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ZIMMZAMM
Member

Posts: 54
Pinball Expo 2009 (25th anniversary!) begins this week!!!
on 10/10/2009 8:48:40 PM
Pinball Expo begins this Wed. in Wheeling IL. this year's show is the 25th anniversary! amazing! I just went for my very first time last year and it is awesome!! I'm not even a huge pinball player, still great fun. I highly recommend for all who can make it to be there. Friday night and Saturday night the main hall (where the pinballs are at) stays open all night and is a perfect time to play the pinballs since far less people are there.

I will be there on Saturday. I will be there in the morning and then I will be back when they reopen for the overnight. any other aurcade members will be there? maybe we can meet up?

oh yeah, the autograph session is only on Saturday, which is always a great time. last year many people from Tilt (the movie) was there. during the overnight George Gomez was there and I got his pic and autograph.

http://www.pinballexpo.net/


 
Auric
Founder

Posts: 132
RE: Pinball Expo 2009 (25th anniversary!) begins this week!!!
on 10/10/2009 10:04:35 PM
Man George Gomez! Creator of TRON. Awesome.

Have fun ZimmZamm!

I drank WHAT!?! - Socrates
 
ZIMMZAMM
Member

Posts: 54
RE: Pinball Expo 2009 (25th anniversary!) begins this week!!!
on 10/11/2009 11:13:46 AM
holy cow! did not know he did that! so awesome! too bad I did not have any Tron stuff with me. at the overnight I brought my Tilt dvd hoping that maybe he will be in there, since he was the special guest at the banquet. he was not at the autograph session, so I was really hoping that just maybe he will stop by the pinball area after his banquet. and he did! I was so happy! :)

I noticed this out of place lady. very dressed up, very fancy, very model-like. and the amazing thing is she was actually playing games. so, I tried to stay near her. not too long after that, George Gomez was standing right next to me talking to her. that is when I introduced myself. so, she was his girlfriend or his wife.

he signed my Tilt dvd and I got a pic of him with his pinball Revenge from Mars (one of my all time favorites)

here are some other facts about George Gomez:

he is an industrial designer, video game designer, and pinball designer
he has worked for Bally, Williams, and Stern Pinball
he designed the joystick for Gorf
he designed Satan's Hollow
he worked on the team that created the Tron video game
he designed Discs of Tron including the design of the "environmental cabinet"
he headed the team that created Spy Hunter
he designed the Battletech Centers (in the early 90s, Chicago had one and it was awesome!!)
he designed several Sega video games of the late 80's
he designed several pinball machines including Monster Bash
he was one of the lead developers of the revolutionary Pinball 2000 system
as a consultant he designed several games for STERN pinbal including The Lord of the Rings and Batman
he also designed Playboy, Sopranos, Johnny Mnemonic pinballs
he was also one of key designers of the street basketball video game series NBA Ballers


 
ZIMMZAMM
Member

Posts: 54
RE: Pinball Expo 2009 (25th anniversary!) begins this week!!!
on 10/11/2009 11:20:16 AM
on Friday the fireside chat is with Larry DeMar!

he is a video game and pinball designer and software programmer
he is one of the co-designers of the classic arcade game Defender

he also made Stargate aka Defender 2, Robotron 2084 and Blaster

for pinballs he made Black Knight, Space Shuttle, Funhouse, Jack*Bot, Addams Family and Twilight Zone

on Saturday the special guest at the banquet this year is Michael Stroll. I don't know much about him.


 
CKFan
Admin

Posts: 65
RE: Pinball Expo 2009 (25th anniversary!) begins this week!!!
on 10/11/2009 7:53:32 PM
I'm gonna be there, but most likely Thurs and Fri only. Unfortunately, I have prior commitments for Sat and Sun. I went last year and played pinball all night Friday, that was fun :)


 
ZIMMZAMM
Member

Posts: 54
RE: Pinball Expo 2009 (25th anniversary!) begins this week!!!
on 10/11/2009 8:29:11 PM
Friday I get off at 8pm.

I would love to be there after that, but I really don't want to pay for 2 days, which would be $30.

I also get off at 8pm on Thurs.

are you going to see Larry DeMar's fireside chat on Friday night?


 
ZIMMZAMM
Member

Posts: 54
RE: Pinball Expo 2009 (25th anniversary!) begins this week!!!
on 10/13/2009 8:26:12 AM
ghostlord, want to come with?

btw, I sent you an email.


 
ZIMMZAMM
Member

Posts: 54
RE: Pinball Expo 2009 (25th anniversary!) begins this week!!!
on 10/20/2009 8:31:33 AM
well, don't go on the last day. I went to a video game collector's party on Saturday, so I went to Pinball Expo on Sunday. bad decision. tons of pinballs were already gone. the main admission table to get in was gone. I walked into the main ballroom and the door man told me to pay $5, which was nice since regular admission was $15. a bunch of pinballs were still there, but I felt strange playing the games when they were packing away. so, I did not stay long. I really wanted a 25th ann. shirt, but could not buy one since the entrance table was gone. also wanted a program. I did play Black Knight 2000 which was pretty damn awesome! the music rules in that game! the finals in the tournaments were going on and I saw Roger Sharpe. his 2 sons were playing in the tournament. also saw the youngest pinball champion. looks like he got in 3rd. I noticed some people had Pinball Expo posters that Twin Galaxies made. since Twin Galaxies makes these posters for events that they are supporting, I really don't understand why they don't have an article on the main page about the event. pretty foolish.

next year I am going to go on Friday overnight. then come back on Saturday for the guest speakers, autograph session and vendors. I should have done that this year.


 
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