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Chicago Pinball Expo 2016
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<blockquote data-quote="Crawley" data-source="post: 249617" data-attributes="member: 2300"><p>The vibe was really positive this year. I think everyone was pretty happy with everything that was on display and other than Alien it wasn't much of a wait to play anything. It seemed like the attendance was down a lot from previous years which helped with that - I think last year was pretty crummy and may have kept people away. </p><p></p><p>American Pinball did not have any of their games on display in the vendor hall. I saw on Pinside they were in a room somewhere but just had a few table playfields from Houndini, one with all the ramps and lights on it. But nothing to play so I didn't bother to seek it out.</p><p></p><p>Dutch pinball had a Big Lebowski set up there next to the Bride of Pinbot 2.0.</p><p></p><p><a href="http://s19.photobucket.com/user/Grugle/media/Chicago%20Pinball%20Expo%202016/IMG_1041.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b151/Grugle/Chicago%20Pinball%20Expo%202016/IMG_1041.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a></p><p></p><p>This is before they turned them on. And I forgot to go back and play both although I have before.</p><p></p><p>There was nothing from Homepin and their Thunderbirds pinball. I didn't attend any of the seminars so not sure if they did something there. </p><p></p><p>Same goes for the Captain Nemo pin. Nothing I saw on the floor.</p><p></p><p>Multimorphic had their pins on display and for play again. About 3/4th of the playfield is a video monitor with the top third being more traditional pinball machine with ramps or targets to hit. Animated videos play on the playfield indicating what you should shoot for on the upper part of the table. It's a bit Pinball 2000ish (Revenge from Mars, Star Wars: Episode 1) in it's game play. </p><p></p><p>Here's a pic of their Cannon Lagoon table.</p><p></p><p><a href="http://s19.photobucket.com/user/Grugle/media/Chicago%20Pinball%20Expo%202016/IMG_1061.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b151/Grugle/Chicago%20Pinball%20Expo%202016/IMG_1061.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a></p><p></p><p>Cannon Lagoon is about as basic a pin as you can make - and it plays like a DMD game. You basically have ships criss-crossing on the screen and you have to make specific lane shots to fire your cannons to sink the ships. You just do this over and over and it's not much fun. No missions to speak of. Just sinking the ships before the time runs out.</p><p></p><p>Their Lexy Lightspeed table, which was their first, is a more complete game with actual missions to complete, voice overs, and animations. It certainly plays better than Cannon Lagoon but I've never been taken with the game and it's Plan 9 From Outspace style theme. </p><p></p><p>I didn't really check out any displays, gadgets or gimmicks. Basically go there for playing the pins. So can't report on any new technology in that sense.</p><p></p><p>It's hard for me to recommend the Expo as it's so lopsided on if you're going to get a good year or a bad year. But it also depends on what you are looking for. If you are in to the seminars there are a bunch of those to attend. But you need to pay extra for those and most of them wind up on Pinball News as is. If your in for the Tournament well its certainly good for that. They typically have a good turn out from what I can tell and manage it well. Here's a shot of some (not all) the tourney machines.</p><p></p><p><a href="http://s19.photobucket.com/user/Grugle/media/Chicago%20Pinball%20Expo%202016/IMG_1094.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b151/Grugle/Chicago%20Pinball%20Expo%202016/IMG_1094.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a></p><p></p><p>The free play area is one of the areas that can be hit or miss both in terms of number of games and quality of games. Two years ago they had an amazing number of pins in the free play area to the point where they had to open up an additional room to fit them all. And the pins were great that year too as they had a lot of well maintained EMs, some rare machines like 2 Big Bang Bars and a Defender, and the variety of tables was just fantastic. But last year was pretty terrible. Half the free play area was empty and a lot of the machines were beat to hell. </p><p></p><p>So you never know what you're going to get here. This year the free play area was pretty decent (will post later). But if your primary motivation is to play a lot of pins other Expo's are likely better. I just go the one day to the Expo now and that's plenty to pretty much cover everything I wanted to. I can't see being there the full 5 days. </p><p></p><p>If you just want to play a ton of pins in fantastic condition I can't highly recommend Vintage Flipper World enough (Ann Arbor, MI) which is just a pin playing paradise - but no seminars, companies showing off their new machines, and limited vendors (like maybe 2). That one would be worth the trip just to play pins for 3 days.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Crawley, post: 249617, member: 2300"] The vibe was really positive this year. I think everyone was pretty happy with everything that was on display and other than Alien it wasn't much of a wait to play anything. It seemed like the attendance was down a lot from previous years which helped with that - I think last year was pretty crummy and may have kept people away. American Pinball did not have any of their games on display in the vendor hall. I saw on Pinside they were in a room somewhere but just had a few table playfields from Houndini, one with all the ramps and lights on it. But nothing to play so I didn't bother to seek it out. Dutch pinball had a Big Lebowski set up there next to the Bride of Pinbot 2.0. [URL=http://s19.photobucket.com/user/Grugle/media/Chicago%20Pinball%20Expo%202016/IMG_1041.jpg.html][IMG]http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b151/Grugle/Chicago%20Pinball%20Expo%202016/IMG_1041.jpg[/IMG][/URL] This is before they turned them on. And I forgot to go back and play both although I have before. There was nothing from Homepin and their Thunderbirds pinball. I didn't attend any of the seminars so not sure if they did something there. Same goes for the Captain Nemo pin. Nothing I saw on the floor. Multimorphic had their pins on display and for play again. About 3/4th of the playfield is a video monitor with the top third being more traditional pinball machine with ramps or targets to hit. Animated videos play on the playfield indicating what you should shoot for on the upper part of the table. It's a bit Pinball 2000ish (Revenge from Mars, Star Wars: Episode 1) in it's game play. Here's a pic of their Cannon Lagoon table. [URL=http://s19.photobucket.com/user/Grugle/media/Chicago%20Pinball%20Expo%202016/IMG_1061.jpg.html][IMG]http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b151/Grugle/Chicago%20Pinball%20Expo%202016/IMG_1061.jpg[/IMG][/URL] Cannon Lagoon is about as basic a pin as you can make - and it plays like a DMD game. You basically have ships criss-crossing on the screen and you have to make specific lane shots to fire your cannons to sink the ships. You just do this over and over and it's not much fun. No missions to speak of. Just sinking the ships before the time runs out. Their Lexy Lightspeed table, which was their first, is a more complete game with actual missions to complete, voice overs, and animations. It certainly plays better than Cannon Lagoon but I've never been taken with the game and it's Plan 9 From Outspace style theme. I didn't really check out any displays, gadgets or gimmicks. Basically go there for playing the pins. So can't report on any new technology in that sense. It's hard for me to recommend the Expo as it's so lopsided on if you're going to get a good year or a bad year. But it also depends on what you are looking for. If you are in to the seminars there are a bunch of those to attend. But you need to pay extra for those and most of them wind up on Pinball News as is. If your in for the Tournament well its certainly good for that. They typically have a good turn out from what I can tell and manage it well. Here's a shot of some (not all) the tourney machines. [URL=http://s19.photobucket.com/user/Grugle/media/Chicago%20Pinball%20Expo%202016/IMG_1094.jpg.html][IMG]http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b151/Grugle/Chicago%20Pinball%20Expo%202016/IMG_1094.jpg[/IMG][/URL] The free play area is one of the areas that can be hit or miss both in terms of number of games and quality of games. Two years ago they had an amazing number of pins in the free play area to the point where they had to open up an additional room to fit them all. And the pins were great that year too as they had a lot of well maintained EMs, some rare machines like 2 Big Bang Bars and a Defender, and the variety of tables was just fantastic. But last year was pretty terrible. Half the free play area was empty and a lot of the machines were beat to hell. So you never know what you're going to get here. This year the free play area was pretty decent (will post later). But if your primary motivation is to play a lot of pins other Expo's are likely better. I just go the one day to the Expo now and that's plenty to pretty much cover everything I wanted to. I can't see being there the full 5 days. If you just want to play a ton of pins in fantastic condition I can't highly recommend Vintage Flipper World enough (Ann Arbor, MI) which is just a pin playing paradise - but no seminars, companies showing off their new machines, and limited vendors (like maybe 2). That one would be worth the trip just to play pins for 3 days. [/QUOTE]
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