Pinball Expo is currently taking place at the Renaissance Hotel in Schaumberg, Illinois. The event has a packed seminar program. Similar to the virtual 2020 edition of the event, many seminars will be streamed on Pinball Expo’s Twich channel. On Thursday, October 27th, streaming of the seminars only started during the 6:00 PM seminar of Todd Tuckey and Frank Lindenmuth. That seminar was followed by a seminar of American Pinball and a fireside chat Q&A with veteran pinball designer Pat Lawlor. The recorded livestream of Day 1 can be watched on Twitch. 

 

Highlights of Pinball Expo ’21 Day 1:

The American Pinball team: David Fix, Steven Bowden, Michael Grant, Josh Kugler, Scott Gullicks, Frank Gigliotti.

  • The American Pinball seminar can be watched here.
  • Scott Gullicks and Frank Gigliotti of Riot Pinball discussed how they got into homebrew pinball design and their latest game Legends of Valhalla, which is being manufactured by American Pinball. At the end of the seminar they mentioned that Legends of Valhalla is not a ‘one-and-done’ deal. They are working on another game title for American Pinball.
  • David Fix of American Pinball announced the American Pinball American Dream contest for homebrew pinball designers. They will have one year, up to Pinball Expo 2022, to design a pinball machine and bring it to Pinball Expo. Based on feedback from the community and the American Pinball team, one game will be declared the winner and American Pinball will take that game into production.
  • The entire fireside chat with Pat Lawlor was golden, as it contained so many great stories and insights on some of Pat’s games and changes in game design from Pat’s 40-year career in coin-op.

Pat Lawlor during his fireside chat

 

Highlights of Pinball Expo ’21 Day 2:

  • Quite a few seminars went into fixing pinball machines, the tools you need for that and such.
  • Chicago Gaming revealed Cactus Canyon remake with new interactive shooting gallery topper.

    The topper is currently only available on the Limited Edition model, of which 1,250 units will be made. The LE is priced at $9,250, and also includes a burned wood bottom arch. There is also a Special Edition without the topper, inner art blades and less bells and whistles (details will be sent to distributors later today), which is priced at $8,000. The software on the game has been further completed and includes the Bionic Bart mode, which is missing in the original game. CGC will be focusing on the production of LE and SE games first, before taking a Standard model into production.

    The remodeled Bad Guy Bart sculpt on the playfield

    Lyman Sheats and Josh Sharpe are working on an alternative rule set for the game, which will become available as a paid add-on. That game code will only be released when completely finished, which may still take some time. The Cactus Canyon remake currently has no internet connectivity, but CGC is talking to Scorbit about integrating their system. Cactus Canyon remake can be ordered with CGC dealers and distributors, such as Planetary Pinball, Nitro Pinball, Little Shop of Games, PinballPro, and others.

  • Gary Stern was inducted into the International Video Game Hall of Fame
  • Keith Johnson, Gil Pollock and Eddie Adlum got inducted into the Pinball Expo Hall of Fame
  • Jersey Jack Pinball did not reveal a new game, but their seminar was still interesting.

 

Below is a listing of the seminars of Day 2 and livestream link:

 

Highlights of Pinball Expo ’21 Day 3:

 

Below is a listing of the seminars of Day 3 and livestream link:

 

 

This article will be updated as Pinball Expo ’21 continues.

 

Also check out the in-depth coverage of Pinball Expo on Pinball News.