Well, DJ Jivin Ivan is playing records all day. Which could do a great job of amping up the crowd, or be a disjoint distraction.
If itâs anything like he does for the Expo launch party . . . itâs the latter 
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Agreed. We usually step out for dinner early on in finals. Plop a phone down on the table and watch the stream while we eat. Grab some Mac and cheese to go for you and head back for the dramatic conclusion 
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To me it sounds like a good idea. I donât know how many people were planning to make a trip around the event if it was just business as usual, but if our goal is to grow the audience bigger than just the eliminated compeitiors we needed a change. Maybe it doesnât sound like something you want to attend now, but it hasnât been something anyone else ever wanted to attend. So I say - keep trying new things and find something that works.
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I think if we want the crowd to get into it, then games would need to have a live MC saying what is happening in real time. Right now I still feel caught between âsomething awesome just happenedâ and âI should be quiet because someone up there is concentratingâ.
For the record, I would have no problem if loud crowds and MCs become the normâŚitâs just that it isnât the norm currently.
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A couple of things in this specific case to point out.
Jack was working his ass off because he really couldnât feel the energy of the crowd from up on the stage. I was in the crowd (not on stage) and there was tons of energy as there always is. The crowd is extremely well-informed at Pinburgh, and the players who arenât will sit next to some jerk like me who runs their mouth the entire time commentating on whatâs happening.
The acoustics of the space are just bad. The audience is in the dead center of an enormous room where the walls and ceiling are approximately a mile apart. Thereâs no roar and the energy just dies by the time it gets to the stage. If youâre on the stage and youâre looking out at the 40 grown men sitting cross-legged on a concrete floor, squinting to see the action from where theyâre sitting, a hype man is not what they want. Play-by-play constant action (and bigger screens) is what they want. Pinball is a game of minute details and Pinburgh is the setting where finally youâre hyper-focused on all of that.
What was the loudest pinburgh crowd moment so far? It was probably the 2015 Pinburgh when Raymond played Super Orbit and got the max bonus collect of 190k+30k for the gate. The bleachers helped because they put everyone right on top of each other. Immediately after, Raymond plunged through the same gate and the crowd laughed. People are DIALED IN to that stuff. They know where the wrecking crew is, but they also know where the points are and itâs in the Jackpot.
https://youtu.be/cPH_W9GM84U?t=16837 (Crowd doesnât pick up super great on the mic but you can get the idea)
The eSports arena events (which I will always go to first to cite before sporting events) put the players in sound booths and then blast the exact same play-by-play commentary theyâre doing for the live stream over the venueâs sound system. It provides a constant commentary baseline that ramps up during exciting parts. I think that Jack or whoever was hosting would prefer this. I think the crowd would prefer this. I think the players would prefer this. Iâm sure this would require a lot of money, hence the $25 to watch some excellent pinball.
TI7 had $200 tickets for the final 2 days. This video shows that live play-by-play & soundproof booth concept.
tl;dr Iâm going to keep linking to high production value esports events on this forum forever because I think theyâre the destination.
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When I was 11 years old, I played in the first Nintendo World Championships. I think my second attempt (played solo, no distractions) was good enough to make it through to a subsequent round on the stage. On stage, you played simultaneously with 4 other players and they had live commentary. There was one large screen and they would switch back and forth between who was being featured on the main screen.
There was a lot of pressure being able to hear the commentary, but hey, thatâs something youâd need to be able to deal with.
The most sophisticated game played was Tetris (others were Super Mario Brothers and Rad Racer), so it wasnât like overhearing the announcers would give you any meaningful game tips.
With pinball, Iâd have no problem having to deal with potentially audible commentary while playing, however, I suppose it would really limit what could be said. You donât want to give tips and strategies to the players while theyâre playing.
Edit: Fun fact I just learned. The winners in each of the three age categories of the Nintendo World Championship were given a savings bond worth $10k, and runners up got $1k. However each of the 90 finalists got a copy of the special cartridge that was used for the championship. If you still held onto it, theyâre selling for $15k+ these days. (I was a finalist in my cityâŚbut only the winners of each city advanced to the final 90).
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Trivia: Someone in the pinball community has one of these cartridges. Any guesses?
Man not even giving people a chance to figure it out on their own
Thatâs the hard part about it all - and what I think @FunWithBonus did extremely well at Pinvasion 2017 was exactly this. He waited until I had set up and knocked down my stack on World Poker Tour before giving more details as to why on stream. He probably knows more about how to handle it from the booth end!
Also, hearing your own commentary is something I would love to do again so when can we get to this point?
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If there was enough room, a limited herb tournament (like intergalactic) that would allow spectators and early eliminated participants to compete in would be neat. There might be a way to work the $25 entry fee into some entries tooâŚ
I just dont think a lot of âplayersâ want to pay $25 to watch, they want to play.
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Didnât we do that? 
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I think the big problem is if there is someone commentating to the crowd or a âhype personâ pumping up the crowd, that is extremely distracting. I know what people will say. They will say âwear headphonesâ which I think is not being empathetic to the situation. What if Iâm trying to listen to the game so I can pick up on audio cues but I canât hear it due to hype person screaming to the crowd?
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It was a little âlooserâ than that. Every now and then youâd kind of hear something from the PA that wasnât too easy to understand. I wouldnât call it commentary.
Tim was right as he summed up that scene. With a little tweaking it could be improved for sure.
I donât think live play by play really works in a live setting but âbooom!â And such could work when a player nails a big shot. Everybody is gonna have to live with the growing pains till we all sort it out.
I donât think you can expect a crowd to on order simultaneously Spout Pinball catch phrases. Thatâs gonna be a tough sell in any situation.
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I actually also played in the Cleveland leg of the Nintendo World Championships. Made the stage twice and did well enough to get into the quarterfinals or whatever the 2nd day. Got utterly stomped, but for 10 year old me it was super exciting.
I wouldnât pay $25 to watch people play pinball unless there was free or very cheap beer and free pinball. Music and commentary are both fine at non-ear splitting volumes. I was born in 1980 and arcades were very seldom well lit and quiet. I like a bit more of a party atmosphere as long as people are respectful. Compared to my experience as a bouncer at non-pinball events, pinball players are mostly self policing. I canât actually remember a time where anything more than a few dirty looks were needed to check a drunk back to being mildly obnoxious as opposed to a little out of control.
At large events like Pinburgh the audience canât seem to decide if theyâre at a golf tournament or a Def Leppard concert in terms of how much noise is acceptable. I have pretty bad eyesight, so I just usually wander the rows to get some time in on games I sucked at or arenât found in Seattle.
I also donât think thereâs a âwrongâ way to hold an event. As long as everyone is safe the organizer should feel free to set the tone. Seattle Pinball League (house league, not bar league) varies quite a bit from location to location as far as how much partying is considered okay and if marijuana is welcome at all. The monthly email covers âhouse rulesâ and you can extrapolate from that what the general atmosphere will be like. Even the bar league has certain venues that are all ages where I have never seen anyone truly plastered.
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if we could hear the sounds of the machines we could all chant things. watching with no sound is not the same effect. same for the streams.
its the same as playing a video game or pinball with no sound. sound is more than 50% of the experience. it gets the player hype, its gets the audience hype. hope this happens soon.
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This is the sold out line-up at The Bottom Lounge on the day of the Circuit Finals. presumably on another floor of the venue. Itâs all metalcore or deathcore. Letâs hope our event is over before theirs begins.
03/24/2018 Doors 5:00 PM Show 5:30 PM
SOLD OUT! â KNOCKED LOOSE * TERROR * JESUS PIECE * YEAR OF THE KNIFE * KHARMA
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Came for the pinball.
Stayed for the metal. \m/
rd
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