The curtain may have been drawn on PAX Aus 2014, but it doesn’t mean that we should relegate it to the back of our collective minds. On the contrary, we should be proud and reflect on another fantastic and successful event. PAX Aus 2015 can wait for now, this is PAX Aus 2014‘s time to shine.
There was lots of media attention and praise for this year’s event, and all for good reason – there was the bigger and better equipped premises, great variety of exhibitors, awesome and interesting panels and of course the volunteers that were there to help anyone seeking their assistance.
For the ausretrogamer crew, the Classic Gaming area was again the biggest highlight – yes, we are biased! I am betting that a lot of people would agree with me. Unfortunately, due to an emergency we were unable to attend on the Friday and Saturday. With that said, we would like to recognise the effort (and great support) we were afforded by our fellow retro gaming brethren from Retrospekt, Retro Domination and Weird and Retro – you guys rock!
We finally made a showing on the Sunday. As soon as we arrived we were gobsmacked by the enormity of the expo and the number of people present. From the Expo Hall to the Freeplay and Tabletop areas, people were just having fun – which is a great endorsement for an event. It was great to have the entire expo under one (Ed: massive) roof. We attended Weird and Retro’s retro roadshow (a personal fave of mine) and toured the floor of the expo. The Indie area was another highlight, as the games that were on show were nothing short of spectacular. All the heavy hitters of the industry were present, with their areas full to the gills with eager punters trying to get a glimpse of the latest and greatest games and equipment.
Finally, the Classic Gaming area. We were taken aback by the sheer size of our patch. With the additional real estate, we were able to configure the tables and systems to be very inviting and relaxing (Ed: Oh those beanbags!). The Classic Gaming crew reflected on the area in the recent Retro Domination podcast, which you can listen to over here.
For now, enjoy the visions from another successful PAX Aus event (Ed: If you missed out on this year’s PAX, check out the interactive walk-through video at the bottom of this article). Hope to see you all at PAX Aus 2015!
Source: BenchMinecraft
Source: hellfire64 (Rob Caporetto)
Image source: Rob Caporetto
When I first heard about the 
As I step out of the car, I immediately wish I’d stayed home. Who the heck is going to show up to this thing? 4 people total? It’s all about those Sony Playtendo whozits now. Nobody wants to play pinball anymore. I ask the reception lady about the pinball expo and am told it’s “outside, to the left in a big tent”. Pffft, tent? I’ve come this far so I’ll begin my perilous journey to that tent. As it comes into view, my regret quickly turns to not-so-regret. “That’s a pretty big tent” I think to myself, immediately followed by “Hey! Is that Aqua Golf?! Holy crap. I should go do that!”. I approach the tent, take obligatory photos (my sincerest apologies for the quality – my phone is as old as the bands that I listen to), and make my way in. I slam my order confirmation down on the counter and demand my Ultimate Warrior neon bracelets. If I’m going to play some pinball, I have to look the part, and what better way than with neon colours adorning my wrists. I step inside and am frankly, amazed. That’s a lot of pinball and look, there’s already dozens of people here. Colour me impressed (or badd, that works too).
My first order of business was to locate the Terminator 2 machine. Oh, it’s right there. That was easy. I should take some photos and video. Clickity click, walkety walk. That was fun. Let’s play some T2. Wait, what’s that next to T2? Is that… it is… a Street Fighter II machine! My all time favourite pinball machine mere feet away from my all time favourite video game. Hold on, that’s not a Street Fighter II machine. That’s a cabinet running an emulator that just happens to be running Street Fighter II. Screw it, don’t care, I’m playing. Guile Guile Guile Guile. awww. I lost. I’ll come back and play later. That, in a nutshell, was my day. I would attempt to play Terminator 2 whenever it was available, follow it up with some Street Fighter, and fill in the gaps with the plethora of other machines available (Indiana Jones got a good playin’ too). 6 hours of standing was all that I could stand (pun obviously intended) so at 3:00pm, 2 hours before closing, I made my journey home. Even the cheapskate in me was too tired to play any longer. There’s always tomorrow.
Is the cost of admission worth the time? Absolutely! With close to 200 machines ranging from 1940 all the way to the current digital machines, there really is something here for everyone. Everything is, as far as I can tell, arranged by period with the earlier machines at the far end of the tent and the latest and greatest closer to the entrance. The old simple machines had a charm to them that the newer machines cannot replicate. The pinging and minimalistic gameplay transported me back to the good old days when I’d go down to the local speakeasy, have a few, ogle some women and come home to my wife. Good times. With that said, it was the machines of the 70s, 80s and 90s that felt right to me while the entirely digital machines were just… wrong. No steel balls, no flippers, no pinging, no ponging. If I wanted to play a digital version of pinball, I’d head to Steam and buy Pinball FX2 or better yet, go retro and play some Pinball Dreams, Pinball Fantasies or Slam Tilt on the Amiga. Part of the appeal of pinball is the ding ding, bzzzzz, pooookh, bing, boof. You need that boof (Ed: tactile pleasure!).
As one would expect, the machines from the 40s, 50s and 60s were seldom used while the newer machines had a constant queue of people waiting to get their chance to outdo one another. What I personally found most interesting is the range of people that had turned up. Male and female, old and young. Everyone was covered. The older folk (50+) stuck to the older machines while everyone else generally played with anything that wasn’t an older machine, with the exception of the kids that would play on anything that was free. The hipsters that showed up also primarily hung around the older machines, presumably because the pinging of old hardware isn’t mainstream, so it soothes them. I did what I could to play from every period, with the exception of the purely digital machines, because they’re the poo-poo faces of the pinball world and don’t deserve my time.
If you have the opportunity to attend an expo like this, I suggest you do it. If you have to, drag your family along. Everyone will have fun and if they don’t, divorce/break-up/disown/post drunk photos of them online! The Australian Pinball Expo was a thoroughly enjoyable event – make sure you go in 2015!
Frankie!
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