2018 Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show Report

On Friday June 8th I attended my first Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show. I had been trying to go for years but the timing just never worked out. This year my vacation lined up perfectly with the show, and my roommate Kelly and I made the 2.5 hour drive from my home to Tacoma. We were there about 2 hours after opening and there was a fair amount of people, but probably not quite as many as attended on Saturday or Sunday. Unfortunately my photos of the show floor turned out blurry - I guess I wasn't keeping the camera still enough, which caused all the game lights to blur. Instead I will just share the photos I took of some of the machines I played that I hadn't played before. These are games that I can now cross off my bucket list.


Things I liked about the Show:

• All machines set to free play
• Over 400 machines
• Some very rare machines as well as new machines not on the market yet
• Wait times to play a game were short (with a couple of exceptions)

Things I didn't like about the Show:

• Some players were hogging machines
• Could not hear overhead announcements
• Could not hear game music or callouts
• Not much merchandise available to purchase
• Houdini raffle tickets were expensive ($20/ticket)
• Some rare machines I was hoping to see (Alien, Big Lebowski) weren't there

Unfortunately I had to leave after only a few hours because I was having some serious knee pain, so bad that I couldn't stand for too long. But here's my impressions on the games I did get to play...these are games I had never played before, so using my previous format of game evaluations, these titles are listed in red to signify that...

Houdini - this game was the Show's grand prize for the raffle. The shots are very tough to hit, but boy is this a beautiful game. I wish I would have done well enough to see more features, but what I did see I really liked. Even Kelly, who had not been impressed by Youtube videos, had to admit it's intriguing, but not enough in his opinion to acquire over a Wizard of Oz. My personal preference is I'd like more plays on it but I'm now leaning towards upgrading it on my wishlist from a possible maybe to a strong maybe.

Speakeasy - Though it's been around for ages I've never seen this early solid state game from Bally. There isn't a lot to shoot at...the playing card drop targets in the middle of the playfield are the main focus...but I thought the roulette wheel under the playfield was a neat feature. According to IPDB the Speakeasy playfields are made of resin instead of plywood! It was not bad, but it's hard to evaluate fairly when you are spoiled by modern machines.

I wandered over to the Jersey Jack booth, where the new Pirates of the Caribbean (PotC) was on display, as well as a Dialed In! (DI), a Hobbit Black Arrow Edition (THBA), and a Wizard of Oz (WOZ, I don't recall the edition). The line to play PotC was the longest of any machine at the show, and unfortunately I didn't have time to wait to play it, but I'm sure it will be picked up by some local arcades and I'll get some time on it then. Despite the issues involving the spinning wheel and the chest being open all the time, the game looked gorgeous and people were having fun playing it. I liked the idea of picking a character from the start and all the variations in gameplay.

I was really disappointed that DI, THBA, and WOZ went largely unplayed for the few hours I was there. Hopefully that changed Friday night and over the weekend.

Dialed In! - I had no idea what I was doing and my game was over pretty quick. It feels like another solid game from Jersey Jack, and it's designed by Pat Lawlor, I just didn't care for the theme. I'll play it again in the future to evaluate it further.

Maverick - I'm glad I got to play Maverick. It's okay but not great and I didn't like it as much as my Frankenstein, but it was still fun. I love how the boat's paddlewheel turns, but otherwise its an underwhelming toy. Lots and lots of drop targets! This was Data East's last game; Sega took over Data East and continued production.

Monopoly - I finally got to play this Pat Lawlor game and it was very fun! Some of the shots remind me a lot of the shots in Ripley's Believe It Or Not. Maybe that's why I had a great game on my first flip, getting a high score and earning a free game. The backwards spinning flipper is pretty wacky, and I thought the LED marquee was a nice touch, and this thing, like all Lawlor games, is simply loaded, with 6 bumpers, 3 flippers (not counting the spinning one), the marquee, several ramps, and a bank vault that opens. Shooting the ball into the open bank vault is a great feeling shot. If it wasn't for the theme (I really hate the board game), I would love it. That's probably why I like Twilight Zone and RBION more, I really dig the themes on those Lawlor classics.

Next I wandered over to the rare, one-of-a-kind custom pinball area. These homebrew machines were pretty damn awesome...I'm impressed with the creativity and ingenuity it takes to make this happen.

Steampunk Royale - This game looked absolutely stunning, from the cartoonish art in the picture frame side panels, to the giant metal octopus with glowing green eyes between the ramps that look like staircases, everything in this game suggests an attention to detail and a flair for the dramatic. And of course I love steampunk as my virtual machine can attest to. Though it played like an EM with a somewhat bare playfield, which wasn't super, I still loved every minute of it and feel lucky to have gotten a flip on it.

Proto - I didn't have time to wait around to play this, but I watched a game being played and it looked really cool. If it's back next year I definitely want to take a long look at it. I'm adding it to the bucket list.

Pabst Can Crusher - I was a bit bored with this game and let the third ball drain. I hate tiny flippers, but I can see the appeal to those who love EM games, as it is a throwback to that era. Supposedly the callouts are great but I couldn't hear them.

Fire! - Pressing the credit button would not award credits. I had never played this and was intrigued. Maybe I'll see one in the future; for now it is still on my "unplayed" list.

Iron Maiden LE - This was, frankly, the highlight of the show for me. IMLE is awesome! Everything about it just felt great...the angles of the shots, being able to pass the ball from the lower flippers to the middle flipper and then to the upper flipper, the gorgeous Egyptian-themed art...I was blown away. And that's without any understanding of the rules or being able to hear the music and callouts! On my one and only flip, I had an epic, 10 or 12 minute game, scoring over 212 million and entering my initials as high score #2 on the machine. Maybe not a huge accomplishment - it was the first day of the show, after all, and there were something like a dozen machines at the show - but I glanced at other players from time to time and it seemed like they didn't have anything close to that. I would love to own one, and maybe someday I will.

Thunderbirds - This is not the greatest theme for me, but I was willing to overlook that to give it a try, as it features several toys and some nice lighting. Unfortunately the flippers were too under powered to make many of the shots, and I walked away disappointed. I'd like to try it again with some better flipper power as I think it might be a lot of fun.

Guardians of the Galaxy - I enjoyed the clean, open feel of this game, and it is quite colorful. I love the theme, too, and had a good game. But I swear I only got two balls to play instead of three. The Groot head is disappointing to me, it's nothing new and is essentially the same toy as Rudy in Funhouse, Gene Simmons in KISS, and a few others that I can't recall. It's a fine game and fun to play, but not memorable or unique to me in any way. I wouldn't own it for sure.

Other games I didn't get to play

Jersey Jack PotC (lines too long)

Lexi Lightspeed (player hogging the machine)

Total Nuclear Annihilation (didn't see the non-tournament machine)

Stern KISS (not enough time)

Dirty Harry (in tournament area)

Police Force (not enough time, low priority)

Overall I enjoyed my first Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show and I had a lot of fun, but I wish my aching knee would have given me more time to play - I could have easily spent 8-10 hours there otherwise. Oh well, there's always next year!