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<\/a>WEDNESDAY<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The show doesn’t open to the public until Friday afternoon, but we’re here from Wednesday to bring you the build-up and show how this 20th anniversary Texas Pinball Festival is coming together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We’ll update this report from now until the show closes and beyond, to make sure you get all the news and excitement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n First though, a little about the venue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The show is held in the Frisco Conference Center which is attached to, but separate from, the Embassy Suites hotel. The Embassy Suites is the main show hotel and as such sells out almost immediately rooms for the next show become available, but the area has a plethora of lodging options. Paradoxically, the walk from the Embassy Suites to the Conference Center is sufficiently long, some alternative hotels are actually closer to the Conference Center.<\/p>\n\n\n The Embassy Suites and the Conference Center are closely linked in other ways though, and the Texas Pinball Festival effectively takes over both for the duration of the show. Indeed, the Pinball News and Pinball Magazine joint quiz, So You Think You Know Pinball?<\/em> takes place in the bar of the Embassy Suites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also, the parking garage for the hotel and the Conference Center has been specially branded for this year’s Texas Pinball Festival.<\/p>\n\n\n For those not staying at the Embassy Suites, the Conference Center has its own entrance.<\/p>\n\n\n A number of the parking spaces outside the Conference Center have been blocked off, presumably in preparation for Saturday’s swap meet, organised by the DFW Pinball & Arcade Club<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n So, that’s the venue. What about the show?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, as of Wednesday lunchtime there isn’t much to show you other than a mostly-empty hall?<\/p>\n\n\n Some setting up is under way. A selection of machines from Stern Pinball provided by FUN! Billiards and Gameroom Superstore<\/a> are already in the hall, while a few others are trickling in.<\/p>\n\n\n By this time tomorrow we expect the hall to be buzzing as companies prepare their stands in preparation for the opening on Friday. The organisers have been preparing for this special 20th anniversary show since the close of last year’s show, and we can expect a few changes. For one thing, if you’ve attended the Texas Pinball Festival in recent years, the floor layout will be a little different this time.<\/p>\n\n\n The Seminar Room is still in the same place though, and we’ll be reporting on the extensive schedule of presentations taking place there on Friday and Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n THURSDAY<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Thursday is the main set-up day for the show floor.<\/p>\n\n\n With the booths marked out on the floor yesterday, the dividers are going in as more machines and parts arrive. There are also ceiling-hung banners to mark out many of the stands to help guests locate them.<\/p>\n\n\n The Stern Pinball machines we showed above are still in their boxes while the joint Marco\/FUN! stand is built.<\/p>\n\n\n At the back of the hall is the loading bay where trucks back-up and disgorge their contents of machines and parts. <\/p>\n\n\n As usual, there are four staging points where unloaded games can be stacked before moving to their final destination in the hall. This speeds up the unloading process and frees up the loading bay for the next truck.<\/p>\n\n\n By late afternoon things were taking shape, with most exhibitors hoping to set up their stand by the end of the day.<\/p>\n\n\n Dave Peck’s Mot\u00f6rhead homebrew game was also on the Spooky Pinball stand. It uses the same control system as Spooky games and includes assistance from some of the Spooky team members. Could this be a future Spooky release?<\/p>\n\n\n The Chicago Gaming stand is directly in front of what had previously been the main hall entrance. This has now been moved along the corridor towards the Seminars Room.<\/p>\n\n\n Not all the action takes place in the main hall though. There are vendor stands outside in the corridor, there’s the Seminars Room and, of course, the many tournaments being held in their own dedicated space.<\/p>\n\n\n The Seminars Room looks pretty much unchanged from previous shows, with a stage for the speakers and plenty of seating.<\/p>\n\n\n As in other recent shows, the tournament have their own dedicated space one floor up on the corridor from the hotel to the main hall. The location is not immediately visible unless you know it’s there, but those taking part know where to go.<\/p>\n\n\n There are four tournaments overall – the Texas Wizards Tournament, the Classics Side Tournament, the Women’s Tournament and the Kids’ Tournament.<\/p>\n\n\n Later in the day we returned to the show floor to check on the progress setting everything up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the lobby area, those who had pre-registered for the Texas Pinball Festival were able to collect their wristbands, badges and show guides.<\/p>\n\n\n Inside the main hall, Nitro Pinball had a Centaur Revisited from Haggis Pinball. It appeared to have early code with some features not working quite right, but the mechanical build quality was outstanding.<\/p>\n\n\n If Centaur Revisited is a title for the future, there is always an educational hand-on display in the hall celebrating pinball’s past.<\/p>\n\n\n American Pinball had set up their Barry O’s Barbecue Challenge machines. There were three on their own stand and at least one other on a distributor’s stand. Plus, there may well be another one available to play in a room in the Embassy Suites for those in the know.<\/p>\n\n\n A stone’s trow away, Lord of the Gameroom were building their impressive-looking stand.<\/p>\n\n\n Over on Brad Albright’s stand, he was exhibiting the playfield and backglass artwork he created for the Mot\u00f6rhead game.<\/p>\n\n\n Pinball Brothers team members are not expected to attend the Texas Pinball Festival this year, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be well-represented at the show. Some of their games and equipment had arrived in the hall, including two Alien Ripley Edition machines.<\/p>\n\n\n Although FUN! Billiards & Gameroom Superstore and collaborating with Marco to create the Stern Pinball display, FUN! also have their own stand.<\/p>\n\n\n Meanwhile, upstairs in the tournament room there was the Scrutinizer Tournament taking place. <\/p>\n\n\n Although not part of the official Texas Pinball Festival schedule of events, this tournament gives the organisers an opportunity to test out all the machines in advance of the main events beginning on Friday morning.<\/p>\n\n\n That wraps things up for Thursday. The main elements of the show all begin on Friday, from the free play session on the tournaments machines from 8:30am to the start of qualifying in the Wizards and Classics tournaments at 10am, to the first in the extensive schedule of seminars at 3pm, to the opening of the main hall at 4pm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n FRIDAY<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n As we said above, the tournaments are the first official event on the Texas Pinball Festival calendar, with qualifying in the Wizard and Classics tournaments getting underway at 10am.<\/p>\n\n\n The eight Classics machines were set up at the left-hand end of the tournaments room,<\/p>\n\n\n The eight machines used for the Classics were:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>