Exactly. I don't end up spending much time in the room since I'm out at the show each day all day. It's nice that they're updating things, but the TV is not an amenity that I use. I'd rather have a fridge

Looks like a cross between Spawn and Venom.

Most hotels have congestion issues on WiFi networks. It's not really avoidable when there are hundreds of guests all trying to stream video or music simultaneously. Then on top of the bandwidth issue, another part of the problem is that most off-the-shelf wireless access points that you would find in an electronics store have trouble communicating when there are 20-30 users connected to it. So, when it comes down to it, you have bandwidth limitations, equipment limitations, and poor network design & management--all of which take a decent amount of money to correct in an environment with a lot of usage. There isn't really a "quick fix", unfortunately.

Purple water?

All days

There were probably at least 25 EM games last year.

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I talked to him a bit at Allentown. I suspect he may turn up for a short while. Visit his website and drop him an email, he seems to be fairly responsive.

Under the exhibitor section:

https://pintasticnewengland.com/exhibitor-2/

Impressive!

Well, I just had the small misfortune of a part blowing apart on my Rescue 911. It's the 30558 neoprene sleeve that joins two couplers for the shaft that drives the helicopter.

PBR is out for vacation the whole week, and I don't have a good way to fix this without the actual part. I can't glue the original part back together since I'm can't seem to find all the pieces and epoxy won't hold on this type of slick/waxy plastic.

Does anyone happen to have this in their parts stash by any chance? I've got just about every other small helicopter assembly part *except* this one

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Well, I ended up pulling my other R911 out of my storage area, and pulled the part off of that one. The two game serial numbers are somewhat far apart, and I noticed several differences between the two games. Namely, one that caused some difficulties: the later R911 that I stole the part from used loctite on two machine screws used to screw the helicopter motor to the playfield (plus two plain wood screws). The earlier R911 just uses four wood screws.

If there's one thing I dislike about System 3 games, it's the loctite that got used on these games. Arg!

Yeah, I've had success with heating up loctited screws as well. I wasn't in a very good position to set up a soldering iron, and brute force seemed to work on these particular screws, luckily.

Now I'm just wondering if I should reinforce this part somehow to help prevent it from breaking.

I don't think I know anyone locally with a 3D printer.

Besides, this part gets put under a lot of stress. I'm not sure that a consumer grade 3D print would hold up.

In any case, for a long-term solution, I would go with what PBResource has available. It's just that since they aren't open this week, I didn't have that option before this week's show happens.

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I think it appeared when I went back later in the day, but I wasn't really looking for it.

Here it is as of this morning

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It showed up around 3pm or so.

I had a chance to play it. It made a big difference

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11PM and still going strong

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Once you hit some of the modes, that's when it starts to shine.

It was a great line of pins that many people enjoyed. I'm still amazed at the number of games you bring.

Final audits:

Rescue 911: 639 (went down around 8pm on sat due to a helicopter mech malfunction)
Hulk: 1159 (stayed up until the bitter end)

I was shocked at the number of plays on hulk.

Unfortunately, that many plays in this short span of time seems to have done a number on the condition of this game I'm a little crushed about this since it was such a fine example. There is some wear developing on the top of some of the inserts.

Before:

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After:

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It's a common wear area on this game, unfortunately.

I had a good time. It was good to catch up with everyone. Thanks to everyone who participated in the show and helped to make it a success. See ya'll at the next show!

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While that initially sounds like a good idea, the alcohol from it on peoples' hands may quickly start wearing off the paint around the flipper buttons on games.

Water was everywhere, not just on the sinks. When walking over from the sinks to the paper towel dispenser one time, I skidded and almost lost my balance.

Several of them appeared to be. Where the recordings will actually pop up, I have no idea. I'd suggest searching youtube next weekend for pintastic or pintastic 2017.

I've restored more than a few games with obvious signs of drink spillage on the inside.

It started in the vendor hall, then moved to the VIP room, and now back again to the vendor hall.

I didn't really think congestion it was too much of a problem there. I think most of it was because of people clustered around the new games in automated's booth.

http://pinballsaratoga.com

Any weekend before or after July 4th might be better than having it start day after the holiday.

Would it be better to alternate rows? For each aisle, have one row of EMs and one row of SS? That would still group the games, but could alleviate some foot traffic by not having SS games on both sides of an aisle.

It seems like we need more rooms for the show

I saw a lot of games moving. Certain titles just didn't seem to be "in" this year.

I was hoping for some of the same. Sadly, I basically went home empty handed this year

You may have left the house, but I just saw you were still fixing pins LOL!

Oh, I'd probably do the exact same thing.

Good to hear you were able to help

I spent most of my time at the show in the free play areas, in the vendor area, in seminars, rummaging in the flea market (such as it was), and chatting with other pinball enthusiasts. There was plenty to do. It is what you make of it.

I like going to Allentown for what that show has, and I like Pintastic for what that show has. Each show has it's own unique flavor and focus. The Saratoga show has a few interesting EM titles registered, and I'm interested to see what other games get registered in the coming weeks.

If you were into EMs, there seemed to be nice selection of EMs at Pintastic. If you're into early solid state, alphanumerics, DMDs, or the latest and greatest games, it was all there. There were even 3 homebrew/re-themed custom games. There were several of the popular favorites, as well as some rarities that you don't see often. There was a nice variety.

On top of that, there are fun family-friendly things there outside of pinball-related activities (though I didn't really take advantage of these myself, I saw plenty of people having a blast).

This show is the expo of the northeast. I'm really glad it's here. There is always room for improvement since no show is perfect, but I had a really great time every year that I've attended so far, and I'm very much looking forward to next year.