Arcade video & gameroom expo ???

hsapinball

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http://avgrexpo.com/

Since I moved out of the Chicagoland area, I was not able to go to this new show.

How was the 1st year of the show? Lots of games? Did anyone take any pictures?

I really wanted to make it but I could not justify the 1200 mile trip this year.
 
I'm going to offer my opinion, but please take it with a grain of salt.

I was disappointed. I drove down from Wisconsin for the day on Friday and spent most of the day at the expo. In the end, I forced myself to stay longer than I wanted in order to justify the $35 admission, $10 parking, gas, and tolls. (I was there from 11:00-4:00)

Games: There were 100+ games in the room, but my amateur opinion is that many of them were more obscure, less popular titles. There were several games that were unusable, presumably because something knocked loose during transport. There were other games that were NOT set up for free play and it didn't seem like anyone was around to help sort any of it out.

Vendors: There were about 8 vendors there when I was there. Nobody really had anything I was looking for. I was looking for parts and expertise on troubleshooting and repairing games. Instead the vendors had artwork, Wizard of Oz dolls, and what appeared to be reproduction 80's memorabilia. The guys sitting at the tables weren't overly friendly either. One guy didn't even look up from his phone as I browsed through his stuff.

Staff: Nobody seemed all that outgoing. They were friendly, but only as far as getting you your wristband. As a relative newcomer to this hobby, I was hoping to meet some other folks who were excited by games and could share tips, tricks, and resources for new collector/enthusiasts. I was hoping to network and make some contacts that might want to know about my collection or share ideas. None of that happened.

Perhaps the show got better during the seminar sessions on Friday evening and Saturday. I have met Doc Mack before and he's a great guy. Maybe his seminar and the others really kicked ass. I hope so. I'd love to see this show take off and become something more like I was hoping for.

If anyone else was there at a different time and had a different experience, I'd like to hear about it. (If this was Reddit, I'd already be dead.)
 
I'm going to offer my opinion, but please take it with a grain of salt.

...I was disappointed. $35 admission, $10 parking...

Games: There were 100+ games in the room...

Vendors: There were about 8 vendors... Nobody really had anything I was looking for. I was looking for parts ....

I guess it is a good thing that I did not make the 1200 mile trip. Rob runs the Pinball Expo (along with Mike) and it is a great show. Since a lot of arcade collectors live in Chicagoland that I would expect more than 100 games to play. Even their website http://avgrexpo.com/ states over 250 games on free play. I wonder how many IL/WI/MI collectors even known about the show. Postings on KLOV would have helped promote the show better. Maybe next years show will be better.
 
The guy that ran the show announced during one of the seminars that there wouldn't be a show next year. It is going to get incorporated into the pinball expo. The wrist bands were from the pinball expo. Overall it wasn't horrible. I went on Saturday.... 75% of the games worked. Poor advertising must have affected the overall attendance, because they had great guests and speakers. Walter Day, Billy Mitchell, Richie Knuckles and quite a few others were there. I was there for most of the day saturday. Couldn't have been more than 100-150 people total. Sat in some seminars which was cool, I've never done that before. Only like 4 vendors on Saturday and they didn't have much. The whole space was the size of the vender tent at MGC.
Can't expect miracles for a first year thing though. It's probably like that for the first year of any event.
 
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I was disappointed.

Games: There were 100+ games in the room, but my amateur opinion is that many of them were more obscure, less popular titles.

That's a good thing. Who wants to pay money to play Pac-Man and Donkey Kong?

Would like to see a walk through of the show so I can see what the game lineup was.
 
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