Re: Allentown - Disappointed. If you are thinking about going but haven't you should investigate first.

On May 11, 10:34 pm, cobra <rhste...@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Background: The only prior pinball show I had been to was the Chicago
Pinball Expo. Perhaps my expectations were to high with Allentown.
Chicago is 1000x better and now I am afraid to go to the York show.

The Good:
1) At least there is a show. Better than no show.
2) The concession stand was reasonably priced.
3) Parking was free.
4) They had a couple Family Guys and a Wheel of Fortune.

The Bad: (Broken down to what is the show's fault and what was beyond
the show)

Things that are not directly the Pinball Show's fault:
1) Quite frankly Downtown Allentown PA is a DUMP. The city itself is
an eyesore.
2) I went on Sunday. There was a trashy liquidation sale going on
right next door. I was afraid for the safety for my vehicle as it
looked like 95% of the people there could not afford car insurance.
3) Trashy cops standing in the parking lot.
4) Nasty smells (sewer gas?)
5) Creepy bathroom attendant

Room for Pinball Show improvements
1) $15 is too expensive for what you get. Only games easy to get on
were EMs and they shut off machines way too early (see below)
2) Not many titles, but lots of repeats.
3) Flea market was trash and over priced (Keep in mind I went on a
Sunday)
4) Vendors appeared to largely be there for show, not to actually sell
anything. I think some of them were there simply to avoid ticking off
the pinball community.
5) BIGGEST ISSUE. Machines were being torn down/turned off LONG BEFORE
the show was over (2-3pm!). These jerks didn't even have enough
decency to wait until a game was over with before turning off the
machine and tearing down. I paid my $15 I want to play more than 2
hours.
6) Vendors also tore down early, including the place that had STTNG
stickers I was going to buy. But, I saw them tearing down early and
decided to spend my money elsewhere.
7) This little boy/girl playing Junkyard game after game after game
while looking back like he/she was innocent. Where were the parents?
8) I brought money and a truck. I wound up not needing to use either
(besides over priced admission and reasonably priced snacks) as the
pinball prices and selection sucked.

With all that being said, I know a show like that takes a lot of work
to pull off. I realize the show has limits to where it can be etc. But
the whole attitude of packing up early is not right. Someone from the
show should have been stopping this.  Tell me the York show is not
like this.

We see posts like this every year. People who go to the show with
high expectations built on enthusiastic reviews from others who really
enjoy the show seem to often end up disappionted. These post are
usually laced with some borderline elitist attitudes regarding the
neighborhood and/or people in and around the venue. In the OP's case
it's exacerbated by the fact he attended on Sunday only. The flea
market sucks on Sunday compared to Saturday, but there are deals to be
had as the guys that are still there are anxious to sell. The show
itself is less crowded, but with sparser games, the effect is about
the same as Saturday as far as getting on games. I always bring a
game or two, mainly so I can get in early and play when it's just
vendors. It's a little disturbing to hear people turned games off in
the middle of somebody's game...that's pretty rude, but I for one want
to get going after being there for three days, so when three o'clock
hits I start tearing down.

York is less crowded and they don't have the Sunday problem since it
isn't even happening that day, but late Saturday is similar so I'm not
sure you can get around that. The flea market is much smaller, but
since you saw Atown on Sunday, you didn't get a good feeling of what
the full flea market is like, so it probably won't seem very
different. The York flea is also quite variable with some years
having only a couple vendors and others having more, but it never
attracts the amount that Allentown does. I'm curious to see what
happens to these flea markets...I wonder how much longer people will
want to drag games to shows with all the work and higher gas prices,
to have people complain that they're asking too much. Why not just
post all your games on RGP, like that guy did last week, and let
people come to you? I didn't see anybody complaining about his
prices, which didn't seem very different....but I digress.

If you go to York, I'd go Friday afternoon/evening, and maybe stay for
Saturday. For the best value, bring a game for free play...then you
get in free! And you get to play when the show isn't open yet...a
real advantage. If you're one of those "I don't want those animals
beating on my pristine game" types, then IMO your too protective and
you should lighten up. :o)

Sean

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