Author Topic: Insert Coin 09-U.K arcade video expo (Read 23955 times)

al3ph · « **Reply #80 on:** July 19, 2009, 04:35:22 am »

you could pay on the door on saturday. so I assume sunday will be the same.

S0L · « **Reply #81 on:** July 19, 2009, 04:39:18 am »

Excellent, right I'll lob on my bike kit and get on the M1

---
S0L
---

markc74 · « **Reply #82 on:** July 19, 2009, 07:48:25 am »

I visited the expo yesterday and have mixed feelings. It was definately good that it was running but had expected to see more vendors too.

A couple of nice mame cabs but the egret(?) machines were a little boring and had hoped to see a lot more classic cabs. Seeing people on the dog walking arcade was fun an being able to buy beer was a definate improvement on the seaside arcades I spent my time in the north-east of England as a kid!

All in all worth it and hopefully it's the start of something. Even if Northampton wasn't the most attractive place!

Trevor spencer · « **Reply #83 on:** July 19, 2009, 09:23:36 am »

i went yesterday , thought it was really good , only downsides i had were a few cabs were not in great condition , pro gear 2P stick was knackered and Garou HK button not even working ?also some of the screens had bad burn and just wasnt set up right (to dark etc etc)

I thought there should of been more organization with the competions , i entered the SF4 tourney but didnt have a clue when i was ment to be playing ? also they should of had some free SF4 cabs so people not in the comps could play on the other end of the room or something as sometimes you couldnt even get close to SF4

Quote from: vputz on July 18, 2009, 05:08:09 pm

Totally smelled like Stinky Gamer.

This was a bad problem , come on guys your given this scene a bad name just go have a wash

all in all i loved it though and would def go again

david656 · « **Reply #84 on:** July 19, 2009, 04:10:52 pm »

Quote from: vputz on July 18, 2009, 05:08:09 pm

Not bad... although I had expected more vendors. Were there more rooms that I missed?

I was hoping to play:

Altered Beast, Defender, Stargate and a few others - not a big fighter game fan ! and well.... none of them were there even though the list said they would be...odd

Very disappointed with the lack of classic cabs, the whole even was very generic and I really had to question spending a £140 (excluding food and drink) to make the trip possible.

On the positive side, there was a few gun games and quirky if not bizarre things (dog game)... quite how you play that I'll never know.

I've take loadssss of piccy's on my new camera

so will upload them somewhere for you guys

PS sorry if this is you or someone you know.

PS also sorry if this offends, it just wasn't what i was expecting, however i still enjoyed it.

Rusty Shackelford · « **Reply #85 on:** July 19, 2009, 04:35:40 pm »

I visited the show on Saturday.

Negatives

Ive gotta say I realy did expect more vendors. I took a big wad of cash expecting to pick up a trackball and joysticks etc. The was one stand but all he had were ball tops.

There wasnt realy the need to have the segaradio dj on fullblast. It made playing the nearby machines a pain.

It realy did smell a bit sweaty in there after a while!

Some of the machines near the dog walking machine seemed to be turning off at ramdom and switching out of free play mode. Oh they were also for sale, coincidence?

The simpsons machine was unplayable!

Rusty Shackelford · « **Reply #86 on:** July 19, 2009, 04:46:43 pm »

Positives

That dog walking machine from Japan was great!

I enjoyed the space invaders/quix machine (I think it belongs to someone on here)

It was nice to be able to get a pint and a nice pork sandwich from a proper pig roast.

The MAME world was reperesented by a company called Candy Cabs. I had a few good chats with the owner Mike who had brought 3 or 4 ( can't remember doh) of his own cabs. Great bloke who answered all my questions about trackballs!

Overall I had a great day I went on my own and found the show very friendly. I was worried there would be queues for machines but I found it easy to get on all the machines I wanted ( exept for SF4, I agree with Trevor about this issue).

Turnarcades · « **Reply #87 on:** July 19, 2009, 08:15:03 pm »

Well in the end I didn't get chance to go as I wasn't going to turn up on the off-chance I could pay in on the door if I was told I couldn't. Someone else asked the question earlier this week and on another board about paying on entry and it went unanswered both on the official website and in person on the two forums so really an important question like this should have been addressed.

Originally we were intending to go and set up a trade stand but mixed and uncertain arrangements around this weekend when I was first informed of the show back in January meant I couldn't and up until this week I did not know I could even attend in person. All this week I've had problems with the ticket vendor and without knowing about payment I could not come even as a regular punter. It appears from these few comments that the organisation on the day seemed to be lacking and as a vendor this is a little bit of a concern as if I were to have had a trade stand I would also have entrusted several machines to the organisers for transport which could have been risky.

It is a little disappointing to read that the classic and MAME fans were not catered to much and it seems this was a little too focused as a sales pitch for big commercial vendors. I can appreciate though both sides of the arguement as other smaller vendors like us will have wanted to assess the 'feel' of the show and be prepared instead for a possible future show, classic cab owners would also want to ensure their prized possessions are in good hands and the 'hands-on' feel would have been better in the couple of weeks and months coming up to the show date so vendors and contributors had a little more faith in the expectations of the organisers and visitors. On the flipside I think more cabinet owners from within the resto/DIY/MAME community should have made a bit ore effort as it essentially these contributions that will make the show.

I would like to see some photos of the event to assess it and also have a bit more notice about next year's show, plus possibly a different venue. Central England would be fairer as everyone will travel the same distance to get there and the Birmingham NEC is more readily accessible and suitable for an expo event like this. I will certainly be making more effort to be a big contributor to next year's show and hopefully both the organisers and the community can show a bit more motivation in time for next year. My personal pledge is to bring at least 3 fully-playable machines in time for next year's show as well as getting some things organised for a proper trade stand.

AndyWarne · « **Reply #88 on:** July 20, 2009, 05:29:45 am »

I rather liked it but I am a bit of a fan of sit-down Asian cabinets and so the huge line of Japanese sit-downs was something else... reminded me of the top floor of large shopping malls in many Asian countries.
Mame was not well represented but that was not a surprise since the show website made it very clear it was a coin-op event and coin-op and Mame are rather uncomfortable partners! So it was "as-billed" in that respect and no surprise there.

I thought it was a good first attempt. But in order to make it more attractive in the future the scope could be widened. As I mentioned earlier in this thread the defunct "CGE UK" shows in Croydon were very well attended and that was beacuse they has a much wider brief, taking in classic consoles, Mame, and pretty much everything to do with console and arcade gaming. There seemed to be fairly sparse attendance on the Sunday when I was there.

I think there is great scope for the future, an all-encompassing Classic Arcade/Classic Console/Cosplay/Mame Cabinet/Pinball show.

We originally planned to have a stand but were unable to commit in the end to a whole weekend "away". Hopefully next time.

There did indeed not seem to be any way to pay on the door. I kind of walked through some doors and er.. found myself in the show. I guess I owe some money...

Good to chat with Mike from Candycabs and Dan from Surface Tension. Great guys who are passionate about what they are doing.

I have decided I MUST have one of these since seeing one at the show:
http://www.rs2006.co.jp/j/deltanew/index.html
Anyone know where I can get one?

vputz · « **Reply #89 on:** July 20, 2009, 05:54:46 am »

Heh--funny you were there after all, Andy--I had secretly been hoping for the chance to meet you as one of the vendors!

Good point on Surface Tension, though--very slick pieces of arcade furniture, the sort of thing my wife would be willing to have in the house (well, I should say "be happy to have in the house"--she's willing to have my clunky first-draft console in the house, but I wouldn't say she shows it off to visitors... the Surface Tension tables looked quite nice).

S0L · « **Reply #90 on:** July 20, 2009, 06:34:19 am »

My tuppence worth

Good

1. Lots of cabs and lots of games!

2. Friendly atmosphere - was really nice, no-one hogging machines.

3. Actually enjoyed the DJ - good to hear some classic game music. Yeah maybe a bit loud, but gave it a nice party atmosphere.

4. Dog walking! Which my daughter very much appreciated.

5. Cosplay - the girl dressed as the Silent Hill nurse was especially well done.

6. There was a bar. Even if I couldn't have a beer, this is essential

Bad

1. Very Japan centric game choices, didn't really see anything from Atari, Midway etc etc (no Star Wars, Gauntlet, Marble Madness!). I think I expected more classics.

2. I was hoping to pick up some control bits and pieces, not much in the way of joysticks, trackballs, buttons and Mame hardware (I think this was me mostly wanting to see an Ultimarc stand!)

3. Finding the place was a real headache. I went to every car park but the one at the front (and this was after following the directions!) I must have done about 5 laps of the place before I figured it out. This is with using SatNav and checking it out on Google Maps before hand. A simple 'Park by the front next to the Bingo place' would have saved me some petrol and swearing

4. T-shirts are all well and good, but had hoped for some memorabilia. I went down with money to burn, and ended up coming back with it. No tokens, no crazy PacMan toys. Missed opportunity!

5. Two players games in single player cabs (what only 1 player Bubble Symphony! Noooo....!!!!)

6. Losing at OutRun2 - which is especially shameful given I've worked on every single one of the home ports for Xbox, PS2 etc. That's just me though

On the whole though, I'd go again

Though I think I'd stay locally - it's fair old run from Sheffield on the bike, especially in the rain.

I second the idea of it being more round Brum way - lot easier for us notherners to get at.

But come on - for a first stab - this was very impressive. Please take the above as constructive criticism - I think on the whole this got a lot of things right.

---
S0L
---

venkman · « **Reply #91 on:** July 20, 2009, 07:16:10 am »

nice to read the feedback. i couldnt make it but it looked fun - if nothing else.

a shame to hear there weren't many people selling parts / monitors / games / cabs.

i found a load of video on youtube from it.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSOXO3dRQLM[/youtube]

if i HAD made it i would have really been looking for mostly vendors, and expect them to have a few good condition classic games at each stall to play. All those white plastic cabinets look wrong to me..

this is just coming from the videos and feedback i've read here.. but i'm kinda glad i didnt go down in the end .. i hope next time there are more classics and vendors i'll be there if that's the case.

great to see a video arcade expo in the UK tho! props..

david656 · « **Reply #92 on:** July 20, 2009, 10:58:25 am »

Some of my pictures http://s671.photobucket.com/albums/vv74/davey565/

They're in reverse order for some reason so the first pictures is the last one on page 3 etc.

Damn! I'm in that video

venkman · « **Reply #93 on:** July 20, 2009, 11:23:38 am »

nice one for the pics link

surface tension · « **Reply #94 on:** July 20, 2009, 12:27:35 pm »

Quote from: david656 on July 20, 2009, 10:58:25 am

Some of my pictures http://s671.photobucket.com/albums/vv74/davey565/

They're in reverse order for some reason so the first pictures is the last one on page 3 etc.

Damn! I'm in that video

Hey, where's the love for your BYOAC brother?

I've upped some photos to flickr. The brand new surface tension table is in there. I took that one and the existing back gloss angled table which were both really well received and got plenty of playing.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/surface-tension/sets/72157621737878628/

The show was excellent, although not the ideal place for me to be, but it was good to be in amongst the hardcore enthusiasts and get their take on things.

Great work from Alan and Grant, doing what no-one else dared do. An excellent job for the first attempt and I sincerely hope they aren't put off pushing it again next year. They can see what worked and what didn't to make it better.

From people's comments on here...

I totally agree with the personal hygiene issues, they were unbearable at times! As far as vendors were concerned, all of them had been approached and they had either slowly dropped out, or were simply not interested. It was a real shame as this was a unique event and could have done with a little more support.

My personal highlights were the dog-walking game. Two games in a row worked up a bit of a sweat! (Yes, but I HAD deodorant on!). Outrun2 3-player link. Hollywood heroes cosplayers.

What annoyed me the most was the idiot that won the raffle for the mini Capcom cabinet on Sunday. Having bought a ticket for it, obviously knowing what the prize was, sold it on the spot, selling it for way less than Alan paid for it. He should have been shot.

david656 · « **Reply #95 on:** July 20, 2009, 01:05:32 pm »

Quote

Hey, where's the love for your BYOAC brother?

I saw them and thought they looked AWESOME but forgot to take a picture

Did the BYOAC name badge idea never get going? As I was unsure how many were there from the forum.

They sold it (Capcom machine) idiot! +1 for 'having a word with him'

I really wanted to get a ticket for the cabinet raffle, but after asking a few people about where you buy them and no one really knowing, I then went to the front desk only to hear someone saying to his mate "I wondered where you'd gone, I nearly sent the IRA after you!" (also realising this person ignored me earlier when I asked a question) I just walked away deciding not to bother. (Not wishing to get into politics)

Even though it wasn't exactly what I was hoping for, yes it was a nice weekend in general and I would go again - providing more classic cabs!

PS who won the cosplay thing?

surface tension · « **Reply #96 on:** July 20, 2009, 02:09:09 pm »

I didn't see the bit about badges.

Shame you didn't come and say hello. I did meet a couple of BYOAC'ers... though so many names were piped into my ears over the weekend, I can hardly remember any of them.

It sounds like you were there on the Saturday? The mini cabinet went on Sunday. I had the same issue with raffle on Saturday and didn't get any tickets. On Sunday, the machine was out in the foyer with a big "Win me!" sign on it, so there was no ambiguity.

I'm definitely with the majority on the classic cabs issue... but I think that would be tough as they are so expensive to get your hands on here in the UK. Unless there are willing owners happy to hire them out for the weekend. I think this is where the MAME cabintes came into their own. Candy cabs and Twisted Box. Loved Adam's Twisted Box cabinets with some amazing artwork.

I'm not up on characters, but the cosplay wasn't won by the Dark Nurses (as they made their costumes) as they couldn't find the entry either. Personally I think they should have won as they also played their parts well. The only way I recognised them at the bar later was by the walking stick!

Anyway, lots to be learnt from this show for next time. No doubt Grant will be checking this thread for feedback.

I thought the venue was an excellent choice. No, it wasn't bang in the middle of England, but it was a good size and location for the first one. I also have to say that it was in no way a huge commercial pitch for big vendors. The aim was to get small parts and cabinet vendors in as well as some larger ones. In the end, there weren't many of either, which is just poor support for the arcade community as a whole. Most of the people I spoke to had MAME cabinet at home, or wanted to make or buy one. It's hard to be a fan of arcades and not want a machine of some sort in your home, so there was a captive audience. Most people were there just to play though.

Sorry to single you out Craig, but "On the flipside I think more cabinet owners from within the resto/DIY/MAME community should have made a bit more effort as it essentially these contributions that will make the show" should be left for someone else to say.

Rusty Shackelford · « **Reply #97 on:** July 20, 2009, 03:31:08 pm »

I think the cosplay was won by the guy dressed in the Racoon Police Dept uniform.

On the subject of cosplay did anyone see the guy on Saturday who had shaved his hair/grew a beard in the style of Zangief from Street Fighter?

If you are that guy you should have entered the competition I reckon you would have won hands down!

Turnarcades · « **Reply #98 on:** July 21, 2009, 08:49:33 pm »

Quote

Sorry to single you out Craig, but "On the flipside I think more cabinet owners from within the resto/DIY/MAME community should have made a bit more effort as it essentially these contributions that will make the show" should be left for someone else to say.

Fair enough, I wasn't there and should have been, but circumstances were what they were and I couldn't get round it. I'm just trying to put a picture together from what others have said, and my personal experience early on before the show. Your comments make more sense to me anyway as you will have viewed the show from a similar perspective as I would need to. If the reality is more like you say then it sounds ok - all I'd read so far was the perspective of visitors, who seemed mostly non-plussed by the event - particularly people there to buy rather than sell or showcase as you would primarily have been occupied with.

Oh well we'll see what happens next year and maybe I can see for myself.

grantspain · « **Reply #99 on:** July 22, 2009, 04:14:43 pm »

i have just got home from the madness and will post here some analysis of what went right and wrong at the event

a very important point to make is that many of the people leaving negative comments are saying there was very little in the way of mame and classic cabs and very little sales stands,we recieved very little support from both those communities-the only active support we recieved was from the candy cab community.
if people want to see classic and mame cabs then we need support from those groups as i cannot pull a star wars cockpit out of my arse-we need people to bring their cabs and get involved

on friday 4pm before the show we had no show happening,2 of our containers were being held in customs at felixstowe with over 80 of the cabs and many game boards,with much hard work and help we got clearence from customs at 4.30pm-the first container turned up at 9pm and the final container arrived at 6am saturday morning.this gave us 12 hours to unload and position the cabs,install 110 v stepdowns,install game boards,game test and pat test----it got done with alot of help from some amazing people

myself and alan have learnt alot from this years show and we are going to sit and talk about next years in a few weeks,imo we need 40-50 mame and classic cabs with support from those groups specialised sellers
i had a sales stand at the show with standard spares but due to the workload i could not get it operating until saturday afternoon

we also need more on the organiser's team,in particular looking after sales and cab donators

we think we did ok for a first attempt

surface tension · « **Reply #100 on:** July 23, 2009, 04:36:22 am »

Yourself, Alan and your team did do a fantastic job. Nothing is going to be 100% right first time, so it's up to you how you want to push it next year... and I'm glad to hear there will be a next year.

Rusty Shackelford · « **Reply #101 on:** July 23, 2009, 03:32:37 pm »

Quote from: grantspain on July 22, 2009, 04:14:43 pm

we think we did ok for a first attempt

Yes you did! So I take it you are planning anthoer one?

grantspain · « **Reply #102 on:** July 23, 2009, 03:36:16 pm »

Quote from: Rusty Shackelford on July 23, 2009, 03:32:37 pm

Quote from: grantspain on July 22, 2009, 04:14:43 pm

we think we did ok for a first attempt

Yes you did! So I take it you are planning anthoer one?

yes but we need more support and more people on the organising team-this could be a real special show for the entire arcade commumity

councilface · « **Reply #103 on:** July 23, 2009, 05:12:14 pm »

Yep. The smell was terrible.

Thanks to ST for the coolest coat rack ever.

grantspain · « **Reply #104 on:** July 23, 2009, 05:52:47 pm »

Quote from: councilface on July 23, 2009, 05:12:14 pm

Yep. The smell was terrible.

Thanks to ST for the coolest coat rack ever.

that smell was me,i had not had a wash or sleep for 2 days

vputz · « **Reply #105 on:** July 24, 2009, 04:08:19 am »

Yeah, but you had an excuse!

Don't take our criticism too harshly; it was a great show and a rough thing for a small group to put together -- you should be very pleased! If people didn't care, they wouldn't have said anything at all. Fantastic job and I hope it becomes a regular event (even though I'll miss it after 2010).

surface tension · « **Reply #106 on:** July 25, 2009, 05:16:01 am »

Quote from: councilface on July 23, 2009, 05:12:14 pm

Yep. The smell was terrible.

Thanks to ST for the coolest coat rack ever.

Hey, thanks

I didn't realise I'd sold to a BYOAC member. Maybe my lady made the sale when I was off playing Outrun 2.

grantspain · « **Reply #107 on:** July 27, 2009, 06:16:38 pm »

i thought i would post some links of video and pics from the show
http://www.arcadeotaku.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5339
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=insertcoin+09&search_type=&aq=f

i hope you can all see the pics,it was a mad time but worth it

enjoy

Level42 · « **Reply #108 on:** July 27, 2009, 06:25:04 pm »

In all honesty, I would have felt "naked" if I would have come and showed the Joust or Missile Command.

It looks like a Japanese arcade.

Not a single classic.

The SI/Qix doesn't count as a classic IMHO.

Grant I really appreciate your hard work and risks in this show (guess the electricity bill was more than the ticket sales alone.....) but I think it's a bit strange to blame the classic collector community for not showing up. We all know what happened at the Jamma+ forum and that completely killed the classics scene for Insert Coin. You'll need to find a way to solve that issue to get the classics coming in.

I hope I will be able to come over next year with a cab though. It's stupid to kill an event like this from the beginning and it's even more stupid to complain there were no classics when people are simply not willing to come and bring one.

I woud love to see a "Euro" CAX-like event growing from this, and I feel this is what Grant had in mind when he started this all.

grantspain · « **Reply #109 on:** July 27, 2009, 06:35:57 pm »

now the template is in place its just a case of getting people to show their cabs,we know the mistakes we made

LeedsFan · « **Reply #110 on:** August 02, 2009, 01:57:04 pm »

Quote from: grantspain on July 27, 2009, 06:35:57 pm

now the template is in place its just a case of getting people to show their cabs,we know the mistakes we made

I didn't come to the event this year, but I will come to the next one. Bringing cabs is a problem with logistics. I wouldn't like to hump a full size cab from Leeds to Northampton and back, specially as I don't even have access to any kind of truck or van.

I am however currently working on a DK bartop replica. I would very much like to show that if anyone was interested in putting it on their stand. I could even let it go on a vendors stand like Ultimarc as it will have a U360 installed. Letting people try the products out on a working machine can only be good for the vendor.

grantspain · « **Reply #111 on:** August 02, 2009, 05:34:51 pm »

i am sure most people did not believe that this show would take place but it did and we did ok
as for the accusations of lack of professionalism well all i can say is go ahead and do one yourself
being a professional in the arcade/coin op business for 25 years i accept some things were nor great but also it was a two man show organised from outside the u.k

we did bloody well imo for our first time with alot of obstacles

we need to see where to go from here but the mame and classic markets need to get involved and maybe even a part of the organising team.


Main	Restorations	Software	Audio/Jukebox/MP3	Everything Else	Buy/Sell/Trade
Project Announcements	Monitor/Video	GroovyMAME	Merit/JVL Touchscreen	Meet Up	Retail Vendors
Driving & Racing	Woodworking	Software Support Forums	Consoles	Project Arcade	Reviews
Automated Projects	Artwork	Frontend Support Forums	Pinball	Forum Discussion	Old Boards
Raspberry Pi & Dev Board	controls.dat	Linux	Miscellaneous Arcade	Wiki Discussion	Old Archives
Lightguns	Arcade1Up	Try the site in https mode		Site News


Unread posts \| New Replies \| Recent posts \| Rules \| Chatroom \| Wiki \| File Repository \| RSS \| Submit news