Thursday's are for setting up and working on machines. As they get set up most people who bring the machines are fixing small issues they had before they left for the show, or as we all know,issues that happen in transit. If you want help with LEDs go over to the coin taker booth Melissa or Chris are always happy to help.

Just saying, I wouldn't bring a machine that wasn't working. I know there are good people at the show who would help, but what would I do, set it up non playing and hope someone would help? If I knew there was a help area, I would bring 2 machines at the very least, even if someone just looked at them and advised me what they thought the problem was. Plus vendors would be there with parts. imagine the business rottendog could do in a day if they were there and could help set up their boards if someone needed one.

I bought 4 bulbs from cointaker. Yes, they were very helpful, but it took looking at another machine like mine that had LEDs to get inspired. Then I had to carefully look over the display board to decide which ones I wanted. If I had the machine with me, I would have bought 2 dozen bulbs. I know it sounds assanine, but I'm not an expert and I don't have tons of money. Slow and steady. Just spitballing some ideas.

also, if there was a designated fixing area, someone could bring a machine and if they found out it was too much to repair, they could sell it right there. It would only make the show bigger in my opinion.

isn't just wonderful that I am being called a dope because I brought a good friend who likes pinball and happens to be attractive ! her name is faith and she worked at the pingraffix/ Rock Fantasy booth on Friday ! she usually attends the fest each year and helps me out with my booth . and yes she owns a pinball !
I own Rock Fantasy Concert Shop /pinball Room in Middletown New York. we sponsor the annual tournament each year ! and we organized the pinfest pinball tournament for two years when Brian Smith stopped doing it !
ps
I am not john pop either lol ! wonder why I hardly ever go on Pinside anymore !

now to the show ! I picked up the super rare Midway Mystery Score ! and Ivan's Abra Cadabra em !
and why do you bring the Spooky Rob Zombie pinball and put it on such a low volume ! I know the come with Michael Pupo's Flipper Fidelity system installed ! and congrats to Timmy Sexton on Winning the big Pinfest tournament Saturday ! nuff said Keeler out !

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My post #1968
"Just a note about the 2 women. First the leather clad tatooed one. She knows what she looks like, hey, if you got it, flaunt it. No harm in that. She brought a smile to my face. Its not like she was in body paint posing for pictures in times square. I think she was at a vendor table and said hello as I was looking at items. Made my day"

Damn, i missed her!! I was was there on Saturday. Enjoy her presence.

I love that she was giving a shocker. Somebody put her in next years pinball pinup calendar.

Did anyone else but some new glass at the show, specifically the new translight glass and have an issue with it fitting in their machine? He said the glass was for WPC games but once I put the plastic sides on it would not fit in my Indiana Jones, Addams, TOM or Funhouse.

Some well thought out suggestions!

I bought a translight glass for my TAF. Haven't put it in yet. I'll do it when I get home today and let you know.

Whoever called you a dope is an idiot. I wish more pretty girls would come to shows.

I bought a translite glass and put it in my AFM with no issues.

I didn't buy translite glass at this year's show, but I did a few years back and ran into the same issue. Its cut too wide and could never use it
Haven't tried taking it to a local glass shop yet, anyone think the translite glass could be cut down or is it tempered and unable to be?

Whoa! Cool! I never even knew that game existed. I wish I could have played it. Looks like I'll have to come visit.

Tempered, can't be cut.

Crap! Afraid that was the case. How about grinding down / polishing one side enough to make it fit?

Uhhhh... is she really flashing the "two for the pink, one for the stink" sign in that first picture? If so, my totally adolescent side just said "cool!".

BTW, tell your friend that my almost 16 year old son kept going near your booth... and he wasn't waiting in line to play any pins.

Not sure but is tempered glass like showcase safety glass. I have cut plate glass and have seen show case glass cut in front of me. Showcase glass is two pieces of thin glass glued in between. The scored the glass on both sides, put some sort of flammable fluid (kerosene maybe? some sort liquid that lights quick and burns off quick), and then he re cuts it and it works.

That repair corner is the best idea I've heard yet. I had one pin break down twice played great before I loaded it on the trailer. Thanks to Pingeezer for his help and the knowledge I gained.

These are great ideas, especially the repair corner

Repair corner is a great idea. Would even give people not so familiar a chance to observe, pic brains and talk shop. Could set up times for demos, mods, etc.

A repair corner is a good idea in theory, however, stocking the right parts for a large variety of games and game systems might be a little tough.

I have parts, electronic components, connectors, and various tools in order to work on games from 7 different manufactures and 16 different game systems. I need to keep quite a lot of stuff in stock to work on all those. I imagine a repair corner would need to be prepared to handle double that. And that is quite a lot of parts and expertise that would need to be on-hand. A few people would basically have to uproot a decent chunk of their repair shop.

Then, diagnostic equipment and test rigs might be necessary to help diagnose board issues.

Not to say that it wouldn't be feasible, but just that it would be a challenging endeavor.

Mayfair brings a good selection of parts and rebuilt boards, I'm sure the repair techs that are handling the corner could bring a bin or two of repair items

Party pooper!!

The number one reason I won't bring a game to a show is????
I don't want anyone to know I really don't know crap about repairing pins. If my game breaks down I'm screwed.
Really, I have to spend 3 hours ready the internet to find the correct way to change a lightbulb.

Haha, just trying to be practical here

BUT, if you could diagnose a problem and tell the person which part they need and to contact you for that part, you have just increased your business. Plus you could advise how to install said part. No need to bring the whole shop. Even a fee, say $50 an hr to work on a machine beats whats out there now. Since people who know how to do repairs are allready there, they would save on travel expenses.

Imagine a corner you can bring your game in, register it. Have someone look over it. First is triage by an expert, who knows approximately how long problem might take. Charge , say, $50 and hour, fee split 75% repairman, 25% ivan. One hour minimum charge.Certain repairmen I am sure know certain machines inside and out. EM guys vs SS guys. Hell, it could be whole show by itself, bring in a pin and have a team of experts diagnose and repair. At $50 and hour, its a bargain and you get your machine fixed properly. Those that don't want to pay too much to repair machine, machine goes up for sale right there. Machines that are repaired get put out on play floor.
Imagine the machines that would come out of the barn and show up at the show. Not to mention I would be out there buying more bargains if I knew I had somewhere to go to fix them up.

I know a guy who repairs ems. Not going to mention any names. He brings a few games to the show. If games don't sell, he is out gas, meals,hotel fee. Plus what he spends at show.
Now picture that guy in the repair corner. He's making money. He's working on machines he's never seen. He drumming up business,getting his name out there. He's teaching other people.
That sounds a lot better than just walking around waiting for someone to bid on machines you brought.
Plus it would be voluntary.No pressure. Work on machines as long as you like. At least he comes to the show knowing he'll make a little money and get his name out there.

I'd enjoy spending some time helping out in repair / shop job / LED corner.

plus, you could probably make some money to put towards a pin.

I'm just an average pinball owner. I have 6 machines, 3 working perfectly. I would love to get the other 3 going, but getting a repairman out is very costly,probably more than the machines are worth. So they sit there. I can change rubbers , bulbs, and clean playfield, but seems when I try anything beyond that,I break something. I go to the allentown show and I pay $17. Its a one day and done for me.
BUT if you expand it with a repair area, with reasonably priced repairmen there. I show up for all 3 days. I'm buying parts I need. I'm buying bulbs, mods, upgrades. I come home with my machines in working order and I'm a happy customer, can't wait for the following year. Maybe I sell some of the machines I just fixed, after I play the hell out of them. Maybe I bring new projects.
As for the repair people, what they've been offering to do for free, they would now get paid. Their customer base would increase dramatically.
The show is fine as it is, but add a repair corner and it really explodes I believe. just my 2 cents.

Repair corner isn't all that bad of an idea but the issue is where to draw the line. Some machines can be fixed in just a few minute and others can take hours and hundreds of dollars in parts. So if 15 people bring machines for repairs and the "repair guy" hits a machine that will take 3 or 4 hours to fix what happens? Does he keep working on that machine of fix 3 or 4 others?

I think one of the regular on the road service guys would likely be the best to do something like this but I doubt you would be able to talk any of them into taking it on. Ray (Area Wide Amusements) and Jim (JT Amusements) are two of the good local guys I can think of. I am sure there are others but it would take someone with a service truck to pull it off in my opinion.

Perhaps / Maybe / Somehow or Someday -- but it seems unlikely this would happen. So many parts needed, so many special tools, test fixtures, etc. It isn't as simple as flip a playfield up and replace a fuse in most cases!

My god some of these suggestions are convoluted and complicated.

I got an idea-

How about we just keep it the same way it was this year, last year, and has always been and people just stop bitching so much about small things you are never gonna change.

A fucking repair corner? A pizza party for people willing to hang out till 10pm? $150 removal fines? An appreciation handy for bringing a 90s game?

Jesus H Ivan. None of this bullshit is a good idea or feasible.

If you paid your $17 and showed up at 1pm on Saturday, you STILL would have had 4 solid hours of playing all the pinball you want. Maybe not on one of the half dozen DMDs that where there in the morning but who gives a shit? We've all played those games. At 6 pm Saturday there must have still been 100 pinball machines on the floor, most of them working fine, to play.

And why show up at 1 anyway? The show starts Friday. It opens Saturday at 9 am.

The show works, the formula works, and you are never gonna make everybody happy. Here's a novel idea- try to enjoy yourself instead of being such a sourpuss. Looked like most people I saw at the show were having a good time.

I agree with this guy. Thanks Ivan and organizers for the show. I had a great time!

I had a great time but was rather shocked I could not find a vendor that had a DMD for sale that I need for T3. Oh, but hey, LED's yeah, those were everywhere. This is why a repair corner, although I agree with the concept, won't work out well. For little things maybe, but there are THOUSANDS of games with a DMD and not one vendor had those available?

Sam things happened to me last year when the fork switch on LOTR broke. Nobody had one and it was a fairly common (from my understanding) Stern part. The vendors follow what the crowds will want. Yes, Mayfair has many great parts, but when you get to specifics, it's hard to find what you really need in a pinch sometimes.

It is a fantastic show, Ivan and his staff do a fantastic job, I will continue to support the show by bringing games for people to play. Is it perfect? Nope, but nothing in this world is.

Chris

Couldn't agree more, If it ain't broke don't fix it! The show works great as is, this year was no different than any other, people will bitch no matter what you do. Ivan does a great job and you get a good bang for your buck no mater what.

I had a wonderful time!

THANKS to all who made it happen.

E

Repair corner would be great!!!!

Mid-show, how would games get to the repair corner? Those isles get quite crowded... Would machines "queue in place" in the FP area awaiting their turn in the corner (i.e., sitting there turned off when broke like presently happens) or would the corner be a space large enough to garage all the machines waiting repair? Would the machine owner need to be present during the entire repair process to approve "work arounds" driven by the part supply challenges identified above? Why would the pricing for repair service at a show be any different than in-home?... especially if demand for repair exceeded capacity in the corner? Would the pit crew work "first in first out" or "most profitable first"? Would monetizing it take some of the "community" feel out of the event? Would it be cash-only or would cards be an option? With that farmers market next door, who would even want pizza?

-Rob
-visit http://www.kahr.us to get my daughterboard that helps fix WPC pinball resets or for my Williams system 3-7 sound board potentiometer solutions

Ok, how about a board repair corner? Just to do the most common fixes, nvram install, trace repair, caps, transistors, un-hacking boards, etc. That way there are no machines moving in and out all the time.

Obviously, there would be no shipping costs. Repair pricing could have "show pricing" or maybe standard pricing on fixes; $20 to install NVRAM, $10 to replace a cap, etc. 99% of the board guys charge per hour. So even if it is a quick fix, they still bill for the whole hour to make it worth their time. Its the main reason alot of people choose not to install NVRAM, but wait until they need some other board work done. If charging a flat rate, i feel like people would be more willing to bring boards.

Thoughts?

Because you were at the strip club until 2am Friday night and really didn't want to wake up before the cleaning lady was banging on the door telling you it was checkout time.

Pintastic New England will have Allan Davidson with all his test fixtures doing board repair. His business is called Ardvark pinball he will have 2 booths. He is very good and reasonable doing all kinds of board work.

We are also working on a well known traveling repair person to set up a repair area on Wednesday and Thursday before the show. Fix the game and put it into free play or pimp it out and put it in free play. Discounted repairs for game going in free play. Stay tuned.

See how easy that was? LOL, thats great news!

I see the glass is always half empty for you. Its just an idea, of course logistics would need to be worked out. But if the idea is going to be picked apart for minor details such as "who would want pizza" , than just leave the show as is.

I show up friday, pay $17, play until closing time, leave. No skin off my nose.

What happens when the game I registered for free play cannot be fixed, I hauled it to your show , do I still get free admission? How many of those till it makes no sense?

Steve at Mayfair did not have head bolts for a gottlieb EM. A bolt, a simple bolt, how will you possibly have the parts needed. Pizza is the easy part.

That's the risk you take. We will just be providing the service. The game must be in good working order to go in free play and get all the perks.

worst case is you would get an opinion on what was wrong with it .You pay entrance fee.
The alternative is you get a repairman to come to your house, which can run into big bucks.
best case, easy fix, affordable, you get machine fixed and you save on entrance fee.

also, if worst case happens, slap a for sale sign on it right at show. saves craigslisters from coming to your house.

You don't just get free entry to the show. You get a bunch more stuff. https://pintasticnewengland.com/game/

I saw some earlier... at least 2 panels. I guess they sold.

I had my complete tool box of parts at the show, including a dmd. We had a small vendor spot near the vendor sign in/entrance.

To the people saying they would like a repair corner... how about you find the repair people and get a booth and then advertise these repair services? Take some initiative and some load off Ivan and crew and contribute yourselves. You can organize the repair techs and the people needing repairs. Start getting the word out a month or two before the show and set yourselves up for an event full of repairs.

Have an "emergency repair crew" that helps with repairs on the floor too if you want.

These are great ideas, just don't leave it to the organizers. People say WE should bring games to make the show better, YOU should help the organizers by volunteering yourself imho.

Personally, I'm fine with the show as it's been the past 7 or 8 years I've gone. I'm finally planning to bring a game next year for free play. It's not much, but it's one more on the floor.