Quoted from HoneyBadger:Damn, really wanted to go but it's the same weekend as PAPA. Why would they do that? Make it either the weekend before or after PAPA and attendance would be better.
We've been on the same weekend for a number of years. We also don't have our own facility, and are signed years in advance, although there is more to that which is boring so I'll leave it there.
I understand you're not a show organizer, but I never fault anyone for running something on the exact same weekend. You have only so many things you can work with, and often times there is much going on behind the scenes that you don't see.
We will miss the dozen or so people that choose to go to PAPA instead of us, but it wasn't something that we could just snap our fingers and move the show for. Beyond that, we're far enough away that we just won't impact them. I'm sure we'll also have a dozen or so people come to us instead of going to PAPA. But, with the exception of the top players, most of whom don't go to MGC due to our tournament situation anyway, I don't know that the crossover is huge.
No matter what, I hope you do great at PAPA! From what I have heard, it's a great event!
Quoted from Whysnow:MGC will feature probably 120-150 pins, the majority of which tend to be amazing condition that local and regional collectors have spent countless hours restoring to better then new condition and moding out with all sort of cool stuff.
Last year, I believe we had more than 200 pins at the show. If you add the 350 at Tom's last year, we had 550 available for attendees. Tom though can't do his open house this year, unfortunately.
Quoted from Whysnow:I would guess MGC had over 5000 in attendance each day last year, but I dont have any numbers.
I do have the numbers. MGC had almost exactly 5000 people each day last year.
Quoted from DanQverymuch:Are there no other skill-based contests allowed in the municipality, with entry fees and prizes, such as darts or pool?
Without getting into this too much, the law is selectively enforced against us, and because we don't have enough money to pay to change the law, nothing is going to change.
I actually just wrote more, but it involves me getting negative, and all things considered, I actually sort of like the way it moved us away from Pump-N-Dump into new tournament formats that allow more players to participate in ways that are great competition. The competition itself has grown majorly in all categories since it happened (pinball has nearly doubled participation, video game competition has gone up more than 1000%), I think because it caused us to get creative and make better formats that are both competitive but that also do not need to be played as long.
On the pinball side, the change did cause us to lose a few big players who really wanted the payouts above anything else, the number of players who told me how much more they like the show because they enter and then can go enjoy it without worrying about having to keep playing to get a better position offsets that entirely. Often times, I think that restrictions like this increase creativity and cause things to be better, so no matter how unfair the situation is against us, the results are that gamers can and will overcome