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<\/a>The Convention Center and Renaissance hotel are in a slightly remote location, but a shuttle bus service is available to take guests to nearby shopping and dining options. There are a few local restaurants around 10 minutes’ walk away, or the large Woodfield Mall is just a few minutes away by car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The hotel’s surroundings are pleasant and well-maintained, with water features and botanical habitats.<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>The Convention Centre consists of multiple rooms ranging from small meeting spaces to huge exhibition halls. The larger halls can all be configured in several ways to combine or divide them into suitable sizes.<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/a>Pinball Expo occupies three large exhibition spaces for the main show floor, named Adventure, Discovery, and Exploration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition, it uses four smaller rooms combined into one – Schaumburg E, F, G & H – for the tournaments. Last year these housed the free play machines, but those have been moved onto the main show floor for 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Finally, the Schaumburg East room – half of a larger ballroom – which was the home of the tournaments last year has become this year’s seminars room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We arrived at the Convention Center on Monday, but the setting-up got underway properly on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
TUESDAY<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n Leaving the hall, the tournaments area was coming together very quickly. The modern machines all come from Tilt Amusements and they make an impressive sight.<\/p>\n\n\n Earlier on Tuesday, the machines were still being brought in.<\/p>\n\n\n It wasn’t long before everything was in place.<\/p>\n\n\n That concludes our look at Pinball Expo on Tuesday. The show begins properly on Wednesday evening with the Bumper Blast welcome party, held at Enterrium in the nearby Woodfield Mall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n WEDNESDAY<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Before that though, the build-up of the show continues in the main hall, the tournaments are and now in the seminars room too.<\/p>\n\n\n Pinball Expo really starts on Wednesday night with the Bumper Blast party, held at nearby Enterrium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n International attendees are invited to a special welcoming event an hour before domestic guests. Buses for the international visitors departed from the Convention Center at 5:45pm, arriving at Enterrium a few minutes later.<\/p>\n\n\n Inside, Pinball Expo Chairman, Rob Berk, welcomed everyone, gave a short talk about the history of the show, before inviting representatives from each country to step up and say a few words in their own native language.<\/p>\n\n\n Rob then invited everyone to enjoy some snacks and drinks, before the domestic guests arrived and the main food was served.<\/p>\n\n\n Once everyone had arrived at Enterrium, a buffet was served with a selection of hot dishes including chicken, pasta, bread, vegetables and cakes.<\/p>\n\n\n Alongside the Bumper Blast, the finals of the IFPA Circuit Championship were taking place. <\/p>\n\n\n The final, won by Raymond Davidson, used two banks of machines which were available for Bumper Blast guests to use once the final was over.<\/p>\n\n\n As well as the pinballs, party guests were issued with an Enterrium game card which allowed them unlimited play on the arcade machines for the duration of the event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When guests had had enough fun, buses departed every thirty minutes for the return journey to the Convention Center, bringing Wednesday’s Pinball Expo opener to a close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n THURSDAY<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Thursday morning saw the start of this year’s seminars schedule. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Seminars at Pinball Expo have always been a draw for show guests, with a large number of industry personalities living nearby able to make presentations. As a result, all three days of the show at the Convention Center include a full schedule of continuous talks, running from early morning to late night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All the seminar presentations are also available to watch on the Pinball News YouTube channel in the Pinball Expo 2025 playlist<\/a>.<\/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>8:00am<\/td> General Pinball Repair & Troubleshooting Tips\u201d Q&A<\/strong>
Speaker: Ron Coon, Jr.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n