Pacific Pinball Expo - Let the fun begin.....

[Strangeways]

You never look happy near planes, Wotto. I hope you packed a few extra pairs of underpants 

Looks like you got some good seats for the flight - plenty of leg room !

[Wotto]

Nino - we got front seats - extra leg room from a mate of mines sister who works at Qantas ticketing  

Well - this afternoon we were PRIVILEGED to meet one of the NICEST USA collectors you could meet - and WHAT A SET UP , and WHAT A COLLECTION he has.
We were completely, and I mean UTTERLY blown away......

Now I definitely have his permission to show images here BUT I cant tell you his name or where he is located.
He allowed us to take as many pics and play whatever we wanted to.

Here is part of the entry to his 'rooms'....



Walk down the alley and enter the diner ....




OH you want to see games - sorry......what about a NIB Hercules?






Its upstairs mixed in amongst dozens of rare and beautiful games....







Apparently the ONLY T.K.O on the planet ( head box is seperate and the game IS complete and VERY good nick )



Sick of those games upstairs - then lets go down to the pinball room and play one of the 70+ games there - ALL of them in near excellent condition.











Here is a unique game - you press both flipper buttons to fire the ball out from between the flippers - aimed at a line of pool balls, you hit 'hidden targets' under the board and then try and keep the ball in play to hit it back up there and clear the rack - ALL shots are blind.



Got one of these Pinfan?



Who likes/ remembers these old games ?







Another entry to the diner area....





More games anyone ?




Did someone say HUO Medieval Madness?



And saving the best till last......Tony playing one of the 9 ORIGINAL Kingpins.....did I mention it is serial number ONE  




To say we were just amazed at visiting this place is a massive understatement.
I have HEAPS more pics but will leave it at what I have shown - the owner said we could show whatever we wanted but I will just leave it at this.

[ktm450]

  Great pics, what an amazing collection, and setup 

[pinnies4me]

And saving the best till last......Tony playing one of the 9 ORIGINAL Kingpins.....did I mention it is serial number ONE 

Thanks for the pics of you know what at the special!!!! 

Now - game play report PLEASE!!

[tonyt]

We were both completely blown away by what we saw today and the fantastic hospitality, trip was worth it just for this and this was only our first day.

Playing King Pin was very surreal for me. This is a game that I hope gets remade. Looking forward to speaking with Gene Cuningham at PPE to get the updates. Have thrashed playing this game on the emulator, but like all games, nothing beats playing them first hand.

I absolutely loved playing King Pin.

- Great theme - gangster (shows that non licensed themes could still work)
- Game has excellent flow and plays very fast
- Love Mark Ritchie games with his signature criss cross ramps like Diner and Fish Tales, great for setting up shots
- Excellent animation on the DMD and great sounds
- Excellent artwork IMO
- Ball lock is call, one of the ramps raises to reveal the hideout.
- Liked the various modes
- Sudden death is a very cool feature. During the game you build up time during certain features for this. There is a bar near the bottom of the playfield that shows how much time you are accumulating for sudden death. At the end of the game you get an extra ball to play and the time you get depends on how much time you have accumulated for sudden death. You score well for the various shots. As the sudden death bar gets lower you start to die and the flippers become weaker and weaker until they completely die

[pinnies4me]

Thanks Tonyt, that really whets the appetite some more!!

[Strangeways]

Hey Tony, does TKO fit in your overhead luggage for the trip home 

That machine HAS to be the rarest GTB these days. I've never seen pictures that good (thanks Wotto!). What a privledge to see so many machines in one place. The EM arcade games look superb ! Thanks for the Embryon photo. I'll add one to the collection one day !

Keep the updates coming guys 

[pinnies4me]

Loved the EM Joker Poker too, pretty rare beast and a good player I believe..

[ajlaird]

Awesome setup! This guy is one serious collector!!

Can you really beat that for a great day??

[Wotto]

Can you really beat that for a great day??

No mate - I dont think you can  
We are still buzzing about it , and I havent shown you half the stuff that was there  

Nino - I took the Embryon shot for you specifically, what a NICE game to play, has some great shots aand plays fast for a wide body.

More later guys - off to Knottsberry Farm shortly - lifes tough here  

[Wotto]

Well boys - a pinball free day.....but still a great day.
Went to Knottsberry Farm Amusement Park, it is about a 10 minute drive from where we are staying.....



One of the first rides was a brand new ride called Windseeker - it is a 300 foot tower where seats are risen to the top and spin.
I dont do spin rides.
Tony does...........( looks like a handlebar from a pensioner scooter ! )







Tony then went on the drop ride .
I dont do drop rides
Tony does.......look at "Roy relaxed" here would ya !
Cheer up mate - we will play some pinball again reall soom I promise ya.






I spotted the 'Arcade' ( I can speak spanish so it's OK - I knew what the sign meant )....
NO pinballs in there boys......couple of dance machines and car games - as usual these days




Tony later went on the Pony Express.
I dont do Pony rides
Tony does.
Looking preeeeetty darn happy there straddling that horse Tony !
What ARE you doing to it - look at the guys face next to you  





The bloody mother in law was at it again - following me around the US.




OK OK - so I do go on some rides - and this next one is a KILLER.
It is called Xcelerator - you sit in little Chev's



The ride accelerates from 0-130+ kph in around 2 seconds.
The take off speed is just absolutely insane.



Top Hat tower is 200+ feet high.




We went back on later in the afternoon and got front seat which was HEAPS better and so we could get this shot for you all.




What the F*CK do they feed the chickens over here - what roids are these things on !




Knotts is currently getting ready for Halloween so the theming around the park is pretty cool right now too..







We found a bar/diner for lunch just over the rode call TGIF - it was very very nicely decorated.
Heaps of random memorobilia around the place.





Notice they finally named a bar after whats in my undies !




Then later I took Tony for one of those famous Johnny Rockets shakes.....these diners are ALWAYS very cool looking and we sat counter-side, classic US style.







You will notice these places are PACKED  
It is actually VERY quiet here at the moment and in Knotts we basically queued for nothing.

Hey V8racefan - how about a Thunderbird ?



Or even our own rental classic  
Chevey Impala - leather interior etc, sunroof - pretty nice actually.



It is 6pm and we will soon head off to Downtown Disney for a feed and a look around - another VERY difficult day guys.
Did I mention the temprature is around 25 and there isnt a cloud in the sky
Hows work all?

[tonyt]

Hey Tony, does TKO fit in your overhead luggage for the trip home  

I could only wish Nino  

Game was found in a container from all places, Argentina and he just had to have it.

Here is a shot of the backglass, it was against a wall with some other headboxes

[Strangeways]

Awesome pictures, guys - keep them coming. Although those rides look INSANE.

[v8racefan]

How cool is that Xcelaerator ride, a 57 Chevy roller coaster ya can't get more arican than that!!

Thanks for the pics, keep em comming

Is the expo starting this weekend?

[Wotto]

Another thing none of you knew is that we brought a 3rd member along on the trip with us, just to help us check out the local eating establishments.
The trouble is that this bloke has been nit-picking the hell out of the burger joints.







Hey V8racefan - check this store out in Downtown Disney.
You go in and buy car bodies and then by all the accessories - and build yourself a car model - they are SWEEEEEEEEEET.
We were very late having dinner tonight and this store closed at 10pm , otherwise I would have got one done.

Car body was $28 and the 'parts' were aound $2-4 a pack, wheels were $4.00 for 2 - it was pretty cheap for what you would end up with.



Wall of parts - there was a few walls full like this.



The work bench....



Now - how cool is this !