Well today I’ll be getting packed and ready because tomorrow I’m off to Marlborough MA to the Best Western Royal Plaza Hotel for four days of Pintastic NE 2024 the great New England Pinball Festival!
When I bought my tickets to Pintastic NE the Warehouse I had worked at last year was still open, the purge of management and employees had not taken place and I still was working the 2nd shift, the same as DaWife meaning we had plenty of time together.
As I write this today all of those things are gone and I’m on an enforced day off, using a vacation day so I don’t lose a 1/4 of a week’s pay to be paid. On the plus side It does give me the chance both to pack a day early and finish my taxes so I can mail them first thing tomorrow morning.
I’ll be getting there a tad later than normal as my son could not get tomorrow off because of a big project launched at his job this week so I’ll be picking him up the from work and getting there at 4:30 rather than 1:30 which will cost of a few hours of play but you can’t have everything.
What you CAN have if you decide to join us there is four days to forget all of the problems of the world and the country as you play any of the over 200 confirmed games that will be there (the current list is here). I’m looking forward to trying the new Looney Toons and Princess Bride, less enthusiastic about the Jim Henson Labyrinth and the Elton John games but I’ll give them both a try. Some are so new there is no listing for them on the Pinside Database yet.
The big news for me is that one of my favorite games Paragon will be there. It’s the first year that this game has been at pintastic so I’m going to get as much time as I can on it before someone buys it. Alas even if my economic situation was not tough it’s one of the wider games out there and just plain wouldn’t fit anywhere in my house. I doubt I could even get it in to my front den as a rental.
Alas several favorites like Indiana Jones, Doctor Who and Wizard of Oz are not listed, but you never know if someone might bring one at the last minute.
Also curious about the Happy Gilmore homebrew, the number of such games have exploded over the last five years and their one of a kind status makes Pintastic NE one of the few places where you can play them. There will be various seminars on design, home brew games, things upcoming and repair. The guest list is here.
I must confess that this year I’m curious to interview the various game companies on how you market and sell a $6000-$15000 pinball machine in a tough economy. Those should be interesting conversations.
But no matter how you slice it I’ve got four days away from the world’s problems with both Pinball and my Son and Linguini’s Italian eatery just 5 minutes away. What more can anyone ask?
I strongly suggest picking up a day pass and coming down to play on Friday or Saturday. You won’t regret it.
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