Australian Pinball Expo 2009

[Geoffh]

From what I hear the whole thing was mostly positive from the hobby point of view and I applaud Rian for his efforts.

I am glad that many people had positive experiences and came away wanting more events like this. It only helps to further the interest in pinballs and to attract new people to the hobby.

thanks to everyone who has supplied reports and pictures of the event as i was unable to attend and it is good to get all the different perspectives of it.

Lets hope there are many more events that people can attend, have fun. meet like minded people and play "new" and "old" pinballs that they may never had a chance to play except at events like this.

Lets see what the next big event will be like.

[ktm450]

Great photos, wish I could have been there 

[Private Gimp]

Great Photos, thanks for sharing.

The Fire Power was a little beaten up but went for a good price.
I was chatting to the couple standing next to me who bought it during the auction.
Iam sure they are going to enjoy it, I hope they sort out those non matching stand up targets.

Cliff Tucker - Bronco Gimp

[Zorn]

if I get a chance, I might have to stop by to this, haven't been to a meet yet, so this would be a good ice breaker for me :)

[jasthecase]

awsome pics

[Strangeways]

awsome pics

Check out the old thread here - http://aussiepinball.com/index.php?topic=637.0

[jasthecase]

will there be aother expo?

[Retropin]

will there be aother expo?

I doubt it

[pinnies4me]

will there be aother expo?

We have not actually had an "Expo" in the usual meaning of the word - we had a container auction weekend that was called an Expo. I doubt we'll ever see an Expo here unless someone with both the industry connection and a true passion for the game (rather than just the cash) puts it together. Not going to happen.

[Homepin]

will there be aother expo?

Too many factions all pushing different barrows and beating different drums - but, you never know 

[ajlaird]

It could actually be done by a group of enthusiasts with enough passion for the game, with a bit of work.

The trouble is that there is some financial risk attached to organising such an event because the venue hire is not insignificant. But people bring containers into the country so there are plenty of people who could underwrite the event.

In Melbourne, you would start small in a venue similar in size to the computer markets. Allow commercials a 3x2m booth (say 5 or 6 of these) and get AP members to bring along 80 or so machines. Run from 9am - 5pm Sunday and Saturday, with setup on Friday night. Make sure you have a couple of good techs on deck to fix broken machines. Charge $20 entry, charge commercials $200, and I reckon if you got 600 people through the door you would cover costs, maybe not even that many. Have a laptop there with internet so that new people can sign up for AP on the spot.

[Homepin]

It could actually be done by a group of enthusiasts with enough passion for the game, with a bit of work.

The trouble is that there is some financial risk attached to organising such an event because the venue hire is not insignificant. But people bring containers into the country so there are plenty of people who could underwrite the event.

In Melbourne, you would start small in a venue similar in size to the computer markets. Allow commercials a 3x2m booth (say 5 or 6 of these) and get AP members to bring along 80 or so machines. Run from 9am - 5pm Sunday and Saturday, with setup on Friday night. Make sure you have a couple of good techs on deck to fix broken machines. Charge $20 entry, charge commercials $200, and I reckon if you got 600 people through the door you would cover costs, maybe not even that many. Have a laptop there with internet so that new people can sign up for AP on the spot.

Something along these lines is probably the ONLY way it would work IMO. Stop the petty rivalry and you are halfway home.

There are other 'significant' costs as well as the venue of course, such as public liability insurance, advertising and probably a host of other things such as ticket printing etc