Pings, bells and music rattle through a hotel ballroom in Frisco, Texas.
Thousand of pinball enthusiasts will gather in this space over the weekend to connect, play and talk shop about their favorite game.
Some may think pinball is a pastime, but the Texas Pinball Festival is celebrating its 20th year. At the festival, about 540 games from large manufacturers to homebrewers will be on display.
Companies like Stern will have dozens of its new JAWS games open for free play all weekend. Some enthusiasts travel from all over the world to compete in tournaments and get a look at these designs in person.
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Player and enthusiast David Peck brought his own game all the way from New Zealand. The homebrewer said conventions and festivals like these are important because people get a chance to play the game instead of just looking at pictures online.
"Actually playing the game and hearing it and feeling it shaking from the base is a lot different than looking at it on a pinball website," Peck said.
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Homebrews, games made by individuals instead of mass-produced by manufacturers, take hundreds of hours and several contributors.
"It's a lot cheaper to just go and buy a brand new pinball machine for $7,000 than to try and make your own," Peck said.
Peck started with blank wood from the hardware store, and then coders and designers like Brad Albright were brought on to bring the project to life. Albright is a local artist who designs posters, woodcuts and pinball games.
Even though it is a labor of love, there are several people who bring homebrews to the festival, and some hope their designs will be noticed and picked up by large manufacturers.
Fast Pinball, a company that provides "under the hood" control systems for games, had seven homebrewers showing games they had created with the company's products.
"For most of us that are doing this, it's kind of, pinball is this nostalgic part of our life," said Aaron Davis, CEO of Fast Pinball. "So it's really us looking to add some new fun and enjoyment."
This is the same reason original organizers like Paul McKinney started the Texas Pinball Festival in 2004. McKinney and a group of enthusiasts started to notice pinball games were becoming harder to find in the wild.
The group got together and decided, "We've gotta do something to save pinball," McKinney said.
From its humble beginnings to now, the festival will welcome about 5,000 guests from kids to players from around the world. This weekend the festival will offer seminars, tournaments and lots of free play.
Texas Pinball Festival will run from March 15-17, you can learn more about contributors and how to get tickets at texaspinball.com.
