My Review of the Texas Pinball Festival
You’ve seen pinball machines everywhere: in rundown restaurants, busy arcades, and even some bars have a nice selection of machines. While it’s typical to come across them occasionally, some enthusiasts go out of their way to seek them out.
The Texas Pinball Festival was made for just that.
🤔 What Is It?
The Texas Pinball Festival is a convention that takes place once a year in — you guessed it — the state of Texas. Pinball enthusiasts everywhere come together to try out new machines, play in tournaments, attend workshops, and purchase new machines for themselves.
📚 My Pinball Knowledge
For years and years, I had no idea that pinball depth. I thought it was just another game in an arcade — one that was especially difficult to play.
After being reintroduced pinball recently and learning all its complexities, I became addicted. There are skill shots to make, spinners and ramps to hit, and machines to shove when the ball is going in the wrong direction.
🚘 The Drive & Parking
This year, the Texas Pinball Festival took place at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Dallas. Needless to say, driving through Dallas would make any Texan groan. Fortunately, the hotel’s parking garage had space for anyone looking to play pinball, and we bought all-day parking for $10.
🎉 The Festival
After leaving the parking garage, we were greeted by various food trucks serving anything from burgers to s’mores donuts. It smelled delicious.
When we walked into the hotel, a jazz band played, and a catering company served pizza cooked in a pizza oven. In this area, you could buy badges or relax if you’ve been playing pinball all day.
There were also shops and, to my surprise, a few pinball machines outside the festival doors for anyone without a badge to play.
Stepping into the festival, we were immediately hit with the sound of hundreds of pinball machines. There were crowds and lines around most of the machines, people yelling about their high scores, and lights flashing everywhere. It was stimulation overload — in the best way!
🏃♀️ Getting Around
The pinball machines were primarily organized by owner. If there was a row of pinball machines, you could assume they were all brought by one person or company. Some had a booth where you could grab a flyer and chat with the machine’s provider, while others had a more hands-off approach. Some even had tournaments that you could sign up for to win cash prizes.
🕹️ Pinball Experience
I didn’t know what to expect from the convention, and there were thoughts like: Will I be surrounded by better players? Is it okay that I don’t know much about pinball?
This was never an issue.
Pinball enthusiasts come from all walks of life. At the festival, I saw players in flowy dresses, someone with a four-foot-tall mohawk (not an exaggeration), and even children who brought their own stools to stand on.
⭐️ My Favorites
I loved everything about the pinball festival, but my favorite thing would probably be the Jaws section hosted by @Sternpinball. The Jaws pinball machine came out fairly recently, and because of that, a section of the convention was dedicated to it. That section was surrounded by netting and buoys, and as someone who had watched Jaws recently, I was thrilled.
It was also enjoyable to play the new Labyrinth pinball machine. Because it was so popular, there was constantly a line around it, so I only managed to play one game, but it was still a blast.
One of the neat things I didn’t expect to see at the pinball festival was the homebrew section, which featured a selection of homemade pinball machines. This area was always packed with people who were lined up to play.
I only managed to get one game at Saw, but the creators did a wonderful job of making the atmosphere creepy and tense. I didn’t find information on the people who made the Saw pinball machine, but I did find an article talking about the creators and the game in length.
👎 The Bad
With all the good, it’s only expected that things can’t go perfectly. I had one negative experience during the convention that stuck with me.
At first, I thought I could only stay for one day of the festival. I received a badge with my full name on the front and a paper wristband. That night, I took off my wristband but kept my badge.
“There is nothing so perfect as pinball and a pint at 11 a.m.” — Tom Hodgkinson
Plans changed, and I was able to stay for another day. I went to ask for a new wristband, but the person behind the desk refused. Even though I had my badge containing my full name and ID to prove that I purchased the tickets online, they would not let me back into the festival unless I bought a new badge. This was frustrating since the three-day tickets were almost $100.
After previously having such a good day, this really dampened the mood and left a sour taste in my mouth.
Minor things:
- The lights situation was confusing. Someone kept turning them off and on for no apparent reason.
- No security checking bags.
- Many volunteer staff members seemed overworked and stressed.
👍 The Good
The pinball machines were all laid out nicely throughout the convention. There was a wide variety of layouts, with some stacked side by side and others in a back-to-back circle, making the show floor appealing to the eye. Only a few sections were a tight fit to get in line, seeing as they were spread out so well.
Another thing about the festival is that there was no shortage of variety. There were plenty of games to play, and even after being there for a day and a half, I barely scratched the surface.
Unfortunately, pinball machines are known for regularly breaking down. That wasn’t a problem at the festival. At most booths, someone walked around and fixed machines that weren’t working properly.
But all of that would have been nothing without the crowd. Most people I ran into at the pinball festival were in good spirits and excited to play a few games. The atmosphere was fantastic, making the environment very upbeat and exciting.
✅ Overall
I really enjoyed my experience at the Texas Pinball Festival. Even though I was new to pinball and had a bad experience with my wristband, overall, it was a great time, and I’ll definitely check out the festival again in the future.
Thanks for reading!
P.S. Check out my serial novel on Royal Road!
Note: I originally published this article on X as a little peek into their new Articles category. You can see the original post here.
