Set up at the NorthWest Pinball and Arcade Show

The next morning, I woke up especially early so I could be there for the 7AM truck arrival. I had been told that was the big problem for load in, because there were so few people. I knew it was a 40 minute drive over, so I grabbed some cold cereal, and some milk. Then I topped it off with more milk. It wasn’t perfect, but I knew they would be feeding us throughout the day, so it would be good enough.

My car windshield had been covered with bugs on the trip through the wastelands, so the rain was very nice. It cleaned everything right up, and I could enjoy some easy early traffic on my route to Tacoma. With so little traffic to the toll bridge, I enjoyed myself. I could hit the turns how I wanted, pass any slowpokes, and move over for those wanting to go faster with ease. I would say that part is perfect for driving, if it wasn’t for the other drivers.

After the toll bridge, it was very different. Traffic backed up for miles. A construction project, which has lasted for several years had hit all of the major traffic spots in Tacoma. I was hoping to just miss it like I had the last few years. Instead, it was going to be over an hours wait. I was going to miss the first truck, simply because I was stuck in traffic.

When I finally got to the convention center, I was very tired. It had been me sitting there, letting my car eat more gas than expected, while I watched cars slowly move to the bubbles of space. I tried making a mathematic formula in my head for it, but couldn’t figure it out.

As I rushed to the loading dock to see what was needed, I expected piles and piles of machines. Instead, it was a small row, and enough handtrucks to do the job. We placed items quickly, and efficiently without much fuss. There were folks who knew every machine, and how they moved. The loading dock machinery was simple for them, and they were doing it quickly. I might have years of doing this, but they were masters of their craft.

The volunteer coordinator had worked with me at the raffle desk years before. He knew every person working there, and how they were doing in life. Every load was from someone he knew, and how they wanted their machine moved.

Another guy had flown from his job on the East Coast, to help out. His job moved him there, but he knew it was important to be here. That sense of experience and dedication showed. I had hung out with him the year before, but the long absence had made me not recognize him. As soon as he told me his job, I suddenly knew him.

There were also changes in volunteers. The person in charge of the loading dock, and planning out the shipping routes had broken herself. We had a new volunteer who had been helping out for years now, and had a good head on his shoulders. His daughter is the one I ask random math problems to. She can do basic multiplication now. I taught her how to add while in PAX. So yeah, I was happy to see him there.

His hands held every route, and who was bringing what when. The slowness made him pace, and he looked bored and nervous at the same time. There were times when he didn’t know if all the games had made it or not, and others had to show him some of the tricks he could use. Every truck was full of games, with next to zero moving ground inside. It would be hard to guess from a single look if every game had made it or not.

It soon became obvious that the traffic was slowing everything down. At first it sounded terrible, since we had so many machines to deal with, and a single day to do it. Then we realized that a single truck or a few small trucks were being taken care of quickly. We were making record time by letting the trucks be stuck.

Rumors began to swirl that several accidents had happened. An SUV had been cut in half, and was laying on the road as crews worked to retrieve everything. The construction site had an accident, and caused a landslide. A driver had parked his car, and walked.

Whatever it was, we were lucky because of it. I’m certain the drivers hated it, and the cost for gas was great. For set up, it was exactly what we needed.

This meant enjoying the finer moments, or checking out the rarer games. It also helped that we had enough hand trucks to make a line for the load in. Instead of moving them onto the dock, most games were taken out of the truck, and to their destination point.

One of my favorite moves was with the european games. I had seen most of them at previous shows, but this time, I had the chance to really look. They were all covered in shipping blankets, and then wrapped up. The owner had moved from England, to the US, and brought his collection with him. This meant the games were needing special car. If one of them got hurt, it would take a long time to properly fix it.

There were games that Americans would never play, unless they travelled to europe, and specifically looked. Many of these games were over 30 years old, so just finding one would be difficult. To make sure they were safe, we had to lift them carefully out of the truck by hand. The games had casters to help them slide on smooth surfaces and carpets. Not so much with hard grated walkways from the truck to the loading dock. It was so bad, we were asked to use hand trucks instead.

A big one was a sit down game that could not be taken apart. We had to use two hand trucks to move it out. After arriving at their spot, we were careful to make sure the blankets were collected, and the machines lined up as needed. I was told only a few people the owner trusted were allowed to move these machines, and somehow I had the honor of being one.

There were sections for the videogames where a single person was in charge of them. For example, Blind Dog was over the vector games. He had helped me with the Pong machine from years before, and continued to be the guy for those kinds of machines. Vector is where only a small part is shown on the screen. So a spaceship is a few lines only, but very brightly lit. We moved them to him, and then he would decide where they went. It was cool to see some of the games I had played over these many years.

After a while, some of the stuff for the Fun Zone showed up. I was officially announced as the Assistant to the Assistant to the Assistant at a planning meeting, so I had to take charge. No one else was there to help set those parts up. Actually, I think the head guy isn’t over it, so I guess I was the Assistants Assistant. Either way, I got and assistant and went to work moving things to where they would go.

Over the years, I had helped to arrange this area so many times, it became a natural knowledge. The Pinball tables over here. The more interactive games there. I need to keep the rolling ball game out for four players to enjoy. The wireless pinball table, and two other games went with that. Actually we moved a two player simultaneous pin table to that spot.

As I worked on stuff, Oz showed up. He had me move some stuff around, and talked about staying in a hotel. I told him I was staying in Bremerton. It turned out he forgot some legs for one of the machines at show. I told him I could pick it up, and would be happy to do so. He quickly sent me info to get in, and to act natural when entering his warehouse, because of the neighbors.

Snacks opened up, and I was thankful. I had not eaten since the morning, and it was now past noon. I knew pizza would come to fill me up later, but at the moment, the snacks would have to do. Another thing from working at this job for so long, is that I knew which snacks would fill me up more, and taste better. It’s those weird things that make you realize how long its been. My favorite is peanuts and some kind of hardened sauce. They tend to have more, and the peanuts add protein.

Last year there hadn’t been as many videogames as there were pinball games. There was an effort to make up for this, and to have a better presence for the one side. I walked around, and saw several cool set ups. My favorite was the candy cab area. I tried to position them like an island off at sea. One person looked at it, and mentioned he had a Neo Geo 25 cab, with some games on it. I begged him to bring that to play. I sort of love Neo Geo games.

It’s fascinating to see the set up before the show. Every spot for a pin or arcade is designated by blue tape. Long lines of blue tape are marked down, and you feel like you are looking at the base of a giant building being put up. It’s all based on where the power is coming from, and how best to keep things in order. At the beginning you could walk over these blue lines without thinking, but soon enough, there would be walls of games blocking the way. There were even lines to show where the power cords needed to go.

The pin area had a guy who knew where every single game went. He has the history, and the set up of each game memorized. It was fascinating to bring him games, and let him show where each one would be. There were lists, upon lists of what needed to be where, and that was his project.

For the vids, there was nothing like this. We had areas that most people knew about, and just put stuff in those places. The Drivers went here, but not in any important order. The vectors were over there. The shooters and fighters could be anywhere. So long as they sort of felt the same, they could be next to each other.

On one of the outer walls some technicians began setting up a display with several LED lights connected to it. It was a small flat surface, connected to others just like it. They were connected to make a large enough display that you could see it from the other side of the building. We had a lull in the shipments, so I watched them set it up. The LEDs went up in every color, and were nice and solid. There was a seating spot with futuristic laser shooters as well. Soon, the title was put on top, and we knew it was the new Space Invaders game.

I watched the technicians play it, and enjoyed what I saw. Instead of playing, I went over to the center tables and hung out.

One of the workers was drinking from a large container with brown liquid. His wife said he needed to drink 4 of them a day to help his back pain. He was my size and wore a backbrace. I was told his job had hurt him, and he couldn’t get help with the usual methods, so he drank these bottles, and his wife basically planned his life.

After a while I realized it was tea of some kind. I thought at first it was whiskey. That’s a great way to deal with backpain, but tends to cause other problems. They chatted about how this event was his big thing, and he didn’t work this hard for anything else. He was retired by force from the injury.

They had a good laugh at what I had first thought. Then we talked about the Space Invader game. I decided to try it out.

The review will come later, but I enjoyed it, and set the high score. They then told me to not play it anymore. I nodded, and laughed at it.

The lull actually had me worried. There was nothing going on. The loading dock was empty, and most of the Kid Zone was set up enough. If the trucks all arrived at once, it would be too much for us, and yet, I sort of wanted it to happen. I was just sitting there, checking facebook, and uploading pictures. It got boring.

I frequented the snackbar while bored, and I took care of some of my hunger as I waited for the pizzas to arrive. There was a question about what to do after the pizzas, because the work may already be done. Trucks were arriving slowly, and we had more than enough people to take care of them.

The games I saw were amazing though. One of them was a pinball table that I can only describe as a piece of art. It was lacquered wood with glass panels on the side. I didn’t know what it was, but I wanted to play it.

Another one was the Pauline edition of Donkey Kong. It plays just like Donkey Kong, only Pauline is rescuing Mario. The side covers are pink instead of blue, and it has a graphic of Pauline chasing after DK.

A guy drove in with a wooden display, and a thin monitor. I went over to help, and found out a part had broken for the TV holder. I showed him where the tools were, and got permission for him to use them. It was an indie designed arcade game, so I was trying to help the best I could.

After helping with this or that, I played some Pac Attack, which is a four player competitive survival Pacman game on a high set table. I think I played it a couple more times after that.

Finally Oz showed up with plans, and we could organize the Fun Zone better. It was basically us setting up the pinball tables, and then moving items to make a wall. I found out the really cool game where you ride a dolphin was made by Wahlap, which is in mainland China. There are three Chinas, and you have to be careful how you describe them to the Chinese.

The game that really caught my eye was a mini Neo Geo cab. Like I said, I love neo geo, and this one was built for someone under 4 feet tall. I thought it was a fake, but we looked it up and found cabs designed just like it. This thing is seriously cute, and located at an arcade in Bremerton. I decided to check out the arcades as best I could, while I was in the area.

We positioned stuff to places, and then decided to eventually grab a handtruck. It took me an hour to do this, because I was checking on facebook. I didn’t even charge my phone like I wanted. A couple trucks came in, and I missed them because of how lazy I was feeling. Then, Ben pointed out I was writing notes, like an anthropologist. That made my day.

I went to the center desk area, and chatted around. The wife of the former president of the show said she felt like she was moving in. They had decided to be low key this year, but she was still going to be there a lot.

We were told we needed lanyards with name tags to get passed security the next day. So the front desk was printing out stuff quickly. I told them my title was Anthropologist. Then I grinned. I thought I was being sort of hilarious saying something like that. I’m not really an anthropologist, I just write about cultural stuff and notes from events I work at. I told myself this, and giggled at how weird my life gets.

The pizzas finally arrived, and my buddy Ben showed up. The pizza guy was hand walking the delivery from his car a block away, until we gave him permission to drive up to the dock and park there. He was carrying them four at a time, and looked really tired. I believe we ended up with 30 pizzas, so it was going to be a long haul. Several volunteers helped with the placement of the pizzas, and people began to slow down to help.

We all took a break to eat. I know I was hungry. The conversations went to all sorts of weird details. I had scientists, car repairmen, IT guys, and engineers all around me. The interviews were quick, but I caught a ton of information.

One of the people I talked to was Ron. He wanted to help out more at the show, so he became one of the assistants at the Fun Zone. His training is in electrical engineering, and it seemed logical there would need to be repairs at the show. Oz didn’t feel that way, and tried to tell him there didn’t need to be people there all the time.

I won’t get into that too much, but OZ has been in charge of the FZ for a while now, and has tried all of the things Ron brought up. A show like this can be tiring, and coming in with all your energy will drain you. Ron was ready to go in, and wanted to do things, but that meant a lot of prep work and energy drain. It’s a balance that doesn’t always work the way you want.

A story I heard from some of the security and staff at the convention center was about other shows. It seems the Democrat convention was way more work than the Republican. The GOP was ready to help out, give their time, and talents for what was needed. The DNC believed they were helping the world, and that was too much work for them. Because of this, the Democrats were barking orders and demanding perfection, with little to offer in volunteering to help out. They hated having the DNC because of this.

Slowly things began to move in. The pins were moving in quicker, so it was filling in, while gaps for the vids were showing up. I turned the candy area into an island, and helped with the set up of several driving games.

The majority of the Fun Zone games came in, and we moved things around for the final time. The big thing was moving the pins to a place where everyone could see them. The classic wireless pin set up was next to a two player competitve pin game. The two player game had AI in it to play itself. If the ball touched a sensor, the flipper would automatically shoot. There was a problem though, the sensor also got the ball stuck on the flipper, and caused problems with aiming. It was a cool idea though.

I ended up playing the dolphin game, and enjoyed it. It’s simple but fun, with a highscore test on it for those that want to compete.

While doing some testing, Seth showed up. He has a horn growing on his face, but no real explanation on what it is. Some people are saying he is sort of possessed. This makes sense, because his description of how his wife gave birth was incredibly accurate and gross. His life was changed as he saw the baby breach, and he knew things would never be the same. Just describe that like a horror movie, then say it jovially with a bit of love.

I did some tours of games. There would be a section for Fighting Games, and others. It was a great set up. I sort of wanted a line of Mortal Kombats after seeing MKII. The driving games looked amazing. There were classics and brand new games all around. I even spotted the pin game that looked like a piece of art.

A story I heard was about a parking problem in Bremerton near the docks. Apparently some guys don’t want to pay for parking, so they park in the free parking areas. These parking spots have a time limit, so every two hours, these same guys would walk to their car, drive it a block and park it in a new free parking spot. This would go on all day. I thought this was ridiculous, then I tried parking during that same time later on.

Oz gave me the keys to his warehouse, and explained how to open up the combination lock. I told him to text me the numbers, and I would work from there. There was a warning that the neighbors might wonder what I was up to, and to be nice and blunt with them. He then told me where the legs for a pin table were, and some other stuff.

One of the convention center guys walked in to talk about power to Oz. I listened a little, and then walked to my car. I had a parking permit, and would soon have a name tag. It would be an interesting weekend.

The drive home was boring. I was leaving way passed the time for traffic jams, so it should be pretty empty. Oz told me about other methods to get into Tacoma, and around the traffic. I would try the normal way this day though. As I drove, I tried to let a car move over so I could have some room when I merged. Instead, it didn’t let me merge at all. I had to slam on the brakes a bit to let tons of traffic pass so I could get onto the needed freeway. I may have wanted to follow the idiot’s tale, but cooled down quickly. The trip home was fun, but traffic can get weird in spots.

If I ever get the chance, I should write an ethnology on driving in the North West. I have a lot of stuff to talk about it.

After getting home, Paco the smiliest pitbull you can imagine greeted me. I went to bed, and slept as quickly as I could. It would be another big day tomorrow, and I was falling asleep at midnight.