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When should ukpinfest 2020 be held? Poll added

When should Pinfest 2020 be?

  • August bank holiday

    Votes: 30 44.8%

  • September (mid to late)

    Votes: 35 52.2%

  • Other month (please post)

    Votes: 2 3.0%
  • Total voters
    67
Yes it looks good, I'd be happy with that. Like you said the security of the machines, approach of the hotel staff, other guests is/could be a issue. However as far as I'm concerned the Daventry venue was great and if the cost to hire the room is the same (presumably it would be cheaper if it was October) and it's convenient for everyone else who may have other commitments, I'd be happy with keeping it at the Mercure Daventry.
 
Big Phil said:
OK so we have a few options open right now. Two venues and 3 weeknds to look at - Mercure Daventry or Park Inn Northampton.

Looks like the Moto GP is very popular on a bank holiday weekend as are people dashing away to make the most of it as well as festival traffic. For the staff, it helps as we have one less holiday to take at work. No big deal I guess but it's been brought up. Anyway....

August 21st, 22nd, 23rd - Park Inn Northampton - Roughly same venue hire costs and B&B costs are the same or Daventry
August 28th, 29th, 30th(bank holiday) - Daventry - Same venue hire costs but B&B rates will be slightly higher. Park Inn is much higher venue and bedroom rates due to Moto GP
September 4th, 5th, 6th - Daventry - Venue hire slightly higher but same B&B rates. Date not available for Park Inn

No other dates in September available due to some selfish sod and his team going to Florida for a holiday. Sack them I say.

Pro's and cons: -

The Park Inn is untested but modern and has two large rooms. One of them could be used exclusively for competitions. It's in the town centre with good transport links. Not allowed into the venue until first thing Friday morning and must clear it by Sunday evening. No big deal. Staff could still travel there on the Thursday and leave the vans full overnight.

Daventry. Tried and tested. Very laid back and just lets us crack on. Management didn't even come to see me until Friday afternoon and we were there just doing what we wanted from 12pm Thursday. Air con issues and BAR ISSUES!!(v important)

The Park Inn plan
View attachment 91789

Main Event Room
View attachment 91790

Bar
View attachment 91791

Competition Room
View attachment 91792

Access around the sides and via the fire doors. Electrics good too. Dan is going to scout it out in the next few days.

Have a zoom around yourselves -https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=eonPHG1CZbY
Click to expand...
I still think that it's better the devil you know.

Biggest issues from what you've said is only having the room from Fri am until Sunday pm.
It will be a mega rush to get set up for the Friday night, followed by a rush to get packed up on the Sunday night.

Bar issues at Daventry can be easily sorted, the manager was very accommodating once the issues were sorted out.

Aircon is a minor issue , it could be no better at Northampton, they probably have no idea if it could be capable of handling 100 machines and 300 people in 30+ heat.
 
Can I ask what size the park inn is minus the bar area.
As for not letting you in Thursday with hotels they have a conference or wedding in so might depend on either side if one not gone you might be able to store in there .
Park looks nice to me
 
As for dates, I still favour BH, but if its definitely going to move I'd go a week later, rather than earlier
 
Poibug said:
If I had a van,would I leave it loaded up with,what 30k of pins overnight?Nope.probably not even one pin.
Click to expand...

As a local I would be very wary of leaving anything in a vehicle in that part of Northampton.
Compare 973 crimes including 56 vehicle crimes during July for the Park Inn postcode with 61 crimes including 1 vehicle crime in July for the Mercure Daventry postcode
 
Well the carpet looks a lot nicer 🤣

I agree with better the devil you know, it was my first Pinfest and it felt really familiar and just a great atmosphere, hotel staff were chilled. The only complaint I have is the heat which was just unfortunate. A separate room for the comps is a good idea, I know for a lot of people competition is really important but for me I was just stuck looking at Roadshow and badly wanting to play it but couldn't. I'd say keep it at the Mercure and discuss the bar and Aircon issues with the management
 
Hhhhmmmm.....guessing we'll be sticking to Daventry. It's nice enough and very laid back. Just need to prompt them about the air-con and bar. I'll investigate portable air coolers too.

Dare I be bold and book the first weekend in September then?
 
Big Phil said:
Hhhhmmmm.....guessing we'll be sticking to Daventry. It's nice enough and very laid back. Just need to prompt them about the air-con and bar. I'll investigate portable air coolers too.

Dare I be bold and book the first weekend in September then?
Click to expand...

I'd stick with bank holiday... no point moving it a week either way, don't think I'd help with attendance numbers at that time of the year
 
Big Phil said:
Hhhhmmmm.....guessing we'll be sticking to Daventry. It's nice enough and very laid back. Just need to prompt them about the air-con and bar. I'll investigate portable air coolers too.

Dare I be bold and book the first weekend in September then?
Click to expand...
Can you get an extra room (as has been done before, I think at little or no cost) for the league finals?

I would also suggest using the stage for the comp machines, I think we looked at it in the past and I think it is viable to do as well as have streaming booth up there
 
We have all four rooms available to us. The two back rooms don't have doors really wide enough to get modern pins in. Could have the EM's in there though.

Stage isn't quite big enough for all machines plus there is slight movement when walking on it.
 
Games on that stage wouldn’t work


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
We have been to the last two Pinfest and really enjoyed them , so we would prefer the Daventry option and September would suit us . The traffic from the North East was horrendous on the Friday Afternoon with the Leeds Festival so avoiding the Bank Holiday would be good. Having said that if it has to be the Bank Holiday we would still come.
 
Please take this with a pinch of salt as I haven't been to either shows.
A bank Holiday wouldn't be an issue if it was in a major city. You would get lots of passing trade from Joe public, especially on a bank holiday as they will be looking for something to do after the school holidays. Daventry is more a place where you will go specially for Pinfest.
I think you just need to see the passing traffic that the Play expos receive.

By the sounds of it, you are struggling to decide what this event is. Is it for pinheads or is it a fun day out? For Joe public, they don't want to see pins they can't play. Especially new ones like tna and Iron maiden. So holding the main comp at night or at least for a set time would be better.
I would be pretty gutted if I travelled to play a certain game only to find it out of reach.
I did miss the streams of any talks this year. If it geared more towards pinhead then this would be great if you could get some talkers.

I hope to make the trip down next year so hopefully Phil and Wayne continue to do all their hard work.
 
Big Phil said:
We have all four rooms available to us. The two back rooms don't have doors really wide enough to get modern pins in. Could have the EM's in there though.

Stage isn't quite big enough for all machines plus there is slight movement when walking on it.
Click to expand...

Fair enough on the stage, when we did them in a separate room the league finals were in a front room, think it was off the main corridor, there were at least 6 machines in there and it was a closed off room, it was a tight squeeze but modern machines fitted through the doors
 
mufcmufc said:
Fair enough on the stage, when we did them in a separate room the league finals were in a front room, think it was off the main corridor, there were at least 6 machines in there and it was a closed off room, it was a tight squeeze but modern machines fitted through the doors
Click to expand...

It's where the talks were held last year.
 
Big Phil said:
I couldn’t get anyone for talks this year. I reached out to all the manufacturers.
Click to expand...

Shame the pinball amigos were not able to give a talk on how their project was going!

Would have been good to hear from ad Jonker about the process of converting his JM machine into the matrix!

Another possible idea is the day in the life of a tournament director?

People have attended major international pinball tournaments sharing their experiences.

Pinball skills workshops from the experts what to do when your ball flies out of control etc...
Pinball games rules and guidance

Plenty of ideas just need people from the pinball community to run these!

Of course these wouldn’t replace continuous practise and on top of that the comps.

What are your thoughts @Big Phil and others? Do we need the manufactures to come in to talk to us?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Can’t seem to add my vote using TapaTalk on my ageing iPhone? Plus 1 for keeping it at Daventry and most importantly keeping it during the school summer holidays in August. There’s no way the wife and I could attend or bring the kids away in September as the kids would be starting/back at school.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
The Pinball Amigos were immense over the weekend. They gave personal talks to everyone that showed an interest in their machines. They could have easily setup their machines and wandered off but they were soooo passionate and engaging. They're 100% coming back next year, even if I have to go over there and drag them back. They also mentioned a 3rd machine they have planned.

Ad Jonker didn't do The Matrix himself. A small few were produced under the radar. Kicking myself for turning down the opportunity of owning one.

I'll be emailing all the manufacturers again about next year. We'll sort something out for definite though. Even if it's the hotel manager answering questions about air conditioning....
 
Horsey said:
Please take this with a pinch of salt as I haven't been to either shows.
A bank Holiday wouldn't be an issue if it was in a major city. You would get lots of passing trade from Joe public, especially on a bank holiday as they will be looking for something to do after the school holidays. Daventry is more a place where you will go specially for Pinfest.
I think you just need to see the passing traffic that the Play expos receive.

By the sounds of it, you are struggling to decide what this event is. Is it for pinheads or is it a fun day out? For Joe public, they don't want to see pins they can't play. Especially new ones like tna and Iron maiden. So holding the main comp at night or at least for a set time would be better.
I would be pretty gutted if I travelled to play a certain game only to find it out of reach.
I did miss the streams of any talks this year. If it geared more towards pinhead then this would be great if you could get some talkers.

I hope to make the trip down next year so hopefully Phil and Wayne continue to do all their hard work.
Click to expand...
I think @Horsey pretty much sums up how I felt about Pinfest.
I couldn't get my head around comp machines stood idle for long periods which were roped off, and the other row of machines starting with BMDK which I thought were for @NeilMcRae competition but I was told was for another competition and out of bounds, so maybe this needs to be clarified. If it means these competitions are vital for Pinfest then that's fine as long as we know what's what.
Re passing trade, I understand no losses were made this time which is brilliant and begs the question how many more visitors would you want, it was pretty full when I was there and if it was any busier at peak time on Saturday, especially with the confusion of non available machines, then I see issues.
Daventry Bank Holiday weekend allows the organisers time to set up and break down and have a well deserved Monday off.
Whatever you decide, please make it happen again.
 
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