TEXAS PINBALL
FESTIVAL 2010


Date: 19th - 21st March 2010
Location: Hilton DFW Lakes Executive Conference Center, 1800 Highway 26 East, Grapevine, Texas 76051, USA.

Additional photography by Ken Kemp of PinballRebel.com

We're back in the city of Grapevine, a couple of miles from Dallas/Ft Worth airport for the 2010 Texas Pinball Festival which is once again being held at the Hilton DFW Lakes Conference Center.

The Texas Grande Hall
The Texas Grande Hall

THE SHOW FLOOR

The show took place in the 14,400 square feet Texas Grande Hall on the hotel's lower level and the registration desk was just inside the entrance.

The registration desk
The registration desk

Show entry cost $30 for the whole three days, or $15 for just the Friday or the Saturday. Because Sunday is a truncated day, finishing at 2pm, entry for that day alone cost $7. A $5 discount was available for pre-registered buyers of the weekend pass.  The desk staff also sold entries to the various tournaments taking place and raffle tickets for the regular draws.

Although the show itself didn't open to the public until 5pm on Friday evening, the tournament area had been open since 10am for players to begin their qualifying in the Texas State Championship, the Modern Pinball Tournament, the Kids Bump 'N Win Tournament, the Classic Tournament and the Electromechanical Tournament.

The tournament area
The tournament area

The Texas State Championship and the Kids Bump 'N Win Tournament were played out on five Spider-Man machines.

The five Spider-Man machines
The five Spider-Man machines

The Modern Tournament took place on two Big Buck Hunter Pros while the Classic Tournament was held on Nitro Ground Shaker.

The Nitro Ground Shaker and the two Big Buck Hunter Pros
The Nitro Ground Shaker and the two Big Buck Hunter Pros

The Electromechanical Tournament ran on a Kings & Queens.

While those early qualifying rounds were taking place, set-up for the show machines and stands continued in the hall.

Setting up machines for the show
Setting up machines for the show

Set-up continues
Set-up continues

By the time all the machines had arrived and been set up, we counted a total of 195 pinballs available for show visitors to play.

A row of electro-mechanical machines
A row of electro-mechanical machines

Pinballs at the show
Pinballs at the show

More games at the show
More games at the show

In addition, three pinballs were set up for display only on traders' stands so they were not available to play, and there were also four pitch & bat games, two slot machines and one puck bowler out on the floor.  Videos were not left out either, with some great restored classic arcade games in their own row.

Classic video games
Classic video games

We did our survey of the pinball machines when the show reopened on Saturday morning.  While some of these games were switched off, they may not have been faulty but were merely yet to be switched on by their owners.  Our list of 195 games includes all the tournament and prize machines.

24
Ali
Al's Garage Band Goes On A World Tour
Alvin G Soccer Ball
Apollo 13
Aquarius
Around The World
Atlantis
Attack From Mars
Austin Powers
Bank-A-Ball*
Batman Forever
Baywatch
Big Buck Hunter Pro
Big Buck Hunter Pro
Big Game
Big Hit
Black Hole
Black Knight
Black Knight 2000
Black Rose
Blue Chip
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Breakshot
Buccaneer
Capt. Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy
Cheetah
Class Of 1812
Comet
Comet
Creature From The Black Lagoon
CSI
Cyclone
Cyclone
Demolition Man
Diner
Dirty Harry
Doctor Who
Eight Ball
Eight Ball Champ
Elvira & The Party Monsters
Embryon*
F-14 Tomcat
F-14 Tomcat
Firepower*
Four Corners
Funhouse
Funhouse*
Future Spa
Galaxy
Gamatron
Gamatron (Proto)
Gilligan's Island
Grand Prix (WMS)
Grand Prix (WMS)
Gulfstream
Guns 'N Roses
Harlem Globetrotters
Harley Davidson (Stern)
Haunted House
Hi Lo Ace*
Hi-Deal
High Speed
High Speed
Hook
Hot Hand
Hot Line*
Independence Day*
Indiana Jones (WMS)
Jungle Lord
Jungle Lord
Junkyard
Jurassic Park
Jurassic Park*
King Of Diamonds
Kings & Queens
Laser Ball
Laser Cue
Lectronamo
Lethal Weapon 3
Lethal Weapon 3
Lightning
Lord Of The Rings
Lord Of The Rings
Lost World
Lost World
Magic
Magic
Mata Hari
Mata Hari
Mayfair*
Meteor
Meteor
Monopoly
Monte Carlo*
Mousin' Around
NASCAR
Nitro Ground Shaker
Nitro Ground Shaker
No Fear
No Fear
North Star*
Old Chicago
Orbitor 1
Party Zone
Phoenix
Pinbot
Playboy (Bally)
Playboy (Stern)
Police Force
Police Force
Rainbow
Rancho
Revenge From Mars
Revenge From Mars
Revenge From Mars
Ripley's Believe It Or Not!
Roadshow
Roadshow
Roadshow
Rocky & Bullwinkle
Rollercoaster Tycoon
Rollercoaster Tycoon
Royal Flush
Scared Stiff
Scared Stiff
Scorpion
Seawitch
Secret Service*
Silverball
Six Million Dollar Man
Sky Jump
Sky Jump*
Sky Rider
Soccer
Solar City*
South Park
Southern Belle
Spider-Man
Spider-Man
Spider-Man
Spider-Man
Spider-Man
Star Trek - The Next Generation
Star Trek - The Next Generation
Star Trek - The Next Generation
Star Trek - The Next Generation
Star Trek (Bally)
Star Trek (DE)
Star Wars (DE)
Stargazer
Stingray
Strange Science
Strike Zone
Strikes And Spares
Super Mario Bros
Super-Flite
Tales Of The Arabian Nights
Tales Of The Arabian Nights
Tales Of The Arabian Nights
Terminator 2
Terminator 2
Terminator 3
Terminator 3
Terminator 3*
The Addams Family
The Addams Family
The Addams Family
The Addams Family*
The Bally Game Show
The Champion Pub
The Shadow*
Theatre Of Magic
Theatre Of Magic
Time Machine
Toledo
Top Card
Travel Time
Trident
Triple Strike
Twilight Zone
Twilight Zone
Twilight Zone
Vector
Viper
Viper Night Drivin'
Voltan Escapes Cosmic Doom
Whirlwind
Whitewater
Wizard*
Wizard*
World Champ
WWF Royal Rumble*
WWF Royal Rumble*
X-Files*
*machine was depowered at the time of the survey

The pitch and bat games were: Base Hit, Pitch & Bat, Grid Iron and Slug Fest while the display-only games were: Spider-Man, Monster Bash and Creature From The Black Lagoon.

One of the most striking pinball machines at the show was Alan Lewis's Black Hole.

Alan Lewis and his Black Hole machine
Alan Lewis and his Black Hole machine

This machine was heavily modified with plasma disks on the pop bumpers, a half-mirrored acrylic playfield, LED inserts which are only visible when lit, a ball launch tube incorporating a skill shot opening and rotating black hole.

The Balck Hole playfield
The Black Hole playfield

To fit all this in, the cabinet was built up and the playfield glass raised by four inches.

The plasma disks on the pop bumpers
The plasma disks on the pop bumpers

One of the regular attractions of the Texas Pinball Festival is the row of classic Stern machines and this year was no different.

Part of the Stern row
Part of the Stern row

There were 19 machines in total, including a prototype Gamatron next to the production version.  Here they are as they were arranged, left to right.

Orbitor 1
Lightning
Stargazer
Ali
Big Game
Lectronamo
Cheetah
Gamatron (Proto)
Gamatron
Galaxy
Viper
Trident
Seawitch
Magic
Stingray
Meteor
Magic
Hot Hand
Meteor

Apart from the machines, there were plenty of vendors selling everything from machines to LEDs, and it was LEDs which continued to have the greatest impact on the look of games on the show floor.  Several machines were set up as showcases for LED lighting and while they all looked very impressive and colourful, the strobing effects still put off many owners from using LEDs throughout their games.

A CSI on the Doc's Pinball stand
A CSI on the Doc's Pinball stand

The vendors at this year's show were:

Arcade Repair Tips Illinois Pinball Co.
Chris Munro Marco Specialties
Coin Drops Here Nighthawk Games
CoinTaker Orbit Pinball
Cointech Pingame Journal
Discount Arcade Rob Anthony
Doc's Pinball Rottendog Amusements
Elevation Games The Pinsmith
Gameroom Magazine Varcade Entertainment
Great Lakes Modular Wizard Enterprises

Illinois Pinball's stand
Illinois Pinball's stand

Rob Anthony's repair service
Rob Anthony's repair service

Chris Munro's stand
Chris Munro's stand

The Marco Specialties stand
The Marco Specialties stand

Arcade Repair Tips were recodring at the show
Arcade Repair Tips were recording at the show

There were two machines to be given away at the show.  This Bally Vector would go to the winner of the Kids Tournament.

The prize for the winner of the Kids Tournament
The prize for the winner of the Kids Tournament

On the other side of the tournament area stood the second machine which could be won - a Bally Party Zone which was the grand prize in the raffle.

The grand prize in the raffle
The grand prize in the raffle

Tickets for the raffle were $4 each or 6 for $20 and regular prize draws took place across the three days for the show for translites, t-shirts, caps and other assorted pinball-related items.  Proceeds went to benefit the American Red Cross.

Another winning ticket is drawn
Another winning ticket is drawn

On Saturday, the day was supposed to start with the swap meet held in the hotel's parking lot at 8am.  Unfortunately, something happened to prevent the swap meet taking place.

The hotel's parking lot at 8am on Saturday morning
The hotel's parking lot at 8am on Saturday morning

Heavy rain all morning meant all but the hardiest sellers abandoned any notions of selling parts.  A couple did persevere and a collection of backglasses quickly sold to a single buyer, but few ventured outside to see what was on offer.

So the action continued when the main hall re-opened at 10am, while upstairs there were a series of seminars about different aspects of pinball.


SEMINARS

Pinball Art - John Youssi

John Youssi

John spoke about his work creating artwork for numerous pinball machines from Gilligan's Island to Big Buck Hunter Pro as well as some of his designs for non-pinball products.

His design career began designing album covers for Mercury Records, which he likened to his later work designing backglasses and illustrating stories in Playboy magazine.

John first worked on pinball in the '70s when he did designs for Old Chicago but didn't return to pinball until he created the backglass image for Jokerz.

John initially only wanted to produce backglasses and didn't want to get involved in playfield, cabinet or plastics art.  But once he had worked on a couple of games he felt confident enough to tackle a full game's art package. That came to pass when he was introduced to game designer Pat Lawlor to work on his Whirlwind game.

John said he frequently used photographs of either himself or members of his family as the basis for his art.  Here's one of him posing for a proposed backglass for No Good Gofers, along with the sketch of the version used in the game.

No Good Gofers
No Good Gofers

It wasn't only John and his family though.  Here, game designer Dennis Nordman models for the Bigfoot character in Whitewater.

Dennis Nordman and Bigfoot
Dennis Nordman and Bigfoot

Talking about his more recent work, John described how the departure of the leading character from the show CSI led to multiple version of the artwork with and without various characters from the show.

CSI
CSI

After his seminar, John sat at the back of the seminar hall signing flyers, translites, backglasses and posters.

You can hear all of John's talk by clicking on the play button or the link below, or you can download the MP3 file by right-clicking on the link and saving it to your computer.

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Restoring Your Worn Playfield with Direct Ink - John Greatwich

John Greatwich

John has well known for his development of inkjet printing, starting with playfields and moving on to backglasses.

He brought some examples of his work with him - a Sorcerer playfield, some prints of other playfields and a Cyclopes translite - so visitors could examine the quality of the work for themselves.

The Sorcerer playfield looked quite impressive and with the clearcoat it exuded rich colours, deep blacks and no evidence of banding.

John explained the process he uses to prepare a playfield before any printing can occur - starting with the sanding down to remove an existing paint or grease, sealing it, repairing any damage and putting down a white base coat.  The playfield is screwed to a think layer of MDF to ensure it is perfectly flat before printing begins.  Once printed it is has automotive clearcoat applied to protect the finish.

John with a sorcerer playfield
John with a sorcerer playfield

His focus now is on obtaining more art files so he can expand the range of playfield prints he offers.  He currently has Space Shuttle, Sorcerer, Eight Ball Deluxe and High Speed and has no problems with licensing since he is only repairing existing artwork on an existing playfield and not creating a new product.

Experiments with printing backglasses onto glass continue but are not yet ready for commercial products.  Depending on the results, it may result in translites being made for older games instead of printed glasses.

John concluded his talk by drawing tickets to give away the two playfield prints he was showing, and said there would be further draws for prizes when he returns home to Halifax, Nova Scotia.

You can hear all of John's talk by clicking on the play button or the link below, or you can download the MP3 file by right-clicking on the link and saving it to your computer.

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Pinball 101 for Dummies - Chris Munson & Evan Smith

Chris Munson & Evan Smith

Chris spoke first in this seminar aimed at new owners and those thinking about purchasing their first machine.

He began by explaining what a pinball machine is not, to make sure buyers are under no illusions about exactly what it is they're buying.

Then he looked at the various sources for pinball machines - such as the internet, auctions, warehouses and pinball shows - along with the associated risks of buying from each of them.  Each one has it's benefits as well as potential pitfalls for the unwary.

Chris continued by examining the various parts of a pinball machine, describing what each section does, where they live in the game and what maintenance they will require.

Some sources of pinballs
Some sources of pinballs

While he offered some basic repair tips, Chris stressed how important it was to leave tasks beyond your skills to a repair professional.

Which is where Evan took over - as that repair professional.  He talked about simple maintenance and troubleshooting any game owner can undertake, including getting a manual if the game didn't come with one and understanding the self-diagnosis system built into newer machines.  He said most of the problems in a game come from switches, so it is important to know how they work and how to adjust them.

Talking about board problems, both Evan and Chris talked about how in most cases it is cheaper and better to repair an existing board than to buy a replacement board.  Only some early Gottlieb boards and those severely damaged by battery leakage might be considered not worth repairing.

You can hear all of Chris's and Evan's talk by clicking on the play button or the link below, or you can download the MP3 file by right-clicking on the link and saving it to your computer.

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Making Your Pinball LED Friendly - Brett Davis

Brett Davis

Brett is the force behind the PinScore range of replacement LED displays but in this seminar he looked at the challenges and problems found when replacing playfield lamps with LED equivalents.

He began by showing a clip by the Editor of Electronic Component News, Alix Paultre about the direction display technology is going

He followed that with some simple theory about how LEDs work - the voltage drop across them, the current they require and their polarised nature

LEDs have some clear advantages over regular incandescent lamps, Brett said, using typically only 20% of the power of a lamp, producing very little heat and having a generally longer life span.  They still cost more than regular lamps but the gap is closing.

Brett then turned his attention to how pinball lighting is driven and how the general illumination circuits are nearly always AC voltage.  This produces problems when using LEDs which only conduct in one direction as they are only turned on for a short period of time during each cycle of the voltage waveform, which produces a noticeable strobing effect unless steps are taken to reduce it.

One way is to convert the game to use DC voltage for the general illumination circuit.  Some manufacturers' games will still work fine if the AC voltage is converted to DC including modern Stern, old Stern and Bally as well as Williams systems 3-11, but some - notably WPC games - won't work.  Brett then examined why this is, looked at some possible solutions to this and workarounds.

Brett talking about the lamp matrix
Brett talking about the lamp matrix

A similar problem appears in those games which use a lamp matrix, where the lamps are intentionally strobed very quickly with a higher voltage and use the persistence of the lamps filament to make it look as though the lamp is lit continuously.  This doesn't work very well with LEDs.

Brett said he's done a lot of research into ways to reduce or eliminate this strobing effect but as yet there is no easy solution.  Future solutions will include new aftermarket driver boards which are designed to work with LEDs, more built-in components inside the LED body or possible changes to game software to strobe the lamps in a different way.  But for the moment there are no easy fixes.

You can hear all of Brett's talk by clicking on the play button or the link below, or you can download the MP3 file by right-clicking on the link and saving it to your computer.

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Pinball in the Media: Texas Style - Jim Schelberg

Jim Schelberg

Jim presented a series of video clips featuring pinball as it appeared in commercials, news reports, dance routines and as the subject for comedy shows.

Jim has been collecting these clips from sources around the world and sells compilations of them on DVDs.

Because Jim's seminar is so heavily visual, just listening to an audio recording of the DVD's soundtrack would not convey much.  So we don't have it available for download here.


TOURNAMENTS

On Friday there was a mini-tournament called Draw Your Partner, where randomly selected pairs of players teamed up to beat another pair and progress to the next round.  The winners of this event were Derek Fugate & Bill Bloodworth who beat Shawn Ryan & Eric Fisher in the final, with Dean Grover & Carey Fishman coming in third.

Draw Your Partner winners Derek Fugate and Bill Bloodworth
Draw Your Partner winners Derek Fugate and Bill Bloodworth

The second mini-tournament took place at 1pm on Saturday and this was for parents and their offspring in the single-elimination format Parent Child Tournament.

Entry cost $6 per pairing and the winners would pick up a commemorative plaque. At the head of the field were Mark and Joshua Henderson, who were followed by Adam and Escher Lefkoff, followed by Craig and Andrew Hassell in third.

The Lefkoffs (2nd), The Hendersons (1st) and the Hassells (3rd)
The Lefkoffs (2nd), The Hendersons (1st) and the Hassells (3rd)

Qualifying for the five main tournaments (Texas State, Modern, Classic, EM and Kids) continued all day Friday and into Saturday.  The Texas State closed at midnight on Saturday, the Kids qualifying ended at 4:30pm, the Modern ended at 5pm followed by the EM at 6pm and the Classic at 8pm.  All but the Texas State held their play-offs and finals once their qualifying had ended.

The Kids tournament took place on the same Spider-Man machines as the Texas State, which meant the machines were set up to be fairly tough on the competitors.  That didn't phase the winner, Joshua Henderson who not only collected his second plaque of the day but also won the Vector machine. Second was Escher Lefkoff and third was Jack Pace.

Escher Lefkoff (2nd), Joshua Henderson (1st) and Jack Pace (3rd)
Kids Tournament winners:
Jack Pace (3rd), Joshua Henderson (1st) and Escher Lefkoff (2nd)

After the Kids tournament came the playoffs for the Modern Tournament.  In this and the remaining tournaments, there were a certain number of qualifiers from the qualifying round and these were spilt into two divisions - A & B.  The top half of the qualifiers played in their tournament's A Division while the lower half played in B.  No players ranked in the top 100 by WPPR points could qualify in B, so if they were in the bottom half of qualifiers they sacrificed their place.  The cost of entry was also the same for these tournaments - $5 bought two games on the selected machine.

For the Modern Tournament, all qualifying and the play-offs were played on Stern's latest game Big Buck Hunter.  The top 8 qualifiers played in the A Division play-offs and those in places 9-16 played in the B Division.

In the top A Division it was Donavan Stepp who best controlled the game and took first place along with a plaque and $150.  Second was Adam Lefkoff who also got a plaque and $75 while third was Martin Ayub with his plaque and $50.

Adam Lefkoff (2nd), Donavan Stepp (1st) & Martin Ayub (3rd)
Modern Pinball Tournament - A Division winners

In the B Division it was a win for Chris Compton who won $75 and his plaque.  Second was Keith Shahan who picked up $50 and third went to Grant Mortenson who received $25.

Following the finals of the Modern tournament at 7pm came the finals of the Electro-Mechanical Tournament which, like the qualifiers was played on a Gottlieb Kings & Queens.

The A Division consisted of the top 8 qualifiers and was won by Robert Gagno.  Derek Fugate came in second and in third place was Mark Beardsley. Cash prizes were the same as in the Modern Tournament above.

EM Tournament - A Division winners
EM Tournament - A Division winners

After that came the play-offs and finals for the Classic Tournament, played on the Bally Nitro Ground Shaker.  Once again, the 16 qualifiers were split into 2 divisions and the top A Division was won by Lynn Lyons who beat Donavan Stepp into second place, followed by Adam Lefkoff in third.  Prize levels were the same as the previous two tournaments.

Classic Tournament - A Division winners
Classic Tournament - A Division winners

In the B Division it was a win for Jeff Rank who held off competition from Mark Beardsley who ended up second and Tim Riehl took third spot.

With those tournaments completed, only the Texas State Pinball Championship remained to be decided.  Qualifying continued until midnight on Saturday and towards the end there was a rush to play the last few qualifying games.  But there was no favoured treatment and even special guests had to wait their turn to play.

The face is familiar but...
The face is familiar but...

 

When the final games finished just after midnight, the top 32 proceeded to the play-offs starting at 8am the same morning.

They qualifiers (in alphabetical order) were:

A Division B Division
Adam Lefkoff 
Bob Matthews 
Dean Grover 
Derek Fugate 
Don Brownback 
Donavan Stepp  
Eric Fisher 
Grant Mortensen 
Greg Davis 
Jeff Rank 
JJ Reese 
Kevin McCarthy 
Lynn Lyons 
Martin Ayub 
Robert Gagno 
Shane Pace 
Bryan Stinchcomb 
Carey Fishman 
Clyde Bellinger 
Dan Gutchess 
Erin Langston 
Gavin Miller 
John Eberstein 
John Greatwich 
Ken Kemp 
Kim Vanderveen 
Marcus Trevino 
Mark Beardsley 
Michael Nelson 
Mitch Tunick 
Steve Trujillo 
Tim Riehl 

For the play-offs on Sunday morning, players were paired up and the highest placed qualifier could choose the machine to play (where there two or more available) from any of the five Spider-Man machines, the single remaining Big Buck Hunter or the Nitro Ground Shaker.  The lower placed qualifier then got the choice of play order.

The B Division reached its final first and it was tournament head Ken Kemp who triumphed over seminar presenter John Greatwich in the final to win the division and the $200 prize.  John received $100 while Steve Trujillo took away $50 for his third place.

Texas State Pinball Championship - B Division winners:
Texas State Pinball Championship - B Division winners:
John Greatwich (2nd), Ken Kemp (1st) & Steve Trujillo (3rd)

Then, to close the tournaments, the final rounds of the A Division took place.  In the final between Donavan Stepp and Martin Ayub, Donavan won the first game following a great fight back on the last ball, starting on 16M and ending by cruising Martin's 96M total.  Donavan easily won the second game to retain the title of Texas State Champion.

Martin Ayub was second and Greg Davis won the play-off for third place against Don Brownback who ended in fourth.  Donavan took away a $500 prize pot and a plaque, Martin received $150 with his plaque and Greg won $75.

Texas State Pinball Championship - A Division winners:
Texas State Pinball Championship - A Division winners:
Greg Davis (3rd), Donavan Stepp (1st) & Martin Ayub (2nd)

Once all the tournament has been decided, the show continued until its 2pm close time.  However, there were still some further awards to be made for the best machines at the show in various categories.

Each year the show organisers recognise the best condition machines and the best presented games brought to the show by presenting awards to the owners.

These presentations were followed by the draw for the top prizes in the raffle.

The last few prizes in the raffle are drawn
The last few prizes in the raffle are drawn

A Funhouse test print and a Wheel Of Fortune playfield were given away before the big prize - the Party Zone - was won by Carey Fishman.

Party Zone winner Carey Fishman and family
Party Zone winner Carey Fishman and family

The raffle draw brought the show to a close and machines were soon packed away, ready for the journey home.

The end of the show
The end of the show

That also brings our coverage of the 2010 Texas Pinball Festival to a close.  Many thanks to all the organisers for putting on another great show.

We'll leave you with this look around the show on Saturday evening once the lights went down.

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