A Note from the Organizers
Did you see it?! Did you see that beautiful concept cabinet that Spooky Pinball helped us put together for Kosmic Khaos?
This all started as a pipe dream when Ed and Mark Ritchie were shootin’ the sh’ one night. And it snowballed into a full blown theme for TPF2018 and then cabinet and translite art by Blake Dumesnil, and then this gorgeous piece of art with a topper even!
We don’t know if this will ever be a real machine, but we love it! And from all the social media buzz, we think you love it too. And don’t worry, if it ever does become a real machine, we’ll make sure y’all hear about it.
Who said making pinball was hard? 😉
Seriously though, putting this show on is a labor of love. We try hard to make sure it truly is the best show in the country (the world?) and it’s shocking every year that the hotel sells out faster than ever before… that the tournaments sell out faster than before… that people actually make TPF the main reason for their trip to Texas. Every year we have to make room for more games and vendors on the floor and get more help to get everything done (we’ve gone so far as to conscript our kids!), and just when we think we’ve reached the limit of what our pinball community can support, you prove us wrong.
Thank you!
Ed and Kim VanderVeen, and Paul McKinney
Tournaments
Photo Credit: Colin McAlpine
Some of THE best tournament players in the world made it to Texas this year. Our tournament directors Colin McAlpine, Phil Grimaldi and Rachel Morris along with an army of volunteers did an awesome job of running tournaments this year, and even brought back the Classics. All told, we handed out over $12,000 in cash and prizes. Congratulations to all our winners!
A Division
1st Place: Robert Byers
2nd Place: Trent Augenstein
3rd Place: Karl DeAngelo
4th Place: Brad Holliday
B Division |
Novice Division |
Women’s Division |
Classics Winners |
Game Line-Up
This year was incredible. We were worried we wouldn’t have room for all the games that showed up! What a great problem to have! Martin Ayub at Pinball News counted 404 pins on the floor. We’ll use his number (even though we counted 426) and add in the 52 classic arcades for a grand total of 456 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.
Best In Show Awards
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.
Best Pre-60’s
Mark Gibson
1939 Bally Champion
Best 60’s
Howard Isaacson
Friendship 7
Best 70’s EM
Colin Dowling
Pioneer
Best 70’s SS
Kevin Moore
The Incredible Hulk
Best 80’s
Greg Campbell
Centaur
Best 90’s
Roy Pennington
Indiana Jones
Best Original
Bob Herbison
Ace High
Best Modern
Kim Keist
Star Wars
Best Restoration
Mike Loeckle
Joust
Best Custom
Paul Wilson
Polynesia
Best Video Game
Jeremy Pruitt
Escape from the Planet
of the Robot Monsters
And last but not least, this year’s Grand Champion… Lonny Payne with Jurassic Park!
Texas Pinball Museum Raffle
Photo Credit: Martin Ayub, Pinball News
This year, the Texas Pinball Musuem Raffle winner took home a brand new Stern Guardians of the Galaxy pinball machine!
Winner Confirmation
Shandra Jackson
TPF Swap Meet
Photo Credit: Martin Ayub, Pinball News
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. Dunkin’ Donuts even brought their coffee-mobile. There were plenty of projects and knick knacks to suit anyone’s taste.
Seminars
Photo Credit: Martin Ayub, Pinball News
So much to do at a pinball festival! So much more than just 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. And did you catch Bowen Kerins destroy TNA’s Reactor 9 and get a match on top of that?! Did you get to make your confession to “Father Steve”? Did you witness the reveal of Spooky’s newest pinball Alice Cooper’s Nightmare Castle? Did you meet Lou Ferrigno?!
Christopher Franchi
“Father” Steve Ritchie
Barry Oursler
Jimmy Lipham
Bowen Kerins
Brian Colin
George Gomez
Joe Balcer
Josh Kugler
Gerry Stellenberg
Spooky Pinball Team
Lou Ferrigno
We’re working on uploading seminar videos. Once we have everything set up, we’ll post the links here. Be sure to check out Martin Ayub’s complete coverage of the show at Pinball News. And search this year’s hashtag #tpf2018 on all your favorite social media platforms for more pics from our attendees.
And… we try not to play favorites, but we’ve gotta say this photo is one of the most awesome photos we’ve seen!