Well Pintastic NE 2024 has begun and it’s a doozy
As soon as I got in line to register I ran into Gabe D’Annunzio who is always my first interview
While circumstances forced me to get to Pintastic 5 hours after it started on day 1 the upside is that most of the moving of pinballs by Gabe was done and he had time to speak and was very relaxed compared to many other opening day videos because by the time this was shot most if not all of the normal opening day fires were already out.
One of the first things I saw was a very interesting Mechanical Setup in front of the conference rooms.
and an even more interesting setup on the back of a fellow named Andrew of the Southern NH Pinball Club he gave me a few minutes of his time.
!function(r,u,m,b,l,e){r._Rumble=b,r[b]||(r[b]=function(){(r[b]._=r[b]._||[]).push(arguments);if(r[b]._.length==1){l=u.createElement(m),e=u.getElementsByTagName(m)[0],l.async=1,l.src=”https://rumble.com/embedJS/u17hbct”+(arguments%5B1%5D.video?’.’+arguments[1].video:”)+”/?url=”+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+”&args=”+encodeURIComponent(JSON.stringify([].slice.apply(arguments))),e.parentNode.insertBefore(l,e)}})}(window, document, “script”, “Rumble”); Rumble(“play”, {“video”:”v4mfmnq”,”div”:”rumble_v4mfmnq”});I eventually found the person who made the setup we were in front of but he didn’t want to go on camera at that time, maybe later.
Of course Pintastic wouldn’t be Pintastic without Mike and Emily of the Electromagnetic Pinball Museum of Rhode Island. I spotted them at the Project Pinball booth (a charity that places pinball machines in children’s hospitals) with a machine they donated to their booth for the event doing some upkeep on said machine before things begin. They gave me some time.
!function(r,u,m,b,l,e){r._Rumble=b,r[b]||(r[b]=function(){(r[b]._=r[b]._||[]).push(arguments);if(r[b]._.length==1){l=u.createElement(m),e=u.getElementsByTagName(m)[0],l.async=1,l.src=”https://rumble.com/embedJS/u17hbct”+(arguments%5B1%5D.video?’.’+arguments[1].video:”)+”/?url=”+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+”&args=”+encodeURIComponent(JSON.stringify([].slice.apply(arguments))),e.parentNode.insertBefore(l,e)}})}(window, document, “script”, “Rumble”); Rumble(“play”, {“video”:”v4mfnqi”,”div”:”rumble_v4mfnqi”});There is as always a friendly rivalry with Gabe to see which of them will bring more machines.
Unlike other years EMP was in the clubrooms (needing several) and the freeplay rooms. At their old location was Tycoon Arcade who under a different name was in the clubrooms last year but with a bigger and better selection than before that demanded more space. I spoke with two folks from there as they tested a Southpark machine
!function(r,u,m,b,l,e){r._Rumble=b,r[b]||(r[b]=function(){(r[b]._=r[b]._||[]).push(arguments);if(r[b]._.length==1){l=u.createElement(m),e=u.getElementsByTagName(m)[0],l.async=1,l.src=”https://rumble.com/embedJS/u17hbct”+(arguments%5B1%5D.video?’.’+arguments[1].video:”)+”/?url=”+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+”&args=”+encodeURIComponent(JSON.stringify([].slice.apply(arguments))),e.parentNode.insertBefore(l,e)}})}(window, document, “script”, “Rumble”); Rumble(“play”, {“video”:”v4mfp7t”,”div”:”rumble_v4mfp7t”});Their selection was an A-List of games, the star of the show was their Princess Bride machine. The line was so long I didn’t get a chance to play it day one but with a Lord of the Rings, James Bond Dr. No, Batman 1966 and Godfather 50th Anniversary game in the same room there was plenty to keep me busy.
During my interview I saw Todd Tuckey doing some of his filming there. He got a glimpse of me playing the Jetsons game (another rare one in the room) I shot him doing his shoot:
!function(r,u,m,b,l,e){r._Rumble=b,r[b]||(r[b]=function(){(r[b]._=r[b]._||[]).push(arguments);if(r[b]._.length==1){l=u.createElement(m),e=u.getElementsByTagName(m)[0],l.async=1,l.src=”https://rumble.com/embedJS/u17hbct”+(arguments%5B1%5D.video?’.’+arguments[1].video:”)+”/?url=”+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+”&args=”+encodeURIComponent(JSON.stringify([].slice.apply(arguments))),e.parentNode.insertBefore(l,e)}})}(window, document, “script”, “Rumble”); Rumble(“play”, {“video”:”v4mfpnf”,”div”:”rumble_v4mfpnf”});and he shot me playing the Jetsons.
It may seem odd but I didn’t shoot any more video day one. This was due to the fact that there were simply too many pinball games that I needed to be playing
Managed to get 4.1 Billion on Theatre of Magic for the high score, Best I ever did on the game, this year however the line for Tales of the Arabian Nights was constant showing that this larger crowd has great taste so I’ll have to wait till this blog post is done to go play more.
The number of games and the selection of stuff I like is beyond what I thought and I took full advantage of same. Some I haven’t gotten to yet:
Thanks however to my new shift I woke up between 4 and five this morning so I had time to upload all these videos and as soon as I get a shower I’ll be downstairs while the folks who have been up all night are just heading to bed.
So if you’ll excuse me I have some pinball to play.
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