My first Pinball Expo was 2001. I met one great person there, that made the whole trip for me, pleasant and memorable!

As for the overall show, that was disappointing, mostly because I didn't fit in with the crowd there, not knowing anybody, and everybody seemed to already know everybody else. I escaped into the games, though, that was rather cool, although (like many others) I wish there had been more games. Most for sale instead of to play, unfortunately, more of a swap meet than a player's show.

The shock of the 1999 industry collapse and Williams closure had settled in by that point, and a point of new optimism had just emerged. Stern, the last company standing, had started to hire ex-Williams designers! The tournament game of the year was Monopoly. It was great getting to finally see Pat Lawlor in person!

Sure wish I had gotten it together, in college when I first heard about Pinball Expo, to go during 1996 (or so) when I first heard about it. Would have been nice to go when pinball was more at its prime. However, now that there's a growing resurgence of interest in pinball, from a new generation. I'm curious to see what this year's show will bring.

Pinball, like PBR beer, has become fashionable again. There's a new venue of "barcades" opening by various entrepreneurs across the USA. And, for the first time in years, there's more than one manufacturer, so we may once again see competition start to drive the technology forward. After 20 years, the monochrome DMD display is starting to look rather tired, don't you think?

Josh