It's Almost Time for the Texas Pinball Festival...March 23-25, 2012

I'm not able to make it to the Texas Pinball Festival every year, but when I go, it's great. This year looks like it'll be no exception, plus I should be reporting from the show. If you can't make it, look for updates and pics on HubPages!

Well, it is almost time for the Texas Pinball Festival. It'll be held March 23-25, 2012 at the Hilton DFW Lakes in Grapevine (just a few minutes away from DFW airport).

If you've got your own pinball you're willing to bring to the festival, you'll get in free. I did that a couple of years ago and had fun telling people about my game. It did burn down in the middle of the show, of course. Well, not totally burn down, but it did fuse a flipper coil into a melted mass of junk and destroy a couple of transistors on the main board. But hey, it would have happened eventually; I just sped up the process.

You'll also have a chance to meet George Gomez, long-time game designer for Williams and Stern. Some of his big titles are Monster Bash, Corvette, Revenge from Mars, Lord of the Rings, Stern: Batman, and the brand-new Transformers.

Speaking of Transformers, you'll have a chance to buy some raffle tickets for chances at a new Stern Transformers. The raffle will benefit the American Red Cross.

"Jersey" Jack Guarnieri of Jersey Jack Pinball will also be at the Festival to talk about the upcoming release of JJP's Wizard of Oz. Jack's a long-time amusement industry vet. who also writes a column for RePlay Magazine.

For those of you who are actually good at pinball (I enjoy playing, but I'm horrible), you can also enter the tournaments. They're being held in conjunction with the International Pinball Flipper Association. Results will be reported to Walter Day's TwinGalaxies.com.

If you've got an old game you need to get rid of or a pile of parts or you need a new project (so your wife will hate you), check out the Swap Meet in the east parking lot starting at 8 AM on the 24th.

The real reason to go? 15,000 square feet of pinball games on free play. Very rarely will you have a chance to play this many games under one roof. Many of them will be for sale, if you're thinking of owning one.

I hope to see you there!

Steve Ritchie, the pinball designer famed for fast-playing pinballs, will also be at the pinball festival. Since his latest project, Stern's AC/DC, is now shipping, you might want to brush up on your AC/DC trivia. Then you'll also be ready if you ever run into Steven King. Some of Ritchie's latest projects are Stern's Spiderman, Pirates of the Caribbean, Indiana Jones, and Wheel of Fortune. Probably his most famed titles are High Speed, F-14 Tomcat, Fish Tales, and Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Alan Lewis will be giving a seminar on how to make playfield plastics. If you've got one of those antiques that no reproduction parts are available for, this would be invaluable.

Think big: come play an Atari Hercules Pinball. At 7 feet tall and 8 feet long, it's the largest production model pinball ever manufactured. Only 280 of these were ever made and you'll come get to play a bit of pinball history.

Actually, you'll get to play a lot of pinball history.

Hope to see you there!