They filmed both my Gorgar and the Flash for their documentary, I scored a free DVD from them as they wanted the glass off to get better video. I opened Centigrade 37 for them carefully, not my pin, was a little nervous, but you think it was nice on the outside, it looked like new on the inside, one of the nicer restore jobs I have seen. I even learned what C37 really means and why it was titled that way. Great job docquest, was nice talking with you

The hotel is very lax on other things you know what I mean? With the show open so late their is not even time to enjoy your room.
If and when we move to another facility the freedom everyone has experienced will surly change. The hotel is improving on things now give them a chance.

Indeed, though when I was there a couple of months ago, a number of their "A list" games were gone...

.

Quick correction : Swing Time, the best 60s EM pin in show is a Williams not Gottlieb,
Lots of great WMS pins from that era, glad they are getting some notice.

A quick peruse of this thread and looks like Pintastic is a show not to be missed,
too bad I am on the wrong coast, but will put it on my pinball bucket list.

cheers tom

Big thanks to Tony Dziedzic, Dave Metrando, and Lloyd Olson (straight from the airport) for filling in, and winging it. There were enough questions, and prodding from me as moderator, to fill out the hour. It was all ad hoc, no prepared material!
.................David Marston

That's great news for all concerned. Between the incentives and the appeals to the generosity/conscience of the bringers and buyers, we achieved an extremely low attrition rate. This meant more hard-to-find games available on Saturday night for both pinball enthusiasts and locals who saw our publicity and advertising and visited casually after dinner.
.................David Marston

All my games made it till saturday night....Bop 2.0 broke about 11pm blew a pop bumper to pieces....I hope most of you got to play her before I got it down to free play. RBION had a ton of plays so did LCA, and Taxi. Simpsons did not make the return trip....But Johnny and Metallica got added to the collection. Thank you for the kid words James, seams your always willing to lend a hand too. Glad we go you a poster to have signed....I was on a mission to not have BOP2.0 down for long or with out her BG and on....as well as keep control over freeplay. Everyone pitched in to help me and gave me a chance to play and shop.

For the record about 150 games on RFM are all me. Thank you for bringing it, it's my absolute favorite. Also played TAF a lot and enjoyed it. Thank you to everybody who brought games, but especially the owners of NGG, Funhouse, T2, and that really nice Taxi (that everyone was mourning the loss of when it was wheeled out), and Gabe for his games of course. I played everything I could, but really enjoyed those the most.

Also, I know a lot of people were complaining about the rooms, but I had the same problems at the cabin/house I rented. It looked like Camp Crystal Lake on Saturday the 14th. Seemed like a local trend. Good to know about Super 8. Anybody else have better luck with accommodations?

I stayed at the hotel and didn't have any problems with it. I "slept" in worse places.

Like Gabe said, I didn't spend enough time in the room to notice. I think I spent a total of 12hrs in the room from Thur - Sun.

We stayed at the Super 8 and it was great. Started in a room with a sluggish AC and broken fridge, but they very happily moved us over to the next room which had everything working tip top. Having seen both hotels rooms, I'm staying at the Super 8 next year.

I do agree the Host is a great place for Pintastic. The conference area was very clean and updated. It really felt like a giant pinball party, and not a corporate event. Another venue might not be as permissive with some of the chaos (fun).

Ok, Last shot before I just hang this on my wall....My buddy found a VT license plate in the bed of his truck after the show. Is anyone missing a VT plate????

Pm me with what your Reg is to confirm and I will mail it to you.

Thanks!

Holy Pinball Batman! Just when I thought Pintastic couldn't have been a better experience I received a pm from Gabe that I won a gift certificate from Mezel mods! I posted 2 pages back about what a great time I had but would like to thank Gabe, Dave, Mudflaps and the rest of the crew again. This crew has just raised the bar on what a pinfest should be in my opinion. It was full on family event with so much stuff going on for the kids. One of my favorite things of the weekend that made me smile every time was the kids video game tournament going on next to the Sanctum's tournament room.

So many families enjoying themselves in the free play room was great! At one point I saw a couple with their 2yr old playing Bob Thurman's marble game. Little guy was having so much fun it looked like they were going to be there for a while. It's this kind of magical assembly of both parents and children enjoying themselves at the same time that will keep pinball moving forward more than anything else.

Thanks Pintastic Crew!

The show was awesome! Thank you to Gabe and everyone associated with putting it on. It is awesome to have such an epic "home town" show

Also a big thank you to Dave for organizing and moderating the homebrew panel (and those poor souls in the audience who had to listen to me!). If anyone has any follow up questions, feel free to reach out via PM.

Next year I'll be sure to not have any conflicts for the weekend so I can enjoy the whole weekend!

Glad you enjoyed the RFM. I was hesitant about bringing it because it's so difficult to transport, but seeing the amount of play time it received made me glad I did.

RFM has a New Old Stock Wells-Gardner Pinball 2000 monitor in it, with less than 100 hours of use. The black levels of a brand-new CRT are incredible. Time to install the NOS playfield I recently purchased...

That's a terrible idea and would be a huge detriment to the event. The host hotel was sold out LONG before I booked my room, so what is the need for this policy? To make the show less fun for the large group of people who can't get rooms at this paradise?

I also don't see how trying to shut out people from the free play area is going to help people sell games that they brought - it wasn't exactly a seller's market at the show this year and I saw several get sold at the last minute as they were being broken down late.

How are you gonna enforce it anyway? You really going to have somebody working the door at 1 am telling drunks they can't play pinball in a mostly empty room just because they don't have a room there?

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. The show was great this year and I'm recommending it to all my NYC friends - and all these people are busy and can't decide to go the show until late anyway when the host shithole is booked solid anyway. You are gonna make me look bad.

A more productive approach would be to ask the hotel if they might consider cleaning the mold out of their rooms and updating some of the dumpy carpet and ceiling tiles. I know, silly idea but in the long run this might benefit the show (and the hotel) more than trying to shut enthusiastic pinheads out of the late night festivities because they don't want to sleep in a moldy/musty dump or booked late.

Did anyone try those mac & cheese stuffed cheetos from Burger King? I got an order of those when I left the show (because some people went to dinner without me...no names mentioned) and they were as amazing as some of the games at Pintastic

Nah, I was two busy eating a two-pound lobster at the Sturbridge seafood place next to the burger king, and Thai food across the street the night before.

Too many good options to eat within walking distance to subject myself to burger king.

I always bring the dog, so I'm not expecting those rooms to be redone any time soon...and I'm fine with that. Look...I paid $104 to stay in a palatial-sized room for the night at one of the best pinball shows in the country. I was able to roam around (with a drink in my hand if I wanted to) until all hours of the night. I spent a total of 8 hours maximum in the room, and I didn't even notice that it smelled musty when I was sleeping. So who gives a shit?

You want to know what sucks worse? Having a show that's not in the hotel, or having a hotel police everything that's going on in every corner of the place. It's one of the only downsides to Allentown...that guy in the golf cart telling people to lose the beer, and not being located in a hotel.

I'm not really sure you guys know what you're asking for. Every show has its downside; this is one I'm very happy to live with. Be careful what you wish for!

I would have loved to have stayed at the host hotel this year. But it was sold out.

I'm trying to figure out why this is an issue? They want people sleeping in the lobby?

And if I want to go to a show with overzealous cops that closes down at 8pm I can go to Allentown. Be careful what you wish for!

(by the way, you can bring your dog to the Super 8 as well. Somehow they pull this off without the mold).

The hotel has another 100 rooms available on Friday night. I just did not block them off because I don't know how to keep people from booking els were. Hotel selling out is not the issue.

The super 8 was remodeled a few years ago that is why it is nicer. I think the host will be doing some remodeling now that they sold off their partner hotel that was dragging them down. We want everyone to be happy but the reality is rooms booked equals money for the show which I put back into the show for speakers, entertainment and after party.

I'm just going to see if Yankee Spirits will let me stay there next year.

I would suggest finding out *what* upgrades *will* be made before committing to the same hotel. I can overlook musty smells, etc., but I absolutely cannot sleep on a mattress that feels like it was used by a tribe of gorillas as a trampoline.

I loved nearly everything about the show, but my room itself, and the hotel staff, was definitely a low point.

On Friday, the housekeeping staff actually left my room propped open all day. I came back to my room at 2am after a day of pinball to find my room unlocked and open to anyone. It was really unsettling! Thankfully nothing was taken...

Additionally, I got an electric shock from my phone when I pluggged it in to charge in the outlet in the nightstand, lol...

Hotel staff was apologetic about both occurences, but no discounts or refunds on my room were offered. I've never had anything like this happen at any hotel before, anywhere in the world!

Anyhow, I loved the show and can't wait for next year, but would much prefer to not be compelled to stay at the host hotel again.

Now that I've finally slept....it's time to reflect on my first show bringing games. Thanks to BrIan (the96stang) taunting me for months, I brought 8 games this year to the show. After moving 8, I have no clue how he does it and physically doesn't fall apart. I was on the back wall directly across from him.

Like Brian, I struggled with some games giving me fits....but thanks to Dave Madore and several others I was able to keep them running. (Thanks Dave for finding my phantom 4th ball on Getaway - aka a light bulb stuck in the trough!) My games were actually fairly reliable for the weekend, and the four that I sold spent most of the weekend on the Freeplay floor. (Big thanks to Rob from Australia for leaving Getaway until the end)

Foolish me went to the flea market....and now I have a garage full of project games, project boards and other parts. Prices in the flea market were great and were definitely open to discussion.

I personally found the hotel to be fine...I've stayed in way worse hotels that cost way more. My kids even had fun with the free mini golf, although I wanted to rebuild a few of their holes for them.

Big shout out to Gabe and the rest of the organizers....I can't imagine how difficult it is to run a show like this. Apologies for being that new guy that had tons of questions, but in the end it all worked out great.

And finally, as far as food goes.....one word....BT's.

Thanks all!

Ed

I will be meeting with the hotel and will address all your concerns with them. Thank you.

I thought the accommodations were just fine. I checked in early Thursday and stayed thru Sunday. Breakfast buffet in the morning, sat next to Jersey Jack. Bar and restaurant on site. You didn't have to leave if you didn't want to. After party with food was a nice touch. Obviously the indoor pool attributes to the moisture but that's just part of the price of admission. If the pool was outdoors it would be a mosquito love fest. I wouldn't change anything about it. I thought I would be "pinballed out" by Sunday but I was wasn't. I pulled my machine at 10:30 pm to facilitate an early drive home. Came home and played the 2 machines that are too difficult to get out of the house with out help. The convenience of walking in and out of your room to go play or shop far out weighs any short comings the hotel might have. I thought they were minor anyway nothing worth complaining about. I wasn't there to hang out in my room, I was there to overload myself with all things pinball. I can't wait for the next one!

I always put the "do not disturb" sign on the door to avoid issues like that.

I didn't really have any complaints about the room. It was clean, and everything worked properly.

My only complaint was that my room was very far away from the show, so it was an extra long walk for already tired legs

Not true , expo is in a hotel, a really nice one and you can drink and party no issue as well.

The event was awesome the bed sucked. I need sleep and this was the first hotel i could not sleep in. Worst mattress ever. The BS about a partner hotel is crap, your business is beds and those mattress are as old as the building itself. So now a penalty for not staying at a place that is gross? Ill pay more ( which i did at another lovely local hotel) if you can assure me of a new mattress. I tried 4 rooms all the same crap.

That ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ is what i mean. I was aggravated i had to pay for two hotels ( the host and the new one i moved to) on Friday night. I paid twice as much for a decent nights sleep. BTW the "free internet" never did work , i guess you get what you pay for.
Show great, hotel less than great.

I will address the mattress issue with the hotel. Not sure about the hours of the rooms yet or accsess to them. A few things may change. But it will not change drasticly. Maybe for the better. Anyone think we should do a small 24hour room with 20 pins?

That's a more productive idea than threatening to revoke privileges of show attendees - ie: your customers - who are concerned about the state of the facility. Judging by the horrific tripadvisor reviews the hotel management has heard it all before, but it can't hurt.

My interactions with the staff were fine, I thought the Oxford tavern, bar and patio by the lake were great and the food was good as well ( I had a delicious turkey and stuffing paninni and the drinks were generous pours). They are doing some things right, but clearly they need to invest a few bucks in the place beyond painting lines in the parking lot.

Just for the record I was not threatening anyone. Just tweeting things. Their are options to move the show to a nicer hotel but we would loose things like. Flee market....ground level accsess...and lax liquor rules cheaper room rates. Is it worth having a nice room if we loose all that stuff?

No threats, we're simply bouncing ideas off each other. The entire show will be taken to the next level for 2017.

Why do you keep jumping to that conclusion?

The show brought a lot of business to that hotel. You might want to mention to them that many of your customers were disgusted by the rooms. You have some clout here.

I don't want to see the show move either as the place seemed perfect for it - mean that sincerely. I've been to a few of these shows and this way by far the best party. But after hearing about friends' experiences and having that reinforced by posts here, I'm not booking a room there next year unless they tidy the place up.

Honestly, this place is nicer than most cheap fleabag motels I usually stay at.

I will work on the hotel. Thank you for your input.

sell a few titles and try a nicer hotel. life is short.

Now that we have proven our ability to deliver more room-nights, we have the potential to work with a second venue as the official overflow hotel. But that second hotel would have to provide something we can use to enhance the show. In order to channel Levi's issue in a constructive direction, I pose this question: does anyone know of some real precedents for such deals? Note that ReplayFX is somewhat different; they have several designated hotels, but the show itself is not in a hotel, so all the hotels are equal. I'm asking about an unequal relationship between the show hotel and a designated secondary hotel.
.................David Marston

I had a room, but my buddy and I decided not to use it. I will commend the hotel staff for not charging us when we decided at 11:30pm not to stay, as we were just going to just eat it. Yes, the hotel was stuck in the early 90's and the area near the pool looked like an abandoned 1980's Mall food court...but, it appeared clean... smelled awful in the hallways, but clean...Nice tube tv in the room too ....BUT, it was $100, for that price I'd expect then also rented by the hour....So, it's not bad at all for a Pinball show, at all...

Unfortunately, I tend to fall into the "buy high, sell low" situation a lot when restoring the basket cases I manage to find.

I thought the hotel was fine. Kids loved it. Little rundown, but oh well. The moisture in the air from the pool and hot tub I didn't care for, but the a/c in the room took care of that. I thought everything your team did for the show was great. Loved everything spaced out so it spreaded the crowds out. I truly hope it stays at it's current location and I can't wait to see what you are going to do for next year!

ThankYou! Like I did this year we will evaluate what worked well and what did not. Change it up a bit and go from their. What would you like to see added or changed?

For $100 I had pretty low expectations for the hotel. It was acceptable.

As others have said, the mattresses were simply awful, but I complain about the mattresses in the $500 a night places too-- they are all too soft for my liking.

My only real complaint was the wifi. I understand having connectivity issues at peak hours, but I couldn't get on it at 2am either. I ended up having to hotspot myself to cover a few emails from work that couldn't wait.

Off the rop of my head, the only drawback to me was losing the ability to play the games in the vendor hall at 8 each night. That seemed to be the place to find and try the new titles. I realize the vendors want time to enjoy the show as well and it's good to close up early so they can. Don't know what the solution would be to that? Other then that, the pool closing at 9 had my kids down but that's not the show rules.