From: bradam@twobits.Eng.Sun.COM (Brad Martinson)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: Pinball Expo
Date: 18 Nov 1992 22:41:35 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Distribution: na
NNTP-Posting-Host: twobits

In article <1992Nov18.145213.21691@cbnewsh.cb.att.com>, jgy@cbnewsh.cb.att.com (john.g.young) writes:
|> Anyone up for giving a full review of the Expo? 
|> 

Okay, here's my trip review.  I'll post more on the seminars if I have time,
unless someone else does it first...

-------
	Pinball Expo `92 - November 12-15, 1992

	We arrived at O'Hare wednesday evening, around dinner time. Greeted 
by the brisk 35 degree weather, we decided that we would explore the dinner 
options at the host hotel, the Ramada Inn, rather than go anywhere near the 
outdoors.

	Thursday was the official opening of the show, so we got our 
registration packet and waited for 1 PM to roll around. We decided to have a
cheap lunch, so went across the street to the McDonalds we had breakfast at.
By now it was raining, along with still being 35 degrees, so hot food was
appreciated. At 1 PM, the busses left for the first official event, a factory
tour of Premier Technology, who manufacture pinball machines under the name
Gottlieb. I'll have photos of this later this week. Some of the processes are
very familiar to those who have seen Sun's SPARCstation assembly line, as
they also used a nifty insertion machine and a wave solderer. Like the SS
line, it is concerned mostly with assembly, not manufacture. Cabinets are
made elsewhere, as are the playfields and the plastic items. The line is very
efficient, with subassemblies being created on sub-lines that flow into the
main line.

	Next came the only hands-on seminar of the weekend, a "How To Play 
Pinball" taught by five of the best player around today. Many techniques were
taught, such as trapping the ball and learning to aim for targets. The best
advice was also the most ridiculous - One guy claimed that the only way to
really learn a machine well enough to place in tournaments is to own one, so
you can play it with the top glass off and see exactly what shots are worth
the most points. Right.

	Thursday continued with the show floor opening, where we were able 
to see and play about 100 games, ranging in age from brand-new-unreleased
games (Star Wars) to games that predate flippers (that is, pre-1947). a dozen
vendors were there, selling everything from flyers to parts to complete
games. I dropped a bunch of money on books and a few parts; the thought of
shipping a game 2000 miles was a great deterrent. The "Flip Out" tournament
started too, played on about 20 of Premiers "Cue Ball Wizard". Friday ended
with a midnight movie, "Tilt" starring a young Brooke Shields. Don't bother
renting it. Trust me.

	Friday dawned cold, with a sprinkling of snow on the ground. The 
trek to McDonalds was treacherous. Traffic reports made it sound like the
first rain in california after a long, dry summer. Friday featured a series
of seminars, covering such diverse topics as Pinball Tournaments to How To
Work On Your Own Machine to a panel with the heads of the four american mfgs.
In the evening the exhibit hall reopened, and the tournament continued. I
played both my games (two entries were included with the registration, extras
were 2/$5.) getting 82 and 142 million points. The bottom qualifier of the 16
entries in the semifinals scored around 1.4 billion. Needless to say, I
didn't bother buying more entries. Friday night's midnight movie was "Tommy",
which I didn't stay up for.

	Saturday dawned cold, but clear, so we headed downtown for a bit of 
culture. We rode the El, seeing the very best neighborhoods the city has to
offer (Not!). After experiencing authentic deep-dish pizza, we headed back
for the banquet. While we were gone, the auction was held. I looked, but the
2000 mile shipping deterrent, plus the 10% "buyers premium" at the auction,
plus the 9.75% sales tax conspired to keep me from taking any big treasures
home with me. The banquet was attended by a fair number of industry insiders,
and the keynote speaker was Gil Pollack, president of Premier Technology. He
told of his professional experience in pinball, starting in 1972 when he
joined D. Gottlieb & Co., thru their acquisition by Columbia Music, who were
further acquired by Coca-Cola, and the buyout from Coke when Coke decided
that pinball wasn't part of their business plan.  And Steve Ritchie signed
my High Speed owners manual. Good banquet.

	We left Sunday at noontime, so missed the final round of the Flip-out.

	I picked up seven backglasses, a bunch of books, untold small plastic 
giveaways from Williams Electronics, and a handful of hard-to-find parts I've
been lacking for the last several months. And I'm still married - all in all,
a highly successful trip.

-- 
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