Farsight at the Arcade Expo this weekend

[JJH516]

Jeff is in Heaven.

 

[Jeff Strong]

I wish I had taken a walk-around video of the whole, humongous place. Seeing 750 machines under one roof is truly mind-blowing!

 

[Jeff Strong]

Check out the art on Tropic Fun and Mariner above too. So many obsure pins like that there with killer art. I almost spent just as much time admiring all the 60’s/70’s eye-candy as I did playing!

 

[Jeff Strong]

 

[wolfson]

Yeah, my jaw still hasn't made it's way off the floor yet at the prospect of 750 machines, with the large majority being pre-1980 (oh baby).

Jeff my jaw would be on the floor till this time next year !!! my mate just bloody enjoy youself !!!!

 

[dave950lam]

They also had some good video games, too. Including Crazy Climber and Outrun.

 

[Kolchak357]

I'm always amazed to see machines over 40 years old in such fine condition. Really blows my mind. A real Fireball! So so jealous.

A few questions for Jeff,
Did they have a Hobbit, and did you play it?
Same question for Wrestlemania.
Was Alpine Club as awesome as you remember? Did you feel like a little kid playing it?
Surprise pin crush of the show? What did you surprisingly fall in love with?
Rarest pin you played?
Did you get to play Joker Poker (I know you love that one)?

 

[Crawley]

That event looks great. Been looking at the pictures posted on Pinside too.

Would be curious to hear how the crowds vs pins are today (Saturday) as that should be the busiest day. I would imagine with the number of pins/arcade games that it wouldn't be bad at all.

Also would be curious to hear what rare tables they had on hand. Saw a Spirit, Varkon, and a few of the Al G games (Magic Castle, Soccer-Ball, Garage Band). And what, if any, custom pins.

Finally what's the TPA booth look like? What are they showing off?

 

[wolfson]

What a blast!

hey Jeff are you going home at all ? !!!!

 

[pm1109]

I hope the place has air con.Imagine all the heat from the 750 tables.

 

[Jeff Strong]

I'm always amazed to see machines over 40 years old in such fine condition. Really blows my mind. A real Fireball! So so jealous.

A few questions for Jeff,
Did they have a Hobbit, and did you play it?
Same question for Wrestlemania.
Was Alpine Club as awesome as you remember? Did you feel like a little kid playing it?
Surprise pin crush of the show? What did you surprisingly fall in love with?
Rarest pin you played?
Did you get to play Joker Poker (I know you love that one)?

The craziest thing about this expo is that 99% of the pins are owned by ONE guy. This has to be one of the largest personal collections on the planet, and I think many of these older pins have been in storage for years, so they've seen very little play and almost all of the playfields are in amazing condition.

Unfortunately I didn't have time to play any of the new pins. I was so busy checking out all the old gems that I barely even looked at the newer stuff. I didn't play a single DMD.

As for Alpine Club, I have good and bad news. The good is that I got to see it, but the bad is that I wasn't able to play it because they were still working to get several of the EM's up and running. I'm thinking about messaging the owner and telling him my story about the pin and asking him if I can come play it when it's fixed. Maybe he'll let me come and have a personal session. Fingers crossed...

My new favorite pin is a wedgehead called Buccaneer. Pirate theme with a sweet spinner shot that goes into the upper bumpers which are insanely active so the ball goes nuts when you hit it up there.

The rarest one I played was probably one of the real oldies like Melody. There was also a wedgehead called Blue Note that I had never heard of before, but it was awesome as well.

Unfortunately I didn't find Joker Poker, but it was indeed there according to the list. Just goes to show how huge the selection was. I didn't have time to even SEE everything, let alone play even a fraction of the pins.

 

[Kolchak357]

Amazing expo. Thanks for sharing your stories.

I love Buccaneer as well. There is a Ship Ahoy (the add a ball version of Buccaneer) not too far from me. Simple rules but real fun to play.

 

[Jeff Strong]

Amazing expo. Thanks for sharing your stories.

I love Buccaneer as well. There is a Ship Ahoy (the add a ball version of Buccaneer) not too far from me. Simple rules but real fun to play.

Nice man. I wish I would've had more time to play it. I love pirate stuff, so I was immediately drawn to the art too.

 

[Jeff Strong]

hey Jeff are you going home at all ? !!!!

I slept in the broom closet least night so I could have the place to myself after hours! (I wish)

 

[Jeff Strong]

Check out the backglass of Blue Note on IMDB:

Edit:

And Buccaneer:

 

[Jeff Strong]

More pics via pinside:

 

[Jeff Strong]

MOAR:

 

[Jeff Strong]

It was the largest collection of arcade games I've seen before too, and I've been in some huge arcades. This pic shows a small sampling:

 

[Jeff Strong]

Partial walkthrough of some of the pin room:

 

[Jeff Strong]

Some cool EM sights and sounds: