I was there friday, my 2 cents. First, I want to thank everybody that brought pins and to the vendors who had some interesting stuff. I was eyeballing the arcade sniper rifle, thought it would look good on my balcony, but also did not want to deal with police so did not buy. Saw a pair of rocky and bullwinkle plastics I needed on a peg board, scooped them up. Bought 2 roached playfields. Figure I'll try and repaint the artwork and maybe make a bar out of them and the 2 I allready own. For $20, its something to do when I retire one day. Bought some wall hangers, love the hobbit large one, and of course some leds and some pinballs.
Did the special force sell?
As for PINs, saw some I never saw before, got to play some for the first time. I HATE lines, so did not wait for the big lebowski and only played hobbit twice, really really enjoyed it. Tron is the fastest game I ever played, all of Pauls machines from uwannapinball are top notch.
Someone had the sound on transformers WAY up and it was pretty annoying since I was playing a pin next to it. Got to play NGG's a few times, fun fun game. Got to play medevil madness a few times, also a great game. Every flash I played seem to have issues, mainly flipper power and drop targets not really working correctly. I sold mine a few months ago and wanted to hear the flash again for old times sake. Dr Who was allready packed up when I go there around noon. The rocky and bullwinkle didn't last long, but I got some LED ideas from it. A LOT of games were not working, no credits. A few people were complaining some games were not on free play all day. All in all, a great great show. Loved the gorgeous blond girl walking around. Tried not to stare. Ate at market, had coffee there later. Picked up my usual shoo fly pie from the mennonites. As I said , loved the hobbit, but will never be abler to afford one. I wish they made a WM version (working mans), no LEDs and no video screen. Just the bare basics of the game for around $4000. I would jump on that, but $8000, just cant do it. Loved the pop up orks.
BSD is/was/and will always be one of my favorites, thank you whoever brought it. A couple supermans, which I thought were interesting because I thought they were more rare. I got to play someones TOM, enjoyed it. Got to play ghostbusters. Did not thrill me, especially for that price. Granted, did not play it much, but where hobbit immediately grabbed me, ghostbusters, like game of thrones just didn't do it for me. Also go to try star wars, which was interesting. Also the Fire! was beautiful but the bell gets to you after a while. Also got to try waterworld. very large multiball.
I don't know what it is, but every game seemed to have that glare from overhead lights right at the flippers. The game toppers were amazing.

One thing I really enjoyed was playing some games I had let go in the past ,one more time. Flash, bonebusters, coquette, space invaders, big guns, T2, etc. Gone but not forgotten. Then getting to play the tried and true, BSD, NGG,MM. And finally, trying out the latest and greatest, hobbit, walking dead, ghost busters. I can imagine a lot of cool toppers for ghostbusters, including akroyds crystal skull vodka bottle.
I got to play a hot shots, which was cool since I'm in the process of cleaning one up and getting it to play. Nice to see I made the right move buying it and looking forward to playing it. Fire! was interesting to play and I tried a virtual game or 2. Also love asteroids every year although I didn't set high score this year.
Again, Thank You everyone who brought games to play.
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.
as for the one in the picture back in the thread, again, beautiful girl. Nothing different than the models standing in front of cars at car shows. She worked hard to look like that, no shame in showing it off. Again, not like she was dressed in a bikini or anything. She brought a smile to my face too and made my knees ache a little less. She could have made a fortune dressed as the mother of dragons posing with anybody next to a game of thrones game. No need for negative comments about those 2. I enjoyed them being there.
Now I just have to make it to modern pinball in NY to put in some real time on hobbit,if they have it yet. If not, I can play BSD all day.

Did the special force sell? anyone know

Thank you

I didn't get to play it, but heard it. seeing the picture, I can hear the music again in my head. again and again....

I have a few ideas for the show. First of all, a pinball repair corner. If someone who repairs machines can work the corner for a couple hrs, they get free admission. I would bring a couple machines of mine if I knew they would be looked over by someone who knows what they are doing or even at a discounted rate. I would leave my machines there for free play as part of the deal. Even just some advice is appreciated. A lot of times a repairman needs to see whats going on instead of just having it described on a pinside thread. Free pizza for repair guys.

LED corner. Bring in a machine and get expert advice on exactly which LEDs or mods would be best. You would have to buy them of course, but with all the bulb choices, it would be a lot easier deciding on the right one with a bulb expert to bounce ideas off of and the machine right there to see how they look. Since they would be selling the bulbs, it would be worth vendors time to help out in the corner. Also help with installation. Again, leaving the machine there is part of the deal.

Private raffle for everyone who brings a machine and keeps it there the whole time. It doesn't seem fair to charge someone to leave a machine on if it sells or penalize them if they leave early since they drove a long way. Maybe an extra raffle, an entry for each machine you leave on the whole show. Make sure there are a few prizes, not just one big one. Even something as easy as a paid dinner would be appreciated more as a carrot than the stick of increasing fines.

Charge more. I hate to say that, but an entrance fee of $20 is not unreasonable to be able to play dozens of rare machines all day. Comparable to what modern pinball or the pinball museum charge. Discount for multi day passes.

Let people take the machines they purchased with them. To keep the number of machines up, I think people would be bringing a LOT of machines if they could be repaired or looked at on site. Plus leaving the machines on and having them played would also shake out any bugs, which the repair corner could fix. ALSO, techs working in repair corners would be able to hand out business cards and promote themselves. If a repair person was friendly, helped me out, hell yeah I would hire them for my other machines. A LOT of other people would too I would imagine.

have drop off and pick up points in the back, out of the way. The volunteers you had policing the area and getting waves of hatred thrown at them could be better used helping people move machines. Instead of hate, they would get some thank you's.

Also, I think if people brought their machines to get looked at, more opportunities for vendors to sell accessories.

And as a final thought, open thursdays up to people who need machines worked on. That way more machines would be available for the weekend, again, having a machine worked on means it has to stay in free play.

just my 2 cents.

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.

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"

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.

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.

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.

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.

first of all, these are just ideas at this point. Ivan hasn't weighed in on the issue and nothing happens without his say so. I think he wouldn't be too happy if I were to say, hey, I'm setting up a repair area. Logistics need to be worked out if HE thinks the idea has merit. If he were to ask for volunteers to help with it, I would be happy to. I'm not a repair guy, but I could help move machines at the very least. Maybe legally there's a problem. Maybe insurance is a problem. Maybe space, power,parking are problems. So its a little premature to say "take the initiative and organize the repair techs".
Lets see how things go at pinterest. What are the problems. was it worthwhile? Did it generate more participation.
Remember, its just an idea. No need for anyone to get their panties twisted.