PINBALL EXPO 2007

Date: 24th - 28th October 2007
Location: Wyndham O'Hare, 6810N. Mannheim Road, Rosemont, Chicago, USA. 60018

In this last part of our Pinball Expo report we'll take a more general look at the show, explore the main show halls to see which games and vendors were present and give our video walk around the event with our Three Minute Tour.


The venue for 2007's Pinball Expo, while in the background is the previous home until 2004 when it was the Ramada (now a Holiday Inn Express)

This could be the last year Pinball Expo is held at the Wyndham. Next year it is scheduled to move to the Westin Chicago North Shore, some 10 miles north in Wheeling. It is also looking highly unlikely PinBrawl will be part of next year's Expo after a falling out between the organisers and the Expo organisers at the end of this year's show.

All that is yet to be decided but for 2007, PinBrawl was definitely a significant part of Expo and the organisers - John Kosmal, Josh Sharpe and Zach Sharpe also took over the Flip Out individual tournament at short notice. As usual, the machines were divided between the two halls. The majority were in the side hall in preparation for PinBrawl while the rest joined the vendors in the main hall.

The main hall didn't open until 6pm on Thursday but the outer hall (called the PinBrawl Hall here) was open for play on Wednesday night as part of the Bumper Blast welcome party.

PinBrawl Hall

300
Airport*
Ali
Alien Star
Attack From Mars
Bank-A-Ball
Baywatch
Black Hole
Black Jack
Black Rose
Blackbelt
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Bram Stoker's Dracula*
Breakshot
Capt. Card
Centaur
Champion Pub
Cirqus Voltaire
Cirqus Voltaire*
Comet
Congo
Corvette
Cosmic Gunfight
Countdown*
Creature From The Black Lagoon
Creature From The Black Lagoon
Dealer's Choice
Diner
Diner
Dolly Parton
Dungeons & Dragons
Eight Ball
Eight Ball Deluxe
El Dorado - City Of Gold
Elvira & The Party Monsters
Evel Knivel
F-14 Tomcat
Fast Draw
Fathom
Fathom
Firepower
Fish Tales
Flight 2000
Four Million BC
Free Fall*
Frontier
Funhouse
Galaxy
Genesis*
Guns N Roses
Harlem Globetrotters
High Speed 2 - The Getaway
Jackbot
Johnny Mnemonic
Joker
Jungle
Junkyard
Jurassic Park
Kiss
Masquerade
Medieval Madness
NBA Fastbreak
NBA Fastbreak
Olympic Hockey
Olympic Hockey
Paragon
Pinball Magic*
Pirates Of The Caribbean
Playboy (Bally)
Playboy (Bally)
Popeye Saves The Earth
Radical
Rapid Fire
Revenge From Mars
Roadshow
Safecracker
Shaq Attaq*
Sharkey's Shootout*
Sinbad
Sky Kings
Soccer Kings
Solar City
Solar Fire
South Park
Space Time
Space Time
Spider-Man
Spirit Of '76
Star Pool
Star Trek - The Next Generation
Star Wars
Star Wars Episode 1
Stargate
Super Mario Bros
Surf 'N Safari*
Tales Of The Arabian Nights
Tales Of The Arabian Nights
Tee'd Off
The Addams Family
The Shadow
The Shadow
The Shadow
Time Line
Time Machine
Touchdown
Triple Strike
Twilight Zone
Varkon
Volcano*
Voltan
Whirlwind
Wipeout
World Cup Soccer
World Cup Soccer
* machine was depowered or not working when list was made

As the Bumper Blast party continued in the lobby and the PinBrawl room, inside the main hall the vendors were setting up and games were being assembled.


The main hall during the Bumper Blast welcome party

Main Hall

4 Roses
Ace
Aquarius
Attack From Mars
Attack From Mars
Auto Race
Bank Shot
Bike Race
Black Hole
Bobby Orr Power Play*
Bowlette
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Centigrade 37
Champion Pub
Champion Pub
Checkpoint
Checkpoint*
Comet*
Conquest 200
Corvette
Cover Girl
Cue Ball Wizard
Demolition Man
Demolition Man
Doctor Who
Doodle Bug
Eight Ball Champ
Eight Ball*
El Dorado - City Of Gold
Fast Track
Fireball
Flash*
Four Million BC
Gilligan's Island
Grand Prix (Williams)
High Speed 2 - The Getaway

Hook
Hook
Iron Maiden
Johnny Mnemonic
Jokerz
Jolly Park
Jubilee
Junkyard
Junkyard
Jurassic Park - The Lost World
Magic Town
Meteor*
Monster Bash
Nitro Ground Shaker
No Fear
Palooka
Party Zone
Party Zone
Popeye Saves The Earth
Rock Makers
Score-Board
Sky Lab
South Pacific
Star Trek - The Next Generation
Still Crazy
Stock Car
Super Spin
Tales From The Crypt
The Addams Family
The Addams Family
The Machine - Bride Of Pinbot
The Simpsons Pinball Party
Top Card
World Poker Tour
X's & O's

* machine was depowered or not working when list was made

As is customary, the Flip Out tournament was played on a row of machines in the lobby next to the main hall entrance but in a change from previous years, the row of 10 of the newest Stern machines was replaced by 3 of each of the most recent Stern models plus 2 Stern Meteors.


The Flip Out tournament machines

Lobby

2 x Meteor
3 x Family Guy
3 x Pirates Of The Caribbean
3 x Spider-Man

So that's 115 in the PinBrawl room, 71 in the main hall and 11 in the lobby for a total of 197 machines, down slightly from the 212 of the previous year.

Because, as with any large show, machines are being brought in and others are being sold at various times, the list was made late Friday evening when most of the machines would have arrived and few - if any - would have been sold and removed yet.

Once again Mike Pacak brought a number of interesting and rare machines. Jolly Park was back from last year's show and was joined by a curious game called Still Crazy made by Williams.


Williams Still Crazy

Miniature balls are served up by a paddle wheel bottom left which then roll along an incline towards a flipper at the bottom right. The flipper sends the ball up a level to a series on sloping ramps leading to a second flipper just above the paddle wheel which can be used to send the ball up to another level and on to the top. It sounds easy enough except there is a constant stream of balls served up by the paddle wheel, so concentrating on just one means you lose all the others which costs you points, while keeping track of several balls at once is a tricky task.

Here's a list of vendors starting at the main entrance and following the path of the Three Minute Tour video below.

Vendor List

As last year, playfield restorers and clearcoaters were out in numbers while there was an overall move towards improving the look of your game with specialist balls, trim, displays and mods. Several games featured LED lighting, splitting opinion over whether LEDs are suitable as replacements for incandescent lamps in all pinball uses, some areas only or not suitable at all.

Meanwhile over at the PinGame Journal booth they had a whitewood of Wheel Of Fortune showing how the game was at one point in its development.


Wheel Of Fortune whitewood

This was as close to a real Wheel Of Fortune as visitors saw at the show.

On the right-hand side of the hall, Mike Pacak had his regular huge collections of flyers and translites on sale, Graphic Dimensions were actively printing game-specific t-shirts on demand, Nighthawk Games were promoting their pinball lifter and Z-plating were showing how nice a game can look with lots of polished chrome trim and legs.

Towards the centre, Pinball Inc had their impressive display of replacement ramps, Bay Area Amusements had teamed up with PinLED to show their replacement displays and boards while Rick had his own parts stand for BAA.

But it was the left side of the main hall that really belonged to the parts vendors with the 3 Ms - Mayfair, Mantis and Marco side by side. Marco were pushing their new Pin Score LED displays while the area opposite was filled with upended and separated machines for sale.

 

Pinball News Three Minute Tour

You've read about Pinball Expo but now you can see it for yourself with our exclusive Pinball News Three Minute Tour. Simply click on the play button below and take a walk around the show.

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Got problems seeing the video? Consult our help page for assistance.

 

 

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© Pinball News 2007