pinball2015_0795.jpg

Walking Dead tournament complete with zombies! er, walkers!

Day 2 was another hit.

Met a ton more Pinsiders, which is always a pleasure.

Got to take a longer look at Pinball Circus. It's really something. The multi level areas are just cool, and the big wire form circle ramps are wild.

Hooked's machines are just gorgeous. Jealous of whomever picks up his Mustang. That was one of the best games at the show in my opinion. His Iron Man is right up there with it.

Good times and great games once again at this year's SFGE! Been great putting faces to pinside user names. Really hope JJP can get some of their games down next year. 2 years in a row as no shows. Really appreciate everyone who helps to make this expo happen.

One of the JJP distributors wanted to come but they couldn't come to an agreement.

Man that looks like a blast. The vendors really came out for this one! I'm soooo bummed I couldn't make it. Congratulations on what appears to be a great expo.

What a great time!! Kudos to all who made it possible!!

Village People Walkers at the Walking Dead tourney:
// Error: Image 419140 not found //

Python Pinball Circus. I made to the top!

// Error: Image 419152 not found //

Pinside MoonPie Bash. Here is my worst photo to protect the innocent, or maybe I couldn't hold my camera still at that point Friday Evening. In any case, it was a pleasure meeting and putting some faces with the names.

// Error: Image 419153 not found //

My favorite non pin - Pacman Battle Royal was way too much fun!

// Error: Image 419155 not found //

The game with the longest line appeared to me to be ........ The Walking Dead in the Marco both. (there were four Kiss 2015 in the Marco both, one in the tourney room, and one in the hall set for pay tourney mode, so not much wait for Kiss, although I enjoyed it as well.)

// Error: Image 419160 not found //

The Bride of PinBot DMD update surprised me. Pretty clever.

// Error: Image 419161 not found //

Pins in the tourney room:
// Error: Image 419167 not found //
// Error: Image 419166 not found //

This Pitch and Bat with all the runners circling the bases worked flawlessly all weekend. Very impressive.

// Error: Image 419168 not found //

80s cover band rocking it. Still can't get HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT out my head. AHGGG.

// Error: Image 419174 not found //

What's the date for the 2016 show?? Need to get that on my Calendar!

Great show, congrats to the organizers! First class job guys!

Thanks to all the people that brought games or volunteered at the event!

I just finished hauling my 2 pins back.

Audits from T2
Games played 607
Average time per game 2:55 - 29.5 hours of play.... SFGE game room floor open total of 28 hours so it was playing non-stop!
Factory reset settings- 3 balls - High Scores: 289M, 196M, 166M, 164M, 164M

Audits from POTC (in tourney Area)
Games played 233
Will get scores later...

I really had a great time!

Good meeting you Neal, and good seeing you again Schwaggs for our annual meeting, lol.

Blondetall, How did you make yor bracelet and get mini bumper caps? My daughter would love that!

I have to agree, the Mustang was the best looking machine at the show and it just got to it's new home .
IMG_0066.JPG

Okay, I think you guys have talked me into coming next year! Congrats on a great show.

Congrats! That really is a beautiful game. I hope you enjoy that for a long time.

Lots of "classic" pinball machines this year.

I didn't stay around for the Best in Show Awards, but I'm sure Hooked's Mustang and Iron Man won on both counts.

Another great show guys!!!!

That Genesis would've been my pick for Best in SHow if not for the rarity, how nice it looked, and played! Didn't play nearly as much on the floor as I should've (meant to get to Rescue 911) but really enjoyed playing a couple things I hadn't before. City Slickers is pretty interesting and got the GC on Alvin G's World Tour. Actually really enjoyed that game and the music really got it rocking.

You are building a nice collection with a good mix of EMs and newer Sterns! Congrats on the pickup!

Who bought something?

A big thank you to our organizers and to everyone I got to chat with and get to know better for a wonderful weekend! My machines have seen more love in three days than they have in months and it makes me so happy to see them really get to be enjoyed. I'm utterly exhausted but it's been great!

We got in about 6:20pm this evening. Had just as great a time as last year -- this show is a blast! Great seeing those I know and putting faces with names for many others off the forums I haven't met before. I was part of the tech team this year, which was a great group of guys and think it's testament to a great show that out of over 100 pins and nearly that many vids, there really were very few games down for any amount of time.

The seminars were excellent as always, I got play Whoa Nellie and talk to Dennis afterwards, got to play a bunch of games I never had before (City Slickers, Gilligan's Island, 300, Eight Ball, Time Fantasy, Firepower, etc.) and put tons of time on many of my favorites. Love this show and can't wait for next year! I keep my name badge from every year in my gameroom, I hope this show continues for many years to come and I can have a huge collection one day

Just out of curiosity, those who brought games -- I'd love to hear the play count on them. Those machines got even more a workout this year than last I think!

Another awesome year. Family had a great time (lots to do!!!) Thanks to everyone that made this years SFGE possible.

lol! Great seeing you too!

Thank You to all the people who brought games.

Taylor

Walk Thru of the event on Friday (only did 1 this year)

Well, I made it back to Mobile with my Little Chief that didn't sell (the 8BDle sold), and wanted to post while I'm still relatively sober...

Another GREAT show. Improvements were made from last year that made it better, but better still I think it will become. MUCH THANKS to everyone who helped to make this second annual show happen.

A lot of take-aways from the show, in no particular order:

1) I really like Stern's Star Trek!

ST GC.jpg

2) The belles of the ball for me were ST and Mustang.

3) Lots of well-maintained games! Thanks to everyone for bringing what they did. Great turnout with lots of nice-playing, good looking examples.

4) The "80s room" was great. Love that era.

5) Seemed to be more floor space this year which was much needed.

6) Moving the tourneys out of the main rooms was a good idea, although it also could have used a bigger room. Brian (Bryan?) and all the workers/volunteers did a great job handling the competition. Especially the gentleman with dark curly hair that was working his tail off. Much thanks. The field of competitors was very strong again (I didn't qualify) and congrats to everyone who made it to the show. You are better competitors than I.

7) Both of my games lasted the whole show without breaking down! Yay!

I HATE SUPERBANDS!! Or whatever shiny garbage was on most of the flippers this year. Dull, dead crapola excuse for a flipper ring is what they are. Dead bounce pass? Not today pal! The ball just DIES on these rings. Horrible, monstrous atrocities that should have been aborted in the test tube. IMHO.

9) I still don't like LEDs in games designed for incandescents. They just don't work properly or look right.

10) Medieval Madness is still an awesome game and the remake is just as awesome, even if the catapult is wonky.

11) The full-color DMDs look freaking great! The Sims Pin Party and Addams with them looked like a whole new game. Very impressive.

12) Great to meet the other pinsiders that I did. It was nice to be able to communicate face to face after text comm. Nobody punched me in the throat so I guess I'm doing OK.

13) Special congrats to LOTR Breath for his outstanding performance in the main tourney. That was a helluva game you played on Kiss.

14) I was thrilled to be able to attend and bring friends and games with me. I also appreciate the elite players for letting me mill about and rub elbows with them. Maybe next year I'll qualify.

15) Great show, can't think of any suggestions just now...except we needed more chairs and garbage cans.

Wrong!
Not a Dupe now! :p

Ben Heck's pinball presentation at SFGE 2015...

Had issues with my tri-pod initially, lol, life happens

Whoa Nelly Presentation...

Just FYI, the page you linked is the main event qualifying seeding. You have to dig in a little further to see the final results. This page has the top 4 finalists for the main: http://neverdrains.com/pv2/playerIndex.php?disp=finalsBracket&bracketId=1

Here are the standings for the Classics: http://neverdrains.com/pv2/playerIndex.php?disp=division&sel=Classics

Dupe

Crap. I thought I made it a year without a pin pooping out. What's up with my catapult?

I didn't notice anything wonky with it.

Thanks to everyone for bringing machines! I never get to see a pin unless I own it, so it was great seeing so many in one location. I didn't play as much as I'd like because it was very crowded when I was there on Saturday and I started to get a bit claustrophobic, but my mom tried her best to play every machine possible.

Highlights:
1- Seeing Pinsiders I've seen before and meeting a few new ones. Glad some people found me, as I was definitely not the skinny cute blonde in short shorts that was also walking around.
2- Playing Lexy, BOP 2.0, Kiss, WWF, and someone's absolutely gorgeous DESW and Monster Bash. I'd never seen a MB in person, and that one looked and played like new.
3- Last year at Expo I got a power supply for my JP. This year at Expo I got a MPU for my JP. And last night... it finally ran properly for the first time in over a year. And today just happens to be exactly 3 years since I got it, my first pin. Such progress in 3 years of pin ownership.
4- Next year if we could not make it on Fathers Day weekend so that I can come on Sunday and possibly take a machine home with me, that would be great. Otherwise, that Doctor Who would have been mine.

I make resin jewelry on the side to help pay for my rescue dogs' meds and food, and already had everything I needed except something pinball related. After looking forever for mini supplies, I finally just printed off pop bumper images onto cardstock, dipped in resin to dome them, then recast them in more resin to make them big enough to link.

I'm going to make some more of those and the coin slot/token rings I had on and add to my Etsy shop, since there is literally no pinball jewelry out there. I can definitely make her one if you'd like, or give her more info on how to do it if she's got supplies. PM me if you want, and just in case anyone else may be interested, here's the shop link where I'll be posting the pinball/geek ones in a day or two. There's nothing over $30 at this point, and I'm trying to add in some cuff links and guy things soon. www.etsy.com/shop/pristone

Speaking of Dr. Who -- I would love to buy Al's. I should have pulled the trigger when he briefly had it for sale. Mine is really nice, but his is about the best looking one I've ever seen.

If he had one for sale there, it was a friends for whom he's selling a bunch of machines. I bought an Amazing Spider Man and a Paragon, both needing some electronics work but looking fantastic. The PF on my Paragon is as nice as I've ever seen one. Too bad the AMS has a weird switch issue I just plain can't figure out!

Nice touch putting 4 Star Trek games next to each other. Lots of thought put into the layout all around. The '85 arcade was also a ton of fun Swampfire !

startreklineup.jpg

Thanks Mark. Good eye, I was pleased that so many people enjoyed Genesis.
Great show and major Kudos to all of the organizers and the volunteers...what a remarkable community!

It was Al's personal one, not for sale. He had it for sale a year and half or so when he was cutting the collection down, but then it was pulled and one of the four he kept. It was the one beside Indy near the end of the line, beautiful example of that game.

Did you guys figure out why BK wasn't firing a game? I didn't get a chance to spend much time on it since we had to hit the road, but curious as to what was up with it.

I suspect that a trough switch isn't registering on Black Knight - sorry I didn't get a chance to troubleshoot it on Sunday (I was recovering from an awful hangover). I'm also a little bummed out that Embryon died, and Space Station's motor died. But I enjoyed the compliments I got on Strange World, Andromeda, Fathom and Time Fantasy. I'll try to bring those 4 back next year.

I wish I could get those KISS songs out of my head.

I want a Fathom after playing yours in the tourney like six times! Fun game and beautiful art! Got to talk a little w/Greg Freres before I realized that's his work. Beautiful stuff!

We had a blast too ! Thanks to all the organizers! I can't imagine how much work it all is!! Thanks too for everyone bringing games!! What a fun weekend! Great to connect with old friends and meet some new ones. The Pinside/Bash meet up was nice. Looking forward to next year!!

Blondetall thanks for the nice comments on our MB. Neither of our games had any problems this year. Last year one broke the first hour but we were able to get it back up & running.

The ball always struggled to make it up the wireform.

It always took about three tries before it would slowly loop around.

I finally have audits! They're lower than last years, but the avg game time was fairly respectable, with some math it seems like they never got much of a break. My high scores are obliterated.

MMR - 488
TAF - 558
FH - 496

Thanks for keepin' em busy!

Weeeeeird. Thanks for letting me know.

New tradition - the post load-out selfie:
(Warning: may frighten small children)

image.jpg

Fantastic show all around. I spent most of my time in the tourney area, but I did make it around the floor a few times and made it to the moon pie meet up about when it was ending. Nice to meet a few of you, especially Wolfmarsh and Cody C. Big thanks to John S. for setting up the 80's arcade. That's where I chilled out from the tourney several times, playing Missile Command, Star Gate, Time Fantasy, Galaxy, etc. That Genesis was beyond belief, with the clear ramps with fiber optics and alt back glass.

Cool to see Lexy Lightspeed, Pirates of the Silverball, Pinball Circus, BOP2.0, and so many others. Really appreciated the FREE Monster drinks! Cool to see Ben Heck, Billy Mitchel, Greg F, Dennis N, Martin A, and so many others!

Biggest thanks, to Preston, Joel, and the rest of their team for pulling off an event that was even better than last year.

Just as worthy of praise are Bryan and Amanda B. for organizing the Pinvasion II PAPA Circuit tourney. It ran very smoothly and most of the games held up very well. Thanks guys! See you next year!

Here is the print I picked up from the Pinball Circus team. Fell in love with it when I saw it.

pythonart.jpg

Ben Heck interview I did during the weekend...