Quoted from mark532011:how well was the show attended this year?
I haven't seen the attendance stats, but a total guestimate would be about 10-15% less people than in previous years, which was great, less crowding and lines and we still made enough money to do it again next year.
Quoted from DumbAss:Also thanks to everyone who helped with set up and tear down. Many hands make light and fast work.
Yeah, huge thanks to everyone that stuck around or showed up to help with tear down (and that worked set up). I worked both and they went very smoothly because we had so many people helping. I've never seen the trucks loaded so fast, the first one left at 4:05pm for it's first run. By 8pm about everything was broken down, wrapped, and a majority was queued up on the loading dock for pick up. Thanks to everyone that answered the call to help! It is so much easier with a lot of people and it was great meeting a bunch of new volunteers.
Quoted from nwpinball:still made enough money to do it again next year.
This is the most important part of the whole thing. I'm happy to hear this because I'll attend next year too! Perhaps I'll even contribute a pin next year...
I haven't read a lot of "how was it for me" comments, perhaps that is a different thread somewhere? The show was a ton of fun, I am so glad it happened. My wife and I went on friday as the crowds were (presumably) much smaller and it was still quite busy especially around the new ones (of course) as well as the popular ones (KISS, ACDC, Elvira, etc.) I liked that they were mixed together and you could find newer machines next to older machines, that allowed people to spread out more.
The EM side was pretty lightly in use on friday, which made it fantastic as I could walk up and play just about everything I wanted to. Those things continue to impress me with the innovation they displayed using the limited toolset they had to work with.
I loved that there were a lot of restored machines on display, showing the love. I was particularly impressed with a fully restored Dr. Who, it looked like a brand new playfield and was absolutely immaculate. It looked like additional lighting too, more than just LED's and that made quite a difference, I will have to think about tasteful additional lighting for my machines.
On the minus side it was impossible to hear any of the games. There isn't anything that can be done about it (though I notice a few people had brought headphones but I have no idea how many machines were compatible - perhaps some kind of sign or something would help) but its strange not nearing any of the iconic music or callouts during gameplay. However the biggest disappointment for me personally is I found I was unable to play the new Chicago Cactus Canyon machines (On the left wall when you walk in the main entrance) - they have a mode of flashing strobe lights where all the lights blink in a high frequency strobe effect and it gave me headaches, I had to stop playing on the first ball.
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Love your review and yeah, it would be great to hear more people's thoughts and stories!
That's Todd's Dr. Who, it used to be mine, it's not really restored, it just is a nice example with no playfield wear. I upgraded it to a Color DMD and added the ball trough LED strip and Todd just upgraded it to LEDs before the show, which I think definitely makes it feel updated! Fun game.
Quoted from mark532011:On the minus side it was impossible to hear any of the games. There isn't anything that can be done about it (though I notice a few people had brought headphones but I have no idea how many machines were compatible - perhaps some kind of sign or something would help) but its strange not nearing any of the iconic music or callouts during gameplay.
Quoted from DumbAss:Reminder: bring your headphones (3.5mm jack) and plug into any machine of mine that has a headphone jack in the dollar bill panel. There is a switch that mutes this so if you cannot hear anything flip the switch.
I know it's after the fact but there's always the next show!
I will agree on the EM side. Everyone veered towards the left side to play the newer games which is a shame considering the variety available. My goal was to focus on games I had never played before which worked out great - I was able to get on most every EM and a few of the earlier DMDs. I, too, was impressed how well taken care of most of them were. People really have done a great job keeping them up.
But yes, headphones. I had a cable to connect to any machine that had a headphone jack but didn't use it. I streamed some great music and didn't leave with a headache. It was loud!
I didn't take many, but here are a few. I thought the Fast Pinball/Haggis "Fathom" was gorgeous. Not my favorite game, but stunningly lit and it really felt good to play - very tight. I also enjoyed the Zaccaria console games and those from Japan which is not something you see every day. I was having way too much fun playing to take too many pictures!
IMG_8713 (resized).jpegIMG_8719 (resized).jpegIMG_8724 (resized).jpegIMG_8731 (resized).jpegIMG_8733 (resized).jpegIMG_8736 (resized).jpegIMG_8739 (resized).jpegQuoted from pinwiztom:I go into get me butt scoped tomorrow morn.
Doing the gawd awful liquid prep now.
pray for me!
Hope its half as fun as Simpson's Colonoscopy Party.
LOL, I can tell you a story here..Showed up at the Show on Friday and spent about 5 1/2 hours there..I had a colonoscopy two days prior (they removed 6 polyps)..I was just getting ready to swap pinball machines with John P. , and I shat pure blood..Apparently I had two spots that were bleeding badly in my colon...went to the ER after the pin-swap (i didn’t lift anything!), and spent the whole weekend at St. Josephs Hospital..had an emergency colonoscopy the next day, and left the hospital Sunday..WHAT A WEEKEND!! But came home with a beautiful X-Men LE Magneto 
I had a really great time on Friday, regardless..I wouldn’t have changed a thing (except colon doctors, lol). I will most likely be volunteering next year-This was my first show ever, and loved it!
Pair a few miscellaneous I had on my camera from the weekend nothing terribly exciting
FE6ED2C2-C1AA-49BB-8B47-D4A80F866F61 (resized).jpegB713848A-58D0-4A58-B4D2-7BB05B8B48DA (resized).jpegB390A29B-A3EA-4CDF-B2DA-641160156F46 (resized).jpeg8AF2F18A-9242-4149-80C7-B7A9FB810026 (resized).jpegD12429E1-D33D-4004-9AFA-1CDCD1024415 (resized).jpegC8204DF5-F11D-4C73-A11B-86C0E22E8BC0 (resized).jpegQuoted from KING-HENRY:colonoscopy
I only had one polyp removed, waiting on biopsy results,
not too worried, no rectal bleeding that i am aware.
Worst part of whole experience was the nurse who tried to
spear my vein for the drug drip, it took 3 attempts.
She really missed in the 1st attempt at the top of my hand,
and later that day it had swollen so bad, {a welt about size of a walnut)
it calmed down by the next day.
The prep was not too bad the night before,
the liquid solution was kinda salty tasting, instead of sickenly sweet.
Quoted from nwpinball:Speaking of which, did y'all play The Simpson's Colonoscopy Party arcade game that was at the show?
Absolutely!! Most impressive work in the attempt of a visual gag I've ever seen. Production value was seriously crazy. I went for pinball but I doubt I'll ever forget playing that definitely one of the highlights of the show for me
I just posted a bunch of photos from our booth at this year's show to the FAST Pinball thread: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/fast-pinball/page/8#post-6977562
We had a 70-foot booth at NWPAS this year with 16(!) machines in it. Here's a little teaser image showing part of our booth:
The NWPAS is definitely becoming THE show for the homebrew, custom, and indie pinball maker crowd. I've been part of that scene for almost ten years, and it feels like the homebrew presence in Tacoma is almost bigger than every other show combined. Between the conversion kits, scratch-built homebrews, new code, and rethemes, people were certainly busy over the past few years and it was really cool to see the general public playing all the things we and our extended community have been making.
I'm already excited for next year! And a huge thanks to the NWPAS show for welcoming us crazy group of homebrewers!
Quoted from BrianMadden:I just posted a bunch of photos from our booth at this year's show to the FAST Pinball thread: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/fast-pinball/page/8#post-6977562
We had a 70-foot booth at NWPAS this year with 16(!) machines in it. Here's a little teaser image showing part of our booth:
[quoted image]
The NWPAS is definitely becoming THE show for the homebrew, custom, and indie pinball maker crowd. I've been part of that scene for almost ten years, and it feels like the homebrew presence in Tacoma is almost bigger than every other show combined. Between the conversion kits, scratch-built homebrews, new code, and rethemes, people were certainly busy over the past few years and it was really cool to see the general public playing all the things we and our extended community have been making.
I'm already excited for next year! And a huge thanks to the NWPAS show for welcoming us crazy group of homebrewers!
I wish I could be part of the homebrew crowd! Not only design concepts/ideas, but I’m a seasoned film composer that can bust out some hog-dog cinematic music.
I finally unpacked my last game from the show and have final audits to share. I do enjoy nerding out over the numbers...
Random thoughts:
1) Overall numbers were down this year. If the show attendance was close to 100%, this might be a side affect of having more total games on the floor.
2) It still surprises me that KISS is a consistent top player (#1 in 2019 and #2 in 2018). Yay KISS!
3) The High Speed number really jumps out. I did have it listed for sale and the eventual buyer did say he and his wife put a lot of extra play on it to make their decision. Probably a couple other prospective buyers did the same. Also, it was sandwiched between two long players; MMr and TSPP. It probably picked up a lot of folks waiting to get on one of those games. All that said....damn HS showing it can still draw the plays 30+ years later.
4) On the other end of the spectrum, not sure what happened to Metallica. There seemed to always be someone on it and I didn't notice any major down time.
5) One of the tournament finalist parked on Iron Maiden multiple times and completely destroyed several of my high scores. It was fun to watch, but surely impacted the number of plays in a negative way.
6) I was expecting R&M to be #1 this year due to uniqueness and short ball times. It was down for an hour or so while I figured out a shorted plunger coil.
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Quoted from pb456:Anyone know who the vendor was that was selling parted out systems, and the PC cup cup holders (they had translucent green ones, under the holder lighting etc...)? Need contact info for them. TIA!
The Rich Brothers from Idaho:
https://www.facebook.com/Rich-Bros-Pinball-and-Arcade-248593175831110/
[email protected]
Great stats and thoughts Rob! If I were to guess, attendance was down about 10% this year over 2019, I haven't seen the hard numbers yet. So likely less plays is a combination of a few less people than the last couple shows + more games than we've ever had before. I didn't track the stats on my pins, but Victor usually does, so that should be another data point when he gets around it it.
Quoted from NWPinballshow:Great stats and thoughts Rob! If I were to guess, attendance was down about 10% this year over 2019, I haven't seen the hard numbers yet. So likely less plays is a combination of a few less people than the last couple shows + more games than we've ever had before. I didn't track the stats on my pins, but Victor usually does, so that should be another data point when he gets around it it.
Thanks! I am pretty sure Victor shared his, but I can't find them on Pinside. Maybe it was through email. He tends to go the extra mile and collects per day stats. I am not THAT committed haha.
DumbAss - Care to post your numbers here?
Quoted from RobF:Care to post your numbers here?
I forgot to get final numbers for Addams and Safe Cracker. They are set up. Whirlwind remains packed so I am unable to get that final number. I should probably present the information in a tabulated form but this forum doesn't use a monospaced font so it may just be an image. I have numbers from several shows going back several years so I can provide more comparison if desired.
Quoted from RobF:I do enjoy nerding out over the numbers...
If you don't measure ... you don't know.
Quoted from DumbAss:If you don't measure ... you don't know.
i wish i had remembered! too busy trying to get that Centaur PF in the machine when the truck pulled in! I wonder which machine would have won between Centaur, Fatom and Quicksilver?
I guess ball time could have an impact on total games played (like your MET above imo).
Quoted from hisokajp:i wish i had remembered! too busy trying to get that Centaur PF in the machine when the truck pulled in! I wonder which machine would have won between Centaur, Fatom and Quicksilver?
I guess ball time could have an impact on total games played (like your MET above imo).
My vote would have been split, all three were awesome.
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