Thank you to dmarston and the crew at Pintastic for making the right call. I'm sure this was a tough decision to make, but I'm glad to see everybody's support and understanding. See you all next year!

Thanks for the update! I had a feeling June would be a little too soon, but I'm patient and ready for whenever you decide to have the show.

More time to finish up these damned restorations I'm working on....

Let's not go there. We have no idea what November will actually look like and I think we need to give the show some time to make their plans and adjust operations to fit whatever the global situation calls for.

I was mostly excited because it was an hour closer to me, but I didn't have issue with the space (other than when the ceiling leaked on Dave and I's uber rare EM paining). Luckily neither were harmed.

Weird little New England town with a weird little history for our weird little hobby. Next to B.T.'s Smokehouse. Checks out for me.

Wait where is the biggest liquor store?

Nice. Personally, I'm pretty stoked to have it back at the Sturbridge location. This definitely tips it in a nice direction too.

Not all places are cash only.

Yep.
https://www.btsmokehouse.com

Is there going to be anybody selling PF glass at the show?

Is there a dedicated fight to the death cage match setup between the people from RI and the people from NJ?

I think it gets mentioned quite enough actually.

I will say, as much as masks suck, they do work. Bummed out that we will be back to this but if that's what it takes to get us all healthy safe and flipping I'm fine with it.

Mass is putting in new mask restrictions right?

It's called get ya fahkin' borchester shot kehd.

In all reality, I know Pintastic will be operating exactly within the guidance and mandates that the lovely commonwealth of Massachusetts puts in the place. Which, to say, is essentially nothing. I think it will be on us, the convention goers to make the right decision and to get vaccinated, get the booster, wear a mask if you're feeling up for it, just don't show up if you're sick.

Covid is on a rapid decline (let's hope for good) and Mass seems to have a pretty good vaccination rate. I received my booster shot recently (which definitely made me feel better about having to do some travel for work and what not).

I'll be there, in a mask, likely with all of my sys80 widebodies set up on freeplay.

Hopefully he puts on some shoes.

Is it suggested that we high-tap our EM games?

Most events in Boston do a vax check. Most restaurants do not. Most places I've been accept nice scans or pictures of the card.

As far as seeing the sights and sounds of Boston.... good luck, that city sucks, and I love it.

I had a blast this weekend and want to thank the judges and people for the love of Atlantis that won "best in show 70s EM". It clocked in at 578 plays this weekend without a single issue (and from what I could see, kicked everybody's ass, as it does to me, every time I play it). One dim bulb and that's all.

Thanks for such an amazing show. Glad to have had a million drinks with all of you, playing a bunch of pinball with all of you, and talked a bunch of shop (and smack) with all of you. Peace and love.

IMG_4172.JPG (resized).jpeg

Thanks for the tip! Where should I send the ribbon?

Putting down sober people in a particularly sober friendly hobby is an especially bad look imo.

HELL YES. I've got a friend who plays in this band and they TEAR IT UP.

I'm registered to bring my Haunted House. I'm hoping we can put that to the test over the weekend (i.e., if I've done my job right, it will play perfectly without any mishaps )

Also if you don't plan on getting so fucked up that you can't move walk or drive, you can also get a room at the Public House (their "motel" rooms are way nicer than you expect) or the "economy lodge" down the road which is NOT the Econo Lodge and is apparently pretty clean and tidy.

I think that.

Is there any way to change the registration for the game you've brought? I have to make a last minute change on mine.

EDIT! Nevermind. Figured it out.

I'm a little new to the hobby as far as shows go and I've only been to Pintastic and the Allentown show. From what I can tell, the vibe at the Allentown show is the same vibe that exists at the York and Saratoga Show. Pintastic is a totally different animal. It's attached to a hotel, the freeplay and vendor and tournament feel a little more polished than other shows in the area. I would guess that this show has a structure that's closer to the likes of Expo or SFGE or TPF but having never been to any of those I'm just guessing. I think the in-between of it seems not like a parts and broken pieces of trash flurry like the Allentown show and not quite as robust as TPF or some of the bigger "conventions" it makes it a tougher sell for vendors. Plus, let's be honest, we're all a bunch of cheap New Englanders who aren't going to shell out for stuff like people in other parts of the country might.

The Tournament really felt like it excelled this year and was a lot of fun to watch. I do wish there were a bit more A/V planning on the tournament side (there was talk of some big screen action but I guess that all got sidelined). Big ups to everybody who played, TD'd, tech'd, and helped out there. Thanks to Backhand for capturing it all and making it available for view.

I heard a number of people report their games getting damaged (somewhat severely in my book) when the crew was shuffling games around. Hoping next year I can spend some time volunteering on the tech side of things to help out. Mistakes happen and it sucks (my game got rained on the first year I brought it) and I saw some damaged side rails I'm assuming because a game wasn't strapped down properly in one way or another when moving. Bringing fragile antique games to a show like this, you have to expect that some 8 year old is going to run up and ruin your game.but those are the risks you take when putting a game out in the world.

I only attended a few of the seminars. I found the one on Neptune super interesting, and liked it a lot, but didn't stay for the whole time. I hear a lot of people say "well, I don't know much about this one seminar that's happening so maybe I'll go" and it makes me think that maybe there could be a bit more detailed program notes on these in order for them to be more readily attended and lively. I find some of the seminars painful to sit through, but maybe I'm not much of a seminar person. Seems like there is WAY more concern about the A/V tech in the seminar when there should be way more considered for the tournament IMO.

Freeplay floor was fun. I always have high expectations for free play rooms every year, but maybe that's too much to ask. I always try to find a few of the seasoned show goers and tournament players and ask how they think my game is playing and they're always very fair and frank with any and all criticism which I appreciate. Prize judging seemed to be all very well deserved. Free Play Game Bringer Prize ceremony always seem like kind of a farce because EMP brings the same line up of somewhat working games* and sweep up all the prizes and then I get a million people texting me saying "HEY U COULDA WON IF YOU HAD SHOWN UP".

I'll be totally honest, I have zero sympathy for anybody who got a hotel room and complained about it. No hotel non-hotel chain has ever been renovated from the ground up like you're expecting. Everybody has known for years that the hotel at the show is nasty. It's an event hotel that has been used and abused for decades. You know what you're going to get. I had some guy get FURIOUS when the bathroom was out of paper towel and yelled "THREE STAR HOTEL MY ASS" which I couldn't help but laugh at. Maybe I'm a little too apathetic about what to expect form a place but the amount of full grown men having a temper tantrum about eggs or paper towel is chuckle worthy to me. Life is short, treat everything you pay for like you're going to essentially be throwing away that money. With everything you do.

Ditto on the food. You're in central fucking Massachusetts. Take your pizza expectations south west...

The only reason I can see someone wanting to stay at the hotel is so you can get fucked up beyond all recognition and not have to drive, or you like the connivence, which you will pay for by sacrificing quality of the stay, or the show moving to a nicer venue and the rates being way more expensive. Kind of a "pick two sides of the triangle" type of arrangement: Cheapish, Amenities, Self-Contained.

The RUSH tribute band had to be the biggest waste of money in my book.

I love the Strubridge location of the show. I wouldn't change the event or the space, but I hope to help out with more of the organization next and I hope the rest of you do too.

P.S. I also don't get the complaints about the booze prices. You pay for the connivence of a cold beer in your hand. If you know all the domestic beers are $6.50 get the most expensive one and make yourself feel better about the value of it. If you don't wanna pay that, go back to your room and grab one from your fridge or go buy a 6 pack put it in a cooler or drink half the 6 pack warm. I always have a bottle of Four Roses hidden inside of my games. Anybody with a drinking glass and a 1382 key is more than welcome to some.

*I'm also not trying to slam EMP. They're great people and they do a lot of saving games from destruction/flippers, but there's also a reason I spend very little time in that back row of the free play section. I know how those games are going to play. I'll only stop by if there's a title I've never played before.

Edit: I would like to point out that I've been both reprimanded and corrected on my statements about any game damage and would like to publicly apologize to the tech crew and any involved parties.

Re-reading this, I absolutely apologize for my tone here. The tech crew did, and always does, A PHENOMENAL JOB working on the games, for free, when things go wrong. Stellar work. Always. And with a smile. (and while I'm at it, your game played great in my book Eric).

I heard of a head a few early SS got dropped on the body which left massive dents in the rails when it was moved. Could have been that the head wasn't strapped down properly when it was set up. Could have been in the move. I heard a few other people complain about scuffs on their machines.

Could be that those issues were already there and people were just claiming it happened during the moves, but who knows.

I guess I'll let the owner of the game in question chime in. He's in the thread. He's the one who pointed it out to me. He has a better reputation in this thread than I do apparently. I'll let him chime in or message me about what happened and explain what I saw.

I'll amend my post to mention more what I saw.

Sorry my post came off like I was slamming the best tech crew at the best show with the best and most number of games on the floor running.

Glad Mr. National cleared this up here.

I really was trying to hone in on the fact that everybody here does a fantastic job, and there's so many moving parts to this show, and any complains anybody has, should be taken with a grain of salt (on the gentle end) or suck a fart right out of my ass (on the more aggressive end). This show is a blessing and I'm looking forward to the next one.

The tech team, as they've stated and we've all seen, do an extremely thorough job and do excellent work FOR FREE for all of our games that we bring, because, at the end of the day, it's those games that make the show great and go off without a hook.

I'll admit some fault here: I shouldn't have repeated the story about RoboWar. That's someone else's game and not problem. It was expressed to me that the game was damaged during the move, but it was not explicitly stating that the crew was the one doing the moving. I realize my comments filled in some gaps there.

Again, I saw lots of this and was filling in some memory gaps here and there.

I've apologized personally to both Brian and Tony about the comments and I'd like to point out, again, that the post was more inclined to help cast aversions to negative comments about the show. Sorry I caused this stir.

Is there any talk or consideration about the show moving to the fall for next year (obviously not this year)?

I gotta say, the whole town is a lot more pleasant in the fall than in the summer.

There is a great breakfast spot 10 minute up the road called the Old Village Grill. Cash only. Mammoth portions. Great pancakes. Weird home fries.

You know my motto: pull yourself up by the boot straps and expect less.

Sorry to rile everybody else up again, just saying that early November is a great time for a show

I would imagine that there has to be somewhere in Nashua NH or something like that that would fit all the needs of the show. I'm not sure privy to what exactly that place or space would be, but I can imagine that there must be something there, but I think for so many people apparently the appeal is having a hotel attached to the space.

Honestly, and not just because I'm from the area, but the seacoast would be an awesome location I would think. Can't think of a space for it but I think it'd get a lot of more "local" appeal (non pinheads paying admission) if it were located closed to the seacoast.

People from this area of NH (Manchester/Nashua/ect.) are constantly claiming this and I agree, either you're driving 200mph or you're a liar.

You gotta factor in all the stop lights.

Oh. Okay. Sorry. 300mph. Final offer. Take it or leave it.

If you're not driving 400 miles per hour, don't even talk to me or my son ever again.

Well luckily for all you chumps who will find a reason to complain about any hotel ever, there are literally 4 other hotels in walking distance and I'm sure one of them will suit your needs.

Happy you all found a new location that is happy to have us.