I just got back from the Michigan show and tourney, drive is not too bad, 3-4 hours. Here is a short synopsis and I will provide more details tomorrow after some sleep.
The setup is better than the Buffalo show and easy to get to. First day obviously was not too busy. Only a few vendors there because I guess they felt that they did not need to set up on day one. Cointaker won't arrive until late Friday I was told and Illinois pinball started setting up at 5pm this evening. That was frustrating because they were advertised as being there for the show, not part of it and I could only go today. There is a pinball dolly vendor -only sells the one item, Rottendog is there but no one was in the booth the whole day. If you wanted something you needed to call the cell # which is not practical for Canadian cell plans that charge $$$ for any call. Another vendor had restored circuit boards and various rubbers and small electronic components. The other 2 vendors were selling games and one of them had a pile of not working circuit boards for sale.
The machines are varied and I got the chance for 8+ hours to try every one of them and then some. Never had to wait. Some nice pins that I always hear about but never get to play were there. Played Defender, Embryon, Xenon, Seawitch and my first Zaccaria Dirty Devils just to name a few. There are even some woodrails there which is cool.
I learned at the Buffalo event that you have to get there early because some games will break down and a few did but the difference here is that they were fixed almost right away. The organizers seemed more involved which is good.
Tourney setup same as it was in Toronto last fall but a few of the tourney pins for the EM division were not in good shape.2/6 were good. Tomorrow another group of 6 EMs will be played, good variety and they looked in better shape but we could not "try them" in advance. The newer pins looked great.
Overall not bad, worth checking out, I am sure the weekend will be packed. I will try and post a few pics tomorrow.
Ricker's current lineup;
El Dorado Flash. Royal Flush Joker Poker Volley Pioneer Barracora Black Knight Meteor Xenon
I just got back from the Michigan show and tourney, drive is not too bad, 3-4 hours. Here is a short synopsis and I will provide more details tomorrow after some sleep.
The setup is better than the Buffalo show and easy to get to. First day obviously was not too busy. Only a few vendors there because I guess they felt that they did not need to set up on day one. Cointaker won't arrive until late Friday I was told and Illinois pinball started setting up at 5pm this evening. That was frustrating because they were advertised as being there for the show, not part of it and I could only go today. There is a pinball dolly vendor -only sells the one item, Rottendog is there but no one was in the booth the whole day. If you wanted something you needed to call the cell # which is not practical for Canadian cell plans that charge $$$ for any call. Another vendor had restored circuit boards and various rubbers and small electronic components. The other 2 vendors were selling games and one of them had a pile of not working circuit boards for sale.
The machines are varied and I got the chance for 8+ hours to try every one of them and then some. Never had to wait. Some nice pins that I always hear about but never get to play were there. Played Defender, Embryon, Xenon, Seawitch and my first Zaccaria Dirty Devils just to name a few. There are even some woodrails there which is cool.
I learned at the Buffalo event that you have to get there early because some games will break down and a few did but the difference here is that they were fixed almost right away. The organizers seemed more involved which is good.
Tourney setup same as it was in Toronto last fall but a few of the tourney pins for the EM division were not in good shape.2/6 were good. Tomorrow another group of 6 EMs will be played, good variety and they looked in better shape but we could not "try them" in advance. The newer pins looked great.
Overall not bad, worth checking out, I am sure the weekend will be packed. I will try and post a few pics tomorrow.
Centigrade 37 ... LOTR in da House ... a Barracora ....... Spidey ... RFM
I just wanted to mention that everyone should go to at least one tournament or expo just to experience pins outside of their own collection or their circle of friend's collection. Some of the Michigan collectors have put together nice machines in very good shape, not the kind of stuff we find on certain internet sites.
Seeing the progression of woodrails, 60's, early 70's, early SS, then DMD's in one room gives you a history lessons and one stop shopping all at once. Some of the games are for sale.
I use this time to help me decide over the next year what pins still capture my attention and I intend to purchase in the next 12 months. It is funny how things change after a year or two. I find I am not in love with certain pins anymore when I once thought I would die if I did not get them. Then there are the ones I never would have considered (Seawitch) that are pretty cool.
Back to work, break is over, will post pics later when I get home.
Ricker's current lineup;
El Dorado Flash. Royal Flush Joker Poker Volley Pioneer Barracora Black Knight Meteor Xenon
Just got back from the show. Decided not to play in the Classics division but spend the money on a marquee and some leds from cointaker. Probably should of got more but did not plan it out well, as I was not sure about what lights were in Fathom (44 vs 555). Oh well. Some great games there. Notably liked the Blackout, Swords of Fury, Sinbad and a few others as far as being in great shape. Had one really good game on RFM it was 170 + which is not bad for me. I will be posting a video on youtube shortly. The organizors from the show did check out Rickers comments when I was there. They did a great job as far as I was concerned. Hopefully I can get back on Sunday.
Pins: BK, FH, JP, ToM. $targate, FathOm, SoF
Vids: Ms Pac cocktail, 2 linked SF Rush
FS: SF Rush, Strato Flite
Project Pins: Strato Flite
Project Vids: None
WTB pins:TZ, TAF, MB, AFM,SS, LOTR ...
WTB EM pins: Centigrade 37, OXO, Jacks Open, Atlantis, Royal Flush
WTB vids:a nice big bad a** Mame
Gone but not forgotten: Gorg@r, Xen0n,Gottlieb Grand Slam, Arch Rivals, "Babysat" TSPP
Great show. More pins than I expected and all in VG condition. Spent a lot of time in the 80's pin row! Seeing all of those pins lined up for Tourney play was impressive.
Ended up buying new pf glass and gold siderails for the IJ from Gene. He had some gold lockdown bars, but only polished - no matte finish for widebodies. Couple of LED's for the LOTR from Cointakers.
line-upgonelooking for TSPP STTNG AFM LOTR WH2O IJ SM Blackout
Just got back from seeing Rush, so here's my pinball report..
We got there about 9:00 am this morning and stayed until 11:30.
I was a little worried about finding the venue, but they had great signage every where. Very easy to follow.
At it;s peak, probably not more than 15 people so it gave me lots of opportunity to play.
I felt that it was a great selection of games and I especially enjoyed WH2O and CFTBL. All games were in really nice shape.
Still not feeling the love for woodrails. I tried...
All vendors were present, with the exception of Cointaker. They had arrived about 10 but hadn't opened up by the time that I left.
Gene was in a great mood and was very chatty. I picked up a couple of sheets of glass from him.
Rottendog had very nice discounts on their products. Combine it with savings on shipping and you're in good shape.
The Rock N Roll Kid was very patient during my explorations.
We discovered that we were very close to a mall that we had visited on a previous trip to the area, so we made a return to the Great Lakes Crossing Mall. Full of outlet stores.
We needed to hit a second mall for a specific store. From the "you can't make this mess up" department, we headed to Big Beaver Rd. It was Exit 69 off of I75.
No problems at the border, we were waved through. A long day, but well worth it in every aspect.
This was a good row; starting from right to left; CV, Blackout (really, really like this one), Defender (have to purchase this one soon), Stellar Wars, Pharoah, Centaur, Black Hole, Embryon (I like this game!), ?, Silverball Mania, Galaxy (was not working).
O.K. Just got the computer going(again!!!) I left Newmarket around 9am and made the trip in just over 4 hrs. + 1 hour on the border/bridge. The E.M.'s were the highlight for me: never got to play NOW before and it was great, same goes for Crescendo with all the hippie daisies. I played Planets before but never Zodiac, I love the magna-save style top targets. But the best had to be playings Nibs again which I haven't played since I was seven. Coincedently, it was at the arcade (1973) where I used to play it where I saw my first ANVIL concert. In the tournament area, It took a few tries to bump my scores high enough to qualify, but I got through the first round only to have to face the current #2 IFPA player Andy Rosa. WOW, I learned a thing or two. I started off on ball 1 with 70mil on Spiderman, he made 80 mil, I made 90 mil on ball two, he made 700 mil. On Ironman he made Do or Die for 42mil and half the Jerico shots for over 80 mil on his first ball. It was over right there ending with 96mil to 29 mil. I should confess that there should have been a battle for third but Josh Sharpe had to leave, so I took Third place by, as Homer Simpson would say "aaaah, the two most glorious words in the english language DE-FAULT, DE-FAULT, DE-FAULT!!!". Fellow TOPL member John Flitton moved on to the final rounds where Andy Rosa resumed his domination, but not so violently. But, on Friday, John did win the Classics division. So to sum up, it was a Canadian 2nd and 3rd finish (just like last year) at this years MI Tournament and a 1st place Classics win.
Forgive the clarity of the picture, must've been shakin' with envy : )
I spoke with the owner, he said it sold at the show, so I am guessing you weren't the buyer...otherwise you would have invited me over to see it already.
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