Hey thanks! That was the first I got to play my newest addition. I am so stoked. There is nothing like the visceral feel of a good spinner on an EM. (But wouldn't you know, after holding up so well during the show, when I put it back together last night I had a stuck 00-90 coil. D'oh! It was playing even better than at the show after I high-tapped it and jacked up the back legs.) Big shout out to Pinsider mikeincali who sold me the machine at a great price, fixed it up for the show, AND delivered it to the show. Hope some of you bought a couple of his custom shooter rods. Thanks Mike!

It was also my first experience being an exhibitor. I highly recommend it. There are some perks, which PismoArcade can attest to, which make it worth it. Plus you get people saying groovy things about your machine. And a badge that sez exhibitor

I am not that much of a newer dmd guy these days (sorry guys), but I hafta say my (14 yr old) boy and I REALLY liked that Iron Man.

The World Cup Soccer was working for awhile. I actually REALLY enjoyed that game. I like features that add an element of randomness. At least one of the WhiteWaters was also working for awhile. I played that quite a bit. Fun. Unfortunately the Banzai Run was subject to random resets. I did get 2 1/2 games in before it reset the first time on me.

One thing I realized this year was that shows like this are a very good way to decide which games you don't want. I also love comparing the machines I have to the ones people brought. My Genie plays waaay better than the one at the show. But my Cyclone doesn't look as good as this one, but my flippers are...etc.

That BBB was a beautiful thing. I sorta liked how it was in a cul-de-sac; for awhile, hardly anyone found their way back there. That is one bizarre and FUN game. Go tube dancer.

And yes, you also hafta embrace the video games a little bit. We played Great Swordsman for a long time. And that Video Pinball was actually pretty fun.

Re: the crowds. Timing is everything. Get up "early." Go 10:30 - 1. Lunch and nap. Go 3-7 or so. Dinner, beers, etc. 10-2am. Repeat on Sunday, except it only goes until 9pm.

Pismo told me that you just scored that, very nice! I love that game for the spinners like you said, the chimes when you hit it sound so satisfying. Thanks for letting everyone play it, was by far my favorite EM there.

I agree with this too! I already have F-14 but had to check out the one there, and that was the second one I have played in the wild since getting mine. I also was happy to see that my playfield is in much better shape and that the kickers are stronger. No offense to whoevers was there, still a nice machine.

Hey bklossner, maybe I can help answer that question...

The Nuclear Shaker is an aftermarket upgrade for legacy pinball games that did not ship with shaker support from the factory as well as newer pins that have shaker support in the game. We have a universal adapter that allows the shaker to be used in just about any of the Williams, Bally, Stern, Gottlieb, Sega, etc. pins without replacing any hardware, or swapping roms. Pin owners can customize their own shaker triggers, duration, intensity and other settings which are downloaded to the universal controller with USB flash drive much in the same way modern pins are updated.

A private preview was held at the Northwest Pinball show back in June and we had two pinball games equipped with the Nuclear Shaker Universal Controller on the floor at California Extreme this past weekend in July. Unfortunately, the Simpsons Party Pinball was damaged in transit and was not running but the Doctor Who ran the entire weekend. The DW shaker script was conceived, configured and deployed on the show floor Saturday morning based on feedback from show attendees. We went from concept to (more or less) final product in under 10 minutes with three rounds of crowd sourced testing to fine tune the shaking intensity and duration of each shaker event.

Shoot me a PM and I’ll be happy to answer any questions you might have.

The CAX show as a blast and, as one of the other vendors stated, being a vendor definitely has its perks at CAX that extend well beyond just gaming!

Had the same experience. Waiting in line to play a pin with my family. Guy at pin finishes game and starts another. I say, "excuse me we were waiting", he says rules say I can play two games in a row. He then plays and all the balls SDTM in 1 minutes (justice).

Different feel but was fun for the kids, I swear they played the shuffle board bowling game with a bunch of other kids for an hour. Need to pick one of those up.

Thanks... Gio and I had a great time at CAX meeting everyone and talking about our passion for pinball. We are excited to offer these PR version of machines and I know lots of people also enjoyed them as well. Gio and I voices were gone after the first day....

If anyone is interested we have 1 Metallica Pro available and can be converted to a PR edition and both Metallica Premiums available to get our upgrades also... Just shoot us an email on our website for a quote and option list.... We can customize them to your liking.

Thanks everyone for stopping out to our booth.

Steve
pinballrefinery.com

All of the Metallica Pros are tentatively sold.... Waiting for deposit on the last one... Stern is shipping us these machines as I post... We are taking pre-orders for the next release of them in mid August.

Premiums are available.... We had a Premium at the show and it sold. We are getting with our customer to post some pictures of it here on Pinside. So everyone can see it... I added my Metallica Premium mods to it and the Sparky figure was custom painted over and above all of the other add on to the machine.... I have a totally custom Sparky figure out of my machine that is can post some pictures.

Thanks
Steve

That was my Black Hole and it suffered a catastrophic failure right away - was totally bummed because I know it's a game people like. A few techs looked at it and we could not fix it. Sorry about that! At least most of the other 43 games I brought made it through...

Here are a few pictures of my the extra custom paint job on my sparky figure that I asked Zdoors if I could have the special treatment for my machine. This is available for the Pinball Refinery versions...

Thanks,
Steve

IMG_20130712_080740_774.jpg IMG_20130712_080900_143.jpg

It was a really fun show this year. The layout was a little different in that it seemed like pins and vids were more mixed together than in previous years, but that did seem to disperse the crowd a little bit more. It felt like I was able to play more games more often.

I did run into a few people who played 4-player games all alone or replayed without turning around to see if anyone was waiting, but I could count those people on one hand and it seemed about the same as last year. Not a whole lot different from PPE as far as I can remember.

If you wanted to play Metallica, then this was the show for you. I counted at least eight machines, four of which were Premiums and one LE.

The Pinball Refinery machines were amazing as well. All four at their booth (Hulk LE, IM, ACDC Premium and Metallica Premium) were some of the nicest machines I've ever seen.

The Nifty LED guys were also really helpful in going over their product. Their work looked really great in Metallica and BDK.

Great show!

Amazing work!

It was a real pleasure getting the opportunity to play your machines. I really liked the lighting effects on the Metallica and the deep purple powder coat on the trim was sweet. Thanks so much for bringing them to the show.

Jim

emailed Gio about the custom SPARKY..looks GREAT!

Thanks... Sweet avatar... My Sparky... Lol

could not resist

Had an awesome time at CAX, especially around the "Midnight-2am" shift on Saturday.
It seemed slightly less crowded this year, which was nice. I think the B.O. quotient was quite dialed back compared to previous years, especially from those that played the industrial WW.
(thank goodness!)
Also played a bunch of four player games with other pinheads who were amazingly courteous enough to actually ask around to see if anyone wanted in, which was very refreshing. Did see some pin-hogs, but nothing as blatant as the Marco booth incident. (Although I did see Molly camping out on Metallica for the majority of the show... lol)
Finally got to play "Whoa Nellie!" which was pretty interesting.
After the show, my wife and I went to Great America on Monday to ride the "Gold Striker" which had to be the one of the best wooden coasters I have ever ridden! Fast as fast can be, (53.7 MPH claimed speed) and an amazingly high first drop, (108.2 ft) it was simply awesome!!! I counted 5 times the car left the track between transitions with a full second+ of hang time on each one. Smooth as silk (for a wooden coaster...) with foam insulators under and between boards for the heavier transitions to help quell some of the vibration/shaking. The bonus being of course, it had the most cushioned seats out of any wooden coaster which made my back, side and butt, very happy! All in all, worth the price of admission if you just wanted to ride that five to seven times. I also rode the Grizzly, which in hindsight, had to be one of the worst riding wooden roller coasters I have ever ridden... (Even the GhostRider at Knott's rode smoother than that, which is really hard to believe!)
I almost forgot about the bands as well.
It was good to see ComputeHer and 8 Bit Weapon back in the show schedule; they peppered a couple of new tracks into their set which was a nice gesture. Crashfaster and Slime Girls did a great job as well getting the crowd up on their feet.

The five things I took away from CAX 2013 are:

1) Driving the 5 still sucks.
2) Don't ask Nifty-LED if they could use some help... (Just kidding guys, it actually went well.)
3) Bring/wear my Pinside shirt next time instead of just relying on the plaid pants.
4) "Orange sauce", is the debil... (@ Iguana's)
5) Is a two way tie between: Gary REALLY liking the Iron Maiden pitch I gave him; OR, riding Gold Striker for the very first time- which was equally amazing in it's own right.

All in all,
Another great CAX experience.

The only thing that irked me more than anything else this year was how horrible the WOZ played.
I myself understand that it was just a prototype model but, perhaps other attendees on the show floor might not have taken that into consideration and just dismissed the game altogether- which sadly, hurts JJP's future customer base.

Grizzly is TERRIBLE, and has been since it opened. If you are ever at the Boardwalk in Santa Cruz, there used to be (may still be there) a framed article in the queue for the Giant Dipper, basically saying the Grizzly was a waste of wood.

I'm definitely getting a custom shirt made for future shows so that everyone who thumbs downs me on pinside can tell me to F off to my face lol

Hey! I was waiting my turn! If I have ever in the history of time played a multi player myself it's because I was drunk and hit the button twice, which did not happen this weekend. I was drunk allllllllllllll weekend don't get me wrong, but not double-buttoning!

NP you don't take much of the 5, silly! Bust west from just above Grapevine and that crazy SR 58 west winds you through some beautiful mountains until you drop onto the 101 less than a half mile from the Firestone Walker taproom! Ride with us next year!

So it was my first year at cal ex.. I had a great time. Got to see all my friends and play a lot. The thing that made me sad is that it .. to me .. wasn't as good as PAGG.. I felt there were multiple duplicate machines.. and not a lot of different or rare machines.. The line up at PAGG was amazing.. so many different machines.. Also there was only like one vendor.. At PAGG there were at least 15 and all selling rare or good stuff. Of Course this was before I bought my machine. So when I bought it I was all excited that maybe I would find something awesome for it or in the bottom of a box somewhere. Brought money.. and spent it at the bar. The arcades were very fun. I loved that part of it. The tournament was fun, but even in the casual division.. the players who made it to the top.. Well as I know a few of them.. definitely belonged more in the pro category. But to each their own and I am happy for who won and placed.. as it is awesome and he deserves it. Felt the tourney area was a bit crowded.. but very organized and had a good vibe. I do appreciate all the operators keeping their machines up and working. Although for the exception or Tj and Jims machines it was hard to find out who owned the machine or who to tell or contact at cal extreme.. AT PAGG each machine had a tag with the operators name and phone number.. I texted and called a few times at PAGG and operators were right there to fix the issues. At Cal extreme.. if a there was a problem with a machine.. a lot of the time .. unless it was at a booth.. like pinball arcade..or marcos boys you just had to walk away and go well that sucks.. or shut it off and hope the operator noticed. For as big as this convention is .. would have liked more vendors.. and more machines. Especially different machines.. a lot of duplicates. Overall.. Prefer PAGG.. but will be back to cal extreme and PAGG next year.. Overall I am thankful and happy I got to go and wouldn't trade the experience for much on this planet.

Yo! I was sitting with Kevin and Heilig of EBP at the table in the bar area on Sunday afternoon. I asked if you were Molly, but you had walked off by the time I got my answer. I was the big beardo with glasses (oh boy...gonna have to be more specific than that... ;P). Nice to almost meet you in person.

Thanks to everyone who made CAX possible!

Does anyone know the company that was selling the backglass lightboxes? I am kicking myself for not picking up one at the show for my Fathom backglass.

http://pinside.com/pinball/community/pinsiders/blimpey

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/swap-box-introducing-a-new-game-roompinball-led-light-box-display

Yeah, I guess "camping" was a bit much, maybe it was more like "hovering" around Metallica. lol
I was pretty guilty of that too BTW... (in case you didn't notice.)

If you're going to Firestone, I'm definitely in!

That is Blimpey on pinside. Send him an email. He is up in the Sacramento area, and each box is hand-built. Buy a couple, then stop by Fattrain's on the way home, un-announced.

You gotta flag me down next time! I was really on the move between the score keeping, the MET bank, that sweet wall of Gottleib SS games, and mixing drinks in my room! If you see me again throw something at me! Best way to get my attention.

Anyone who is chummy with Heilig is chummy with me, he's one of my very favorite BayPlayers! Which Kevin? Anyway, too bed we didn't meet, I'm a bespectacled beardo fan! I have a little something cooking with the PPM & I'll likely be driving up that way again soon.

That wall of Gottlieb's was something special

had a great time @ cax again this year. I spent most of my time on the pac-man battle royale with my 5 year old son. he's the one in the mega man outfit kickin some major butt on the game (even beating some of the older kids/adults!). i'm a proud papa fo sho

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That is so rad!

thanks man! the kid was quite popular @ cax..... lots of people taking pics of the blue bomber

This was my first CAX and I had a blast. Did a few interviews with folks there for the Pinball Soul podcast and also took photos all weekend. I agree that it was pretty damn crowded most of the time so there were definitely some machines I didn't get to play and/or play as much. Still I had a great time and will have to stay until 2am next year!

I have really enjoyed all of the stuff you have submitted to Pinball Soul, it is really top notch.

Thanks Steve, Josh who runs that does a great job with the raw audio I give him

Only got to play for about 3 1/2 hours Saturday night, but had a blast! Nice meeting and chatting with Steve (Hemi) and Gio (Zdoor) at their booth. Very nice lookin' mods and pins guys! Didn't get around to talking to too many folks as I was trying to get as much game time as I could.

Sadly, I missed our meeting at the Big Dick at noon on Saturday, Molly (LOL), as Gene wasn't there! I did hang out near the Sexy Girl glass as an alternate for a while though. I almost wish I lived further south so I could make the Firestone taproom trip next year (great beer!).

Hope to get more time in for gaming, meeting/ chatting and drinking next year!

Todd

For those who don't know what Pacman Battle Royale is:

It's bad ass.

you are correct... this game is pretty bad-ass. hoping later on down the road i can afford one of the smaller "table" version for my kids. sadly, these pacs are not cheap!

For those who don't know what Pacman Battle Royale is:
» YouTube video
It's bad ass.

Pac-Man%20Battle%20Royale%20Brochure%2.jpg

That's probably because he is one cool cat. As are Sosage & Kevin. Chris, I saw you rocking the Abide shirt wish you were there for the whole weekend my friend.

Hee hee, yes, no Big Dick meetup this year! I didn't forget! Just no Gene. In fact, there were very few vendors it seemed. Great vendors present, just sparse this year which is a bummer because I really love pawing for doo-dads.

Heilig wears too much Giants garbage, so I'm always happy to see him mixing it up haha

I did as well, Dude. You guys are making me blush.

Yeah, I really should have sported the Timmy Orange Tee that you love so well, Mols, especially after his no hitter on Saturday (Unlikely that that opportunity will come again in the near future!)

Mols, if you are ever up here on a Thursday, you would be very welcome at Phoenix games, and can meet all of us EBPers properly (We may even get a "Dude" appearance, which has become so rare as of late...)

Mental note to self: wear Giants gear when you make it out Pins and Needles.

I wouldn't wear GIANTS orange in DODGER country

Just got back from our 2 week Socal trip but first we attended CAX on Sat and had a blast.Helped out the EBPL set up on Friday as well.Had an awesome time.Beers and many laughs to go around.

While driving down the 101 in Hollywood had this nut next to me honking like a maniac turned and looked it was Molly from pins n needles.Guess someone finally noticed my PPM sticker.She had a pin folded up in the back of her Prius,that was a sight to see.Cant wait for next years CAX

Note to Aurich: get a Dodgers tattoo! I did it and it feels great!

LOLLLLLLL why would someone give you a thumbs down for that, good lord

Embarrassingly true story! Too good. I'd never seen a ppm sticker ANYWHERE, much less down here, so we figured some carrying on was in order! At first I thought we were freaking out your ladyfriend, but after a few honks and hoots she appeared game. That was a Fire Queen in the car! Sorry about all that commotion, but keep in mind that yelling and carrying on like a maniac like that is actually pretty low-key behavior for me. An issue to be taken up over a beer at CaEx 2014.

I do it all the time, Dodgers fans can DWI.

(I'm from San Francisco, born and raised at Candlestick. I married into a Dodgers family, but I'm raising my girls to root for the Giants!)

Molly sorry we didn't really get to meet at Robert's, you were too busy running around with your iPad bracket.

I WOULD wear orange in dodger land.
SKILL_SHOT and i are friends molly,inside joke

Man alive! I've had so many Pinsiders tell me "I saw you but didn't say hi!"...everyone says I look too busy, or too drunk, or that I'm just very aloof; I don't know what to do about it! We had an 8 tourney Tourney Tour that day on the Brackelope, so we were on the move, but are my social skills really that bad? (don't worry I know the answer)

So tempted to thumb THAT down but I'm trying to work on my social etiquette! Haha

By the time I got confirmation it was you, you had walked far enough away to be out of "friendly, but loud, introduction" range and into "awkward stalking" range. For the sake of social etiquette, I stuck to just staying seated and stuffing calamari in my mouth. ;P

^of all the folks that have publicly opted out of meeting me, you are my favorite. One of these says, buddy! Calamari for us both!