Date: 1st - 3rd November 2024 Location: NH Congrescentrum, Locht 117, 5504 RM Veldhoven, Netherlands Welcome back to Veldhoven for the Dutch Pinball Open Expo 2024, held by the Nederlandse Flipper Vereniging or the NFV, or the Dutch Pinball Association. The logo for the Dutch Pinball Open Expo 2024 This is their 25th annual Dutch Pinball Open Expo. Not all have been ‘Expos’, as that nomenclature reflects a relatively recent expansion of the format dating back to the 2014 show at De Voorste Venne in Drunen when a large number of free play machines were added alongside the core Dutch Pinball Open tournament, and a number of seminars held in the presentation theatre. This year we probably have the greatest number of seminar speakers ever at a Dutch Pinball Open Expo. For those who remember the appearance of a single special guest speaker from the US being a memorable event will be overwhelmed by this year’s line-up, where representatives from six different manufacturers are all speaking here in Veldhoven. We have (in alphabetical order) Barrels of Fun, Dutch Pinball Exclusive, Hexa Pinball, Jersey Jack Pinball, Pinball Brothers and Stern Pinball all represented and giving talks in the Baroniezaal (Baronial Hall). But before all that though, we said at the very start of this report, “Welcome back”. That’s because this year’s Dutch Pinball Open Expo is being held at the same NH Koningshof Convention Centre as last year. NH Congrescentrum in Veldhoven Traditionally, the Dutch Pinball Open was held in a different part of the country each year to give all members of the NFV the opportunity to attend, if not this year then the next. However, now it has become a much larger event, the logistics of staging a Dutch Pinball Open Expo mean once a suitable venue has been found the temptation is to return the following year unless that becomes impractical. Almost everyone agreed that the new venue for last year’s Dutch Pinball Open Expo was very successful, so there was strong support to return for this year’s event. Friday So, here we are back at the NH Convention Centre in Veldhoven on the outskirts of the city of Eindhoven. The entrance to the hotel part of the complex In last year’s report we thoroughly described the facilities provided in this huge complex, so we won’t cover that ground again this year. Suffice to say, it provides a large number of hotel rooms alongside numerous meeting rooms and event halls, two of which (Genderzaal and Kempenzaal) are joined together to host the Dutch Pinball Open Expo 2024. However, this year things have been changed up a little with a third hall added and joined to the previous two to make an even larger single space. The DPO Expo uses the areas in bright green on the left So, what did those rooms look like when we got to the NH Congrescentrum at midday on Friday? The main Dutch Pinball Open Expo show hall The other half of the space For those who remember last year’s arrangement of machines, things have moved around this year. The end of the hall which was home to the rows and rows of free play machines has been extended and is now home to all the tournaments – Open, Classic, Women’s, Youth. The end which previously had the tournament machines is now the free play zone. Machines for the tournaments are amongst the first to be set up All machines in the hall have a sticker on their base indicating whether they are for use in the tournaments area, if so which tournament, or if they are destined for the free play area. The tournaments area More machines are brought in Jim and Dina setting up the streaming equipment with help from Peter The the central part of the halls we have the vendor stands and also the dining area. The Dutch Pinball Open Expo is unusual in having the rest and relaxation area mixed in with the games, meaning you don’t need to leave the hall if you want to sit down and eat a meal or drink a beer. Some of the newer titles on the vendor stands Two Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland machines are here There are a few homebrew machines here too All the tables in the refreshments area have acquired flower vases Stefan from RS Pinball brought a nice selection of machines from different manufacturers The entrance to the show isn’t from the NH hotel end of the complex which is nearest the main road, but at entirely the opposite end. Guests trying to enter through the hotel have a useful sign directing them to the real DPO Expo entrance. The entrance to the tournament area Some of the main tournament machines More main tournament machines The main tournament machines have machine numbers on them Not this way to the DPO Expo The Beneluxfoyer is where DPO Expo guests enter the complex and either register for the show or collect their pre-registered entry packs. The registration desk doesn’t open until later this afternoon for tournament players and at 10am on Saturday for everyone else. The Beneluxfoyer where the DPO Expo reception will be sited These banners will be flying outside the entry doors once registration opens Assorted banners for the show Save yourself some time if you are visiting and read this first Also in the entrance foyer is the payment machine for car parking. If you are not a hotel guest, there is a ticket-issuing entry barrier on the way in and a charge to park in the large number of parking spaces. Don’t forget to pay as you leave Car parking charges Talking to the show organisers, they were keen to mention how helpful the NH hotel had been in working with them to make the DPO Expo a success, with a lot of proactive measures taken to brand the venue. These include the event logo shown on signs all around the building, and even adding coloured lighting to match the DPO Expo logo’s colours of blue, yellow and red. The reception area outside the main hall is suitably branded As is the seminars room(We will swap the colours around before the seminars begin on Saturday) The sign outside the seminars room At 6pm the Team Tournament began on a couple of banks of machines just outside the main tournament area. Players in the Team Tournament on Friday evening Over in the main Dutch Pinball Open area, the players were given a briefing about how the format works and what to do if there are any issues. There were six groups of 13 players where everyone played a single game against each of the others in their group for a total of 12 games. The two players with the most wins in each group automatically moved on to Sunday’s play-offs. The twenty four third-placed players from each group played a shoot-out single game. The sixteen highest scorers also qualified for Sunday’s play-offs. Dutch Pinball Open qualifying players are briefed by the Tournament Director To speed things up, the highest-ranked player in each match always played second. That way, if they didn’t need to play their final ball as they had already won, the game could be ended and the next game begun. The first qualifying session gets underway Qualifying rounds for the Dutch Pinball Open continued all through Saturday with the final rounds starting at 10am on Sunday. The Team Tournament did finish on Friday night though. The show hall had closed to everyone but the Team Tournament players and their supporters as the final two teams of four played out the final. Those two teams were Netherlands 4 and The Dan Lewell Experience from the UK. The final was played in the same way as the qualifying and semi-final rounds where there are three stages. In the first, each player plays a single game against a player from the opposing team. That means four two-player games, with the winner getting 1 point. The second stage is split-flipper games, with two players from each team playing a single game against two opposition players, with each player controlling one of the flippers. The winning side gets two points. By the end of the second stage of the final both sides had 4 points, meaning the third stage would decided the winning team. The third stage was a combination of the first two stages. Balls 1 and 2 were played by two players from each team. Ball three was played split-flipper by the remaining two team members. In this third stage, The Dan Lewell Experience triumphed to win the Team Tournament. The Netherlands 4 team were second, while in the play-off for third place it was France 2 who won, beating the Antwerp Pinball Bastards into 4th place. Winners of the Team Tournament, The Dan Lewell ExperienceGene Aw, Dan Lewell, Josh Iles & Martyn Iles The trophy presentations brought the first day of this 25th anniversary Dutch Pinball Open Expo to a close. Saturday While Friday was only open for tournament players, Saturday is the first day the show opens to everyone. It was a damp start to the weekend The main hall opened at 10am, but because the second qualifying group for the Dutch Pinball Open tournament also began playing at 10am, those players were allowed in early to collect their player badges and receive their briefing from the Tournament Director. Player badges for both the main Open and Classic tournaments Players in the second qualifying group are briefed on the rules and how problems are handled Back in the lobby area, show guests could collect their pre-purchased tickets, or buy entry at the desk. Dutch Pinball Open Expo visitors wait to collect their pre-purchased tickets Visitors get their wristbands Once past reception, guests have the opportunity to buy a few copies of the NFV magazine, Spinner, as well as a couple of Dutch pinball books. NFV members receive Spinner magazine, but non-members could buy copies Posters, flyers and seminar schedules were also available Various vendors and free play machines were set up in the corridor leading to the main show hall. Pinball Eindhoven brought these eight machines for free play On the opposite side, the Digital Pinball Championship was being run The Digital Pinball Championship was run on these machines A little further down, Eric Boes had his selection of pinball flyers, posters and documentation On the opposite side, LED4Pin had a large range of LED replacement lamps Moving down the corridor, PinSound had their stand with machines fitted with their sound boards and other mods You could buy PinSound boards and adaptors from their stand Next to Pinsound was Mirco Playfields. Replacement playfields and display seconds were available to purchase Display seconds were available as decorative items A demonstration of the strength of the clearcoat At the end of the corridor, there were free play machines More free play machines Entering the main show hall, one of the first games encountered is ABBA from Pinball Brothers which was on RS Pinball’s impressively large stand. Both models of Pinball Brothers’ ABBA machines were at the show and available to buy ABBA and other Pinball Brothers titles on the RS Pinball stand Spooky Pinball machines were also on the RS-Pinball stand Homepin and Pinball Adventures machines were also on the stand Pinball Adventures’ The Punny Factory had the black embossed cabinet Barrels of Fun’s Labyrinth was on the RS Pinball stand too Next to RS Pinball, Loose Flip were selling their distinctive artworked clothing. The Loose Flip stand Over on the other side of the hall, Dutch Pinball had their The Big Lebowski available to play. Dutch Pinball’s The Big Lebowski Back near the entrance, Pinball Pleasure had brought a couple of new Avatar: The Battle for Pandora machines Many of the latest Stern Pinball titles were here too Insider Connected leader boards were running for the show Carl Jacobs brought the selection of Stern Pinball titles You could also get lots of common replacement parts More pinball parts Mods were available too As were Stern Pinball toppers If you needed to add Insider Connected to your game, you could get the kit here High Voltage Pinball had a selection of modern titles too Including these Spooky Pinball games The Pro and Premium models of John Wick were both here Pinball Universe were featuring American Pinball and Jersey Jack Pinball on their stand Galactic Tank Force alongside Guns N’ Roses and Elton John Another Elton John game with The Godfather Pinball Universe’s parts business, PU-parts, was well-represented here The far end wall featured many more free play games These virtual pinball controller boxes are a quick way to add real flipper buttons and even a shooter rod More of the many free play machines More of the many free play machines More of the many free play machines More of the many free play machines More of the many free play machines Tools for Pinball had, well… The Dutch Pinball Museum had a display on the history of the game The Dutch Pinball Museum also brought this fascinating pneumatic Perspex pinball On the reverse side of their stand, the Dutch Pinball Museum had a display of historic pin games ‘Jeu de Roi’ spinning top game Ballyhoo by Bally Fleet Jr. by Bally Humpty Dumpty by Gottlieb Rapid Transit by Chicago Coin Beacon by Stoner In the homebrew section there were four pinballs, Space Singularity, Hypnotron II, Metal Legends plus a Big Bang Bar built from scratch. Space Singularity Hypnotron II The game uses a projector to create the playfield art and information The development of the Metal Legends game Metal Legends This Big Bang Bar started with an Airborne game but was built by hand using existing and custom-made parts If you don’t have space for a full game, Arcade Furniture have you covered Wijnants Speelautomaten had both models of Pedretti’s Funhouse Remake on their stand The Midnight Limited Edition of the Funhouse Remake They also had Chicago Gaming’s Cactus Canyon Remake and Pup Fiction The Hexa Pinball team were here with their Space Hunt game Two Space Hunt games – Elegance and Classic editions Dutch Pinball Exclusive had their large banner promoting their Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland game They brought two machines to the show Assorted DP and DPX merchandise for sale You can experience the 25th anniversary Dutch Pinball Open Expo for yourself with our exclusive Pinball News Twenty-Three Minute Tour video walk around the show. A short walk from the main show hall is the Baroniezaal where all the seminars were held. These began at midday on Saturday and ran through until 10pm, with five repeat appearances on Sunday between midday and 5pm. The seminars room We have videos of all of Saturday’s seminar talks except the So You Think You Know Pinball? prize quiz at 9pm on Saturday which we were co-hosting with Pinball Magazine. At the time of writing, some videos are still uploading but will be available as soon as they have completed. 12:00pmHexa Pinball – Aurélie Cosledan & Alexandre Mak Alexandre Mak & Aurélie Cosledan The team from Hexa Pinball in Bordeau in France talked about the creation of the company and the design of their first pinball, Space Hunt. 1:00pmPinball Brothers – Daniel Janson & Christian Ståhlberg Christian Ståhlberg & Daniel Janson Christian and Daniel described how their current title, ABBA, was conceived and developed. They also spoke about new features coming soon to ABBA as well as their previous titles. 2:00pmBarrels of Fun – David van Es David van Es Barrels of Fun’s CEO, David van Es, related the story of the company’s formation and the pitch they put together to convince The Jim Henson Company to licence the Labyrinth movie to their pinball startup. 3:00pmDutch Pinball Museum – Mischa de Muynck Mischa de Muynck Mischa explained the Dutch Pinball Museum’s history and their mission to appeal both to pinball fans and those looking for an entertaining time while visiting Rotterdam, while also educating them on the history of the game. 4:00pmJersey Jack Pinball – Jean-Paul de Win & Olaf Gremie Olaf Gremie & Jean-Paul de Win Jean-Paul talked about his work for Jersey Jack Pinball, designing display graphics and art directing across all ten of the company’s titles, while Olaf described the display graphics work he did, with an emphasis on the Elton John game. 5:00pmJersey Jack Pinball – Jack Guarnieri Jack Guarnieri Jack looked back at how he began in the pinball business repairing location machines, before moving on to the creation of his Pinball Sales business and the many limited edition models for which he was responsible. He then looked at the formation of Jersey Jack Pinball and development of their first title, The Wizard of Oz. 7:00pmDutch Pinball Exclusive – Melvin Brouwer-Williams & Barry Driessen Melvin Brouwer-Williams & Barry Driessen Melvin explained the history of the Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland game and how he designed a working playfield based on John Popadiuk’s incomplete foamcore model. He described how he wanted the game to turn out and how he and Barry created the Dutch Pinball Exclusive brand for limited-run titles. 8:00pmStern Pinball – Gary Stern Gary Stern Gary looked back on his career in pinball from the age of two, highlighting a few key games and how the business he co-founded had grown from Data East Pinball, through Sega Pinball, to Stern Pinball. He talked about how the company has evolved as the market has changed, and where the future of pinball lies. 9:00pmSo You Think You Know Pinball? – Jonathan Joosten & Martin Ayub Martin Ayub & Jonathan Joosten(picture: Winfred de Ruijter) Martin and Jonathan returned with tables of prizes to give away in their So You Think You Know Pinball? quiz. Players simply needed to choose the correct answer to a series of questions from the two provided to continue playing in each round. As soon as there were on a few contestants left, they all were awarded prizes and the next round began with the whole audience taking part again. Over in the tournaments area, while qualification rounds in the main Dutch Pinball Open continued with three sessions of six groups each at 10am, 1:15pm and 4:30pm, there were also side tournaments for PinGolf and Flip Frenzy running all day in dedicated areas by the entrance. The PinGolf machines The best scores were posted on a noticeboard by the entrance The main focus for Saturday, though, was the Classic Tournament. Awards for the top three in the Classic Tournament Qualification for the Classic Tournament began at 10am and continued until 7pm, after which the play-offs began. Play-offs in the Classic Tournament The final was a four-player affair with Daniele Celestino Acciari, Nathan Garwood, Roy Wils and Viggo Löwgren. The four finalists in the Classic TournamentDaniele Celestino Acciari, Nathan Garwood, Roy Wils and Viggo Löwgren The final consisted of three four-player games with 4-2-1-0 scoring. The first of those games was played on a Stern Magic and it was won by Daniele, with Roy second, Viggo third and Nathan fourth. Play then moved on to the second machine, a Williams Tri Zone. The second game is played on Tri Zone Tri Zone produced a similar result, with just Roy and Viggo swapping second and third places. That outcome meant Daniele had a guaranteed win with his 8 points. Roy and Viggo had 3 points each with Nathan yet to score. The last game was played on Star Gazer, and this time the win went to Viggo, with Roy second, Nathan third and Daniele fourth. So, Daniele won, Viggo was second, Roy third and Nathan fourth. Prizes were awarded by overall DPO Tournament Director, Victor Stulemeijer. Fourth place, Nathan Garwood Third place, Roy Wils Second place, Viggo Löwgren Classic Tournament winner, Daniele Celestino Acciari The top four in the Classic Tournament Here are the full results of the DPO Classic Tournament 2024: 1Daniele Celestino Acciari2Viggo Löwgren3Roy Wils4Nathan Garwood5Rob Overdijk6Niels Zera’at Kariefard7Kjell Erik Husom8Philippe Craul9Rene Dorr10Mika Marttinen10John van der Wulp12Frank Frohn12Wilbert Der Kinderen14Ralf Behr14Didier Gilbin16Bart Rasing17Timber Engelbeen18Arthur de Jong19Ian Clarke19Paul Englert19Luukas Marttinen22Julian Falhof22Tom Verbruggen22Daan Rosvelds22Sven Lathwesen22Hugo Feuilloley27Mark van der Gugten28Bas Vis28Guido Christiansen28Balázs Pálfi28Frédéric Heouairi32Emil ED Dreiborg Victor Stulemeijer with Classic Tournament organiser, Linda Schellen With all the show action finished for the day, it was off to the bar to celebrate a successful first full day of the Dutch Pinball Open Expo 2024. Time to visit the Abdijbar Sunday Sunday morning appeared busier that Saturday morning, with plenty of show guests streaming into the main hall as soon as doors opened at 10am. The main hall was soon busy on Sunday morning Although the main Dutch Pinball Open would conclude later today, there were also new PinGolf and Flip Frenzy tournaments to play, while the Classic Tournament area had been given a makeover to become the home of the Youth Tournament. The venue for the Youth Tournament The Youth Tournament was split by age into three division; 8 years and under, 9 to 11 and 12 to 16. Several new machines had been brought into the former Classic Tournament area for the younger competitors to play. Players in the Youth Tournament Players in the Youth Tournament In the youngest category it was a win for Len Leeman , with Kyle Hendriks second, Lisanne Carson third and Merlyn Elsermans fourth. The top players in the 8 years and under division(picture: NFV) The 9 to 11 years division saw Adrian Darwin triumph, ahead of Pim Kalfschoten, with Seth Leeman third and Kaito van Beek fourth. The top four in the 9 to 11 years division(picture: NFV) Finally, the 12 years and above division was won by Raphael, with Robin second, Juna third and Victor fourth. The top players in the 12 years and above division(picture: NFV) In the main Dutch Pinball Open tournament, 64 players qualified for Sunday’s play-offs. They were split into 16 groups of 4 to play on 3 machines using the 4-2-1-0 scoring system. The top 2 from each group moved on to the next round. Those 32 played another round in the same format to reduce the number to 16 for the quarter-finals. Then the same again to determine the semi-final 8 and then again for the final 4. Those final 4 were Daniele Celestino Acciari and Taco Wouters from the first semi-final, plus Paul Englert and JP Congnard from the second semi-final. The three games they would play in the final were Elektra, Indianapolis 500 and Deadpool. As the lowest-ranked player, Paul started, with Daniele in the player 2 spot, Taco as player 3 and JP player 4. Paul begins the first game of the final Most people in the tournament area were watching the final on monitors showing the live stream by JDL Pinball. Watching the live stream of the final Jim and Gene commentating on the final Going into the third ball, Paul was slightly ahead on 339K with Taco second on 283K, JP third on 224K and Daniele fourth on 115K. However, on his final ball JP had a great Elektra Time bonus period and boosted his score ahead of Paul to take the win with 1.274M. Paul was second on 1.001M, with Taco third and Daniele fourth. The second game was Indianapolis 500, and it was Taco who took immediate charge of the game, putting up a huge ball 1 score of 838M, something he had doubled by the end of his third ball. Taco has a great first ball of game two Paul started to close in but drained his last ball on 1.1B and took second place again to stay in contention, with JP third and Daniele fourth. That put JP and Taco on 5 points going into the last game on Deadpool, with Paul just a point behind. If one of those three won third game, they would win overall. Unfortunately, with the clock showing 6pm we had to leave the final and the Dutch Pinball Open Expo 2024 for the airport and our flight home to the UK. Back in the hall, Daniele began on Deadpool but didn’t have much luck with his 5M on ball 1. JP did likewise on 8M, but Paul had a rather better ball for 40M, but Taco only scored 5M. Nobody put up much of a score on their second ball, meaning the third ball began with Paul’s 46M well ahead of Taco’s 18M and JP’s 10M. Daniele’s luck didn’t improve on his third ball and he ended his game on just 8M for last place. JP needed a decent final ball to overtake Paul’s 46M, and for a while it looked like he might, but he tilted out on 39M. Paul had a very decent third ball, starting Katana-Rama multiball and boosting his score up to a very creditable 188M. It was a tall order for Taco to catch that score, starting on 18M, and indeed he had a very short third ball with no ball saver to end on 19M, making Paul the winner on 8 points. JP’s 39M earned him second overall on 7 points. Taco took third overall with Daniele fourth. Third place, Taco Wouters(picture: NFV) Second place, JP Cognard(picture: NFV) Dutch Pinball Open 2024 winner, Paul Englert(picture: NFV) Prizes and flowers for the top three(picture: NFV) The final standings for the 64 qualifiers were: 1Paul Englert2JP Congnard3Taco Wouters4Daniele Celestino Acciari5Kurt Louwie6Timber Engelbeen6John van der Wulp8Bart Rasing9Peter Blakemore9Dominique De Cock11Erik Palfi11Alexandre Bouet11Roy Wils14Norbert Broman14Carlo Vijn16Torkel Husom17Joshua Iles17Mike Christiansen17Jim Lindsay UK17Rob Overdijk21Axel Vercauteren21Paul Jongma21Helen de Haan-Verbeek24Ralf Fleuren24Michel Rorive26Ivan Geentjens26Albert Medaillon26Guido Christiansen26Christophe Sibiak30Eric Hoenig30Hugo Feuilloley32Dirk Klaver33Jorn Dujardin33Mika Marttinen33Pontus Qvarfordh33Nicolas Linque37Bart Volman37Lefman Kan37Glenn Pellis37Emil ED Dreiborg37Victor Stulemeijer37Barry Hoeben37Didier Dujardin37Louis Hänsch45Emmanuel Jolivet45Hervé Pierru45Daan Rosvelds45Quentin Binet45Carsten Wieske45Nicolai Vad45Jeremy Delerue45Julia Palfi45Andreas Hedström54Nathan Garwood54Anders Helboe Poulsen54Wilbert Der Kinderen54Michael Reuter58Craig Pullen58Thomas Doepelheuer58Emily Stokes58Jan Feth58Thomas Behr58Clément Cloarec64Martijn van Amsterdam And with that the Dutch Pinball Open Expo 2024 drew to a close. We hope you’ve enjoyed our coverage and we look forward to returning next year for the 26th annual event. As soon as we get confirmation of the dates and the venue we’ll put all the details in the Pinball News Diary. In the meantime, don’t forget to check out the seminar videos above or on our YouTube channel, and catch our Pinball Industry News PINcast we recorded with Jonathan Joosten from Pinball Magazine live from the seminars room at the DPO Expo.
