Date: 15th-19th October 2024 Location: Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center Hotel, 1551 N. Thoreau Drive, Schaumburg, IL 60173, USA Welcome to our continuing coverage of this 40th anniversary Pinball Expo being held at the Schaumburg Convention Center in the city of Schaumburg, about 25 miles north-west from the centre of Chicago. Due to the size of our report and the huge number of videos and pictures we’ve included, we had to split our report into two parts. The first part covered all the action, tours and seminars from Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. If you missed it, you can catch it here. In this second part we look at events on Friday and Saturday, plus the tournament finals on Sunday. Friday Friday morning began with the tour of the Stern Pinball factory in Elk Grove Village. The familiar yellow school buses were scheduled to depart at 9am, but before that a long line formed inside the Convention Center. The front of the line …back towards the corridor to main show hall… …round behind the staircase to the seminars rooms… …and back towards the main show hall… The buses arrived and took the next group of factory tour guests We were working in the Seminars Room producing the videos below and in part one, but Pinball News’s M.G. Brown was able to take the tour and bring us these pictures. Tour guests arrive at the Stern Pinball factory No photography was permitted during the tour, but before the tour began Seth Davis and Gary Stern welcomed guests to their factory. Seth and Gary welcome everyone to the Stern Pinball factory Stern Pinball CEO and President, Seth Davis, with Chairman, Gary Stern After taking the tour, guests could buy branded merchandise from the Stern Shop. The Stern Pinball merchandise shop at the end of the tour When Pinball Expo guests returned to the Convention Center, they found the show hall open and the programme of seminars ready for them. 12:30pmFrom a Collection to a Museum: Pinball is More than Fun & Games – Mischa de Muynck Mischa de Muynck Mischa explained the origins of the Dutch Pinball Museum in Rotterdam, the current location and collection, alongside their aims of educating visitors about pinball’s history, science and art. 1:00pmCollecting Beyond Pinball: Electromechanical Arcade Games – Larry Bieza & Phill Emmert Larry Bieza & Phill Emmert There are many more electromechanical games besides pinball. Larry and Phill show some examples through the decades of popular and landmark electromechanical arcade games you might enjoy. 2:00pmWhat is Your Game Worth? – Ted Finlay Ted Finlay Pricing a pinball to sell is always tricky, so Ted set up pinballprices.com to pull sales data from multiple sources and give average selling prices for hundreds of machines along with price trends over time. 3:00pmMaking Pinball, Making Friends: Meet the Future of Homebrew Pinball – Aaron Davis Imoto Harney, Aaron Davis & Kyle Reed Aaron is joined by Imoto Harney who coordinated this year’s huge homebrew section at Pinball Expo to talk to the many game creators about how they created their game designs and the challenges they faced. The homebrew game creators 4:00pmLicensing: Behind the Scenes Stories from these Marketing Masters – Jody Dankberg, Tom Nieman, Roger Sharpe Roger Sharpe, Tom Nieman & Jody Dankberg Licensing has been a popular way for pinball makers to appeal to the wider public by tapping into popular culture. Roger, Tom and Jody talk about how licensing began and the pros and cons of branding your product with a licensed theme. 5:00pmDutch Pinball: Where We Are & Where We Are Going – Melvin Williams, Barry Driessen, Rens Hooijmaijers Barry Driessen, Melvin Williams & Rens Hooijmaijers The focus of this seminar was the development and promotion of the new Dutch Pinball Exclusive game, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, which was designed by Melvin based on an original John Popadiuk design. 6:00pmPinball Expo Hall of Fame Presentations – Rob Berk Pinball Expo Chairman, Rob Berk, hosted the ceremony to announce this year’s inductions into the Pinball Expo Hall of Fame. Each inductee was introduced by a colleague or friend from the industry. The presentation began with Dave Marston talking about long time Pinball Expo attendee and larger-than-life personality, Sam Harvey, who recently passed away. The first inductee was John Buscaglia, the Chief Revenue Officer from Stern Pinball who was inducted by Gary Stern. Pinball Expo Hall of Fame 2024 inductee, John Buscaglia The second inductee was also from Stern Pinball. Sound designer and composer Jerry Thompson has worked on two dozen titles, stretching back to his first game, Whoa Nellie! back in 2015. Pinball Expo Hall of Fame 2024 inductee, Jerry Thompson The third inductee, also from Stern Pinball, was their Senior Director of Licensing and New Business Development, Jody Dankberg. Pinball Expo Hall of Fame 2024 inductee, Jody Dankberg The fourth inductee from Stern Pinball was voice artist Fred Young. Fred performed the callouts on many Data East, Sega and Stern titles, starting with 1990’s Back to the Future. Pinball Expo Hall of Fame 2024 inductee, Fred Young The fifth inductee for 2024 was the late Art Stenholm who created pinball art for more than eighty Gottlieb machines from the mid-’60s through to the start of the ’70s. His induction was announced by Dave Marston. David Marson talks about Pinball Expo Hall of Fame 2024 inductee, Art Stenholm The sixth and final inductee for 2024 was Broadway Arcade owner and operator, the late Steve Epstein. His induction was introduced by his long time friend and PAPA co-founder, Roger Sharpe. Roger Sharpe introduces Pinball Expo Hall of Fame 2024 inductee, Steve Epstein In the Service & Support category, the first induction was for the VP and Editorial Director of RePlay Magazine, Key Snodgrass. Pinball Expo 2024 Hall of Fame, Service & Support inductee, Key Snodgrass The second Service & Support inductee was Imoto Harney of Imoto Arcade and Marco Specialties. Pinball Expo 2024 Hall of Fame, Service & Support inductee, Imoto Harney Here’s the ceremony in full: The Hall of Fame induction ceremony was originally allocated 30 minutes in the seminars schedule, but actually ran for 90 minutes. As a result, the 40 Years Of Pinball Expo presentation with Rob Berk and Dave Marston was deferred until Saturday to allow the remainder of Friday’s talks to proceed as planned. 7:30pm40 Years of Pinball Expo as Told by Some of the Talented People Who Made it Happen – Pat Lawlor & Friends Pat Lawlor The 40 Years of Pinball Expo panel: Jack Guarnieri, Steve Ritchie, Roger Sharpe, Greg Freres, Larry DeMar, Chris Granner, Keith Johnson & Bill Grupp Pat Lawlor introduced the panel who have been instrumental in defining the shape of the pinball industry over the past forty years of Pinball Expo, from inventing pinball features we all take for granted to creating companies which opened the door to the mass of boutique manufacturers we see today. This seminar was held in two parts with a short break between them for everyone to stretch their legs. 9:30pmAn Evening With Jersey Jack Pinball – Jack Guarnieri, Mark Seiden & Team Jack Guarnieri Jack Guarnieri introduced the panel who talked about the creation of Jersey Jack Pinball’s latest release, Avatar: The Battle for Pandora. The game’s designer, Mark Seiden, led the presentation. Designer of Avatar: The Battle for Pandora, Mark Seiden The JJP team behind Avatar: The Battle for Pandora Mark spoke about the evolution of Avatar: The Battle for Pandora, from the early whitewoods through to the complete product, bringing in those who worked on each aspect of the game. 10:30pmLTG 🙂 – Lloyd Olson Lloyd Olson No Pinball Expo would be complete without the late night LTG show, hosted by the owner and operator of SS Billiards in Hopkins, Minnesota, Lloyd Olson, who talks about how his business and the wider coin-op industry has evolved since he took control of SS Billiards in 1979. Saturday Saturday is the last official day of Pinball Expo. Although some of the tournaments do continue into Sunday, the main hall is closed to the public while the stands are being dismantled and the machines packed away. So, Saturday is the last chance to play machines, buy parts and merchandise, and listen to the seminars. For us, it was our first chance to get into the main hall to take pictures and shoot our video walkaround. Here’s a gallery showing every stand in the main hall, with the exception of the History of Pinball and the homebrew section which we will be covering separately below. Mark Gibson’s Fun with Pinball interactive display Mark Gibson’s Fun with Pinball interactive display The Berk Repair Team had some interesting spares for sale Assorted manuals from the Berk Repair Team Machines for the EM repair classes The schedule for the classes Paul Zimmerman was setting up his stand A small selection of arcade video games to play The Shay Arcade Group’s stand The Rocket City Pinball stand The PinSnake cleaning tool stand The PinSnake gets under and around hard-to-reach ramps and lanes All kinds of glass products at Victory Glass’s stand Assorted apparel at The Missing Pin Company The usual huge mix of flyers, manuals, glasses and spares at The Mayfair Company Many more parts from The Mayfair Company An updated Ring Toss game from Skyscraper Novelty Co. A collection of Pinball Expo memorabilia from Tom Taylor The DFahlt Basement stand The TFK Enterprises stand The Abt home superstore stand Legends of Valhalla on the American Pinball stand Galactic Tank Force and Hot Wheels machines American Pinball merchandise and translites for sale The Pinball Place demonstrating the PinCrawler The Pinball Company and Pedretti brought seven Funhouse Remake games Jim Wilson’s 45 Records stand Sleeping Dragon Games’ stand The Two Consoles Too Late podcast stand Mezel Mods had their impressive range of game add-ons The Pinball Degenerates’ stand Paul E. Neimeyer’s stand The Unruly Quilter’s stand The Planetary Pinball Supply stand More from the Planetary Pinball Supply stand Rocket Replay Pinball’s stand Leaky Boat Entertainment’s stand Pinball Art USA setting up their stand Bitronic with their Tokyo Perfect Drift and Super Hoop machines Donley Auctions’ stand Chicago Gaming’s mix of Cactus Canyon and Pulp Fiction machines ATGames’s digital pinball stand There were snacks and meals available at the back of the hall The price list There was also a cash bar Three Galactic Tank Force games in their own gazebo AVS Home Arcade’s stand Retro-Cade’s custom cabinets Two The Uncanny X-Men LE machines – both sold The Filthy Games Room stand Assorted games for sale More random games and accessories for sale The Unruly Quilter’s stand The Gordo’s Collectibles stand Brandon Davis’s retro games tables More games from AVS Home Arcade Spooky Pinball had a large stand Four Texas Chainsaw Massacres plus a Scooby-Doo On the other side, four Looney Tunes and another Scooby-Doo The Spooky Pinball merchandise stand The Everything Games stand More pinballs on the Chicago Gaming stand Popcorn makers and signs from the Marquee Popcorn Company Neon signs from Marquee Popcorn A Stern Pinball Alley sign on the Kingpin Games stand Lots more pinball and video games and add-ons Elton John and Avatar games on the Jersey Jack Pinball stand More Elton John and Avatar games on the Jersey Jack Pinball stand Lots more retro and more-modern gaming consoles The Godfather and Toy Story 4 were available to play too A huge number of gaming cartridges for sale here Two Avatar Collectors Edition in their own UV lit gazebo Many more Avatar machines to play Two more Avatars on the Jersey Jack Pinball stand Four Ninja Eclipse games from Turner Pinball Pinball Brothers were promoting their Queen and Alien machines alongside ABBA A disco vibe on the Pinball Brothers stand The Holy Grail’s extensive stand Gr33nshell Games’ stand Operation Pinball had lots of free play pinballs More free play machines from Operation Pinball Turner Pinball’s promotional price for the first 100 Ninja Eclipse machines The Ice Cold Beer machines were very popular Plenty of cartridges at Triple G Gaming Illustration artworks from ArtFroh Many more games from DarkFusion Systems Bidders at the Captain’s Auction Toppers from The Electric Playground Video games for the auction Watching the auction The Pacific Pinball Museum had a stand Parts to repair your Atari console and games to play on it Outside Edge with their Hardtop playfield laminate They also sell artworked cornhole boards Beautiful restorations by Pinball Italy Steel Shot turned a few heads with their backlit bottom aprons Jim Schelberg gave away loads of plastics and flyers – this is all that was left by Saturday More items for the Project Pinball auction Project Pinball links Some very nice donated items Pinball Brothers had four ABBA machines on their stand Jeff Lee’s Stand Good Deal Games’s stand Think Quick Events’ stand Poor Man’s Podcast’s stand Vintage Coin-Op Restorations’ stand The Token Taverns stand Barry Evans’s stand John Hancock’s stand Murph’s Retro Gaming’s stand Mirco Playfields’ stand Replacement cabinets from Mirco Playfields The Pinball Scientist’s stand FAST Pinball’s stand The Project Pinball schedule of events Project Pinball High Score Contest The Freedom to Play tournament The Project Pinball Silent Auction Dutch Pinball Exclusive’s stand DPX’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Warped Pinball System 11 Wi-Fi board PinSound’s PinVision speaker lights PinSound’s replacement sound board and speakers Hexa Pinball’s Space Hunt PinDoc Restorations’ playfield rotisseries Chillie’s Freeze Dried Treats Super Skill Shot’s custom shooter rods Peter & Gary from Wonderland Amusements Wonderland Amusements’ prototype cabinet Multimorphic games on Wise Trailer’s stand P3 game modules on Wise Trailer’s stand X-Pin replacement boards The Flipper Room’s artworked T-shirts Alan-1, Inc’s Asteroid Recharged games Toppers from Lighted Pinball Mods Toppers and other models from Lighted Pinball Mods Bandai Namco’s stand Lit Kit Flippers’ stand Brian Allen’s display of his artwork Tilt Amusements were also selling shooter rods and full games Auction machines on free play Auction machines on free play Stern Pinball had the largest stand Assorted Stern Pinball machines Six The Uncanny X-Men games The special Danger Room A long line to play…? The new Metallica Remastered LE Six more The Uncanny X-Men machines The new Metallica Remastered The Ba Ba Buttons stand Ryan and Owen Claytor Eggbeater Toys’ stand Brett Weiss’s stand The Marco Specialties stand Marco parts could be ordered online The Little Flippers High Score Challenge Brad Albright’s artworks display The Gaming Crooner’s stand The Artovision stand The Escalera stair climber Build-A-Blinkie taught basic soldering skills The Graphic Dimensions stand featured two homebrew machines One of the most popular features in the exhibit hall is the display of homebrew machines – games made by hobbyists, in various stages of development from concept through to fully finished. This year, Pinball Expo boasted its largest ever display of homebrew machines. Here’s our gallery of the homebrew machines set up while we were touring the hall. The Greatest Showman Saw The Dukes of Hazzard Pokémon: Indigo League Sonic Spinball Boys Night Out Ghost in the Shell Atom Greek Gods Portal Daikaiju Harry Potter The Nightmare Before Christmas The Haunted Cruise The Magic Forest Disney Frozen Christmas Countdown Borderlands2 Pinball Led Zeppelin Tattoo Mystique Van Halen Overwatch Untitled racing game Trashland Green Out Hopped Up House of Flesh and Blood Multi-Pin Mothership Vox Machina Adventure Time The Dumpster Fire Towards the back of the main hall was the Tap 91 Game Room, home of the History of Pinball exhibition. Welcome to Tap 91 Game Room Inside were numerous games from around 1930. Many of them are mechanical marvels, including features which would reappear in much later pinball designs. Most of the games were fully playable, though they usually required a 5c coin in the slot in order to release the balls. Guidance to visitors to Tap 91 Game Room Here’s a look at many of the games available to play. There may have been others not included here, but these are the ones we saw when we visited. Royal Ball Spitfire Flying Colors Baseball World’s Series Major League Rapid Transit Chicago Express Signal Fleet Fleet The Pennant Merry-Go-Round Hop-Scotch Juggle Ball Relay Air Way Wings Builder Upper Star Lite Gridiron Esquire There were also two non-playable machines to help show the game’s evolution. A non-playable Hot-Shot game A non-playable Live Power Going further back, there was a billiards game which positively encouraged you to play it. A fully-playable billiards table Play Me! Also part of the decoration were an arrangement of pinball flyers and a banner with more information on the history of pinball and the games features at the show. Sample flyers Contact details for History of Pinball To wrap up all the pictures of the main hall above, here’s the Pinball News Forty-Seven Minute Tour video bringing you the machines, the manufacturers, the vendors, the homebrew games, the History of Pinball exhibit and the many extraordinary sights and sounds. In the main seminars room, Saturday is Sternday. The afternoon and evening schedule consists entirely of Stern Pinball presentations. However, before that there were plenty of interesting talks about other aspects of pinball. 9:00amSolid State Repair Tips – Mike Gullo Mike Gullo Although the title of Mike’s talk wasn’t what he had planned, his explanation of how to create test jigs to help you diagnose and repair electronic problems outside of the game certainly did encompass solid-state games as well as newer designs. 10:00amComics & Watches & Neon Oh My! Behind the Scenes of Ryan Claytor’s Pinball Art – Ryan Claytor Ryan Claytor Ryan first came to the pinball scene’s attention with his artwork in the Coin-Op Carnival publication, but he was at Pinball Expo this year as part of a broader look at his comic book art through his new book, One Bite At A Time. 11:00amRemembering the Old Times at Bally Pinball Development, 1975-1981 – Ray Gay Ray Gay Ray is a regular speaker at Pinball Expo, regaling the audience with tales from his time at Seeburg, Bally, Williams and Midway where he designed circuits and was a technical illustrator from 1965 until he retired in 2002. 12:00pmThe Man Who Brought Digital Printing to the Amusement Industry – Don Marshall Don Marshall Don Marshall came from the advertising business as a photographer, but became an amusement machine operator where he saw how primitive the game cabinet and backbox artwork was. He joined forces with Premier Technologies to apply the digital printing techniques from advertising to make pinball art quicker, cheaper and photo-realistic. 1:00pmThe Magic Behind Chrome Plating – Craig Bierman Craig Bierman Chrome plating gives a unique look, but as Craig explained, plating your pinball parts requires good money and plenty of patience. He described the different types of products which can be plated and the kind of finishes he can achieve. 2:00pmBuilding Pinball Machines from Scratch – Wally Gorczowisk Wally Gorczowisk Having recently refurbished a Funhouse, in 2010 Wally decided to build a Medieval Madness machine from scratch. Since then he’s built an Attack from Mars, a Cactus Canyon, a Monster Bash, a Scared Stiff, an Addams Family and an Indiana Jones. He told the audience how he made them. 3:00pmStarting Your Own Arcade & Routing Pinball & Arcade Games – Greg Yanish Greg Yanish Greg is a surgeon who decided to use his personal collection of games to open his own arcade. His Operation Pinball business has expanded to multiple locations and is now a distributor for nine different manufacturers. He described all the pitfalls and obstacles he encountered and how he overcame them. Unfortunately, we cannot bring you a recording of this seminar at the request of the speaker. 4:00pmGary Stern Presents: 40 Years of Pinball – Gary Stern Gary Stern Gary talks about his life in pinball, the ups and downs of the industry, the investors in Stern Pinball, and the importance of having outside skills brought in to boost the company, including the President and CEO, Seth Davis. Seth Davis Seth was on stage with Gary and he spoke about his background and how he sees the company developing in the future. 5:00pmThe Making of JAWS – Keith Elwin, Harrison Drake, Rick Naegle, Jerry Thompson, Elizabeth Gieske & David Liskovic The JAWS team Lead Game Designer, Keith Elwin, led this seminar about the Jaws pinball, looking at the evolution of the playfield design, the changes made along the way, the concept behind the ruleset and working with the video and audio assets from the movie. 6:00pmThe Making of John Wick – Elliot Eismin, Charlie Benante, Tim Sexton & Josh Henderson The John Wick team The second ‘making of’ seminar of the evening looks at how the John Wick game was made, from the original concept, the layout of game features and inserts, the multiple art packages and how the music was composed to support and drive the gameplay. 7:00pmThe Uncanny X-Men Seminar – Jack Danger, Waison Cheng, Kevin Kolodziej, Jerry Thompson, Jeremy Packer, David Liskovic & Team The team behind The Uncanny X-Men This third panel explored the making of The Uncanny X-Men, a game with many unusual design features. Lead Designer, Jack Danger, led the team as they each explained their role in the game, including the design of the Sentinel head mechanism and the artwork for the three versions. 8:00pmGreg Freres: A Career Retrospective – Greg Freres Greg Freres Greg Freres recently retired as Art Director at Stern Pinball after a long and distinguished career creating pinball artwork for Bally, Williams and Stern. In this seminar he looked back on his canon of work, highlighting the most notable games and the many other designers with whom he worked. 9:30pmLet’s Make A Deal – Dwight Sullivan & Team Dwight Sullivan The final seminar of Pinball Expo 2024 was the popular Let’s Make A Deal prize quiz hosted by Stern Pinball’s software and rules guru, Dwight Sullivan. Contestants drawn at random from the audience has the opportunity to win a Stern Pinball topper, big prize bundles, or nothing at all. That concludes our coverage of this year’s seminars at Pinball Expo 2024. You can watch, share and comment on all 27 hours of them on our YouTube channel in the special Pinball Expo 2024 playlist. At 1pm on Saturday, another regular Pinball Expo event took place in the Utopia A/B room, next door to the seminar rooms. That was the Autograph Session, where pinball industry people were available to sign pinball paraphernalia, including translites, playfields, posters, flyers and plastics. If guests didn’t have anything tangible to be signed, a signatures sheet was also available. The Autograph Session Last year the event took place in the Nirvana C room. However, that was being used for Saturday’s seminar, and it was also deemed too small for the Autograph Session, so the larger Utopia A/B room was employed instead. Tanio Klyce on one of the Stern Pinball tables Greg Freres heads up this table John Buras and Fred Young on another table Mark Seiden heads up the JJP line-up Jack Danger signs a The Uncanny X-Men translite Dwight Sullivan at the top of this Stern Pinball table There were lines for many of the most popular signatures The final aspect of our Pinball Expo coverage is the tournaments. There were multiple competitive events taking place throughout Pinball Expo, both in the main hall and in the tournaments room. As we have shown you, the main tournaments had a new home this year in a section of the Schaumburg Ballroom. The timings were also adjusted so that the Women’s Tournament and Main Tournament would finish on Saturday, with just the Classic Tournament’s finals taking place on Sunday. At least, that was the plan. As it transpired, the Women’s Tournament ran late into the night and a a winner wasn’t crowned until around 6am. Needless to say, we weren’t there to witness the final, but will bring you the results as soon as they have been submitted. The main Flip Out tournament also didn’t finish on Saturday but ran on until Sunday afternoon. The format involves an initial seeding round run on Wednesday and Thursday which most players can choose to play in or not. Those who do take part play a number 24 games on as many machines as possible to get their best score. Their overall ranking position determines their seeding in the main qualifying rounds. The top 50% of players from the seeding round make up the A Division and the rest the B Division. If a player doesn’t join the seeding round, they are automatically ranked at the bottom of B Division for the qualifying. Anyone in the top 250 of IFPA rankings has to play in the seeding round and must finish in the top half to qualify for the A division, as they cannot play in the B Division. That left Friday and Saturday to play the final rounds which began at 10am each day. Initially (phase 1) games were best-of-three head-to-head until there were just 24 players left, when Phase 2 began. Now it was double-elimination with best-of-five head-to-head in the winner bracket and best-of-three in the loser bracket. It took until 4:20pm on Sunday for the final two to face each other in the grand final. They were Jack Slovacek and Zach McCarthy. Zach got into the final as winner of the Winner Bracket having not lost a match. Jack lost his first match in Phase 2 but won every match since, to win the loser bracket. In typical double elimination style, Jack had to beat Zach twice in order win overall – one best-of five and one best-of-three – whereas Zach only had to win the one best-of-five match to triumph.As it transpire, Jack best Zach once to make them level, leaving a best-of-three to decide the winner. After winning one game each, the decider was held on Stranger Things. Whoever won this game would be the Pinball Expo Main Tournament winner for 2024. Jack Slovacek starts the last game of the final Jack began, and by the end of his third ball had a decent score of 178M. Zach McCarthy plays second Zach didn’t have much luck on his first two balls, meaning he went into the last ball of the final on just 17M with a target of 178M. He did improve, but couldn’t catch Jack, finishing on 85M and making Jack the winner. Zach congratulates Jack on his win Then it was time for the trophy presentations to the top four, all made by Tournament Director, Deborah Tahlman. Fourth place, Preston Currie Third place, Escher Lefkoff Runner-up, Zach McCarthy Winner, Jack Slovacek Jack won a brand new Stern Pinball machine for his prize. The top four in the Main Tournament You can watch the final rounds for yourself on the Fox Cities Pinball channel on Twitch. Here are the finishing positions for the top 32 players. 1stJack Slovacek2ndZach McCarthy3rdEscher Lefkoff4thPreston Currie5thDalton ElyJared August7thEric StoneAndy Bagwell9thNick WeynaSteve BowdenJason ZahlerAndrew Foard13thJohn IngmanCarlos DelaserdaArvid FlygareJosh Sharpe17thSterling MitoskaDerek PriceRaymond DavidsonZach SharpeKaylee CampbellAndrew Rosa IIZach ParksTyrus Eagle25thNate GrantBill MasonAdam LefkoffLogan Henderson29thCarleton PlourdeRoy WilsJohn MillerDavid Riel That only left the Classics Tournament to conclude. The last few rounds of this were running alongside the Main Tournament’s final. The Classics Tournament continued into Sunday afternoon Like the Main Tournament, the Classics went down to the wire, with the two finalists – Josh Sharpe (winner of the loser bracket) and Zach Parks (winner of the winner bracket) facing each other once in a best-of-five, which Josh won, and again in a best of three to decide the overall winner. We waited as long as we could to catch the final, but eventually had to leave for a dinner engagement before Zach finally defeated Josh to take the win. So, thanks to Jim Schelberg for sticking it out and taking pictures of the top two. Fourth place, Bob Matthews Third place, Nick Campbell Runner-up, Josh Sharpe Winner of the Classics Tournament, Zachary Parks The top two in the Classics Tournament If we get any more tournament information we’ll bring it to you right here, but while the tournaments were concluding, the last of the stands in the main hall were being dismantled and paced away. The show’s over, folks… The final few games get shipped out But, that concludes our Pinball Expo coverage for this year. Without doubt, this was the biggest and best Pinball Expo ever, with more show space, more vendor stands, more seminars, more factory tours, more days, more… well, you get the idea. It was certainly wholly fitting for this special fortieth anniversary of the world’s biggest pinball show. It was evident to everyone just how much planning and organisation had gone into this year’s Pinball Expo, and it certainly all paid off, with masses of plaudits and almost no complaints, We hope you’ve enjoyed our coverage too. With so much taking place it’s impossible to cover everything, but we hope with our reporting including more than 470 pictures, 43 videos and 19 audio recordings you got a great feel for just how huge Pinball Expo was this year. We’ll be back next year, when Pinball Expo returns to its regular four day format, starting with the Bumper Blast on Wednesday 15th October and concluding on the Saturday night. Put it in your diary for 2025 We hope you can make it too.