Cincinnati, OH
After returning from ReplayFX 2016 (my first pinball show/event ever) I'm exhausted and reflecting back on the experience.
Some background: I'm not at all competitive when it comes to pinball - I just enjoy playing, learning the rules and appreciating the engineering and artwork. I didn't enter the tournament, but had a great time in the free play area. I've played all the available games locally in southwest Ohio, in surrounding areas, and have found a few on vacations, but that still only adds up to about 100 titles. In my two days at ReplayFX, that number was tripled, easily. I focused on games I'd never played before - which was most of them - and especially the rare titles.
Here are a few things I learned during the event:
1. My favorite game at the show was the Playmatic Fairy (1975). This little wedgehead completely charmed me and I kept coming back to it again and again. A ceramic powerball was installed and now I think I'll have to put them in all my EM's because it made the game light and wickedly quick. If you have or know of a Fairy for sale (or a 4-player Playmatic Fantasy), please let me know.
2. My other favorite games were the Gottlieb Paradise and the Williams Grand Prix. Absolutely delightful games. I discovered that I enjoy the manual ball lift mechanism of early EM's.
3. I also found that I enjoyed the Baywatch and the DE Star Trek - games that have a really bad rep but which I found engaging and entertaining. Also, they had a ton (probably literally) of 80's Gottlieb/Premier games that were really interesting. Deadly Weapon has some especially clever shots. I finally got to play a Twilight Zone and I can certainly see what the fuss is about.
4. I also consider myself lucky that I got to play Varkon. 
Could that ramp be the hardest shot in all of pinball?
5. Jack Danger is super nice and he really is about 11' 14" tall. ( 
) I spotted (but didn't get to talk to) other pinball celebrities, which was pretty cool.
6. Here's how I saved $3400 at ReplayFX: I love the artwork on Bally Spectrum, I've watched gameplay videos and I find the concept fascinating. I understand how rare it is and that they don't come up too often, but one came up for sale recently and I was on the fence. So I found it at the show and played about 10 games and discovered that I didn't like it. It's gorgeous to look at but the gameplay is incredibly frustrating. When the game finally says "You're a star player!" it really means something.
7. I discovered that I don't like widebody games. Amazing Spider-man, Time 2000, Paragon, Star Race, Mars: God of War, The Hobbit etc. were difficult to control and failed to thrill me. 
The only one I liked was the Williams Indiana Jones.
8. I was surprised at how many games WEREN'T there. I remarked to someone that none of the games in my home collection were in the free play area and I was hoping to try out an OXO, Beat Time, Gulfstream, Sing Along, Monster Bash, Hollywood Heat, Barracora, Sea Ray... etc. Not complaining - there were loads of great games everywhere you looked and I know they can't have EVERY game, but it occurred to me much later that some famous titles were absent. I guess I'll have to take a trip to Vegas for those. 
9. I was also surprised that there weren't more vendors. I thought there would be booth after booth of mods, parts, boards and accessories on hand but a lot of the major sellers didn't come. Business owners take note - this is a great opportunity.
10. The team of roving techs were awesome and kept things humming nicely. Props to the tech crew! 
11. Again, this was my first pinball event ever, so I've probably been spoiled for all other future pinball shows. The whole experience was awesome.
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