Oh man, I'm glad I wasn't the only one. That was so ridiculous. You could hear that damn thing from almost anywhere in the show SMH. I was playing the WOZ just a few games away and it sounded like it was at full blast, just starting to distort. Yikes

Carpet at the pinball show PLEASE oh it makes such a difference when you're running around for 8-13 hours/day.

One of us! One of us! Join us in the prewar club
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/pre-war-club-1930-1939

You get this at almost every nerdcon, alas. SHOWER EVERY MORNING, PEOPLE!!!

In the tournament area Wizards entrants got 25 plays to be spent across 15 machines. There were 160 entrants so the average is 267 plays. Some will get more, some less. Finals adds an average of about 2 plays to that total so about 269 qualifying plays for games in the Wizards event. Add in a few for testing on Thursday evening and the Texas Takedown on Sunday.

Classics was 240 players, 8 entries apiece, spread among eight games. Average qualifying plays 240, plus a few for finals and Texas Takedown.

Tournament games held up pretty well. I think we only had to pull Xenon permanently and it was replaced with Sinbad Grand Tour had an issue that required an unobtainium part. It went down but Louis was working on it, don't recall if he was able to get the part or not.

First time for me and had an absolute blast.

Oh, the joys of people being Petri dishes. Chemical warfare people would have a field day.

No worries, that's a massive upgrade.

Had a great time once again this year, so glad the show was finally back! Nice variety of older games I don't see often but I was surprised like others not to see some of the newer sterns. Now I want a ghost and goblins arcade machine so thanks to whoever brought that one. Can't wait for next year.

Because none of the games will fit in my SUV..

and also want to say there was definItely a lot of good..
plenty of RUSH, MANDO, CACTUS C, ALIEN, and SPOOKY games to try out..
I did leave with a grocery list of games to buy (some again) thanks to the ability to try them out again..

Also just now waiting to see when COVID symptoms begin.. so far none..

For the record; I brought *5* games ... and only used 3 badges.

I'm honestly curious... those "voicing concerns" about bringing machines to the show and having them not work...
how many of you actually brought games?

If you just came for the show without bringing a game... it's my opinion; you can just shut the hell up.
As a exhibitor who brings games to every TPF and Houston show... I can tell you that complaining about broken machines - while justified feels pretty damn empty when you spent zero effort to support the show in any meaningful way.

Sometimes stuff breaks and even with all the vendors on the show... it's impossible to keep them running as most vendors did not sell repair parts like coils or transistors or whatever.

If you brought a game and it are still complaining; then all right.
Else; put up or shut up.

Some people support the show by flying in from thousands of miles away and spending a good amount of money on tickets and merch. Bringing games simply isn't feasible for many people. That doesn't take away their right to comment. Sure, some comments may come off as ungrateful but blanket statements like yours are just dumb.

You're welcome, I'm glad you liked it! I'm glad to finally have both in my collection and was even more happy to be able to bring both to the show. I honestly wasn't sure if I would be able to make the repairs to CC in time and it was a walk in at 2:30pm on Friday.

Nope.
Support that You consume, and "buy stuff" comes off as ungrateful and empty.
I work my ass off for this show... I don't appreciate people with your opinion bitching that "broken games" are not acceptable.
If you can't provide games at the show; then don't come. Really.
(I'm sure that the orgs don't feel the same... but this is my opinion and while it might be unpopular - it's my real answer. Put up or shut up)

I bring 6 games each year to Pincinnati... you're welcome to come next year, play and critique them as much as you want. Won't hurt my feelings a bit

Congratulations! You just bankrupted the show. Reminds me of the ol' Levi axiom, "if Pinside ran Stern, they'd be out of business in a month."

Wish more people would bring in games to shows. In the past I have arranged games bought in the states to be available for free play. Bought my first new Stern CSI pin at TPF way back. People mostly complain about the poor playing condition games that constantly show up to gain free admission. They cannot be bothered to fix & repair them to good playing condition to survive non stop play. Or they do not set to free play & frustrate people that walk up to play. Thanks to the people that bring good working games or new ones for people to play & enjoy!

It takes a cooperative effort from many, many people to make any show a success. TPF would be a small show indeed if only a few hundred people showed up to admire each other’s games.

Some games break and cant be fixed at the show, its a given, but some people bring broken games to get in free or get into the after hours party. Flame me, downvote me but its the truth.

I agree. Most people bring games that are in good working order but some clearly don’t care. To me it seems so much easier to buy a pass then lug a non working game to a show for a free pass.

I think most people understand that games break and sometimes it’s a part that isn’t on hand or something that would require a tear down. Doing a major repair isn’t that feasible during show hours with the crowds. It’s the games that show up in clearly poor unmaintained condition that is disappointing.

I appreciate the effort it takes to bring one game let alone many and so do other collectors and players.

I flew in from D.C. on Friday and went 2 of the 3 days. I was really happy with what was there, both new games and old, including the AWESOME mirror universe Bally ST (I see you Zitt !)

I don’t know what the show has been like in past years but it blew away in terms of games what I’m used to.

Seemed less crowded this year to me. Did seem like less pins in the exhibit room - but I wasn't counting. We were able to get on any game with just a minimal wait - except for some guy that was waiting to play some designer? I don't know the details, other than it was the only Godzilla not being swamped, and this guy was parked on it, not playing, waiting for some dude to stop signing autographs so he could play him. Minor irritation - and i understood - but still.
One of the many highlights for me was the Stern Freefall. Met the owner - can't recall his name - but that was beautiful and played like a champ the whole weekend. Our group put quite a few games on it for dollars.
I enjoyed the P3 Weird Al - and I've not enjoyed any of their other games. It did seem to me to have a better feel than the Lexi game. Was fortunate to play it Sunday afternoon when it was much less noisy, so was able to enjoy a song or two - definitely added to the experience.
Overall another terrific weekend, thanks to all the folks that work so hard to put it together and see you next year.

Easy fix, rent a minivan like I've done multiple times in the past. Can get 2-3 pins in. I've done it from Tucson twice now. It's a pain, long days (15 hours of driving straight through) and still need to be back at work on Monday. You can be part of the solution.

This is true, I have seen multiple examples of beater games on the floor for sale that didn't work from day 1. Unfortunately there are always going to be some people that take advantage of the free weekend pass deal if you bring a game and they seem to think the on site techs work for free. They do not.

Next year I will be bringing my Xenon and Taxi, both will be freshly restored.

Flaming drama much?
I don't run the show. My opinion is my own. I didn't do anything to bankrupt anyone.
But I get it; you love the drama and want to create more.

Again, to me .. this is much preferred to these ungrateful self indulgent arse hats that want to bitch about 40 yr old games breaking down under the stress of 100s of games by abusive competitive players doing slap saves.
Yes... I personally witnessed this behavior

And that was true...I was really hoping to win something this time around...4 other tries, and now I got it! I was beginning to feel like Susan Lucci! Frank and I had a grand time with all of you! I must have had 30 or more people tell me they got into Pinball collecting because of my videos! I signed 150 trading cards and ran out! Hope to see you in Allentown PA for Pinfest in May and Pintastic in June in Massachusetts! Thanks again to all that voted for me! Todd

Looking forward to seeing you again Todd! Glad you came away with some gold. We love your humor, enthusiasm and positivity. Thanks for chatting with us and doing the group photo out front of the convention center.

Thank you...and yes, I tried to make time with everyone who came up to me (or I stumbled into!)

Slap saves don't break games.

This is true..I saw several times when Todd was ready to retire for the night and was stopped several times on his way and not once did he seemed rushed to get away. He took whatever time the person wanted to chat.

Count me in as one that got into pinball partially because of your video's. I used to watch just two pinball related shows on YouTube. TNT and John's Arcade. Both were very informative and entertaining.

I had a great time at TPF. I'm so glad the show survived being cancelled for two years. It came back with full strength! I got to hangout with some great guys and gals I'm happy to call friends.

I played some amazing pinball machines and got to see my buddy Cary Hardy walk away with the Best in Show award (even though he cried like a little girl....I kid...I kid) It was very emotional for him, hell I even got chocked up a bit. I was very happy to see him win. I know it meant a lot to him and he had a ton of time invested in his Getaway pin.

My friend Lonny Payne won the award for best Arcade Game for his Target Zero. You couldn't miss it if you attended the show. It was prominently displayed right in the front and was the size of a refrigerator! Lonny has some incredible talent restoring pins and arcade machines.

I was lucky enough to win two awards myself. Best 90's pin for my Data East Lethal Weapon 3 and runner up for best 70's Solid State pin for my Stern Lectronamo. I hope some of you got a chance to play it.

A big shout out to Ron Pennington for his two pins he restored and brought to the show. It was an amazing Nitro Ground Shaker and his Frontier pin. If you saw them at the show and got a chance to play them you know what I mean.

Looking forward to next year already!

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Played that one Saturday night.
Nice game. well deserved.

Never said it did.
But my game; my rules. and it was more aggressive than a slap save... as I actually had someone point it out to my while I was standing there observing his antics.
Respect other peoples property... not hard to do. But the show was full of people who can't do that. (RE: Happy Hour at the hotel vs thieves)

That Target Zero was awesome, definitely a unique game.

Great show! I love seeing the homebrew games. Elf was a highlight for me, that game was rad!

Overall, I enjoyed the show. The organizers did a great job and things went on smoothly.

But it seemed much more crowded with a line at every single working machine compared to 2019.
Friday was bad.
Saturday was worse, but Sunday was better.
I would be interested to know the statistics concerning the number of machines and attendees compare to past years.

Many machines were turned up way too loud, especially the group of Guns and Roses games and the BK2K. They just drowned out everything else.

Almost everyone was friendly and helpful. The exception being the heckling of the guy from Mirco at his presentation. That was not the time or place. It was obvious after the first guy asked a polite question about the issue that he would not or could not (legally) address the issue. The subsequent hecklers were just embarrassing themselves and wasting everyone's time. He was at his booth the whole weekend. Ask him your questions there. Fortunately, Jersey Jack gave a respectful and informative answer about the same issue.

I agree if this behavior is intentional. However, on some games that my daughter and I were trying to play a 2-player game on, it was not clear that the second push of the Start button was registered. Nothing obvious showed on the display to indicate 2 players, so I pushed Start again and ended up with 3 players. This happened on some of the P3 games and a couple others I can't remember. It was not intentional, but still happens.

Awesome pics NashtyFunk
I was the Deadpool ❤️
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Great show, I Hope TPF will always be there. Being from NY it would be nearly impossible to support with games, I did Support with my wallet. There were small things i bought that i have no use for just to give a vendor 25 bucks. Thank you to all that brought games they were all working well when i played and i did play alot of games. It takes a great amount of passion to swap a playfield, re-do a cabinet and put 10,000.00 and 100s of hours into a game and then let people play it at will, i know because I’ve done it. Thanks to all the gave anything to make TPF happen this year, cant wait to go again. Next up, Allentown, Then Pintastic.

It was worth the trip this year just to "say hi" to Mirco.

worked Expo last year...^ this is very true

Gotta say, I had a blast. Thanks for the name tag, gexchange! I'll be wearing that around to other shows in the future. A little overwhelming at times since I’m a little on the introverted side, but I’m glad to have met a bunch of you guys live and in person. Is it weird to say that I was kinda star struck meeting Steve Ritchie and some of the other guys I've only ever interacted with behind a keyboard? Either way, it was terrific fun. Thanks for creating a weekend I'm already nostalgic for.

At some point, all the pinball shows start to feel the same, but TPF had a totally different vibe than my "home" shows do in York and Allentown. People seemed to have brought games they were proud to show off. I got that same atmosphere at Pincinatti as well. Thanks to everyone who brought their pride and joy games for us all to enjoy!

Obligatory selfie with the DeLorean

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Only on the modern internet can a topic about a fun show that we all adore become a toxic brew of insults and gotcha comments.

Well done Pinsiders, well done indeed.

On a positive note, I had a great weekend with my 14yo and many friends.

My personal C-37 and Astro held up well. The game selection was outstanding.

Personal highlights for me were:
Butch Peel / CGC talk
Lord of the Game Room booth
Cactus Canyon Remake
Weird Al
Halloween - my first play but I think I like the ultra man theme better
Fun / Marco booth
Hard Eight BBQ (twice)

I personally love the blend of hardcore pinheads and casual locals attending the show. There is room for both and both are needed to have financially successful event.

Well it seems some think it’s heckling. It wasnt heckling its was anger and frustration from poor treatment. My intent on going to TPF was to support a great show, and a great show it was.

Just becaus there are a few negative things doesn’t mean it isn’t a great show.

Does anyone have the free shipping code from Marco? The link expired, but the banner said the code is good until 4/4. Thanks.

Totally agree. I was just commenting on the negative nellies.

I took the survey they were offering but never got a free shipping code. I would also appreciate the code.
Thanks.

Call it what you want but the badgering was indeed heckling and that was not the time or place. Address it with him at the booth or with a lawyer.

Well that's different. Slapsaves are part of normal pinball play, basically that's how you save SDTMs with tight tilts. If someone's rocking the game worse than that, yeah that's disrespectful.