Interesting, this was not my experience.
So goes the shows.

That’s awesome, sincerely. I’m glad our experience was a one off. We had a four player game where no one qualified the Supercharger or kickback. We chuckled and moved on.

Shit happens, it’s pinball. The game was gorgeous. I’m glad for those who had a good experience.

I thought the Getaway game looked amazing, as do Cary’s other games.

It’s not really reasonable to expect a pinball machine to take the amount of abuse they get at a show (especially since that game was in the featured display right at the front doors) and not have an issue. Heck, the rethemed Addam’s family was beautiful but it had a flipper broken literally a few hours into Saturday. I shudder to think what one of my games would look like after that kind of abuse.

I work with Multimorphic so I won't offer any opinions, but though I would share a couple snaps of the booth and games. Happy to answer any questions people might have thank you everyone who came by and made this our best show yet!

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Highlight of the event for me was when I went to fix a stuck ball in the Wizards tournament finals and 30 or so grown men started chanting, "I love Dick!"

Naturally I turned to the crowd and threw unsolicited Dick picks.

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I respectfully disagree with this.

I have rebuilt many machines and supplied them to the Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show in the last few years when there was actually a show. Every machine that was rebuilt properly (completely torn down to the screw of each assembly) lasted the entire three days with an average of 500 plays for that period of time. "Shopped" games lasted but not as well. My definition of shop is a quick go over to make it play properly with minimal work done. One of my shopped games lasted two years and in the third year it required constant maintenance for it to make it through the three days. That game has been pulled as it needs a full rebuild.

There is only one instance where a game needed a rubber replacement after two years. I rebuilt a Safe Cracker and brought it to the show with special 10 year anniversary tokens that could be won. That machine was never idle the entire three days of the show and had a long line of people waiting to play it. It needed the rubber replacement the second year it was brought to the show. No other maintenance was required.

Definition of maintenance excludes cleaning and waxing. I am referring to mechanical maintenance.

The Addams Family I rebuilt has lasted four years in a row (average 2,000 plays) and has not needed any service. The last time I played it (at a friend's garage) it still looked great and still played great. At a show a few years ago one attendee personally thanked me for supplying the game to the show. It was the one game he looked forward to each time he came to the show each year. He clearly noticed the difference in the way it played compared to others he had played in the past.

I'll just post the disappointing.. if not done in here all ready..
a TOTAL absence of some of the best modern games..
NO Stranger Things
NO TWD
NO MM
NO LOTR
NO AC/DC
NO Metallica..

There were a few weird virtual versions of some of these game but no authentic one.. probably others i'm forgetting..

I notice you own several of those. Why didn't you bring them?

Did we even attend the same show? I mean, yes it was packed. Packed from day one, packed day two, and the half day of day three had a lot of people. Every game had people playing, but if you stood around for a couple of minutes, you could play anything you wanted (with exceptions to Multimorphic games - there should have been 10 Weird Als, and the line still would have been long). As far as games breaking, it happens. But I was surprised that most games (~90 percent) seemed to survive with minor hiccoughs. (Including my STTNG, which miraculous made it through with no problems at all. Weird)

I managed to play quite a few games of Alien, Elf, Billy Madison, Halloween, Weird Al, Safecracker, Cactus Canyon, all the new sterns, etc. All in all there were more games than I had stamina for, and threw in the towel. Also got to see a ton of new and old friends, as well as pick up a load of parts that I've been waiting two years for.

As far as the tournaments, they sell out every year. And this year, with the carry over from COVID, there were few (no?) spots to sign up. Plan for next year: they announce the sign up in advance and set an alarm when it opens.

Do they need more space? Sure. But where do you recommend? The football stadium? The hotel is better than any other pinball show in the world, and the proximity to overflow hotels in the area is spectacular. I'm not sure I'd trade that.

Finally, I've been to every show they've had, since the APOP days. Each year is better, and this was no exception. It's exciting to see so many new people excited about pinball.

Mike

Every year it's that way. Next year there will probably be half a dozen LOTRs. It makes no sense. I was going to bring my fish tales, but the list already had five appearing. No show needs five fish tales, let alone six. So I opted for STTNG, since the list showed none being there. Ended up being three I believe. Past years I've referred to as Chinese Zodiac signs, with the year of the Funhouse and the year of the Seawitch being prominent in my mind.

Thanks to everyone who brought a game.

I noticed this as well. I assumed it was related to supply issues. I figured Stern just doesn’t have as many machines lying around as they did in 2019 to bring to a show.

The only thing I can assume is that you somehow went to a local arcade and mistakenly thought you were at Texas Pinball. Your comments seem out of touch with reality. I almost spat up my drink when I saw you say Chicago Expo was better. But to each there own. Sorry it wasn't your cup of tea.

Was that your nice STTNG I played? I was doing pretty well on it and the owner (who was standing next to me) said "You've played this game before, huh?"

If that was yours, it was the one of the nicest "non-new" machine that I got to play all day. Thanks for bringing it.

Other machines that were noticeable by their absence were WH20 and EBD. I didn't see either of these at all, and usually there are several of each.

I was quite pleased to see and play all 3 Trons.

Ok - fess up! Who is still wearing their wristband?

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Yep, that was me. I figured anyone who got to warp 9.x had had some time on the game.

That shot, to me, is still one of the most satisfying in pinball. Glad you enjoyed it.

Mike

Sure, there were a lot of games on the fritz, and yes, there was a plethora of Sega and data East games (and some cool older EM titles) and a lack of absence of some of the more popular older Bally/Williams and Stern titles (as has been mentioned)...and sure, there were a fair amount of turned-on games that had super weak flippers, wonky orbits, bizarre drop targets panels that looked like bad teeth and games with consistent ball trough issues, and sure at times the lines seemed long, but all that said it sure was nice to see everyone out and about again at TPF, and I was happy to be a part of the festivities

Seemed like a lot of players out there had really been honing their skills over the last couple years cuz the ball times, even on brutal games, seemed long for the person playing in front of you, haha. Sometimes (actually al lot of the time) I had to just walk away cuz the person in front of me was just absolutely killing it! ...and good for them

I did have one thought that relates to TPF (as well as any other major event like that), but related/ unrelated...So, here was my thought that I had this year.

So, for example, Stern will sell a floor model, with a "show discount." Looks like they take about hundred bucks +/- off MSRP (each Stern game had a sign "Buy this show game" at 6899 for pro and 8999 for premium) and that's still a crazy high price for both pro and premium these days, blah blah, but it is what it is and that's not my point).

What I started thinking about was this...
Man, these games are getting thrashed, and by the end of the show, Sunday, some of these games obviously needed a full shop job, if not more.
So I started thinking, how many games are these machines taking over the weekend? 500? 600? My guess is probably more. So it got me thinking further...you have a game that essentially is now a location game, played by anyone and everyone as hard and as fast and as passionately as possible, probably racking up close to 1,000 games very quickly and being sold for $100 +/- less than MSRP.
...I'm a firm believer that in the home environment, if you maintain your game nicely, you can put on hundreds if not thousands of games and have the game looking and playing absolutely perfectly. But yet some people gripe and question as to how many games a machine has, and with that game number alone, justify what they think a fair price for a well maintained game should be, and while today's market is ridiculous, I'm sure everyone would agree, prior to this ridiculous bubble, people would be hesitant to pay anywhere near MSRP prices for HUO well maintained games based on gameplays #'s alone (however, these days, seems like anything goes).

So, how does one then justify $100 less for a game at a show (especially at today's MSRP prices)? I don't know what the right answer is, well maybe I do, but I just thought I would share that thought process, because I know I would rather pay close to MSRP for a HUO well-maintained game but for myself, I would never agree to purchase a show game, at least not at that very minor discount.
Now, I don't mean any disrespect or ill-will to anyone who did purchase a game at TPF this year, I just think, at least for me, that it highlights the value of HUO game prices for games that are well maintained, regardless of how many plays are on it... And I know this is a topic that has been discussed before, I just wanted to share this thought in the event other people were sort of thinking the same.

Now, back to the regularly scheduled program.

These were in the tournament area and not for general public use.

How does the manufacturer/seller justify? Or a buyer? For the manufacturers, the answer is: "because people will still buy them." For the buyer, it's "because they want the game that bad"

I'm going to feel tempted to bring some of the newer sterns next year but I'm concerned as most of my games have 100-400 plays on them as I can only play one at a time. I'm not sure I feel great throwing a $15k STh or Deadpool LE on the floor but maybe I should just get over that as I'm 45 minutes away and if I had a hand and a trailer I could do it.
At Expo it seemed liked every spike 2 stern was there, brought by Stern so I expected the same at TPF and heard a lot of people talking about not getting to play them. I couldnt stay till 2:30pm Sunday anyway so it's a moot point for this last TPF but I'll likely plan better and try to do my part next year.

For sure. When I brought my Farfalla (that won Best Original), I was working on it *constantly* that weekend trying to fix ball hangs off the plunge, a plastic broke, etc. Shit happens, I just don't like people making blanket statements that obfuscate the truth.

At expo, Stern is about an hour away and can bring those old games from the factory gameroom. At any other show, they depend on distributors, who have mostly empty floors (or a bunch of Mandos, Rush, and Godzillas).

Ive been going to every show since 2014 after I moved to Texas. I was wondering how this show would go considering the way the last two years in the world have gone.

It seemed there were less machines overall than the last few shows. IMO this could be apprehension for some people being back in crowded events thought I’m not sure. I was pleasantly surprised at how many people attended. It seems that people are happy to be back out at great events like TPF.

As with every TPF I’ve attended there have been machines since day 1 that never function. Many machines with deteriorating rubber and just plain dirty. On the other end of the spectrum you get fantastic restorations where no detail is overlooked. There were a few standouts such as the Getaway, Data East Batman, Nitro Ground Shaker, Bally Kiss, Evel Knievel row with an original EM and two EM conversions and many others. I have no issue with games that have wear especially older games as long as they still play well. I just wish people would maybe test their games more, replace rubbers that are obviously beat and clean the games before bringing them. It makes a difference to other exhibitors and the people who come to play. Most exhibitors are quick to respond to texts alerting them to game issues and quickly resolving them, sometimes they just can’t be quickly or even resolved at the show and that is understandable. I brought a Donkey Kong to sell and by 1 Saturday the 40 year old buttons had enough and broke. I could have just turned it off and left it but I drove the hour round trip home to get replacement button parts. I like whatever I bring to work.

This was my first year selling at the swap meet. I just had random parts to sell and set up just after 6 am as other vendors were also setting up early. I had most stuff sold before sun up. Sold some pieces cheap and gave some items away. It was a good time and thanks to everyone who came by and took some of my crap home.

Overall I enjoyed my time there. The wife and I usually stay onsite but this year were across the street which worked out just fine. Didn’t do the food trucks this year so no opinion there. It was nice to play games released in the past few years that I hadn’t even seen yet as well as the variety of older games as well.

A big thanks to the show organizers, fellow exhibitors, vendors, volunteers and people who came to play. Looking forward to 2023.

Valid points. Expo in Chicago was better at the Wheeling Westin location, vs Schaumburg.

The absence of Spooky at Expo 21 was noticeable, but in the past that was always offset by the Pinball Life gathering during Expo week just an hour away.

I enjoyed the extra space at Expo. Jersey Jack and Chicago Gaming Company and Stern all had better presence at Expo.

Anyway…enjoyed playing Aliens, Mick and Morty, Ultraman, and Halloween this week at TPF.

The "show" discounts are likely up to the distro - in Louisville, Flip N Out was knocking $500 off of games that were opened and played for the show. $500 seemed fair. I agree that $100 off for a show game is a bit stingy, but as others have said - they'll sell regardless.

I don’t like the change of venue Expo made either. They need carpet.

Most games will see under 500 plays. My Metallica that was opened NIB and used in the tournament area a few years ago saw heavy use all weekend, and had 400+, which is *massive* for any of the tournament games. My stuff on the floor is typically sub-400, but I tend to bring fruity stuff if I can, like Farfalla, Crescendo, etc....but I've also brought STTNG, Jackbot, Space Shuttle, Tron, Future Spa....

Sounds about right. I'm always shocked when a cosmetically over-the-top game plays well.

I *really* hate to say it, but even with moving the tournament area out of the main hall (welcome change, honestly, although those stairs are a real bitch) it feels like TPF has outgrown Frisco. The Saturday mid-day lines are just as bad as they were in Grapevine the last year it was there. Even more annoying, the advantages Frisco has (hotel is nice and accessible, lots of other area hotels within walking distance, the water that was very well attended this year on tables everywhere, the guest happy hour (that I saw someone complaining about on Facebook - hello dude, where have you been. People slip in to the happy hour every year. It's like a tradition. The bottom shelf liquor they are pouring isn't worth your whinging about it. If you want some actual quality liquor, bring it yourself and stick it in your Yeti cup. Everyone else does. ), the fantastic options for leaving/entering the hall... I like Frisco. I *for sure* prefer Frisco over the Anatole.

I don't know if it's covid-ptsd or what, but Friday night, my brain was just 'omg too many people too close to me'. Oddly enough, Saturday wasn't as bad - and we took the younger kid for the day. The quality of the machines was just as good as it's ever been in the past, and honestly I think for the most part they were even more tricked out than usual, but that's easily explained by two years of folks twiddling their thumbs at home working on hobbies.

I enjoyed this year. It's the first year ever that we haven't brought a single game, we didn't book the hotel, and my husband didn't play in any tournaments. I miss the excitement of load-in days, and the extra time hanging out with folks that I really only see once or twice a year anymore. I don't miss it feeling like work, or the physical toll it takes moving multiple machines out of the house and into the hall and back.

The food truck game was on point. Only complaint was them running out of food towards Saturday afternoon (and I don't know how Sunday went, because I was at work). Great options for everyone. I was able to find something for my allergic kid to eat without any hassle, and any time that's possible it makes everyone's lives so much easier.

Thanks to everyone who did bring games this year. Without you guys, we wouldn't have a show. I appreciate each and every one of you.

Get used to it. Unless it's being sold by a vendor, who's dragging their new-ish $10k Stern to a show for people to bang on all weekend? I mean, I wish it wasn't like that, but prices drive behavior. I've taken games to shows for nearly 20 years, but never one worth more than five grand, or with a perfect cabinet, etc.

Most recent Chicago Expo was one room full of shiny modern games supplied by manufacturers, and one room of... uh, not so modern.

The show was not as crowded as other TPF past shows I had attended.

It is time to move vendor parts/mods into rooms next to the main room, keeping only games in the big room. Problem is we need more people to bring more games for that to happen.

Because you can't get one anywhere else. Huge demand coupled with massive supply-side delays.

I've heard more than one distributor say their "show deal" these days is "you get one."

I can speak to this as I bought a show Alien LV. Approximately 535 plays for the whole weekend with a good chunk of those over in a few minutes(PB settings how long a game is played in three categories). PB themselves literally went through the machine to make sure it was in good working condition (loose switches were the main thing) and got that all taken care of (backbox had some damage and CT is making good and will be sending me a full replacement). I did receive a discount beyond the $100 you quoted above.

That is a issue for me. I have played and owned most of the games I care to play. They are no big deal to me anymore. Unless it’s a rare game or a new game I don’t care to play it and those are few and far between and will have a line.

Sometimes it is just about hanging out with old and new friends. Next year should be fun with more new games on the horizon.

I honestly like the 'maze' TPF sets up. It makes it far more intermixed and interesting to 'find stuff' you may not have seen the last time you made the loop. Gives it character and coziness.. instead of the big barren convention hall or just rows of tables.

Where & when does TPF post the award winners? I looked on the site, but they've not updated the awards page: https://texaspinball.com/tpf/awards-prizes

Somebody told me there was a pinball show going on. Did I miss it?

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In response to the Getaway 'issues'. For those that have brought your games to shows and have had zero issues - congrats! I had a great Friday and most of Saturday, but sadly the coil went out on my diverter causing further issues (blowing F105 which killed other coils). I would have fixed it, but out of all the coils on that game - that is the worst one to access. Requires full Super Charger removal. So I had to call an audible and have the game bypass the SC for the remainder of the show so everyone could at least experience the game. Sucks losing the main attraction to the game. I haven't troubleshot the root cause yet because I'm too exhausted from the weekend and the game is still wrapped up. lol. We test our games, but the ultimate test is TPF.

Great show. Had a terrific time playing and catching up with friends. Only thing I wish was different with the venue was to have the homebrews and re-themes in their own section.

Well it’s always weird to me that some people pay more for a used game than a new one but both scenarios have the same reason, the game is right there in front of them with no waiting. Personally I would rather wait to get a NIB at MSRP but these days it seems buyers don’t care about play numbers and wear of the game vs something they can take home immediately. Just my take on it

Oof, that sucks. =\

That Getaway was amazing. He did a great job with it!

This was my first time attending TPF or any pinball festival for that matter. When looking at the list of machines that would be there, I was shocked that there were no cocktail pins. So I brought the 2 cocktail pins (Caribbean Cruise and Night Moves) to represent the cocktail pin format and so my wife and I could have a weekend pass. I had literally just bought the Caribbean Cruise the weekend before TPF. I did some minor repairs and maintenance during the week leading up to the show, and then the show was the big test to see how it would do. They both survived the weekend well and were almost always getting played which made me happy.

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(Apologies for the terrible cellphone photos. I didn't want to bring one of my cameras I use for work.)

Overall, I had a great time at the event. I had no idea what to expect. I had been told that this was the largest pinball festival in the states (no idea if that is true). I appreciated the fairly wide variety of machines. The History of Pinball exhibit was my favorite. I had never played a pre-war machine and it was an amazing experience. I'm definitely keeping an eye out for one to add to my collection.

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One of my favorites to play was Title Fight. I've always been interested in the alphanumeric Gottlieb System 80s and System 3s. It was great to see a couple of those represented since you don't see them very often.

There were a couple of pins that I wanted to play but never got the chance to due to time constraints or long lines (Weird Al/Any P3 game, Halloween, Safecracker), but most of the wait times weren't too bad.

I also missed of of the seminars. I was planning on going to them and got distracted. Oops! I'm glad they were recorded and I'll watch the ones I'm interested in at some point.

The booth with all of the manuals was amazing and I was able to pick up some manuals, schematics, and parts that I was missing for older pins.

I've got a TriZone that I'm bringing back to life after it sat in my parents' basement for 20+ years non working. It was great to see a TriZone there and get to play a nice version of one of those. My wife enjoyed the Atari Football. My parents also have one of those sitting in the basement non working, so it was fun to finally play one!

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I was surprised and disappointed by the number of non working/powered off machines. There were some that never worked at all during the entire weekend. I'm not expecting every pin to be a perfectly restored prize winning machine, but I would think you would at least make sure it works before bringing it to the show... There were several that were on but were clearly not functioning or had dried out rubber rings which had broken. It's not hard to put new rubber on it before you bring it to the show. There were a decent number that also had zero credits. That bothered me since they were supposed to be set on freeplay. Yes, I know, some of the older games don't allow freeplay. That's when you leave a note of how to add credits (either by an additional button or by opening the coin door and allow the coin door to be opened). There were a couple of older games that did have the note of how to add credits (and allowed you to do so), but many did not. Then you had the games that looked shiny with LEDs that either didn't play or played terribly. I'd rather see a game that is well used but plays nicely. It's a shame that some people were more concerned with how it looked then how it played (if it played at all).

The noise level was pretty bad. A lot of the games, you couldn't really hear any of the music or call outs. There were a handfull of games that had the volume cranked so loudly that it hurt to walk past them. My wife wore ear plugs the entire weekend, and I almost did as well. There were some areas of the showroom that I just plain avoided due to noise level and people density. I found myself staying on the side of the showroom that was significantly quieter for most of the event. I wish some of the smaller vendors had been placed in the hallway outside of the showroom. It would have allowed for some of the more densely packed areas (like the Spooky setup) to be spaced out better.

Like with most hobbies, there were some interesting people there. Everyone was very nice and it was fun to see some people dressed up. Unfortunately there were some odors as you would walk past groups of people. However these odors weren't just a fart smells. It was a "I haven't showered in days or weeks" kind of smell. It was disgusting and happened way more than it should have.

Overall, my wife and I had a great time. We invited some friends to join us on Saturday and will definitely be going again next year. We'll just both bring ear plugs next year. I'm not sure which machines we will bring. I guess it depends on what machines are already on the list.

Thanks for bringing the Caribbean Cruise machine. I had played Night Moves before, but not Cruise. I got in a couple of games on it, and it was pretty fun - and in good shape too. Thanks again!

Looking at you, whoever set up the Black Knight 2000...

A pinball show just isn't the same without at least one BK2K cranked past 11....

Unless you are Kerry Stair in the booth directly behind Korn's BK2K.

LTG : )

It was pretty cool witnessing the breakdown yesterday pm. Amazing folks behind the scenes have it down to a science.
Nice meeting some fellow pinsiders too.
Thank you all for the great weekend!
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