....emailing mike to figure out wtf is going on..

He's not usually... something must be up... maybe he got cussed out by hotel for soda sales? hotels like westin are stupidly anal about their corkage charges and exclusivity..

You are just determined for Expo to fail, aren't you Hilton?

Please, stay home next year and relieve yourself of the "downward spiral" that is Expo.

If it sucks so bad, why do y'all keep coming back? In hilton's case I think half the reason is so he can bitch about Mike the rest of the year.

He's both... just depends on the time of year and stress level

The vendor who complained Mike yelled at him while he was breaking the rules by packing stuff up after 5 on saturday... hey genius, you're breaking the rules; expect to get bitched at. What did you want, help loading?? I notice none of the Mike bashers mentioned the end of that story... the guy continued packing after the tongue-lashing with no repercussion whatsoever. No repercussion for the soda sales either, despite the hotel really not wanting that to happen.

If you guys knew half the sh*t Mike has to put up with, between the hotel crabbing about all the crap that goes on, people playing pins in guest rooms, loading via wrong routes, doors propped, undertable soda sales, smokers, etc.. then all the crap he gets from the attendees who are pissed Expo doesn't match their vision of a perfect pinball show... then vendors who bitch about everything.. it's a wonder he bothers putting the show on at all.

For those who say nothing has changed... used to be free play room was closed during banquet - that changed solely due to requests. Free play area is now run by Chicago guys, as a response to complaints about Mike running it in the past. The one fella who complained about his reception in the free play room this year never responded to Andrew's request for more info.. hell, I'm starting to think people just recycle the same ol bad stories over and over. Every year the same people go then complain upon return. Just don't go next year if you don't like the show; it's that easy. Why subject yourself (and us!!) to the annual torment?

When you poll the vendors, ask them if they prefer the banquet, or the hall being open (and them selling stuff) Sat night instead. Per VPCabs comment, the banquet kills the most prime selling time (to local Chicagoans). Solution to thefts might be to reschedule or rework the banquet, as radical as that may sound. You may actually make more proceeds with more and happier vendors that way...

If not that, then cameras... lots of cameras. If we can APB Molly's bully, we can find a thief as well.

30? This is an asinine statement...

You also never said how exactly you were treated horribly at the show... It's easy to parrot dislike for Mike; did he actually do something to you or are you just piling on with vague comments?

Trust me, Mike is no saint, but I see all this general complaining while the only *actual* events seem to be mike yelling at some dude for packing up off hours, and his "joke" to Rob about being banned.

So, Zitt... what did Mike do to you personally to deserve such negativity?

Please don't claim there were LESS machines in the free play area. You KNOW there were more than 30.

More vague bullshit. You know what's rude? Posting crap like this with nothing behind it. Mike didn't do squat to you... you bash him incessantly but all you got is "watched him alienate two vendors" .?? What's worse, Mike allegedly lying to your fellow exhibitors, or you lying right here about there only being 30 games in the hall? You're blatantly lying to deliberately hurt Expo and that's absolute crap.

I'm not defending Mike insomuch as just asking WTF he's done to deserve this shit from you, and it looks like the answer is "not much."

I really appreciate you bringing your game, but not the attitude. Stay home next year, or grow a thicker skin. Gawd, I'd hate to see what happens when you try to order parts from PBR...

I won't defend Mike's behavior (which is sometimes indefensible), but I do see a lot of piling on for past crimes and perceived slights. There have been positive changes, and more can be made.. but cut the guy some slack, he is trying to behave better

Taro looks tired of hotel rooms...

Gene owes Mike a BBB, and is not welcome at Expo til he pays up.

ReplayFX was awesome. Tourney machines were publicly available for about half the show, as soon as qualifying was finished. The rest of the games on the floor generally worked fine... there were a few with issues but what do you expect with 700+? And what do you have against kids?? Those inflatable playrooms were a Godsend for parents who couldn't find a sitter.

I don't recall asking for a dissertation on the issue; I simply answered why Gene isn't welcome at Expo However, I will respond with my own mini-rant: Gene's prices at the no-tell motel were ridiculous, and quality was oftentimes crap. Do you remember his CV playfields that looked like they were printed with a 1990s HP deskjet? I don't think him being absent was a huge loss for Expo, but to each their own.

I think that was less "Ohio" and more "'99 Honda" involved with that rustout.. some of those 80s and 90s Japanese cars would rust sitting in 50% humidity atmosphere. The American cars weren't very reliable but they didn't rust out nearly as bad...