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The Classic Pinball Podcast
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#140 Pinfest 2026 - The Classic Pinball Podcast

PodcastAnalysis updated 4d ago2 hr 36 min listenBy George
From the creator

Pinfest review. Leftovers. Bonus feature: Skateball. Pinfest walkthrough on YouTube: S1ckH4ndsRBN

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Highlights

  • Spooky brought five identical festival games to Pinfest (same as Texas show), clearly marked as unavailable for purchase
  • Three Musketeers has a display bug where the top player's score overshadows players one and two on screen
  • Don Bosworth worked as a district manager for Aladdin's Castle (300+ arcade units) and operated a pinball route with 200+ machines before retirement
  • The Stingray Dave sold was later put on the show floor by a buyer for $2,000, who had bought it to gift to his girlfriend and wanted a free pass
  • High-definition glass from different manufacturers (Cointaker, Marco) may be sourced from the same vendor but branded differently
  • Pinfest now requires payment before doors open rather than at entry
  • New games at Pinfest were placed in a narrow alleyway away from the front entrance, causing crowding
  • Winchester Mystery House had 1+ hour wait time on Friday opening
  • Dave sold three Stingray backglasses on Thursday and bought them all back later
  • Gorgar is popular with buyers because it was the first talking pinball machine

Notable quotes

“For those of you who have never been to the show, if you bring a game, you get into the horse trading center of the universe for pinball on Thursdays. That's when all the deals are done.”
Dave
“I have 600 games. That has me beat. A hundred.”
George (reacting to Don Bosworth)
“That's your game now. You do whatever you want with it. So why would you buy this game and then just mark it up a couple hundred bucks and put it on the floor?”
Dave
“When there's a new game and there's five of them, you're not waiting an hour. I turned around twice, nobody there. Kudos to Spooky. Nice job.”
George
“It was an evolving plan in the rain, no less. I needed out of my trailer to shuffle all the other selling and buying games I was doing.”
Stingray buyer (via Dave's text relay)
“Why polish a turd when you can buy a game that's better, take the turd, turn it over, and get rid of it to somebody who wants to restore that?”
Dave
“I bought 10 sheets of voodoo glass from Cointaker, and then I talked to Marco. He's got the same price on his high-def glass, too. Same price. Different manufacturer? Well, the rumor has it... it's all the same. They have different names on it.”
Dave
“I think it's because people remember playing them back in the day as the first talking pinball, and it had the pressure on people.”
Dave
“There was this one van. She goes, there must have been a hundred people going in and out that thing buying stuff.”
George (relaying Janice's observation)
“It's like, I really like my spot. And we're just like, oh, yeah, Steve can get it down there for you. So they got in the two. Steve and me two-wheeled the game all the way down the parking lot.”
Dave

Entities

  • Aladdin's Castle· company
  • Cointaker· company
  • Spooky Pinball· company
  • Pinfest· event
  • Beetlejuice· game
  • Dune· game
  • Gorgar· game
  • Predator· game
  • Space Hunt· game
  • Stingray· game
  • Three Musketeers· game
  • Winchester Mystery House· game
  • Brian Hawkins· person
  • Bruce Nightingale· person
  • Chris· person
  • Dave· person
  • Don Bosworth· person
  • Gary Shanley· person
  • George· person
  • Janice· person
  • Joe Newhart· person
  • Marco· person
  • Steve Prusa· person
  • Wade· person

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