Date: October 13th & 14th
Location: Horticultural Hall, York Fairgrounds, York, PA, USA.

Day two started earlier at 9am. Much too early for me, in fact as I was still back in the hotel room writing the previous day's report.

The flea market was still in full swing just outside the hall and a local radio station reporter was just leaving as I arrived.

Another game of interest inside was this Gottlieb Critical Mass.

It is a prototype game and the only one ever made. The artwork on the backglass is a much more recent addition.

Throughout both days, a number of competitions were held on machines around the hall. Yesterday saw the Mechanical Tournament and the Ladies Tournament while today we had the Doubles, the Kids and the Electronic Tournaments.

The Doubles Tournament taking place on Counterforce

Here are the results from each competition.

And so, as the afternoon wore on, one by one the games were dismantled and loaded back into their vans and trailers.

At 5pm, the prizes and awards were given for the tournaments above and to those who helped make the show happen.

Eric and Marlin give out awards and prizes

The draw was also made for the Laser Cue pinball game. The lucky winner was Jeffrey Lawton, famed bingo aficionado.

Jeffrey and his prize.

And so the 10th anniversary White Rose Gameroom Show drew to a close.

Although it initially looked as though there might be a shortage of games, the fact that 166 were present demonstrated how well supported the show really is. And it's not just the numbers that matter. There was an impressive selection of games from all ages, from flipperless right through to the newest Stern and the unreleased Zizzle machines.

There was a constant problem with games either having no credits or not being on free play. In some cases this appeared to be a deliberate move as the games were perfectly capable of being set to free play but, despite announcements from the organisers, they were not set that way. Other games which did not have a free play setting were not set-up with suitably low replay scores to ensure a regular supply of credits. It's a problem common to all shows but seemed more prevalent here. A couple of games I wanted to play never seemed to have any credits either day.

The visitor numbers were perhaps a little disappointing on Friday but picked up considerably on Saturday. Because of the spacious aisles, the show was never crowded but looked more comfortable when busier. It must also have pleased the vendors to see more buyers on the second day.

From a buyer's perspective, the number and range of vendors was just about right and all the common parts were there alongside the more unusual and esoteric.

A suggestion to further improve the show would be to build up the tournament side and have a single bigger and longer competition to replace the Electronic Tournament, perhaps lasting all day with a final just before the prize giving.

But in the end, the White Rose show thrives by being different to the big shows. By being friendlier and more approachable and feeling smaller than it actually is. Congratulations to Marlin and Eric and everyone who helped on the entrance and sales desks as well as those who donated their games for the visitors to play.

Back to the White Rose Show page

Back to the Shows page

Back to the front page

© Pinball News 2006