Rock On
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Quoted from djreddog:
Quick update, I've reached out 2 times to the sales lady at Ramada, waiting for her to call me back with a price point on the "game room".
Maybe they would throw in the room for free if we guaranteed a certain number of reservations at the $75-85 range.
Quoted from too-many-pins:
You are 100% correct about that and SPACE is typically my biggest issue. If I had more space to work I could do things more efficiently saving time and making more money. So maybe SPACE is my only true issue. Thanks for pointing that out now all I need to do is figure out how to add space which would likely solve my other two issues!
Or as the rest of the family keeps telling me "STOP BUYING" and that might be the best answer but all of you know how the addiction goes! "There is always room for just one more".
Last week I was so very happy I finally got my van empty after it had been sitting full for over a month. It was empty exactly 3 days and then "a deal too good to pass up" came along on 3 parts machines. So off I went with my "empty" van and now it is sitting full again because when I got to the sellers place I had room for 4 machines in the van so guess what - I had to buy one more from him. I AM VERY VERY SICK!
Skip,
I am more than willing to help you with your space issue. I’ll make you a “generous” offer on all of your projects pins. Then you’ll have lots of room to store your next group of project pins....Oh wait...I just realized...you might have the opposite space issue...
ANNOUNCING THE OFFICIAL HOTEL FOR THE PINFEST "PLAYAS"- Ramada Inn
I spoke with the sales lady and initially the room was $199 plus tax to rent the room out. Haggled her a little bit and if we get 10 confirmed rooms booked at $79.99 using the code "Pinfest Pinball Show", she will throw in the room for free. Looks like we have some planning to do folks! One thing she mentioned is that there are rooms located next door and that they generally don't rent out that room past 10pm due to noise, however she said she would try and book Pinfest rooms next to it so that no one would complain.
To officially reserve you room at this rate and for the special promotion of the "Lehigh Room" that is being offered to us, you must call the hotel directly to book the room(s) by 4/25/18. Call 610-439-1037 and make the reservation under "Pinfest Pinball Show".
I just booked my room. Who else is in?
I just booked a room using the Pinfest code. The room was $71.99/night, not $79.99/night.
Show dates:
TH 05/03 Setup day (entry only if you bring a pin or are an exhibitor)
F 05/04 Noon - 9PM
SAT 05/05 9AM - 8PM
The event is listed on the event tab. There will be an all night after party with pins at the Ramada. See post#62 for hotel contact info. Hotel rate $71.99/night.
Quoted from gliebig:
Ramada booked! Is it May yet???
djreddog You may want to call the hotel and see if they can add more rooms to the block.
Quoted from Matesamo:
The wife and I are thinking about driving down from RI for this show. The only show we ever went to before was Pintastic; how does this one compare?
I haven’t been to Pintastic but I can describe Allentown. 200+ games on free play, all generations. Maybe Half of the games are for sale. All new games from all the manufacturers will be set up on free play. All of the major companies that sell mods will be there. There is a large indoor flea market area with a lot of project games, mostly EMs and early solid state. There are a lot of great deals on pins, working and projects, to be had here.
You also get to meet a lot of Pinsiders in person. The Farmers Market next door has a lot of great food vendors.
Hmmm, I'm not reading that post the same way you are. I'm reading it as he booked it with excitement, and then wishing it was May! Plus, we didn't reserve a block of rooms. She just said we need at least 10 rooms booked using the code to get the party room for free.
Yes I did misread his post
I stayed at the Wingate last year. The room was very clean. The bedroom was updated but the bathroom was dated (cracked tiles), but again it was very clean. They serve a free continental breakfast and I think the rate was ~$79.
Quoted from Whysnow:
this includes those bringing games set on free play, correct?
Hilton,
set up times on Thursday are from 1-9PM. The website doesn't say what times you can set up a game for freeplay on Friday, but I'd imagine 10:00 or later. Let's ask Ian the show promoter.
ivan1496 Ivan What are the set up hours for freeplay pins being brought in on Friday and Saturday?
Quoted from mbaumle:
A couple questions, as I’d like to bring a game this year:
—how much abuse does a game typically get on the show floor? I’ve brought games to York in the past, but I know Allentown is a different beast.
—Does Allentown allow people to bring in registered games early on Friday or even Saturday? I know York allows that flexibility for those who can only make certain days, but still want to participate. Does Allentown extend the same flexibility?
The answer to your questions is yes. We are just waiting for Ivan to respond about the setup hours on Friday and Saturday because the website doesn’t have this information for these days.
Last year several people brought games in the morning on Friday and Saturday.
Quoted from zacaj:
I've brought a game for the past few years. Only thing that's ever happened to mine is they got a few hundred plays on them. I don't exactly watch them closely beyond coming by every few hours to play a test game but never had any problems
I brought a game last year and placed it in the freeplay area. I didn't see or her of anyone abusing any of the pins.
Quoted from Jesterfunhouse:
Cointaker will have them new I would think or are you looking for used lower price
Ask Cointaker if they will have any floor sample deals. Maybe 500 plays on a NIB game and save some $.
Quoted from wolftownjeff:
What is the pinfest hotel rate for Comfort Inn?
There is a $79 rate at the Ramada and there will be pinball machines set up there after Pinfest closes Friday night.
Quoted from wilsonza:
We have an office about an hour away in Bridgewater, NJ. Considering making a work + fun trip. Any suggestions on what hotel to book this late in the game?
There is an after party with pins and beer (byob) at the Ramada, after Pinfest closes Friday night at 9pm. Use the “find in this topic” feature to search for Ramada. I stayed at the Wingate last year and it was a nice hotel.
Whatever that is, it looks amazing!
A lot of great food there.
Just inside the left door, on your left, is a vendor selling amazing staples like Yankee Pot Roast.
U-shaped counter 100’ inside door has great breakfast and lunch.
Going down the ramp(there are three levels) is a bbq place that is great and there is usually a long line to get it.
I haven’t tried the pretzel wraps but everyone loves them.
Great bakery inside the entrance on the right.
Lots of other great food vendors, but whatever you do, DO NOT eat the pizza just inside the front door. It has the consistency of Chucky Cheese pizza and you will regret it.
Quoted from CrazyLevi:
I've lost 15 pounds, so there's no chance anybody will recognize my drastically changed appearance!!!!
But if you do, I'll be happy to say hi and meet and greet! Coming in Thursday night this time around.
Look for the man with the “crazy” eyes.
Quoted from gac:
Thanks for the info Jeff
Don’t forget the after party at the Ramada Whitehall/Allentown. Search this forum using the word Ramada
Quoted from Crispin:
Yes Ralph, that address leads you to the closest entrance to the venue. You will pull in and Pinfest will be on your left and the good eats on your right. I spoke with Bluespin tonight who just picked up a BSD at the show and good news the show is at capacity and couldn't fit his pin!!! Do you think that stopped Bluespin? Ha! That 2nd BSD that will be at the Ramada party tomorrow night is currently set up in his room getting some action right now!
Thanks Chris. The game was throwing an error for the magnet so I couldn’t get it running last night. It could be a simple fix like a wire just needs to be resold weed.
If I bring the game and the manual to the party room tonight can someone take a look at it and try to fix it?
Thanks,
Jonn
Quoted from N80G80:
Me and another pinsider are here at the Ramada...got a bunch of tools and parts, I’m sure we can get it running again no problem.
Justin
n80g80 Thanks Justin! I’ll bring the game tonight.
Ramada crowd let’s get it up!! It’s almost time. My ETA to the hotel is like 945. So hopefully I’ll be setup around 10pm. I will need help unloading.
Iron Maiden anyone?
I can help with the unloading and setup. I’ll bring my appliance dolly to the party room
Quoted from arcademojo:
John, Thanks for the pinball head and glad to meet ya in person.
You’re welcome Scott. Good to meet you as well.
After it was shut down about 20 of us went back to my room where we setup my Iron Maiden and a BSD from bluespin. We ended up having 2 small incidents in my room because someone who was very inebriated abused the BSD by picking it up and tilting it out. That was a show of total disrespect to do that to someone else’s machine. Then later on the DC guys brought in an Alien to setup but they were missing the power cord. Unbeknownst to me, they ended up taking the power cord from the BSD without asking bluespin. On the surface and looking from the outside people may think this isn’t a big deal at all. It’s a power cord. However it was more driven behind the fact that one of the guys in the group was the same guy who slammed BSD. So while the DC guys were trying to do a good thing by bringing in the Alien it actually ended up being a bad thing. I wish the whole thing went down differently because we are all pinheads and we shouldn’t have to deal with things like this.
bluespin, my apologies to you that you were involved in this mishap. Thanks for bringing the games, you are an awesome dude and most everyone appreciated your efforts.
That’s all I got. See everyone in York.
djreddog Thanks for organizing the Ramada party room. It was a good effort, but there was a communication breakdown between you and the hotel. The fact that people arrived at the party by walking through the bar area with 12 packs of beer to our game room certainly didn't help. I wasn't going to start a post about that night because I don't want to do anything to reflect negatively on the show, but I feel that I need to defend myself. Since you mentioned that night I'll tell everyone what happened from my perspective. I was the only one not drinking that night so I know that my memory is clear. The day before the party I bought an un-shopped BSD in the flea market for a great price that was playable but needed to be shopped, and a couple of features weren't working. 
knockerlover approached me and offered to buy my BSD for $200 more than I paid. I turned him down. Friday night I set up the BSD in the game room, and shortly thereafter the game room was shut down and I was asked to bring my game to Chad's room. About ten times through the night knockerlover complained about my BSD, told me how bad it was and kept making offers to buy it.
bjsilverballs was drinking pretty heavily and at one point could not open his beer bottle so he tried to open it by placing the edge of the cap on the TV and was ready to slam his fist on it to open it. Three of us stopped him and opened it for him. He calmed down and a little while later he went over to the BSD to continue playing some $ games. He placed his open beer on the bed and it spilled onto the bed. He played his game and tilted the game when he nudged it. No big deal, I nudge games all the time. I was standing to the left side watching people play my game. I get a lot of enjoyment out of not only playing but watching other people play. After bjsilverballs tilted the game he got pissed off and picked my game up at least 6" off the floor and dropped it. Several of us told him that wasn't cool and he was walked out to the corridor to cool off. knockerlover told me that I'm a snowflake and that these are commercial games and meant to be abused. He also said "Look he's worried that we're going to nudge his game." I told him that I don't care if people nudge my games, but picking them up and dropping them on the floor is not cool. He told me that this is a small industry and I had better watch be careful what I say. bjsilverballs continued drinking beers.
Another guest talked to both of them and said that they should be respectful of other peoples games and be appreciative that someone brought a game to share. knockerlover and bjsilverballs went out to the truck and brought in an Alien and started setting it up. The room was crowded and I was over near the front door where I could not see much. I did see Chad and his wife sitting on the bed between the Iron Maiden and the BSD, maybe three feet from my BSD. knockerlover and bjsilverballs were talking to Chad and his wife and looked back at me and started grinning. A few minutes later the Alien was up and running. knockerlover and bjsilverballs were the only ones playing the Alien. About ten minutes later one of the guests told me that knockerlover and bjsilverballs had stolen the power cord from my game. I told them I wanted it back and they had to turn off Alien. They removed the Alien from the room and knockerlover apologized for "borrowing" the power cord. He didn't apologize for being rude to me or threatening me with his "small industry" comment. I didn't accept his apology.
Quoted from knockerlover:
Yeah bluespin is such a great guy.. that I went out of my way to apologize twice for using his power cord and he still wouldn’t accept my apology.
djreddog helped to move the game in, offered tools, and was part of this whole ordeal. The games were in your room, if there was a problem with what we did, you should have introduced us to the pins actual owner.
Not going to defend whoever “slammed” the game, but Let’s all remember that these are commercial machines.
Thanks to everyone who brought cool games in for free play to share. This is my main objective in the hobby, and try to bring the cool, rare, and nicest games for all to see and play freely.
knockerlover I already covered why I wouldn't accept your apology. Djreddog didn't provide the tools, someone else did. Chad (djreddog) didn't have to tell you who owned the BSD. You knew that I was the owner of the BSD as you made me at least ten offers to buy it that night. You brought the Alien in AFTER another guest told you that you should appreciate that I brought a game to share. You didn't have any plans to bring the Alien to the room until it was pointed out that you didn't bring anything. You brought it in just to show me up.
djreddog You said "Unbeknownst to me, they ended up taking the power cord from the BSD without asking bluespin." My BSD was staged between the two queen sized beds and you were sitting with your wife to the left of my game, three feet away from my game. They pulled my game back and removed my power cord with tools three feet away from you but you didn't see anything? I find that hard to believe.
bjsilverballs You did drop my game. You just don't remember what happened very well. I accept your apology.
knockerlover As far as questioning other people for saying that I'm a nice guy, I have helped hundreds of people with searches for games, hard to find nos parts, etc. here on Pinside and on Facebook. I posted 400+ forum articles with links to project pinball machines in the below forum to help fellow collectors.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/post-project-pins-for-sale-here-cl-ebay-pinside-and-others/page/167#post-4387973
When you take something that doesn't belong to you, without permission, it's called theft not borrowing. If I wasn't told by another guest that someone stole my power cord would I have received it back?
Quoted from Chuckles37:
but it just so happens that I live in Allentown. I had no idea that something like Pinfest was happening in my backyard!
This gave me "chuckles." I live 800 miles away and I knew about it, how could you not know? Make sure to bring one of your games for free play next year Thursday night and you'll get a chance to see the games that will be available before it opens to the public on Friday. Look for two Pinfest threads next year; Pinfest 2018 for general talk about the show, hotel reviews by Pinsiders(!), talk of craft beer being smuggled in from other states, etc., and Pinfest Buy Sell Trade. You can post in the second group that you are looking for specific games and maybe someone can bring a game that you want to the show.
Quoted from MarkInc:
bluespin
Sorry to hear about the drunken abuse. No call for that.
Next year you should seek out the Canadians - we're usually well behaved in public.
We were at the wingate with a couple of machines set up - fun times, no problems.
Thanks for the offer. I might take you up on that.
John,
Thanks for bringing your game to both rooms, I personally greatly appreciated it.
As for the power cord, I never said I didn’t see it happening. It was unbeknownst to me that they didn’t get your permission to use the power cord from BSD. I was under the impression they asked you if it was OK and you told them yes. Other than the slam tilt, I had no idea all the other stuff was going on. My apologies you had to experience this as you certainly didn’t deserve it.
Chad
Chad,
I apologize. I mis-interpreted what you said in your post. I was frustrated and venting quickly in my post. I hope to see you at next year's Pinfest.
John
Quoted from Gatecrasher:
I understand that things happen and machines can break but there were some turkeys in the freeplay area that were turds from the second their owners placed them there. More of a project machine for sale than anything a paying attendee would get any amount enjoyment from playing in the "freeplay" area. These type of machines should have been moved out back to the flea market area to make room for people who actually wanted to support the show and brought working machines but were turned away .
I attend TPF in Dallas and our local SFGE show in Atlanta and found a similar number of turds at TPF, but not as many at SFGE. SFGE has a Facebook page for game bringers and they try to discourage duplicate games coming and ask people to bring titles that are popular, but haven't been pre-registered. They also ask people to give duplicate keys to the Game Manager, who labels the keys and stores them in a small locker like a valet does for cars. They post the show's email box and if someone spots a stuck ball, flipper not working, etc. the general public can report it. They have 1-2 volunteer techs who fix the games all weekend at no charge to keep the games up and running for everyone to enjoy. No need for a simple problem to have a game down all day until the owner notices. The only downside is that you need a system to compensate the techs for parts that they use to fix broken games at shows (coils, coil sleeves, etc.).
This being said, anyone that brings a game and isn't a well known collector in the area will have their game gone over to make sure that it's not a turd that they brought to get free admission and free maintenance. I know because that happened to me last year. 
Quoted from ibuypinballs:
"no good deed goes unpunished" (Proverb) Beneficial actions often go unappreciated or are met with outright hostility. bluespin you have a good heart.
Put a nail in this and start the York 2018 thread.
I had already moved on, but apparently others haven't. Here you go:
I started this forum about the upcoming York show ( 10/12-13 2018) on Pinside:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/white-rose-gameroomyork-show-2017-edition#post-4390663
There is also an existing Facebook group for this show:
https://www.facebook.com/theyorkshow
Quoted from Chnillapoil:
Yeah and when I drink, I forget everything, forgive me please.
I guess it’s a good thing that someone stole your cooler of beers Friday night. Right?
And back to talk about the Allentown pinball show. Anyone know any good hotels to stay at next year????
No
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