Seems reasonable. #unions. Awesome.

It was another good time.
Beautiful drive down from Minnie with peak fall colors.
Never had a problem finding something to play, GTF (smashed it) and Pulp fiction (smashed it) were my favorites along with the sweet Bobby Orr (did not smash) on the back wall.

Had a few good laughs with @Gryzz outside Friday night, and still can't believe someone absconded with a Flippy cutout.
Bummed I missed LTG at the show but lucky for me (I think) I can pop in for a visit locally.
That concrete is brutal, I missed the big rug from last year.

Big shouts out to everyone and vendors that bring games and cool shit to make the show so much fun.

This show always gets my pin juices going for the long winter ahead.

We had a blast at the Expo and the Stern tour
Hopefully I can come back next year but 3 days was probably too much for me
I’ll probably do 1 day and be there all day instead of a few hours each day

Here’s a video of my son at the Stern Tour asking Gary Stern if Jaws is next

We ended up going to Wildberry Sunday morning. It was very good, we went early enough we were seated immediately.

Fuck off dude. I was a hod carrier in the Laborers Union for 11 years. Not all unions are created equal.
I was the hardest working mf on my whole job site, that was my daily goal.

Easy killer, as you say, not all unions are the same. Some are very necessary and protect the worker, some not so much. Nothing wrong with a good Union Man or Woman!

We’re talking Chicago here man!

did anyone grab an extra one of the 3D venom standee's that they want to sell? a buddy just took delivery of an LE and I would like to gift him one of these.
please pm me with details

Damn I missed this! Only been into pinball for about a year—is there an expo in Chicago every year?

this was the last one they are doing forever, wow unfortunate timing.

The crazy part was Stern giving a free Venom machine to every attendee as a last expo gift!

They said if just ONE more person had attended this year, then they probably would have continued on next year.
But it's not your fault. They couldn't have expected you to attend all the way from Wheaton, Illinois.

They had a good run.

Yes it’s a an awesome show.
You’re in Wheaton?
Shoot me a pm, I’ll invite you over for some pinball next time I have some buddies over for some dollar games.

Cmon man this is a family friendly website. Lets keep it classy.

The internet is not ready for that type of vocabulary. Too Soon.

Yes, the 2024 show is the 40th anniversary and is scheduled for October 16th - 19th, 2024.

https://pinballexpo.com/

There is also a large show in the spring in Milwaukee. April 5-7, 2024. It is the Midwest Gaming Classic. This show encompasses all gaming (board games, console gaming, arcade, pinball, cards, etc) and is a great event.

https://www.midwestgamingclassic.com/

And a free Platinum coin.

There is this show as well. Not many pinball machines, but a wide variety of cool collective items for your game room.

https://g.co/kgs/FPctLh

Whoever brought the BK2k to the freeplay area, bravo! That thing was beautiful and played awesome. I was drooling over that one several times during the show. The one on the back wall at the end of the row

That game was immaculate!!

That would be Jessie's and he needs to turn it down!!!!

Wouldn't be Expo without a way-too-effing-loud BK2K. Hat tip to @thekorn.

Wish I'd seen your post sooner -- there was a fifth prewar, a Rockola Juggle Ball, but I had it "hidden" in the Double Danger booth, as I didn't trust that one sitting out with no supervision.

Current plan for 2024 Expo is to have a bigger booth with Cliff and myself and way2wyrd all bringing machines. We're also hoping to convince Berk to bring some of his, too

I talked to Cliff at the show. I have some prewars that I know I will prolly never get to, that I was going to see about passing along to him on the cheap. Just need to dig them out and contact him with pics.

For those wondering ,That Radical was traded for a EHOHBnW .Me and my kid got to play it and I made an offer .He then told me about the trade and I asked “to whom?” .He said he couldn’t tell me .

It has a custom sound/music package that was tities !!

Wow.

That was one nice game. I have never seen one before, I only wish people were allowed to play it.

It was all dolled up under the playfield also .They did a real good job with it and he found that game in Turkey I believe . Go figure .

Wasn't loud enough if you ask me

Is the Illinois Pinball Show still being held at the Ramada Plaza by the Chicago Executive/Palwaukee airport in Wheeling?

I know the Potato Basket has been renamed to the Tap House Grill.

Ok ok ok you guys, I’m sorry! And to think, it could have been such a good run to 40

Most mf's carried one 16 ft board on their shoulder.
I carried two. Just so I could say I worked twice as hard as any mf onsite.

True story.
I love you all.

Man someone tell me you got a pic of this shirt getting escorted out

Wasnt that Gene Cunninghams show? I just ran across a poster of that from 2007 in my parts room.

yup that was it.

Yes. He had a falling out with Expo organizers and wasn't allowed at Expo. He rented a room at a hotel about 5 min away from Expo and pretty much just had a big booth to sell stuff. Not really a 'show'

Did anyone have any experience with bringing a pin for free play which had to be pulled from the floor prior to Sunday? I'm asking because I'm curious how that went, lessons learned, etc.

Relevance here is that I hadn't been to Expo since 2018, prior to Pacak's ouster, and didn't do my homework this year before I drove to Chicago. I was in town for a few weeks and planned to attend Expo from Wed night till Saturday mid-day before I booked it back to Denver. Earlier the week of Expo I checked the website and found out that if I set up the two pins I brought for free play, that they'd have to stay on the floor till the end of the show, and figured I better not, so I just bought a ticket for Thursday and called it good. To me that was a big change from prior years - I can recall in years past that pins were being sold and broken down, and the empty space then usually being filled with another machine. That used to give me the ability to head out on Saturday. I guess I never appreciated the flexibility, or perhaps it was indifference, on Pacak's part. (The bumper-blast alt thing Wed night was also a huge bummer as the setup and socializing that used to happen on Wed night was something I really enjoyed.) Just my $0.02

We had a blast at expo! It was nice getting to meet some of you!

The FlipOUT and Tilt staff/volunteers were super-friendly and absolutely amazing!

Was disappointed to see so many vendors/machines packing up pretty early on Saturday.

Lastly, several volunteers got screwed out of the Stern tour. Some were told in advance not to buy VIP tix just for the Stern tour, then were told (at Expo) they actually did need them for the Stern tour. Some reached out to Stern directly to try and arrange a small tour for the Expo staff/volunteers, but were turned down.

Thank you to everyone who brought games, techs, staff, and volunteers.

yeah not a single place to sit down and eat and like 4-5 stand up bar tables filled with cups.

Hopefully more owners will bring games in for the 40th. I am contemplating a lit my self.