Is there going to be a cigar night again? Anyone going?

That's the Big Smoke. It's a popular gathering on the patio/poolside.

Friday or Sat night? Who's going?

2015 Texas Pinball Festival Exhibitor Grand Champion winner Shawn Farwell will once again be showing off his super cool custom TRANSPARENT 1977 Sonic "Super Straight" at TPF 2016!

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This is a piece of art and a must play if you come to TPF.

I was there 2 years ago, and it was colder than a witch's titty outside for the Big Smoke, Hopefully it's warmer this year!

Do Jack and Gary exchange pleasantries when they are in proximity...or do they avoid each other like the plague? In another words, do you see them inside events like the TPF at the same time or do they only make appearances in alternating shifts? Just curious cause I've been to the TPF many times over the years and have never seen them in the same room together.

I spent a lot of time with Jack last year at TPF. He was their for most of the show hanging out with everyone, partying with everyone. Gary was their for his seminar and after for a few min. to talk to people and sign autographs. After that I did not see him again. They take a different approach to the shows I guess.

...it's because 1 of them is the Batman & the other is Bruce Wayne. You be the judge of who's who

The coolest dude at TPF (outside Ed) is Steve Richie.
He is awesome to us Texans!

Well, my Tron is shopped now and there is still no Tron in the lineup? I'm not sure I can allow this travesty to occur.

so i was checking the texas pinball website, clicked on the hotel banner, and noticed that it said "sold out." i am not surprised by this at all as it was sold out 2 months ago when i checked. for the hell of it i clicked on the hotel link anyways and there was a room available. i booked it right away. i could have stayed at another hotel in the area for a little less money, but the wife and i are coming down for our birthdays (mine is the 16th and her's is the 18th), and she is pregnant with our first child so i thought it would just be easier on her if we stayed in the same hotel as the convention.

see you all in about 7 weeks!

awesome KP!

We did not book a room in time so will be making the commute to/from the inlaws. Really looking forward to TPF!

Wife said to treat myself for my birthday & go! Didn't give her a chance to change her mind...Trip is booked!

TPF is a must go show! Counting the days has begun.

Check out this crazy fun custom pinball machine! Exhibitor Alan Lewis is planning to bring his custom "Reverse Flush" pinball machine to TPF 2016. It's based off a 1970 Williams "Straight Flush". The playfield is flipped around and the scoring counts down (so low score wins).

TPF exhibitor and VECTOR ringleader Nick Dangerous bids you to come and play the Bally Freedom prototype edition w/middle pop bumper... the way the original designers intended. Only 100 made! Completely rebuilt down to the last screw, custom tuned, and clear coated.

BTW, if you know someone who has a nice EM Freedom backglass... lemme know! Would like to replace mine before the show.

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Holy carp

Holy carp!! That is slick.

I wish he'd bring his Cosmic Chaos too! I'd love to play both.

Shut up. He's already a lock for Best Custom, which means I have very little incentive to bring Crescendo!

(IF I can find a way to get thursday and friday off which is looking grim.)

Well, your incentive is that it's awesome! Maybe set up some booth curtains or a shade so it REALLY pops?

Oh snap- that'd be a bummer.

John Trudeau Returns!
Famed pinball designer John Trudeau is joining the already incredible list of special guests at TPF2016! Some of John's great titles include "Creature from the Black Lagoon", "Black Rose", "Judge Dredd", "The Machine: Bride of Pin*Bot", and most recently: Stern "Mustang" and "WWE Wrestlemania". John will be signing autographs and visiting with fans and guests! More details to come!

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Frax: I do hope you get to bring the game to the show. The more unusual games there are the more the TPF stands out from the other shows.

Alan

Thanks for the reminders by bumping this thread... My entire Star Trek Pinball collection is now listed as an exhibitor:
TPF2016 Star Trek Wins!
Game Line Up
Come celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Star Trek in Pinball Style at TPF'2016!

If you haven't registered your game yet - what the h-e-double-toothpicks are you waiting for?

Hey - Ed (or TPF webmaster); can we get a counter on the game lineup page which auto-increments each time a game is added? Maybe "394 Pinball Machines and 63 Arcades have been committed by our wonderful exhibitors for 2016" or something like that.

To be fair, you're at least close enough to swing by my house if you want to see it and play it, heh.

I hope I can figure something out too. Might let someone else take it to the show if we can't go and they want an extra ticket and can keep an eye on it. It's been a very solid game since TPF last year when it was fixed by the Austin guys. Haven't had any problems with it aside from just not being sure if the 2p score reels are accurate.

Does anyone know if any of the Pinball moving guys will be at the Texas show? I would think that would be a good opportunity for them to grab a bunch of business all in one place and just make a route out of it.
I hate going to a show and not bringing anything home

TPF HOTEL UPDATE:Looking forward to seeing all of you, if you are waiting ‘till the last min to book a hotel. DON'T, there is a NCAA women’s gymnastics tournament the same weekend across the street. We just extended the block at Hilton Garden Inn to add some more rooms, and Home2 and Homewood only have a few rooms left in blocks there(Cut-off is 2/25).

So you're saying if people wait there's a chance they'll get to share a room with a 20 year old female gymnast? Looks like I'm canceling my room at the Embassy Suites!

Now that's some funny #&*^ right there.

Fortunately, there is nothing our significant others need to worry about as I'm guessing none of them will be attracted to a bunch of middle aged men playing video games

Is there a list of games that will be available for sale and or auctioned off?

There is an entire thread here somewhere on Pinside dedicated to it.
Just stuff for sale though. Not the auction.

So very true.
Not exactly a weekend to try and score a date.

Not officially, but we have a thread running here...

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/2016-texas-pinball-festival-maybe-for-sale-thread

Good place to casually discuss games which interest you or shuffle around in the collection...

who you calling middle aged......I'm officially old.

Just for fun I looked at VRBO... these caught my eye from about 10 options with availability:

1. a lakefront bungalow for $134 per night (3 night minimum): https://www.vrbo.com/427855

2. a 100+ year old victorian home for the same per-night cost as a hotel: https://www.vrbo.com/619616

3. a 3br home very close to the show - perfect if the whole family is coming and you don't want to squeeze into a hotel room: https://www.vrbo.com/812531

-Rob
-visit http://www.kahr.us to get my daughterboard that helps fix WPC pinball resets or for my Pinball 2000 H+V video sync combiner kit

Love me some VBRO. That's how we book Florida every year.

TSPP &
SWE1

At this point we are not conducting an auction this year ladies and gentlemen.

Wow...

Lame...

Sorry. We had a larger consignor last year. While we have none as of February 12th. Now if someone would be interested in consigning pinballs for our auction by all means give me a shout.

Ok just signed up with Ed the following I'll be bringing.
Will be listed on TPF page shortly.
Metallica Pro w/color DMD
Iron Man - Stark Industries Edition w/color DMD
Tron Legacy LE Encom Edition

It's on!

Nevus, book your Florida through them soon. They were bought by Expedia in December timeframe and they have been telling property owners about the exciting new booking fees that will be introduced in the 2nd quarter. As an owner it's difficult to get excited when the middle man is increasing their cut of the pie ... even if it is at the tenant's expense. Such a great service for 1 to 1 matchmaking - I really hope the buyout won't mess it up.

Just to vector back on topic, I hope those properties help bring a few extra persons to TPF! I wouldn't mind getting invited to the house party...

-Rob
-visit me AT TPF!!! to get my daughterboard that helps fix WPC pinball resets or for my Pinball 2000 H+V video sync combiner kit

Yes

Let's see pics of this TRON encom edition!

Got some around here...
Lemme dig up

Tentative show schedule is up:
http://texaspinball.com/tpf/events/events2016/

Dutch Pinball / TPF announcement:
http://texaspinball.com/tpf/lets-go-bowling/

The TPF schedule is really packed this year - well done!