York Pinball Show 2013

[Kolchak357]

I attended the White Rose York Pinball show yesterday. The weather was horrible. The rain poured down all day an totally washed out the outdoor flea market. Inside the pins and video games were pretty crowded. I went with my wife and a friend from work. We were there for about six hours and had a great time. Played everything from early flipperless pins to the newest Stern Star Trek. Wish I could go again today, but I can't make it. I'll post some pics my wife took. Sorry about the quality, but her phone is a little outdated and there was a lot of glare in there.

 

[Kolchak357]

The Amazing Spider-Man. Remember this one from my youth. Still love it today. Great art & plays fun too.

Panthera and Flash on the left. That Flash played lightning fast.

 

[Kolchak357]

Mushroom World, a kids pin that it is almost impossible to lose a ball on.

Middle Earth, surprisingly fun pin from Atari.

 

[Kolchak357]

TX-Sector was a good player. Wanted to play more than two games on it but there was always someone playing it.

Rollergames is great fun. Good shots and even better sound. The theme and art give it an A+ for that retro feel. For some reason my wife hated it. I asked her why and she said "I just don't like it". Hmmm?

 

[Kolchak357]

This Playboy was in great condition. Had a ruthless left outlane that seemed always hungry.

Who dunnit always had a crowd around it. As much fun to watch as it is to play. Mystery driven play gives it a unique feel. Hope this finds it way to TPA.

 

[Kolchak357]

There were a lot of old classics and wood rail style pins too. Even some flipperless pins. I played a cool game called Egg Head that I had never seen before and also played Jive Time for you haters out there (sorry no pics of these). Jive Time played good and was only $350. I almost bought it. This World Fair looked and played great. What a gem it was.

Also played Future Spa. Terrible theme but fun to play. I played it before and almost forgot how much fun ths wide body was. My wife thinks the backglass is creepy. Ha

 

[Kolchak357]

Last pic that I have to share is a Gottlieb Hit The Deck from 1978. Only 375 produced according to IPMD. This pin looked like it just came off the assembly line. It was immaculate top to bottom. Seemed everyone noticed how special this was because the lines for this were longer than the lines for WOZ and even longer than the line for Stern Star Trek. This crappy picture doesn't do it justice. It was not for sale.

Lots of fun at the show. So many played that I didn't get a pic of: Whitewater, Spirit, Haunted House, Sopranos, Embryon, Gold Wings, Genesis, Ship Ahoy, Maverick, Strikes n' Spares, TZ, TAF, Metallica, Volcano, Sinbad. Harlem Globetrotters, Dolly Parton, Captain Fantastic, and on and on. Wish I could go back again today.

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

How about the sounds with all those machines going at once! Good stuff Klochak Im sure you had fun, thanks for sharing.

 

[Kolchak357]

Yeah, sound is an issue in there. Between people yelling, machine call outs, music, video game sounds, and replay whacks, yep it was loud. The place is like a giant garage that just bounces sound around. Made it hard to hear the machine you were playing. There was one area full of EMs and the constant bell sounds made it crazy.

 

[dtown8532]

I'll repsond to what you said on the TNT thread here since it's about the show. Prices. Yea, they're really starting to get out of hand. With the rain, however, I doubt much went out the door yesterday unless the buyer had the ability to put the pin in an enclosed vehicle. Today, on the other hand, probably saw more sales.

$850.00 for a Firepower? How nice was it? LED's? Just trying to get an idea on what mine may be worth. Not that I'm selling it anytime soon.

 

[Clawhammer]

Panthera! Fun game.

 

[Jeff Strong]

Also played Future Spa. Terrible theme but fun to play. I played it before and almost forgot how much fun ths wide body was. My wife thinks the backglass is creepy. Ha

Gotta love the playfield art, though.

 

[Kolchak357]

I'll repsond to what you said on the TNT thread here since it's about the show. Prices. Yea, they're really starting to get out of hand. With the rain, however, I doubt much went out the door yesterday unless the buyer had the ability to put the pin in an enclosed vehicle. Today, on the other hand, probably saw more sales.

$850.00 for a Firepower? How nice was it? LED's? Just trying to get an idea on what mine may be worth. Not that I'm selling it anytime soon.

No LED's but it had a very nice playfield. No wear that I saw and it played so smooth and fast.

 

[karl]

Ahh! What a great write-up. Thanks for sharing the fun Kolchak.

I had not even heard of middle earth before. Lots of other unique machines and some great old classics also, by the sound of it. Really enjoyed the pictures and the descriptions.

How did you like the new Star Trek? Looks like a great flow game with possible long ball times also, but looks can be deceiving of course and a game like that is also very dependent on a good rules set

 

[Kolchak357]

karl, I was surprised by Middle Earth too. I've only played a couple of Atari pins before, but I thought they were total crap. This was actually a fun play. Not like a top 50 pin IMO, but a pin that I would actually put coins in to play. One of the bigger surprises for me.

Your question about Star Trek is a little tough for me to answer, but I'll give it a shot. I only played two games on it (long lines). People compare this pin to STTNG or Spider-Man. To me it felt just like a sped up STTNG other than the center (under ship) ball lock. The outlanes are much more forgiving and the flow is much better. Ramps are easier to hit and play is much quicker. I think removing the cannons and being a standard size pin instead of a wide body is a big plus. The DMD animations are actually pretty good. Wish it was a color DMD instead of red though. I like the center ball lock and the way it holds the ball and then releases it down toward the flippers as it adds a little randomness. The callouts were tough to hear as it was so loud in the building, but I wasn't annoyed by anything I did hear. The pin looked fantastic but it's hard for me to judge this. The pin was setup by Coin Taker and they added a bunch of their stuff to this pro model. They added color changing LED's in the backbox, mirror blades, led plunger knob, and a couple other lighting things that I just can't remember. The lighting was great, rivaled only by WOZ at the show. The lighting was much nicer than the Metallica pro right next to it.
Overall this is how I see it. I'd rather this pin over a STTNG as it has better flow and speed. I also prefer the less punishing outlanes. This is assuming Stern finishes the code and the modes are fun. I've also heard many stories about STTNG always needing something to be fixed, and I assume this would be more reliable (20 years newer, it had better be).
I know the layout is also very similiar to Spider-Man, but it just didn't feel like a Spider-Man when playing it. I prefer the Spider-Man theme to Star Trek and also would rather have the Spider-Man pin as I just enjoy playing it more. To me Spider-Man is one of the modern Stern gems.