Quoted from HighProtein:Ben Heck interview I did during the weekend...
» YouTube video
Thanks for the interview.
Ben was generous helping Circus Maximus and others with their games and offering advice.
In this interview, you can tell by the lack of sleep in his eyes.
I enjoyed attending both of his sessions.
Great show again, thanks for the hard work.
I was out of town this weekend, but was able to swing by for the last 2 hours on Sunday. I got to play several 'new to me' machines and see some trophies won by some friends.
You've done such a great job, I think it's time to look for a bigger venue.
Quoted from Black_Knight:You've done such a great job, I think it's time to look for a bigger venue.
That's my only feedback, time to bump the space up if possible. The downside to that is the extra expense of the bigger venue and the additional staff/planning.
That's not a criticism at all. I would be perfectly happy to continue the exact way it's been done and at the same venue. It's just my wish to see it grow. 
Quoted from Magic_Mike:The ball always struggled to make it up the wireform.
It always took about three tries before it would slowly loop around.
Re: MMR catapult...
Yeah, it had problems right at the point over the left ramp and often dribbled back down the left ramp back to the flippers. Sometimes it worked perfectly. Sometimes it rattled, when back into the catapult and then fired properly.
THANK YOU for bringing the game!
I might the last to achieve "home safely" status. Spent the night at my parents place in NC before finishing the drive today... nothing like finishing up with the DC area in rush hour.
You guys in Atlanta sure bring some niiiiiice games to the show - I was impressed! If I was to recommend things to work on for next year, one would be a couple more trash cans in the space. More importantly, something has to be done to eliminate the tripping hazard caused by the big power cable feeding the center of the room. All day I watched people try to look natural after getting tripped up... and then I repeatedly stumbled over it when heading to the bar for food. Maybe a ramp; maybe an overhead solution; but a small carpet and some tape is not a good enough answer.
-Rob
-visit http://www.kahr.us to get my daughterboard that helps fix WPC pinball resets or for Williams system 3-7 sound board solutions.
I believe there were some comments that the tournament room needed to be bigger, but I'm glad that it was removed from the main floor.
More thoughts:
Additional chairs or stools scattered around would be good.
Tourney room could use more space but was well moved from general gaming. Too bad it turned into an exclusive event during the finals. I was able to sneak in to watch, but I think it would be good for more spectators to be able to watch. Overhead glassed-off viewing balcony (surgery theatre) would be freaking awesome! Or video coverage with game-cams piped into one of the other rooms.
KISS was meh, OK.
TWD was meh, slightly better.
WWE was a train wreck. Turrible.
Most everyone was really nice and considerate of people waiting to play.
No egg-farters as far as I could tell.
Waffle House and Popeys will blow your colon out!
Quoted from jeffspinballpalace:I don't have time to read through this thread - it's too long. One question ... when is SFGE?
I'd say a bit less than a year
Actually went Friday night and all day Sat. Had a fun time and talked to many great pinheads. I wasn't confident Brian was going to be able to train me to enter scores, but with patience and perseverance, he proved you can teach an old dog a new trick. Thanks Preston and Team for hosting a great event. Thanks John for making the 80's come back to life. Thanks Brian for running a silky tournament. Thanks vendors for bringing cool stuff. Thanks collectors for bringing sweet games. In the distance, a small man is seen holding a lit bic lighter, and the flame flickers against the wall as he chants,"encore ... 
Celebrate18.gif
IMG_20150622_225908.jpgThis is an amazing event! I am so glad to have went both years, and I am anxiously awaiting where next year takes SFGE! Thanks to Joel and everyone else who makes this event possible ... I love the pinball raffle for those who donate their games , I was extremely stoked , surprised, flabbergasted that I won this year - as I only had a lone ticket in the mix (and last year my Rollergames took best of show) What an incredible fathers day gift!
Over 700 plays on RG!! Rock on!IMG_20150622_225924.jpg
Quoted from Wolfmarsh:That's my only feedback, time to bump the space up if possible. The downside to that is the extra expense of the bigger venue and the additional staff/planning.
That's not a criticism at all. I would be perfectly happy to continue the exact way it's been done and at the same venue. It's just my wish to see it grow.
I talked to several people who also said that it was time for a bigger space. It was pretty cramped at times. I'm just happy that it is growing and hope it continues year after year.
I tripped over that giant cable probably 5 times.
I was so busy playing games Friday night I completely missed the Pinside get-together! D'oh.
I was the long-haired guy wearing a Buffy the Vampire Slayer shirt Friday, a perfect Pac-Man shirt Saturday (Billy Mitchell noticed), a Weird Al Yankovic shirt Saturday night, and a Monty Python shirt Sunday.
Random observations:
The color display in the Simpsons Pinball Party looked *really* good.
I think flow in the main game room would have been a bit better if the main line of vids and pins were shifted about 2 feet towards the entrance/exit side-- as it was it was often difficult to navigate through the Stern area there with the mass of people.
I did better on video games than on pinball this year; #1 (71K) and #4 on Donkey Kong Jr., the top three on Tapper (65K #1), and 2nd on Gorf (made it to wave 22, best I've done on MAME has been wave 13). I even made it through wave 3 on Tron (video game). By comparison I couldn't get anywhere on Rollergames (despite scoring 8 figures on it last year), got into multiball on Doctor Who but not much else, and played 3 games of Whirlwind with only one multiball between them. Got 4.5B on JackBot but I can't remember if that's even a good score on that machine (didn't make the scoreboard so it couldn't have been that good). At least I finally had a good run on Funhouse on Sunday, took #3 with a 31M.
Played Joust pinball for the first time ever! Wow that game is wacky to play single-player.
I got to play The Walking Dead, finally-- I ended up being the last one to play it before they packed it up Sunday. Had no idea what I was doing (since I've never seen the show) but somehow managed 120M on it.
Quoted from Magic_Mike:Thanks for the interview.
Ben was generous helping Circus Maximus and others with their games and offering advice.
In this interview, you can tell by the lack of sleep in his eyes.
I enjoyed attending both of his sessions.
Thanks for watching!
I wanted to bring up his help with Circus Maximus (etc...),
but it's hard to put everything in interviews.
Quoted from CafeOne:I was extremely stoked , surprised, flabbergasted that I won this year - as I only had a lone ticket in the mix What an incredible fathers day gift!
You should have had Dennis and Greg sign it for you.
What an awesome weekend before the wife and I fly off to Tokyo and Guam for two weeks.
Catch you cats later...
Circus Maximus Presentation (Part 1) at Southern Fried Gaming Expo 2015
Circus Maximus Presentation (Part 2) at Southern Fried Gaming Expo 2015
Thanks for the props. I know many don't care about the tournament aspect of the show but me and my wife worked non stop from Friday open to Sunday close working the tournament. We didn't get to enjoy the show but we did get to enjoy watching people compete in our tournament. I slept 5 hours friday night and 4 saturday and had to get up and have finals running at 8am....
It's a thankless job but someone's got to do it right?
We had several people come up and tell us this was their first tournament and they had a good time. that's what is all about for me. New people enjoying the hobby and competitive pinball.
thanks LOTR and JeffS for the kind words. Thanks to everyone that helped out. I'll be posting a huge thank you on the bash and FB soon.
Bryan runs a great tournament. The amount of time and effort it takes to run one of these is huge. Thanks for making Atlanta and the area a place for competitive pinball. The number of events we've had this year is crazy, largely in thanks to Bryan really getting things going around here.
I always wonder how I should clean my playfields after a show. I clean and wax them before, so maybe just Novus1?
Thank you to everyone who made the show a spectacular success!!!
Our amazing staff photographer Juan Jusino just released his official photo set from the event. He captured some fantastic images that really show how much fun the Southern-Fried Gameroom Expo is. If you couldn't make it to the show, here's just a little taste of what you missed!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/117416433@N05/sets/72157652670027393
This is just a reminder that we need your votes in January to stay on the PAPA Circuit calendar. Only the players in the events are allowed to vote.
We need your vote to make sure SFGE & Pinvasion III will be a stop on the 2016 circuit. As we get closer I'll put up a reminder. The first year was huge and this past weekends show was even bigger!
Next year I can just about guarantee you that we will be in a larger venue and the tournament will be back in a main ballroom.
Only 20 tournaments are available for the circuit tour and you the players are the ones who decide.
Thanks
Huge thanks to the community for coming out and really showing SFGE some love again this year. The show doesn't happen without games, so I really have to express our gratitude for hauling your games out and sharing them with the folks! We had some awesome games in excellent condition and people really took notice and enjoyed the heck out of them. 
We've calculated the number of pins at 130 and vids at 85. That includes Marco's booth and the 15 tournament games. Last year, I think we had 105 pins ( including Marco & the tourney ) and 65 vids. I made an effort to try and get the number closer to balanced this year, but to be honest, I'm really glad we had a lot of pins at the show.
Bryan and Amanda and their team did an Amazing job with Pinvasion II this year. Under less than perfect conditions, they stepped up and showed how to run a World-Class Pinball Competition -- easily on par with or superior to most events I can think of. Let's vote for Pinvasion to stay a part of the PAPA circuit for next year!
The volunteer staff was excellent again this time around. Many returned for duty even after fulfilling the hours that they signed up for. The load out crew especially kicked butt, and saved Team SFGE from complete exhaustion by helping us load out our games and many others.
Lastly, I have to definitely commend the Game Techs who kept the game room humming. They really showed their skill this year and were incredibly generous with their time. Their efforts really paid off as most of you can attest to. There were Very few games down, and those that went down were back up and running quickly. My hat is off to Paul, Big Bob, Bob K., Dan, Mark, Tim, Charlie, Jon, Mica, Joe, Matthew, Steve, Rick, Robby and Ernie. Seriously, THANK YOU guys!
Quoted from Sc1f1:The first year was huge and this past weekends show was even bigger!
Next year I can just about guarantee you that we will be in a larger venue and the tournament will be back in a main ballroom.
a new larger venue in say perhaps Valdosta Ga ? 
A larger venue is about the only thing that could make this already great show even better.
In talking to some people, the most common gripe I heard was how worn out they were after load-in. I thought of an idea that might make bringing more games easier as well. Next year I'd love to see a GoFundMe or something where people can voluntarily chip in to help the locals pay a moving company for some muscle to load/unload the games at the venue. I'd gladly chip in $50 above the ticket price to help pay for some of that muscle.
Quoted from Wolfmarsh:A larger venue is about the only thing that could make this already great show even better.
In talking to some people, the most common gripe I heard was how worn out they were after load-in. I thought of an idea that might make bringing more games easier as well. Next year I'd love to see a GoFundMe or something where people can voluntarily chip in to help the locals pay a moving company for some muscle to load/unload the games at the venue. I'd gladly chip in $50 above the ticket price to help pay for some of that muscle.
I totally agree with this. I had some volunteers bring 4 pins for the tournament and they were exhausted. We need some way of getting help with the load in and outs for sure
We were tired sfter loading pins, I don't want to think about how exhausted some of the guys and gals that brought vids felt like! Some of those things are fracking humongous.
It wouldn't be very expensive either. 8 movers @ $20/hr. is only $160/hr. Get them for 8 hours (4 hours load-in and 4 hours load-out) and it's only a $1280 labor cost. They would just move machines between cars and the floor. The owners would still set them up and break them down.
I would think a separate GoFundMe for the cause could raise that pretty quickly. Could probably even do it with less heads, but I always estimate high.
I loaded in Thursday night, and had so many people offering to help that I actually had to turn a few away. Load-out was fine too. I'm always surprised to see pins moved on their legs - they roll great once they're broken down.
Huge thanks to Mike Martin, who worked with me until load-in and setup were completely done on my 8 pins.
All the organizers did an excellent job. Joel and Dana coordinating the floor and volunteers. Joel needs a fitbit next year so we can track his mileage!
Bryan and Amanda did an awesome job running the tourney. Even though I didn't participate in the tourney, I spent time in there helping setup and such and its easy to see that you two really know how to run these suckers!
My only suggestion (in addition to a larger venue) is setup the whole floor like the 80s area was setup. The room dividers gave the 80s area a comfortable feel. It was easy to get in and out of (unlike some of the other areas). The music was a great idea. We could separate the pinball and arcade machines into eras (i.e. 70s and below, 80s, 90s, 2000 and up) and play music from each era.
Quoted from Schwaggs:My only suggestion (in addition to a larger venue) is setup the whole floor like the 80s area was setup. The room dividers gave the 80s area a comfortable feel. It was easy to get in and out of (unlike some of the other areas). The music was a great idea. We could separate the pinball and arcade machines into eras (i.e. 70s and below, 80s, 90s, 2000 and up) and play music from each era.
I noticed some traffic patterns in the main room. The side with the pins was always packed, but the side with the vids had plenty of room. Someone else mentioned the area in front of Marco's booth. That was hard to walk through at times, but nobody was ever a dick about it, which was cool.
The 80's room was awesome. I found myself heading there whenever I wanted a little chill time. The music was a great background to playing.
Speaking of the music, I think I mentioned this before or in another thread, but that band was fantastic as an old school cover band. I'm not sure what they would have charged to play longer, but I could have gone for another hour or two of them. If I'm honest, when I saw them take the stage I wasn't expecting much, but they really did a good job. I really got into playing while they were going.
I'm 100% in for next year. The tentative plan right now is to have the first proto of Spaceballs there for some torture testing.
Quoted from Wolfmarsh:I noticed some traffic patterns in the main room. The side with the pins was always packed, but the side with the vids had plenty of room. Someone else mentioned the area in front of Marco's booth. That was hard to walk through at times, but nobody was ever a dick about it, which was cool.
The 80's room was awesome. I found myself heading there whenever I wanted a little chill time. The music was a great background to playing.
Speaking of the music, I think I mentioned this before or in another thread, but that band was fantastic as an old school cover band. I'm not sure what they would have charged to play longer, but I could have gone for another hour or two of them. If I'm honest, when I saw them take the stage I wasn't expecting much, but they really did a good job. I really got into playing while they were going.
I'm 100% in for next year. The tentative plan right now is to have the first proto of Spaceballs there for some torture testing.
looking forward to seeing Spaceballs & was nice meeting you Bro , enjoyed those games on Pinball Magic even though I kept triggering the tilt lol 
Quoted from TecumsehPlissken:looking forward to seeing Spaceballs & was nice meeting you Bro , enjoyed those games on Pinball Magic even though I kept triggering the tilt lol
It was great meeting you too! Sorry I had to bail so soon! I had been looking forward to a date with my wife without kids for some time, nothing was keeping me away from that.
We will have to play another game together, but on Spaceballs!
Quoted from Wolfmarsh:We will have to play another game together, but on Spaceballs!
Def!!
I agree with all of the above - great show, great tournament, great games, and great volunteers! Enjoyed meeting many of you and hope to meet more next year.
My only complaint is against myself - I was playing some of the best pinball of my life out on the main floor but when I played in the tournament I fell apart completely! But it's all good, I still had fun and hey at least I finished in the top 100!
I didn't see my vendor booth on any of the photos, so just to prove KAHR.US was there...
-Rob
-visit http://www.kahr.us to get my daughterboard that helps fix WPC pinball resets or for Williams system 3-7 sound board solutions
Quoted from rkahr:I didn't see my vendor booth on any of the photos, so just to prove KAHR.US was there...
I met Rob & talked with him & he did a fantastic job of explaining the reset device to me & exactly how it works etc....... thus putting to rest any (false) reservations I had about it // Great product!! I bought two more for other games / already had one installed in my C.V
Does anyone know the name and/or have contact information for the vendor that was at the entrance to the 1985 arcade on Friday night, but was gone after that? My girlfriend was interested in what they had Friday but decided to come back and take a closer look on Saturday, but they were gone.
Quoted from Finrod:Does anyone know the name and/or have contact information for the vendor that was at the entrance to the 1985 arcade on Friday night, but was gone after that?
Monsterarcades.com
I made the pictures!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/117416433@N05/19116983301/in/album-72157652670027393/
That's me in the Pac-man shirt playing the electromech whose name I cannot remember.
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