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TEXAS PINBALL FESTIVAL 2024
Pinball News
Welcome to our extensive coverage of this 20th Anniversary Texas Pinball Festival held at the Embassy Suites & Frisco Convention Center here in the city of Frisco, around 23 miles due north of Dallas.
The Embassy Suites hotel in Frisco
WEDNESDAY
The show doesn’t open to the public until Friday afternoon, but we’re here from Wednesday to bring you the build-up and show how this 20th anniversary Texas Pinball Festival is coming together.
We’ll update this report from now until the show closes and beyond, to make sure you get all the news and excitement.
First though, a little about the venue.
The show is held in the Frisco Convention Center which is attached to, but separate from, the Embassy Suites hotel. The Embassy Suites is the main show hotel and as such sells out almost immediately rooms for the next show become available, but the area has a plethora of lodging options. Paradoxically, the walk from the Embassy Suites to the Convention Center is sufficiently long, some alternative hotels are actually closer to the Convention Center.
Where the Embassy Suites ends and the walk to the Convention Center begins
The corridor from the hotel to the Convention Center
The Embassy Suites and the Convention Center are closely linked in other ways though, and the Texas Pinball Festival effectively takes over both for the duration of the show. Indeed, the Pinball News and Pinball Magazine joint quiz, So You Think You Know Pinball? takes place in the bar of the Embassy Suites.
Also, the parking garage for the hotel and the Convention Center has been specially branded for this year’s Texas Pinball Festival.
The parking garage
For those not staying at the Embassy Suites, the Convention Center has its own entrance.
The entrance to the Frisco Convention Center
A number of the parking spaces outside the Convention Center have been blocked off, presumably in preparation for Saturday’s swap meet, organised by the DFW Pinball & Arcade Club.
The site of Saturday morning’s swap meet
So, that’s the venue. What about the show?
Well, as of Wednesday lunchtime there isn’t much to show you other than a mostly-empty hall?
The Texas Pinball Festival show hall
Some setting up is under way. A selection of machines from Stern Pinball provided by FUN! Billiards and Gameroom Superstore are already in the hall, while a few others are trickling in.
A mixed bunch of machines from Stern Pinball
Perhaps the most important part of the whole show – the power
By this time tomorrow we expect the hall to be buzzing as companies prepare their stands in preparation for the opening on Friday. The organisers have been preparing for this special 20th anniversary show since the close of last year’s show, and we can expect a few changes. For one thing, if you’ve attended the Texas Pinball Festival in recent years, the floor layout will be a little different this time.
The floor plan for the 2024 Texas Pinball Festival
The Seminar Room is still in the same place though, and we’ll be reporting on the extensive schedule of presentations taking place there on Friday and Saturday.
We’ll be back with more pre-show reporting right up until the doors are thrown open to the public at 4pm on Friday.
Material for the on-site registration and pre-registration packs has arrived
So, check back to this report over the next few days for all the latest news and excitement from the Texas Pinball Festival 2024.
Continue reading...
Pinball News
Welcome to our extensive coverage of this 20th Anniversary Texas Pinball Festival held at the Embassy Suites & Frisco Convention Center here in the city of Frisco, around 23 miles due north of Dallas.
The Embassy Suites hotel in Frisco
WEDNESDAY
The show doesn’t open to the public until Friday afternoon, but we’re here from Wednesday to bring you the build-up and show how this 20th anniversary Texas Pinball Festival is coming together.
We’ll update this report from now until the show closes and beyond, to make sure you get all the news and excitement.
First though, a little about the venue.
The show is held in the Frisco Convention Center which is attached to, but separate from, the Embassy Suites hotel. The Embassy Suites is the main show hotel and as such sells out almost immediately rooms for the next show become available, but the area has a plethora of lodging options. Paradoxically, the walk from the Embassy Suites to the Convention Center is sufficiently long, some alternative hotels are actually closer to the Convention Center.
Where the Embassy Suites ends and the walk to the Convention Center begins
The corridor from the hotel to the Convention Center
The Embassy Suites and the Convention Center are closely linked in other ways though, and the Texas Pinball Festival effectively takes over both for the duration of the show. Indeed, the Pinball News and Pinball Magazine joint quiz, So You Think You Know Pinball? takes place in the bar of the Embassy Suites.
Also, the parking garage for the hotel and the Convention Center has been specially branded for this year’s Texas Pinball Festival.
The parking garage
For those not staying at the Embassy Suites, the Convention Center has its own entrance.
The entrance to the Frisco Convention Center
A number of the parking spaces outside the Convention Center have been blocked off, presumably in preparation for Saturday’s swap meet, organised by the DFW Pinball & Arcade Club.
The site of Saturday morning’s swap meet
So, that’s the venue. What about the show?
Well, as of Wednesday lunchtime there isn’t much to show you other than a mostly-empty hall?
The Texas Pinball Festival show hall
Some setting up is under way. A selection of machines from Stern Pinball provided by FUN! Billiards and Gameroom Superstore are already in the hall, while a few others are trickling in.
A mixed bunch of machines from Stern Pinball
Perhaps the most important part of the whole show – the power
By this time tomorrow we expect the hall to be buzzing as companies prepare their stands in preparation for the opening on Friday. The organisers have been preparing for this special 20th anniversary show since the close of last year’s show, and we can expect a few changes. For one thing, if you’ve attended the Texas Pinball Festival in recent years, the floor layout will be a little different this time.
The floor plan for the 2024 Texas Pinball Festival
The Seminar Room is still in the same place though, and we’ll be reporting on the extensive schedule of presentations taking place there on Friday and Saturday.
We’ll be back with more pre-show reporting right up until the doors are thrown open to the public at 4pm on Friday.
Material for the on-site registration and pre-registration packs has arrived
So, check back to this report over the next few days for all the latest news and excitement from the Texas Pinball Festival 2024.
Continue reading...
