Indoor Flea........YES! One day
Free Play all night Friday......YES!

Love the OHio show, thanks for your hard work on improvements, even thought the shows from the past were great as well.

I'm also interested in get peoples opinions on having games on free play all night. Is this what people want?

Does that mean that ALL vendors would only have ONE day to sell there stuff or is flea market a totally different thing/

John P. Dayhuff
Battle Creek, MI.
269-979-3836

Auction fine...
Indoor 1 day Flea Mkt. fine (If there is plenty of space why couldn't flea mkt. vendors be set up for the entire show?)
Games being on all night Friday not so fine...
This is an Expo thing and I think it should continue to be an Expo thing. Expo hotel and show venue are 1 and the same so no leaving and driving to hotel etc. so having them on all night would be tougher on owners (having games available all night makes it tough to clean them up and work on any issues that may occur, it is too hard to try to work on games with attendees wanting to play...so time is needed before show opens to get them ready). Maybe leave them on till 1 or 2am would be fine, but there is no need for them to be on all night. IMHO

Phoebe

Love the idea of having a flea market. Have it both days if possible. Wouldn't the be better for the people bringing stuff?

Don't see the need for all night pinball for the reasons Phoebe mentioned.

I like the auction idea, but it depends on what's being auctioned. Would people be donating stuff for charity like Expo or is this for anyone to bring stuff to sell?

Sounds like fun, looking forward to the show again this year.

That will be fantastic Mike!!

I have fond memories of the Columbus auction but that McDonalds before the fairgrounds was always so busy. I do wish I had my sitdown Star Wars video game back I sold at that auction around 2000 or 2001.

That sounds great. Way to go Mike!

You should consider having the show go into Sunday afternoon. It's super annoying that everyone packs up their games at 4pm on Sat and clear out. The vendors could still leave Sat night but it'd be sweet o have the games there so there is two nights to play.

Agreed. Many were packing up by 1pm last year. If the vendors want to leave, fine...most people aren't buying vendor stuff Sat afternoon anyways.

Extending the show till Sunday is brought up every year but still hasn't taken affect.

I respect owners who want to shut down their machines at the end of the day for whatever reason, its their machine. But, having games available all night could work too if you really wanted. To make it work, on the floor plan you would have a section/area of games that will be available all night. People could set up there when they arrive, or move there later in the day and only machines in that area will be on and available. You may need to have someone police the other area to make sure people are not turning on and playing those machines.

I'd say going into the evening Saturday, and being open Sunday would be the best thing you could do. Fattdirk has the right idea.

Definitely glad to hear about the auction and flea market parts.

Many start packing up immediately Saturday Morning. The show is 'over' Saturday by noon which is very unfair to anyone buying a ticket in for the day.

So then don't schedule your time at the show for Saturday, go Thursday and Friday. People who bring games, vendors and flea market sellers are the ones who make the show a success and if they do not choose to stay on Saturday due to travel and the time it takes to load and unload, then so be it. I side with those people on this one. People have ample time to take off work and change their schedules plenty of time in advance to attend early on at the show.

Some people just can't take off work for a pinball show.

It's better to run the show more on the weekend.

I couldn't agree more. I'm sure the casual pinball fan would 'stop in' on the weekend and spend the day VS taking a day off of work

What if I would like to bring my kid..do I take them out of school for a pinball show (actually I probably would =))?

IMHO moving it from Thursday~Saturday to Friday~Sunday would be the best thing for the show. The hard core pinball guys can still take their day off of work and be there first Friday morning. The casual pinball people and families can get there on the weekend. Seems to be a win win...

I guess the question is...is the show for the pinball people or the vendors?

When people are looking to go the pinball show they've seen advertised and they go on their day off on Saturday only for it to be bare and people mass exiting to the door by mid afternoon, what kind of impression does that leave? Ever since the weekend was invented, Friday night and all day Saturday were the times to go out and have fun. Lots of families like to spend Sunday afternoon together doing things before it's time to wind down for work the next day. Wrapping up the show at 5 on Sunday should be acceptable for all parties involved.

I agree with the extending to Sunday posts. I'm not able to come on the weekdays, and didn't realize that I'd be missing basically the entire show because of that.

I will echo what everyone else has say about which days the show runs. I've made numerous other posts on this topic which seems to come up every year.

This is the first time I'm missing the Ohio show since I started going in 2008. If it was Fri-Sun, I would go for the whole day Saturday and stay for tournament playoffs and half day of the show / breakdown on Sunday. It would be a huge draw for both locals and travelers if Saturday ran all day and into the night.

Yeah, I wish the days were different too.

I drive 2.5 hours on Saturday morning to get to the show. By the time I have my first beer, some pins are already moving out.

Setup Friday
Saturday is the big day
Sunday wrap up.

I would think the vendors will be there whenever the dates are. They need the business.. and I'd think that more people would come on the weekend.

And if having the show on a Thursday has anything to do with the costs of renting the place, i.e. cheaper on a Thursday-Saturday, then Friday-Sunday, just up the price of the show a bit.

yes yes yes. I think Fri, Sat, SUn makes more sense since the most people will stay the weekend and be able to leave SUnday.

I've decided to bite the bullet and take the day off Friday to attend the show. It pains me to waste a vacation day. I'm not planning on going Sat because it is pointless since the show is pretty much over that day by 1 pm anyway. It's a shame that the days are like they are. It would be so much more popular if it was Fri, Sat Sun.

Listen, I'm not saying I am right or wrong over this matter. All I'm saying is I personally like the days the way they are. I get 6 weeks vacation each year and I like using about a week of it for 2 days for Ohio, Allentown and York. I also like coming home from shows and having half my weekend still available and I am sure vendors and pinball machine bringers (lol) like it as well.

I'm doing this. #dadoftheyear

THE SHOW IS SUPPOSED TO GO UNTIL 8PM ON SATURDAY!! That's my point here. Vendors can leave whenever. It's their business. But the 100 free play games make the show. Games are supposed to be set up until 6pm. I always bring games and if I leave them set up until 4pm, they are just about the only one's left. You can't bill a show as being on till 8 and let the games leave so early. It's dumb.

I like at the Louisville show, they ended at 4pm. There was no early packing up. They just announced the show was ending and turned on the lights. Then they cut power and everyone left. THAT'S how it should go.

It says on the website they're charging a 20 dollar fee for any games removed early. Hopefully this allows Sat to be a successful show day.

I take that to mean your free pass is revoked, which seems fair.

In essence I think this is what they're doing. Which I think is more than fair.

Here's the issue with the $20 thing:

If you're a purchaser of someone's pin that's sitting on free play, and you wanna take it out early, that person could just pay the $20 to take it out. At this point, it's off the floor (good for new owner, bad for people who paid to come in show).

If you're just a person that has pins on the floor on free play and you wanna head out early.. big whoop. Pay the $20.

In sum: the $20 thing isn't a big deterrent from pins leaving early. (which sucks). And it's not really enforced. Has to be a better way to keep pins from leaving early.

For me, it's a great excuse to shorten the workweek. I'm taking Thursday and Friday off and will be there from 2pm Thurs until late Friday night. Trying to maximize the free play time and get there at the start if anyone needs help moving pins in. Can't make it on Saturday due to other obligations back in Columbus. Hope to put more faces with names. I'll be wearing the gray Pinside shirt and a white fedora. If anyone needs help moving anything, just ask, I'll be happy to assist.

I understand the struggle. If I purchased a game at the show and wanted to leave, I'd probably just pay the 20 bucks. What's 20 bucks after you dropped minimum of a grand on a new machine if you want to get it home.
The only real solution I believe is to make people realize that taking the games off the floor ruins the show and to shame them into feeling like a selfish prick by removing the game.

Some big signs that say something along the lines of:

"While we understand that you are excited to bring your new game home (trust us! we feel the same way when we get a new game). Please consider sharing the machine with the rest of the pinball community both old and new by leaving the game for others to play until the end of the show. Just keep in mind without the generous people like you sharing machines, there would be no show"

I'm going to do that to you if you dont buy me a beer.

Meet me outside at 9am Saturday morning. I'm lugging a GNR!

Lucky thing I'm not buying or selling this year I'll buy you a beer anyway.

That is the main reason that I try to bring two games, one for sale and one not for sale. If I sell one, no big deal.

FYI,
I will be a vendor in the flea market area with some pinball parts, DMD filters, LED add-ons, some video games and such. I am a little confused on the "flea" though. Is it JUST Thurs+Friday or Saturday or all days?

We are working on some changes for next year.Thanks for all the Ideas

I think that's perfectly worded.

I would definitely help you if I were there Saturday. I'm arriving Thursday around 1 or 2pm and leaving Friday night around 10 or 11pm.

Oh I was just joking around. Thanks though.

I'm traveling with my two pinball minions, so moving the pin will be no issue.

I need to get me some minions.

Here are my minions.

escalera.jpg

cart.jpg

Nice.

Every pin owner needs a few minions.

Any shippers on site for those without pin transport?