Quoted from merccat:Wish I could have picked your brain some on your fireball project, but wow that main floor is loud and chaotic.
Yeah, it was. I also had several friends attending for the first time, and sort of acted as a host.
I'll be sharing my schematics and code for the arduino side of the electronics. I'll be using the same system on my other projects, so I'm making it as generic and extensible as possible.
Was there last night, bummer few of the games I wanted to play were off, nice atmosphere, lot to see.
It was a really great show this year. The added room made it feel much less crowded. Thanks to Fireball2 for an easy trade, and good to finally hang out! Really good seeing lots of old friends especially pismoarcade, cheddar and spybyron who I hung out with a ton.
Quoted from gunstarhero:Great show this year, splitting the games into two rooms really helped!
Second that - no more elbow to elbow on Saturday afternoon. Would be great if they could add the other 'small hall' next to this year's new one next year. Allow a few more games and even more space for the some of the giant games - Space Invader Frenzy, 4p Pac-Man, DDR games, etc.
What a great weekend!!
Stern may be taking some heat of late, but my son absolutely loved meeting cool king Richie and is absolutely thrilled with his signed SW flyer.
I finally got to play Kingpin for the first time as well!
Absolutely agree the extra space of a second room is a hit.
Thank you to all who work the show and to those who brought their games for us to enjoy.
I sincerely appreciate your efforts and the memories you gave our fam!
Pin-a-Lodi can't get here fast enough!
Until next time!! 
Had an excellent time and I'm always impressed with how well this show is ran. Official game count was 609, and everything went super smoothly. I'm working on my show report right now for Gamer Theory and will post it soon.
I had a blast, as always. I was a little spooked at first when I saw just how open and naked the SW playfield looked, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and will not be canceling my Prem pre-order.
I was at the Steve Ritchie seminar, but didn't think to record it, unfortunately.
I had a blast, but I just got back to the inferno that is AZ, and I'm exhausted. 'Til next year, CAX!
IMG_1828 (resized).JPGIMG_1827 (resized).JPGIMG_1826 (resized).JPGIMG_1824 (resized).JPGIMG_1829 (resized).JPG
My show report is up: http://gamertheory.com/2017/07/show-report-california-extreme-2017/
tl;dr: The show was awesome and the staff did an incredible job making it an enjoyable and smooth experience. CAX is a true must-see for people in the hobby at some point. The show has everything from quantity of games to true rarities that you just can't find almost anywhere else. Thanks to Monterey Flipping Pinball for hosting Bayburgh!
Another great CAX this year. Like others have said the extra space was really, really nice. The Marco Specialties booth was fantastic with all the Star Wars pros, Aerosmith, GOT, and Metallica, it was great to be able to play without really long lines. And of course getting to play Big Bang Bar and Kingpin is always fun. Sadly no The Hobbit, WOZ, Dialed-In, GB, Batman66, or Houdini's were present as far as I could find. Played a few games on Lexy Lightspeed, but since it was just on the game floor with all the other games none of the other swap-able play fields were available to play.
This year there was a scrapbook convention adjacent at the convention center. I always wonder what the non-CAX people think when the entire hotel is overrun with arcade and pinball geeks partying it up.
Friday night before CAX my brother, a friend and I went across the street to California's Great America theme park and much to our surprise there was an excellent condition The Walking Dead machine located in the arcade that is part of their in-park sports bar - and yes they even serve beer!
The game was being updated with new code by the operator of the games, Elaut USA. We talked with the tech for about an hour and played several free games courtesy of the tech, who also likes pinball and intends to keep the game maintenance up. He said the game just arrived from the company in NJ after being pulled out of Universal Studios in Florida and it was cleaned and shipped out here. It worked perfectly and looked great, I hope they keep up with it. He mentioned that Elaut is an operator for several theme park chains and I asked about the interest in pinball and he said they have seen an uptick around the country and they can make some decent money with the right locations.
All in all another good time at CAX and looking forward to Pin-a-Lo-Di and Arcade Expo.
I too missed seeing any JJP games, was really hoping to play DI some more. Still too soon I suppose. Even so there were way more games than you can possibly play in a weekend. Kingpin was a blast. Star Wars was a lot of fun and I liked it a lot but my wife says she still preferrs Aerosmith. Had got a good laugh chatting with Steve briefly talking about some of the voiceover work he and his brother have put into games.
Thank you to all those who brought games... it was fun, I will miss them (and the weather)... looking forward to next year... time to crash.
Yeah, I'm going to have to give kudos to whoever brought Big Bang Bar. I've been wanting to play it for a while, and it was nice to get the chance.
Quoted from ThatOneDude:Yeah, I'm going to have to give kudos to whoever brought Big Bang Bar. I've been wanting to play it for a while, and it was nice to get the chance.
Thats TJ's and King Pin to.
Always a great show. Kudos to Mark and staff for another great year!!
Killer Queen amazingly fun and busy all weekend. Need one of these in so cal asap.
Quoted from Rob_G:No video of Steve's talk?
Rob
Not sure you want Steve's talk. He stated that Pinside is a "disease"!
Quoted from jbovenzi:Not sure you want Steve's talk. He stated that Pinside is a "disease"!
wow really! jeez....
What a great show.
Basically this is how you do it. They model it. The whole crew up there.
I met several hotel staffers who helped me and they were top notch.
I thought that there were a nice bunch of Star Wars to play.
They were full but no big deal. I met a few nice new people playing Star Wars. I had good first impressions on it. Everyone seemed to love it. I thought a great product. And they had about ten to play. Or a couple more. Nice.
They also had a last day raffle to win a Star Wars and take it home. Must be present to win. I had to leave but that is pretty cool. Someone got it.
I enjoyed talking briefly with Steve Ritchie and got a picture.
I saw his talk. He is funny I like him. He is legit. In my opinion. I don't think he understands how much Pinside loves him. But I love Steve Ritchie he is the real deal to me, and probably you.
The games were all playing and there was excitement everywhere. It felt good. Very good.
Pinsiders Showed me the love and I think as time goes on my friends it's only getting better.
I thought a great deal about how to do something like this in Los Angeles. Where I live.
We have banning. Which is awesome. But in Los Angeles here.
I know it is a great deal of work, but then maybe we need to get started...
Games were playing great. I like the mix of pins and arcade.
Can't wait for the next one now. This was my third.
This was easily the best CAX I've ever attended. Very well organized with that bonus room really helping with the congestion of past expos.
Marco did a great job in bringing so many games to try. I logged about 10 games on Star Wars and another half dozen on Aerosmith. I've played and have enjoyed Aerosmith in the past, but I really enjoyed Star Wars. Not a fan of the theme, but the game blew me away.
Of course, the friends that I hung out with was a huge highlight. Had a blast with my friends PracticalSteve and Fireball2. It was also fun finally spending time with Hawkmoon.
CAX is becoming my favorite expo, mostly because it's held in the same hotel that I stayed in. Parked my car Friday and didn't touch it until this morning.
Great show! Best CAX yet. Continuing to have 2 halls is a must I think.
My only complaints were all the stinky arcade/vid nerds with no deodorant. I had to leave a game more than once due to a really bad stinker playing next to me. Also, the bratty kids with no manners and no regard toward others waiting to play. I don't mind leaning in and saying something when they pull that on me, but others were out of luck.
If I were running things I'd have a big sign at the entrances saying "You are now out in public. Deodorant required. Here, take one. We insist." and another sign saying "Hogging the games is not allowed. First offense = Warning. Second offense = Ejection from the show."
And then the show would be perfect! 
Best. CAX. Ever. Way more elbow room. And I think next year that extra room will have even more games.
The vibe was way mellower.
Had a great time with practicalsteve
PismoArcade
hawkmoon jbovenzi
Ericpinballfan and more.
Absolutely could not stop playing Radical, Swords of Fury (omg I want one now!), Title Fight, Aerosmith, and Viking.
Star Wars was actually fun.
Unexpectedly sold the Triple Action I brought for a fine price.
Both my EMs got right around 400 plays and held up nicely for the most part.
Only downers:
They stole Viking, right as I was playing it, and took it upstairs for the tourney! And worse yet, replaced it with a Xenon! That broke!
There were more machines than usual that weren't working.
No Woah Nellie.
Not enough machines for sale.
mof wouldn't sell me Mars Trek.
Now I gotta go set up Rollergames!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Being spread out a bit more was a big help. I think the room was overall cooler and had better air circulation helping with some of the BO issues.
One area that could be improved would be to implement a system for notifying owners of game issues, or at least getting ahold of them. I was volunteering as a tech and most machines I left broken was because the machine wasn't using a standard key and had no owner contact info.
When I came across that Xenon it appeared to have had locked and burnt the trough eject coil, didn't see any contact info so just unplugged it.... which was a bummer because I wanted to play it myself.
Either way, for the massive amount of games, I was pretty impressed with the number that kept running flawlessly though the show.
Quoted from jbovenzi:Not sure you want Steve's talk. He stated that Pinside is a "disease"!
Again? Oh well.... 
Rob
You know of everything there, including Big Bang bar and kingpin. I wanted the spirit.
There was two and I wanted to take one home.
You know I never met Steve Charland. But I think his spirit might have been playing his spirit with me on Saturday. I guess I will find out someday.
Also a shoutout to Kerry_Richard for a very smooth deal on his Mousin' Around! Always a pleasure, sir.
Quoted from Azmodeus:You know I never met Steve Charland. But I think his spirit might have been playing his spirit with me on Saturday. I guess I will find out someday.
I bet it was. Thats my favorite game of all time, I will get one someday when I have the $$$
I have very short want list compared to most. But spirit is on there. It is a great pin. Looks great too. Probably one of the best looking pins made IMO.
It belongs in my very small collection!
On a side note we really need a show in la. So everyone can come down to it. Like I drive up to Northern California. I Want my own la show dang it. I'm done ranting only scheming now.
Quoted from fireball2:Also a shoutout to kerry_richard for a very smooth deal on his Mousin' Around! Always a pleasure, sir.
Same to you Mark... I had 2 other people ask me where it was... I said; in good hands!
Quoted from rolandthoms:I loved the Spirit there. How much does a nice one sell for?
Very rare pin. At least $6k. Maybe more.
Quoted from TG:Recovery from CAX almost complete.
Wow. That is a lot of work. My thanks to you.
Quoted from TG:Recovery from CAX almost complete.
Where do they go, no room in garage?
Thank you for the hard work amd bringing that many games.
Quoted from TG:Recovery from CAX almost complete.
Nice van. I've always wanted one if those.
A a first time noob,WOW!! Azmodeus,we will tear it up again next year at Lodi with Fireball2! Nice to meet you,The dude abides,look forward to seeing you at Lodi!And yes Steve R kinda poked us in the eye a tad,with love I hope,sorry nobody videod his talk! Nobody in the B66 thread believed me when I told them what he said about Sheets working on 3 other pin now!! Ergo steves comment on the current amount of Brown fecal matter on Pinside! I wouldn't have had any idea about pinball if it wasn't for this site! CAX AND US ROCK!!!!
I would like to thank the owner of the Firepower w/ leds on the corner (near Marco booth). Not sure if they are a Pinsider or not.
A stellar example, under cab lights etc and just a blast to play.
Obviously still thinking about it, appreciate you bringing it.
Funny, while SW was fun, THATs the Richie game I wanted to take home.
Wanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.
Great to see you're enjoying Pinside! Did you know Pinside is able to run without any 3rd-party banners or ads, thanks to the support from our visitors? Please consider a donation to Pinside and get anext to your username to show for it! Or better yet, subscribe to Pinside+!
This page was printed from https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/the-official-2017-california-extreme-cax-thread/page/4 and we tried optimising it for printing. Some page elements may have been deliberately hidden.
Scan the QR code on the left to jump to the URL this document was printed from.
Little Rock, AR
Regina, SK