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Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show
- Thread starter CycOd3liC
- Start date
Tabe
Member
- Apr 12, 2012
- 833
- 0
I'm not exactly local to Seattle - I like in Spokane, WA - but I'll be at the show. A friend and I are going over on Friday for the Mariners game on Saturday and will be attending the convention on Sunday. Am pretty pumped up - I haven't played real pinball in a long time. I'll be taking lots of pictures and will share them here.
Tabe
Tabe
Tabe
Member
- Apr 12, 2012
- 833
- 0
Awesome. I'll be the guy, possibly in a Mariners jersey, trying to hog one of the Funhouse machines.
Tabe
Tabe
Member
- Apr 12, 2012
- 833
- 0
What a great time!
Hit the show on Sunday with my buddy Ron. Had a great time, wish we could have stayed longer (we were there maybe 2-1/2 hours). When I saw the list of speakers on Saturday - Steve Ritchie and Eugene Jarvis! - I was kicking myself that we couldn't have attended a day earlier.
Had a little trouble finding the actual rooms where the show was being held as it was in the middle of a courtyard which is not all that well-labeled and the show had no signage outside at all. But that was overcome and we made our way inside.
I passed over the souvenir t-shirts wanting to get right to the action. I regretted that quickly when 5 minutes later an announcement was made that all XL and XXL shirts were gone. BLECH. Oh well.
We immediately went to the row of pinballs setup for challenging world records and hit the Funhouse machine. It has been a long, long time since I played a real Funhouse machine and it was a joy to do so again. Wish I could say I played well but, alas, I did not. Was surprised at the small number of machines and people for the show (more in a bit). Moved around taking pictures and playing various games, just soaking things in.
After a bit, I found myself wondering where some of the other machines I'd heard would be there were. It was then I realized that they had two separate rooms for the show and made my way over to the other (larger) half of the show. In that room were LOTS more machines and LOTS more people. Toward the front, they had an AC/DC Limited Edition set up with a TV overhead so you could watch the action, along with speakers booming the sound from the game. An awesome setup and a lot of fun to watch.
Made my way through this second room, playing more games, including AC/DC & Twilight Zone, both of which I'd never played before. That was fun and made me eager for the TPA release of the TZ table. I played the two Funhouse machines in this second room and they made me appreciate the well-shopped condition of the "world record" machine, with the ball curving because of table grooves and so on. I made attempts to play a few other games, like Cirqus Voltaire, only to be foiled by them not working. CV actually died on me in the middle of my first ball while several others simply wouldn't play.
Went back to the first room and watched a guy playing a "Time Pilot" arcade game. Time Pilot was far and away my favorite game as a kid and I love watching people play. The high score was pretty low and reachable (just 93000) but this guy was challenging it so I wanted to see where he'd set it so I could try and break it. He fell short (86000 or so) and I said something like "Aw, close to the high score" and he mentioned the high score was his. "Well, I'll be gunning for ya!" I told him as I stepped up to play. At that point, I was transported back 29 years to Aladdin's Castle in Pontiac, MI and stepped into a zone. I've played that game hundreds, thousands, of times and never been anywhere near where I was on Sunday. Years ago, I set a high score of 280,000. I broke the guy's high score before dying and got rolling. I blew by my old high score and ended up scoring 363,000. That was awesome - to find that long-lost touch for just a few minutes
Alas, after that, it was time to go and we took off.
High point of the show: Playing a perfect condition Funhouse, trying out TZ & AC/DC, and my awesome game of Time Pilot.
Low point: The large number of machines in non-working condition. I realize this is somewhat unavoidable but it was disappointing nonetheless. This affirmed my recent decision to forego buying a Funhouse machine and buying/building a Hyperpin/VP cabinet instead. There's simply too much maintenance in these things.
One other cool moment - hearing Steve Wiebe's name called over the PA. For those that don't know, he was the main guy in the "King of Kong" documentary about his attempt to set the Donkey Kong world record. I didn't actually see Wiebe but it was cool to know he was there. You should check out the video if you haven't already.
Lots of (click to enlarge) photos below - I'm the dude in the white Mariners jersey. My buddy Ron is in the dark blue one.
Tabe
Hit the show on Sunday with my buddy Ron. Had a great time, wish we could have stayed longer (we were there maybe 2-1/2 hours). When I saw the list of speakers on Saturday - Steve Ritchie and Eugene Jarvis! - I was kicking myself that we couldn't have attended a day earlier.
Had a little trouble finding the actual rooms where the show was being held as it was in the middle of a courtyard which is not all that well-labeled and the show had no signage outside at all. But that was overcome and we made our way inside.
I passed over the souvenir t-shirts wanting to get right to the action. I regretted that quickly when 5 minutes later an announcement was made that all XL and XXL shirts were gone. BLECH. Oh well.
We immediately went to the row of pinballs setup for challenging world records and hit the Funhouse machine. It has been a long, long time since I played a real Funhouse machine and it was a joy to do so again. Wish I could say I played well but, alas, I did not. Was surprised at the small number of machines and people for the show (more in a bit). Moved around taking pictures and playing various games, just soaking things in.
After a bit, I found myself wondering where some of the other machines I'd heard would be there were. It was then I realized that they had two separate rooms for the show and made my way over to the other (larger) half of the show. In that room were LOTS more machines and LOTS more people. Toward the front, they had an AC/DC Limited Edition set up with a TV overhead so you could watch the action, along with speakers booming the sound from the game. An awesome setup and a lot of fun to watch.
Made my way through this second room, playing more games, including AC/DC & Twilight Zone, both of which I'd never played before. That was fun and made me eager for the TPA release of the TZ table. I played the two Funhouse machines in this second room and they made me appreciate the well-shopped condition of the "world record" machine, with the ball curving because of table grooves and so on. I made attempts to play a few other games, like Cirqus Voltaire, only to be foiled by them not working. CV actually died on me in the middle of my first ball while several others simply wouldn't play.
Went back to the first room and watched a guy playing a "Time Pilot" arcade game. Time Pilot was far and away my favorite game as a kid and I love watching people play. The high score was pretty low and reachable (just 93000) but this guy was challenging it so I wanted to see where he'd set it so I could try and break it. He fell short (86000 or so) and I said something like "Aw, close to the high score" and he mentioned the high score was his. "Well, I'll be gunning for ya!" I told him as I stepped up to play. At that point, I was transported back 29 years to Aladdin's Castle in Pontiac, MI and stepped into a zone. I've played that game hundreds, thousands, of times and never been anywhere near where I was on Sunday. Years ago, I set a high score of 280,000. I broke the guy's high score before dying and got rolling. I blew by my old high score and ended up scoring 363,000. That was awesome - to find that long-lost touch for just a few minutes
Alas, after that, it was time to go and we took off.
High point of the show: Playing a perfect condition Funhouse, trying out TZ & AC/DC, and my awesome game of Time Pilot.
Low point: The large number of machines in non-working condition. I realize this is somewhat unavoidable but it was disappointing nonetheless. This affirmed my recent decision to forego buying a Funhouse machine and buying/building a Hyperpin/VP cabinet instead. There's simply too much maintenance in these things.
One other cool moment - hearing Steve Wiebe's name called over the PA. For those that don't know, he was the main guy in the "King of Kong" documentary about his attempt to set the Donkey Kong world record. I didn't actually see Wiebe but it was cool to know he was there. You should check out the video if you haven't already.
Lots of (click to enlarge) photos below - I'm the dude in the white Mariners jersey. My buddy Ron is in the dark blue one.
Tabe
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