Show seems great, and I had fun the one time I went. I just hate to travel. Being local to Expo, it doesn't feel necessary to fly to another one.

The same answer is why I don't do anything...kids!

+1 for kids

Going to Expo instead.

Had to work plus my Nephew changing jobs this year so didn't want to spend the coin to meet up also. Doubt I will go again until they get a bigger venue, way too crowded and hotel needs to have a higher capacity for rooms.

"lines were lower than ever"!? I only went on Saturday, but it was busy as hell! Me and my family could barely move around the games that were fanned out. I had to wait for every game I played and could never get on some of them. Certainly wasn't a ghost town.

Yeah, I’ve been to TPF the past six or so years and it was just as busy, if not busier.

I didn't go this year for the exact same reasons you won't be coming to the Allentown show in May.

I just didn’t feel like going. I don’t live far and have brought a game every show since 2014. I would have had to cancel last minute this year as my daughter severed her Achilles and had surgery the day before setup.

I will look forward to next year.

Burned out on travel for pinball and picking tournaments very carefully these days.

That tournament has always had a huge issue with lines and if they don’t address it I’ll never be interested in coming back.

Lines were 20 deep on some games this year, which was the same as my experience when I attended 5 years back.

Lines for games in the past is part of it. Decided to go to expo this year.

Wife has health issues that flared up and prevented me from traveling. However the normal group I go with all went and had a blast.

I was actually in Frisco helping my daughter pack to move. The moving company got nasty demanding an exact box/item count 4 days before the move, so we had to rush to get things packed up. Plus I had developed a bad cold and sinus infection. I had hoped to attend at least one day but both of these things prevented that.

Post covid closings, I've been more concerned about my business than going to shows. Expense of travel, hotel, food, and I'm closed three or four days. Right now I don't see any shows in my future.

LTG : )

Im just glad to avoid all the crop dusters.

Sharing is caring!

Lol, no they weren't. I was in the hall almost continuously all three days and never saw any line more than 5 or 6 deep.

I haven’t gone since 2020 due to it being too crowded. I now go the Denver show which is half as many games but way less crowded.

Lines at the machines, and not just that there are lines, but some folks seemingly avoid floating around and playing all of the machines. They just hog up the time on new releases. It's not what the festival is about, IMHO. To be fair, I'm not sure how you police it, other than to expect people to be decent human beings, but where's the payoff in that?

I don't have a problem with the venue, and actually prefer to use an adjacent property for my stay. In the end, I only have so many "dollars for fun" in a given year, and TPF didn't make the cut. "They were only 5 deep. It wasn't that crowded" doesn't work for me. I'm there to play pinball- not stand around.

Good Lord. You expect othet people to go these shows and not play games and get out of your way so YOU can play?

If they're playing a single game and playing four by themselves, then absolutely. Other than that, what in the world do you expect with 4000 people and 400 games there?

You have to be oblivious to how whiny and entitled you sound. Get in line and wait your turn like the rest of us did.

Good question. Why I didn't go somewhere this year.

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Of course you respond with personal remarks.

I apologize for not including the douchebag quotient pegging out at TPF also. Nothing in my initial post requested or described wanting no lines.

The thread is about why TPF was skipped. Thank you for further illustrating the reasons.

Tournament lines dude.

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This TPF or last? This year was still surprisingly high risk based on wastewater virus levels at show time.

As much as I enjoy seeing a bunch of cool games I will never attend another pinball show. The first time was incredibly crowded, full of crop dusters ,and bad BO.....I get its a nerd fest, but fucking take a shower and put on deoderant. If u can afford to buy any of these games u can purchase a stick, and I certainly dont need to stand in line behind a guy shitting his pants

They're personal because they're true.

You whine about people wanting to play new releases, yet I'm the d-bag? You say the lines and people not playing other games causing such lines, then claim you said nothing about not wanting lines? You said you're there to play pinball and not stand around, but you never said anything about not wanting lines.

Sure.

Don't let your shadow scare you now...

I'll keep rocking my family's 4 year and counting record of no illness whatsoever (Cold, Flu, COVID, etc) once COVID turned me on to how much public masking and religious hand washing works, and how gross the general public can be. We all are not excited about masking in public, but the record speaks for itself.

But Disney made a cartoon to explain contagious disease to children in case you need help understanding how people not masking got sick at TPF:

The wastewater viral load levels are public information updated weekly to help people make educated decisions about risk level of public events in any given US area. California is looking really good for risk level at Golden State Pinball Festival coming up with 0-40% (a number of 0-20% test sites) of max COVID levels to date for most of the state, and falling, which is substantially better than the levels during TPF which were much higher.

Not turning this into a contagious disease thread, but KNOWING what to do and doing it correctly are two different things. Mask mandates didn't work for the people not doing them properly (which is MOST I saw, not wearing them correctly, staying too long at indoor events - exposure TIME is important, too, not hand washing religiously, reusing masks indefinitely - people are generally not great at understanding the assignment). I can't be responsible for what others did/do, but it has 100% success for my family for 4 years and counting, not just for COVID, but for all Cold/Flu. It also works for many others that understand the assignment and execute well.

People got sick at TPF. We have no idea how many as none are reported in any orderly way (but a number have reported on pinside they did get sick from the show), and many came away as asymptomatic carriers, giving it to people who didn't even attend. It happens after every pinball event. Used to be called the "crud" and was mostly cold/flu. But now it includes COVID which has long-term consequences for an unlucky pool of up to 30% that get it. My neighbor works at a hospital dealing with the people that are stuck with long-term COVID consequences, so I hear the real-world outcomes. Prevention takes on a whole new urgency when you know the real-world risks real people are experiencing.

Masks have worked GREAT for reducing spread of disease in Asia. It has been common practice in Japan for decades, and proven to work, but execution is the key. The limited studies in COVID time were flawed in one way or another and ignored decades of real-world data from Japan and other Asian countries where I witnessed pervasive, effective mask use by the general public in cold seasons when I traveled there.

But that's it. This is my post on the matter. I'm not going to hijack this thread with non-junk science.

Hey, chief knows everything. Relax, before you get sick or have a grabber.

Lol, I knew Asia would show up here.

They got it too. And it hasn't been a practice for decades.

I traveled to Asia EXTENSIVELY from the early 1990s into the 2000s. Masking was ALWAYS present with a large part of the population in Japan in public/offices (I was in Tokyo, Osaka, and Hokkaido areas, the main areas of Japan - North, Central, South) during cold and allergy season. ALWAYS. Don't talk about what you have no idea about. In this case you are 100% wrong based on my personal, extensive firsthand experience for decades there.

The resistance to masking in Japan happened during COVID from (surprise!) social media. It was weird after they literally grew up with the benefits.

Worked great.

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"The resistance to masking in Japan happened during COVID from (surprise!) social media. It was weird after they literally grew up with the benefits."

Please try reading and understanding. LITERALLY the post right before your "proof" screenshot that just reinforced what I said.

People ask why go to shows? I don't know, maybe to play some pinball I have never played before? At least, that is why I go. Every year I play either something brand new or something so rare, it really fills out your lifetime pinball dance card, unless, you are NOT trying to play every machine ever designed, unlike me, who is. Lets just say I have a lot of checked boxes from Humpty Dumpty to Jaws, like, a LOT of boxes... yet the only place to play some of these now are because someone brings it to a show. But crikey, im 62 and been playing for over 54 years, so the boxes add up... although I am going to ask St. Peter at the gates how much I spent on pinball... or at least how many quarters.

I’m glad we are finally
Settling the masking and Covid arguments in 2024.

I knew we could do it if we set our minds to it!

The tournament lines were atrocious!

Ummm. Ok. :As he knocks on wood:
So, was it because I was careful or because I got a vaccine two.5 weeks before the show?

I'm glad I came home wo a illness

The only reason to wear masks at these shows is to hopefully dissipate the smell of ass !

TPF always has the longest lines. I'm told it was the same this year. Don't need to fly to Texas to stand in line for pinball.

Simple fix. Protect yourself from germs, viruses, BO and crop dusters and cosplay at the same time.

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I didn't go because the TPF special rated rooms at Embassy were released way earlier than we were told. When I logged in at the appointed time, all the rooms were already sold out. Not sure if Embassy or TPF dropped the ball on this - either way there was a lack of communication and a lot of folks were pissed about it, including me. Yeah I could've gotten a different hotel room across the street or nearby, but I much prefer to stay at Embassy during TPF and access everything I need within the same building. So hopefully the powers that be learned their lesson and won't mess it up again for next year's TPF.

Here’s a thought, how about you take your pissing match to DM before you shut down the thread?

Classic scene.