(Topic ID: 106833)

The day NOT to go to Expo

By sandbagger

9 years ago


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    31
    #1 9 years ago

    I couldnt make it out till sunday this year, looked at the schedule online and both the game room and the Exhibit hall were going to be open starting Sat night straight through the night till 4PM sunday when the show closes.

    So I drive over from detroit 5hrs each way bright and early sunday morning and get there at 9am

    Except by then the game room had about 14games left in it and only about 8 of those were still powered on and playable. The Exhibit hall was about 75% empty with a a bunch of stuff I wanted to see was long gone.

    From what I was told most of the stuff was taken out after midnight by several people and most all was gone by 3am.

    Vendors should not be allowed to move out till after the show PERIOD!!! I understand games get sold and sellers dont want to risk damage but come on!!

    Sunday should not even be listed as a show day, make it run till 9am for those who want to stay up all night playing, close the exhibit hall at 2 or 3am and let everyone move out at 9am sunday.

    Expo.jpgExpo.jpg
    #2 9 years ago

    That bites. I've never been to a show so have no idea but is this pretty standard? I'm guessing so.

    #3 9 years ago

    Wow that's horrible that happened to you after driving so long. Did Expo still charge you the full entrance fee for the day?

    #4 9 years ago

    This year seemed to clear out earlier than usual. Don't get me wrong, sunday is usually pretty light - but this year was accelerated on the bug out by quite a bit. That may have been kicked off by us breaking down John's 45 EM games late Saturday for hauling back to his house Sunday morning. People may have seen that as a green light to pack up and go.

    #5 9 years ago

    I know when I went to the Southern Fried Pin Expo in Atlanta in June, they wouldn't allow anyone to take pins off the floor until Sunday after a certain time for this very reason. I was going for just Saturday and planning to buy something, but with that restraint I didn't even bother to shop. It was aggravating, but probably less so than driving 5 hours one way to see a few pins sitting in a room. Sorry you didn't get to see and play more.

    #6 9 years ago
    Quoted from WesleyCowan:

    Wow that's horrible that happened to you after driving so long. Did Expo still charge you the full entrance fee for the day?

    Was wondering the same thing. Obviously the drive was the main sting for you, but how could they charge admission with a straight face for this?

    #7 9 years ago

    Yeah that's pretty much the way they all go...although 9am on a Sunday is a little soon.

    12
    #8 9 years ago
    Quoted from sandbagger:

    I couldnt make it out till sunday this year, looked at the schedule online and both the game room and the Exhibit hall were going to be open starting Sat night straight through the night till 4PM sunday when the show closes.
    So I drive over from detroit 5hrs each way bright and early sunday morning and get there at 9am
    Except by then the game room had about 14games left in it and only about 8 of those were still powered on and playable. The Exhibit hall was about 75% empty with a a bunch of stuff I wanted to see was long gone.
    From what I was told most of the stuff was taken out after midnight by several people and most all was gone by 3am.
    Vendors should not be allowed to move out till after the show PERIOD!!! I understand games get sold and sellers dont want to risk damage but come on!!
    Sunday should not even be listed as a show day, make it run till 9am for those who want to stay up all night playing, close the exhibit hall at 2 or 3am and let everyone move out at 9am sunday.

    Expo.jpg 186 KB

    That sucks cocks!

    #9 9 years ago

    Sorry to hear that OP. Totally sucks.

    #10 9 years ago

    Last year was pretty sad fare on Sunday as well. Unless you were playing in the tournament there was not much to do or see

    #11 9 years ago
    Quoted from VolunteerPin:

    That bites. I've never been to a show so have no idea but is this pretty standard? I'm guessing so.

    It gets this way with a lot of (not pinball specific) shows I go to (although OPs pic looks really bad...). If I need to pick up some merch I always remind myself to get it on the second to last day because everyone's enthusiasm is gone on the last day and many vendors pack up early to get on going home.

    #12 9 years ago

    wasnt charged at the door.... sure glad I didnt buy an online ticket for one day and then went..... I would have demanded a refund.

    only spent a boat load on gas to get there.

    I brought a friend along, she hadnt played since college at Pinball Petes in Lansing, heck they had more games then expo did!!! could have played for hrs on what I spent on gas.

    #13 9 years ago

    Yeah, it's misleading but it's been this way since I've been going (7 years or so). Sunday is move-out day. Really, the vendor hall should be open all day Saturday, and close at 11:00 p.m. or midnight for breakdown/load out. I believe it's not so that it doesn't interfere with the seminars but they should just run concurrently. And the free play game room should be open for the entire event.

    It got a lot better this year, but some choices still leave people scratching their heads.

    I think there should be less seminars, and the ones that are included in the schedule should be condensed. Nobody needs 90 minutes to talk about one pinball machine.

    #15 9 years ago

    You got hosed!

    #16 9 years ago

    All I can say is you didn't do your homework, it's been that way for 30 years.. Sunday is load up day. The only thing going on is the Flipout tournament, which lasted until 9:30PM!! But it is the best day to get good deals on stuff people don't want to haul home..

    Damon

    #17 9 years ago
    Quoted from sandbagger:

    I couldnt make it out till sunday this year, looked at the schedule online and both the game room and the Exhibit hall were going to be open starting Sat night straight through the night till 4PM sunday when the show closes.
    So I drive over from detroit 5hrs each way bright and early sunday morning and get there at 9am
    Except by then the game room had about 14games left in it and only about 8 of those were still powered on and playable. The Exhibit hall was about 75% empty with a a bunch of stuff I wanted to see was long gone.
    From what I was told most of the stuff was taken out after midnight by several people and most all was gone by 3am.
    Vendors should not be allowed to move out till after the show PERIOD!!! I understand games get sold and sellers dont want to risk damage but come on!!
    Sunday should not even be listed as a show day, make it run till 9am for those who want to stay up all night playing, close the exhibit hall at 2 or 3am and let everyone move out at 9am sunday.

    Expo.jpg 186 KB

    no doubt it was light on Sunday but that pic was taken after 11, not 9am. I know since my horse and tool bag are there alone which is when I rolled out space shuttle around 11.
    As for demaning no machines leave before sunday afternoon. I can tell you that if that was the case there would have been 2 less machines every year. I get out by noon so I can get set back up at home and I have to work on Monday. I'm close to expo's location and there was as always a big turnout from the Ohio people and Lousiville also brought a bunch of games. I have no issue with those packing early.

    #18 9 years ago

    Sundays at most shows start packing up @ 2PMish. They should just take Sunday off of their schedule if its going be empty at 9AM

    #19 9 years ago

    I left Sunday morning at 8 and there was nothing to see.

    Saturday night was a little disappointing with the entire main hall closing at 5 and reopening at 11 for the banquet. I know better next time.

    #20 9 years ago

    I came at 10am Sunday. Still got to play The Hobbit, America's Most Haunted, WOZ, LOTR, Gorgar and a few others. I couldn't find anyone to give my $25 to so I just bought a Bad Cats Python shirt. I have my 3 yr old with me and he was getting crabby so I was only there for an hour or so.

    #21 9 years ago

    sorry to hear.

    I made the similar mistake at my first Expo, 2006.

    I put head on pillow Saturday night for $140-ish (today's dollars), and wake up Sunday to an empty event by 11a.m. -- That was the last time I stayed a full Saturday night.

    I agree, Sunday should not be advertised as a day of the show. Sunday is pretty much just for tournament players that qualified.

    #22 9 years ago

    Hate to say this but it's pretty typical. Most people who bring games and merchandise have to travel. I know when I was working our booth last year, we packed up Saturday and pulled out Sunday morning. We had a 14 hour trip in front of us and had to be at work on Monday. Plus, despite that we were "Open" all night on Saturday, we hardly sold anything that night. You just "know" that you're done at a certain point. I'd like to add that the Allentown show is no longer on Sunday for that exact reason. Everybody wants to go home on Sunday.

    #23 9 years ago

    Yes, this is pretty normal.

    We started breaking down my games at 7am Sunday morning and didn't finish loading up until 10:30 or so. Things might be different if I was local.

    On the flip side, the free play area room was nearly full by the end of Wednesday night.

    #24 9 years ago

    Sunday does not have anything on it's schedule AT ALL except the Flip Out tournament. If that's what you drove for, it was going on in the hallway. I find the Sunday schedule was 100% accurate here:

    http://www.pinballexpo.net/seminar.pdf

    VERY accurate. Nothing really happens on Sunday at all cept Flip Out tournament finals. Sorry.

    #25 9 years ago
    Quoted from awarner:

    You just "know" that you're done at a certain point. I'd like to add that the Allentown show is no longer on Sunday for that exact reason. Everybody wants to go home on Sunday.

    Yup as an attendee, me and the others that came were baked. I get the Ops position but truth is a show that starts Wed night is more than done by Sunday.

    #26 9 years ago

    I think the "5 Day Pass - $90" is the misleading part. LOL

    #27 9 years ago

    That stinks!!!!

    #28 9 years ago
    Quoted from snyper2099:

    Sunday does not have anything on it's schedule AT ALL except the Flip Out tournament. If that's what you drove for, it was going on in the hallway. I find the Sunday schedule was 100% accurate here:
    http://www.pinballexpo.net/seminar.pdf
    VERY accurate. Nothing really happens on Sunday at all cept Flip Out tournament finals. Sorry.

    SUNDAY • OCTOBER 19
    4:00 p.m. Pinball Expo 2014 Officially Closes

    People should start packing up at 4:01pm on Sunday.

    #29 9 years ago
    Quoted from ZenTron:

    SUNDAY • OCTOBER 19
    4:00 p.m. Pinball Expo 2014 Officially Closes
    People should start packing up at 4:01pm on Sunday.

    And it they have a twelve hour drive....we just handcuff them to a door and refuse to let them leave?

    Look, it's a bummer....I just wish the question would have been asked beforehand. We could have easily led the OP in the right direction.

    Nearly all shows are pretty dead by the last day with only a few hours remaining...

    #30 9 years ago
    Quoted from ZenTron:

    SUNDAY • OCTOBER 19
    4:00 p.m. Pinball Expo 2014 Officially Closes
    People should start packing up at 4:01pm on Sunday.

    If that were enforced, I wouldn't bring games for people to play Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, as would many others. I can't start packing at 4pm Sunday, get loaded up, drive home, unpack, get kids back to college and get ready for work the next day.

    I know there would be only games from locals otherwise. Sundays have always been tear down and pack up day. Usually everything is gone by noon.

    The pinball tournament went on until 11pm; so that was 7 hours past closing.

    11
    #31 9 years ago

    The easiest answer is for Mike to just advertise Sun as a pack-out day... "Come for last minute bargains!" It's good he stopped selling tickets for Sun, but he also needs to set customer expectations before they drive out to Wheeling. Expo is becoming more of a Wed-Sat show these recent years....

    #32 9 years ago

    Having been to multiple shows in the west USA

    Pin-a-go-go - people start packing up @ 2:00 - most machines stay until the end @ 5:00 on Sunday

    California Extreme - You'll see games usually start trickling out @ 5:00 - with a lot of games staying until after close @ 9:00 on Sunday

    Zapcon - Everything stayed until 5:00 on Sunday

    Whats the deal with Expo? - Probably since more people are coming in from out of town for Expo - they take off work Weds, Thurs, Fri and go home on Sunday - If Expo were a weekend only show you would probably have people that dont pack up until the show is over - Expo is a unique situation

    #33 9 years ago

    This is pretty typical of nearly all shows. Sunday is usually not the day to go. There were some exceptions like PPE and the Ann Arbor pinball shows... no games leave. Sunday has the same number of games as friday at show open. probably a unique situation though, but it ensures that a sunday visitor gets just as much pinball as a friday visitor.

    #34 9 years ago

    If everyone needs to pack up and leave sunday am then the official close should be saturday night not sunday at 4pm as per the schedule.

    #35 9 years ago

    If you couldn't load out until Sunday afternoon I would definitely not take a game again. It's a long drive home to south of St Louis.

    #36 9 years ago

    MGC the vast majority of games stay for the entire duration.

    #37 9 years ago

    Funny I wanted to go as a vendor. Traveling from Boston with games Sunday would be a travel day for me. I was told as a vendor I couldn't leave till 4pm Sunday. Next year if I go, I now know I can bang out late sat night!

    #38 9 years ago

    That sucks that you did all that travelling for basically nothing. I wish I knew you were in town. You could have come over to my place and played my games to your heart's content.

    #39 9 years ago

    My dad was a major county fair manager and vendor contracts said cannot leave before xx time on xx date. If you did, no contract next year. Are there no contracts at expo? If not, they better change show dates to Thursday-sat..........

    #40 9 years ago
    Quoted from iwantansi:

    Having been to multiple shows in the west USA

    Pin-a-go-go - people start packing up @ 2:00 - most machines stay until the end @ 5:00 on Sunday

    California Extreme - You'll see games usually start trickling out @ 5:00 - with a lot of games staying until after close @ 9:00 on Sunday

    Zapcon - Everything stayed until 5:00 on Sunday

    Whats the deal with Expo? - Probably since more people are coming in from out of town for Expo - they take off work Weds, Thurs, Fri and go home on Sunday - If Expo were a weekend only show you would probably have people that dont pack up until the show is over - Expo is a unique situation

    This is the best point made, I am a big exhibitor at CAX and at PaGG and CAX is a 4 hour drive one way for me and I usually bring 12-15 machines. Games stay till the hall closes on Sunday and the show closes. Ive been doing shows well over a decade and this is how it always is here on the West Coast. Sucks you got hosed like that but now you know and at least you didnt get charged for admission, I totally get those that had a long drive but it should be posted on the flyer that games leave early as well as exhibitors on sunday. I know we do that on our flyers here at these shows. I was even in Seattle last year and clear out started on sunday after the show closed. Sucks either way but it sounds like this is the norm for this show. Next year make sure you go early to see everything.

    Joe(acejedi)

    #41 9 years ago
    Quoted from cfh:

    This is pretty typical of nearly all shows. Sunday is usually not the day to go. There were some exceptions like PPE and the Ann Arbor pinball shows... no games leave. Sunday has the same number of games as friday at show open. probably a unique situation though, but it ensures that a sunday visitor gets just as much pinball as a friday visitor.

    This is not the norm out here on the west coast, If the show is advertised for sunday the show is still full for the most part unless exceptions are made for certain people before the show starts saying certain games will leave early, and that is made very clear on the event flyers. So it might be a normal thing for midwest and east coast shows, but all the shows here on the west coast if advertised for a Sunday we keep the show pretty much fully running till end of the show. That being said Exhibitors and vendors may start getting ready to pack up and hour or so before show concludes but NEVER 5 or 6 hours before show ends.

    Joe(acejedi)

    #42 9 years ago

    Here is another pic, and in full disclosure there is a Metalica and CSI still powered up and playing behind me with 2 machines folded up ready to load out. Also to the left of the first pic is laser ball that was being torn down about the time I got to walk up to it. The pics were taken about 11am as we spent some time in the exhibitor hall first. There were about 4-5 machines out in the hall down from the competition that you had to drop quarters into to play and the 2nd room of free play machines was down to 2 machines.

    Was bummed to not even get to see The Big Lebowski or MMR as they were long gone!

    I have been to plenty of shows and was at this one last year, on Sat morning. Even then it was obvious people had rolled machines out as they sold, completely good with that, I wouldn't want to loose a sale due to damage or buy a broken machine.... I get that. But the fact that there were so few when the event said 4pm close is what surprised me. What really blew me away was the exhibitor hall...

    I have worked shows(non pinball) and I HATE LOAD OUT. try working CES!!!

    expo2.jpgexpo2.jpg
    #43 9 years ago
    Quoted from Acejedi:

    This is the best point made, I am a big exhibitor at CAX and at PaGG and CAX is a 4 hour drive one way for me and I usually bring 12-15 machines. Games stay till the hall closes on Sunday and the show closes. Ive been doing shows well over a decade and this is how it always is here on the West Coast. Sucks you got hosed like that but now you know and at least you didnt get charged for admission, I totally get those that had a long drive but it should be posted on the flyer that games leave early as well as exhibitors on sunday. I know we do that on our flyers here at these shows. I was even in Seattle last year and clear out started on sunday after the show closed. Sucks either way but it sounds like this is the norm for this show. Next year make sure you go early to see everything.
    Joe(acejedi)

    As someone who attends all days of both shows, thank you. I am always impressed with how many pins are still available to play on the last day of PAGG. I'm always one of those guys that plays until they flick off the electricity.

    #44 9 years ago
    Quoted from DylanFan71:

    Saturday night was a little disappointing with the entire main hall closing at 5 and reopening at 11 for the banquet. I know better next time.

    Including the freeplay area? I thought they decided not to do this anymore?

    #45 9 years ago
    Quoted from Leeb18509:

    Including the freeplay area? I thought they decided not to do this anymore?

    The free play area was open Wednesday evening, Thursday evening and from 1pm Friday until games left Sunday. The free play area was open and accessible during the banquet.

    #46 9 years ago

    That really sucks. Sunday should be an important day....at least for consumers. If its JUST a trade show, its less important. But from what I can see its now become as much a consumer show as a trade show. Should be a condition of exhibiting that you dont pack up until after closing. Or dont come.

    #47 9 years ago
    Quoted from smokey_789:

    My dad was a major county fair manager and vendor contracts said cannot leave before xx time on xx date. If you did, no contract next year. Are there no contracts at expo? If not, they better change show dates to Thursday-sat..........

    Vendors are supposed to stay, not sure if they did. People who volunteer to bring their own games for free play can go as they choose.

    #48 9 years ago

    i did the EXACT same thing last year but it was an 8 hour drive both ways...

    next time i won't go for sunday haha

    -5
    #49 9 years ago
    Quoted from sandbagger:

    Here is another pic, and in full disclosure there is a Metalica and CSI still powered up and playing behind me with 2 machines folded up ready to load out. Also to the left of the first pic is laser ball that was being torn down about the time I got to walk up to it. The pics were taken about 11am as we spent some time in the exhibitor hall first. There were about 4-5 machines out in the hall down from the competition that you had to drop quarters into to play and the 2nd room of free play machines was down to 2 machines.
    Was bummed to not even get to see The Big Lebowski or MMR as they were long gone!
    I have been to plenty of shows and was at this one last year, on Sat morning. Even then it was obvious people had rolled machines out as they sold, completely good with that, I wouldn't want to loose a sale due to damage or buy a broken machine.... I get that. But the fact that there were so few when the event said 4pm close is what surprised me. What really blew me away was the exhibitor hall...
    I have worked shows(non pinball) and I HATE LOAD OUT. try working CES!!!

    expo2.jpg 59 KB

    You wouldnt have been able to see MMR anyway. Rick and Mike had some disagreement and then next thing you know, Rick packed up PPS and the games.

    #50 9 years ago
    Quoted from Tilt:

    You wouldnt have been able to see MMR anyway. Rick and Mike had some disagreement and then next thing you know, Rick packed up PPS and the games.

    Total fabrication ... this is why I'm starting to not like pinside - someone can post some bullshit and you then have to spend time to convince people of reality.

    Doug from Chicago Gaming was always planning to take the games out either Sat PM or Sun AM. Not having been at Expo much he saw that the exhibition room would be closed at 6PM and saw no point in waiting until the next day to come back to expo to get the games, as the only time the show would re-open is at 11 (actually 11:30-12 late) and at that point not very many people came back in. So, his truck and guys came up around 6PM when the exhibit closed and got the games as Doug and Dave from CGC had to help his guys get the games out of there, otherwise Doug would need to come back up from Cicero, IL to get the cames in the morning.

    There was no disagreement between Mike and I that caused us to do anything different. In any event, Doug Duba of Chicago Gaming was 'running' the MMR side of things.

    oy.
    rick

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