The 2015 International Pinball Exposition
Gatecrasher
Posts: 1,550
It's that time of the year again here in Chicagoland. The premier pinball event starts today at the Westin in Wheeling, IL. and goes until Sunday. Pinheads from all around the country (and the world) will be in attendance.
It's an awesome event if you like pinball. There are hundreds of machines there all set to free play. You pay $25 and you can go play pinball until your arms fall off. It's open all night long.
In addition, there are lots of machines for sale as well as parts vendors. You can even play the brand-new 2015 machines too and try them out. The newest machine just released is the new "Kiss". A few months earlier Stern released "The Walking Dead" and "AC/DC".
The show also has a competition with trophies to the winners and seminars from various industry people plus a tour of the Stern pinball factory in Elk Grove Village, IL.
Here's the link:
http://www.pinballexpo.net/
In addition to Polk Speakers, I collect and restore pinball machines and currently have 8 of them in my mancave. I also manufacture my own line of reproduction parts for 1970s & 80s Bally pinball machines and sell parts worldwide.
If you are in the Chicago area, top-in this weekend and play the silver ball!
It's an awesome event if you like pinball. There are hundreds of machines there all set to free play. You pay $25 and you can go play pinball until your arms fall off. It's open all night long.
In addition, there are lots of machines for sale as well as parts vendors. You can even play the brand-new 2015 machines too and try them out. The newest machine just released is the new "Kiss". A few months earlier Stern released "The Walking Dead" and "AC/DC".
The show also has a competition with trophies to the winners and seminars from various industry people plus a tour of the Stern pinball factory in Elk Grove Village, IL.
Here's the link:
http://www.pinballexpo.net/
In addition to Polk Speakers, I collect and restore pinball machines and currently have 8 of them in my mancave. I also manufacture my own line of reproduction parts for 1970s & 80s Bally pinball machines and sell parts worldwide.
If you are in the Chicago area, top-in this weekend and play the silver ball!
Comments
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Here are some pictures I took at last year's show. There were two large halls filled to the brim with hundreds of pinball machines new and old all set to "free play":
The 2014 show also saw the debut of "The Big Lebowski" prototype pinball machine from Holland.
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I used to have an old (made in the '70s) Williams pinball machine that was in sweet condition. Gave it to my brother after moving and not having room for it anymore.
I kind of lost interest in pinball when they started "improving and updating" everything. I liked them more when they had the bells and such for sounds, actual wheels to show the scores and the machine didn't talk to you, scream at you or have over-the-top sound effects. I also felt like everything on the table was more relevant to the final score when you only needed 4200 points (in the case of my machine - with five balls to play per game) for a replay. Somehow, having items worth tens and hundreds of points on a table that you need millions of points for a replay doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
Anyhoo...looks like a good time, lots of the "old" machines in your pics from last year's event.
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I need to take my girl to this....
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I need to take my girl to this....
I dunno man....if your girl is more happy whacking small balls with a small stick, doesn't bode well for you.
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Unless he has small balls and a stick .....couldn't resist
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Ooh, that was a reach, Tony.
Really need to make it out for one of these. I'm in DuPage County and have a local buddy who's gone a few times.
I just inherited a home-use only Gottleib Spirit of '76 and need to find some time to do some small work on it. I may hit you up for some advice if things get beyond my depth. Current plans are to denude the playfield to clean/wax it, and replace the flipper works with new, replace all rubbers. Has a few typical EM issues but nothing too major.Jay
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Gatecrasher. Ever heard the name Gene Cunningham?
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Unless he has small balls and a stick .....couldn't resist
Well played fellas!
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Bedroom system: Carver CT-24, Parasound HCA-800II, Monitor 10's
Additional projects: RTA 12c's -
Gatecrasher. Ever heard the name Gene Cunningham?
Yeah I know who he is. I used to buy a lot of stuff from him. He owned Illinois Pinball (IPB) but is now out of the business I think. I remember back in like 2006 or 2007 I purchased 14 reproduction playfields form Gene. 8 Bally Eight Ball Deluxe playfields and 6 Bally Kiss playfields. I'm down to my last one of each now.
It's a shame he got out of the business because his parts were great. He is one of the world's leading experts on pinball.
Chicago is the "home" of the coin-op business. Almost all of the pinball machines, jukeboxes, and other coin-operated amusement devices were built here. Today there is only one pinball machine manufacturer left, Stern Electronics. Bally, Gottleib, Williams, Chicago Coin and all the rest are long gone. But there are a few smaller companies popping-up.
I collect the early solid state Bally machines from the late 70s & early 80s because they were the machines I used to feed quarters as a kid and like the most. All of the parts I make are for these machines too.
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good stuff. I always enjoyed pinball for what little I could afford to play pinball and arcade games when I was a kid. young enough to have had my share of video games, too, but for some reason, thinking back, I think feel like I liked pinball just a liddle bit more. analog, I guess I disabled signatures.
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Gatecrasher wrote: »Gatecrasher. Ever heard the name Gene Cunningham?
Yeah I know who he is. I used to buy a lot of stuff from him. He owned Illinois Pinball (IPB) but is now out of the business I think. I remember back in like 2006 or 2007 I purchased 14 reproduction playfields form Gene. 8 Bally Eight Ball Deluxe playfields and 6 Bally Kiss playfields. I'm down to my last one of each now.
It's a shame he got out of the business because his parts were great. He is one of the world's leading experts on pinball.
yeah have also known him for decades, it was more or less forced out by his banks lost most everything...small world
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Was always a Pinball nut, now "Eight ball Deluxe' was always a tough machine for me as the side pocket just mean. but "Attack from Mars" is a total blast to play.2 ch- Polk CRS+ * Vincent SA-31MK Preamp * Vincent Sp-331 Amp * Marantz SA8005 SACD * Project Xperience Classic TT * Sumiko Blue Point #2 MC cartridge
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Eight Ball Deluxe was my fave in college. Also played a lot on the Kiss machine in my dorm but preferred Joker Poker that was also there .
Was looking around for an 8-Ball a few years ago for my sons and I to play. Never found one, so ended up getting a SouthPark machine. It's a load of fun and challenging enough to keep our attention.
Would love to play that Lebowski machine. Hoping to check out the Hall in Vegas in January, so maybe I'll get the chance.b]Beach Audio[/b]: Rega RP6 (mods) - AT33PTG/II - Parks Budgie SUT - PSAudio NPC * Eversolo DMP-A6 * Topping D90iii * Joule-Electra LA-100 mkIII * Pass Aleph 30 * MIT S3 * Polk SRS 2.3tl (mods) * PSAudio PPP3
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Eight Ball Deluxe was my fave in college. Also played a lot on the Kiss machine in my dorm but preferred Joker Poker that was also there .
Eight Ball Deluxe is my favorite too. I've restored a bunch of them over the years. Here are my current pair:
"Quit Talking and Start Chalking"
Then there are the rock-themed pinball machines:
Las Vegas has the "Pinball Hall of Fame". I've never been there but would like to visit it some day.
pinballhall.org/
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Wasn't there one with Elton John doing Pinball Wizard?
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Captain Fantastic & Brown Dirt Cowboy Machine!
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That's the one! Thanks voltz!
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There is another Bally electromechanical pin called "Wizard" based on the Rock opera "Tommy" by the Who that was released in 1975 (one year before Captain Fantastic):
