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Pinball Expo

We Had A Blast At The Inaugural Melbourne Pinball Expo

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A Silverball Sensation: The Melbourne Pinball Expo 2024 Rocks the Flippers!

The pinball buzz has finally landed in Melbourne, and it hit with a bang! The inaugural Melbourne Pinball Expo (MPE) lit up the Matthew Flinders Hotel in Chadstone this past weekend, delivering a bumper-packed event that left attendees flipping out—literally.

Back in June, we gave you the heads-up about this one-of-a-kind gathering, and oh boy, did it live up to the hype! MPE brought together an eclectic mix of new and classic pinball machines, offering something for everyone, from seasoned flipper wizards to first-timers discovering the magic of the silverball.

A Playground for All Ages

Whether you came to chase high scores, bask in the nostalgia of retro classics, or marvel at the cutting-edge innovations of modern pinball, MPE had you covered. The best part? Seeing the pinball community in full force—old friends reconnecting over their shared passion and new faces lighting up with excitement. It was a celebration for all ages, proving that pinball truly is timeless.

Star Attractions Steal the Spotlight

Choosing a favourite machine was nearly impossible with so many crowd-pleasers on the floor. Stern Pinball dazzled attendees with their blockbusters like Jaws, John Wick, Foo Fighters, and Venom—machines that had players lining up for another go. Meanwhile, Jersey Jack Pinball wowed with Avatar, The Godfather, Toy Story 4, and Guns N’ Roses, drawing in pinheads eager to experience their stellar craftsmanship.

But the surprises didn’t stop there! American Pinball (AP) and Pinball Brothers (PB) made waves with standout offerings. AP’s lineup of Legends of Valhalla, Barry O’s BBQ Challenge, Galactic Tank Force, and the adrenaline-pumping Hot Wheels were absolute crowd favourites. PB turned heads with their music-inspired pins, ABBA and Queen, with ABBA’s interactive helicopter ball lock being a delightful highlight that never got old.

The view from the Jersey Jack Pinball stage

A Special Shoutout

Of course, we couldn’t forget CGC’s Cactus Canyon Remake and the ultra-cool Pulp Fiction SE—machines so popular, we had to elbow our way in just to get a turn. If you managed to snag some time on these, consider yourself lucky!

Already Looking Forward to 2025

Missed the fun? Don’t fret! The MPE team hinted that they’re already gearing up for an even bigger 2025 event. Make sure you follow our channels to stay updated, and in the meantime, feast your eyes on the gallery of moments we captured from this unforgettable weekend.

The MPE venue was perfect for pinball

 

 

Woohoo, a selfie with Slash!

Yep, I did TILT – and that was Game Over!
Some Mr Pinball Australia and ZAX Amusements goodies from MPE

 

Get Ready To Flip Out At The Melbourne Pinball Expo

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If Chicago can have a Pinball Expo, then why not Melbourne!

The pandemic may have stifled many an event and expos, including the awesome FlipOut, but you can’t keep a good pinball event down!

From the FlipOut ashes the Melbourne Pinball Expo (MPE) has risen, just like the legendary phoenix. The Melbourne Pinball Expo has been scheduled for later this year, from November 30th to December 1st and will be held at the Matthew Flinders Hotel in Chadstone – a stone’s throw from the Chadstone Shopping Centre – the fashion capital 😉 We honestly can’t wait for this 2 days of absolute pinball bliss.

Highlights from FlipOut 2018

Melbourne Pinball Expo will feature pinball machines from every major manufacturer for you to flip on (woohoo!), and will also host special guests from the USA, like Jersey Jack himself, who will reveal JJP’s latest title! As time nears, we’ll have updates on the machines that will be on the floor to play and the rest of the special guests list.

We love our pinball events in Melbourne, so a big thank you goes to the organisers – Pinball Transport, GDA Australia, Pinball Sales Australia and  fellow distributors, resellers and contributors for putting this event on for us pinball fans!

For ticketing information and purchases, please go here.

These are the distributors, resellers, contributors and manufacturers that will have pinball machines available at Melbourne Pinball Expo

 

 

Jersey Jack Pinball’s ELTON JOHN Pinball Is Unleashed at Pinball Expo ’23

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It’s been a bumper Pinball Expo 2023 with new pinball machines being released, left, right and centre! Not to be outdone, the world’s second largest pinball manufacturer, Jersey Jack Pinball has unleashed their latest machine at Pinball Expo, Elton John Pinball!

Designed by The Master Of Flow, Steve Ritchie, Elton John Pinball features hand-drawn artwork packages from artists Christopher Franchi, John Youssi and Jean-Paul De Win. The machine’s rules and software design were done by industry veteran Bill Grupp.


source: Jersey Jack Pinball

This new JJP game will truly be music to your ears, with 16 Elton John studio master tracks with custom voice callouts by Elton John himself. Elton John Pinball will come in two models, a Platinum and Collector’s Edition, both consisting of feature packed playfields, including an interactive Elton John toy, a rocket sculpture with LED flames, a Tiny Dancer motorized toy, a Crocodile Rock physical lock toy, a grand piano three-ball lock with diverter, a micro LED piano marquee, 14 multi-LED star inserts, Rocka-Box three-bank drop targets, three multi-LED Bennie and the Jets bumpers, two rapid spinner targets, and much much more!

We must admit, Elton John didn’t really appeal to us (as a theme), but after seeing what JJP have produced, we reckon they are on a winner!

Pricing:

  • Platinum Edition US$12,000
  • Collector’s Edition US$15,000

NOTE: No Australian pricing available at the time of publication.

Collector’s Edition

Platinum Edition

image source: Jersey Jack Pinball



New Pinball Games To Be Revealed at Pinball Expo

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With Pinball Expo ’23 only a few days away, pinball manufacturers are clamouring to outdo each other in the new release stakes.

We already had Barrels of Fun announce their Labyrinth pinball game over the weekend (which will be playable at the expo), and now it’s Pinball Brothers’ turn with an Ellen Ripley edition of their Alien pinball machine. As Alien(s) fans, this definitely piques our interest!

This Ellen Ripley version of Alien pinball will come with new cabinet art, a loader battle translite, an updated software package (v4.0) and a bunch of extra movie scenes we have never seen in Alien Pinball before! Announcing their collaboration with modder Lior Rajwan from The Art of Pinball, this new machine will include hand-sculpted mini-screen, a hand-painted Xeno-head and a beautifully designed apron. Pinball Brothers are also planning an interactive topper which we hope they bring to the expo!

Alien Pinball – The Ellen Ripley Version

The Ellen Ripley Edition’s In-game Extras

Not to be outdone, Jersey Jack Pinball (JJP) will also announce Steve Ritchie’s next pinball machine on October 19 (US time), which is rumoured to be an Elton John music themed pin. We aren’t the biggest Elton John fans, but with Steve designing this one with a higher BoM (bill of materials), you can bet it will be an amazingly flowy (and possibly brutal) game, packed with cool mechs and toys – well, that’s the hope.

The Master of Flow – Steve Ritchie. JJP will showcase his latest game at Pinball Expo

Will it be Elton John? We’ll see on October 19 (US time)!

Oh how we wish we could be at Chicago this week to experience and play these new machines – if someone could fly us out to Chi-town, we’d be forever in their debt 😉



Pinball Expo 2022 – The Homebrew Pinball Machines

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If you are into pinball and were in Chicago this past weekend, you would’ve no doubt attended Pinball Expo!

Being one of the larger pinball events in the world, among the many things to see, do and play is the homebrew section. The homebrew machines are so good these days that it could lead to a pinball designer gig at one of the many pinball manufacturers in North America – just ask Ryan McQuaid (Sonic Spinball) and Mark Seiden (Metroid Pinball), both are now pinball designers at American Pinball and Jersey Jack Pinball respectively!

For Pinball Expo 2022 there were quite a few eye popping and amazing homebrew pinball machines designed and built by enthusiasts that we just had to share with you all. Licensing notwithstanding, do you see any you would like being mass produced? We love the look of Elf, Pokemon and League of Legends!

image source: Pinball Expo via Facebook



Flippin the Script on Autism – Fundraiser Auction!

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This is something close to our heart, so we thought we’d share the below press release with you all 🙂

PinShades is a proud sponsor of Flippin the Script on Autism

We are excited to announce LoserKids and TPN teaming up to help children with Autism! Flippin the Script will be a 12 hour charity stream. So mark your calendars for October 20th (Thursday – US time) at Pinball Expo in Chicago. The stream is directly going towards Learning Solutions. An Utah based organization that helps with early intervention Autism therapy for kids that are as young as 2 all the way to late teenage years. The organization helps kids with Autism by giving them a one on one teachers to help develop skills like: Speech, social, and positive reinforcement to name a few.

Stern, JJP, American, Multimorphic, CGC, Haggis, Lit Frames, Flip N Out, The Pinball Company, PinShades, and others are donating products that will be auctioned off during the stream. LoserKids, TPN, Poormen, and others with be hosting the stream and interviewing some of your favourite people from the pinball industry including Keith Elwin and Eric Meunier to name a few.

We hope you join or stream us on October 20th at Pinball Expo!



Pinball Expo ’22 is Celebrating its 38th Year!

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Oh how we wish we could go to this year’s Pinball Expo! We’ll be watching from afar. But, if you are one of those lucky folks that will be attending, Pinball Expo’s Rob Berk reckons this will be the biggest and best yet…..

Playing Magic Girl (the broken one!) at Flipout 2018! Beautiful to look at, but that’s about it!

MAGIC GIRL IS BACK!

After seven years in the making, the elusive Magic Girl pinball game is finally complete! The storied history of this machine can be traced back to 2015 when its first designs were being formulated. Through a troubled development cycle only 19 machines were ever built… but none of them were truly complete and had many missing components. But, through the hard work of American Pinball and an intrepid team of builders in the Netherlands, Magic Girl has finally been restored and the first ever fully-functional Magic Girl pinball machine will be unveiled on U.S. soil at Pinball Expo 2022!

INTERNATIONAL FLAIR

Pinball Expo 2022 will also be hosting the first ever Pinball Expo World Cup Tournament! Players from around the world are signing up to compete, with tournament attendees on board from the U.S., Spain, and the Netherlands – and we’re looking for more! With guest speakers also hailing from Australia, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom, Pinball Expo’s global influence has never been greater!

…BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!

ENTERRIUM is opening its doors to Pinball Expo 2022 attendees to enjoy pinball, games, food, and fun! Come on down and catch up with old friends and meet new ones too at this upscale restaurant, bar, and arcade in Schaumburg, Illinois! The entire facility will be open with all pinball machines, arcade machines, bowlers, and more available to play at no charge!

And finally, the Vendor Hall this year will have longer show hours and will be packed with great manufacturers including Stern Pinball, Jersey Jack Pinball, Chicago Gaming, Pinball Adventures, American Pinball, Spooky Pinball, and – all the way from Sweden – Pinball Brothers who will be there to show off their latest games : Alien and Queen! And we’re working with even more manufacturers to have their latest creations on display!

…BUT WAIT, THERE’S EVEN MORE!

For the first time ever Jersey Jack Pinball will be hosting a tour of its pinball facility! Check the website for more details!

Pinball Expo is truly an “Everything for Everybody” show and you’re guaranteed to have a pinball experience to remember in 2022!

Visit www.PinballExpo.com for more information about the event and to book your rooms today!

Thank you,

Rob Berk
Pinball Expo Chairman

image source: Better.net

story source: IFPA



Pinball Expo 35th Anniversary Pinball Machine

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With all the attention being on this year’s Virtual Pinball Expo ’20 (which is on right now!), we thought we’d share an amazing custom creation by Pinball Depot from 2019 to celebrate the 35th anniversary of Pinball Expo.

Pinball Depot rethemed an unsalvageable Gottlieb Buccaneer electro-mechanical pinball machine for the 35th anniversary celebration, complete with alternate backglass to mark the anniversary and also a general Pinball Expo one.

We absolutely love this custom retheme and can’t even imagine how much effort and hard work went into this project. As a matter of fact, Dino Gaspari has told us that it took between 6 to 8 weeks to create this marvel, which is quite impressive in itself. This whole idea came about when Pinball Depot thought that it would be a great idea to make a custom pinball machine to honour and celebrate Rob Berk and his team for spearheading the longest running pinball trade show event, while also generating a new retheme custom pinball business – a win, win! Dino assures us that all rethemed pinball machines are only done on playfields that are deemed unsalvageable. Oh yeah, the playfield artwork is one of a kind airbrushed by hand and clear coated 12 times for longevity.

The Pinball Expo 35th Anniversary machine will also be streamed during the current Virtual Pinball Expo with pre-recorded gameplay, so make sure you tune in on Twitch. In the meantime, check out the photos Dino has shared with us of this machine. If this custom pinball looks this good in the pics, imagine how gorgeous it must look in person! Thanks to Dino Gaspari for sharing this with us!

PS: Pinball Depot has also soft launched shipmypinball.com, which is a self-serve site with real time quoting for shipping pinball machines without the need to sign up. Go check it out!

Let the creation begin!

Prepping the playfield

Nothing like some sunshine to dry the playfield

Hot pink legs!

Looking darn awesome!

Wish we could play this awesome custom built pinball machine! Note the Pinball Expo 35th anniversary backglass

The alternate Pinball Expo backglass looks just as cool!

Check out the playfield! The see-through plastics are darn gorgeous on this machine!

That wedge-head backbox is sublime

Wow, even the back of the machine gets the custom treatment!
image source: Dino Gaspari / Pinball Depot

 

Pinball Expo 2020 Goes Virtual – Oct. 14-17

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For those new to pinball, Pinball Expo is an event that is held annually in Chicago. Pinball Expo has been running since the mid 80s and is one of the pinball industry’s most celebrated events. This expo always attracts the major pinball manufacturers, pinball industry professionals, pinball players, collectors and enthusiasts from all around the world.

Since 2020 is no ordinary year, Pinball Expo will be run virtually this time round. The Virtual Pinball Expo kicks off this Wednesday, October 14th, at 7:00pm (Chicago time – GMT-5) for a live broadcast on Twitch, and then continues for three days with heaps of tournaments, guest speakers, seminars, latest news in the world of pinball and all sorts of other pinball fun for lovers of the silverball game.

The best part of this year’s event is that it is totally free to view on Twitch, so make sure you bookmark www.twitch.tv/pinballexpo! Hope to see you all online at Pinball Expo 2020.

image source: Pinball Expo