I just keep hoping family stuff does not keep me from setting up again this year. FIVE YEARS in a row I had planned on setting up and 5 years in a row something "family related" has kept that from happening. Keeping my fingers crossed for 2018! Deaths in the family two years in a row, son buying a house and closing same weekend as show two years ago and last year my sister was in the middle of moving and had my trailer full of her "junk".

This year both of my In-Laws are already dead as are my parents, both of my boys are settled into their houses and we finally got my sister & brother-in-law into their new place a few weeks ago. So thankfully I am running out of family that can screw me up when it comes to setting up at York. As long as I don't do anything stupid & I am still alive I'll finally be set up at York for the first time since Rich took the show over. Can't wait!

Have to keep the "haters" happy.

We lived in the York area for almost 20 years and there is plenty of great food in York. Sadly nothing right at the fairground but like Rich & other have posted "plenty to eat within a mile or two".

We don't know what is headed to the show yet but I am thinking maybe a dozen (or more) Classic Bally & Stern titles might be neat to bring all at once. Or maybe a bunch of Williams System 11 stuff? One way or another I hope to have at least two trailer loads at the show this year & maybe more.

Colson,

I didn't know you were looking for a Magic cabinet - when you stop by to pick up that Dracula I'll be more than happy to sell you a couple Magic machines and then you will not need Pete's cabinet. Not to take a sale away from my buddy Pete but he already has enough money! (Just kidding about Pete having enough money he can always use a little more like the rest of us!) But I do have a couple Stern Magic's that will likely be at York if all goes as planned.

And if you do hook up with Pete for a Magic cabinet before I see you see if Pete has a decent Magic backglass in the stash of machines he is selling. I could use a second decent Magic backglass (one of mine isn't the best).

Colson,

Tell Pete he better just sell it to you or I'll have to pay him a visit! Pete is a great guy and one of the first guys I ever bought a machine from when we started in the hobby. I am sure you guys will figure something out.

Later,
Skip

Pete,

I know the feeling! Thanks for selling me the head for my headless Flash - another machine will be saved due to a couple pinball guys working together! Colson doesn't need that head right now anyway - just keep it until you can sell him the whole machine. I'll find something here to keep him busy for awhile or if not I am sure he will get himself into trouble somewhere else.

On a serious note - if you happen to find an extra Stern Magic backglass in that stash of stuff I could use a decent one. I also might need a decent Mr & Mrs Pac-Man main backglass (but I am not sure on that one yet). And I could also use a decent Jungle Lord if you find an extra one of those. When we talked I never even thought about asking you about backglasses.

Later,
Skip

Rich,

People who have never tried to work with York Fairgrounds (doing a rental) don't realize just how strict their rules are. I was very friendly with some of the auctioneers that have rented buildings at York in the past and I have heard about how tough some of the stuff in your lease can be. Even when they do the charity events at the Fairground the same fees & rules apply. You would think a place like the fairground would cut charities some slack but York Fairground doesn't.

Maybe we can start an annual thing with these threads - Allentown is "talk about hotels & York we talk about food"?

Actually "same building" but "other hall" or "other half" of that building if I understand correctly. Last year show was in the "old" side of the building - this year will be in the "new side" of that same building. So when you go in the front door show will be to the left this year instead of to the right.

I don't think it is "fair" or "logical" to try to compare Allentown & York - they are two totally different shows with totally different feels to them. Personally I love both but I actually prefer the "feel" of York over Allentown. Don't get me wrong - I love selling at Allentown and I don't think there is a better show in the country as far as the "flea market area" or vending areas but I just love the relaxed feel of York.

If you are looking for a show with tons of dealers selling lots of mods as well as new & used parts and machines Allentown is hard to beat. But if you are looking for a nice place to "hang out with old friends" and play a little pinball York just seems like more fun to me. If you feel to need to compare York is similar to what Allentown was 10 years ago but with a smaller flea market area.

Rich can tell you more about this but I would guess the number of vendors at York is about 1/2 of what Allentown has and at a guess I would say there are typically about 15 to 18 vendors set up with "flea market stuff" (so flea market is maybe 25% to 40% the size of Allentown). As far as machine mix - York has a lot more earlier machines than Allentown but still has a nice mix of modern era stuff also.

If all goes as planned I'll finally have a chance to set up at York for the first time since Rich took the show over. I have been trying to set up at York for several years but "family stuff" always seemed to "get in the way". This year all of that BS should finally be behind me!

I am wondering if two shirts would make sense this year. The "PG-13" shirt posted today and them maybe a "G" rated "family friendly version".

I don't know if that would make any sense at all but one thing I can say for sure is this is keeping the show on the first page of the forum right now!

Rich - if you happen to see this post I'll be contacting you shortly about a could "vendor spaces". Wayne & I talked and we like the idea of electric in the space so I am thinking vendor spaces instead of the flea market. Keep up the great work!

I didn't know how Rich would handle people not liking the design but I figured he would likely do something for sure once he started reading some of the feedback about it. He is a great family guy so I am sure he wants to make things family friendly. There is a tough balance between doing something edgy and going "too far". With our current social climate I think the design just went a little too far. A few years ago it might have been different but times have changed.

I don't know who did the design for him but I do know Rich isn't the kind of guy who wants to try and "stir things up". The art was no different than some of the art on machines 20 years ago. Since it is a show with retro pinballs why not use a retro design on a shirt? The problem is things have changed a lot in the past few years and some things people would have been OK with back then are a little too edgy these days.

Rich just tries to put on a great show ever year - nothing more & nothing less.

Rich - if you happen to read this don't worry all will be good. These days some people just need to make a HUGE DEAL out of something that shouldn't be a big deal.

Just forget about the T-shirt and keep the focus on another great should at York in a few weeks. Maybe if it really matters to a couple of you Rich would share it with you but it was very similar to art you might have seen on a late early 1980's machine. Just a little too much focus on the side profile of a woman for today's standards is what seemed to jump out at me.

Rich,

As a friend I need to suggest you just walk away from the T-shirt BS and just keep working on all the other stuff it takes to put on a great show. For some reason a few people have decided to make art on a T-shirt a much bigger issue than it has to be. As you said last night a T-shirt design is just a MINOR DETAIL when it comes to everything involved in organizing a great show. (From your post last night) - "I've spent far too much time already on what should be a minor detail for the show. Please drop the subject and move on. It isn't important."

I have no issue with people having an issue with this T-shirt design but I do have an issue with people who "suppositively" love the hobby trying to drag down a show just because of something silly like this. I have known Rich personally for a good many years and I am very sure this shirt design had nothing to do with women and everything to do with great classic art. Would I have picked that design in 2018 - probably not - but the message was sent and Rich has replied so time to move on.

While on the subject of shows don't forget to support "Force Flows" Saratoga, NY pinball show next weekend (August 10th & 11th) if you are anywhere near his area and can attend. He is trying had to grow this "little" show and could use any help he can get.

Colson,

Thanks for chiming in here. As you know - I am the "old guy" and I basically see nothing wrong with the art on that shirt and neither does my wife. However, we are also aware that people at very touchy these days about anything that makes a female look like a "sex object". Somehow it is OK for women to go on TV with nearly nothing on (leaving very little to the imagination) but if you happen to say something to a women like "that outfit looks nice on you" some people will spin it into "sexual harassment". If women don't want guys to look at them then maybe they should just start dressing like the Amish again!

As far as Rich's tee shirt design anyone who knows Rich knows his intent had nothing to do with degrading women. He was trying to come up with "unique art" that looked like something you would see on a vintage pinball machine. Maybe he made a mistake - maybe not - but at least as soon as he start getting negative feedback about it he quickly decided to back away from it. To me it is a shame he had to do that. If people didn't like it - just don't buy it - is the way I see things. But in this crazy world we live in today the voice of a few seems to control what the masses do?

Anyway - as Butch tried to do a few post back - how about we get back to talking about the show and get away from talking about a tee shirt! On that note - we expect to have two vendor spaces with lots of used boards (for parts or repair), a few Classic Bally & Stern machines, Wayne's Pinitech LED displays for the Classic Bally machines as well as a bunch of his NVRAM and some other cool stuff. By then Wayne might also be ready to announce what is coming next (as far as Pinitech goes) but that is his business so timing on that is totally up to him.

Let it go! Everyone is entitled to think what they want and in the "free world" can pretty much say what they want also but enough is enough. Here in Central, PA not everything has to be a drama - we are good hard working people who look out for our friends & neighbors. Rich and other have asked for this tee shirt talk to just stop - this thread isn't about a tee shirt it is about a great pinball show.

And for anyone that doesn't know me the last thing in the world you want to do is to try to bully my friends. Talk all the BS you want about me - that is fine - but when you start talking about my friends accusing them of being someone they are not that doesn't sit well with me. I suggest you just let this go or I am sure a group of people from our local pinball community will put an end to it. Rich has a ton of friends in the area and at some point one of them is going to have enough of your BS and just put an end to it. Colson has already started to shed some light on you and I am sure many other will start chiming in if you just don't let this go.

Rich is a family man - maybe that shirt design was a mistake - he realized that - pulled the picture down and yet a couple dozen post later a few people just will not give up. Lets get some positive energy going here and just put the tee shirt thing to bed once and for all!

I think everyone is missing the point. The point is at some point this became a personal attach on Rich & the show. As Rich said last night - he doesn't have an issue with people not liking the shirt - but he does take issue when it gets personal or has a negative impact on the show. How about we just stop talking about it - agree to disagree - and get back to something positive & productive!

Not "tough guys" just a group of guys that will look out for one another. Again - yesterday Rich (the promoter of the show) asked for this to end and yet almost 24 hours later a few people need to keep bickering back and forth about it. This is Central, PA - not LA, or San Fransisco - and us local guys do have each others backs.

Rich has put in thousands of hours over the past several years trying to make the show better any way he can. He has lots of friends & family helping him but he basically is running the show alone. One little mistake is made (if it was a mistake at all) and a few people feel the need to attack him or the show? As a buddy of mine always said - "I don't want to be perfect - they crucified the last guy that was perfect". Mistakes are sometimes made - when they are quickly corrected there is no need to keep talking about them!

Colson,

Be careful talking about "legs" some people might get offended.

Colson,

Your wife know you posted that picture? What does that have to do with legs anyway - I don't see any chrome or feet? And I doubt they would do much good holding up a pinball machine anyway. But with those around I guess you wouldn't be worried about pinball anyway!

You playing that Dracula yet?

Joe,

I was just trying to remember your Pinside user. There is a guy looking for a little info on Excalibur and I didn't know if you still had that one I sold you? His user is "Erasmuz" if you want to try and help him out.

Later,
Skip

PS - Pretty cool how you talked Colson into delivering that machine to you on the way to my place. "On the way to my place" was a bit of a stretch since he had to head two different directions!

THANKS! I kind of figured you would likely still have it. See ya at York!

There is plenty of great food in the York area but sadly nothing right at the fairgrounds like at Allentown. I am really starting to get excited about the show but I am still unsure what I'll be bringing. All of my enclosed trailers are full and I don't know if I'll have any of those empty before the show. So I am "on the fence" about doing just one vendor space or a couple since I'll likely have to rent a trailer if I do two spaces. I fee kind of silly owning 4 enclosed trailers and not having one I can use for the show!

In any event I'll have some project machines & parts headed to the show - just not sure how many machines yet.

I have a couple of the old ones sitting around if he wants an old one to mess around with "for cheap". If all goes as planned I'll be setting up in either a vendor or flea market space or two - it just depends what I have ready when show is getting close. As far as price/ working condition/ etc I don't have a clue. I am thinking like $40 or $50 bucks for the pair of them if anyone is interested.

I don't know a lot about the rail trail but I know there is a neat of tunnel and some other great scenery just north of Glen Rock, PA. Glen Rock to York is about a 30 minute car ride so heading south from York on the trail you should be able to get to the Glen Rock area in about an hour or less (I would guess). Hopefully someone else will be able to tell you more but I do know it should be a nice ride that time of year.

I just pulled up the Rail Trail and the "Howard Tunnel" is about 6 miles south of York. One site shows part of the trail closed for repair a couple years back but doesn't say if it has reopened yet. You might want to research that a little before starting from York because the area affected isn't all that far from the York parking area if I am understanding things correctly.

Checking out Howard Tunnel is something that has been on my "bucket list" for years but I just never seem to have the time to do stuff locally.

Show is getting closer & I actually think I am going to finally have a chance to set up this year after 5 or 6 years of trying. I keep waiting for some type of family BS to happen again but so far everything seems 'good to go' as far as me finally making a York Show! Now all I need to do is figure out the load and get some space reserved.

Rich,

Glad to hear you are getting vendor spaces full! I know you, your family and your staff work hard every year to make York a great show. Looks like 2018 could be my year to FINALLY set up! Keep up the great work & I'll be in touch soon!

Here we go again - Allentown the talk was all about hotels now for York the topic seems to be highways? How about talking about pinball on a pinball forum for a change?

Pete,

So far things are looking good for the first time in 5 or 6 years. It has been kind of crazy how my life has played out right around the York Show ever year since Rich took over the show. One year both my mother & Father in law died (3 weeks apart) one just before York and one just after, the following year my son in NJ closed on his house the weekend of York and I was his truck & trailer for that move, two years ago I was involved with helping my sister move from NJ to Central PA the weekend of York and last year she still had stuff in my trailer we were moving from a storage unit in NJ to her new place. This year I don't think anyone in the family can throw me a "curve ball" but I never know with my crazy family. This week I came close to helping my sister in law move a truck & trailer load of furniture from NJ to their new house in Florida but thankfully at the last minute her son was able to help her so I was off the hook with that one! (At least that wouldn't have been on the same weekend as the show!)

So at this point - as long as I am still alive - it looks like a space or two at York might actually happen! Thanks for asking!

Now the next step is to get my trailer empty from working in at my son's place over the Summer then I can decide what to load and how much space I'll need. Rich - if you happen to read this I'll be contacting you sometime in the next week or two checking in to see what spaces you still have. At this point I don't know if I'll need electric (or not) so I want to hold off until I figure out my load before renting spaces.

We are only about 45 minutes from the fairground and I typically just take back roads (Rt-74 most of the way) or I-81 to 587 to I-83 down to the fairground. No tolls on either route but Turnpike can get pretty crazy towing a trailer. A few year back when I had my Class 8 motorhome and big trailers tolls from here to either end of the turnpike were around $100 and if I traveled the full length it was like $175. Rig was 67' long overall so it wasn't little but GVW was only about 1/2 of a semi yet I paid more than a semi because of number of axles? I wasn't interested in buying the highway just using it!

Sadly a few years back DOT decided to start "stealing" funds from turnpike to fund other highway projects. Ever since turnpike tolls have gotten pretty crazy so typically I avoid the turnpike as much as possible. If I am heading east I head up to Harrisburg then take Rt 287 to Rt 30 almost all the way to Phila. When heading west I normally head south on I-81 to Maryland then west on I-70 & I-68. (That is about 60 miles longer but it is a nice scenic ride without tolls). Years ago I would travel the turnpike almost weekly now if I am on it for a few miles twice a year it is unusual.

As far as road conditions any place that has cold weather will always have bad roads because of the freeze thaw cycles. I just try to avoid as many holes as possible. What I didn't understand is this Spring when I went down to El Paso Texas to pick up a load of machines & parts roads in OK & TX were worse than roads in PA and they don't have the issue with the freeze thaw cycles?

Gerry,

You are as bad as me! I know you have been out of space for two years and yet you keep buying! You are just as sick as most of the rest of us! See ya at York.

Everyone started to get excited about the show? Less than 3 weeks to go and no family drama this year so I still think I'll finally be able to set up. I have not reserved space yet because I don't want to "jinx things" but things are still looking good for me to FINALLY make a York Show. Hopefully I'll have some kind of list of machines I am bringing one day next week. For now I know I have 4 project machines that could come along if anyone is interested. Stargate, Shaq Ataq, World Cup Soccer & a Whirlwind are on my "short list" of machines that might be headed to the show. Beyond those I don't know what else might make the load yet. We also have a Tapper Cocktail Arcade I could bring tf there is any interest in that.

Whirlwind might now be sold. Typically I don't sell machines I was planning on bringing to a show but I was contacted by a previous customer that had voiced an interest in it over a year ago. So I feel it is only fair to give him first shot at buying it if he wants in. I'll update as soon as I know something for sure. If Whirlwind doesn't make it to the show that will give me room for another title. I'll post that title as soon as I figure out what else we want to sell this Fall.

Rich,

We are still trying to figure out "our load" so I'll be in touch shortly. Thankfully it doesn't look like anything family related will keep me from the show this year but sadly Wayne has an In-Law thing on his wives side that will put him out of town for the weekend so it will just be me at the show. I would love to "commit" to 5 games for freeplay in exchange for the flea market space but I don't know if we will have 5 machines ready for freeplay at this point. I should have a couple I'll be able to add to freeplay if all goes as planned.

Wayne just got back from vacation last night so later this week we will be back to getting stuff ready for the show. Glad to hear you keep filling spaces! Keep up the great work!

Gerry,

See ya at the show! It has been a while - hopefully all is good with you guys!

For some reason my life is a mess as typical right before the York Show. I just want to publicly thank Rich for going out of his way to help me all he can. For those of you that don't know Rich personally I don't think there is a nicer guy running a show anywhere. For those of you that do know Rich be sure to say thank you for doing a great job as always with the York Show.

I can't believe after years of trying I'll finally be setting up at York for the first time since Rich took over the show. Life is good!

What the heck is it with the York Show & rain? 100% chance of rain on Thursday (set up day) again this year. I don't remember a year without rain the weekend of the show! At least Friday & Saturday look decent at this point but there is nothing more fun than moving a bunch of machines into a show in the rain.

THREE DAYS until Set Up Day! Starting to get excited & worried now. Excited because show is getting close - worried because I am nowhere near ready.

Jim should know he spends 50% of his life driving around central PA on his way to and home from service calls. I think he knows every bump on every road in central PA.

From my conversation with him earlier today a beer might be better than a cigar. He was trying to get 3 machines ready for the show & now he is hoping to at least get two of them finished. Funny how York has a way of sneaking up on all of us!

I got Rich so messed up this year he has my name on the list twice. Maybe because we are doing one vendor space & one flea market space. Either way I am just glad he still had room for us at the show since I didn't know exactly what I would be bringing until today. See the buy/sell/trade post for our finalized list of machines headed to the show.

Sadly Wayne will not be bringing his Pinitech stuff along but if you order something from him I can have it at the show for you to pick up.

We are just getting ready to hit the road for set up day. Typically I am one of the guys that likes to "HYPE" the York Show because Rich is such a nice guy and works so hard ever year to make it happen. Something is different this year for me - I am just low on energy for some reason but I am still excited to make my first show in like 6 years.

A BIG THANKS to Rich, his family and everyone else who helps make York better every year. Without the pinball communities support there wouldn't be great shows so thanks to the pinball community also!

Remember to thank Rich & his staff for all the hard work that goes into making York happen every year.

Overall everything looked great. The show really needs a few more vendors selling used machines & parts but otherwise the show was packed. With that said as a vendor in the flea market area I think not having more vendors worked to my advantage. We have already sold 7 of the 11 machines we took as well as a good many parts. Plus I sold another machine that never even made it into the show. So selling over 60% of the inventory we brought with a full day to go is impressive.

More "special request" parts to load this morning then off for the last day of a great show for 2018. I am already thinking about a couple more spaces in 2019 so I have room to bring more machines but that is a year away so I need to finish this show before starting to think about a load for next year!

By the way the shirt looked great for those of you that had negative things to say about it. I am glad Rich didn't change the original design! Rich told me a story about that design yesterday I don't want to share publicly without asking him but all I can say is if some people thought is was some type of commentary about Rich's feelings towards women you couldn't be more wrong. A woman was actually the person that decided on the design. Classic art is classic art - get over it!

I also want to take a minute to thank my past customers & friends for stopping by to say hello. It is always great to hear from all of you and fun meeting new people at every show.

We had several pins set up for free play in our vendor space because they were "working projects" and we didn't want "working projects" in the freeplay area since we were not sure how they would hold up. We were pleasantly surprised everything we had set up to play basically worked great up until it was sold other than a couple stuck balls on WCS & one minor issue with Flash.

We had a couple machines set up that were not "fully working projects" that couldn't be played but we wanted to be able to show people they mostly worked and of course they didn't work flawlessly during the show since they were not fully working when we took them to the show. But the machines that we took as fully working projects stayed that way for 3 straight days of being played pretty much none stop.

We took a total of 11 machines and added an additional one Friday AM. Out of the 12 we sold 8 and traded one so basically 75% of what we took to the show didn't come back home. The crazy thing is 2 of the 3 machines that came back home were machines I thought would have been the first couple to sell? Anyway it was a great show for us as far as sales go but better yet we got to see a lot of old friends, talked to a lot of past customers, and had a great time overall.

Thanks again to Rich & his friends and family for doing all they do to make York a great show every year. The only thing that makes me a little sad is now we have to wait over 6 months for Allentown and a full year before another York. But I guess if shows happened locally more often we wouldn't look forward to them as much since they were going on all the time. Can't wait to see everyone again in a few months at Allentown.

Most importantly to me is --- my "curse" of not being able to set up at York is finally behind me! After 6 years of trying I FINALLY made it to a York Show!

Gerry,

Great seeing you and Joe again. Hopefully you will be able to pry that Judge Dredd away from Joe once he has it shopped out for you. I'll talk to you in a few weeks once we have more figured out with some of this other stuff. I'll also keep my eyes open for additional Bally / Stern transformers for you.