Certain individuals would make it their mission to sabotage a local (Victorian) event. If it happened, it can only work if the organizers or committee are hobbyists / collectors that have an interest in the public's needs and not their own pockets. Sponsors / commercial guys would be added towards the end when their involvement from a financial backing point of view is not crucial to the event.
There has been some "talk" about a local event that would be an OPEN meet without "exclusivity" as others are doing now. Melbourne would be a great place to have an event for all the reasons mentioned. The biggest issue would be pulling together people to get involved in the organizing, and prying machines out of collections for the weekend. The "pinball culture" in Melbourne is a lot different that say NSW. There are "always" meets in Melbourne - but they are private. I personally know several large collectors that won't go near forums. We don't have the same "community" feel of say Northern States, but we don't have the "dramas" associated with the meets (that sometimes happens).
A Melbourne Expo type meet would be massive, but whoever the organizers are, they would need to manage the problems that are common with pinball in Victoria. I would put my hand up to help out, but I'm already having time management issues ! I'd still find the time and provide machines - no brainer for me !
AP seems to be mainly from Victoria
Try to organize something like this in Melbourne and a certainsomebody (who is not either aa or ap) will do their utmost to muck it up
Then get them directly involved as sponsors/sellers. They are less likely to sabotage when they have a direct pecuniary interest in the event.
The Victorian pinball community is sitting on a veritable gold mine in terms of machine availability, spare parts and top shelf restorers.
All the local infrastructure is there ready to be utilised, you just need someone to be able to bring them all together for one weekend.
It could easily be the largest pinball event in Australia.
