NWPAS Day 2

I woke up expecting more time at the convention. There was a leisurely meal of two small peanut butter burritos with honey, and then I left. I even had some extra milk.

On the trip there, I decided to try the new route. It was hard to figure out what was what since the night before it had been dark. I guessed a little, but ultimately found a way. The biggest problem was when I saw a pedestrian. I live near a college, and the students there don’t always understand the concept that the right of way does not neglect the laws of physics. So I stopped for the guy at the road. It was a stop sign, and I was being courteous. The old man behind me flipped me off. Really, I was flipped off for letting someone walk past me.

When I got there, I found out it was the volunteers’ breakfast. There was still stuff out there, so I had some sausage, eggs, bacon, and other treats. This was way better than two small burritos. It helped me stay awake way better that day.

I walked around, and played some games. It was fun enough. The Aliens pin wasn’t the greatest, but I am glad I played it.

After a while, I went over to the cafeteria again, and bought a soda. It was $3. While sitting, I decided to do some observing. I hadn’t really done a ton of Anthropology yet, and felt bad about it. There was a loving couple, playing each other on their 3DS’ and  lady with odd wrinkles on her face. Hard to explain, they were dimples on her forehead.

Back at the Kid Zone I helped with the little Slugger tournament. I was supposed to help with the pinball one as well, but didn’t arrive on time.

After that, I went with a friend to Elemental Pizza a few blocks away. The pizza was grand, and the service was great.

The conversation was even more interesting. There was a lot of changes going on in the pinball industry. The guy with us was a Indie board maker. He talked about the costs, and how it worked. My friend wanted to try an idea out. I wanted to make a wireless pinboard.

What I found out was that company he made was in the red, and he expected it to be that way until they began to have enough sales. Once everything was cheap to make, and they had a lot of orders, they could make a profit. Until then, he was a systems engineer for various companies.

Saying things were great for the pin industry was a bit of a sad deal. Apparently Jersey Jack of Jersey Jack pinball didn’t really run his company. He didn’t make financial decisions, or what the next big game would be. That didn’t stop people from offering their ideas to him.

It’s a transitionary period for pinball, its growing, and gaining interest, but the guys who kept it going are needing to take a break. There are questions, and problems still going on.

For the indie board guy, the scene should be the Independent designer, who makes a few games and sells them online. He never sells the large amount the bigger dealers do, but he makes enough to be in the black. With enough people like that, the Indie board business should also be in the black. It’s a win win for him.

The full stomach and new ideas helped me keep the rest of the day awake and thoughtful. I came back to find out one of the rides was not working. I couldn’t figure it out, so I thought it had been broken. It turned out the coinbox had to be fully closed for the machine to work. This was a happy fix, because there were so many cute kids who wanted this ride.

I went with Ben to chat with other indie pinball board designers, and felt myself drift to sleep. They were talking about magnetic systems, which I could understand, and then 3D printing, which I had no experience in. The machine slowly moved back and forth, making a nice design. I was told it would be sanded down to be smoother after being printed. It looked a bit ridged. Then I was told about how the Steampunk Pin was a slow work in in progress. The board itself was painted black, and the ball would get stuck in weird areas. The creator would just continue to improve it, and show it to folks.

I bought SNK collection for the PS2, and a Japanese Goemon. I thought I had way more money than I really had.

While talking to another friend I found out how many geek cultures were at the show. There were the pinball clans, the video arcade clans, and even some Electro Mechancial clans. Plus videogame fans in general were there. People who went from show to show selling items were part of a special clan, where they knew each other better than the fans of the items they sold.

My friend is paid to go to all sorts of different shows, and help with various things. She was at this show for free, but could easily be a face painter, or a set designer, or anything else for this show. She belonged to the traveling sales clans. She runs haunted mazes and houses during Halloween season, and does make up for various shows throughout the year. To her, there is her job, and then her weekend jobs.

I also got to talk to the artists doing drawings, but they were mostly busy drawing.

After a while I felt tired, and headed out. The security guard at the back entrance looked intimidating. I asked him about it, and he pointed out it was easy to be slightly asleep that way. I showed him pictures of the front of the show, because he hadn’t seen them yet. To him, the world was the area behind the scenes, and that was it. Like the other clans, he belonged to the clan of security guards. He was separate, and not considered a part of the inner groups, and yet very important.

The drive back was fun, as I watched the sunset, and thought I had gotten lost. Instead, it was exactly the drive I needed. It turns out the roads aren’t as difficult past a certain point. I got home at around 11PM, wrote notes, and played with the dog a little bit. Then off to sleep for the big day tomorrow.