Date: 8th-10th June, 2018
Location: Greater Tacoma Convention & Trade Center, 1500 Broadway, Tacoma, WA 98402, USA

We got to the Greater Tacoma Convention & Trade Center around 2pm on Thursday to check on the set-up, and sure enough everything was being done to get ready for Friday’s opening.

The Greater Tacoma Convention & Trade Center
The Greater Tacoma Convention & Trade Center

The lobby was looking a little sparse, but most of the action there doesn’t take place until later in the day and early on Friday morning.  The machines for the kids area were arriving, and the seminar area was fully-built and ready to go.

The lobby where registration takes place
The lobby where registration takes place
Some of the machines for the kids play area
Some of the machines for the kids play area
The seminars area
The seminars area

Mike Lorrain had an impressive set-up with three cameras, a new mixing desk and a multi-mic radio system.  The seminars will all be streamed live and available to playback online, so we won’t be recording them here.  We will be photographing them all and summarising the talks though.

Mike's seminar control station
Mike’s seminar control station

Let’s go through the main doors and see what was happening in the main show hall.

Into the main hall
Into the main hall

The main show desk is directly in front of the entrance.  It is here that raffle tickets are sold and the show announcements made.  They already had the Houdini machine which will be the grand prize which will be drawn on Sunday afternoon.

Setting up the show desk
Setting up the show desk

Turning left, we came to the Nitro Pinball stand.  Nitro usually has the latest machines and this year is no different, with the big draw being two new Thunderbirds machines from Homepin.

The two Thunderbirds machines on the Nitro Pinball stand
The two Thunderbirds machines on the Nitro Pinball stand

This is the first time these machines have been shown in North American, so there is bound to be much attention on them once the show opens.  We took a bunch of pictures, but rather than spend too long on the game here you’ll find them at the end of today’s report.

Elsewhere, things were coming together.

The view from the front left corner of the hall
The view from the front left corner of the hall
Trucks were turning up at the loading dock and being unloaded
Trucks were turning up at the loading dock and being unloaded
Unloaded machines waiting to go into the hall
Unloaded machines waiting to go into the hall
Pinballs to go into the hall
Pinballs to go into the hall
Video games, carefully -wrapped
Video games, carefully-wrapped

The hall was filling up, with vendors also setting up their stands.

There's no mistaking the Hercules machine
There’s no mistaking the Hercules machine
It's certainly not all pinball, with loads of video games too
It’s certainly not all pinball, with loads of video games too
But there are plenty of pinballs
But don’t worry, there are plenty of pinballs
Tournament machines
Tournament machines
More tournament machines
More tournament machines
Free play machines in the central area
Free play machines in the central area
More pinballs
More pinballs
The show always has an impressive EM section
The show always has an impressive EM section
But there are the latest titles too, with Butch Peel and Charlie Martin setting up the JJP machines
But there are the latest titles too, with Butch Peel and Charlie Martin setting up the JJP machines
Houdini, Total Nuclear Annihilation and the two remakes are here on the Nitro stand
Houdini, Total Nuclear Annihilation and the two remakes are here on the Nitro stand

OK, so that’s what was happening in the main hall.  Now we’ll take a close-up look at Homepin’s Thunderbirds game.  Note that the original title of Thunderbirds Are Go seems to have been changed to just Thunderbirds.

The Thunderbirds playfield
The Thunderbirds playfield
The Thunderbirds backglass which is all one piece
The Thunderbirds backglass which is all one piece
Thunderbirds cabinet side art
Thunderbirds cabinet side art
Backbox side art which is backlit
Backbox side art which is backlit
The Thunderbirds cabinet front
The Thunderbirds cabinet front
The left ramp area
The left ramp area
The centre movable ramp shot
The centre movable-ramp shot
The top left area
The top left playfield area
The mid-left area
The mid-left area
The left orbit shot
The left orbit shot
The top rollover lanes
The top rollover lanes
The mid-right area
The mid-right area
The bottom right area
The bottom right area
The bottom left area
The bottom left area
The feature grid
The feature grid
The whole playfield
The whole playfield
The instruction card
The instruction card

That concludes our look at Thursday’s set-up at the Northwest Pinball & Arcade Show.  We’ll be back tomorrow reporting live from the show and will be adding and updating our reports right through the weekend, so check out all our reports at the main NWPAS page.

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