Thoughts about organizing a new Arcade / Pinball show

Rommager

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Thoughts about organizing a new Arcade / Pinball show

Hello to all,

I have been contemplating organizing an arcade and pinball show (modeled somewhat after California Extreme http://www.caextreme.org/), to premeire most probably around or near Western Virginia (Roanoke, VA). I'm not dead set against organizing a show in a larger metro area (toward Richmond or DC area), but it would depend on the ability to manage risk and the cost of organizing such an event.

The preliminary goals are as follows:

1) Gathering at least 100 unique machines, from among collectors (vids and pins)
2) Event would run from Friday evening to Sunday night
3) Games would all be on free play (or have credits punched in, or an external credit button)
4) Owners of the games may choose to sell their games (with game removal rules similar to CA Extreme)
5) Perhaps a vendor area, (vendors selling game artwork, parts, pcbs, memorabilia, novelties, etc)
6) Perhaps a Sunday auction for unsold games or parts
7) The intent would be to start an annually repeating event

What I need to know is:
1) If you would be interested in attending such an event
2) How far would you travel for such an event
3) Anyone who would be interested in bringing 3+ machines (vids or pins) to such an event
4) How long would you would attend such an event (Friday, Saturday, Sunday)
5) If you would be interested in vendor space
6) Any other special contributions you could be willing to help with (such as vehicle or transportation aide, electrical engineering/power distribution help, general assistance, moving equipment, etc)

Now, I know this doesn't sound a lot to start with, but right now this is nothing more than just conversation. If the topic dies here, then more than likely, so would the idea.

I have talked to a few other local collector friends, and the interest is definitely there to host something like this. But likewise, if this sounds like a bad idea, then lay it on me.

Thanks,

Sean
 
I'm not local to you so it's not likely I would be attending unless I happen to be in the area at the right time. I would cater to the people in 100 mile and less radius.

If you think there are people who would pay to attend the show in the area to the point where you can at least break even then it's probably worth a try.

I think you said you hope to have 100 unique titles. Would that mean different titles or are you shooting for rare games? Most of the world outside of KLOV do not really know the rare titles and are gonna be more impressed initially by a DK or frogger than a major havok.

I would suggest that you start small and do as much with just a few people as possible. This would include bringing games. Also keep the location close as reasonable to those that provide the bulk of the games. If you do not own 50 or 100 games yourself then find the 2-3 collectors in your area combined who can provide that many titles. I'd imagine initially it will be easier to organize moving 100 games than it would be to get 50 people to bring 2 games each.

Make sure the venue can meet the power needs for the games and has adequate access to get games into and out of the venue.

do like CAX and make people entering the event sign a waiver saying they will not damage/harm games and are responsible if they do so. You want people to have fun but also respect the game owners property. You also want anyone who brings games to feel as confident as possible that their games will be safe from harm.
 
Location is a balancing act - if you try to hold it too far from where you and the other involved collectors are, then you're gonna have trouble getting machines to the location. Also, the closer you get to a major metro area, the more expensive the venue will be - you'd go broke trying to do something in DC, for instance.

I'd say that having the venue easily accessible from interstates is probably more important than being close to a major metro area - if people have to drive up and down a bunch of back roads, they simply aren't going to get there.

Charge enough to break even - it's not likely to be heavily attended the first couple of years you run it, and if you go broke running it the first time, you won't run another one.

I'd definitely have a vendor area and if possible an out-door flea market area.

Also, try to pick a date that does NOT conflict with any other pinball or video events in your part of the country. Look out for auctions as well as shows, and remember that if you're trying to draw from a 100 mile radius, you'll want to avoid conflicts in a 200 mile radius at least.

And the most important thing is to GET THE WORD OUT. Get a venue and a date set early and TALK IT UP!
 
I would drive to Roanoke, but the problem is Roanoke is a PIA to get to from some areas which means less people visiting. Roanoke also has a lower population which means less people from the area going.

I'm not sure I have a perfect solution on location though. MD had a show and that only lasted 1 time. It was near Baltimore so maybe a different location would work better. Richmond is Richmond. I'm not sure of a good location in DC. And even though I would like to suggest my area, I'm not sure how convenient it is for people from NC, but I imagine it does have some locations that could host it.

Good luck and if you do decide to look into getting it done in the Dulles area, I'd be happy to help if I can or check into some places.

Edit i forget the magfest user but he may have better suggestions for locations.
 
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Oh Hell Yea !!!! I would be up for that!!!! I attend the Allentown and York shows every year and take a load of games and parts to sell.
Two other local guys also attend these shows and sell in the flea markets that these shows have.
Last year I hosted the first Central Virginia Arcade Get Together, and had collectors from around the state attend........Lots of fun....

Bring it on I will help however I can !!!!
 
Most of the suggestions are good, but there are a few things to think about.

1) It takes time to break down a show like that and it probably is not worth the time to have it open on Sunday. The hotels like to have time to clean up afterwords and if you are not out early enough they will charge you extra. Friday 6PM to 1AM and Saturday 9AM to 1AM is plenty long. Especially since you will be there the whole time plus.

2) Have a swap meet scheduled for Saturday morning in the parking lot. It makes a great time/place for outside deals to come together and let's people swap project machines, parts, etc.

3) Get a couple of the local experts in various things provide seminars. Monitor cap kits, rewiring a harness, wiring a cabinet fro JAMMA, repairing a pin, how to solder/desolder, etc. This makes it interesting for the other collectors to come and they will be more likely to bring games.

4) Entrance discounts for bringing games. Most shows I have gone to offer a 1:1 or 2:1 entrance discount. Bring 1 or 2 games get a free admission. That encourages people to sign up to bring games.

5) Get a website. This is the easiest way to communicate with the public and the local collectors.

6) Power is a serious issue. A couple years ago at the Houston show, we burned up a 100 Amp circuit. Make sure they can handle the 300-400 Amps needed for 100 machines. I always bring surge protected power strips now because of that.

7) Line up sponsors and give away stuff. People will go to anything if they think they will win something. If sponsors think there will be enough people there, they will give you stuff to give away in return for space on the website. When Tron 2 was coming out, one of the people from the Houston show called Disney on a whim. The next thing he knew, he had a huge box dropped off from the Disney publicity department. It contained a full theater display kit; lightcycle display, two 20 foot banners and a bunch of posters and other stuff.

8) Sell stuff, t-shirts, hats, coozies, frisbees, etc. If you do it right, this is a great money maker. For the first couple of years, just go with a single logo and don't print the year on it. That way if there is anything left over, you can sell it the following year.

9) Line up enough staff. You may not think about it, but you need a lot of people behind the scenes. Ticket booth, 2-3 people, in shifts for the whole show. DJ/MC to run the sound and contests for the show. A couple of floor walkers to make sure people are not abusing the games (all it takes is word that somebody's game got trashed and nobody will bring anything next year). Traffic wardens/load-in load-out help.

10) Publicity. Make sure you have a couple of people to handle publicity. This is a big issue because if you can't get the word out, you don't get any money in. Get somebody well spoken and presentable and offer interviews on the show and game collecting in general to radio and TV stations.

11) Look at how successful shows have done it. Go cover to cover on their web sites for ideas. Write them down and use them for brainstorming.

Good luck. I hope you manage to pull it off.

ken
 
Thanks for all the great thoughts and ideas guys. I talked to yet another local collector who is definitely interested in doing the show. Between just the local collectors, I believe we should be able to secure quite a few of the 100 machine target. So first things first - I need to start looking for a venue... I had thought about a hotel, but I think that would quite possibly break the bank. I remember the hotel costs back in 2002 were in the 3-5k range for an entire weekend in the off season, with lots of little fees and charges, and I expect the costs have only increased since then.

Does anyone have any suggestions for places to check for a venue? Are there places that have worked well for other shows? I was thinking of a few possibilities:

Vacant commercial spaces, such as a closed down grocery or department store. That might be kind of hard to plan for more than a month or so in advance, because if the owner gets a new tenant, there goes the show.
Hotels - cost cost cost
Local Senior Center - I am looking into this now
Ideas for other places???

Also, has anyone had experience in getting an external power drop for such an event? I can make the calls to inquire, but am trying to get an idea of what I need to ask for, if it's even possible, or if such a thing is just too expensive. Would I need to contact the power company directly, or do I need to contact an electrical contractor? Does anyone have any advice?

Lastly, I have found event lists for various pinball shows. Does anyone know of a list of arcade related shows? I just want to get a calendar hashed out so I don't conflict with other local or major shows.

Thanks for the thoughts and advice!
 
Oh Hell Yea !!!! I would be up for that!!!! I attend the Allentown and York shows every year and take a load of games and parts to sell.
Two other local guys also attend these shows and sell in the flea markets that these shows have.
Last year I hosted the first Central Virginia Arcade Get Together, and had collectors from around the state attend........Lots of fun....

Bring it on I will help however I can !!!!

Aha! Hey Terry! Yeah, sorry I missed the Arcade Get Together last year - I heard about it after the fact.. You think Jeff would have called me to tell me about it. I actually wanted to reach out to you to see if you would be interested in contributing to the plans for a show. I suppose your answer is "Hell Yea !!!!"
 
I help with our local Swap meet (http://www.atlantapinswap.com) and the driving force is Vendor support. If you're not going to have any vendors show up, the crowds will wane as well. Also, if you can get a sanctioned Pinball Tournament as part of it, you'll add a lot of out of towners. The tricky part is finding a weekend that's open in the summer. Thee are lots of shows in the summer and a winter show around DC could get hurt by bad weather. Good Luck!
 
I'd be up for this! I'd love to see more events like this in Virginia. I still haven't read all the suggestions yet, but I think keeping it in the Roanoke area is a good idea, it will help keep cost down and because its on I-81 its not difficult to find.

Do you have an idea or timeframe on when you think this will happen?
 
we are about to do our 2nd show in Central Florida, it is run by our local forum group, and last year we held it at the Hilton in Orlando, this year we are moving just down the road to another Hotel, as the Hilton decided to increase its prices from last year, its a new Hotel so I guess we got lucky, we paid around 4k for the venue, this is at the begining of August, and was from a Thursday afternoon till Sunday night, we then had to have electric company come in and do the power drops, we have 150 drops and maxed out, again this was about 2k!! we also offered transportation for machines, to help collectors get their machines to the show, we tried to have a 50/50 split of pinballs/videos, we also had consoles, rarer the better, had panels, tournaments (even a Starcade one where we gave away a Neo Geo Arcade game) all the tournaments were free to enter, if you want more info or to discuss any thing feel free to contact me and can discuss via phone and give some more pointers, as could go on and on about the do's/dont's/hidden costs

last year Florida had 3 Arcade related shows, we have APE down in southern Florida, which is this weekend, then we have GAMEWARP (which is our show) this is in central Orlando, FL, in July this year, and then in November, there is the SPF show, again Central Florida, the SPF is only Pinball, whereas the other two shows have both Arcade and Pinballs, so we have a nice lineup of shows in FL :)
 
Does anyone have any suggestions for places to check for a venue? Are there places that have worked well for other shows?

Check out national guard armories if you've got one in the area, and any fairgrounds that have buildings. They are generally NOT as nice a venue as a hotel, but I'd expect they'd be a bit less cost.
 
I can help with power.. I have a couple of hundred feet of 3 phase feeder, and plenty of 20A edison drops...as long as its not July 4th weekend, Snowshoe or Floydfest weekend..

I know Roanoke seems like BFE, BUT, 3 hrs from DC/Richmond/Charlotte/Charleston isnt so bad. Richmond might actually be a little more ideal, but might cost more.
Andrew
 
Yeah, after I have thought more about it, I am pretty sure I will try searching for something near Roanoke, after all, I would be lining probably close to 3/4 of the machines from around the Roanoke area.. Taking 60 or 70 machines from Roanoke to Richmond would make the entire thing infeasible.

mcandrewsoun, it sounds GREAT that you already have the equipment for power drops. I will definitely be in touch with you if I succeed in nailing down a venue. =)

Any of you local guys know of a place (or maybe OWN a place with a few thousand sq feet) then let me know. I would be willing to look at possible venues as far out as Lynchburg, Rocky Mount, Blacksburg, or Lexington. Of course, the transportation expense for machines will only rise.

One other need I can see right off - would anyone by chance have a stair climbing hand truck? I know a couple of collectors (myself included) have plenty of machines that need to come up some basement stairs. I wouldn't want to kill all the help before even getting the machines to the show.

Also, while I'm on the topic of needs, send me a PM if you have a lead on a box truck, especially if it has a lift gate (but I will take leads for box trucks with ramps too).

Thanks for all the help and support guys! Keep it coming, and we CAN make this happen!
 
lift gate for any truck, as after you have moved a lot of machines and by the end of the show, a 200lb machine feels like 1000lb :) also could try civic centers ?
 
Just letting you all know (especially the local collectors) that this has not been forgotten about. I currently have a possible venue lined up, and another in the works. August or September 2012 dates are possible for venues. My next step is to gather all who want to be involved in a meeting to discuss possibilities. If you want to be involved, then please send me a PM.

Thanks!

Sean
 
did anyone suggest local community centers? I guess that may be equivalent to another poster suggesting civic centers....A gathering took place in our city for the first time last year in a local community center....I did not know about it so I did not attend but best of luck, I hope you make it happen....Get as much volunteer help as possible...I am sure there will be a ton of things that you don't/can't anticipate.....perhaps a roving tech to help with games that conk out or that don't like the move....
 
I can understand that you want to do something as close to where you live as possible, but the DC metropolitan area (where I and 5 million other people live) is one of the largest metro areas in the nation and probably would be a better choice for a festival if you want to attract any kind of crowd. If you include the Baltimore metro area, it's more like 10 million+ population. You can always start small with one conference room/ballroom in a hotel and work up from there. I just don't think you are going to get much attendance having it somewhere like Roanoke (metro area population of 300k and not near much else).

You could probably get the MAGfest arcade guys involved if you did it in the summer (since theirs is in January and many games are in storage the rest of the year). MAGfest is a fine format but I'd like to see something in this area more focused on arcade games/memorabilia rather than music/concerts and a bunch of other subjects mixed in.
 
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