After missing 2020 due to Covid, Pinball Expo ’21 was held at a new venue – the Schaumberg Convention Center Hotel – and was the largest show in 37 years. Over 4,000 attendees were able to see what some 65 vendors had to offer – like Stern Pinball with Godzilla, Jersey Jack Pinball with a Guns ‘N Roses limited-edition model, and American Pinball with their new Legends of Valhalla game.
IVGHOF Jerry Byrum, IVGHOF Director of Inductee Relations / 2016 Inductee Lonnie McDonald, Walter Day Lifetime Achievement Award Inductee Gary Stern, IVGHOF Board Member Todd Friedman and Walter Day, founder of Twin Galaxies.
For their admission fee, attendees were also treated to 300 games on the expo floor set to free play. Other, non-pinball coin-op games were also available, as were retro systems like Atari and old console platforms from Nintendo and others. (Plus tournaments and other fun events.)
RePlay Publisher Eddie Adlum was among those inducted in the Pinball Expo Service & Support Hall of Fame. He was ata restaurant on Pico Blvd. when they called to present his award (Pico being Los Angeles’ “Coin machine row” in days gone by). He thanked them for recognizing his decades of magazine support for what he called the industry’s “greatest all-time invention.”
Read more in our December issue.
