pinballmania' date=' post: 1678469 said:
So I think we have a position where the league/comps are a necessary 'evil' for the party.
I personally think that's a little strong. If I thought it was generally 'evil' and damaging the scene, then I wouldn't be involved, but I get lots of people saying they enjoy it, people who are friends that I respect, as well as people who I don't know at all, so I'm comfortable with it. That said, I'm very happy for people not to agree!
pinballmania' date=' post: 1678469 said:
1. I don't like the way the tounament area turns it's back on the rest of the show physically. The tournaments should be part of the 'show' and you shouldn't have to feel like your walking into a resticted area to see whats going on.
This is a good point and one I agree with. I've been trying to get the tournament team to buy some barriers/tapes so we can make a proper tournament area, where people could see what's going on, and this would also improve the integrity of the tournaments helping us to combat cheating. But we've never done it as it's so expensive and there's always a million other things to deal with. As another poster said, the Wicksteed setup for tournaments was better.
pinballmania' date=' post: 1678469 said:
2. Machines that are finished with in competitions should be immediately returned to public use, not just switched off and forgotten.
3. Prior to the competitions starting, what is wrong with letting the public have a go on them? If they're going to break, better they break prior to the competition starting. ( On Friday evening, all comp machines were switched off )
With them having their backs turned, you'd have to be a curious punter to know when they were not being used as tournament machines. However, most of the time when they weren't being used in tournaments, people were free-playing them! Just perhaps not as much as you'd think.
I'm not sure what to make of Friday night...the machines were used in the team tournament, which is really just an ice breaker for the weekend. What happened after that...? No idea, I was in the bar
Regarding people playing the tournaments machines before the events, to hold a tournament with integrity, you have to spend a good deal of time checking and setting up a machine. And of course giving it a good clean. Generally, that all happens before doors open. This year, all of the tournaments opened on time (I think they were last year also), and I think the tournament open times were generally the same as the doors open time. However, for the Open, competitors don't want to start playing immediately, which is most annoying because if they don't play, we have the danger of running out of time. Sadly, we can't force them to play immediately, and it doesn't matter if we delay the start, they still don't want to play from the off.
pinballmania' date=' post: 1678469 said:
4. As the organisers mainly know what machines they are using on each day, then the fact that there may be resticted access to them on each day should be stated in the games list ( which was never posted on the ukpinballparty website ). Then if someone is making an effort to attend to play
CV for example, then they can come on the day when it is not in use.
This isn't as simple as it sounds. Nick M usually pulls most of the machines in and it does seem to be a bit last minute (this is not Nick's fault). It's hard to get people to commit until near the time.
Additionally, getting updates to the UKPP website isn't that easy either, Andy H isn't really in the loop of the tournaments, he got plenty of other stuff to do. I understand your point though, with a
CV on the list, it would be annoying for it to not be available on the day, if it was actually brought along.
pinballmania' date=' post: 1678469 said:
5. I'm not sure why the league machines and players have to slope off to another room to play. Why can't the games be played on the main floor amongst the general public? On the Sunday its much quieter and having a number of people around one machine is not going to be a problem. There tend to be fewer pins on a Sunday, so little extra space around the pins can soon be arranged. Between league games and afterwards, the general public can get a go in.
I don't play in the league and have nothing to do with organising it, but I think it was assumed that there would be not enough room in the main hall, due to well over 100 machines being expected again (which ended up not much more than 100). Personally, I think the current setup is probably the most efficient it can be, tying up the machines for the least amount of time.
pinballmania' date=' post: 1678469 said:
6. Communication and signage. There were two pins - Monster Bash, and Cactus Canyon, allocated to the 'pay per play' competition. There was no signs on these machines til late on the Saturday to this effect, so people didn't know why there were no credits on them. Why are premium pins always chosen for the 'pay per play' competitions?
I don't know much about these, but we specifically didn't want them in the main tournament area. Regarding machine supply, I think its the same story as some of the tournament machines. If they're not there for a hi-score competition, they wouldn't be there at all, it's the owners choice. A sign would certainly be helpful!
pinballmania' date=' post: 1678469 said:
If the show continues in its current form, then there needs to be more thought as to how it is perceived by the general public.
Enough ranting for now.
Long live pinball!