Show set-up officially begins at noon on Thursday, March 19th until 9pm. You may arrive earlier, but we will still be setting up the electrical and drapery so you may just be sitting around waiting. The ballroom will re-open for continued set-up on Friday morning at 8am, March 20th.

We encourage early arrival for load-in and set-up. Friday morning is good; Thursday is better.

Please make every effort to arrive at the show and be set up before 4:00pm on Friday (when the show opens to the public). We want to have as many games as possible ready for the opening of the show. Tournament play also begins on Friday morning, so all tournament games should arrive and be set up by Thursday evening.

Do NOT transport any games through the glass doors of the convention center, they break and will cost you a lot to replace. Also tournament games are to be moved up and down stairs in the freight elevator only.

The basic load in procedure will be as follows:

1) Arrive (early) at the loading area and check-in with one of the Staff. Main load-in is off Avenue of the Stars on the West side of the Convention Center (highlighted in red). This is a 3-lane side street with little traffic. The main loading area will accommodate two vehicles, so be mindful of other exhibitors. At the main load-in doors, there will be a check-in table set up. An organizer and/or volunteer will be there to check you in and inventory your games.  We will use the North side parking lot of the Convention Center as a sort of staging area for Exhibitors waiting to unload. There is a full-size loading dock on the South side of the convention center (North of the hotel) as well as an over-flow load-in door.

2) Unload your games Fixtures, Parts etc and STAGE THEM in loading area as indicated by the volunteer assisting you. All effort should be made to unload as quickly and safely as possible. There will be at least one community appliance dolly, and there are always plenty of people around willing to loan out their dollies and/or lift tables. Once staged you MUST move your vehicle immediately to an approved parking area!  PARKING ON THE STREET IS NOT ALLOWED FOR TPF EXHIBITORS! You can park in the lane closest to the Convention Center to actively unload your games as described above.

3) Go park your vehicle so the area is clear for others to unload.  Park at the hotel where you are staying, Embassy started charging guest and visitors a modest daily fee for parking in the parking garage, do not park in the swapmeet/food truck area.  Don’t park at the Mall cause if it’s setting around for a while that freak out and might tow you.  If you are staying at Embassy, you need to park trailers in the remote trailer lot and then you can park your vehicle at Embassy in the garage.  Park the the city lot to the south or at the hotel where you are staying.

4) Come back to the loading area to move your games. Floor plan maps will be printed out and available to you. Show Organizers or volunteers will assist you in locating your booth or space for your games. If you made arrangements for them to be in a specific booth or location, please let them know. TPF volunteers can not help you set-up your games. If you have PinGulp or drink caddies, please install them. This will help keep beverages off the floor and, more importantly, off your games.

5) Label your games. There will be small QR code for your machine. Please affix these cards to the upper corner of the back glass or on the lower playfield glass. This is so we know whose game it is, should we need to contact you or should a player need to report a problem. This cuts down on the constant flow of folks coming to the Registration Counter asking who owns this or that game.

6) Return to the loading area and tell the helpers that your games are ready for verification.  A game verifier will go to your machines and confirm that the game is operational.  This is a new step this year, and will ensure that the games that are on the floor are ready for play during the show.  This is a required step in the process and you will not be able to receive your free weekend passes for the show until the game has completed this step.  We will be testing that your machine, powers up, is on free play, or has a way to coin up, can flip and play a game, has a continuous ground circuit to the lock bar, coin door, legs, side rails and all exposed metal surfaces so that players don’t get shocked, EM, Wood Rail, and Pre War games that did not originally come equipped with a ground circuit do not need to be modified. New Grounded plugs, and power cords will be available for purchase in case yours is missing the ground lug. If your machine fails one of the checks you will be required to correct the issues, we will have techs that can help, but we have a lot of games to check in on Thursday, and Friday.

7) Go to the Registration Counter to pick up your passes, and pre-paid merchandise.  You must wear your pass to be on the show floor, they will be a different color than the general public and will get you access to the after party on Saturday night. If you purchased additional passes with your free passes, they will all be together. If you don’t have enough games to cover your free passes, you can pay the difference when you pick up your packet.

There are a few other things to remember.

In the event of poor weather, we urge you to find a way to bring your game (pallet wrap, tarps, covered truck bed or trailer, etc). The loading dock and main load-in doors are covered areas, so we should be able to get everyone in dry. We know rain sucks, but please plan ahead and make every effort to be there.

There is no fee for selling your game at the show, but if you brought a game in exchange for a free pass, please inform your buyer that the game needs to remain on the floor on free play until the end of the show on Sunday afternoon. If the game just has to leave early due to emergency, there is a $150 Early Removal fee including the after party. An early removal ticket can be obtained at the Registration Booth and can only be used 1 hour before opening to the public on Saturday and 1 hour before opening to the public on Sunday.

Below is the latest version of our floor map.  Things can still change at the last minute, but changes at this point should be minor.  Please use this map to location your booth space, the number of tables that are assigned to you, and the pipe and drape around your space.

Swap Meet… The DFW Pinball and Arcade Club is managing the TPF Swap Meet again this year. We love the job they do putting it together. We expect it to be awesome!

The Swap Meet will take place in the Northeast corner of the Convention Center parking lot near the parking garage (marked in green), which is the same place as last year. Let us know if you plan on having a trailer for the swap meet and we will schedule space for you. 

A couple more things…

If at any time you have a question or need help, go to the table near the load in doors and they can help you. This year Grieg Riddle will be our Floor Manager and oversee exhibitor check-in/out with Brandon Walker.  Elizabeth Dronet, Kevin Stone, Ken Kemp, and Louis Marx are our Tournament Directors and will be setting up the tournament area.  If you have a question other than load in please check with the Concierge Service located next to the Main Registration where we will help get answers.

If for some reason you are unable to bring your game(s), please let us know ASAP so we can make other arrangements for other games to fill the space.

At approximately 2:00 pm on Sunday, March 22nd, at the conclusion of the show, you can begin breaking down your machines for Load Out.  Full Load Out procedures are provided when you load in.  We are working on a strategy to make load out of single games more streamlined.  Please review these procedures before the end of the show so there are no surprises.

There are two loading areas at TPF: the large opening in the back of the exhibit hall (West side) which can accommodate two trucks, and a large door on the South side of the exhibit hall (through a hallway) that is only big enough for one.

As in previous years, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES ARE ANY GAMES OR EQUIPMENT TO MOVE OUT THE GLASS DOORS!  There are plenty of alternative doors that machines can be taken from that are not glass, we do not want you to be responsible for a high $$$ glass replacement.

If you DO NOT require use of the Loading Areas to remove your games, you are welcome to park on the street (West or South) as long as you are ACTIVELY LOADING your games. You may dolly your games through the metal door beside the West loading area or around the currently parked trucks. Every effort will be made to ensure there is enough space in between trucks to move games but we cannot guarantee anything but the smaller door.

If you DO require use of the Loading Areas, the following instructions MUST be followed:

1) Pack up all your games/equipment in your booth or on the exhibit floor. Everything you need to move must be dolly ready (games up on end, legs off, wrapped accordingly, etc.).

2) Once you believe everything is ready, come to the rear loading area and ask one of the volunteers to verify. The staff will check all the games/equipment to ensure you can load as quickly as possible once your truck is parked.

3) The staff will then give you a numbered loading card to give to the driver of your truck or car. At this time you can pull your truck/car into any available Loading Area. If there is a wait, you are encouraged to use your waiting time to stage your equipment closer to the doors and begin moving your truck. (check back as we are working on some improvements on this)

4) If two trucks are attempting to park in the same spot…the driver with the lower number should be given preference. In the confusion, it is possible someone may “jump the line” but the intent is everyone will load out in the order they were ready.

5) Once parked, the driver must give their numbered loading card to a volunteer and then actively load games onto your truck as quickly and safely as possible.

6) Once everything is loaded, inform one of the TPF staff that you are ready to leave so we may inform the next in line to be ready.