Such a great time at the 2018 Texas Pinball Festival! This was the 1st time to this event for my wife and I and it's been decades since we last set foot on Texan soil. The locals that we encountered were so nice and friendly. The weather was absolutely fantastic!! Delicious dining and cold beverage options was plentiful and never an issue to find. Gas was super inexpensive. We were well taken care of at Frisco's Embasy Suites where TPF is held. Our suite was super comfortable and overlooked the Dr. Pepper ballpark.
TPF show: Pre-registration made acquiring event wristbands simple. There were lots and lots of free-play pins to play and the floor was thick with vendors. I played pinball until closing on Friday and Saturday. The seminars that I attended were great and filled with humor. I think I laughed the hardest at Bowens humor while destroying TNA. Pastor Steve's (Ritchie) confessional... lots of fun. Spooky's standing room only reveal of ACNC was short and sweet. Also, congratulations to Spooky Pinball for best game of 2017! Circus Maximus was gracious to provide a pizza buffet before their seminar that walked us through the re-development of Kingpin. Free Houdini t-shirts was a very cool way to wrap up APi's Houdini seminar.
I played many machines that I have never gave a chance before and Bally's Transporter was really a fun one to shoot. The lines were deep and slow moving (as expected) for the newest, rarest or A-title machines. There were many titles that I really wanted to play, but the constant lines for them convinced me to go play other machines. I did do the long lines (2X) for Kingpin which I liked very much. I played just once on Houdini, Jersey Jack's Pirates of the Caribbean, DI, SW, GOTG and BM66. Total Nuclear Annihilation (my personal "new pin" show favorite) I liked it so well that I played it thrice. I didn't play TBL (only one unit on the floor) or ACNC's (it conjured major pin-thusiasm for this new game!) I'm so glad that Spooky proudly brought this machine here even in its alpha state of development. I think it will do very well once it's ready to ship. As for CGC... so disappointing that they chose to cancel their TPF reveal due to the lack of readiness of their upcoming game 3 release.
I didn't find anything at the flea market to squeeze into my suitcase, but Dunkin' Donuts hooked us up with freebie coffee and donuts.
The food trucks in the hotels parking lot were a convenient plan for hungry pinheads and the complimentary Hotel breakfast as well as the beverage and finger food Happy Hour every evening was quite nice!!
I met and played with some awesome pinball folks from all over the globe and I want to say thanks to the organizers of the Texas Pinball Festival of 2018!
Cheers, Steveo~
My phone pix:
Hopkins, MN
Auckland, NZ
Saint John, NB
