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Closed: pinball party location - poll last night

do folk want the ukpp at merthyr again?

  • yes, merthyr again

    Votes: 18 35.3%

  • no, somewhere more central

    Votes: 33 64.7%
  • Total voters
    51
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DRD

DRD

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Oct 26, 2014
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At the dinner in the factory last night, the question was put to the audience......

Please select one of these three choices

1. Have next year's pinball party in the factory in merthyr tydfil again

2. Return the pinball party to daventry or a similar more central location

3. Get someone new to organise it entirely

Now this poll was inherently flawed as the folk who did not want to be in merthyr tydfil were not there to respond!!!!

No proper count was done. But it looked like 1 had more votes than 2. There were no votes for 3.

For what it is worth, in my opinion

A. It was interesting to see the factory, but I have seen it now

B. Getting here took me 4 hours from the Midlands. The location was pretty inaccessible for those in the East, North, scotland etc

C. Merthyr town centre offers very little in terms of night life and amenity for the traveller. Cars feel vulnerable parked here. Chavs in hot hatches do wheelspins round the town at midnight. The people in the cafes, the bouncers, hotel staff... all seem perfectly friendly. Some guys who had not booked the dinner and planned to be in merthyr on saturday night actually abandoned Merthr, other guys just went to a wetherspoons pub

I do not wish to sound pejorative. I had never been to merthyr before. But clearly folk found the nightime options limited

D. The castle hotel in the centre of town is perfectly adequate

E. Travelling from the hotel to. The factory by taxi cost 3 pounds. It is about a 20 min walk. The minibus seemed to do its job

I know of a few friends who were not prepared to travel to merthyr, so I would suggest that folk make their voices heard to the organisers if they have views on the matter
 
Nice. Bring it back, doesn't necessarily have to be Daventry. Wales isn't even that far, it's just a mission.
 
Carl Spiby said:
I didn't go due to the distance and because I enjoyed the Daventry format of everything being under one roof.
Click to expand...

Same here Carl. Many used to moan about Daventry but I never really saw the issues, although I never attended the dinner events. Yes, it got hot and bit full but I'm OK with that, more of a social interaction with people like at 8bitflip (and a real arcade). :)

The issue with the best games in tournaments has been ongoing for years and doesn't reflect on location, simply the organisers.

Some positives for me at Daventry where:

- Central location
- Easy to find with parking on site
- Tesco and pub round the corner
- Bar and food on site if you wanted it
- Rooms OK and clean (well mine was).
- No noise issues at night

Unless I can tie-in with work in South Wales, can't see me travelling that distance for the show at Merthyr.
 
Well I for one am happy, its local to me for a change. Did i travel to Daventry without complaining? Yes. Will I be at the expo in Manchester. Yes. Too much negativity here lately. :p
 
Actually, just to make a suggestion - Lets carry out this poll when people get BACK from the party. They can add their valuble experiences - Currently you have a scenario where most people voting either couldn't make it, or wouldn't go.... :)
 
The parking is my only issue I parked in the big open car park. Yes it's only a quid all weekend but there was only 3 cars parked in it the poor thing looks so vulnerable just sat there in a huge car park looking tempting lol
 
Thing is, most people at the party will vote that it's good and most people not there will vote that it isn't. It was the only way Andrew could hold the party this year and you missed out the other option that he suggested (that the party is taken over by someone else).

When there was one show, it was well supported. Now there are multiple events which have sprung up because of the success of the original show. The league has also helped to bring people together and long lasting friendships have formed which is brilliant :). Unfortunately this has also led to factions forming which could in the longer term diminish what has been achieved, coupled with the fact that machines are more expensive AND more collectible means it has become more difficult to get the numbers of quality games (although to be fair the games I did see at the party yesterday were top notch).

What some of the competition guys don't seem to realise AT ALL is that there are a lot of newer people who come to the show and want to play on the machines that they see and because the machines are in public view, the public think (quite reasonably) that they can play them, whereas, the competition people think (reasonably in their eyes) that they are exclusively for competition use and that this should be obvious. I know of one person being ejected from playing a machine in the tournament area quite forcibly yesterday and also for some children to be asked impolitely to get out. I find it ludicrous that 27 machines were tied up for tournament use yesterday and also that the format has been changed to allow less people to compete but more machines to be used for the tournament (I guess this is for the magical WPPR points?)

When I was big into tournaments, I was one of these people who just couldn't understand why the general public didn't get that the machines were for tournament only, now I realise it's the tournament guys who don't "get it". These people have paid to get in, are often new to pinball and don't realise there's something happening, and they just want to play on the machines they see (and may know). When it's politely explained, then it's fine but it doesn't remove the fact that there may be a particular machine they would love to play and can't.

I really think it's time for the party to change completely - I think the UK Open should be a tournament event only with the open, classic and league finals, where no one bar tournament players (and spectators) are there. This would allow the party to be a smaller event with less pressure put on whoever is running it, I think Andrew has done a sterling job of keeping it together for the last six years, some people seem to think he's made a fortune out of it - I know for a fact he hasn't.

Yes Andrew is my friend and he won't like me saying this but I think it's time for him to concentrate fully on running his company with maybe a smaller public show that is simply that, if he wishes, and is able to do so at the factory.

So my vote is for none of the above.
 
Merthyr ain't that bad, bit of a trek but reminds me of any Northern town, I.e Wigan.

Would go again to be honest.

Nick, did you pick up that back glass for Barry BTW?
 
Fair points, especially splitting up tournaments. A lot of you would travel up & down the country regardless just to play these tornys, whereas a lot of us just go for the crack and a weekend away for a solid pinball fest. The poll isn't for how good it is, I expect everybody's having a great time.

The torny machines were always rotated anyway the next day. If you were there for at least 2 days you probably get the chance to play some of those today?

He does a good job of running it, we never complained about the hotel or how it was run.
 
Nice and spacious in the factory. Preferred this venue to Daventry mainly because of the extra space. I had a great day.

Spoke to a fair few people and all those who weren't in the tournament were a bit fed up how many machines were tied up in the tournament. Seemed a lot more than Daventry from memory.

I enjoyed the tour and reveal but the event is not really set up for families due to heavy tournament bias. Don't get me wrong tournaments are great but I guess it is more a question how the event is marketed?

In it's current form it is not going to entice new people/families etc which NLP seems to do.

Maybe this event could be a hardcore tournament extravaganza?

And thanks to those who brought the games that makes it all possible:)
 
mufcmufc said:
Thing is, most people at the party will vote that it's good and most people not there will vote that it isn't. It was the only way Andrew could hold the party this year and you missed out the other option that he suggested (that the party is taken over by someone else).

When there was one show, it was well supported. Now there are multiple events which have sprung up because of the success of the original show. The league has also helped to bring people together and long lasting friendships have formed which is brilliant :). Unfortunately this has also led to factions forming which could in the longer term diminish what has been achieved, coupled with the fact that machines are more expensive AND more collectible means it has become more difficult to get the numbers of quality games (although to be fair the games I did see at the party yesterday were top notch).

What some of the competition guys don't seem to realise AT ALL is that there are a lot of newer people who come to the show and want to play on the machines that they see and because the machines are in public view, the public think (quite reasonably) that they can play them, whereas, the competition people think (reasonably in their eyes) that they are exclusively for competition use and that this should be obvious. I know of one person being ejected from playing a machine in the tournament area quite forcibly yesterday and also for some children to be asked impolitely to get out. I find it ludicrous that 27 machines were tied up for tournament use yesterday and also that the format has been changed to allow less people to compete but more machines to be used for the tournament (I guess this is for the magical WPPR points?)

When I was big into tournaments, I was one of these people who just couldn't understand why the general public didn't get that the machines were for tournament only, now I realise it's the tournament guys who don't "get it". These people have paid to get in, are often new to pinball and don't realise there's something happening, and they just want to play on the machines they see (and may know). When it's politely explained, then it's fine but it doesn't remove the fact that there may be a particular machine they would love to play and can't.

I really think it's time for the party to change completely - I think the UK Open should be a tournament event only with the open, classic and league finals, where no one bar tournament players (and spectators) are there. This would allow the party to be a smaller event with less pressure put on whoever is running it, I think Andrew has done a sterling job of keeping it together for the last six years, some people seem to think he's made a fortune out of it - I know for a fact he hasn't.

Yes Andrew is my friend and he won't like me saying this but I think it's time for him to concentrate fully on running his company with maybe a smaller public show that is simply that, if he wishes, and is able to do so at the factory.


So my vote is for none of the above.
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I agree. I got fed up with not being able to play on the majority of the machines due to the competitions consuming all the 'better' titles a few years ago and haven't attended since. I don't really mind about the location, but prefer the Replay format where everyone can play everything.

Out of interest, does anyone know how the attendance figures compared over the last 3 Parties? The video Dan did looked like hardly anyone was there this year compared to the last party I went to (3 years ago) or Replay.
 
mufcmufc said:
...I really think it's time for the party to change completely - I think the UK Open should be a tournament event only with the open, classic and league finals, where no one bar tournament players (and spectators) are there. This would allow the party to be a smaller event with less pressure put on whoever is running it, I think Andrew has done a sterling job of keeping it together for the last six years, some people seem to think he's made a fortune out of it - I know for a fact he hasn't.

Yes Andrew is my friend and he won't like me saying this but I think it's time for him to concentrate fully on running his company with maybe a smaller public show that is simply that, if he wishes, and is able to do so at the factory.

So my vote is for none of the above.
Click to expand...

I agree with this 100%. This is the first year I didn't attend the show/party, for a mixture of reasons, but not least that it's awkward to get to from any big UK airport. Bristol and Cardiff just aren't an option, the fight schedules are too limited.

I was also unhappy with the old tournament format and talked with Nik and other tournament organisers about the change mentioned above some years ago. I wasn't sure about it then and was unable to commit to help change anyway, but I'm sure now, it needs a separate location and be easier to get to, to remain the UK's premier tournament.

I can understand why Andy might want to invite people to his business to see what's going on, but I would think it much more efficient for him to promote his business by supporting other events than running a show/tournament.

I'm sad I couldn't make it this year, to meet again with my pinball buddies and see round the factory. I love it that someone's got off their ar5e and built a pinball business from scratch and has a fighting chance of making it work. However, visiting a UK event costs me a grand all-in and with it being where it is, it becomes a 4-day event and I still wouldn't have the opportunity to double-up the UK trip to do other things.

Nonetheless, it looked like a lot of fun for a lot of people! (Thanks for the shaky walk-around, Uncool Dan!)
 
I had a great time over the weekend, and would like to thank all involved, didn't play in the tourney but still got to play all the games there, both last night and today.
I only went to Daventry the last time and to be honest did not like it, didn't get to play any of the tourney games and was disappointed with the rest.
 
mufcmufc said:
What some of the competition guys don't seem to realise AT ALL is that there are a lot of newer people who come to the show and want to play on the machines that they see and because the machines are in public view, the public think (quite reasonably) that they can play them, whereas, the competition people think (reasonably in their eyes) that they are exclusively for competition use and that this should be obvious. I know of one person being ejected from playing a machine in the tournament area quite forcibly yesterday and also for some children to be asked impolitely to get out. I find it ludicrous that 27 machines were tied up for tournament use yesterday and also that the format has been changed to allow less people to compete but more machines to be used for the tournament (I guess this is for the magical WPPR points?)
Click to expand...

I've been to every pinball party since the first pins anon one.

I don't care about WPR points, so I've never taken part in the show competitions (other than the 8 bit flip one which was quite different)

But every year at the pinball party, it has always annoyed me that all the machines I want to play, are in the tournament area ( I can't comment on this year as I wasn't there) but it does seem like whoever chooses the tournament machines picks out all the best / most unusual games, and leaves all the duplicated and common games in the main public area, so I would welcome any change to the way this is done for future events.

Good on Andy for keeping the party going though, I would have loved to have been able to make it and do the factory tour. I'm sure everyone has had a great weekend. :thumbs:
 
after google earthing the place I decided to stay at the Travelodge about a mile away from the factory, liked the space, the tour etc, but not the fact that you couldn`t play on the tourney games ,I was asked to stop playing on the mousin around which was switched on with no one around at about 9.30 on Friday night ffs ,what ever happens with the event in the future I will still attend, and thanks to other members who asked that their machines were kept in the public area
 
Well it was the first 'Pinball Party' I've attended and I can see there potentially lots fof pro's and con's with the venue and alternative Midlands based ones.

Similarly pro's and con's to the use and availability of machines for the competitions or not. Having had a go (despite my better judgement) at a couple of the competitions there still seemed plenty of time and space to play all the other machines as well as all the competition machines when not being used for the competitions (Friday nigth, saturday evening) and much more availability on the Sunday (particularly later on as the numbers thinned).

Whatever the merits of venue & competitions or not you can't fault the commitment and enthusiasm of all of those volunteers and Heighway staff who made the event possible and kept things running on the day. That includes Andy Heighway driving the minibus himself in the early hours of Sunday to get poeple to & from the event to all his staff doing the simple important stuff like cleaning the loos and picking up abandoned pint pots to all the people manning the competition desks throught the day and actually organising all of those competitions.

A top job done by many, which shouldn't get lost or forgotten in the post event debate
 
Don't you think all Andy's staff seem very friendly and enthusiastic something u don't see much anymore. Even the software designer (can't remember his name) picked me up from the hotel cuz I didn't bother with the hog roast
 
I think Nick was spot on with his post. Either make it a competition event, or a public event.

It surprised me, because year after year there are complaints about machines being reserved for the competition, so to address that this year they ... tripled the number of machines reserved to the competition? and made all of those machines unavailable both Sat and Sun?

The Daventry way (which was about 12-14 machines reserved, and then swapped over from Sat/Sun) was a good compromise I thought, and I didn't have any complaints with that. But this year, was just taking the **** a bit.

Competition aside though.. Sincere thanks to everyone that brought machines and helped. Tremendous effort much appreciated. Thanks also to Andy's staff, supremely generous with their time and patience. Oti even sorted me a last minute hotel room and trusted me to pay later. Really grateful for that.
 
I think that fears about car crime were justified. The various car parks all felt very exposed. The multi-storey was locked overnight, but closed all day sunday.

This appeared on saturday night in the one I parked in. It was round the back of the multi-storey and was the one the castle hotel staff recommended. My car, and my mate's car were fine though.

Not entirely sure what happened here, maybe joyriders or a drunk owner, but this wheel took a pounding. Obviously would have gone flat immediately. Then car dumped here. Neatly in a disabled bay !

image.jpg
 
Had a great time at the event and hats off to Andy for organising it. Enjoyed the tour and the seminar where some info on Alien was announced. It was also good to meet up with a few friendly faces.
I have been to most of the events down South but now only do it as a day tripper. Therefore the actual venue I thought was fine (a huge improvement on Daventry which was to hot and confined and you could actually move around without knocking people). The location was fine as well as was only 1/2hr less than Daventry or the Slam.
What I have to agree with is a lot of the comments above. Why hog most of the good machines for the comp. I don't give a hoot (polite version) for the competition side of it and that's why I stay away from the league (as do a lot of other people I know). It used to be a social occasion but know its all about the points. Biggest downer to the weekend was playing on a machine in the public section and on my second ball a person I new came up and thought it was going to be "Hello how are you", but was actually can you get off the machine as we need it for the league comp (as if they didn't have enough machines tied up already :mad::mad:)

Again big thanks for Andy for organising. Also no one yet has actually said he has now shipped out some games which is a huge achievement.
Also l did get to play Full Throttle. While I'm not into the theme I think its a really good machine. Andy said he has a few minor software improvements to do but its a finished game. Now hoping Alien will be even better.
 
RudeDogg1 said:
Don't you think all Andy's staff seem very friendly and enthusiastic something u don't see much anymore. Even the software designer (can't remember his name) picked me up from the hotel cuz I didn't bother with the hog roast
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Rudi it was Janos - who also jumped up & gave @ianw, myself and +2 other a lift back to our respective hotels in his car in the early hours of Sunday morning when there was going to be a bit of a wait for the minibus to come back, it was tipping down and the taxi numbers were engaged Tthat moment also gave me one of the funnier moments of the weekend when Janos and his colleague (with their European accents) were trying to give @ianw and myself the welsh pronounciation of the industrial estate the factory was on so that we could tell the Welsh taxi driver where we were - perhaps a good thing the number was engaged!:confused::D
 
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