After two years of forced absence, we are back at Pinball Expo at its new home at the Schaumburg Convention Center.
The Convention Centre is attached to the more prominent Renaissance hotel, which has a discounted room rate for Expo attendees and is therefore where most guests will be staying.
This is our first time attending Pinball Expo in Schaumburg. The show moved there in 2021 after the virtual Pinball Expo of 2020, but regrettably visitors from outside North America weren’t permiited to enter the US in time for the 2021 show.
So, it’s all new to us, and probably to you too.
The Renaissance is a high-grade business hotel, with several small lakes and fountains.
There is plenty of free car parking but, unlike the previous home of the Westin in Wheeling (another Marriott property), there are no restaurants, bars or shops just a short walk away. In fact the nearest eatery is 0.8 miles from the front of the Renaissance, although they do offer a free shuttle bus to any location within a three-mile radius.
Pinball Expo is held in the main Convention Centre hall, with seminars and tournaments located in adjoining rooms. We arrived at midday on Wednesday to check on progress setting up the show ahead of the public opening at midday on Thursday.
The show’s new home allows vehicles to drive onto the floor of the Convention Center so that they can unload more easily (and load up again after the show closes on Sunday).
Stern Pinball had many of their pinballs set up, including multiple examples of the new 007 James Bond Pro and Premium models.
We had the opportunity to play the Premium model on the floor. Compared to the version of software we experienced in London, so obvious extra graphics, sounds and music had been added, but there didn’t seem to be any new modes or features yet. The display still warns players that these are development machines where some of the assets may be incomplete or unlicensed.
Elsewhere at Pinball Expo, Pinball Brothers were unboxing their new Queen pinball, but wanted to set it up in private before showing it to a wider audience. They plan to have two machines when the show opens on Thursday, with another being added soon after.
Jersey Jack Pinball were in the process of building their stand, with the emphasis on their current Toy Story 4 model.
Rumours suggest Chicago Gaming might be revealing their first non-remake title at Pinball Expo, although they were vehemently denying it during set-up.
In a change from last year, the free play pinballs will sit alongside the vendor stands in the main hall. Around 400 free play games are expected, with some being set up during our visit.
As usual, Pinball Expo Organiser, Rob Berk, brought many of his own games.
As usual, we’ll be bringing you full details of all the vendors and free play machines at this year’s Pinball Expo as we update this report over the course of the weekend and beyond.
Of course, no major pinball show would be complete without a bunch of tournaments.
Trent Augenstein’s Tilt Amusements had supplied a hugely impressive line-up of the newest Stern Pinball titles for the show’s competitive events.
Not all of Pinball Expo takes place at the Schaumburg Convention Center however. In fact, events kick-off on Wednesday night with the familiar Bumper Blast welcome part which is being held at the nearby Enterrium barcade. Several additional pinballs have been brought in to supplement the already-impressive collection.
The Bumper Blast runs from 7pm until 10pm, and Pinball News will be there to bring you all the details.
Thursday’s Pinball Expo action also begins off-site, as the brand-new Jersey Jack Pinball factory tour takes guests on a coach ride to Elk Grove Village to see for themselves how the company builds their popular titles.
When guests return, the popular seminars schedule begins.
Pinball News plans to record every one of them across Thursday, Friday and Saturday. We hope to bring you videos of them on our YouTube channel, with each day’s seminars published overnight. Summaries of every seminar will also be added to this report, with the corresponding video added as soon as possible. We also plan to bring you audio recordings of the seminars.
Before all that, we’ll be back later with all the events at the Bumper Blast welcome party, and we’ll be updating this report with the very latest throughout Pinball Expo 2022.
So, check back here at Pinball News for all the latest news.
