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Date: 3rd - 5th June, 2011
Location: Seattle Center, 305 Harrison Street Seattle, WA 98109, USA.
Report by: Keith Nelson
The Seattle show kicked off at 12 noon on June 3rd. Obviously most of the attendees who arrived at the start of the show were people who had already purchased their passes beforehand, because the line for getting your pass at will call was 10 times longer than the show up and pay line.
The admission desk, which is complete with a running teaser video made by Mike Lorrain. Show entry costs - $15 on Sunday, $20 on Fri & Sat each or $50 for a weekend pass.
The show is organized with pinball machines mixed in with video games, in two separate halls. I was told there are 155 pinball machines and over 200 video games, mixed together in separate lines throughout the show - a line of pinball games across from a line of video games.
There is a third hall for the seminars, which contained two playable whitewood games - Indiana Jones (Stern) and the new Tron, as well as a little display of other whitewoods and CAD drawings of games.
My first stop was the Tron whitewood as the Tron final game was being monopolized, however the spinning disk was not spinning, so the full game effect was not present
A few whitewood and CAD drawings in the "Pinball Design" display - drawings included 24, Spiderman and Avatar, while the whitewoods included CSI (left), unknown (center) and WCS94 on the right
A hand drawing of Cactus Canyon's playfield
Steve Ritchie's Avatar
World Cup Soccer 94 whitewood
A No Fear whitewood (thanks to Brian Milliard for identifying it)
Stern Indiana Jones whitewood, featuring a Family Guy villain figure
The new Tron game by Stern! This game is being raffled off on Saturday night. One lucky person will get to take the game home on Sunday.
250 tickets were sold at $20 each, and all the tickets were sold out by 5:30pm!
Eric Shaffer, visiting from Salt Lake City, shows off the WIN BIG sign at the raffle desk
Les Bond from Dorky's Arcade in Tacoma checks out the new Tron pinball machine he hopes to win
Tron pinball whitewood
The show would not be complete without the video game of the same name!
The FIRST Tron Pinball, a video version, based on the original Atari video pinball hardware. Completely redesigned as a Tron-themed game, with graphics and the Legacy toy disc in the back.
Dorky's in Tacoma, WA capitalizes on the Tron-ness of the show to promote next week's Tron Pinball Release Party
Pinballs in the NW hall
More pinballs in the NW hall
Part of the line of System 11 games. Apparently all System 11 games are present
at the show. Many people worked hard to ensure games would be there
to complete the set. Games were even purchased just for use in this event.
More pins and some of the other System 11s
A line of older EMs and wedgeheads
Wedgeheads and EMs
Pinball 2000 stops in for the show
A line of unique pins
Alvin G's Punchy the Clown - brought by Jerry Thompson - is a hit with the kids
Marco Specialties lent out stools with cute sayings on the side for children
A nice example of Devil Riders with its unique art package
Everyone talks about the NBA finals, but let's not forget the
Stanley Cup finals are happening now too!
James Edes did not forget, and brought along his Ice Fever to play.
More 80s pins
LED'ed games really stand out in the dark. Sometimes too much, other times they are really crisp and grab your attention in a good way.
Future Spa is a mainstay at the NW Pinball Show.
Who brings this? I'll have to read the card when I get a chance.
Pins are lined up against the wall while a line of line of video games takes up the show floor
Video games, like pins, are grouped by type or specialty
Mr. Do's Castle world record attempt. I think his name is Scott - you can check the Twin Galaxies site - and he broke the world record today.
Donkey Kong Jr. world record attempt,
and I believe he also beat the world record
Video games are just as popular as the pins!
More vids in the south hall, but still plenty of pins as well
Ice Cold Beer and Zeke's Peak are displayed for play prominently
in the admission foyer
Vendors are located in the raffle area, as well as both of the gaming halls. In attendance are Marco Specialties, Illinois Pinball, Cointaker, Great Lakes Modular and a few other smaller video game vendors (I can't remember their names off the top of my head).
Marco Specialties makes their presence well known
Marco and the Pinscore displays
Cointaker displays their LED wares
Great Lakes Modular displays all of their PCB reproductions
Gene Cunningham and his wares
This Old Game selling video game t-shirts and other reproduction wares
The NW Pinball Championship tournament area with a large projection display to follow play
The older machines make up the Classics division of the
NW Pinball Championships
Cayle George, recent winner of the IFPA World Championships - congrats Cayle!
Bret Fritch, show organizer and founder walks the floor
Byron Raynz and Tom man the Raffle booth, full of great prizes
Chris Walsh, another show organizer, gives us a smile
Walter Day, of "King of Kong" fame, arrives at the show
Greg Freres and his wife show off some Whoa Nellie! backglasses
Jim Schelberg of the Pingame Journal, Gary Flower
and Steve Ritchie smile for the camera
Mike Lorrain basks in the vastness of a soon-to-be-filled seminar room
The TRON backglass is offered as a seminar backdrop
John Borg provides video clips to show off the making of Tron
A first look at the LE version of Tron!
A detailed CAD drawing explaining game features that was sent to Disney for approval
Prototype of the Tron arcade toy
Early prototype with glow plastic ramp
Another shot of the early prototype with glow plastic ramp
John Youssi begins his part of the Making of Tron seminar,
covering the artwork development. Rule #1 - There is no red in Tron. Rule #2 - Blue guys are good and yellow guys are bad.
John explains the progression and various types of playfield designs he had
David Thiel gets up to give his sound seminar
David explains how it was to work with Disney...
...and how he times the sounds based on the various shots in the game
Gary Stern poses for a picture while John Youssi signs backglasses and other items
John Popadiuk discusses tomorrow's seminar details with Mike Lorrain
Walter Day holds his seminar where he awards video game and pinball
world record plaques to various individuals
Todd MacCulloch gives a seminar covering his life of pinball and the NBA
Many thanks to Keith for his excellent report and pictures. We'll have more coverage from the North West
Pinball and Gameroom Show in the second part of our exclusive Pinball News report from Seattle.
© Pinball News 2011
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