TACOMA -- Andy Sampson is a die-hard arcader and at the 5th Annual Northwest Pinball Arcade show he's in good company.

Hundreds of gamers will flock to Tacoma this weekend to slay some dragons and rescue a princess. 

It's all part of the Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show - which happens to be the the largest arcade set up in the Northwest. 

This is a place that has self proclaimed pinball nerds flipping over those little plastic bats. 

A moment to live out their childhoods for a new generation. 

"I have a young son on the way so for me this is a chance to be able to enjoy what I had when I was little and be able to show my son in the future some of the fun things I grew up with," Sampson said. 

For most people here these 400 pinball and arcade games are a hobby. 

Most have collected these since video games sent the arcade industry into a tailspin in the 1990s. 

"It's kind of like our Disneyland. we get all the games out the public gets to come out and enjoy them," Halligan of the Northwest Pinball Arcade Show. 

In this magical kingdom, the pinball wizard reigns. 

"It gets your adrenaline going," said Yvonne Harvey Shea, who will be 75 years old next month. 

This is her first time enchanting others with her pinball prowess. 

She's only been playing three months. 

In that time she's gone from owning one machine to five. 

"If I would have started earlier I would probably have 100 like some of our friends have," she said. 

A lot of the machines' mechanics are 30 years old. 

They require a lot of upkeep. 

Whether or not the industry survives, Sampson said his son will play. 

"If I have to fly him to Japan I will, I don't care," Sampson said. "I will find a way to have him play these games."

The pinball and arcade show continues thorough Sunday. It costs just $20 for unlimited play.

The Android-powered OUYA console found its way to some lucky players, ourselves included.  With the tiny device ready to entertain, we fired up and captured footage of Star Trek: The Next Generation for The Pinball Arcade. Have to admit that it's quite impressive, with music from the TV series, along with iconic images of characters and familiar-looking ships.  Watch the video and let us know if you think it's better than Star Wars Pinball.

Via http://www.gametrailers.com/mobile-apps/53955/the-pinball-arcade-star-trek-the-next-generation-ouya-gameplay

Flippers flip, bright lights flash, bells ring as bumpers bang and ultimately, always, that silver ball descends into the gutter.

Game over.

Press “Start.” Play again. It’s all free.

After outgrowing its five-year home in Seattle, the Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show has arrived at the Greater Tacoma Convention & Trade Center, and its here through Sunday.

Collectors, enthusiasts, vendors, passionate pinball wizards both amateur and professional, plus just plain fans of the pinball and arcade game industry are gathered in Tacoma this weekend to celebrate their sport and share their games with novices and old-timers alike.

“Anyone who loves to play games, loves nostalgia, fun, should come,” said Mike Lorrain, a member of the board of directors that sponsors the show.

“For me, when I was a kid, I spent all of my quarters at the arcade,” he said. “It gave me other worlds to escape to. We’re really about passing this on to future generations.”

That’s exactly what drove Roderic Sisk down from Sequim. He stood watching his son Killian, 7, play pinball.

“I played when I was a kid and I was sorry to see it die,” Sisk said.

If pinball died, it has arisen anew.

“A lot of parents my age, we try to get our kids to play,” Sisk said. “It’s something that’s mechanical, not something that’s digital and happens automatically. At home, all of his friends come over to play.”

Masha Hass came to the opening Friday with her fiancé Russell Dare, and they will stay through Sunday and then fly home to San Jose.

She’s playing a new game called Metallica, which will celebrate its launch party at the Tacoma gathering.

“We’re in a league in the Bay Area,” she said.

“We just like pinball. We go to shows in California, and we’re going to Chicago. We’re branching out,” said Russell.

At home, they play their nine machines.

Brian Cady has 19.

“I had one, then three, and then the next time I thought about it, I had 10. Now, at home, I’m down to 19,” he said.

The Microsoft employee has been collecting for 10 years. “I find it relaxing to work on the pinballs and arcade games,” he said. “Other collectors, they’re friendly and helpful. We really want to encourage people to become a part of the hobby.”

A used machine might go for as little as several hundred dollars or as much as $4,000, or more, depending on age, rarity and condition.

Medieval Madness, one of the rarest pinballs at the show, could sell for upwards of $10,000.

Cady’s wife, he said, holds the world record on the Gottlieb-produced Sky-Line machine.

“People are buying pins as investments,” Cady said. “For me, it’s just a great way to unwind and relax. And it’s a lot of fun.”

More than 400 machines, both pinball games and arcade games, are on display and available for free play at the show.

There’s Frogger, from 1981, and the iconic Winner, just like Pong, the tennis-styled game where a white dot is hit from side to side. There’s Pac-Man, Donkey Kong and Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Add X-Men, Star Wars, Family Guy and also The Simpsons, wherein the voice of Bart Simpson will remark on a bad shot, “Hey, man, we’re both underachievers.”

Here’s Hercules, the world’s largest pinball machine, and Mazuma, one of the oldest machines in the hall, art deco-influenced, from 1937. And Ballerina, with graphics best suited for a burlesque house. The artwork painted on the glass speaks to an earlier, more buxom-fixated world view.

From its beginnings, where a ball simply bounced about and rolled while scoring points, pinballs have evolved to include LCD graphics fit for the 21st century.

Dorothy appears as if by magic within the smoke of a crystal ball in the playing area of Wizard of Oz. It’s actual footage of Judy Garland, and there’s Toto, and here comes the Wicked Witch.

Across the way, there’s a 1979 game that immortalizes the supersonic transport (SST) aircraft, and it works — even though none of the actual SSTs still do.

And for those who may once have visited Tacoma’s Fun Circus, here’s something called Big Buck Hunter II, complete with attached rifle, reminiscent of a machine popular more than 50 years ago.

From 1983, there’s Atari’s Star Wars. And there’s Ms. Pac-Man, and Tron, and Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

The show continues through Sunday, when the board of directors will award $9,000 in college scholarships to students who might one day benefit the industry.

Cowabunga, dude.


Read more here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2013/06/07/2629921/northwest-pinball-and-arcade-show.html#storylink=cpy

May and June are gifts to hockey fans. Most nights, you can find NHL playoff games on television or on the radio. As I was watching the Chicago Blackhawks play in the Western Conference Finals and the Bruins dismantle the Penguins in the East, it occured to me that I had a photo that just might presage, in an odd way, the 2013 Stanley Cup Finals.

There I was in March at Bottom Lounge, a Chicago bar/restaurant/rock club, which the locals told me is a destination for fans of the NHL’s Blackhawks. A nicely preserved pinball machine near the bar caught my eye, because it featured an image of a smiling Bobby Orr, a hero of my childhood. But something was wrong.

Wait … many things were wrong! The illustration of Orr had him wearing a Blackhawks jersey. He did play for Chicago for parts of the 1976-77 and 1978-79 seasons, but he scored only 6 goals in 26 games, and by then his injuries had robbed him of that special Orr magic. Imagine Babe Ruth enshrined in Cooperstown as a Boston Brave or Joe Montana immortalized in the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a Kansas City Chief. Orr was, and will forever be, a Bruin. He tallied 264 goals and 624 assists over the course of 10 seasons with Boston and lead the spoked B’s to Stanley Cup wins in 1970 and 1972. Orr is still one of the most beloved sports figures in the Hub O’ Hockey. I would think it would be difficult even forChicago fans to remember him in a Blackhawks jersey.

The image also incorrectly depicts Orr as a right-handed shot. He was left-handed. Continuing the litany of hockey errors, the goalie is wearing a Team Canada jersey. Ah, yes, that vaunted Blackhawks/Team Canada rivalry. It only existed on the backglass of this particular pinball machine. Finally, fans of good marketing will have noticed that the words “Power Play” dwarf the words “Bobby Orr” a bit like Zdeno Chara dwarfs Nathan Gerbe.

But two details are painstakingly correct: the goalie on which Orr is putting some kind of hellacious spin move is utterly bamboozled and off-balance. This happened a lot to goalies who faced Orr. And the peeling paint makes Orr’s knees look as if they’re shattering like cheap vases, which was the case during Orr’s short and uneventful stint with the Blackhawks.


via http://onlyagame.wbur.org/2013/06/06/bobby-orr-pinball-machine

Curbed Network’s popular food blog Eater has introduced its free Eater app. Eater’s app offers dining recommendations from the site, allowing users to find the Eater 38 and Eater Heatmap restaurants and bars in their location. Keep in mind that only selected cities will have Eater recommendations, due to the site’s focus on major population centers. A list of all restaurants can also be perused, and Eater stories can also be viewed right through the app.

Zen Studios’ new Marvel Pinball ($1) is a prime example of how in-app purchases can work properly. The game begins by including a full-fledged Avengers pinball table in 3-D, complete with all of the 2012 film’s major characters — it’s a good game on its own. Another 14 extra tables are offered for $2 each, focusing narrowly on specific Marvel comic books (including Captain America, The Amazing Spider Man, Ghost Rider) or series (Civil War, The Infinity Gauntlet, World War Hulk). Every table adds enough new voice samples, art, and music to give each table its own distinctive theme and collection of 3-D models to see. Tables always have multiple levels thanks to ramps, intensity comparable to the best real-world pinball machines, and occasional opportunities for camera-zoomed close-ups on individual character models.

COntinue reading via ilounge.com

Sony has a new portable game in the works for music fans who can play a mean pinball.

Pinball Rocks HD, due later this month for iOS devices, is a free game that has a rotating soundtrack from bands such as Filter, The Sword, Chevelle, Red, All That Remains, Hatebreed, Nonpoint and guitarist Richie Kotzen.

The game, developed with Gameprom, marks Sony Music's first attempt at a freemium game. Within the game are multiple ways players can spend a bit to upgrade their music and game experience.

If players hear a song that they like, they can seamlessly buy the music on iTunes from within the game. Also within the game are upgrades for premium pinball tables devoted to artists AC/DC, Alice in Chains, Bullet for My Valentine and Slayer ($2.99 each). Sony and Gameprom previously collaborated on the AC/DC and Slayer-themed pinball games, which have been available individually. They will remain available as standalone apps ($2.99 each) and as part of the Pinball Rocks HDcompilation.

Among the power-ups available for purchase are multiball and ball saver (10 each for 99 cents) and extra ball (5 for 99 cents), with more to be added in subsequent releases.

Read more via usatoday.com

Rarely (ok, never) do we get to see 80s synth pop, pinball and B-movie cannibalism championed in the same music video. Then again, maybe its something we should just learn to expect from Hott MT, the loveable bunch of LA/OC weirdos who stormed Wayne Coynes house to give him a present and wound up making a song and a video with him. Now, they've taken the echo-laden dreaminess of their song "YKWYR" up a few notches with a new video, premiering today on Heard Mentality. 

It starts out normal enough, as the band crowds around a blinking pinball machine somehow possessed by the floating purple aura of vocalist Ashleigh Allard. A minute or so into the video, the band are inexplicably glass jars of pickles and weird looking preserves. That's kinda where it starts getting gross. We won't spoil the entire thing for you, let's just say that if you're somehow of fan of both Holy Mountain and Redneck Zombies, then the ending of this video is exactly what you wanted to see right before lunch today. This month, in addition to the recent release of their debut album I Made This, the band is also hosting a Monday night residency at the Echo. Maybe stand a few feet back from the stage just in case they decide to do a live reenactment of this video.

Check out the video on the ocweekly webpage here blogs.ocweekly.com

If there were such a thing as pinball royalty, Anastasia "Annie" Snyder would be a princess.

Her parents refurbish and sell the arcade games around the world. And Snyder has found her own success, selling parts for pinball machines online through her business Pinball Girl.

"My whole life, we always had pinball machines," said the 19-year-old student at Rider University in New Jersey. "It wasn't just in our basement. We'd have them in our TV room, in our living room, in our garage. They were just all over the house. There was an explosion of pinball machines everywhere, pretty much."

Snyder started Pinball Girl just more than a year ago, and has already found a strong marketplace for the parts. What started out as selling a few items every week on eBay has grown into selling several items every day.


Read more via phillyburbs.com