(WBBM NEWSRADIO) – The Pinball Expo in Chicago has drawn people from far and wide, including internationally.
This is the fourth time that Oscar Terol, a speaker at the event, has traveled to Chicago from Spain.
“We love pinball; we are totally passionate,” Terol said. “So this is the mecca of pinball.”
Each year, he has become more involved. He started with presenting, but this year, for the first time, he has brought his own product, an upgraded display screen and sound system.
Terol is among a few to travel from abroad to attend the expo, which runs through Oct. 21 at the Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center Hotel.
Pinball machine restorer Ivan Cicognani traveled from Italy to showcase a pinball machine he saved. The pinball machine “Radical” was damaged during a flood in Italy. Cicognani was able to save the original parts of the machine and kept true to its original colors. He was even able to restore the wood box housing the game.
For the expo’s founder Rob Berk, bringing people like Cicognani and Terol together is what the event is all about.
“The Pinball Expo is a collectors show for collectors, enthusiasts, pinball professional players… We have tournaments here,” Berk said.
Berk founded the expo in 1985 after putting out a questionnaire in the publication "Silverball Quarterly" to gauge interest. The expo has grown to a four-day event, and this year, it’s hosting a record 435 games on the floor.
With admission, attendees are able to play on all of those machines. The expo is open until 2 a.m. on Sunday, Oct 22.
As part of the expo, visitors could tour Stern Pinball, a game design company with two factories in Elk Grove Village. Founder, co-owner and chair Gary Stern said he has been able to see firsthand how the event has continued to grow.
“I'll tell you what's really fascinating is in our tour today [Thursday], I asked how many people have been to our tour before and seen our older places, because they would be able to understand the difference. The number of new people involved was 75-80% who had never been on a Stern Pinball board tour before,” Stern said. “This show here has grown over the years. Rob Berk has done a wonderful job with it.”
One day tickets are available at the door and all the seminars are free.
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