PINBALL NEWS DIARY

Pinball Expo is newly-relaunched for 2018, including the Stern Pinball factory tour, seminars, tournaments, vendors, large games room, exhibits and much more.

New for Pinball Expo 2018: The “24 Hour Game Hall” will start Thursday, October 18th at 6:00 pm until Saturday, October 20th at Midnight.

Note:  Only the tournaments continue into Sunday.  Pinball Expo vendor, games and seminar halls close Saturday night.

There will be a $20 daily door fee, with all games in the building set to free play.

Featuring the main tournament, a classics tournament, Pin-kemon tournament, Knockout tournament and a women’s tournament! Estimated $6,000 in prizes based on last year’s payouts.

Schedule of events:

Thursday October 25th
5:00 PM Doors Open
5:00 PM Qualifying for Main Tournament, Classics, and Women’s tournament begins.
Midnight: Doors close for the night.

Friday October 26th
2:00 PM Doors Open
2:00 PM Qualifying for Main tournament, Women’s Tournament, and Classics Tournament begins.
4:00 PM Qualifying for Pin-kèmon begins.
Midnight: Doors close for the night.

Saturday October 27th
10:00 AM Doors Open. Qualifying for Main, Classics, Womens, and Pin-kèmon re-opens.
3:00 PM Qualifying ends for Women’s Tournament. Playoffs begin.
6:00 PM Qualifying ends for Classics Tournament. Playoffs begin.
9:00 PM Qualifying ends for Pin-kèmon. Playoffs begin.
11:00 PM Last entries for main tournament sold. Players who have volunteered at least 4 hours of scorekeeping may purchase entries until midnight.
1:00 AM Doors Close for the night. No new games for the main tournament can be started.

Sunday October 28th

10:00 AM Doors Open.
10:30 AM Main tournament playoffs begin
3:00 PM 4 Strike Tournament Begins
9:00 PM Doors close

Home of the Northern Lights Pinball’s biggest display of machines.

Just as we’ve added to our arcade sectrion for this RETRO SPECIAL, we’re also increasing the number of pinballs at the show. In fact we will have five times as many pins at PLAY Expo Blackpool this year!

Seattle’s longest running pinball tournament! This will be the last Shorty’s Annual at this location (they are moving down the street)!

Hosted by Germain Mariolle and Dwayne Collins, with special guest commentators Todd “Big Mac” MacCulloch and “Mr Boom Shakalaka” Tim Kitzrow!

For the qualifying part, we will have an a 4 player style Matchplay qualifying similar to the Emerald City cup (Balanced pairing, 7-5-3-1 scoring, 7-4-1 in case of 3 players group, game and position on game chosen at random). We will run UP TO 8 Matchplay rounds (less if attendance is putting us behind schedule, no qualifying round would start after 7:15PM).

The top 16 players (Tie breaker based on most 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th place finish in that order, if needed ranking from previous rounds will be used) at the end of the qualifying would move on to a seeded Head-to-Head single elimination bracket best out of 3 finals!

Similar to the previous format, the game will be chosen at random with position of play chosen by the winner of a coin flip. The loser then get to choose position for the next match in the best of 3. First person to win 2 match moves onto the next round. The format continues until the winner is decided.

Winner of the looser bracket would need to win against winner with 2 consecutive best out of 3 rounds.

Grand finals will be played on the prize machine.

Free Play Florida is an exciting three day event that encompasses a complete pinball, arcade, and console gaming experience. All of your classic and current pinball and arcade games will be on display for you to play, join the International Flipper Pinball Association (IFPA) sanctioned Main, Classics & Women’s pinball tournament and compete with the best in the state of Florida, sit in on our speaker panels that include industry icons, and visit our valued vendors selling parts, memorabilia, and some of the coolest themed art on the planet!

Free Play Florida is brought to you by Byte Amusement Group, Inc. Byte Amusement Group is a 501c3 Organization, with the objective to produce educational, family oriented events whose proceeds provide charitable assistance to local non-profit organization and people in need. To seek living individuals of historical significance in the creation, art, and manufacturing of amusement machines and allow them to relate their stories through a public venue; to provide educational opportunities about pinball, arcade and consoles, including mathematics, physics, electricity, and the history as reflected in the technology and art of amusement machines.

DPO is the biggest pinball event in The Netherlands, if you are in any way involved in pinball it’s a must-visit event. What to expect?

• About 150 games, all on free play
• Main tournament (open entry, anyone can join)
• Various ‘side-games’, such as the classics match
• Lectures
• Vendors

These are the prices for entry to the DPO Expo and for the tournaments:

• Entrance Saturday: € 15,00;
• Entrance Sunday: € 15,00;
• Entrance Weekend : € 30,00;
• Participation main tournament: € 20,00 (excl. entrance);
• Participation ladies tournament: € 10,00 (excl. entrance);
• Participation kids tournament (max 15 yr): € 0,00 (excl. entrance);
• Entry Classic Match: € 3,00 per entry (3 pinballs, 3 balls per game);
• Participation Swiss match: € 5,00 (no pre-sale, excl. entrance);
• Package deal 1 (only pre-sale, before October 1st): weekend entrance + special DPO shirt + poster: € 50,00;
• Package deal 2 (only pre-sale, before October 1st): weekend entrance + main tournament + special DPO shirt + poster: € 70,00;
• Kids up to 11 years of age get free entrance, they need to be accompanied by an adult (max. 3 children per adult).

Conference from Monday 12th to Friday 16th, trade show from Tuesday 13th to Friday 16th.

Deliver compelling guest experiences and build on your success at IAAPA Attractions Expo 2018. You’ll discover fun, future trends, and the forward thinking it takes to increase attendance, grow revenue, and deliver the cutting-edge entertainment today’s guests demand. Here, you’ll see what’s next, learn what’s new, and hear what’s working from peers and leaders from around the globe.

More details to be announced in September, but this is the annual Romanian Pinball Open and IFPC ECS qualifying event.

The annual UK amusement and coin-op trade show is bacckk at ExCel London in the Docclands area of the capital.

Often a launchpad for various companies’ new releases, expect a presence from Stern Pinball on the Electrocoin stand, Jersey Jack and Chiccago Gaming on the Pinball Heaven stand, and some surprise pinball-related products.

Featuring the main Dutch Pinball Masters tournament, a Classics tournament, a Team tournament and a 4-Strikes Knockout tournament.  Maximum prize money of €1,000 for the winner of the DPM and €500 for the Classics winner.

Held at the Dutch Pinball Association (NFV) Clubhouse in Veenendaal, there are also free play practice machines and a cafe/bar on-site.

The annual sprint amusement and coin-op trade show returns to Las Vegas in 2019. Conferences begin on Tuesday 26th, with the show starting a day later and running into Thursday.

There is usually an IFPA tournament held at the same time, and entry to the tournament gives free entry to the trade show too.

The third major pinball event in Munich since those in 2003 & 2006.

More Information coming soon.

Around 400 pinball and video games fill the Greater Tacoma Convention and Trade Center’s hall along with multiple tournaments and a wide variety of vendors, while seminars take place in the lobby outside.

See our reports from the past few years in the Shows section for a good overview.

Note that the 2019 dates are a week earlier in the year than in the past couple of years, avoiding clashes with other US shows.

Same location as the previous three years but dates have changed from usual mid-June due to hotel scheduling conflicts.

Hotel rooms available for $129 per night.  Book early as these usually sell out.

Online registration is now open, but only for full three-day passes at the time of writing.

The UK’s national pinball show returns for a second year to the familiar surroundings of the Mercure Daventry Court Hotel.

More than 100 machines are expected, with more details on special announcements nearer the time

VIP-only sessions are held on Friday and Saturday evenings, and a tournament is also planned.