Pinfest 2019

K.C. Lopez

• Published on May 3, 2019 • Last modified on May 6, 2019 • Comments

ALLENTOWN, PA - It’s not all fun and games when players unite at Pinfest 2019.

“It’s a pain in the butt sometimes,” says Don Owen, “but to get them back in shape like back in the day when they came out in the arcades is kind of our passion now.”

Every year thousands of pinheads descend on the Agri-plex expo center at the Allentown Fair Grounds to trade tips and tricks, collect parts and of course play hundreds of pinball machines at the celebration of pinball called PinFest. “This show brings out collectors from all over the world, mostly from the northeast but from all over; there’s guys from Australia, Europe, a friend of mine, Kenny, is from Texas,” explains Dave Metrando of Highland, New York. “There’s guys from all over so it’s just a -- we’ve become real close over the years just meeting each other.

Pinball is making a comeback; climbing out of the drain and defeating a wave of enthusiasm surrounding video games. Russ Snyder who sells and restores games for his Lambertville New Jersey business, Pin Rescue, says, the very technology that’s knocked out pinball’s popularity has actually helped him make a living out of his passion turned hobby, turned career. “Well the internet helped. I’ve been doing it for over 25 years so a good 7,8 years no Internet and very difficult but the Internet has opened up, as you can see if you look around here, a lot of these machines, this is 1965 so it’s old, says Snyder, “it’s a business now. But it was a hobby and they’re fun, and there’s artwork and they’re mechanical and entertaining.”
Today, these players say there’s no rush that compares to the arcade games of the past that they’re eager to push into the present and future.

Don Owen says, “It takes a lot of experience, a lot of hours of playing and just understanding the game and how it’s played.” Owen is from Baltimore Maryland and has been playing pinball for 51 years. He fell in love with the game when he was just eight years old and hasn’t stopped playing since. He says his enthusiasm for pinball goes above and beyond a hobby; it’s a lifestyle and there’s no thrill quite like playing pinball. He says he won’t be slowing down any time soon and encourages the younger generation to take up the hobby. We asked him what he thinks kids are missing out on when they’re playing video games versus pinball? “That’s a great question,” says Owen, “I think it’s the physical feedback. You know, getting out, relating to people in a physical location and playing a game that gives you physical feedback because you are involving yourself physically, whether it’s hand eye coordination, flipping the bats, the flipper bats and knowing how to score and scoring and winning games. It’s pretty awesome to do that in a physical presence versus on a video screen.”

Owen is just one of thousands of pinball players who come to Pinfest not only to play but learn about the history behind the flips and bumpers of the arcade game that’s been around since its loose invention in 1871. But the term “pinball” wasn’t seen unil 1936 after the first battery operated machines appeared three years prior. Today, pinball has become more than a game and it’s rarities can sell for thousands of dollars. “This is a 1962 Williams Vagabond and it’s a hard game to find in this condition. Most of them you’ll find the play fields are totally worn out, most of the paints gone off the back glasses,” says Metrando, “For whatever reason they just didn't survive the years the way a lot of other games did and most of them that you’ll find are in very rough condition. This game is probably worth 15 hundred to 2 thousand dollar range these days.”

Pinfest 2019 will continue through Saturday, May 4th from 9AM until 8PM. General admission per day is $20 for anyone 12 years or older and kids under 12 are $10 with kids under 5 free. But for some, you just can’t put a price tag on the memories that are ignited with the flip of a switch. For Russ Snyder, “They’re like time machines. They make you feel young again.”