Rest in power Chris Walsh - friend, prominent longtime Washington State pinball collector, and one of the founders of the Northwest Pinball & Arcade Show. I met Chris about 14 years ago when he bought a pinball game from me that I was selling on Craigslist. As often happens when collectors sell games to each other, we had a great hour long chat about how we started collecting, who we knew locally in the hobby, and we became friends soon afterwards.
When the Northwest Pinball & Arcade Show started in 2008, Chris was one of the main organizers and encouraged me to get involved with my background in event promotions. We worked together on the show’s organizing board up until the Covid-19 pandemic hit and we had to take a break from the show. Chris had a bad case of the virus over the past 3 months that hospitalized him. Right before he was about to be allowed to go home, he suffered a heart attack and passed.
Chris organized and ran our meetings, negotiated with the venue, and was the guy that always called everyone to explore new ideas or settle conflicts as they arose. Chris will be remembered for his kind heart, his salty sense of humor, his ability to bring together a diverse group of people to work on a single event, and his skill at settling differences, bridging divides, and helping propel our event into a large national pinball and arcade show with an international reputation. Cheers Chris, we are going to miss you buddy!
--Dan Halligan, Promotions & Sponsorship Director for the NW Pinball & Arcade Show