PINBALL EXPO 2010


Date: 20th - 24th October, 2010
Location: Westin Chicago North Shore, 601 N Milwaukee Ave, Wheeling, Illinois 60090, USA.

Day four of Pinball Expo and the seminars wind down as we head towards the evening's banquet. Sadly, Steve Kordek's fall outside the hotel left him with a broken hip, so he won't be able to participate in the planned seminars on Genco's war years and the reminiscing round table.

We still had three seminars though.

Gerry Stellenberg & Adam Preble:
Custom Software Development with the P-ROC & pyprocgame
Gerry Stellenberg Adam Preble

Gerry began by explaining the goals of the P-ROC project which were to simplify the process of building custom machines, and to support Stern and Williams/Bally hardware.

He then showed a video of a Judge Dredd machine running the P-ROC board and their own software.

After the video, Gerry showed the board and the different mounting options for different companies' games. He explained what the P-ROC board is and how it connects to the game's hardware and the controlling computer through a USB port.

The P-ROC board includes a number of pre-defined functions to turn lamps, motors or solenoids on and off in a variety of ways, and functions to run when switch closures are detected. It also supports various different DMD resolutions, up to 16 shades and assorted frame rates, and auxiliary port for devices such as LED mini-displays used on games such as Wheel of Fortune or The Simpsons Pinball Party.

Adam then picked up to talk about the software available for the P-ROC board in both C and Python, allowing it to run under Windows, Mac OS and Linux. He showed some pinproc code examples to illustrate how easy it is to read a switch and pulse a device (flasher, solenoid) and then illustrated how to configure the software to define what each device and switch is called and what type they are.

With those things set up, Adam showed some more examples of in-built code to make several common functions much easier followed by a video from a Dutch team who have converted a Bride of Pinbot to use a DMD and run new game rules. More details of that can be found in our article all about the game.

Questions from the audience addressed connecting two machines together for head-to-head play, installing an LCD monitor instead of a DMD or numeric display, use of existing ROMs to modify them or add extra functions, running the original game ROM as well as custom software using PinMAME and tools they provide to help build DMD animations.

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Steve Kordek Tribute:
Martin Wiest
Martin Wiest

Martin showed the Pinball Expo audience a slide show tribute to Steve Kordek. Steve was due to be taking part in a seminar at this point today but unfortunately suffered a fall and sustained a broken hip two days earlier, so was in hospital for this presentation.

Martin had a series of pictures, newspaper articles and a screenshot from a TV interview all featuring Steve, from his earliest games through to the closure of Williams Pinball and the last game to roll off the production line.

Steve with the last game off the Williams production line
Steve with the last game off the Williams production line

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Wayne Nyens:
Reminiscing with Wayne
Wayne Nyens

Wayne said it was a sad day with Steve in hospital and spoke about how he and Steve Kordek were competitors who never fraternised when they were both designing games, but also recalled a time after they had both retired when Steve came to visit him at his home and they spent many enjoyable hours reminiscing about the golden years of pinball.

He also recalled the time when Gottlieb were approached with a view to buying out Williams Pinball in the 1960s. He said they visited the Williams factory but decided they didn't need anything as they were already the top company.

Asked about the use of licensed themes in today's machines, Wayne said he didn't like it and much preferred original themes. He recalled a number of themes which were closely associated with popular movies or characters, where Wayne said they probably should have been sued, but weren't.

Asked to choose his most and least favourite game he said his least least favourite game of his was Paul Bunyan and the most favourite was probably Queen of Hearts.

Wayne said he created 12-15 games a year - one every 3-4 weeks - and contrasted that to today when a typical game takes 12 months. He said his games were so much simpler by comparison. What they create today are 'machines' he said, whereas he created 'games'.

He then recalled the several times he had testified in various court cases around the country and how he won a bet to get a judge to put is head inside the machine and earned himself a bottle of liquor.

Wayne's daughter Phyllis then joined him to tell the audience what it was like having Wayne as he father and some of the items he used to bring back from his travels.

Wayne also talked about the the company's four-player games and the results of their research to find out how many of these games were actually played by all four players.

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Banquet Speech:
Python Anghelo
Python Anghelo

Python's banquet speech showed him at him most flamboyant and outlandish.

His talk concentrated on the unsung heroes of the industry, acknowledging how he frequently frustrated and infuriated his fellow workers and management, but seeking to mend fences with some of those he knew he had alienated.

Python with Rob Berk
Python with Rob Berk

His description of pinball production as being like a grand movie, an opera production and a theatrical show with many people playing parts which are vital but unrecognised won him applause from the audience.

His dislike of the financial side of the business and those who sought to profit from it was also displayed in clear terms.

Mike Pacak, Python Anghelo and Rob Berk
Mike Pacak, Python Anghelo and Rob Berk

Rather than paraphrase what Python had to tell the audience, his words are most appreciated by hearing them from his own mouth. Be advised that despite Python promising to keep his talk clean, this recording does contain some adult language.

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Following Python's talk, there were four new inductees into the Pinball Expo Hall of Fame.  The new members were chosen by Greg Kmiec, Jim Schelberg and Gary Flower.

The first was the Australian author of the Pinball Compendium series of books, Michael Shalhoub.

Michael Shalhoub receives his plaque from Mike Pacak
Michael Shalhoub receives his plaque from Mike Pacak

The next inductee was not at the banquet to receive his award.  Clay Harrell - creator of the PinRepair series of pinball and coin-op repair guides, and star of the TOP videos - was added into the Hall of Fame in his absence.

Next was pinball author and historian Gary Flower.

Gary Flower is congratulated by last year's inductee Jim Schelberg
Gary Flower is congratulated by last year's inductee Jim Schelberg

The final inductee was the banquet's guest speaker, Python Anghelo.

Python Anghelo examines his Hall of Fame plaque
Python Anghelo examines his Hall of Fame plaque

These inductions drew the banquet to a close and guests could return to the main and the games halls to enjoy the remainder of the evening, and play pinball into the early hours.


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