Xerico
New member
I want to give a huge shout out to the organizers of the Houston Arcade and Pinball Expo. Keith and the gang did a wonderful job of fostering a fun arcade experience. Tim Malek did a great job of running the Pinball and Arcade Tournaments.
The Houston Arcade and Pinball Expo 2011 Pinball Wizard was Bob Matthews. He successfully conquered the EM Champion, Carey Fishman, 80's Champion, Sven Johnson, and Team Champions, Ken Kemp & Marcus Trevino (me), along with stepping up to Bally Captain Fantastic (EM), Williams Cosmic Gunfight (80's) and Stern Spiderman (Modern).
The winner of the Stern Transformers Pinball Cash Tournament was Ken Kemp. Second Place went to Eric Fisher. I finished third.
The winner of the EM Tournament was Carey Fishman. Second place went to Bob Matthews and I finished Third.
The winner of the 1980's Solid State Pinball tournament was Sven Johnson. Second place went to Bob Matthews. I believe third place went to Shane Pace, but I am not 100% sure.
The winners of the Partners Tournament were Ken Kemp and Marcus Trevino. This was the fourth consecutive year that we won the partners tournament. Second place was claimed by the team of Carey Fishman and Bob Matthews. Third place was claimed by April and Austin Kemp.
The winner of the Modern Tournament was Bob Matthews. I cannot recall who won 2nd place. Once again, I came in third place.
And finally, the Houston show tried a cashbox tournament with a Data East Tommy. $1 per game. All funds collected go into the cash box. The top 4 qualifiers play one game to determine the winner of the cashbox funds. After qualifying was completed, there was a cash prize of $100 for this tournament.
Carey Fishman put up the best game of the Cash Box tournament during the one game playoff to win the $100. Bob Matthews came in 2nd. I once again came in third. Ken Kemp came in fourth.
Even though I came in third, I was happy that one person won the entire cash box. It made the final game so tense.
PROS:
The expo was separated into two rooms. One room was reserved for the vendors, the pinball tournament, the EM row, some antique coin op games, the console area and the XBox Kinetic "Wipe Out" playing on a large inflatable movie screen. The other room was a reincarnated 1980's Arcade complete with annoying DJ (I keed!).
The EM Pinball Row was outstanding. A nice collection of 1960's and 1970's EMs. The Gottliebs Included Quick Draw, Centigrade 37, Paradise and Sing Along. The Bally's included Wizards! and the tournament game Captain Fantastic. The Williams' included Space Odyssey, Honey and Blue Chip. In addition, there was an awesome gun game that was similar to Shoot the Bear. And there was an outstanding pitch and bat from 1947. Both were
Unfortunatetly, the Paradise and Wizard! encountered some issues and were turned off partly through the expo.
Activision sponsored the XBox Kinetic "Wipe Out" used as an Arcade Tournament. The kinetic "Wipe Out" game was amazing and Kids playing the game were hilarious! And the winner even won a free copy of the game! Well done Expo and Activision! Well done!
The sportsmanship of the tournament players. Everyone played hard but never let things get personal. When games went down, players were respectful and understood the nature of pinball machines. They allowed Tim and me to work on getting the games back up and working. Kudos to all of the players.
The selection of console games. For those of us that grew up with Atari 2600s, Colleco, Intellivision, Ninentendo, Super Ninentdos, etc, this was a wonderful collection. I really enjoyed playing games from my past. The consoles were working and best of all, the joysticks were vintage and working!
The vendors provided lots of pinball parts. Between Gene and Chris Munson, there was plenty of parts available for people to pick up for their projects! Very good job guys!
The burgers from the onsite Bar/Restuarant were actually pretty good. Was it worth $10? To me it was since I could eat a good meal onsite and get back to the expo quickly without leaving the premise.
CONS:
I was very disappointed that a lot of grown adults treated games like garbage cans. Lots and lots of empty beer bottles were left on, under and near video games and pinball machines. Is it really that difficult to take your empty beer and put it in a trash can?
So that's my review of the Houston Arcade And Pinball Expo. Please feel free to add your own comments. And I apologize for the two tournament winners that I forgot in this review.
Marcus
The Houston Arcade and Pinball Expo 2011 Pinball Wizard was Bob Matthews. He successfully conquered the EM Champion, Carey Fishman, 80's Champion, Sven Johnson, and Team Champions, Ken Kemp & Marcus Trevino (me), along with stepping up to Bally Captain Fantastic (EM), Williams Cosmic Gunfight (80's) and Stern Spiderman (Modern).
The winner of the Stern Transformers Pinball Cash Tournament was Ken Kemp. Second Place went to Eric Fisher. I finished third.
The winner of the EM Tournament was Carey Fishman. Second place went to Bob Matthews and I finished Third.
The winner of the 1980's Solid State Pinball tournament was Sven Johnson. Second place went to Bob Matthews. I believe third place went to Shane Pace, but I am not 100% sure.
The winners of the Partners Tournament were Ken Kemp and Marcus Trevino. This was the fourth consecutive year that we won the partners tournament. Second place was claimed by the team of Carey Fishman and Bob Matthews. Third place was claimed by April and Austin Kemp.
The winner of the Modern Tournament was Bob Matthews. I cannot recall who won 2nd place. Once again, I came in third place.
And finally, the Houston show tried a cashbox tournament with a Data East Tommy. $1 per game. All funds collected go into the cash box. The top 4 qualifiers play one game to determine the winner of the cashbox funds. After qualifying was completed, there was a cash prize of $100 for this tournament.
Carey Fishman put up the best game of the Cash Box tournament during the one game playoff to win the $100. Bob Matthews came in 2nd. I once again came in third. Ken Kemp came in fourth.
Even though I came in third, I was happy that one person won the entire cash box. It made the final game so tense.
PROS:
The expo was separated into two rooms. One room was reserved for the vendors, the pinball tournament, the EM row, some antique coin op games, the console area and the XBox Kinetic "Wipe Out" playing on a large inflatable movie screen. The other room was a reincarnated 1980's Arcade complete with annoying DJ (I keed!).
The EM Pinball Row was outstanding. A nice collection of 1960's and 1970's EMs. The Gottliebs Included Quick Draw, Centigrade 37, Paradise and Sing Along. The Bally's included Wizards! and the tournament game Captain Fantastic. The Williams' included Space Odyssey, Honey and Blue Chip. In addition, there was an awesome gun game that was similar to Shoot the Bear. And there was an outstanding pitch and bat from 1947. Both were
Unfortunatetly, the Paradise and Wizard! encountered some issues and were turned off partly through the expo.
Activision sponsored the XBox Kinetic "Wipe Out" used as an Arcade Tournament. The kinetic "Wipe Out" game was amazing and Kids playing the game were hilarious! And the winner even won a free copy of the game! Well done Expo and Activision! Well done!
The sportsmanship of the tournament players. Everyone played hard but never let things get personal. When games went down, players were respectful and understood the nature of pinball machines. They allowed Tim and me to work on getting the games back up and working. Kudos to all of the players.
The selection of console games. For those of us that grew up with Atari 2600s, Colleco, Intellivision, Ninentendo, Super Ninentdos, etc, this was a wonderful collection. I really enjoyed playing games from my past. The consoles were working and best of all, the joysticks were vintage and working!
The vendors provided lots of pinball parts. Between Gene and Chris Munson, there was plenty of parts available for people to pick up for their projects! Very good job guys!
The burgers from the onsite Bar/Restuarant were actually pretty good. Was it worth $10? To me it was since I could eat a good meal onsite and get back to the expo quickly without leaving the premise.
CONS:
I was very disappointed that a lot of grown adults treated games like garbage cans. Lots and lots of empty beer bottles were left on, under and near video games and pinball machines. Is it really that difficult to take your empty beer and put it in a trash can?
So that's my review of the Houston Arcade And Pinball Expo. Please feel free to add your own comments. And I apologize for the two tournament winners that I forgot in this review.
Marcus
