We do all of these things (TDs and Techs get free food vouchers at the convention center) except paying for transportation.
We have the techs and TDs for this year. If they all work out (and want to do it again next year) we will be prepared.
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If that is the case then it seems technicians arenāt the problem when it comes to expanding the show then, I was only proposing this if you are having problems getting them locally.
Iām not local and willingly gave up playing this year to tech and help expand. Itās such a social event. Paying for transportation isnāt necessary
300 someodd games used in the tournament. I think to run the event smoothly with current demand of 1200 or so players they need like another 100 games. That doesnāt come cheap or easy. Then more volunteers are needed to setup another 100 games 
Wonderful problems to have.
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First of all full respect for the time you put into making the tournament happen for all of us, and I am sure Replay FX has had so many like you that have contributed their time to make it happen. My only comment was if Replay gets into a situation where they need to fill the event with more skill technicians they may not have people like you who are from out of town who are willing to come on their own dime and help. In my part of the country it is $1500 to attend the event with food, lodging, tournament fees and transportation. That is a lot to ask for anyone who is already volunteering their time. Paying for airfare would be a small increase, if the show is already paying an hourly rate for their technicians. In this proposal they would be able to pull from other cities and even countries and bring the best technicians who want to volunteer their time for this awesome event. This happens for all other major sporting events (bull riding, volleyball, etc) they fly in referees and certain key volunteers to make these type of large scale events happen. Again it seems like a mute point as Replay doesnāt seem to have a technician volunteer issue.
Donāt give me too much credit for anything great about replayFX yet!
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Iāll fix this now. Itās 840. If anyone ever finds mistakes like this, please send a note through the contact page.
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There is also the issue of teaching techs the system thatās in place. We primarily want help that can work with us year after year so we donāt have to retrain them. Techs may know how to fix a flipper or do board work, and thatās awesome, but that doesnāt mean they know the proper etiquette and Pinburgh process for working on a game mid-tournament. Being a TD or tech at Pinburgh is a bit different from most peopleās previous pinball experience, and we donāt want a situation where every year the new people who are helping take half of the tournament to learn how to coordinate with the group and make reports effectively. Iāve run some of the largest tournaments in history, and even I wouldnāt feel comfortable jumping into Pinburgh without a proper refresher from Doug and others.
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There are many hidden costs and challenges associated with expansion that this and other public forums never discuss. In my honest estimate, I would say most people only understand about 20% of the challenges that go into making Pinburgh a success, and itās been that way for me since 2011. Even people who are extremely involved in the tournament but who are not local, and so donāt see most of the hands on prep in real time, donāt fully understand all of the challenges.
Thereās nothing wrong with that per se, itās just the nature of running something complex and working on a need-to-know basis. Most people donāt need to know the inner workings to have a good time, but sometimes those need-to-know items can create PR issues when attendees think expansion is as simple as āadd more techs and gamesā. Trust me when I say we definitely want to expand Pinburgh as much as possible, but sometimes good things take time to do correctly.
One example I can think of off the top of my headā¦ this yearās player expansion means we will utilize Hall C at the convention center which is a different layout from previous years. This means we have to coordinate the location of every game in that hall within 12 inches to make sure there isnāt a reflection on the glass rendering the game(s) unplayable. The location of those games also has to coordinate with the electric infrastructure below the floor of the convention center, so we donāt set up the tournament only to realize part of the hall has fewer breakers and we canāt run all the games at the same time. Then, adding more people also means more chairs and tables, so we have to coordinate with the DLCC once again to ensure those items actually exist and arenāt being allocated to other paying conventions. Next, the expanded field and larger area means the techs need to have easy access, and their booth needs pipe and drape to make sure theyāre not distracted, so we have to check availability and allocate p&d, and / or find some if itās not availableā¦ and on and onā¦ and this is just a few small considerations off the top of my head for an expansion of only 40 people. Weāve gone from 173 players to 840 since 2011, and every single expansion came with a long string of behind-the-scenes issues that need solved well beyond āadding games and techsā. Every change / expansion / update creates a ripple effect, and the faster you expand, the less data you have on hand to predict the problems those ripples will create. Running a tournament with 30 people is significantly different than running one with 5. Similarly, running a tournament with 100 people is significantly different than running a tournament with 30. Weāre currently at 840, and I can say without a doubt the complications and priorities change in ways you do not expect when you transition from dozens of players to hundreds, all with their own wants, needs, requests and experiences.
In my opinion, the smartest decision weāve ever made is to scale Pinburgh up in size slowly to keep it manageable, because for all of the expected problems that scaling brings that we can foresee, there are an equal amount of problems that have popped up over the years we did not expect, and caution is the only reason the tournament overcame those issues as smoothly as it has. Will we do 1000+ players next year? I sure hope so, but time will tell.
63 Likes
Wonderfully said!
I bet this year they donāt go down on the waiting list as far as previous years since the registration date was closer to the travel date. Less unknowns. Maybe 150 deep this year?
Wanted to join last year but from the waitlist position I was in, it was too close to call and I didnāt want to risk it.
This year, Iām closer. 49 and counting. Hopefully Iāll get in ASAP.
Thatās exactly what Iām afraid of. Iām #200.
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Why did you make an account here specifically to post this? Who are you trying to reach?
Using your first post on the forum to call something a āload of shitā, especially when itās operating within the rules, is a pretty lousy way to start out. Thatās not really how things run here.
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Nope. Only pre-approved events are allowed transferrable tickets.
What we are working on for next year is that these will be limited and there will be a formal process to apply for events like this.
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They will still have to ācompeteā in the 30 second sprint, right? Theyāre not given before all tickets go on sale.
That isnāt what the screenshot that @djreddog posted above would indicate, unless thatās a mistake.
NB: I donāt care either way, but there doesnāt seem to be a clear answer on how these promotions work.
Thatās what was said here:
One of the groups (I forget which one) was given pre-sale access. Jackbar was not, they purchased the ticket in the rush like everyone else.