Gold Crown 5 :BCA trade show report

Fatboy

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Saw one at the BCA trade show yesterday, wow, it was just a prototype and the guy said that the fisnshed version would look the same. Wow I might have a GC4 for sale, I'm willing to wait. It looked like the Annerversary table -wasnt that the table befor the GC1? The GC5 has a retro feel, the metal above above the pocket is narrower that the other GC's and silver-they might make it different for the tables for sale, the side skirts looked the same the rails were similar, they made some changes in the bolts to make life on the mechnicks, over all I'm willing to wait for it.


The trade show was a disaster, I saw varner, jennett lee, karen corr(super nice and much prettier in real life) and a few others, but other than the exobitors nobody was there, I went in 96 (i think) here in vegas and there was room owners I knew there with bags of brochure's, retailers looking for new vendors etc, this time it was just the people with booths talking to other people with booths, no potential customers carrying bags around paper work, i didnt see any sales reps writing orders. If I was a vedor I wouldnt, be interested in spending my time and $$$ setting up a booth to have poor results next time, thus I dont see this trade show lasting much longer, I mean it was dead, I have been to alot of trade shows in the pet business which was dieing when i went in the 80's and this show had the same vibe. I hope I'm wrong. Go to CES and its a hive of activity, I wish them the best, I'm going tomarrow for a meeting and will report-I hope it was a slow day I saw.
 

jay helfert

Shoot Pool, not people
Gold Member
Silver Member
Fatboy said:
Saw one at the BCA trade show yesterday, wow, it was just a prototype and the guy said that the fisnshed version would look the same. Wow I might have a GC4 for sale, I'm willing to wait. It looked like the Annerversary table -wasnt that the table befor the GC1? The GC5 has a retro feel, the metal above above the pocket is narrower that the other GC's and silver-they might make it different for the tables for sale, the side skirts looked the same the rails were similar, they made some changes in the bolts to make life on the mechnicks, over all I'm willing to wait for it.


The trade show was a disaster, I saw varner, jennett lee, karen corr(super nice and much prettier in real life) and a few others, but other than the exobitors nobody was there, I went in 96 (i think) here in vegas and there was room owners I knew there with bags of brochure's, retailers looking for new vendors etc, this time it was just the people with booths talking to other people with booths, no potential customers carrying bags around paper work, i didnt see any sales reps writing orders. If I was a vedor I wouldnt, be interested in spending my time and $$$ setting up a booth to have poor results next time, thus I dont see this trade show lasting much longer, I mean it was dead, I have been to alot of trade shows in the pet business which was dieing when i went in the 80's and this show had the same vibe. I hope I'm wrong. Go to CES and its a hive of activity, I wish them the best, I'm going tomarrow for a meeting and will report-I hope it was a slow day I saw.

Bad timing on this trade show. Everyone had been to Vegas and left during the prior month or so. They should have had it one month earlier when there was a mob in town, including many room owners.

By the way, I bought the Brunswick Gipson table for my home three years ago. It is the replica of the old Anniversaries. A beautiful table and heavier than a Gold Crown, but flawed. Bad rubber and faulty rails make for mediocre play. I had to have it reworked twice, the last time by Ernesto to make it play okay.

I wish I had kept my old 9' Sport King. Over 50 years old and played great! It had been in a Senior Citizen center for nearly 50 years when I bought it. What a sweet table that was. After Ernesto set it up, many top players had their hands full on that box. Just ask Tang, Mika, Rafael, Danny B., Ernesto, Ming, Helena, Monica and a bunch more how good that table played.

Stupid me, I sold that table when I moved and bought a new one. I've never been happy with this table, even though it plays okay now. I hate to say it, but the old Sport King was a better table!

If you can ever find an old Gold Crown or Sport King that has not been abused, buy it. Same for an original Anniversary. These old tables were the best. I guess Diamond makes the best table today, but they have yet to catch up with the old Brunswicks. Sorry if I offended anyone, but my only allegiance is to Pool. And the people who read this stuff.
 

cuetable

Line Up Your Best Shot!
Silver Member
Fatboy said:
The trade show was a disaster...

This is not true. I have a friend who has made some great sales on day one. Semih Sayginer, Dr. Cue, Mike Massey are giving great shows. Several companies are showing their new inventions. It is truely a great experience to be able to see the all products and meet great pool people at the same time...

On top of that, on the first night there was a party at the beach in Mandala Bay with a pretty wild band jamming... People were in the water dancing :)

The photo is from my phone camera..
 

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John Barton

New member
Some people are going to have a good show

No matter what. For most though the BCA show is dead. Most of the vendors lose money attending that show. The only reason companies still exhibit is a sense of fear that they will be thought of as dead if they don't attend.

The fact is that the BCA has killed the show in the attempt to make it bigger than it should be. When the show was about billiards then it thrived. When it became the Home Recreation Show it began dying. All the BCA cares about now is selling booth space to anyone who comes up with the money.

The BCA show is a disaster and has been for many years.
 

!Smorgass Bored

Hump ? What HUMP ?
Gold Member
Make Haymakers While The Sun Shines.... BOP !

John Barton said:
No matter what. For most though the BCA show is dead. Most of the vendors lose money attending that show. The only reason companies still exhibit is a sense of fear that they will be thought of as dead if they don't attend.

The fact is that the BCA has killed the show in the attempt to make it bigger than it should be. When the show was about billiards then it thrived. When it became the Home Recreation Show it began dying. All the BCA cares about now is selling booth space to anyone who comes up with the money.

The BCA show is a disaster and has been for many years.



Yeah but, the WSOP is going on at the same time and you can write your trip off as 'business' and go play POKER. The BCA show is also a perfect opportunity to sneak up behind FL and give him his comeuppance. :)
http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?comeuppance
Doug
 

smittie1984

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
My buddy and our store manager went to the show. He called me up and told me about the GC5 and said it was awesome too.

Sucks that the show was bad. However wasn't the show exclusively for Business owners and not open to the public? If so I think it would help if anyone was welcome to view.
 

gulfportdoc

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Brunswick is not showing a picture of the prototype Gold Crown V on their website. Does anyone have a link to a picture of one?

Doc
 

smittie1984

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
My buddy took a picture of it while at the show. He should be coming back on Monday morning so I can probably load it up then or atleast on Tuesday.
 

cuetable

Line Up Your Best Shot!
Silver Member
My Positive BCA Experience

John Barton said:
No matter what. For most though the BCA show is dead. Most of the vendors lose money attending that show. The only reason companies still exhibit is a sense of fear that they will be thought of as dead if they don't attend.

The fact is that the BCA has killed the show in the attempt to make it bigger than it should be. When the show was about billiards then it thrived. When it became the Home Recreation Show it began dying. All the BCA cares about now is selling booth space to anyone who comes up with the money.

The BCA show is a disaster and has been for many years.

The time might be changing...

Example 1: I have a friend who is opening up a room in a few months. He checked out the specs and prices for tables and equipments in person within a day. Besides he got a chance to meet company heads and learned some new ideas of keeping up a room in the modern age..

The world has come together...

Example 2: John, from your past vivid experience in Germany and the Asia, you have to be the person who understand the ideas of globalization. You might very well be the first person who ever talked about this in pool community. After many years, I start to really see it now. Companies from three continents have started working together and making some cool products. People of all different languages are meeting up and sharing some interesting ideas.

Positive experience

This is my first BCA show. It feels like a real trade show or even a convention to me. I believe the major target audience is a bite different from Super Billiards Expo (which is a great marketplace event by Allen Hopkins) where indivisuals can walk around buy and sale stuffs. I was mostly interested in checking out the new ideas in our sport and the latest product (and the ideas behind) from the industry. It will take a least one day to look at all billiard related stuffs. There were just a few bar supplies, video game supplies but just a few in the back.

I agree with people Vegas can be more expensive, but it's exciting and we all need a break... Anyway, why do we want to cry for venders? I didn't hear anyone complain there... Besides BCA has its own structure, who are we to decide how it should be?

Overall I had a very positive experience at the show and the image of pool represented here.
 

Fatboy

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
i didnt hear anyone complain either, but it seemed slow to me compaired to the other shows i have been to thats all, hey if everyone was happy thats great. i wish everyone the best-my observations wernt a knock, only an opinion.
 

jay helfert

Shoot Pool, not people
Gold Member
Silver Member
Fatboy said:
i didnt hear anyone complain either, but it seemed slow to me compaired to the other shows i have been to thats all, hey if everyone was happy thats great. i wish everyone the best-my observations wernt a knock, only an opinion.

I'll be happy when you give me a rematch in Banks. I can't sleep at night thinking about how you SHUT ME OUT 5-0!
 

Fatboy

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
jay helfert said:
I'll be happy when you give me a rematch in Banks. I can't sleep at night thinking about how you SHUT ME OUT 5-0!

get used to it, banks i my best game too-I was on the lemon when we played 9B and one hole. High Stakes Pool Baby!!!!!
 

JoeyInCali

Maker of Joey Bautista Cues
Silver Member
If the GC 5 will have the Superspeed cushions made in China, it'd still play mediocre imo.
Gabriel's table is still the best imo.
 

John Barton

New member
cuetable said:
The time might be changing...

Example 1: I have a friend who is opening up a room in a few months. He checked out the specs and prices for tables and equipments in person within a day. Besides he got a chance to meet company heads and learned some new ideas of keeping up a room in the modern age..

The world has come together...

Example 2: John, from your past vivid experience in Germany and the Asia, you have to be the person who understand the ideas of globalization. You might very well be the first person who ever talked about this in pool community. After many years, I start to really see it now. Companies from three continents have started working together and making some cool products. People of all different languages are meeting up and sharing some interesting ideas.

Positive experience

This is my first BCA show. It feels like a real trade show or even a convention to me. I believe the major target audience is a bite different from Super Billiards Expo (which is a great marketplace event by Allen Hopkins) where indivisuals can walk around buy and sale stuffs. I was mostly interested in checking out the new ideas in our sport and the latest product (and the ideas behind) from the industry. It will take a least one day to look at all billiard related stuffs. There were just a few bar supplies, video game supplies but just a few in the back.

I agree with people Vegas can be more expensive, but it's exciting and we all need a break... Anyway, why do we want to cry for venders? I didn't hear anyone complain there... Besides BCA has its own structure, who are we to decide how it should be?

Overall I had a very positive experience at the show and the image of pool represented here.

We - as in people like me who are (were) business members of the BCA have (or should have) the right to tell the BCA how it should be. Wait, we did that in a vote three years ago and the BCA ignored the will of the majority in favor of the dollars of the minority.

Why would you hear anyone complain? Unless you are a true insider you will probably just see everyone putting on a smile and trying to make the best of a bad week.

There was a time when the aisles were overflowing with visitors who were anxious to do business. That's a trade show. A show without buyers is a museum. It's great that your friend found what he needed, that is as it should be. I am sure that he had no problems getting to talk to all the people he needed as well as there was very little competition for the sales staff's time.

As a first timer I can share your sense of wonder and excitement at going to the industry's trade show. All the big booths, the nice displays, the pros. I felt the same thing at my first one. I hate that my sour attitude is putting a slight damper on your experience. Had you gone to one in the mid 90's then you would have seen a different show. Not as many super slick booths but thousands of people and stuff going on at every booth just a real buzz of excitement and business.

Yes, the BCA Billards and Home Recreation Expo is certainly going after a different target audience than the Super Billiards Expo. And they are failing to reach that audience in my opinion. Why should you care for the vendors? Because it's the vendors who bring you the neato products that you are gee whiz about. If they don't survive then all you are left with is pining for products that stay nothing more than fanciful ideas. It's vendors who put money back into pool with sponsorships. If they don't make money then there is none to put back. The BCA show is supposed to be the place where vendors can meet thousands of buyers from around the world and pitch them the merits of their products. Unfortunately the BCA is not attracting thousands of buyers they are attracting hundreds at best and those few hundred buyers are spread out among hundreds of companies. Including companies who are there solely to pitch other activities that have nothing to do with billiards. So for the few buyers that are there, they can now choose to spend their billiard budget on video games, table soccer, and a plethora of other things besides billard products.

When is the last time you saw a video game console company putting money into pool? Never. So to echo Fatboy's point. What's the point of going to the show to talk to other vendors that you already know, from a vendor standpoint?
 
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