Overall score of this years show a solid B (it was good) 2014-2019 were better shows.
First of all this is MY EXPERIENCE...we are all entitled to our opinions so be nice. These are all observations and MY OPINION. Take it like a grain of salt please.
Pro: There were a few older games from the 80's I had never had a chance to play in either several years.. (Pink Panther, Genie, and a few early 80's sterns that I had never seen before)
Pro: There were some awesome EMs this year and 95% of them playable versus other years when people would bring an unplayable beat up 500 dollar swap meet machine just so they could get in for free. This was so welcoming.
Pro: Far less drunks and rude people then in past years. Far more etiquette was followed. (a breath of fresh air)
Pro: Lots of brand new 2021, 2022 games like Aliens, Godzilla, Rush etc. There were more Rush's, Godzillas and Cactus Canyon remakes than you could shake a stick at. Godzilla was by far the best machine there and I had a blast playing it.
Pro: for the first time ever there wasn't a bunch of machines that I wanted to play but couldn't because they are tournament only. In past years I wanted to cry when I saw a favorite machine or rare machine in the tournament area. I am not a tournament player and I don't want to spend 5 dollars extra just so I can have a chance to play them.
Pro: Friday the right amount of people and not as crowded as past Fridays.
Pro: Ed's Big Smoke ...I am a cigar smoker so 'nuff said
Pro: I always appreciate Ed and his crews hard work every year.
Neutral : The Venue (double edged sword)...I love this venue but they are so greedy with the Stadium prices for their personal pizzas , nachos etc... They Nickle and dime you for parking at 10 dollars a day. I mean this is a suburb (Frisco) not some downtown parking structure. They are so GREEDY...but this was expected and I circumvented this by eating before I came or going across the street to Fever Pitch to have a nice meal at a typical restaurant price. (all in all this is a minor gripe because this venue is tons better than Grapevine shows 2012 and before. And leaps and bounds better than the horrible Anatole 2013 location in downtown Dallas) Like a few have said we might need a bigger venue like the venue in Arlington where they host the Dallas comic con...(just an idea)
Con: I did not like the Tournament upstairs because of personal reasons. I went up there twice looking for friends and the room was STUFFY and hot. I should have used the elevator because of my recent knee surgery. (all in all this is a very minor gripe)
Con: The food trucks were absolute garbage and lacking this year. It was Friday at 5pm and they were out of half of their items. This was the first year the food trucks absolutely sucked since 2013. Saturday 12 noon the same food truck with half of its items gone had only 2 styles of pizza left and nothing else. It was comical.
Con: Too many turned off /broken modern machines (machines from the 90's and early 2000's turned off the whole show. You could walk down a row of machines and 25% of them were turned off both Friday and Saturday. I only saw the Pinsmith ONE time. In past shows machines were very quick to get fixed.
Con: Modern Sterns from 2013-2019,2020 were almost non existent. No AC/DC, Metallica ,Munsters, Black Knight, Batman 66, Medieval Madness remake or Monster Bash remake. There was only one Elvira, Kiss, Led Zeppelin, Tron, Star Trek to name a few.
Con: the lines SUCKED..They sucked so bad I went home from and stayed home from 2pm to 7pm on Saturday. At 7pm (Saturday) the lines were better on most machines except The P3 area with a line longer than a DMV line to play Weird Al.
Con: (for me) Too many vendors. There is so much hall space that some of these smaller vendors could be outside the main hall as you walk in so lines could form better for games. By doing so you could even fit more games instead of changing venues.
Hopkins, MN
Sidcup
