Pics or it didn't happen.

Stop by and see Joe Raptor who is sporting some killer pinball mods from all sorts of folks on his Metallica Pro!
ps- you can also pick up a special Mezel Mods discount code good for show attendees!
:0)
Wish we were there too!

I was not expecting Pinball Circus to be in a playable state, but it is!

Also, Hobbit got a code update today (which caused some pain early on - game was out of commission for a while because the update did not go according to plan.) Looks much more complete than the videos I've seen previously. Looks great. Hope to get a game in tomorrow.

The Big Lebowski is even better than I was expecting, and I was already impressed just by what I'd seen in pics and videos. Beautiful game, and it shoots well, too.

Got a couple of games in on WNBJM, fun game, I enjoyed it.

Fathom as the charity tournament game? Yes please, I don't mind playing the crap out of one of my all-time favorites!

Really wish that gorgeous Flight 2000 was for free play, it is truly a sight to behold.

So many more great games to play in the free play area, need to really make the rounds tomorrow...

Video please

My pics from Friday are here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/91696572@N00/sets/72157651886185449/show/

Chris

I already see a few things I missed today, that I'll need to check out tomorrow.

Was Wrestlemania there?

I noticed on the WWF machine that Hogan is doing the YES! chant. LOL Now I see where Danial Bryan got it from.

No Wrestlemania there. I was hoping to play it.

Is it me, or does it feel like Stern has only sold 12 Wrestlemanias in the whole country?

customer: "Hello mr. distributor, I would like to purchase Wrestlemania."
distributor: "Sorry, but I don't have any used WWF Royal Rumbles left."
customer: "No, no, no, Wrestlemania."
distributor: "Wrestlemania? No seriously, what are you looking for?"

Thks for sharing-tremendously presented.

I thought it was interesting that WWFRR always had a decent number of people around it. Couldn't understand why, but then I wondered if they all thought it was new Stern game.

Pins in the free play area were not as good as last year. Let's hope that changes next year.

I thought there was a nice selection on Friday. Did you attend on Friday?

Not as good how? Condition? Selection? Just curious how you qualify your statement. Also, what day were you there, and which game did you bring?

Chris

My only complaint I had about the show was the smell of the smokers outside of the building was coming in every door. I am very sensitive to the smell of cigarette smoke.
I know, I know, some of you folks here smoke, I'm not making this a lecture nor putting you down.
I only wish they could have asked people not to smoke right at the doorways. There was such a nice little breeze that day that cared right into the building.

Ok Silver U. How does this sound. The Dmd pins in the free play area 90's to present were not as good as last year. Does that sound better for you? Does that qualify my statement?

Guys, completely agree with pingeo. I was disappointed with the games this year also, perhaps the good ones sold the first day?? if that was the case, I am even more ticked off as there should be a policy where games on free play stay until the end of the show, maybe available for pick up after 5pm Saturday. Last year was 100% better and a lot more of the A title games. I think I played 2 games that was half way decent which was Nascar and Baywatch in addition to the games, how about parts?? seems as last year was also better.

The games in the free play area were not nearly as good as last year. Sure Big Lebowski Pinball Circus and the Hobbit were very cool, however the rest not really.

The good highlights: The Big Lebowski and the Hobbit pins were a blast to play! Also a real treat to play that prototype Pinball Circus.

The bad: Didn't care for the indoor fleamarket in the old hall on the left side of the building. It smelled like dirty restroom over in that section all throughout the event. Would have been ticked if I had paid for a spot over there and had to smell that for 2 days straight.

Yes, always go to a show on the first day. Most of the DMD games were gone by the end of Friday.

Honestly, though, if I buy a new game and sink thousands into it, the last thing I'm going to want to do is let it sit there and let others beat on it and put another 200-400 plays on it before I have a chance to clean, wax, check out the machine, and do any necessary preventative maintenance or board bulletproofing.

I was there first thing on fri and there were alot of great pins and deals but I was busy talking till the afternoon and when I went to finally play around 330 alot was gone

It absolutely does, thank you

I am sorry you were disappointed. I was there both days, and yes, Friday WAS the better day for the sheer amount of machines. I am guessing you were there on Saturday? I still thought there was a good number of games (DMD included) there on Saturday, but I left at 3 so I can not comment after that point.

I had Pinball Magic there on Friday. If I hadn't had to leave early on Saturday, I would have kept it there. Which brings me back to my other question....You have 8 later model DMD games. Did you bring one? Not being sassy with this question whatsoever. The show survives because people bring games for others to enjoy. If YOU had this thought that the machines were not as good, likely others did too.

I would just rather be part of the solution rather than complain about the problem. Again, not a dig at all, just the way I think. Where are you located? You're welcome to come by and have a beer, and play some games (although mine are not the A titles that you have).

Chris

This IS a policy. 7pm on Friday, and 5pm on Saturday. Dealers are exempt and you can pay $25 and remove early. Maybe that happened more this year? Not sure, you'd have to ask Ivan, but there ARE controls to try to limit the amount of games that are being removed.

Chris

I had more of a problem with the people shitting their pants all over the place. I didn't even notice the smoke and I used to be a smoker.

Funny you say that because my wife kept asking me (was that you). She did not believe me until she smelled it a couple of times when I was not around.

It was me . . . sorry

That's too funny.

The show survives because people bring games for others to enjoy.

This is so true, every year I make a point to bring at least one game. Next up for me will be the New England show. I hope everyone makes a point to attend this show at least one day, it's a good chance to bring the kids/family. We need to get the next generation involved. I plan on bringing bone busters. It won't be for sale, but it will be there just to support the show.

Listen guys. Ivan already heard all the complaints and already thinking about ways to improve next year. Games are being sold from the minute they get set up on the floor and there is nothing stopping the buyer from paying $25 extra to pull it out early.
We are trying to get people to keep their games in free play for the entire day but it just doesn't happen. Some people just come to the show to look for a game, find it, and want to leave right away. Others want to pack up and head home early. No matter what we try, sh1t happens, games get pulled out early, and it leads to people getting pissed off.
Friday, every row was packed with pins. We filled in every available slot and ran out of power. If more games would have shown up we had a reserve section we were going to use. Of course by friday night some pins started to go.
Saturday morning we had some issues with people packing up their pins and leaving by 10am.

It is up to "you" to make the show what it is or will be.

Ivan and his crew just did a fantasic job. I could tell he was getting a bit stressed, but everything seemed to go perfect. I brought 5 pins for sale/freeplay, I abided by the rules and when I sold
a pin, I encourgaged the buyer to leave in on freeplay for the rest of the day. All did. I left my pins
up until the end Saturday, and it paid off, Sold my Flash just before I was ready to fold it. So it does
pay to leave them running, I sold 4 out of 5 pins. I did feel bad for how few pins were running Sat by 3 . I hope they collected a lot of $25.00 early withdrawl fee's. This was my first time bringing pins in. I'll do it again for sure. Hats of to Ivan and his crew, great job guys

Thanks Cole. Bone Busters is a great pin and addition to the show. And wait till you see all the things we are having at our show for the kids. Our focus is to do EXACTLY what you stated. Open the hobby up to the kids. Bring them in and expose them to the amazing world of pinball. Let them see that video games are great, but nothing compares to what goes on inside a pinball machine and how much fun they are.

So we have invested thousands on entertainment for the kids. It's unorthodox for a pinball show, but very relevant for getting kids to fall in love with the hobby and keep it alive and well for generations to come. That is our main focus with Pintastic. PLUS, our hotel is part of the convention center. Your family never has to move from your parking spot. And the hotel's property is on a spring fed lake with a beautiful beach that has a pub restraint on it and volleyball, horseshoes, bocce and even paddle boats and mini golf right on the property. So your whole family will have a ball, even if they DON'T want to play pinball with dad for the whole weekend. They'll have plenty of other stuff to do. There's even an indoor pool and hot tub too.

Thanks again, and I look forward to meeting you (and everyone) in July.

We met many times at Pinfest, I've just started working with pin grapphix as a tech. I think what you guys are doing is great and I plan on being there with pin grapphix. We are waiting for the new plAyfield to be sent for Metallica so that will be at the show also. i can't wait, we only have two months to prepare, but I look forward to this new show.

I was set up in the flea market area and I know when I talked to Ivan he was a little upset with some machines leaving early. He was telling me he had sold several of his own machines and refused to let anyone take them out early because he wanted to lead by example.

What people need to understand is there is only so much that anyone can control. People are nice enough to bring their machines to a show to be played but not everyone can stay both days of a show so some machines do leave early.

One idea I might try is to bring some machines just for Saturday and that way my machines will replace some of those that leave. Maybe if more people would bring machines just for Saturday it would make the show better? Just a thought!

Perhaps Ivan could do something to give people incentive to bring games for Saturday. Maybe a drawing with a "free game" and only put people into the drawing that bring game for Saturday or something. I am not suggesting he give away a $2000 machine or anything but if he were to give away a $400 or $500 machine and the only people in the drawing were the few people who brought machines just for Saturday it could make the show much better on Saturday. And the odds of winning a free machines would likely be 50 to 1 or better because I doubt if more than 30 or 40 people would bring a machine just for Saturday. Just a thought!

And to make things even more interesting maybe Ivan could buy that give away machine off the floor Friday (like they do at the Carlisle Car Shows - they buy next years give away vehicles at this years shows). I know this would add an additional expense for Ivan but it would likely end up making Saturday better in the long run bringing more people through the door Saturday.

I think 25.00 is too cheap, make it 250.00. Also if a game has to leave early on Saturday because of life events, Ivan should be notified ahead of time and there should be an area towards the back where only those games are set up. This way when they are removed there is not a bunch of empty spots in the middle of the rows. I was very happy with the show, I had no issues on Saturday playing games.

Oh heck no.

You're basically holding machines hostage then. The $25 fee basically recoups admission, which is reasonable.

With a fee set to a ridiculous amount, you're simply going to have people walk out the door with machines anyway without paying the fee, because, well, they own the machine and not the show. There's no way to enforce it, and I'm sure the threat of banning from a show won't hold any water either when faced with paying that much.

Sounds like a reasonable approach if it can be coordinated properly. Keep in mind--lots of folks probably didn't pre-register their machines and instead, just showed up.

make the fee $50. payable upfront/ refundable if game stays in free play for the shows duration if new owner wants to take the game and leave, the seller adds the $50. into price or new owner saves $50. by leaving the game the duration of the show, it has to have a little bite to it to work $25. just does not
not have much bite. or separate the for sale games from the free play non for sale games and charge accordingly !

Charging/increasing fees is just going to make folks bitter about the process. It's a stick and not a carrot.

There needs to be a small perk to encourage people to keep games on the free play floor, not just some sort of punitive measure for removing them.

This year was my 11 th allentown in a row, plus I attended and brought games to both of Ivan's november shows. It really comes down to the simple fact that the people who are bringing the games need to decide to make it a rule that it stays. Make it a rule, only the original person who brought the game can leave early, if your the buyer you should have to wait till the removal time.its always going to be pot luck, the show relies on volunteers.

What you could do is take all the $25s that were collected for leaving early. At the end of Saturday....the people with games remaining on the floor at say 7'oclock are entered into a drawing...the winner gets whatever that cash amount is.

Maybe a 50/50 could add to that amount.

This way there's no out of pocket expense for the show..and people have incentive to hang around

I think the reason behind 25.00 is that you get free admission for bringing a game, if your game is removed early you have to pay a fee for show admission.

Increase the door price a couple of bucks, so by the end of the show the 2 dollar extra charge covers the cost of one of the machines for sale. Promoter buys it and raffles it off to people who stayed until the end with their machines. 1 chance per machine they brought that stayed. Winning ticket gets the machine. I would assume there would be 1500.00 towards a machine.

Is this fee paid by the seller or buyer? If it's the buyer then you're essentially making him pay twice, once for show admission and once to remove his new game.

It's paid by whoever is actually removing the game. So if the buyer walks out with it, they pay.

But normally I'd say it's not the seller. When I've sold games, as soon as cash changes hands, keys change hands, and it's not my game any more.

That's a really good idea.