Despite many armchair opinions, the governments will decide much of this for us. The governments and their appointed health experts have declared this an epidemic and pandemic. Traveling to a large public gathering like a hobby or trade show does put people at risk, both individually and collectively.

I really love pinball and have many friends I looked forward to seeing at the show. I do not wish for my friends and acquaintances to lose income or travel monies already spent, but this epidemic will supersede all of this in the coming weeks and months until its stabilizes in our communities.

The reality is that the epidemic situation is changing daily. It is not trending towards less closures.

Dang! where are you seeing this? I can't find it.

https://www.friscotexas.gov/1621/Coronavirus-Information

Well said. It's certainly a dangerous health risk, even if the risk of death to most people is minimal. There is concern about a global exposure that overwhelms the healthcare systems and generally disrupts life. But then you have a reportedly 3% (or so) morbidity rate, which would be catastrophic to the high-risk population if the numbers reach the kind they fear. If there are about 330 million people in America, and the virus reaches half that, as many as 5 million could be at serious risk. Thus all the mass cancellations.

The fact that at this point we are still arguing about the seriousness of this explains so much about what is wrong with the world.

I think you mean 'Merica.

'Merica is the world. Duh.

Now THAT, explains so much....

TPF has been cancelled.

Good move guys, and responsible. I really hope you can regroup, and that the hotel and other partners are reasonable and can work with you on this.

Most people barely have health insurance.

I paid $4700 for an emergency room visit, with insurance.

One only hears about reported cases of illness. There is no way to factually report unreported illness.

Im confident that 99% of illness goes unreported.

Im confident that most healthy people wont be affected by illness.

Im not seeing those unreported numbers factored into the media reports or estimates

Where is this posted, exactly?

Everywhere, soon.

If you get emails from deep root check your inbox. I’m sure an official announcement coming soon.

Their webpage says nothing about being cancelled...

So if TPF is now cancelled, will any of the usual game announcements come?

Not that that’s important, just curious. If people are stuck at home maybe they want to order a game

I don't get emails from Deeproot. I want it from official TPF sources, or Ed....which is really the same thing, but anyways...

It's canceled. Levi not lying. Announcement soon

Not saying he's lying, but official statement is preferred before people flip their lids. I was already considering bailing just because I can't trust my KID to practice safe hygiene habits there. And I have time off scheduled that I now need to figure out what to do with, or cancel..

Cancelled

deeproot's page says that TPF is canceled, but nothing from TPF directly yet.

A high school friend of mine worked as an ER nurse at a hospital in Northern California which had one of the first confirmed cases. He complained about the lack of safety protocols and they ignored him. The hospital was monitoring a bunch of patients but didn’t have the tests to confirm cases. Dept. of HHS came in for a meeting with all the RN’s and didn’t have a clue according to him. They asked them all to sign NDAs. That’s all they seemed to care about at the time. The nurses told HHS to pound sand. My friend quit. That was mid February if I remember. He’s terrified of this thing.

If the flu kills 60k Americans each year and this thing is over 10 times deadlier and much more contagious, you are looking at possibly millions of deaths if massive precautions aren’t taken. If it mutates into a deadlier form like the 1918 Spanish flu did, then who knows.

I can’t think of a more dangerous environment for this thing to spread than a large pinball show. I’ve been to a few, and what I’ve noticed is disgusting. People wiping there nose and face while playing. Then the next person does the same. Alternating between touching the flippers then scratching their nose and rubbing their eyes and mouth. If concerts and sporting events are being cancelled, then pinball shows certainly should be as well.

From what I've gathered, swift communication involving TPF isn't really "a thing."

It's a pretty shitty thing for deeproot to do to announce this vs letting TPF make the announcement themselves.

God damn, you make one consider staying away even if we aren't in the midst of a pandemic.

hope i can get full refunds for everything cause chances are i wont be able to go on a rescheduled time since i have to make vacation plans far in advance

Interesting that NDA were required. Right there that is an eyebrow raiser. (Rock)

Same for me, and I'm local. I reserved this vacation time in DECEMBER.

TPF website says NO REFUNDS.

Even for acts of God.

They will make a bit of coin on this, dont worry about them.

if thats the case i will never go back and ive been 4 of the last 5 years (and have brought friends/family)

If you are an Atheist, where does that leave you (and don’t say hell)?

Is that supposed to be some kind of excuse? They're probably still in process of contacting other vendors and everyone on the exhibitor and preorder list, as well as having to deal with the venue and city. Pretty sure if the call was made today, they were allowed some time to make their own announcement.

Dead. (saying this as an Atheist)

And I certainly won't ever pre-buy tickets again.

*Edit* Full disclaimer: Most years I don't even BUY tickets, because I bring several games. This is actually the first time I've ever bought tickets. Go figure.

Do you have a choice?

I understand that TPF sells out almost immediately.

I think it's a little early to jump on the 'never again' if 'this' bandwagon. Give them some time.

Ok, with THIS debate now over, can we return to someone bitching about the latest Stern code or what is next from Stern or what grail pin they want made next?
I miss the good ole days.

I can see their point in that HHS doesn’t want a bunch of different nurses giving out their own opinions on the situation and causing a panic. Invariably, bad information would be put out. A unified and accurate narrative is probably best. But it doesn’t change the fact that the government was more interested in shutting people up than discussing how to get a handle on it in its early stages. Hopefully that has changes now.

If anyone still going to this that needs a pass let me know, I have two full weekend passes for the event will transfer them over to you for $ 75.00 can pay vai PP.

thanks

Huh? That's impossible. The show has never sold out. If you're talking about tournament tickets...yeah, I paid for one of those too, and they damn well better refund the money because that's got JACK SH... to do with the venue. The vast majority of that money goes to paying for trophies and prize money..

*edit* Removed some incorrect information.

Yea.. hoping this is you being clever or you're going to be upset shortly.

It's canceled - I'm sure we'll get official word soon. https://funwithbonus.com/tpf-2020-schedule/

There will be no choice but to cancel, I have already heard about a couple vendors that will not be making the trip..... and I would be certain that Stern has a travel ban in place for employees. I was really looking forward to TPF this year and hanging with friends, but I will not be making the trip. I will support TPF by donating, not getting a refund for tickets, or whatever they come up with.

With so much uncertainty over the future spread of the virus and it's potential threat, and combine that with the amount of planning required to pull off an event like TPF, I highly doubt it will be 'rescheduled'. Most likely TPF 2020 will not happen at all.

Sorry...I must be mistaken. I know Pinburgh sells out in minutes.

The TPF pinball tournament sells out quickly, not the show.

This is what was posted. I'm not sure if we should believe it or not. After this was put up it was changed a little while later. This is not on the TPF Site so I am not trusting it at this time.

https://funwithbonus.com/tpf-2020-schedule/

Stock market is crashing... schools closing... sports teams cancelling seasons. And we're talking about a pinball festival?

We all hate this, but it's got to be cancelled at this point

Looks like the answer is yes.

Pinburgh is a tournament.

ReplayFX is the show. I've never heard of ReplayFX selling out. Same deal.

Thanks...I'm a dope.