PHILADELPHIA |
Date: June 13th - 15th 2008 We went to the Philadelphia Show on Saturday and arrived at 11:30. Unfortunately, the show has a ways to go before being the "largest on the east coast" as suggested. There were hardly any vendors (maybe 1/4 of the spaces used) and while I was there, only about 1 dozen buyers.
I am used to going to the Allentown Wizards Convention and the York White Rose Show, so maybe I was not prepared for a game room show vs. a pinball show.
There were only 3 pinball machines available to play, 1 wood rail and 2 SS. If not for TNT amusements, it would have been a total bust for video arcade and pinballs (they had all but one of the playable games.)
The show's website only added the "bring your game' part of their site at the last minute, so many people probably never got the word. The price for spaces may have turned away most dealers...$325-$360 per 10x10 All that being said, if you were looking for quality over quantity, National Jukebox Exchange brought some amazing one of a kind arcade machines.
The show had a great selection of juke boxes too. I don't know a bunch about the non-pinball stuff like juke boxes and coin-op stuff, but small selection of stuff that was there seemed 1st rate.
The choice of Father's Day weekend may have turned some dealers away too... At 2 o'clock at least 2 of the dealers were starting to pack up and
were not returning for Sunday.
(Sunday buyers are going to be pissed-off if they had to waste a lot of gas
I would have to give this show a thumbs down, but I think with better organization and a better website & much lower dealer prices it could have worked. It was a great location, easy to get to and could have been a great idea. It will be very hard to get people back if they decide to have a second show in the future.
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