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UK PINFEST
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The major pinball show in the UK is back, as UK Pinfest returns to the Mercure Daventry Court Hotel for another weekend of games, tournaments, social events and talks.
The Mercure Daventry Court hotel
UK Pinfest began in 2018 and all seven shows have been held at this same venue. The Mercure Daventry Court first became the home of the annual UK pinball show in 2010 when five UK Pinball Party events were held there, but after a two year hiatus without a national pinball show, Phillip Murphy stepped up to stage the first UK Pinfest.
The show has traditionally been held on the last weekend in August which includes a bank (public) holiday on the following Monday. This year, however, just for this 2024 show we are back in Daventry a week earlier. Future shows are expected to return to the bank holiday weekend dates.
We arrived at the venue on Friday morning. The show didn’t officially open until 7pm on Friday evening, but many of the machines were set up on Thursday. This 360 time-lapse video from Daniel Fligg shows the machines arriving and the transformation of the empty Danetree Suite into this year’s UK Pinfest.
Setting up UK Pinfest 2024
The show has grown over the years to the point where it now takes over the whole hotel, occupying all the accommodation, the lobby, the show hall and all the conferencing rooms. That allows the lobby to be used for registration as well as some charity pay-to-play games and the pinballs for Saturday’s Ladies Competition.
The hotel’s lobby area
The registration desk in the hotel’s lobby
Machines for the Ladies Competition
Guardians of the Galaxy, Cactus Canyon, Big House, Centaur, Gigi & Avatar
Pay-to-play charity fundraising machines:
Foo Fighters, James Bond 007, Venom, The Godfather and Tron: Legacy
There are several tournaments taking place during the show as well as some talks and presentations. Details of these were found on posters all around the hotel.
The schedule of events
Talks and presentations
The talks by David from American Pinball and Toby from VPin Workshop will be held in the Priestly Room on Saturday afternoon.
The venue for the talks on Saturday afternoon
Al though the hotel has quite a large dining area, this is only used for the breakfast which is included in the special show hotel room rate. Meals are available later in the day, from a catering area set up in the lobby. Alternatively, food can be ordered for delivery to the hotel, while a pub and fish & chip shop are only a short walk away.
Food available in the hotel’s lobby
Drinks are available all day and into the early hours of the morning from the bar. During show hours, a second bar is open in the main hall.
The hotel’s main bar
Heading towards the corridor to the main show hall, on the left is a room where the Pinball Classics tournament is held.
The Pinball Classics Tournament’s room
Players could pre-register for £25 and order a pack which included entry tickets and a tournament T-shirt.
Pre-registration packs for collection
T-shirts were also available to purchase
The Pinball Classic tournament used eight machines with the top two scorers on each going through to the play-offs, with third or lower placed players also progressing if anyone is the in the top two on more than one machine. Overall, sixteen players move on to Sunday morning’s play-offs, which reduce them to eight and then a final four.
Machines for the Pinball Classic tournament
Qualifying began at 10am on Friday and although was initially fairly quiet, it soon became very busy in the room once more show guests arrived.
Early qualification in the Pinball Classic tournament
The first of the free play machines could be found in the corridor leading up to the main hall’s entrance.
The first free play machines in the corridor outside the main hall
Peter Heath from The Pinball Parlour had some machines and game parts for sale in the corridor too.
Peter Heath’s machines and parts sale
Backglasses for sale by The Pinball Parlour
Plastics for sale too
As we entered the main show hall, machines and stands were still being set up, with most machines not yet powered.
Inside the main show hall
Inside the main show hall
Inside the main show hall
The Retro Arcade Specialists stand next to the main entrance
Some machines brought by Retro Arcade Specialists including Labyrinth and This Is Spinal Tap
The Pinball Amigos stand
The London Pinball and Pinball Republic London stand
More from the London Pinball stand
1 Stop Pinball’s stand had parts, books, and slot machines for sale
Some of the London Pinball machines
Some of the newest titles at the show
A selection of American Pinball’s titles, including their latest, Barry O’s Barbecue Challenge
More machines turned up through the day on Friday
At the back of the hall was the area reserved for the UK Pinfest Open tournament.
The UK Pinfest Open area
Qualification for the Open began at 10am on Friday. Entry consisted of a £10 registration fee which included one entry, or registration plus five entries could be bought for £20.
Qualifying in the UK Pinfest Open
Each entry consisted of a single game on five different machines. The scores on all machines were ranked, with 100 points for the top score. The total of the points earned by each of the five games formed that entry’s score. Players could void an entry at any point before submission if they thought it might negatively impact on one of their earlier entries.
Qualifying in the UK Pinfest Open
Qualifying continued through Friday and up until 6pm on Saturday. The top 24 players qualify for the play-offs, with the top 8 getting a bye through the first round.
Trophies for the top three plus cash prizes down to eighth place
If it all got a bit too much in the hall, there was a coll-down area outside on the patio.
Fortunately it was good weather across the whole weekend
In more of the side rooms there were additional pinball machines to play, either for just fun or competitively.
The Headless Pinballs room was so-called because the doorways into it are so narrow you either need to take the head off a machine in order to bring it through, or just have a narrow head on the machine in the first place.
One bank of free play machines in the Headless Pinball room
A bank of three more machines
Next door, the popular NBA Challenge head-to-head tournament was taking place. This Scottish Pinball Association event uses two linked NBA Fastbreak machines with players divided into groups of four so that they play one head-to-head game against the other three players in their group.
The NBA Challenge room
The show opened at 7pm on Friday night for VIP ticket holders and it was immediately very busy with most games in use. Predictably, the newest titles were especially popular, with this being the first opportunity for many visitors to see or play them.
Friday evening’s VIP session
Friday evening’s VIP session
Friday evening’s VIP session
Some of the newer titles
More newer titles
The view from the back of the hall
At 9pm the popular StallBall competition began. Players lined up to compete in a queue snaking around the hall.
Part of the line to play StallBall
The concept is to play the chosen machine for the event and flip the ball into one of the locks or kickouts. Once you have done that you let the next player take over and go to join the back of the queue. If you let the ball drain, however, you are out of the competition.
The machine chosen this year was Twilight Zone.
Explaining the rules for StallBall on Twilight Zone
Although the line was long, once the competition began it moved pretty quickly. Many players only needed one or two flips to lock a ball and let the next player take over.
It wasn’t too long before the competition reached the final stages with only Helena and Will remaining.
Helena and Will are the last two remaining
Will had an unlucky drain down the left outlane, leaving Helena Walter Higgins as the winner. She won a pinball-themed side table, presented by UK Pinfest organiser Philip Murphy.
Philip presents Helena with her StallBall winner’s prize
The hall closed around 11pm with most guests heading to the bar in the hotel’s lobby for drinks and karaoke.
Saturday at UK Pinfest began at 10am. A good-size crowd had gathered by the entrance ahead of Philip opening the doors.
The crowd waits for the doors to open
Saturday at UK Pinfest begins
While in the hall, we ran into someone with a growing catalogue of pinball work to his name. Marc Silk is a renowned voice artist who has provided voices for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for Stern Pinball, Funhouse: Rudy’s Nightmare and Whirlwind: Total Chaos for Pedretti Pinball, and, most recently, Labyrinth for Barrels of Fun.
Marc Silk with the Labyrinth game for which he provided many of the voices
The NBA Challenge first rounds took place on Saturday, with the play-offs on Sunday.
The qualifying rounds of the NBA Challenge
Across the corridor there were two talks taking place.
At 2pm David Fix, Executive Vice-President of American Pinball was interviewed by Martin Ayub, Editor of Pinball News, about David’s career in coin-op and the changes which have taken place at American Pinball since he joined in December 2020.
David Fix of American Pinball
At 4pm, Toby (a.k.a. SixToe) from VPin Workshop held a talk about the origins and development of virtual pinball, including the different platforms and their relative capabilities.
Toby from VPin Workshop
Back in the main hall, it wasn’t as crowded as had been feared. In fact, we decided to record our exclusive Twelve Minute Tour of the whole show which is currently uploading to YouTube using the hotels incredibly slow Wi-Fi. As soon as it has uploaded and been processed, we’ll add it to this article.
Inside the main hall on Saturday afternoon
More inside the main hall on Saturday afternoon
We’ll be back with more action from this year’s UK Pinfest show across the weekend, so check back here at Pinball News for all the latest developments.
Continue reading...
Pinball News
The major pinball show in the UK is back, as UK Pinfest returns to the Mercure Daventry Court Hotel for another weekend of games, tournaments, social events and talks.
The Mercure Daventry Court hotel
UK Pinfest began in 2018 and all seven shows have been held at this same venue. The Mercure Daventry Court first became the home of the annual UK pinball show in 2010 when five UK Pinball Party events were held there, but after a two year hiatus without a national pinball show, Phillip Murphy stepped up to stage the first UK Pinfest.
The show has traditionally been held on the last weekend in August which includes a bank (public) holiday on the following Monday. This year, however, just for this 2024 show we are back in Daventry a week earlier. Future shows are expected to return to the bank holiday weekend dates.
We arrived at the venue on Friday morning. The show didn’t officially open until 7pm on Friday evening, but many of the machines were set up on Thursday. This 360 time-lapse video from Daniel Fligg shows the machines arriving and the transformation of the empty Danetree Suite into this year’s UK Pinfest.
Setting up UK Pinfest 2024
The show has grown over the years to the point where it now takes over the whole hotel, occupying all the accommodation, the lobby, the show hall and all the conferencing rooms. That allows the lobby to be used for registration as well as some charity pay-to-play games and the pinballs for Saturday’s Ladies Competition.
The hotel’s lobby area
The registration desk in the hotel’s lobby
Machines for the Ladies Competition
Guardians of the Galaxy, Cactus Canyon, Big House, Centaur, Gigi & Avatar
Pay-to-play charity fundraising machines:
Foo Fighters, James Bond 007, Venom, The Godfather and Tron: Legacy
There are several tournaments taking place during the show as well as some talks and presentations. Details of these were found on posters all around the hotel.
The schedule of events
Talks and presentations
The talks by David from American Pinball and Toby from VPin Workshop will be held in the Priestly Room on Saturday afternoon.
The venue for the talks on Saturday afternoon
Al though the hotel has quite a large dining area, this is only used for the breakfast which is included in the special show hotel room rate. Meals are available later in the day, from a catering area set up in the lobby. Alternatively, food can be ordered for delivery to the hotel, while a pub and fish & chip shop are only a short walk away.
Food available in the hotel’s lobby
Drinks are available all day and into the early hours of the morning from the bar. During show hours, a second bar is open in the main hall.
The hotel’s main bar
Heading towards the corridor to the main show hall, on the left is a room where the Pinball Classics tournament is held.
The Pinball Classics Tournament’s room
Players could pre-register for £25 and order a pack which included entry tickets and a tournament T-shirt.
Pre-registration packs for collection
T-shirts were also available to purchase
The Pinball Classic tournament used eight machines with the top two scorers on each going through to the play-offs, with third or lower placed players also progressing if anyone is the in the top two on more than one machine. Overall, sixteen players move on to Sunday morning’s play-offs, which reduce them to eight and then a final four.
Machines for the Pinball Classic tournament
Qualifying began at 10am on Friday and although was initially fairly quiet, it soon became very busy in the room once more show guests arrived.
Early qualification in the Pinball Classic tournament
The first of the free play machines could be found in the corridor leading up to the main hall’s entrance.
The first free play machines in the corridor outside the main hall
Peter Heath from The Pinball Parlour had some machines and game parts for sale in the corridor too.
Peter Heath’s machines and parts sale
Backglasses for sale by The Pinball Parlour
Plastics for sale too
As we entered the main show hall, machines and stands were still being set up, with most machines not yet powered.
Inside the main show hall
Inside the main show hall
Inside the main show hall
The Retro Arcade Specialists stand next to the main entrance
Some machines brought by Retro Arcade Specialists including Labyrinth and This Is Spinal Tap
The Pinball Amigos stand
The London Pinball and Pinball Republic London stand
More from the London Pinball stand
1 Stop Pinball’s stand had parts, books, and slot machines for sale
Some of the London Pinball machines
Some of the newest titles at the show
A selection of American Pinball’s titles, including their latest, Barry O’s Barbecue Challenge
More machines turned up through the day on Friday
At the back of the hall was the area reserved for the UK Pinfest Open tournament.
The UK Pinfest Open area
Qualification for the Open began at 10am on Friday. Entry consisted of a £10 registration fee which included one entry, or registration plus five entries could be bought for £20.
Qualifying in the UK Pinfest Open
Each entry consisted of a single game on five different machines. The scores on all machines were ranked, with 100 points for the top score. The total of the points earned by each of the five games formed that entry’s score. Players could void an entry at any point before submission if they thought it might negatively impact on one of their earlier entries.
Qualifying in the UK Pinfest Open
Qualifying continued through Friday and up until 6pm on Saturday. The top 24 players qualify for the play-offs, with the top 8 getting a bye through the first round.
Trophies for the top three plus cash prizes down to eighth place
If it all got a bit too much in the hall, there was a coll-down area outside on the patio.
Fortunately it was good weather across the whole weekend
In more of the side rooms there were additional pinball machines to play, either for just fun or competitively.
The Headless Pinballs room was so-called because the doorways into it are so narrow you either need to take the head off a machine in order to bring it through, or just have a narrow head on the machine in the first place.
One bank of free play machines in the Headless Pinball room
A bank of three more machines
Next door, the popular NBA Challenge head-to-head tournament was taking place. This Scottish Pinball Association event uses two linked NBA Fastbreak machines with players divided into groups of four so that they play one head-to-head game against the other three players in their group.
The NBA Challenge room
The show opened at 7pm on Friday night for VIP ticket holders and it was immediately very busy with most games in use. Predictably, the newest titles were especially popular, with this being the first opportunity for many visitors to see or play them.
Friday evening’s VIP session
Friday evening’s VIP session
Friday evening’s VIP session
Some of the newer titles
More newer titles
The view from the back of the hall
At 9pm the popular StallBall competition began. Players lined up to compete in a queue snaking around the hall.
Part of the line to play StallBall
The concept is to play the chosen machine for the event and flip the ball into one of the locks or kickouts. Once you have done that you let the next player take over and go to join the back of the queue. If you let the ball drain, however, you are out of the competition.
The machine chosen this year was Twilight Zone.
Explaining the rules for StallBall on Twilight Zone
Although the line was long, once the competition began it moved pretty quickly. Many players only needed one or two flips to lock a ball and let the next player take over.
It wasn’t too long before the competition reached the final stages with only Helena and Will remaining.
Helena and Will are the last two remaining
Will had an unlucky drain down the left outlane, leaving Helena Walter Higgins as the winner. She won a pinball-themed side table, presented by UK Pinfest organiser Philip Murphy.
Philip presents Helena with her StallBall winner’s prize
The hall closed around 11pm with most guests heading to the bar in the hotel’s lobby for drinks and karaoke.
Saturday at UK Pinfest began at 10am. A good-size crowd had gathered by the entrance ahead of Philip opening the doors.
The crowd waits for the doors to open
Saturday at UK Pinfest begins
While in the hall, we ran into someone with a growing catalogue of pinball work to his name. Marc Silk is a renowned voice artist who has provided voices for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for Stern Pinball, Funhouse: Rudy’s Nightmare and Whirlwind: Total Chaos for Pedretti Pinball, and, most recently, Labyrinth for Barrels of Fun.
Marc Silk with the Labyrinth game for which he provided many of the voices
The NBA Challenge first rounds took place on Saturday, with the play-offs on Sunday.
The qualifying rounds of the NBA Challenge
Across the corridor there were two talks taking place.
At 2pm David Fix, Executive Vice-President of American Pinball was interviewed by Martin Ayub, Editor of Pinball News, about David’s career in coin-op and the changes which have taken place at American Pinball since he joined in December 2020.
David Fix of American Pinball
At 4pm, Toby (a.k.a. SixToe) from VPin Workshop held a talk about the origins and development of virtual pinball, including the different platforms and their relative capabilities.
Toby from VPin Workshop
Back in the main hall, it wasn’t as crowded as had been feared. In fact, we decided to record our exclusive Twelve Minute Tour of the whole show which is currently uploading to YouTube using the hotels incredibly slow Wi-Fi. As soon as it has uploaded and been processed, we’ll add it to this article.
Inside the main hall on Saturday afternoon
More inside the main hall on Saturday afternoon
We’ll be back with more action from this year’s UK Pinfest show across the weekend, so check back here at Pinball News for all the latest developments.
Continue reading...
