Spring Update - 2016

Pinball Stuff

Spring was an active season for Pinball.   If you haven't heard, Pinball is in a resurgence!

An interesting short on CNN about pinball (aired this week):

In 1940, pinball machines were banned in New York City. Like most contraband, this simply pushed pinball underground. After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, the "Salvage for Victory" campaign called on Americans to turn in scrap metal to bolster the war effort.

http://greatbig.is/1QRVOwj

Also, meet the Pinball World Champ for this year: - Robert Gagno in the video below.   He's awesome.

WIZARD MODE is the story of Robert Gagno as he rises up the ranks of the international pinball circuit while striving to gain his independence and transcend the label of autism. This is a short film version of our debut feature length documentary of the same name. To contribute to the feature-length documentary go to: http://igg.me/at/wizardmodefilm www.wizardmodefilm.com Follow us on social media to stay up to date with the film: https://www.facebook.com/wizardmodefilm https://twitter.com/wizardmodefilm https://instagram.com/wizardmodefilm/ A special thanks to Mac Demarco and Captured Tracks for letting us use the song "Cooking Up Something Good" Produced with the support of TELUS Produced and Directed by SALAZAR Editor Greg Ng Assistant Editor Graham Fortin Composer Edo Van Breemen Associate Producer Sara Wylie Sound Design and Mix Oscar Vargas and Eugenio Battaglia www.salazarfilm.com https://twitter.com/salazarfilm https://instagram.com/salazarfilm/

Texas Pinball Festival in March was a great success.  

Right now, Stern, Jersey Jack, Heighway Pinball, Dutch Pinball, Chicago Gaming/ PPS and Spooky Pinball  are all building/shipping pinball machines!   A year or two ago, to think 6 active Pinball companies would be rolling in 2016 would have been the short bet.  Exciting stuff!

In the spring JJP started shipping the long-awaited Hobbit Pinball machine.  With JJP's penchant for quality and innovation, this game is sure to be a hit.

At TPF Stern announced and revealed their Ghostbusters Pinball game.  Hand-drawn artwork on the playfield and cabinet by Zombie Yeti, epic theme and great early code - will make this Stern's highest selling game.    Limited Edition's sold out in 1/2 a day.

Heighway moves on from Full Throttle and is in development of Alien pinball.  Another awesome theme for pinball, it'll be great to see how this game comes together.

In the Spring, Dutch Pinball hosted a factory tour and just recently started shipping The Big Lebowski.    The callouts / audio potential alone will make this a fun pin to check out!

After a rocky start, PPS / Chicago gaming is shipping the highly anticipated Medieval Madness remake pin.    It is exciting that this fun pinball machine has been remade in NIB-awesomeness.

Arcade Stuff

This summer, in Biloxi, Jimmy Buffet plans to open the Margaritaville Resort in Biloxi, which advertises a 'State of the art arcade' -- fingers crossed that it isn't the usual redemption nonsense - one can always hope, right?  Details here:  https://www.margaritavilleresortbiloxi.com/splash

Local gulf coast collectors are doing some really great restores and game repairs, right now.   A particularly awesome Dig Dug and Buster Brothers are coming into a new life, a Tapper has joined the family and one local enthusiastic and talented local collector took his collection from 1 to 11 games, in a month. Which, is really excited to see as games come to local homes, people enjoying working on them and playing! -- A great time to be an arcade enthusiast!

Events

Keep an eye on the events pages on here and facebook. We are working on potential social gathering for May, TBA.  Alot of us will be going to Southern Fried in June and we will have a cookout in July.    More to come!   Want to host or organize an outing, movie night, bowling night, get-together?  Reach out to me and lets get some stuff scheduled :)

Events