Ahhh gotcha. Was just at SFGE and felt like almost every machine on the floor was for sale!

Nope, Pinburgh is still in the main hall... we just have all three halls now.

Much better chance to buy a game you actually want by prearranging a purchase with a fellow Pinside member in the parking lot or, close to the show.

Never been there ... trying to figure out if it is worth the road trip and 2 nights at the hotel. If you read between the lines, it seems that some are implying that it is not that great for pinball. For those that have gone in years past, let me know your opinion. These are the other shows we have gone to:

Chicago Expo - loved it, mostly for the vendor hall (got to see and pick up a few higher priced mods and things) and the opportunity to play the new pins, also for a few of the seminars, Pinball Life party (near by) and the other social gatherings. Seems to have started to go downhill the past few years, but as attendees we still enjoyed it.

Ohio pinball show (near Akron) - was "okay" previous years, but this last year was pretty bad and we felt not worth the money for the trip and hotel for 2 nights. The few pins that were there disappeared quickly. Very few vendors, primary fun was playing the new pins and the pins from the cincy group that stayed there while we were there.

VFW show in Ann Arbor - super great pinball show for "playing" pinball. That is the sole purpose of going to this one. Love it, and it is very local to us. Had a blast, 400+ pins don't disappear!

Pinball at the Zoo - Good for playing pinball, machines start to disappear mid day on Saturdays though, wish more vendors would show up but still got some stuff I wanted and played some really nice pins. Overall worth it, but within a day's trip so we didn't have to get a hotel.

MGC show - a little different variety for us with the general gaming target kind of show. Had a good time with the pinball machines, lots of general gaming vendors, was a good change of pace (even though we aren't addicted to much more than pinball). Some vendors were selling some junky stuff, but some were pretty artistic kind of things. Playing pinball and new pins was the main focus and a good time. We picked up some things from vendors there that we normally would not see at other shows.

So ... with these reviews of previous shows that we were at during this last year, do you think we would like this one? Guessing that it is most similar to the MGC show. Would NIB pinball distributors/vendors be there with their new pin line ups? Is the player to pin ratio reasonable, or are there always lines (like I heard was at the Texas show)? We just want to get a general review of the show from people who have attended before as there isn't much chatter about it, and more downplaying the pinball side of the show than building it up it seems.

They are just doing this to try to trick non-pinball people into going to the show!

It's a a huge pinball event with other stuff window dressing that they add more to every year. There are a ton of games to play, and most of the new stuff will be there thanks to distributors. If you are the type that likes to bitch about stuff they've got you covered there too - several hundred of the games will be off limits during the tournament - however by saturday evening you'll be able to play those too.

Lines? WHo knows...there's always people who want to play the brand new stuff. If you just want to play pinball or video games, you won't have to wait.

If your primary interest is buying/selling pin parts, mods, or games, ReplayFX is not where you should be. It has little of that action.

If your primary interest is playing games, ReplayFX is terrific. Hundreds of pins and vids, quite a bunch of them uncommon or rare, along with most if not all new pins. Also an insane number of console games if you’re into that. Almost none of the games leave the floor until the show closes.

Fun show vibe too, with bands, carnival attractions, cosplayers, etc.

I would never go to Replyfx if I was not playing in the tournament.

I would do TPF, Banning, MGC for a travel show.

That said, if you can get into the tournament, there is not much better out there for a great time.

If you want to play 500+ pins, 400+ video games, 2000+ console titles, hundreds of board games, you'll probably like it.

We use about 300 pins for Pinburgh and most of those are opened up to the rest of the show by Saturday. It's a spectacle unlike any of the shows you've mentioned above, but I'm slightly biased.

Edit: never mind...

These help with my confusion on it after I have read through the 400+ posts. I have a better picture of the pinball part of it now, thanks! It's best to know this upfront then complain about it and annoy CrazyLevi more.

We are just mediocre pinball players, but we are working on it to have more diverse skills to be able to get past a couple of tournament rounds. Since the tournaments are full anyway, it looks like our plan would be to travel Friday, get there mid-day, play what games we can play, annoy Joe at the Pinball Star booth for a while, then take in the "spectacle" of the rest of the show, bands etc. We would concentrate on Saturday for the serious Husband vs. Wife pinball battles and blame the pinball designers when we both have bad games (but not here on Pinside of course). Then Sunday pick up a used HUO pin somewhere on the way home. Sounds like a plan. Thanks for the responses. Looks like it could be interesting and fun.

My guess is that you would get in. Plans change for a lot of people over the course of the year.

The show is more than worth the trip even if you don’t get in. So much to do. Plus you have the intergalactic tournament too.

Would Sunday morning be a good time to attend for access to pins that would normally be tied up in tournaments?

Hell yeah. Or Saturday night.

Much appreciated - been interested in Dirty Harry but never played one. Looks like a couple will be there but if I am reading the app correctly they are both dedicated to Pinburgh.

This was the news I was waiting for. Thank you Joe for giving some of us our first chance at these titles!

As soon as round 10 ends on Friday night (around 10:30pm?), all the pins in the tournament are open to everyone.

Out of those 250ish pins, around 50 are set aside for A/B/C/D/E division finals. The other 200 are available all day Saturday. Once finals are over on Saturday, those 50 games are now available to play, in addition to the other 200.

TL;DR Most of pins used in the tournament are available from about 10:30pm on Friday and onward for the rest of the weekend.

It appears that there are no more rooms available on the room blocks for the weekend in the links on the website. Are there any plans to add rooms to the room blocks? Or are we on our own to find a hotel from here on out?

The app has not been updated with the games for this year's show yet.

No more rooms will be added for the room blocks. There are plenty of rooms in the area available though.

Looks like there will be more vendors this year. Unfortunately not many Pinball parts/mods vendors.

They are dwindling. Add Wydham downtown to the list of places now sold out.

I suspect many rooms will become available in the days leading up to the show but for now it's pretty spartan and expensive offerings in the immediate area.

Any word on a preshow pickup for passes again this year?

Last year was in the bar, previous was at the hotel we need not name.

It was very nice not having to lineup the morning of day 1.

*Crosses fingers for setup in the Omni*

As far as individual games played, you would actually play more if you weren't in the tournament. Four player games with some of the best players in the world tend to take a while. And even when the tournament isn't happening it isn't hard to find an open table. It's a good time and an amazing spectacle for everyone who attends. They even have bouncy castles.

More frequent wait list updates would be great. There are a lot of people on the outside hoping to get a spot.

There will be a preshow pickup location on Wednesday this year. It will be the same location all day to reduce confusion. Details are in the process of being arranged.

This would be awesome. Hopefully news soon.

And as mentioned... Omni I would be great

The front entrance has a massive lobby and lots of space to set up.

if you are thinking about going - damn well go! there is no other place like it. Also big thanks to the vendors who are coming - really appreciate your support.

Neil.

Can't update the wait list if no one is dropping out....

Can update the list to show it's current as of a more recent point in time... (tho I believe they just updated this week)

If the top 130 or so could drop out on the wait list, that would be great.

I’ll be there and if I don’t get in I will play games and help those local players who are going for the first time.

if no one has dropped out in the past month then the list would still be current at the most recent point in time, right meow... they arent going to ask people on the wait list if they are going to come if there is not a spot open for them. I think we are just seeing the desire for people to attend this event and not bow out.

I thought you already made it???

He did but others we are driving down with are close to getting in.

You missed the point.

As a reader, you don't know if the list hasn't changed because there are no changes... or simply because they've been slow to update the page. Putting a update status on it, even if there are no changes, resolves that quandary.

Especially since the folks involved don't like setting expectations of frequency or deadlines... just 'it will be done before its needed'

When nothing needs to change it doesn't get updated. It seems unnecessary to post "nothing has changed".

^this

This is the first pinball or arcade show that we’re attending (yes, my wife likes pinball). We registered early, and could have entered the tournament, but decided not to. We plan to spend Saturday at the show, and then go out to dinner. Maybe we’ll return? I was hoping to pick up some mods while I was there. It sounds like that might not happen. Did I pick a bad “first” show? If it goes poorly it’s unlikely I’ll get my wife to attend another.

If you like playing pinball, you picked a great show. Replay will have close to 600 pins to play (plus everything else going on). When Saturday rolls around there will be less than 90 games tied up for Pinburgh finals and those will free up as the day goes on and the divisions wrap-up play.

Neo?

Tell him to go. He is close enough that I bet he makes it on the day of.

Yet... the public tells you otherwise by their uncertainty over if the page is 'current'. It's a simple communication problem that is created by the lack of confidence in the state of the information. You beat that by building confidence that what the users sees is current.

Is Saturday or Sunday AM the best time to go for a few of us wanting as many games available as possible in free play?

Sunday AM

The only difference is the 12 game banks used for finals. If I had to guess, Saturday will have around 400 pins open to all, and Sunday will have around 440 pins open to all.

Saturday will be open several hours longer than Sunday, if you’re able to make a full day of it. Saturday also has a super fun vibe, with the Pinburgh finals, bands playing, etc. But Saturday is also likely to have the highest number of attendees wandering around playing games.

I did that last year and had a great time helping out the Michigan players. Gave out game tips and answered questions. Will likely do the same this year.

I believe the posting of a last updated DATE was the request so could get an idea when the list was last changed.