Ten days ago [url="http://www.BrickFair.com"]BrickFair VA 2012[/url] finally came and went.

[u][b]The sad news:[/b][/u] The candy machines were a flop by any measure. Upon setting up I sadly discovered that one of my 1" machines had a $1 coin mech; it should have been only $.50. So right away I left that machine filled, but put a sign on it that it was out of order. Not the end of the world, but disappointing.

By Saturday night my brother noticed ([i]from behind; the machines bordered our t-shirt/hat tables, facing outward[/i]) that the machines were nearly full. It turns out someone had placed a "out of order" post-it note on the fronts of nearly all the machines. And sure enough, many were jammed. Why those people didn't ask my sister-in-law for assistance (she was manning the t-shirt/hat booth), I don't know.

I quickly opened the machines and discovered that in most cases, kids had tried using only 2 quarters were 4 were required. And they had forced them turned, so they jammed. In some cases I could simply force it backwards and pull the quarters out. In other cases I had to open the machine to un-jam them.

But even fixed, they still didn't get much use. Kids just did not flock to them as I'd expected.

I wonder if I should have purchased different colored machines? Or different colored 2" caps? Or it might just be a bad idea all around. It's very disappointing because those machines and my damn red boxes took up most of my past 4 months of time, and a helluva lot of money.

But I plan to try again next year with the minifig parts - [i]build your own random minifig[/i]! We'll see if that fares better.

[u][b]The good news:[/b][/u] The cranes were wildly popular - among adults, kids, my paid exhibitors and the teeming public visitors. They were far more popular than I had predicted.

The cranes did give out far more prizes than I'd expected. I practiced in advance a lot, and set the machines to my liking. I had marked the control panel next to the dials with permanent marker, so I could remember my settings (there was not even a pre-drawn 1-2-3-etc numbers on there). But somehow people were better at the game than me. I suppose that's because they had real money invested, so they tried harder, paid closer attention.

On Friday I let them have their fun. The machines grew more difficult as the prizes depleted. On Saturday morning when I refilled the prizes, I also adjusted the settings to make it slightly more difficult to win. Then the public poured in. They still won often. The machines were directly across the aisle from our info booth, where I spent most my time. My brothers and I sat and watched people play.

On Sunday morning, before the doors opened, I re-filled and toughened up the machines again. I've marked the new settings - they were nearly 25% off from my original settings, yikes. Next time I'll start there. My very rough estimate ([i]because I didn't keep track at all, but I know that each machines holds ~120 four-inch balls[/i]) is that I gave away [color=#006400][b]~240 prizes[/b][/color].

On Saturday evening one exhibitor played the game. She stuck in a dollar, and not only did the machine reject her dollar, but it spat back another dollar at her. She informed me of this, and gave me the dollar. I immediately knew the cause. I opened the machine and the dollar bills had been piled up high against the door of the machine. I pushed the mound of green back deep into the machine, and also pushed back the little metal box that was meant to hold them. My brother came back after me and emptied the cash. The two machines, for Friday and Saturday together, had amassed $[color=#006400][b]1,417[/b][/color]. I'm not sure what Sunday's take was, as that money is still sitting in the machines, now in the warehouse. Mathematically, there should be nearly $[color=#006400][b]700[/b][/color] in them now, for a total of about $[color=#006400][b]2,100[/b][/color]. I only paid $1,700 for both machines, including gas. And I still have boxes of 4" balls I've already filled, waiting to be used. So next year's three shows will probably have a cost of $0 to run.

So there you have it - my great LEGO experiment. The cranes were enjoyed immensely; people told me often during the weekend. The candy machines were a bust

I'm wondering how Beaver machines ([i]requiring 3 or 4 quarters[/i]) function during normal use, on location, when there's no one around to immediately fix them? My current plan for next year is to switch to all $.50 machines, so this jamming issue should be greatly reduced.

Todd