...or be the show organizer's official whipping boy.

Last year was the first year, and I can tell you that Pintastic is like no other show anywhere. Gabe has really created something special...a show that has everything pinheads would want, and tons of stuff that your wife and kids will love as well. I highly recommend it. If you get tired of being inside, go outside and chill out by the lake at the hotel. It's a beautiful place. Give it a try...you won't be disappointed. And did you see all of the cool people coming this year? It's like TPF North!

Not in my book. Not even close. Allentown is a great place to buy games and stuff. You can do that at Pintastic as well, but it's great on every other level as well.

Awesome. I wonder how many people will accuse you of being JPop.

Come to think of it, you should say you ARE JPop and have a dunk booth for charity with all the proceeds going to people who got ripped off. That'd be a nice touch.

RUN!!!

I'll take a 6x10 of the clown chick and the Steve Ritchie photo, but please photoshop out the goofball standing next to him. I would like it bundled with a shirt and poster. PM me for my address and Paypal info. Thanks.

Does it come with John Trudeau?

Awesome. My wife got along with your wife really well. It's the first step to becoming a Friar.

And you just elevated yourself another few steps in my book...had no idea you were a Cowboys fan.

I'll start a kickstarter campaign to pay for his airfare. Give me a total amount to get Lloyd there and I'll get it started - he's worth every penny and it shouldn't be hard in this community to raise a thousand bucks or so.

Hey, Gabe...when you were shaving, you missed a spot.

If this was meant toward my post about starting a Kickstarter to get Lloyd to Pintastic, I assure you it wasn't in jest. I've already created the fundraiser and am just awaiting Kickstarter approval. It will run for 15 days, and I'm kicking it off with a $50 pledge. That leaves $850 for Pinside to raise, and I'm hoping Pinside can do that in just a few days. The earlier Lloyd can book the plane tickets, the cheaper they'll be.

Lloyd, I'll give you a count of how many people get mugs for their donation and Gabe and I will make sure you get them done on time. If any donations come in in excess of the $900, we'll use that to pay for the mugs as well. (I'll shut it down as soon after $900 as possible, though!).

Looking forward to the show!

Just cancelled my room.

You must not know many people.

Yes. He's talking about the Beelzeboob that offered to rivet stuff for you. Now I seem to have misplaced my riveter.

Great to hear, and I'm so glad he'll be doing his part on Friday night since I'll be there Friday to Saturday morning. Thanks for all your help, and I'm still waiting for Kickstarter approval and will create a Pinside thread once it's active.

So this is what I get back from Kickstarter...seems you can't raise money to cover travel expenses for somebody. So I'm asking Pinsiders to donate to the cause because Lloyd IS coming now, and if we can't raise the money, some good people will be out of quite a bit of cash trying to help a good cause. If you're interested in donating, PM me and I'll give you my Paypal info, and I will guarantee that ALL donated money will go to Lloyd's expenses. (Dannunz will keep me honest, I promise you!) Thanks in advance for anybody who wants to help out, and if we hit the $900 goal, I'll make an announcement.

Let me know if you guys think I should start a separate thread...

DickFarter_(resized).png

Thanks. I've visited gof**kme.com, but never that other site.

Already done...wish I had known about this last week. Here's the link, everybody:

http://www.gofundme.com/2984d8qs

Any donations would be greatly appreciated. I'll keep everybody updated and if it doesn't shut down automatically at $900, I'll shut it down.

I'll start a dedicated thread in a little bit. I have a meeting to get to!

It did...thanks so much, Jim!

I think they take 2%, so I upped it to $920. Starting a dedicated thread now...

Crap. And thanks for your donation!

Make that $950.

Waiting for the official Lloyd Olsen announcement.

REALLY looking forward to the show now!

No. F YOU. And I'll thank you to henceforth refer to me as Captain Romance. And you're welcome.

Don't get too excited. It's an underwhelming experience, to say the least.

Awesome. Send me one so I can model it for you on Pinside. You'll sell more shirts that way, rather than using some old guy with a beard to show it off.

I don't need a rotisserie, but Attila is a great Hungarian name you don't hear very often. It's my cousin's name in Budapest.

So...you know...you're awesome.

Are you saying you'd like to skewer me?

There are only two seats available for anybody that wants to sit next to me, though. Make that one if my wife shows up.

PS - I do shower before these events, in case anybody is wondering.

Don't worry. You wouldn't be invited anyway.

You do know the show isn't for almost two weeks, right?
I know the organizer, so I know what I'm talking about.

5, you moron.

Yes, Gabe...you know Yzfguy and I are good friends. I think I introduced you at Allentown, maybe? Anyway, I'm looking forward to meeting Taxman at Pintastic. You'll never get any REAL drama from any of us on your thread...just enough BS to keep it bumped.

You must not teach in a predominantly Italian town like I do. The first four letters are pronounced "John," and the last name essentially means John Gregory in Italian. It's not "Gee-on."

Knucklehead.

10 days to Pintastic bump.

My nether regions still smell like eel.

This--along with the fact that I will be there from Friday into Saturday morning--is reason enough for most people to want to come on Saturday. Should be a much better show with both of us gone.

When I told you that about my selfie stick, Art, I didn't mean the camera thing. I meant my stick that I take care of by myselfie.

This worked well for me at TPF; people tended to move out of my way when they saw me coming.

But really, for all intents and purposes, Yzfguy is only there on Thursday since he'll never remember Friday or Saturday.

Trust me. It's a letdown.

This is only the second year. Where did YOU think you were in 2014?

If you were there it must've been some party.

I'm glad somebody's figured him out.

With only 4 days left until Pintastic, I just want to wish my good friend Gabe lots of luck for a smoothly run and incredibly successful show. I know you put all your heart, soul, and love into this show over the past year, and I hope you're happy with everything by the time Sunday rolls around. As you know, I'm at your disposal if you need anything.

Best of luck, brother...and I look forward to chatting with you on the other side of the show when you get your sanity back.

Nobody likes you.

Um...no. I want the one that says "1st"

Nah. You're not a stalker.

You go on my threads. I don't really visit yours. Too boring.

(Psst! I'm gonna kick you in the nuts at Pintastic!)

What would you know about fresh air? You never leave the house. Treat yourself tonight and switch hands. Blindfold yourself and pretend it's somebody else.

I sure am glad Gabe told us to stop being nice in this thread. Pintastic New England, everybody!

Ay-yi-yi...here comes Tax's minions to his defense.

Look, Shacks...HE'S the one that told me he doesn't leave the house too often. Which is why I said that. His words, not mine.

See you at the show!

Don't be jelly!

You need to decide if we're supposed to be nice or go with the lighthearted humorous back and forths that keep your thread bumped. If I was you? I'm going with the Beelzeboob ripfest. Works for me, works for your thread, keeps the show in the forefront of peoples' minds.

Pintastic New England, everybody! Only two days left! (Three until I get there - four until it's safe for people to come back.)

Don't sell it to Yzfguy, Eric. His wife will just complain to him about how creepy Rudy is and he'll have to sell it again. Then we'll have to hear the guy crying all day about how he was bitch-slapped into selling his favorite game...again.

I beg of you: sell it to somebody like Rcbrown, who will just slap a piece of electrical tape above Rudy's mouth (a la Hitler) and sell it at a higher "modded" price. That dude needs the money for his psychotherapy sessions.

You've got WAY too much free time.

What rain? It's beautiful on the Cape.

I see it on the radar. Be safe. WTF are you doing posting while driving???

I swear, if there was a traffic cop anywhere around there you'd be in BIG trouble. Let me know if you see one.

Sadly, I'll be getting there around noon tomorrow and leaving Saturday by noon. Best chance to meet me is probably at Lloyd's show. I helped get him there...the least I can do is see the guy talk. Hope to meet you at some point - I'll be the ridiculously blonde guy wearing a Mezel Mods shirt or Attack From Mars shirt. How do I know? Those are the only two clean shirts I have left!

Guy's got a point. He's a douchebag...but he does have a point.

Looks like Gabe has been working out.

Wait a second...don't tell me you guys are making Keith drive after the dude just had to drive up from North Carolina. Because that's just horrible...

Wow. I'm glad you're not MY friend.

It's been almost an hour without more pictures from ForceFlow. Dude...are you okay?

I might be in, if you're willing to slum with lowlifes like me.

A defaced Boob pic looks on over the heads of all in those raffle shots. Even though I had left already, I was still there.

Wrong. Boob wears socks up to his ass. But I suppose since you spent most of the show drunk on the floor, your point of view was somewhat compromised.

Having left Pintastic around noon today, I've finally settled in and can report on my experience.

I knew it was going to be a rough weekend when I entered the show and quickly realized that douchebag Taxman had spammed the show with pictures of me on the walls with various unflattering remarks. This one says "not wanted," but there were other equally awful captions in different areas of the show:

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Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, people started defacing the picture so that by the time I left today, it looked like this:

13599967_1148611508493063_7303845560859553821_n_(resized).jpg

To add insult to injury, my wife hung out with those douchebags Yzfguy and Shlockdoc and got fully loaded. When I found her, she looked like this:

20160708_214151_resized_(resized).jpg

Then she disappeared. When I texted Yzfguy to see if he knew where she was, this is the text I get back from him:

IMG_20160708_215804772_resized_(resized).jpg

You can really tell how loaded she is in that shot. But when I finally found the guys, she was nowhere to be found. "She left with three other guys," Yzfguy tells me.

Luckily, I found my wife alone and passed out in our hotel room. She still feels like shit, even now.

And now, the highlights of the show:

Meeting Dendoc and his wonderful family and wearing the pin his daughter gave me that said "Aussie Bad Girl"...I enjoyed being one for the day. Thanks, buddy...hope you had a safe (long) trip home!

Hanging with Rcbrown, Rferullo, Gabe, ForceFlow, Taxman, the Mezels, and all the wonderful Pinsiders I met for the first time (sorry I missed Balboarules!). The best part of these shows is meeting all the great people associated with it, which brings me to...

John Youssi was a great guy and put on a great seminar. The hour flew by--as did Lloyd's seminar (and man, am I glad he was there!)--and I wish it had gone on longer.

Most shocking moment: John Trudeau saying hello to me by my real name. I couldn't believe the guy knew who I was. Must be the socks pulled up to my ass.

Second most shocking moment: I LOVED Ghostbusters. Played it at 8 this morning with Dave Marston looking on and got the GC score of 340 million (I think). I don't care about the flipper gap, and I never felt cheated. Great game. Ugly as sin, but still a great game.

Many thanks to Gabe for another wonderful show, and I can't wait to do it again next year. He wins the award for the greatest swag at any show, ever. I bought one of everything.

If you missed it this year, don't make the same mistake again next year.

At least YOU can spell my name right.

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!

You know what else was great? Almost all the games working all the time, mostly thanks to you, Eric.

I did not know that, and my apologies and thanks to Tony!

I'm stressing about you getting my wife loaded again a year from now.

I got a few show deals. And people should remember that the vendors have to pay for those booths, so I'm appreciative of the deals I got.

So happy to see my buddy Taxman came in in the bottom 40. That's what he gets for making fun of my IFPA ranking.

That's a strange middle name to give your kid.

Hey, Dave! How the hell did I miss you after running by you in the parking lot? I didn't see you at the party...or ever again. Sorry we didn't get to talk more.

Sounds like you were being interviewed by a muppet.

I don't know why. He gave you a full ten Mississippi before leaving.

That guy in the blue Hawaiian shirt looks like a stalker. I wouldn't sell him a ticket next year.

You're just asking for trouble.

Well...I'm out.

Again, because I actually respect others' right to privacy, I will NOT publish pictures of Taxman here, although that would have been the sensible, retaliatory thing to do.