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Going to the UKPP? Your help is needed!

Moonraker

Moonraker

Site Supporter
10 Years
Joined
Aug 18, 2011
Messages
6,316
Location
Salisbury
Dear All,



In a weeks time the UK pinball party will be upon us once again. With over 100 machines turning up and various competitions happening over the weekend we are in need of lots of volunteers to help make it all happen. Rather than just rely on the usual suspects (many of whom are most definitely feeling the strain), this rallying (!) call is to try and recruit sufficient helpers to help spread the workload. If everyone can help, even if it is just for a little bit, it will help make everyone’s weekend much more enjoyable and a hell of a lot less knackering for some!



So we need helpers for the following:



Unloading and setting up of machines (Friday afternoon)

Competition score recorders (Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday)

Swapping of machines between competitions (as necessary & Saturday evening)

Taking down machines and loading (Sunday afternoon).



For the setting up and taking down of machines the plan is to organise people in to groups of 3 or 4 – a couple of strong people for lifting and lowering of machines with a couple of people for sorting/providing legs, bolts, spanners/sockets, electrical cables and pinballs (!) when needed.



Competition scorers will be typing in machine scores on the PDA’s provided. They will also be on the lookout for people cheating by restarting games or walking off without recording scores! If there are enough volunteers coming forward then this may only be a one hour stint… well I can dream!
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For the swapping of machines a handful of people will be needed to move machine around the hall or between rooms normally at close of play Saturday. We use hydraulic lifts but it is still a bit of an ordeal shifting them particularly over any distance.



To pledge assistance either respond to this post below or send me an email (pin.wiz2000@nospam.yahoo.co.uk – remove the “nospam.†from the email address) stating name and which day or days you are available to help.



Remember every little bit helps and can make a huge difference to everyone involved. :cool:



Cheers,



Peter
 
I can do some competition scoring and moving stuff around after close on Saturday.
 
Excellent
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A big thank you to all those who have responded so far, no only here, on the Yahoo group and via email.

Please keep the pledges coming as what we have so far will just cover the tip of the iceberg ! :eek:



Cheers,



Peter
 
A grand total of 15 people have volunteered for various tasks (quite a few are some of the usual suspects)
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Looks like we're going to need some arm twisting at the weekend... :eek:
 
Not all were volunteers were for setting up and some of those can't do heavy lifting.



And yes I (and others) may have set up 4 or 5 in an hour in the past - it's bloody knackering, hence the call for more hands.... And yes it is rubbed in when the people at the bar watch and have a laugh at your expense or others who arrive after everything is set up when with little effort they could easily of arrived earlier and helped set up.



Don't forget we still have the score keeping of 12 machines over 6 hours of qualifying - if each volunteer only did one hour then the competition could fall flat on it's face.... it won't but that's because we will be depending on the usual suspects to cover once again.... but we will still be short leading to more complaints of people cheating, long queues cos the scores aren't being taken quick enough, etc.



<Insert head against brick wall smiley>
 
It's not just the putting up of machines, it's the set-up to make sure they are of appropriate tournament standard. Settings need changing, levelling, cleaning the glass, all-sorts. We have a checklist sheet that needs to be run through on each machine. They also have to be in the right place and they need to be play-tested - there's always one we have to pull out and replace.



You wouldn't believe the fuss we had when a number-of-balls issue occurred on a finals machine in 2008, someone was playing a strategy for a certain number of balls, but the settings were incorrect, and he was not happy. He had a point, the machine was set-up different to what the rules said, and it screwed his strategy.
 
You do tend to find that the owners like to do the setting up. Previously we have got them in, on their legs, backbox connected/Up and ready to go. Invariably thats it since we then need the Power guys to work their power wizardry and make sure it's plugged into the right place so we dont overload a ring, and then once powered up the owners then check level and stick the balls in (and give it a polish!).



When i say 4 or 5 thats an average - i remember when Nigel Hill (Bless him) came in with about 10 machines over in the corner at Kettering - we had them all up and running in an hour - however then needed to stop for 15 mins to rest!
 
Peter,



As long as I don't have too many orders to pack and post I will try and get down early Friday afternoon to help with set up.



Cheers

Steve
 
Hi mate, me and Ryan should hopefully be arriving at the hotel for about 4pm tomorrow, we can both help out with any heavy lifting etc and I'm more than happy to help out with any score taking etc when i'm not playing over the weekend, see you tomorrow, Cheers Craig
 
Peter,



When's the best time to turn up for you guys? I'm only relatively local (40 miles) and whilst not crashing over at the hotel (i'm in the De Vere up the road) if i load tonight i can be there when required.....



Paul
 
Thanks Craig. All ready replied to Paul in PM but for anyone else's benefit anytime after 10.30am onwards...
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