Date: 8th & 9th October, 2016 Location: EventCity, Trafford, Manchester, UK We are back in Manchester at the EventCity exhibition complex for the annual Play Expo gaming show. EventCity in Manchester Although the show didn’t open until the next day, we were here for the set-up so we can get a preview of what’s in store for the thousands of visitors who will line up outside the following morning. With the public entrance closed, we headed round the back to the loading bays to get in. The rear of EventCity – our way in Heading into the main hall we found work well underway on setting up the scores of pinballs expected at the show, as well as the thousands of square metres of games of all kinds. The pinball zone at Play Expo The organisers of the pinball zone – Northern Lights Pinball – were expecting more than 100 pinballs, and with many machines already here they were confident of reaching that target. Setting up machines There was a good mix of older and the very newest titles The newest titles were there courtesy of Pinball Heaven who had the latest offerings from Stern, Jersey Jack and Chicago Gaming, as well as some restored games. New Stern Pinball titles Jersey Jack Pinball’s first two titles The Medieval Madness remake alongside two high=end restored games Heighway Pinball’s Full Throttle was also here. Heighway Pinball obviously take their game servicing very seriously Before it is allowed to be played, each machine has to be tested for electrical safety (PAT tested). No shocking events here There was also a nice line-up of Gottlieb solid-state machines here, including several lesser-spotted varieties. Gottlieb games Tag Team Pinball – one you don’t see at shows very often We have more on this later, and in a separate article The tombola is always a popular part of the show As important as it is, the Pinball Zone is only a small part of Play Expo, so let’s have a quick look around the rest of the hall. There are hundreds of PCs and older 8-bit computers for visitors to play Don’t throw those old tube TVs away – someone wants them Plenty more CRTs in the Video Game Zone The Pinball and Video Game (Arcade) Zones sit side-by-side Look out, it’s the cops – or is it? Transformers fans will know the meaning of this slogan on the cop car We are assured this isn’t showing the way to the toilets Elsewhere, food trucks are set up to cater to the masses Gamer food aplenty The Play Expo show opened to the public at 10am on Saturday, and as usual there was a large crowd queueing outside eager to get through the doors. The queue outside just before opening time The queue continues The doors open and the first guests are admitted It didn’t take long before the aisles between the pinball machines became crowded and all the machines were occupied. The scene in the Pinball Zone The machines were soon fully occupied The Nautilus EM machine had see-through panels on the cabinet and backbox sides The machines stood up to constant playing well, with very few casualties The Pinball Heaven machines were especially popular Here’s the list of free play pinballs at the show: Free Play Machines 4 Aces AC/DC Pro Addams Family, The Addams Family, The Aerobatics Arena Austin Powers Avatar Avengers, The Baby Pac-Man Barracora Batman, Dark Knight Batman, Dark Knight Big House Black Knight Black Knight 2000 Black Knight 2000 Black Rose Blackwater 100 Bone Busters Bride of Pinbot – The Machine Bride of Pinbot – The Machine Centaur Circus Congo Creature from the Black Lagoon Creature from the Black Lagoon CSI Deadly Weapon Demolition Man Diamond Lady Dirty Harry Dracula, Bram Stoker’s Earthshaker! Eight Ball Deluxe Excalibur Family Guy Fireball Fish Tales Full Throttle Funhouse Funhouse Game of Thrones Pro Genesis Getaway, The: High Speed 2 Ghostbusters Premium Ghostbusters Pro Godzilla Gold Ball Gorgar Grand Lizard Guns N’ Roses Hobbit standard, The Hollywood Heat Indiana Jones (custom) Indiana Jones (WMS) Indianapolis 500 Iron Man Jackbot Johnny Mnemonic Jokerz! Judge Dredd Kiss Pro Last Action Hero Lord of the Rings, The Lord of the Rings, The Medieval Madness Remake Medusa Metallica Mousin’ Around Mr. & Mrs. Pac-Man* Nautilus NBA Fastbreak Pinball Magic Pinbot Pirates of the Caribbean Police Force Police Force Popeye Saves The Earth Raven Revenge from Mars Revenge from Mars Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! Road Kings Roadshow* Robo War Robocop Robot Rock Rocky & Bullwinkle Rollergames Rolling Stones (Stern), The Roto Pool Scared Stiff Sorcerer Space Invaders Space Station Space Station Spider-Man Spirit Spring Break Star Trek Pro Star Trek: The Next Generation Star Wars (DE) Star Wars (DE) Swords of Fury Tag Team Pinball Terminator 2 Theatre of Magic Twilight Zone TX Sector Walking Dead, The Whitewater Wizard of Oz 75th, The Wizard of Oz standard, The World Poker Tour X-Files, The X-Men Pro There were three competition machines amongst the mix. A Shrek was the junior high score machine, with a No Good Gofers next to it performing the same role for the adult event. A William’s Heat Wave was used for the EM Challenge, where players vied to either achieve the day’s highest score, or raise the temperature high enough to ‘Blow Your Top’ and win a cash prize. The junior, adult and EM competition machines Tournament Machines Heat Wave No Good Gofers Shrek A new high score is recorded Further into the Pinball Zone, the machines were just as popular with a few parts vendors setting up their stalls. No free machines in this row The Scottish Pinball Association and Paisley Pinball were sharing a stand Pinball Daze had a large stand with numerous assorted pinball parts The North-East Retro Gaming (NERG) team was there to promote their event Jim Askey had his Hacking Lab to show a customised Stern Indiana Jones running a version of the Williams Indiana Jones rules, his replacement Stern flasher boards, custom saucers for Revenge from Mars, as well as demonstration PCBs and assorted pinball parts. Jim Askey at his Hacking Lab Pinball Heaven also had a stand in addition to the games they brought Making a return after its first outing at last year’s show was the Addams Family Challenge shock chair. Players sit in the chair and use the control handles to flip the flippers, but achieving certain objectives produces unexpected results from the chair’s lighting and sound effects, shaker motors and smoke machine. The Addams Family Challenge shock chair was back after last year’s debut The previous player really smoked the game There were several alternate translites seen in the games, including this Game of Thrones one The Northern Lights Pinball team use this event to raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust, and the charity was well represented at the show with their own stand. The Teenage Cancer Trust stand They ran a competition to see if you could drop a parachuted toy soldier into one of the plastic cups It’s harder than it looks, but at least one player managed it A predicted, the tombola stand was especially popular, with any ticket number ending in a 5 winning a prize. Tickets cost £1 for three, £5 for eighteen or £10 for forty. The tombola stand The Pinball Zone You can take our exclusive Twelve Minute Tour of the Pinball Zone by clicking below, or by visiting the Pinball News YouTube channel. While it was obviously our favourite bit, the Pinball Zone was a relatively small part of the overall Play Expo show. The rest of the Play Expo show The show floor plan with the Pinball Zone highlighted So let’s have a quick look at some of the other stands and exhibits. Right next door to the pinballs in other half of the Arcade Zone were the arcade video games. Everything from sit-down to stand-up arcade video games It was an impressive display of videos with some unusual titles Not everything needs to have a power supply to be fun. Tabletop games were a popular part of the show. Card, simulation and fantasy tabletop games were on sale and being played Card games can be played anywhere you can find a flat surface However, if you could find a power outlet… It was good to see gamers stop sitting in front of the TV at home and come to the show to… err… sit in front of the TV PC gaming appeals to all ages There was no shortage of PC games to try If you wanted to socially interact, there was a full Rock Band set-up If you wanted to learn from the experts there were plenty of seminars to watch In another area they were relating the history of gaming Virtual reality is a small but growing part of the show But it’s still hard to look cool wearing these Console gaming was well represented, such as this ring of X-Boxes There were also multiple rows of PS4 console games It may be a retro title, but Battle Zone still had them queueing round the block Just as timeless was this little chap who roamed the show floor Yet another retro theme, but this time Barricade had been joined by Bumblebee Play Expo also featured an Education Zone, where college courses could be explored and gaming skills learned. One stand we especially appreciated was teaching visitors soldering skills – something often overlooked when everything seems to come pre-assembled with no user-fixable parts. Learning soldering skills in the Education Zone Training the next generation of Electrical Engineers? When it all got too much, there were several food stand at the front and back of the hall. Lunch time We thought Wicked Wraps & Kebabs had the longest queue, until… …the Longest Queue At The Show award went to the cash machine Needless to say, there were dozens of vendor stands selling everything from knives and swords to T-shirts, framed prints, plush toys, game discs and cartridges, retro consoles and character models. Here are just a few of them. Masses of T-shirts were available on multiple stands See. Told you. If it was gaming or super-hero movie related you could probably find it here Lots of fantasy artworks too If you thought your retro gaming console was worth a lot of money by now, it’s not – there are loads of them around See. Told you. Pokemons need a cuddle too You can see all the stands and gaming areas in our Twenty Nine Minute Tour video below. And that concludes our look at Play Expo 2016 and the Northern Lights Pinball’s collection of machines. The team raised an amazing grand total of £6,950.41 for the Teenage Cancer Trust charity. Members of the NLP crew It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer scale of Play Expo and the number of different types of gaming on display, but at the end of the day this mantra still holds true… Sage advice
