EAG INTERNATIONAL 2018

[Rock-ola]

01-19-2018 10:09 AM
We’ve had rain – lots of rain – and snow on our visits to the EAG International show in London’s East End in previous years. but this time it was a clear, bright morning when we visited for the second day of the event.

The ExCel London Exhibition CentreThe ExCel sits alongside the Galleons Point Marina, part of the River Thames and a historic part of the old London docks which has now been largely redeveloped into modern industrial units, hotels and housing.

Memorials to the area’s former useThe EAG International show has been held at Excel London ever since it left Earl’s Court Exhibition Centre for the 2010 show.  Before that, amusement coin-op had been part of the larger ATEI show which also encompassed gaming, casinos and fairground rides.  The coin-op side became marginalised and separated to form, initially, EAG Expo and now EAG International.  The gaming part has its own show – ICE Totally Gaming – which is also held at ExCel London from 6th to 8th February.

There was good news for visitors to EAG this year.  The show has grown slightly and managed to fill all the available the space in halls N1 – N6.

An overview of the showAn overview of the showAn overview of the showAs you can see from the pictures, the hall wasn’t exactly packed with visitors, but for pinball fans this year proved to be a treat with eleven pinballs from five different manufacturers on show.

Pinball Heaven’s stand featured more than half of them, with Jersey Jack Pinball showing their new Pirates of the Caribbean game alongside their Dialed In! and The Hobbit titles.  JJP’s Jack Guarnieri was there to talk to visitors, game owners and potential European distributors for his company’s titles.

The Pinball Heaven standPirates of the Caribbean is not yet in production, so this was a sample machine.  Even so, it didn’t exhibit any problems and seemed to be enjoyed by everyone who got to play it.

Jersey Jack Pinball’s Pirates of the CaribbeanDialed In!The HobbitPinball Heaven were also showing titles from Chicago Gaming and Dutch Pinball.  Doug Skor from Chicago Gaming was there with his Medieval Madness and Attack from Mars remakes, while Jaap Nauta and Barry Driesen from Dutch Pinball brought their The Big Lebowski game along.

The Pinball Heaven line-up of machinesMedieval Madness RemakeAttack from Mars RemakeDutch Pinball’s The Big LebowskiDutch Pinball also had their TBL banner at the back of the hallNot far away, Electrocoin – Stern Pinball’s UK distributor – featured four of the company’s recent titles on their stand, including their newest, Guardians of the Galaxy.

Part of the Electrocoin standThe four Stern Pinball gamesStern Pinball’s new Guardians of the Galaxy ProDespite some talk of the game being a little lacklustre, we greatly enjoyed playing it and the artwork is a riot of colour both inside and out.

Stern Pinball’s new Guardians of the GalaxyThe Groot head on Guardians of the GalaxyThere was a problem with the drop target mechanism refusing to drop as a result of an incorrectly-manufactured part.  Stern know about this, have fixed it, and are sending out replacement parts to those affected.  The drop target was disabled at the show to avoid repeated ball searches.

The drop target not releasing the ballStern Pinball apparently had a team of five at the show, with Gary Stern, George Gomez, Dave Peterson, John Buscallia and Jim Belt all making the trip across the Atlantic.  We only saw Gary there briefly, but George was keeping an eye on the games, chatting to visitors and signing flyers for much of the day.

Batman 66 PremiumStar Wars ProGhostbusters ProThe final pinball was to be found on the Home Leisure Direct stand.

Home Leisure Direct’s standHome Leisure Direct had an Alien pinball from Heighway Pinball for visitors to play.

Heighway Pinball’s AlienThe backbox beaconsThe upper flipper was sticking when we played it early in the morning, but it appeared to have been fixed when we called back later in the day.

So those are the eleven pinballs at the show, but there were a few other things which caught our attention.

Gizmo Games’ All Star BaseballTexas-based Valley Dynamo makes the All Star Baseball pitch-and-bat game (and the Zombie League version) designed by Dennis Nordman’s Gizmo Game Design.  There was a machine set up on the Valley Dynamo stand, although the backbox running man unit didn’t appear to be working when we played it.

All Star Baseball by Gizmo Game Design and marketed by Valley DynamoPinball popped up in a number of different ways across the show.  Here are a few we spotted.

Pinball-style capsule dispensers are as popular as ever, appearing on several stands.

Miniature pinball dispensers…and another…and anotherPinball also cropped up as a toy prize.

OK, well not really pinball, but…This oversized pinball ball was plunged to hit a row of ping pong balls, knocking them into ticket-winning holes.

It’s got a shooter rod, so it must be pinball, right?It was especially interesting because it features an under-playfield electromagnet.  Usually these magnets are only energised at certain points during the game, but this one is used to grab the steel ball and hold it away from the shooter rod in-between games, meaning it is energised most of the time.

We are familiar with various video pinball games, but Car Mechanic Flipper from Pixel Flipper is a twist on the genre.

Car Mechanic FlipperNot only is it an upright design, it’s also Lego-style in its deliberately blocky graphics.  Rather than a ball, you flip a car around a playfield town, destroying assorted targets, buildings and people, before steering the car as it crashes through parks and along roads.  It’s a fast, crazy game and lots of fun to play.

As in previous years, the coin-op industry tries to provide entertainment not available at home, and usually that involves making bigger and bigger fully-immersive games.  That trend continued this year, but virtual reality is also a growth area.

Eugene Jarvis’s Raw Thrills company had their latest big screen games.

Injustice Arcade from Raw ThrillsSnowboarder and The Walking Dead, also from Raw ThrillsMulti-player big-screen shooting games were popular but this one added water to the mixChickens vs Foxes looked like another crowd-pleaserAs we’re in London, you’ve got to have one of theseEven after all these years, Monopoly still seems to be a hugely popular licence in coin-op, appearing all over the placeBut if you can’t afford a licence? There’s always a way around these problems…Combining a large physical sit-on game with virtual reality made this Tron-style light cycle game both popular and very enjoyable, with the monitor showing the in-game graphics pulling in people.

Immotion VR drew a lot of attention with their light cycle rideIt even temped one or two well-know pinball people to try it.

Jaap and Barry from Dutch Pinball took the bike for a rideWhile the light cycle VR is for a single rider, there was a twin VR  – that’s ‘VR’ as in Virtual Rabbids.

VR rollercoaster simulatorStill want more?  Then here’s a multi-player VR shoot ’em up from Hologate.

Hologate’s multi-player VR systemAlthough there are monitors to follow the view the players get, it’s still not hugely engaging for the audience.

Fun to play, not so fun to watchWhile everyone is looking for the next great game, perhaps the newest hit could also be one of the oldest?

Atari’s PongYes, Pong is back.  The original video tennis-style video game has been brought back by Atari, but in the ultimate retro turnaround what started the video game craze now returns in mechanical form.

That’s right, the two bats and the ball are all physical white blocks which slide around a smooth playfield thanks to magnets below the surface.  An LED display keeps score, and some colour is added by RGB LEDs around the outer edge of the playing arena.  Playable as a one- or two-player game, this cocktail-table format is likely to appear at a bar or arcade near you soon.

Atari’s Pong
However, not every product is destined to take the world by storm.

Poopy Palz, with that lovely chocolate scentAnd that concludes our report from the show floor.

Games at EAG InternationalFinally, here’s our signature in-depth look around the whole EAG International show in our Thirty-Two Minute Tour.  We hope you enjoy it and will join us for our next show report which will be coming soon.





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