{"id":8669,"date":"2015-11-09T18:01:00","date_gmt":"2015-11-09T18:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pinballnews.com\/site\/?p=8669"},"modified":"2017-09-12T19:04:47","modified_gmt":"2017-09-12T18:04:47","slug":"dpo-expo-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pinballnews.com\/site\/2015\/11\/09\/dpo-expo-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"DPO EXPO 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

We’ve reported from the Dutch Pinball Open (DPO) for many years, but last year was the first time it had transformed into the DPO Expo. The name change coincided with its expansion from being mainly about the tournament through the addition of a guest speaker and the showing of several new pinball titles from manufacturers in the US and the Netherlands.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This year the ‘Expo’ element of the name returned for 2015, as did the show to the De Voorste Venne, the former automobile museum in Drunen, southeast of Rotterdam.<\/p>\n

\"De<\/a>
De Voorste Venne in Drunen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The DPO Expo can be roughly divided into three distinct areas. On the left as you enter the building is the main games hall where free-play games and vendors were situated. On the right is the theatre where seminars and the final rounds of the main tournament took place. Finally, a separate building on the right as you enter the courtyard above housed the games for the main tournament’s qualifying round, and the women’s and junior tournaments.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The home of the various tournaments<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Let’s take a look around.<\/p>\n

As you entered the main hall, the registration desk awaited you.<\/p>\n

\"Register<\/a>
Register here to pay your entry, and collect your wristband and\/or player badge<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Entry into the main DPO tournament and access to the rest of the show cost \u20ac42.50 ($45.50\/\u00a330.10) per person. Reduced prices applied to youngsters as well as those not taking part in the tournament. No pre-registration for the DPO was needed, although doing so got you a printed badge rather than a hand-written one.<\/p>\n

The DPO Expo is organised by members of the Dutch Pinball Association (Nederlandse Flippervereniging or NFV), and the Association was selling pinball T-shirts, books, magazines, flyers, manuals and more on the adjacent tables.<\/p>\n

\"Pinball<\/a>
Pinball T-shirts from the NFV<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Assorted<\/a>
Assorted pinball goodies<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Books,<\/a>
Books, magazines, mugs, mouse pads, and more<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The next area featured the six machines used for the Classic Tournament.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Classics Tournament area<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We’ll come to the tournaments a little later in this report, but right next to the Classic Tournament area was the bar and kitchen area. The DPO Expo is one of those shows where it is quite acceptable to take your drink into the free-play area.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The bar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Due to licensing restrictions, purchases needed to be made using \u20ac2 tokens.<\/p>\n

\"Beer,<\/a>
Beer, wine and soft drinks were available at the bar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The price list<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Alternative<\/a>
Alternative drinks and snacks<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tea and coffee were also available at a separate counter.<\/p>\n

\"Coffee<\/a>
Coffee and tea<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Then we come to the main hall which contained the free-play and vendor area.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The main hall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On the far left was a lane with pinballs left and right. There was no discernible theme or design to how the free-play machines were arranged in the hall, so you’re quite likely find a late seventies solid-state machine side-by-side with recent Stern titles.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The first rows of machines<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"An<\/a>
An elevated view of the machines<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Backing onto these were more machines and the first vendor display.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The next row of pins<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"This<\/a>
This same row also contained the first vendor stand<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Somewhere<\/a>
Somewhere behind there is Andrew Heighway with his team from Heighway Pinball showing their Full Throttle games<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The machine on the right featured the new large backbox display<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Alongside the Heighway Pinball stand was the large selection of the latest Stern and Jersey Jack machines from Ministry of Pinball<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The front of the Ministry of Pinball stand<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Visitors<\/a>
Visitors enjoying Game of Thrones, Kiss, The Walking Dead and The Wizard of Oz<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Backing on to these were four more machines and Ministry of Pinball’s merchandise stand.<\/p>\n

\"X-Men<\/a>
X-Men LE, Star Trek LE, Medieval Madness remake and AC\/DC LE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Pinball<\/a>
Pinball merchandise<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Next we have Medieval Castle<\/em> – a game based on Medieval Madness<\/em> software but with a new multi-level playfield design and art package created by Wil Angenent.<\/p>\n

\"Medieval<\/a>
Medieval Castle was for display only and couldn’t be played yet<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Returning to the centre of the hall, Dutch Pinball<\/a> had a display of five pre-production The Big Lebowski<\/em> games – complete with rugs, naturally – and a Bride of Pinbot 2.0<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"Dutch<\/a>
Dutch Pinball’s machines<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The five The Big Lebowskis<\/em> were ‘pre-production samples’, which means they were built by the factory which will be making the production machines, but still have a few adjustments needed to fine-tune them before they are production-ready.<\/p>\n

Another row of free-play machines backed on the Dutch Pinball line-up.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The next row of free-play games<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Three more vendors had stands running along the back wall of the hall, starting with Mirco Stefan’s High Class Pinballs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The High Class Pinballs stand<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mirco makes the playfields for Jersey Jack Pinball as well as a range of reproduction Williams\/Bally playfields, and visitors could buy new playfields for all these titles.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A playfield for The Hobbit marked for ‘decoration only’<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The Hobbit cabinet side art and playfields for The Wizard of Oz, Medieval Madness and Cactus Canyon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LED4Pin<\/a> had a colourful stand showcasing their LED lighting products, as well as selling plastic protectors and replacement playfield parts.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The LED4Pin stand<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Taking centre-stage on the LED4Pins stand was a chrome and brushed stainless steel Terminator 2 game, with full LED lighting.<\/p>\n

\"Terminator<\/a>
Terminator 2, Chrome Edition<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Squeezed in at the end of the row was a booth promoting the new pinball documentary Same Player Shoots Again<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Same Player Shoots Again stand<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The DVD of the documentary is about to be released and will cost \u20ac15.00 plus shipping through the pinball-dvd.com<\/a> site.<\/p>\n

The rows of free-play machines continued to a seating area where food purchased from the kitchen could be consumed. Trays of potato fries, frikandel<\/a> hot dogs, and kroket<\/a>s in bread rolls were amongst the offerings available for one \u20ac2 token each. The traditional accompaniments of curry sauce and mayonnaise were available, but optional.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The queue for lunch from the kitchen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The theatre took up the right side of the building, but to get there from the main hall you needed to pass down one of two corridors, both lined with more free-play pinballs.<\/p>\n

At the back of the building were six older solid-state games including Wizard!, Bally Star Trek and Black Pyramid, most of which were sadly not playable due to having no credits or not being unfolded.<\/p>\n

\"Machines<\/a>
Machines at the back of the building<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The corridor at the front also had a couple of unplayable titles amongst the ten machines, but overall provided an enjoyable distraction for those people travelling to and from the theatre.<\/p>\n

\"Manhines<\/a>
Machines in the front corridor<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In total we counted 111 free-play machines at the DPO Expo. Here they are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Free-Play Machine List<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n<\/colgroup>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
AC\/DC Back in Black LE<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Addams Family, The<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Algar<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Amigo<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Apollo 13<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Attack from Mars<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Austin Powers<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Avatar<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Barracora*<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Baywatch<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Big Hurt, Frank Thomas’s<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Big Lebowski, The<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Big Lebowski, The<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Big Lebowski, The<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Big Lebowski, The<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Big Lebowski, The*<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Black Pyramid*<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bobby Orr Power Play<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bride of Pinbot 2.0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Car Hop<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Centaur<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Champion Pub, The<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Charlie’s Angels<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Cirqus Voltaire<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Comet<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Corvette<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Dealers Choice<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Dr. Dude<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Flash*<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Flintstones, The<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Full Throttle<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Full Throttle<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Game of Thrones Pro<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Getaway, The: High Speed 2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Getaway, The: High Speed 2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Gilligan’s Island<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Gold Wings<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Gorgar*<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Grand Lizard<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Grand Prix<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Guns n’ Roses<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Hardbody*<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Harlem Globetrotters<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Hot Shots*<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Indiana Jones (Stern)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Indiana Jones (WMS)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Judge Dredd<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Junkyard<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Jurassic Park: The Lost World<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Kiss (Bally)*<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Kiss Pro<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Lady Luck<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Lethal Weapon 3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mata Hari<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Matrix, The<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Medieval Madness Remake<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n\n\n\n<\/colgroup>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Monte Carlo<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Motordome<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
NBA Fastbreak<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Nugent<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Operation Thunder<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Operation Thunder<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Orbitor 1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Pirates of the Caribbean<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Pirates of the Caribbean<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Playboy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Playboy (Bally)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Police Force<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Pool Sharks<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Punchy the Clown<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ready …Aim …Fire!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Roadshow<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Roadshow<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Robo War<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Robocop<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Rollergames<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Scared Stiff<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Secret Service<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Secret Service<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Silver Slugger<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sopranos, The<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Spring Break<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Star Trek (Bally)*<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Star Trek (DE)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Star Trek LE (Stern)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Star Wars<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Star Wars Trilogy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Starship Troopers<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Street Fighter 2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Super Mario Bros.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Surf ‘n Safari<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tales of the Arabian Nights<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Taxi<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Terminator 2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Terminator 2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Time Machine (DE)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Transformers<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tri Zone*<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Twilight Zone<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Twister<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Walking Dead Pro, The<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Waterworld<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wheel of Fortune<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Whirlwind<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Who Dunnit?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wipe Out<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wizard of Oz 75th Anniversary, The<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wizard!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
X-Men Wolverine LE<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Here’s our Nine Minute Tour of DPO Expo 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n