Texas Pinball Festival 2016


A Note from the Organizers

Every year we spend months trying to figure out how we’re going to make TPF bigger and better. Just when we think we’ve reached the limit, you guys prove us wrong. There is absolutely no way that we could pull this off without the support of an incredible pinball community that reaches far and wide. We had exhibitors bring games from as far away as Wisconsin and vendors that came from all over the United States and Europe!

This year, special thanks goes to our dedicated and passionate volunteers: Colin MacAlpine, Rachel Morris, Darren Kammer, Robert Harris, Jaelanne and Trey Gilliam, Shawn Christian, Kelly Foard Aday, Pam Heffern, Gina Curbo, Greg Spivey, Michael and Melinda Braly and Kristin and Clark Nethers. You all spent more hours than we can count making sure things were handled… before, during and after the show. There were another 40+ volunteers that helped us fill in the gaps. Thank you all!

Exhibitors: We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again. Without the games you bring to share with us all weekend, there would be no show. Every year, we’re amazed at the quantity and quality of machines that you bring to the show. And we’re proud you take ownership in the Texas Pinball Festival. This year, more than before, area pinball clubs stepped up to bring games as a group. Though the DFW Pinball Group makes up a large portion of our community base, we saw participation from Ark-La-Tex, Ozark Pinball Syndicate, and Bat City and Gulf Coast Pinball Clubs.

As much effort as we put into making the Texas Pinball Festival a great show, we recognize the time and effort each of you puts forth. YOU make TPF the best pinball in the country!


Tournaments

trophy1We revamped our tournaments this year, under guidance from IFPA President Josh Sharpe and Coast 2 Coast Pinball Podcast Host and avid tournament player Nate Shivers.

We brought on Assistant Tournament Directors Colin Macalpine and Rachel Morris, as well as a host of volunteers for score keeping and judging. We utilized feature rich tournament software. We reduced the overall number of machines dedicated to the tournaments and we concluded tournament play by Saturday night. We also eliminated the unlimited players and plays style of qualification, opting instead to limit the number of players and plays. Finally we made the tournaments 100% payout.

All of these changes allowed us to put the tournament games on free play for Sunday and allowed (or forced in some cases) tournament players to spend more time exploring the rest of the show. We believe the changes to our tournaments were well received and made for a smooth tournament experience, both for the organizers and the tournament players.

Texas Wizards Tournament

Though all 16 finalists won prize money, they didn’t all stick around for pictures. Here are the final four:

1st Place: Colin MacAlpine
2nd Place: Jason Mason
3rd Place: Phil Grimaldi
4th Place: Kevin Stone

Congratulations to all our winners!

TPF Tournament Winners

Based on the qualification scores in the Texas Wizards Tournaments, several other champions emerged.

top_em_200

EM Era Champion
Carey Fishman

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SS Era Champion
Robert Byers

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DMD Era Champion
Colin MacAlpine

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Novice Champions
Josh Noble
Rens Hooijmaijers
Matthew Henri
Thomas Law

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Women’s Champions
Cassie Freeman
Keri Wing
Jessica Shepard
Rachel Morris

And we can’t forget the kids!

kids_winners_250

Kid’s Bump ‘n’ Win Winners
Baily Helms
Owen Zsohar
Joshua Fishman
Tyson O’Bryan

Parent_child_winners_250

Parent/Child Winners
Graeme & Colin MacAlpine
Molly & Lynn Lyons
Luke & Robert Byers
Briana & Gary Solomon


Game Line-Up

In the end, we were hoping to be able to squash the world record for “Most People Playing Pinball Machines Simultaneously”. Sadly that was not to be… this year. However, the TPF2016 Game Line-Up was still impressive. We tallied 346 pinball machines (but we’ll defer to Pinball News’ count of 352) and 68 classic arcades for a grand total of 420 games on the floor.

We realize that Exhibitors work very hard and make every attempt to bring their best games to show. We understand that games go down, and we were pleased to see that most Exhibitors checked on their games often, and did their absolute best to keep their machines running.

Pinball Machines
2001 (2) 4 Roses AC/DC Premium
The Addams Family (5) Af-Tor Airborne Avenger
Alive! America’s Most Haunted (2) Andromeda
Apollo 13 Argosy Aspen
Astro Attack From Mars Avengers (3)
Aztec Back to the Future (2) Bad Girls
Bank a Ball Barb Wire Baywatch
Big Casino Big Guns The Big Lebowski (2)
Big Top (2) Black Hole Black Knight
Black Knight 2000 Black Pyramid Black Rose
Break Shot Bride of Pin*bot 2.0 The Machine: Bride of Pin*bot
Cactus Canyon Cactus Canyon Continued Capt. Fantastic & the Brown Dirt Cowboy
Car Hop Catacomb Centaur II
Centigrade 37 The Champion Pub Circus
Cirqus Voltaire Classy Bowler Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Congo Corvette Creature From the Black Lagoon (2)
Crescendo Cyclone (2) Demolition Man (5)
Diamond Jack Doctor Who Doozie
Dr. Dude Bram Stoker’s Dracula (2) Drop-A-Card
Dyn O’ Mite Earthshaker (2) Eight Ball Deluxe (2)
Elektra Elvira & the Party Monsters Elvis
Embryon Evel Knievel F-14 Tomcat (4)
Family Guy Far Out Fathom (2)
Finland Fire Fireball
Fireball II Flash Flash Gordon (2)
The Flinstones (3) Flipper Clown (2) Flipper Cowboy
Flipper Parade Flipper Pool Four Million BC
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (3) Freedom Fullhouse
Full Throttle (2) Galaxy (2) Game of Thrones (3)
High Speed 2 – The Getaway Ghostbusters (2) Gilligan’s Island (2)
Godzilla Harlem Globetrotters (2) Heat Wave
High Speed (3) Hi-Lo Ace Hi-Score Pool
The Hobbit (2) Hokus Pokus Hook (2)
Hurricane (2) Indianapolis 500 Iron Man
Iron Man VE (2) Jackbot Jacks Open
Johnny Mnemonic (2) Jokerz Judge Dredd (3)
Jungle King (2) Jurassic Park King Pin
KISS (3) Klondike Laser Cue
Airway Laser War Last Action Hero
Bally Hoo Favorite Fleet
New Century Special Pennant Atlantis
Campus Queen Cleopatra Frontier
No Fear (3) The Party Zone Pinball Magic
Pinball Pool (2) Pin*bot (4) Pirates of the Caribbean
Playboy (Bally) Playboy (DE) Pokerino
Pro Pool Pro Football RBG
Revenge From Mars Reverse Flush Ripley’s believe It or Not
Lectronomo Lethal Weapon 3 (2) Lexy Lightspeed – Escape from Earth
Lightening Ball Little Chief Lost World
Lovely Lucy Mars God of War Masquerade
Mata Hari Medieval Madness Medieval Madness Remake (3)
Metallica Pro (3) MIBs Middle Earth
Monopoly (2) Monte Carlo Mousin’ Around
Ro Go Road Kings Roadshow (2)
Rob Zombie’s Spookshow International (2) Rocky & Bullwinkle (2) Rollercoaster Tycoon (2)
Mustang LE NASCAR (2) NBA Fastbreak
Rollergames (2) Safecracker Saturn 2
Scared Stiff Seven Seas Shrek
Silverball Mania The Simpsons The Simpsons Pinball Party
Sinbad (3) Ski Club Slick Chick
Snow Derby Sound Stage Space Invaders (3)
Space Odyssey (3) Space Shuttle (2) Space Station
Special Force Spider-Man (4) Spider-Man VE (2)
Spinal Tap Spy Hunter Star Gazer
Star Trek – Mirror Universe Star Trek – The Next Generation (3) Star Trek (Bally) (2)
Star Trek (DE) Star Trek (2) Star Wars (DE)
Star Wars Episode 1 (2) Stargate (3) Stars
Starship Troopers (2) Strikes & Spares (2) Super Mario Bros. Mushroom World
Super Spin Super Straight Swords of Fury
Tales from the Crypt Target Alpha Taxi (4)
Terminator 2 (2) Time Warp Top Score
Touchdown Transformers Trident
Triple Strike Tron (2) Twilight Zone (2)
TX-Sector Vector (2) Volley
The Walking Dead (2) Wheel of Fortune Whirlwind (2)
Whitewater (3) Wild Life The Wizard of Oz (2)
World Cup Soccer World Poker Tour WWE WrestleMania (2)
Xenon (4) Yukon Play Ball
Play-boy Rainbo Screwy
Spot Ball World Series Nitro Groundshaker
Terminator 3 Torch
Classic Arcades
Galaga (2) Asteroids (2) Gorf (2)
The Cockpit Donkey Kong Junior Donkey Kong
Space Duel Stratovox Nintendo Vs.
Tron Dallas Cowboys Multicade Big Buck Hunter World
Centipede Slug Fest Daytona USA
Toobin’ Super System Frogger (2)
Killer Instinct (2) Pac-Man Omega Race
Blitz 99 Stargate Big Buck Hunter Safari
Big Buck Hunter Pro No Man’s Land Escape from the Planet of the Apes
MS. Pac-Man Track & Field Arctic gun
Mega Man 2: The Power Rai Den Tapper
Choplifter Centipede Bubbles
Q*Bert Journey Killer Instinct 2
Golden Axe Thunder Blades Deer Hunting USA
Zombie Raid Mortal Kombat X Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Mr. Do’s Castle Shinobi Road Jings
Defender Afterburner Tetris (cocktail)
Ms. Pac-Man (cocktail) Multicade (9) Galaga (cocktail)
Warlords (cocktail) Cocktail (4)

Best of Show Awards

Photo Credit: Martin Ayub, Pinball News

One of our favorite parts of the show is the Best Of Awards. The Best Of Awards are intended to reward and recognize the incredible amount of work our Exhibitors put into bringing their best games to the Texas Pinball Festival. They spend countless hours repairing, restoring and polishing these machines until they become works of art you can play with. And though the prizes aren’t significant in themselves, the support the community shows for the Exhibitors is incredible. These ribbons are displayed prominently on winning machines even once they’ve returned to their places at home.

“The Mayor” Bill Morrison and his team begin their work when the show opens on Friday. They spend most of Saturday and all morning Sunday playing, inspecting and discussing the games displayed by our Exhibitors. They weigh the merits of each game within its respective category and have to make some hard choices. We do not envy their task.

This year, these are the proud winners. And we could not be happier for them.

pre-60s

Best Pre-60’s
Jeff Frick
World Series

60s

Best 60’s
Ken Head
Diamond Jack

70s-em

Best 70’s EM
Nicholas Schell
Snow Derby

70s-solid-state

Best 70’s SS
Jeff Bolich
Stars

80s

Best 80’s
Ron Pennington
Taxi

90s

Best 90’s
Kevin Moore
The Addam’s Family

original

Best Original
Bill Stahly
Af-Tor

modern

Best Modern
Kim Keist
KISS

restoration

Best Restoration
Lonny Payne
Fire

custom

Best Custom
Jason Durham
Spinal Tap

video-game

Best Video Game
Rodney Black
Mortal Kombat

grand-champion

fireball

And last but not least, this year’s Grand Champion… Daniel Lazarus with Fireball!


American Heroes Raffle

Photo Credit: Jim Schelberg, PinGame Journal

This year, our American Heroes Raffle proceeds were donated to Pinball for Patriots. We were able to donate $3,756 with your help! Among other prizes, we raffled off an America’s Most Haunted playfield, donated by Spooky Pinball, and a brand new Stern Spider-Man Vault Edition pinball machine.

amh-playfield

Stephen Rothrock

spider-man

Ron Woodard


TPF Swap Meet

Photo Credit: Shawn Christian, DFW Pinball & Arcade Club

The DFW Pinball & Arcade Club pulled out all the stops again this year! The coffee and donuts got us all out of bed to sift through the offerings. There were more than 50 project games up for grabs along with plenty of pieces and parts.

swapmeet

swapmeet

swapmeet

swapmeet

swapmeet

swapmeet


Seminars

Photo Credit: Martin Ayub, Pinball News

So much to do at a pinball festival! So much more than play pinball… This year, we heard from designers, artists, manufacturers and more. Whether you came for entertainment or information, there was lots of both to be had.

chrisgranner-markritchie

jerseyjack

spooky

jaapnauta

paulfaris