{"id":39441,"date":"2026-03-21T16:32:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T16:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pinballnews.com\/site\/?p=39441"},"modified":"2026-03-27T16:24:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T16:24:36","slug":"texas-pinball-festival-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pinballnews.com\/site\/2026\/03\/21\/texas-pinball-festival-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"TEXAS PINBALL FESTIVAL 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Welcome to the Pinball News coverage of this year’s Texas Pinball Festival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are back in Frisco at the Frisco Convention Center and the adjoining Embassy Suites hotel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The Embassy Suites Dallas Frisco hotel which can be spotted from several miles away<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We got to Texas on Monday, flying in to Houston so we could visit David van Es and the team at Barrels of Fun, before driving north via Multimorphic’s factory in Round Rock to meet Gerry Stellenberg and the crew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a cold start to the week, things are warming up nicely, with temperatures for the show weekend expected to peak at around 37\u00b0C (98.6\u00b0F).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wednesday<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We arrived in Frisco on Wednesday evening, although the show doesn’t open to the public until Friday afternoon. Even so, set-up in the main hall had begun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Inside
Inside the main show hall at the Convention Center<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Texas Pinball Festival organiser, Paul McKinney, had made numerous changes to all aspects of the show, from the floor layout to the events schedule.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Paul<\/a>
Paul McKinney<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

You can hear him talk about those and his plans for this year’s Texas Pinball Festival in our February Pinball Industry News PINcast, available right now in our PINcasts section<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The theme of this year’s show was ‘dragons’. The event logo was based on a dragon, dragon-themed pinballs have their own section of the show, dragons are on the show merchandise, while dragon sculpts were visible around the venue, as we will see a little later.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"The<\/a>
The dragon motif is included on all this year’s branded merchandise<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

A new event, TechDay, ran throughout Wednesday. This allowed machine owners to bring their pinball to the show where an allocated technician would diagnose and, where possible, repair the faults there and then. The machine’s owner was involved in the repairs, so that they could learn the fault-finding and remedial techniques for themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"TechDay<\/a>
TechDay repairs<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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\"TechDay<\/a>
TechDay repairs<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

A ticket for TechDay cost $80, while replacement components were charged for at a discounted rate.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"More<\/a>
More TechDay repairs<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Thursday<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Thursday morning the main show hall has begun to fill out, with more machines and stand furniture arriving and the show banners hung from the ceiling.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"The<\/a>
The show hall on Thursday morning<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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\"FUN!<\/a>
FUN! were setting up their stand to showcase the latest Stern Pinball machines<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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\"Jersey<\/a>
Jersey Jack Pinball machines are here too<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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\"Pinball<\/a>
Pinball Traders were setting up their stand<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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\"Warped<\/a>
Warped Pinball will be demonstrating their connected system<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The loading doors were in constant use and vehicles disgorged their contents before quickly vacating the space to allow the next exhibitor to enter.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Unloading<\/a>
Unloading some of the stand decoration<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The show floor plan was displayed by the entrance, guiding machine owners and vendors to their specific areas.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"The<\/a>
The floor plan by the loading doors<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The show isn’t confined to the main hall though. There are multiple machines and vendors in the corridor outside.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Setting<\/a>
Setting up machines and vendor stands in one of the corridors<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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\"What<\/a>
What fearful fiery beast might be lurking inside this packing material?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

There is another, lesser-seen area for the Texas Pinball Festival, which is located upstairs in the Convention Center. This is where the many pinball tournaments are held. These are run by the Tournament Directors, Elizabeth Dronet, Kevin Stone, Louis Marx and Ken Kemp,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we visited the room on Thursday around midday, most of the tournament machines were yet to arrive.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"The<\/a>
The previous years’ winners are displayed outside the Tournaments Room<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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\"Inside<\/a>
Inside the Tournaments Room<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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\"The<\/a>
The registration desk<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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\"Trophies<\/a>
Trophies for the top four in the Texas Wizards tournament<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

In the evening there were a couple of tournaments. The Scrutinizers Tournament was held in the Tournaments Room upstairs, while the Media Mavens Tournament was on the main show floor at the Hanger Pinball stand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Scrutinizers Tournament is a warm-up event designed to test the machines used for the upcoming main tournaments to iron out any issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The winner of this was Garrett Shahan. Randy Nelson was in second place, Jack Revnew was third and Austin Trent fourth.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"The<\/a>
The top four in the Scrutinizers Tournament:
Garrett Shahan (1st), Randy Nelson (2nd), Jack Revnew (3rd) & Austin Trent (4th)
(Photo: Elizabeth Dronet\/Texas Pinball Festival)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Downstairs, the Media Maven tournament brought together seventeen media creators who played a single game in groups of four (one group of three), with lowest top two scorers getting a strike. When a player had amassed two strikes they were out.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"The<\/a>
The Media Mavens Tournament
(Photo: Mick Brown)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The eventual top three were Clark McCoy in first place, Neil McRae in second, and Jamie Burchell in third.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"The<\/a>
The top three in the Media Mavens Tournament:
Neil McRae (2nd), Clark McCoy (1st) & Jamie Burchell (3rd)
(Photo: Mick Brown)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

That brought Thursday’s events to a close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friday<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The show opens to the public at 4pm, but TPF events start much earlier, with tournaments and seminars beginning at midday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the corridor and in the main hall, work continued to set up stands and machines.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Chris<\/a>
Chris Munson was setting up his LeGrand PinCabs stand in the lobby area<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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\"The<\/a>
The corridors were filling with vendor stands and free play machines<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

At the new show entrance, this year’s new-in-box grand prize in the raffle was on display.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"This<\/a>
This Harry Potter Arcade Edition is the grand prize in the raffle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Meanwhile, the wrapped model we showed you earlier was unveiled and rapidly became a focal point for selfies and videos, such as this one:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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