The solution is to find a great strip bar, supply cheap beer, and all we play the tournament games on TPA on our ipads!.
Would anybody really want to play with their ipads in a location like that
Closed: pinball party location - poll last night
- Thread starter DRD
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Would anybody really want to play with their ipads in a location like that
Play with something!!
I wasn't able to attend this year as the Saturday was my wife's 40th birthday (for which was hosting a big party) & the Sunday was my lad's first ever game for a football team - without these events, I would have been there (with machines) as I have every other year (there really wasn't any NLP non-attendance conspiracy! 
)
As for the tournaments/availability of machines at shows, I do very much feel there is an "us & them" mentality appearing - there are now a lot of people that will only attend & support (with machines etc) shows that have WPPR points available, and pay no attention to shows that do not. This causes a real problem as to whether we have the Open (& whatever other big competitions) at public shows - if we separate them into comp & no-comp shows, the no-comp shows will suffer from lack of support & therefore probably not be as well attended/viable. If we continue to mix the public shows with comps though, we will continue to have these same arguments every year - there is no way to ensure you can run a "quality" big comp (excellent, & consistent, competition quality machines being played by many competitors) and make the machines available to the public to play.
If we're only able to have one* big public show a year then my personal preference would be to have it in a central location and competition free. The competitions could be arranged completely separately - as has already been pointed out, the 100 or so competitors would easily be able to arrange 20-30 quality machines & a suitable venue (maybe that would be less well attended? I know lots of people in the past have only entered the Open because they were going to be at the party anyway).
*it feels to me that having more than one big show dilutes them all. I would love it if we could have a show with somewhere near the number of machines we read about them having in the US and if we only had one show a year then getting 200+ machines to it might be plausible...I could be wrong, but I feel that a lot of people think that if they've loaned machines to one show this year, they've "done their bit" & wouldn't loan to another show (I also appreciate that for many, loaning a machine to a show is a very big deal - when I only had one machine & had to remove the head to get it out of the house that's how I felt, and know I wouldn't want to be doing that several times a year).
Although I wasn't there this year, I really appreciate everyone that supported it in any way - I'm really glad these things exist! As for all the criticism this year & how that makes people feel...what was the price of a lemonade this year?
Regards,
Dan.
) As for the tournaments/availability of machines at shows, I do very much feel there is an "us & them" mentality appearing - there are now a lot of people that will only attend & support (with machines etc) shows that have WPPR points available, and pay no attention to shows that do not. This causes a real problem as to whether we have the Open (& whatever other big competitions) at public shows - if we separate them into comp & no-comp shows, the no-comp shows will suffer from lack of support & therefore probably not be as well attended/viable. If we continue to mix the public shows with comps though, we will continue to have these same arguments every year - there is no way to ensure you can run a "quality" big comp (excellent, & consistent, competition quality machines being played by many competitors) and make the machines available to the public to play.
If we're only able to have one* big public show a year then my personal preference would be to have it in a central location and competition free. The competitions could be arranged completely separately - as has already been pointed out, the 100 or so competitors would easily be able to arrange 20-30 quality machines & a suitable venue (maybe that would be less well attended? I know lots of people in the past have only entered the Open because they were going to be at the party anyway).
*it feels to me that having more than one big show dilutes them all. I would love it if we could have a show with somewhere near the number of machines we read about them having in the US and if we only had one show a year then getting 200+ machines to it might be plausible...I could be wrong, but I feel that a lot of people think that if they've loaned machines to one show this year, they've "done their bit" & wouldn't loan to another show (I also appreciate that for many, loaning a machine to a show is a very big deal - when I only had one machine & had to remove the head to get it out of the house that's how I felt, and know I wouldn't want to be doing that several times a year).
Although I wasn't there this year, I really appreciate everyone that supported it in any way - I'm really glad these things exist! As for all the criticism this year & how that makes people feel...what was the price of a lemonade this year?
Regards,
Dan.
Lemonade yeah that was a good one.
£1 for small £2 large.
176 pins stands as the UK record from Birmingham 2006. Maybe 200 is doable.
176 pins stands as the UK record from Birmingham 2006. Maybe 200 is doable.
Nitro Ground Shaker was supplied by myself, PinballDaze.
It has now been sold to Dave Sanders of Heighway Pinball.
Dave.
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My tuppence worth. Merthyr Tydfil needs the Pinball Party.. It needs it more than Daventry needs it.
It looks like a forgotten town, where nothing much has happened since the pits shut down. It was probably the busiest my hotel has been in years.
We live on a very small island, this is not Australia nor the USA, driving 2 or 3 hours is no big deal guys. I drove an 18 hour round trip and would probably do it again.
It was spacious and industrial, which I liked. It had enough machines for the amount of people attending.
It was apparent that many have flown in for the tournaments and to support the event.
The Pinball factory could easily become a visitor attraction, once fully up and running. It also gives another dimension to the show.
A huge effort had obviously been put in, by the usual heroes, to make it happen - thanks to all.
I enjoyed my weekend thoroughly ...
ps - no offence to anyone from Merthyr Tydfil
It looks like a forgotten town, where nothing much has happened since the pits shut down. It was probably the busiest my hotel has been in years.
We live on a very small island, this is not Australia nor the USA, driving 2 or 3 hours is no big deal guys. I drove an 18 hour round trip and would probably do it again.
It was spacious and industrial, which I liked. It had enough machines for the amount of people attending.
It was apparent that many have flown in for the tournaments and to support the event.
The Pinball factory could easily become a visitor attraction, once fully up and running. It also gives another dimension to the show.
A huge effort had obviously been put in, by the usual heroes, to make it happen - thanks to all.
I enjoyed my weekend thoroughly ...
ps - no offence to anyone from Merthyr Tydfil
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i couldn't understand at all why you chose me as an example of a critic, Peter, until i saw your post in the Yahoo group yesterday (which still sends me a daily email roundup, even though i don't post there anymore):
sorry if you think it's hypocritical of me to play in the competition but also to say that my machines were for general use, i wish you'd told me that you thought i was being unreasonable when i asked, or told me that in that case i shouldn't compete ..... if i recall correctly, your response was 'Sure no problem
'. anyway, thanks for organising it all and please don't take all the comments or complaints from anyone personally. we're all in it together and i think everyone who went to the UKPP had a top weekend. except perhaps for Frank Boner, who isn't a very good loser and so will be unhappy with his 2nd and 3rd places in the Open/Classics.
the 8bitflip style (no competition area, comp games happen on the main floor, players wait their turn) could, in my opinion, be given another go, but learning from what didn't quite work - by only including the games above a certain standard, having those machines set to the standard (4 balls / no EB / comp mode on), and having less games per round so it doesn't go on until midnight.
here's a link to a thing in my bookmarks all about various pinball tournament formats : http://www.skill-shot.com/content/pinball-tournaments-are-rad,406
Agree about the sound, why do people leave the sound off/low? Pinball without sound is ...well...boring to me. Still, BK2k sings above all others as always as you say Kris
POTC - was too low. Noticed the keys were in so turned it up. Does make a massive difference if you can hear any Pin.
we're all in it together and i think everyone who went to the UKPP had a top weekend. except perhaps for Frank Boner, who isn't a very good loser and so will be unhappy with his 2nd and 3rd places in the Open/Classics.
I was happily playing a game in the public area ( as I wasn`t in the toureys) and the person next to me suddenly booted the machine he was playing , glad I didn`t own that game or I would have told him where to go, guess who that was
I was happily playing a game in the public area ( as I wasn`t in the toureys) and the person next to me suddenly booted the machine he was playing , glad I didn`t own that game or I would have told him where to go, guess who that was
.................The Boner!!!!
Some of those tournament players take things far too seriously! 
I thought for a minute I was on pinside
Was it Frank Bona?
Boner! A ready-made name for a porn star, but he ended up being a competitive pinball player. wtf
Voting is currently 15 v 23. That's 37 votes total. Not looking good for a return to Merthyr Tydfil. Pretty sure Andy won't want to run it again at a loss at a new central venue ( based on direct conversations )
Hope there's someone to take it on?
I will be discussing ideas and plans with Andy next week on changes/ improvements/ revenue if it did happen again. If the poll decides,then we're wasting our time.
Dave.
Pinballdaze
Hope there's someone to take it on?
I will be discussing ideas and plans with Andy next week on changes/ improvements/ revenue if it did happen again. If the poll decides,then we're wasting our time.
Dave.
Pinballdaze
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Okay. Named. Should be.
I'm not sure the poll question is the right one to base any decisions on, or whether a forum poll will really ever help - this doesn't seem like something that can be resolved with a simple black / white poll....From the majority of responses to this and other threads, it seems that the thing on a lot of people's minds is whether the Pinball Party is a tournament, a general public show with all machines available for everyone to play, all the time, or some (different to how it has been) combination of the two. Once that issue is resolved, then the location might be a more relevant question to ask (although, in my mind at least, it seems obvious from Andy's post in another thread where he said that the general attendance numbers were massively lower than previous years, and other posts where it appeared that the number of tournament players were vastly higher this year than last year, that tournament players (generally) seem willing to travel to where-ever, where-as to attract non-tournament players, and, for those non-tournament players who have them, to borrow their machines, then (generally speaking) the location needs to be somewhere more accessible to the majority.
The forum has probably helped as much as it can, by way of providing the feedback about clarifying whether the Pinball Party, if it continues, is a tournament, versus a more general-public show, or an improved combination of the two. I'd guess any decision on how it goes from here will be sorted out outside the forum though. And that doesn't need to be done right now; as Andy already alluded to in his other post - this stuff needs to be reflected upon by those people who put in all the effort to make it happen.
i really hope there is another show next year, I would also suggest advertise a bit more, best place for that is on eBay since not every pinball enthusiast reads pinball forums. I am not too bothered where it is held, hopefully next year the factory will be full of new pinball machines waiting to ship.
I really appreciate all the hard work Andy and his team put into the event along with all the people that brought machines along and organised the tournaments.
You are never going to please everyone, I went to the Hog roast dinner on Saturday which was very nice followed by the guest speaker and the best bit, free play on all machines from 12am to 3am. I got to play the comp games I missed out on earlier in the day which was fine by me.
I was very glad I got to see the factory and the arcade graveyard with classic games and pins waiting to be repaired.
I was a bit guttered I missed out on the Alien sneak peek, unfortunately it clashed with the league final. I really appreciate Andy trying to be a great host in finding a way around it, never mind, I have enjoyed reading about people's impressions and I am sure it won't be long before he is allowed to reveal more.
At the end of the day, it is pinball and a bunch of fantastic people, always a win in my book.
I really appreciate all the hard work Andy and his team put into the event along with all the people that brought machines along and organised the tournaments.
You are never going to please everyone, I went to the Hog roast dinner on Saturday which was very nice followed by the guest speaker and the best bit, free play on all machines from 12am to 3am. I got to play the comp games I missed out on earlier in the day which was fine by me.
I was very glad I got to see the factory and the arcade graveyard with classic games and pins waiting to be repaired.
I was a bit guttered I missed out on the Alien sneak peek, unfortunately it clashed with the league final. I really appreciate Andy trying to be a great host in finding a way around it, never mind, I have enjoyed reading about people's impressions and I am sure it won't be long before he is allowed to reveal more.
At the end of the day, it is pinball and a bunch of fantastic people, always a win in my book.
Good point (s)
The general admission head count was down as it wasn't advertised.
The general admission head count was down as it wasn't advertised.
Advertising on ebay makes sense. I'd been looking at machines on there for 2-3 years before stumbling across the UK League details. I suspect a lot of other people might be in the same boat.
Venue hire costs must be a big barrier. You need somewhere big yet reasonably priced, not an easy thing to solve. Add together other factors such as a central location and costs shoot up.
One possibility might be a school. They tend to have large sports halls etc that are unused for a lot of the summer holidays. Digging around on the net showed that some are dirt cheap to hire (below is a random school selected purely as the first that came up on google). They also by definition are all around the UK, so finding a central location shouldn't be impossible,
Obviously there are drawbacks to using a school as a venue such as possible earlier closing times (if it can't be negotiated) and questions about catering and accommodation (which were two of the issues about using the factory).
I'm guessing a university hall might be able to solve the accommodation and bar issues (and they tend to be more central to towns) but I suspect they would be significantly more expensive to hire
.
I'm not trying to tell Andy how to do things as it's his decision but thought maybe we could use this thread as a general brainstorm to see if people could come up with some other ideas that might help him out.
Good luck Andy with whatever you decide your efforts are really appreciated
(As are the effort of everyone else who puts things on for us)
Venue hire costs must be a big barrier. You need somewhere big yet reasonably priced, not an easy thing to solve. Add together other factors such as a central location and costs shoot up.
One possibility might be a school. They tend to have large sports halls etc that are unused for a lot of the summer holidays. Digging around on the net showed that some are dirt cheap to hire (below is a random school selected purely as the first that came up on google). They also by definition are all around the UK, so finding a central location shouldn't be impossible,
Obviously there are drawbacks to using a school as a venue such as possible earlier closing times (if it can't be negotiated) and questions about catering and accommodation (which were two of the issues about using the factory).
I'm guessing a university hall might be able to solve the accommodation and bar issues (and they tend to be more central to towns) but I suspect they would be significantly more expensive to hire
.
I'm not trying to tell Andy how to do things as it's his decision but thought maybe we could use this thread as a general brainstorm to see if people could come up with some other ideas that might help him out.
Good luck Andy with whatever you decide your efforts are really appreciated
(As are the effort of everyone else who puts things on for us)
There should be a ruling where if someone kicks a machine, either they are ejected from the venue or the owner of the machine can give them a kick in the nads
Nads. Everytime.
Which machine was kicked?
Franks machine. But the nads should still be kicked....
I was playing a game in the tournament area , when everyone heard this really loud SMASH sound , we all looked round ( even players in the middle of a ball ) and this french player had thumped the lockdown bar after a drain ....now I don't care if it was his game or not , he really thumped this metal bar , it was a REALLY loud sound and then he started sticking his finger up to the Backglass ! the crazy thing was he was miles clear of his opponent scorewise , WTF ? i heard stories about this guy , but someone should have a word , any member of the public seeing that would get the wrong idea about tournament players ...Now , I know myself that I get frustrated if I have a bad run on the machines , but I like to think I wouldn't behave like this geezer , seriously
had thumped the lockdown bar after a drain ....now I don't care if it was his game or not , he really thumped this metal bar , it was a REALLY loud sound and then he started sticking his finger up to the Backglass ! the crazy thing was he was miles clear of his opponent scorewise , WTF ? i heard stories about this guy , but someone should have a word , any member of the public seeing that would get the wrong idea about tournament players ...Now , I know myself that I get frustrated if I have a bad run on the machines , but I like to think I wouldn't behave like this geezer , seriously
You'll be pleased to hear that Andy was at my house discussing ideas for next year's event at 2 am this morning after dropping off machines... He is full of ideas and optimism which I think will please many people if they come to fruition. I won't be disclosing what was said as I don't want to steal any thunder but it is nice to know that he's very positive frame of mind about the future plans of the Party.
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