere - so don't expect to see the "Old Allentown Flea Market" in the future. Just be thankful there are still a few of us willing to work hard and dig deep trying to get some project machines to the show each year. 2019 will likely be my last year setting up at the flea market - I am just getting too old to be moving these things out of peoples basements. It has been a blase but it is time for me to step away and let some of the younger guys take over.

there's always york

Maybe if Ivan gave a shit and treated the outside flea market as part of the show as in years past it would be something. I paid for a spot and probably will NOT next year. Have had a flea spot for the last 10 years to bbq, drink and bring some parts from the stash. No fencing around the outdoor area this year so trucks driving 3 inches from our feet and idling to pick up games all day. No signage telling people there was an outdoor flea. It was worthless. The worst part is Ivan’s lack of caring when I mentioned all this to him. I guess the indoor show puts so much bread on the table he can’t eat another bite. It was lame. Years past it was a party. Shame to see this part of the show die( I along with the other couple of outdoor folk shared the feeling). The neon dudes from years past said hi but did not exhibit this year.

I know people don’t like mike pacak and Ivan and him can’t overcome their bs but it a shame he used to bring an awesome lot of stuff outside, which is what this show is about. Treasure hunting.

The inside vendors all brought generic crap, 5 leg bolt vendors and not a single interlock switch. No Steve young, no starship fantasy, no flipper fidelity,it was lame from that standpoint. You could not buy a single ramp at this show.

Sorry to rant but way too many EM’s, no true parts guys and no a single sign to direct traffic.

It’s just easier to pull out a 20 and be done than rent a trailer and go through the hassle to not be appreciated or supported by the show organizers.

I look forward to Pintastic where Gabe takes feedback and makes changes to make it the best it can be. I am happy to follow up if Ivan reads this and can make it better. For now I’ll do like the other folks set up in the parking lot and not stress.

The barn finds are much harder now. The days of people almost paying you to haul stuff away... or getting things for Little to nothing are gone. The competition to find inventory means games don’t just sit on CL anymore to be found. But games are out there and being sold... just not at the cheap prices anymore. Buyers are way more critical now and many aren’t able to handle projects, making it even more difficult to turn games over without putting a lot into them. So more move,ent has been happening at the “fully working” level verse “complete, as is” level.

A number of people were buying up inventory with the purpose of selling at the show... but they weren’t sitting in the flea market without power. They were selling on the floor in vendor booths or free play.

Well, if you think someone can will steve young to start doing shows again... go for it he stopped coming because it wasn’t worth it for him financially for the effort required. And the makeup of the inventory people like Marco bring is based on what they believe is worth it to what their goal is. This change in makeup of vendors you mention is a reflection of what the audience is doing... not Ivan IMO. It’s why we have more mod vendors than parts vendors at these shows anymore. More people are spending money on pimping games then fixing games. The vendor investment of time and space is going to follow that.

No vendor is going to make money worth their time selling <$10 parts to 50-100 people on Friday. In the post “Marco has an ecommerce site” era and the updated sites that followed... people don’t need to stock up at the show anymore. They do it every day of the week. People hope to come find the show pricing on things that otherwise they’ll just buy from home.

I had common parts out that were brand new in box selling for 25-50% off the cheapest online sources and they barely got a glance. The only common piece I sold was a pair of flipper buttons! And this was an inside vendor booth.

Funny you mentioned ramps... I had brand new (still in packaging) TZ and TAF ramps for 20% less than retail and never got any serious looks... let alone offers.

I had validated boards for at least 30% cheaper than Mayfair (or regular online sources) that barely got looked at. The stuff that sold best was actually all our used Williams stuff.. including the untested stuff.

Most buyers I spoke to were just looking for a specific game part for one game... not necessarily buying what was a deal. As a big vendor... it would kill you to try to bring your huge variety of stuff. And if it’s small $$ stuff forget it.

It was great we were able to find parts we needed to fix some issues that came up during the show, but I know no vendor can survive selling a handful of transistors and bolts to a few dozen folks after spending probably close to 1k to be there.

Most people think of Allentown as a two day/one night show and then they are home and resting by Saturday night. As a vendor, Allentown for us was 4.5 days and 3 nights of expenses on the road... plus room, equipment rental, gas, etc. basically more than double if I just showed up Friday and went home Saturday mid day like most do.

The demographics and market/retail environment has changed. Craigslist, Facebook, ecommerce, game pimping vs game fixin... all have changed what people do at a show verse what we did 10+ years ago. We can’t just will vendors into burning $$ because we want the convenience of their presence.

Starship not being there didn’t surprise me one bit... their booth is normally a ghost town. I did miss getting to see vendors like curly from lsop... Tony from GLM... Mirco...but we had Kerry from mantis make the trip... the guy from pinsound, and most of our regular greater mid Atlantic vendors (CT, Marco,pinstar, Mayfair,pingrafix, tiltgraphics,pinnovators, kahr, gametime, etc). Plus all the other vendors that I can’t list out for time and space

And that’s my Maiden I bought from Butch2099 at the show. Still can’t believe I went home with it, but of every pin I played Friday, I kept coming back to it for more.

By 3pm Friday it was absolutely packed. Good to see. I was looking for some LEDs, toppers, Stern side armor/legs and of course went home with none of that, but no complaints.

Some observations...

- Thanks to vendors for having plenty of Iron Maidens there for free play. Never waited for more than 2 people to finish.
- Playing the Zaccaria pins in free play was a treat.
- Wanted to play TNA but the line always too damn long.
- Totally forgot about POTC. Didn’t even seek it out.
- The AFMr flippers played like crap compared to the original. Power issues? Not sure but the original felt/played better and they were basically side by side.
- There IS a TD Bank in Allentown (whew)
- Cool to see Ed Robertson of Barenaked Ladies walking around all day Friday (anyone else spot him? Buehler?)

Great job to all who put on the show. Top notch this year.

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I asked multiple workers where the outdoor flea market was located and nobody knew. I got a different answer everytime, walked around the back and side of the building and never found it. I assumed it was no longer a thing at all. Bummer if it actually existed somewhere as I never found it and went home with cash in my pocket rather than parts in my car.

I am guessing the outdoor flea market area was where they guy had the $3000 roached out Taxi.

First off: Great Show but what a drive. Almost 13 hours each way.
Second: Thanks to those who stopped and played Houdini @ the Pincades Booth. Non stop line everyday open to close.
Hope everyone enjoyed it! We also were one of the top Tournament sponsorships.
Pincades
Jesse T

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Your machines were VERY nice. Was great meeting you! Were those audits for both days? I ask only because I had 326 on Airborne for just Saturday.

Chris

While I appreciate your feelings, as someone who is at the show setting up at noon on Thursday, by Saturday night I've had enough ...and have a 2 1/2 hour drive on top of it. Take down is 6:00 on Saturday, the show closes at 8:00. I've been going to Allentown and York since they started in the 90's and can tell you that by 6 there no people paying to come through the gate and they stop taking money. So it's not "several hours before the end", it's two hours and there are still some games to play. I religiously bring decent games to these shows and after 2 1/2 days, I've done my civic duty ...I am tired, my machines have been played out and I want to go home!

I really like the Thursday 1pm load in and set up. I wish more shows would do this model of loading in 1 day early and just allowing those that brings games to mill about and enjoy the games, limited entrance, and ability to find deals.
To me this was a great perk of the show and honestly, most shows could use the extra day and makes it better. For whatever reason (seems natural) we all want to be done with it and back home in our own beds at a reasonable time before starting the following work week, so come Sat or Sun (whatever day a show ends normally) people are always ready to be packed and out the door.

After visiting lots of the major shows, there are positives to gleam from each one.

Allentown has things well oiled for the load in, fun flea market vibe (you guys seem to have way more EMs and project games still available then almost anywhere else in the country IME), and the best food experience for any show ever!

My small points of feedback to improve the show would be:
-Increase the cost of game removal as is seemed like lots of good stuff left the show almost immediately on Thursday or by 5pm Friday (the attendance seemed to mirror this as we noticed by dinner on Friday things had really cleared out).
-This show had lots of projects/non-working games on the floor from the start (I get the impression that previous years you were not limited on space, so this is likely something that will need addressing if people continue to bring more games then you have room; better off to get the good stuff in the door and force the projects to stay outside on the trucks since they are not playable). I saw good working games turned away that were not pre-registered (understandable, but bummer to have space taken up with non-working projects).
-Figure out if there is a way to increase power/ re-route power so the games show better. Sounds like this was the most games ever, so an understandable thing to try and improve (if it is even possible given the space/location?)
-The indoor flea market seemed sparse and lots of room. If there was an outdoor section, I could not find it and it would have been great to get those people inside and really make that indoor area better utilized. I thought that was really cool room and more stuff in one room would have been even better.

Love what you guys are doing and have built with this show! Very welcoming crowd, fun people, great vibe, and just in general a neat overall experience to be part of. Thanks for all the hard work from all the people that put it on, bring games, etc... We were happy to be a small part of it by transporting 2 games to the show (1 for free play and 1 presold parking lot deal) and even though it was almost 30hr round trip, I would do it again just for those damn pretzel wraps!

side note, if anyone has a recipe for the dough to make those pretzel wraps, please post it up!

There was an outdoor flea market? Seriously, I had no idea. I just thought it was that one area that was inside. I'm sorry I missed it. It's a shame there was nothing indicating that it even existed, let alone where it was located.

I was only there for Friday from about 3 to 7 or so - work bit me on Friday morning, so I couldn’t leave on time.

Anyway there was SO much going on that I missed a good chunk of what you guys are talking about. For example, I would really like to replace my TZ ramp! But I must have missed flynnibus .. I also did not know about the outdoor flea, and I walked around the entire building at least twice with my buddies.

More great stuff though as always, that made up for the crazy rain the past couple years

If you saw the truck selling slot machines there was a large open door next to it. The outside stuff was there but I only happened to stumble upon it.

So, I'm already thinking about next year. My question to Ivan1496 are we definitely on for 2019? I remember last year saying the Fairgrounds had to be booked a year in advance?

Great meeting you as well Chris! My audits were for both days. 326 on your Airborne is a lot for one day. Quick ball times?

It is typically the first full weekend in May

Nice having some tequila with ya! You should have had Hilton come over...never met him...

I think I was unfortunately gone by the time you arrived.

I missed seeing Ran and Casey also (if they made it?)

C'mon, there has to be someone in Wisconsin making Pretzel Wraps!
If not, you may be able to make a fortune if you get the recipe!
Nice meeting you and your wife. If you come back next year, I won't be bashful about asking for a couple of cases of Leinenkugel lager in cans.

Is it possible to arrive on friday and set up a game in free play area?

No such thing.

Friday set up is either 8AM or 9AM until Noon - once show opens at noon set up is over! I don't remember 100% for sure but I think it is 9AM to noon. If you are going to bring a game for freeplay be sure to register it ahead of time. This year freeplay area was full on Friday and Ivan had to start turning people away that were not preregistered.

thank god I missed the tequila dispensary on the map... that would have just been fuel on the fire

I did! You were not there.
Then I was over there arguing with that guy over the oversized cigar! I offered him $150.

Smelled like that dude was wiping everything down with gasoline. He was giving that wooden Indian girl/mannequin thing a hell of a rub down while I was talking to him.

Yes, I remember him doing that! That was me next to you. His friend told him the cigar was overpriced. I said I'm being generous offering $150. (he had it last show as well)! In the middle of the deal he started talking to someone else, so I just walked away....

too-many-pins:
I take it you are the wonderful gentleman that I bought the Rock On! from. Just want to thank you for the sale and all the courtesies you extended to me during the transaction. Look forward to getting her fully functional and in the collection!!! Thank you for not "giving up" setting up at the flea market prior to this year...sellers like you are hard to find these days!!!