Pinfest: In the crazed mind of a Wizard

There are some great pinball players coming to compete at Pinfest tonight…   Richard (RGR),  Scotty (Cruiserman), Rob (TIN), Mitch (DataBeast), just to name a few.

But what goes on…   in the crazed mind of a top pinball player?

JOMG flipped a few questions to Edy Stevens (aka Dedrok) as he helped setup the machines for this weekend…

Pinfest – how one mad idea came to fruition

December 2011.

After months of work, Chris and Dom Slevin opened their dream business, Pizza n Pinball, in Broadmeadow. (A Newcastle suburb, 2 hours north of Sydney)  The brothers combining their skills in takeaway food, pinball maintenance and of course their love of the silverball. The word was put out via arcade forums, a Facebook page was set up, and the customers started to walk in.

One of those initial customers… was Robert Denton.

Unveiled: Official poster for Pinfest, Caves Beach

Yes, you might have heard whispers about this one, but J-OMG has been digging a bit deeper to get you all the juicy details.

The inaugural PINFEST Pinball Festival will happen on Saturday September 8th and Sunday September 9th at the spectacular Caves Beach Hotel complex. Entry will be $10, with most proceeds going to the ‘SIDS for kids’ foundation.

That def, flat and papery kid, sure crafts a mean…

(Oh yes, took me SECONDS to write that headline. Every one’s a winner baby.)

Jarlaxe, a member of the GoPinball.com forums, has put pixels to phosphors, and ink to scissors, to create some fantastic papercraft pinball models.

T2, Attack from Mars, Medieval Madness, Wheel of Fortune (erm..) – they’re all there, ready for sneaky printing at your workplace, or less-sneaky printing at home.

First video footage: James Cameron’s Avatar pinball machine

Full points, as always, to the team at Arcade Heroes who are so often first with the goodstuff.
This video appeared as part of their 2010 AAMA distributor expo report… which featured footage of upcoming games like Terminator Salvation (including the monster 100″ cabinet!).

Sydneysiders have no (pin)balls in 2010

Last year’s inaugural Sydney Pinball Expo wasn’t perfect, but it generated more ‘pinball coverage‘ in Australia, than anything else has in recent memory.

In recent months, the organisers have shared a few of their ideas for 2010. A larger venue, more exhibitors, international guests… but sadly, we’ll now have to wait till 2011.

First Aussie review: Special When Lit

As promised, here’s our exclusive Australian review of Special When Lit, thanks to Aussie Arcade member AskJacob:

The Australian premiere screening was at the Chauvel Cinema, a well known Arthouse cinema in Paddington. When we got there, I thought I’d wandered into some other function – it was full! REALLY full of people, and LOUD – christmas party loud. It was a unique experience, I have never been in a cinema lobby with that kind of vibe before. “Perhaps they’re here for another function – there are several cinemas” said the Mrs – and I thought it was likely. None of these folk seemed to look like my mental image of a Pin-Head!

Fortunately while waiting in the lobby I started to see a few likely candidates floating around – there was someone with a shirt that says “TILT! I’ll give you tilt!” – and another with an arcade themed shirt. I relaxed – this must have been the right place, but I was still wondering what the other event that must be going on at the same time was…?

Australian Premiere: Special When Lit

Right now, I’m sitting in a hot room, with a loud pedestal fan singing in unison with the loud fan in my desktop PC. They’re both a bit unhappy with the Aussie Summer heat. But my heart isn’t in my study, as I sit at my desk. It’s 200km down the road… at the Chauvel Cinema, in Sydney. Because right now, they’re screening a very special movie premiere…

Special When Lit is showing tonight, for the first time in Australia. This film, a UK/Australian production had its world premiere at the Raindance Film Festival in London a few months ago. There it was nominated for BEST DOCUMENTARY.

Australian Pinball Museum – Michael Shalhoub speaks

After our recent update on the Australian Pinball Museum, I contacted the other “main man” Michael Shalhoub – for his comments on the project.

Michael’s come back with an insight into his future plans, and some great photos with some of pinball’s legendary designers.

Australian Pinball Museum – first pics

Many pinball fans (especially Australians) would have heard of the work being done by Alan Tate & Michael Shaloub to open a pinball museum on The Gold Coast.

For years, news on this project has been pretty scarce. But now, Aussie Arcade member “pinballer” has visited the site, talked to Alan Tate & taken some photos.

I am very thankful to Stu, for allowing me to publish his text and pictures. Hopefully, he’s answered most* of the questions you’ve got about this project…