12 Pinball Expo Seminar Sessions We're Excited To See in 2024
Can you believe it? The pinball show of the year is almost here! Pinball Expo has been hyping their 40th anniversary edition all year and we cannot be more pumped.
One of the highlights of the show every year is its comprehensive seminar schedule, where you can explore all facets of the pinball hobby over the course of a few short days.
In fitting with this year's theme, the seminar schedule feels more packed than usual, with a particular focus on looking back at the last 40 years of pinball history and celebrating some of the people and manufacturers who have made it all possible.
There's so much going on at Expo that it's impossible to see or do everything, but as we did last year, here are a few of our personal picks from the seminars.
And for those of you unable to attend, as always, you will be able to find full recordings of each session on the Pinball News YouTube channel.
Pinball: A Quest for Mastery
Speaker: Tasker Smith
Time: Thursday, 9:30 AM
Why we're excited: Tasker is a New Englander who has been working on his own pinball book for some time. We've had the good fortune of reading an early draft and we're looking forward to learning more about his efforts in his Expo session.
Australian Pinball - The Story About Hankin
Speaker: Stephen Smith
Time: Thursday, 10:30 AM
Why we're excited: Stephen is a long-time Kineticist reader and shared a piece with us recently that functions as a preview of his Expo seminar on the story of Australia's Hankin pinball. He's even bringing along his collection of Hankin games for everyone to see!
How to Run a Successful Arcade Bar
Speakers: Rachel Bess, Chris Rhodes, Cale Hernandez, Jim Zespy, Alan Robertson
Time: Thursday, 11:00 AM
Why we're excited: For all of the great information in the pinball community about repairs, restorations, and game history, it's kind of lacking information on the business of location pinball. Which is why I'm excited to hear from the likes of Rachel Bess, Cale Hernandez, and others, on what it takes to run a successful arcade bar business. Who knows, maybe there will be a Kineticist location in the future!
Women Working in Pinball
Speakers: Kristin Browning-Mezal, Rachel Bess, Rebecca Hinsdale, Elizabeth Gieske, Erika S., Krystle Gemnich. Moderated by Imoto Harney.
Time: Thursday, 8:00 PM
Why we're excited: Great lineup of panelists who are actively working in the pinball industry in various capacities. Looking forward to learning more about their experiences in the industry and how we can hopefully get more women involved.
Pinball Degeneracy on Social Media
Speaker: Joe Ciaravino
Time: Thursday, 11:15 PM
Why we're excited: We're excited for just about anything Mr. Pinball Degenerate, Joe Ciaravino, cooks up in his creative little head. A session by Joe about pinball and social media, at 11:15 PM should be nothing short of interesting.
What is Your Game Worth?
Speaker: Ted Finlay
Time: Friday, 2:00 PM
Why we're excited: We've been collaborating with Ted Finlay for years now as he runs the best resource on the internet for pinball pricing data, PinballPrices.com. His insights on the market (thanks to the time he spends hand-collecting and analyzing data from a variety of sources) are invaluable, so I'm looking forward to seeing what he has to share in his first Expo session.
Making Pinball, Making Friends: Meet the Future of Homebrew Pinball
Speakers: Lin, Kyle Reed, Ernie Silverberg, more. Moderated by Aaron Davis
Time: Friday, 3:00 PM
Why we're excited: The homebrew pinball scene has long been a casual interest of mine. I have fantasy dreams of building my own game one day after being inspired by the likes of Mark Seiden, Ryan McQuaid, and many others. This year in particular is rumored to be big for the homebrew and custom pinball community, so can't wait to see what they have planned for us in this session.
Licensing: Behind the Scenes Stories from these Marketing Masters
Speakers: Jody Dankberg, Tom Nieman, Roger Sharpe. Moderated by LJ Greene
Time: Friday, 4:00 PM
Why we're excited: Some days I like to daydream about what I would do in the pinball industry if I were employed by a manufacturer. Marketing is the easy pick because that's what I've done professionally most of my career. But the deeper I go into pinball, the more I find myself fascinated by the topic of licensing and how that factors into the production of our favorite game. I love how it seemingly blends together marketing, market research, pop culture knowledge, and other facets, all to be applied to pinball production. To be a fly on the wall for some of those meetings!
40 Years of Pinball Expo as Told by Some of the Talented People Who Made it Happen
Speakers: Pat Lawlor, Larry DeMar, Greg Freres, Roger Sharpe, Chris Granner, Keith Johnson, Bill Grupp, Jack Guarnieri, Steve Ritchie
Time: Friday, 7:30 PM
Why we're excited: Just look at the speaker lineup! I'd attend a session with this group for their contributions to pinball alone, but to hear them all talk about the last 4 decades of Pinball Expo shows is something else. Fingers crossed they have some fun insider stories planned that none of us have ever heard before.
Gary Stern Presents: 40 Years of Pinball
Speaker: Gary Stern
Time: Saturday, 4:00 PM
Why we're excited: Sticking on the history track, Gary Stern has probably forgotten more about pinball than I could ever hope to know, so I'm interested in hearing his perspective of the last 40 years in pinball and the moments, stories, and points in time that stood out enough to discuss them here.
Greg Freres: A Career Retrospective
Speaker: Greg Freres
Time: Saturday, 8:00 PM
Why we're excited: Long-time pinball artist Greg Freres hung up his drawing tools this year after a storied career in the industry. Hoping to hear a few cool stories in this session about his time in pinball and what some of his highlights were along the way.
Let's Make a Deal
Speakers: Dwight Sullivan, Corey Stup, Tanio Klyce, Kyle Spiteri, Mark Penacho, Jerry Thomson, Damon Beals
Time: Saturday, 9:30 PM
Why we're excited: Last year's edition of Let's Make a Deal got some rave reviews, particularly for some of the big-ticket prizes that were handed out (like a Mando topper), and Dwight has been hyping this year's version every chance he gets. Stern is handing out $4k in prizes, including a Black Knight Sword of Rage topper. Dwight is also requesting that people show up in costume and/or with strange things in their pockets for extra credit.
I think it's going to be a lot of fun and a good way to cap the Expo experience!
Colin is the chief pixel pusher at Kineticist. He's a lifetime gamer who became enamored with pinball after taking in a family copy of the 1979 classic Joker Poker (the EM version). Since then he's bought, sold and repaired many machines, competed in all kinds of tournaments, and contributes to This Week in Pinball, the New England Pinball League, and Pin-Masters of New England. Previously, Colin spent over a decade working in marketing for agencies and tech startups. He also started and ran a music blog, happy hour website, and wrote a regular craft beer review column for Central Track in Dallas. Once aspired to be an artsy film director.
