# My 2019 Chicago Pinball Expo Experience Pt. 1

**Source:** Cary Hardy  
**Type:** video  
**Published:** 2019-10-23  
**Duration:** 12m 35s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfH01okOlvQ

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## Analysis

Cary Hardy documents his 2019 Chicago Pinball Expo experience, including factory tours at American Pinball and Chicago Gaming Company, a preview of the Medieval Madness topper redesign, and a Flippin' Out stream party with notable designers and industry figures. He emphasizes the exclusivity of factory access and the high production quality at Chicago Gaming.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] American Pinball is working on their third game (after Houdini and Oktoberfest) — _American Pinball factory tour; Cary states 'they are currently working on their third, actually'_
- [HIGH] Medieval Madness topper features artwork by Christopher Franchi and detailed 3D molding with castle, king, pigeon, and troll figures — _Chicago Gaming Company factory tour; Cary directly observed and described the topper design_
- [HIGH] Chicago Gaming Company uses decades-old machines in production that are still in service today — _Factory tour observation; Cary notes machines 'used many years ago are still being used today'_
- [MEDIUM] Almost all games in the hotel free play room were owned by one person named Robert — _Cary Hardy observation during setup; states 'almost all of the games...are owned by one person. Robert'_
- [HIGH] Flippin' Out stream party attendees included John Borg, Dwight Sullivan, Eric from JJP, Todd Tucky, and others — _Cary Hardy's account of the stream party; lists designers and industry figures present_

### Notable Quotes

> "American Pinball is known for making the games Houdini and Oktoberfest, and they are currently working on their third, actually."
> — **Cary Hardy**, ~3:45
> _Confirms American Pinball's production pipeline and current projects_

> "The topper for this game is absolutely amazing a major upgrade for the game. It really has a good nice castle artwork that Christopher Franchi did as well as a 3D molding."
> — **Cary Hardy**, ~8:30
> _Direct assessment of Medieval Madness topper quality and artistic direction_

> "I see a good future for Chicago Gaming Company. I think they're going to do very well."
> — **Cary Hardy**, ~10:30
> _Industry optimism about Chicago Gaming Company's trajectory and production quality_

> "He's partially one of the reasons why I even know as much as I do about these games is because of his content."
> — **Cary Hardy**, ~18:00
> _Recognition of Todd Tucky's influence on the pinball community and content creators_

> "And it's one of those things where i even tried looking up online to see if anybody else had video recordings of their factory and at least on youtube i'm not seeing anything so it's almost like a willy wonka thing"
> — **Cary Hardy**, ~10:45
> _Observation that Chicago Gaming Company's factory secrecy is industry-standard and unusual among pinball manufacturers_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Chicago Pinball Expo | event | 2019 annual pinball industry convention in Chicago where Cary Hardy attended and documented his experience |
| American Pinball | company | Pinball manufacturer known for Houdini and Oktoberfest; gave Cary Hardy a private factory tour |
| Chicago Gaming Company | company | Pinball manufacturer with highly secretive factory; known for Medieval Madness cabinet production; no public factory recordings available |
| Cary Hardy | person | YouTube content creator documenting 2019 Pinball Expo experience; pinball enthusiast and documenter |
| Edward Van Der Veen | person | Showrunner for Texas Pinball Festival; accompanied Cary Hardy to factory tours |
| Kevin Moore | person | Arcade and pinball restorer; accompanied Cary Hardy to factory tours |
| Christopher Franchi | person | Artist who created castle artwork for Medieval Madness topper redesign |
| Todd Tuckey | person | Content creator and pinball personality; met at Flippin' Out stream party; recognized by Cary as influential in pinball community |
| Zach Minney | person | Owner of Flippin' Out Pinball; drove with Cary Hardy to stream party at Steve Bowen's house |
| Steve Bowen | person | Hosted Flippin' Out stream party; Deep Root Pinball representative |
| John Borg | person | Pinball designer; attended Flippin' Out stream party |
| Dwight Sullivan | person | Pinball designer; attended Flippin' Out stream party |
| Eric | person | JJP (Jersey Jack Pinball) representative; attended Flippin' Out stream party |
| Medieval Madness | game | Chicago Gaming Company game with newly redesigned topper featuring 3D castle artwork and big screen; preview at 2019 Expo |
| Flippin' Out Pinball | company | Pinball sales and distribution company; hosted stream party during 2019 Expo with industry figures |
| Texas Pinball Festival | event | Pinball festival run by Edward Van Der Veen; mentioned as background context |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Factory tours and manufacturing transparency, Medieval Madness topper redesign
- **Secondary:** American Pinball's product pipeline, Chicago Gaming Company's production quality, Community events and networking at Expo
- **Mentioned:** Pinball content creator influence and community

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.82) — Cary Hardy expresses enthusiasm about his Expo experience, factory quality, and meeting industry figures. Positive about Chicago Gaming Company's future and impressed by production standards. Minor negative note about Super Dogs restaurant, but overall tone is celebratory of industry access and connections made.

### Signals

- **[business_signal]** Chicago Gaming Company maintains vertically integrated, high-quality production using decades-old manufacturing equipment still in regular service (confidence: high) — Factory tour observation of screening, clear coating, woodworking, pressing, and routing machines all operational; Cary notes machines 'used many years ago are still being used today'
- **[event_signal]** Flippin' Out stream party during 2019 Expo hosted major pinball designers and manufacturers including John Borg, Dwight Sullivan, JJP representative, and Todd Tucky (confidence: high) — Cary Hardy attended and documented attendees: John Borg, Dwight Sullivan, Eric from JJP, Todd Tucky and crew
- **[design_philosophy]** Medieval Madness topper redesign emphasizes detailed 3D castle modeling and character artwork as major upgrade component alongside big screen integration (confidence: high) — Cary describes topper as 'absolutely amazing a major upgrade' with 'very detailed' 3D molding featuring castle, king, pigeon, trolls
- **[market_signal]** Factory tour access is heavily restricted and gatekept by manufacturers; American Pinball and Chicago Gaming Company only grant access through established industry connections (Ed Van Der Veen) (confidence: high) — Cary notes multiple times factory access was 'only possible due to being with Ed' and 'not normally done'; no public factory recordings of Chicago Gaming Company available on YouTube
- **[community_signal]** Christopher Franchi credited as artist for Medieval Madness topper redesign, demonstrating his work on Chicago Gaming Company projects (confidence: high) — Cary Hardy states 'Christopher Franchi did' the castle artwork for the topper
- **[announcement]** Medieval Madness topper redesign officially revealed at 2019 Chicago Pinball Expo featuring new big screen and Christopher Franchi artwork with 3D castle molding (confidence: high) — Cary Hardy's direct observation at Chicago Gaming Company factory tour; topper had castle artwork, 3D molding, king, pigeon, and troll figures

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## Transcript

 Chicago, the Windy City, home of the Chicago Hot Dog, the Deep Dish Pizza, Wrigley Field, and the formerly known Sears Tower. But most importantly, the capital for pinball. The Pinball Expo has come to a close for 2019, but luckily this year I was able to attend. And this is my story. What's up guys? As you can tell, it is pretty much complete darkness until we get next to a light and you can see that, yeah, I am here. I am just on the road and it is currently 2.45 in the morning. Now, what the hell am I doing on the road at 2.45 in the morning? That is me going to the DFW airport and getting my flight to Chicago for the Pinball Expo My first flight went well I wasn't nervous or scared like some would think They tried to put me in a middle seat though originally and I was like, no I threw them the extra $22 that they wanted from me without even blinking and in the view was well worth it The flight went smooth. I wasn't happy about the fact that I had to pay the extra $14 for Wi-Fi access, but it gave me a way to stay in touch and entertained. The view and the on-hand Netflix helped me cope with a distraction sitting next to me. This distraction was named James, and he had a bad gas problem. It was awful. I teamed up with a couple of friends for the remainder of the day, Edward Van Der Veen and Kevin Moore. Ed is the showrunner for Texas Pinball Festival and Kevin is a fellow arcade and pinball restorer. We decided to get some food That right my first meal in the new city and we decided to get a real Chicago meal It was delicious After that, we made our way to American Pinball for a private tour. This was only possible due to being with Ed. They don't normally do this for people. Especially for a pinball YouTuber like myself. Like many things on my trip, this was my first tour of a pinball factory. Please excuse the footage here at the beginning. For some reason, my camera was showing on the wrong lens, and that was basically giving you a good view of my gimbal. I fixed that later on. American Pinball is known for making the games Houdini and Oktoberfest, and they are currently working on their third, actually. I had a great time at American Pinball. A lot to see. I mean, there are a lot of things that I would talk about, but I can't. So let's just go on to talking about Chicago Gaming Company. The thing is, there's not really much to say there because we went and did the tour, but I was not allowed to record. Which sucks because I really wanted to record everything that I was seeing because their factory is pretty damn wicked. And once again, I would not be allowed to go on this tour without Ed going because, and I was even told by that, is that the only reason that we are able to do this is because they are good friends with Ed. We were actually some of the very select few that were able to see the brand new Medieval Madness topper that was revealed at Expo. So when we walk through the very first door, the very first thing we see is a brand new Medieval Madness with the new big screen and the new topper. Two things that I noticed immediately and was curious if this was something that we were supposed to see. So when I first see it, I'm like, uh, I like point to it to let them know that, hey, I see this. Is this something that I'm able to speak about, record, let other people know about? If not, let me know and then mum's the word. but I just wanted to be courteous to make sure that they know that I see this and is it okay if I spread the word they were going to announce it uh at expo so they said still don't tell anybody but we will be showing it off at expo and the thing about that is is that the word and the images got out that night not by me but they got out I mean they I think they officially did the reveal on that that evening so whatever the topper for this game is absolutely amazing a major upgrade for the game It really has a good nice castle artwork that Christopher Franchi did as well as a 3D molding. It's very detailed. I don't know who did it, but it was very well done. You have the king, the pigeon, and the two trolls that are beside him, one holding a cigar. I mean, John Youssi it for yourself right here in the shots that I have. And the big screen really shows off the game's quality even further. Since I could not record, what I can tell you that I did see at Chicago Gaming that I'm allowed to say is that the quality. I was very impressed with the quality that they do in their product. This is something that, you know, when we went there, everyone was on lunch. So we got to basically not be in anyone's way to basically go into every department. That includes the screening process, the clear coating process, the woodworking, the pressing, the routing. All those machines were all there. And it was really good to see that the machines that were used many years ago are still being used today. And there's a reason why Churchill's cabinets are so damn good. so it's no surprise that they did not want the factory recorded and it's one of those things where i even tried looking up online to see if anybody else had video recordings of their factory and at least on youtube i'm not seeing anything so it's almost like a willy wonka thing you know where no one really knows what's going on in there unless you're actually going once again i did see things at Chicago Gaming Company that I cannot divulge. So that's all I'm going to say. But the thing is, what I will say without giving anything away is that I see a good future for Chicago Gaming Company. I think they're going to do very well. Once we left Churchill, we headed to the hotel to help everyone set up the games for the free play room. And the funny thing is about this is that I want to say almost all of the games that you're going to see here are owned by one person. Robert. Oh, Ed right here setting up some games. Help out. You've got to volunteer. Help out. So important. all the heavy lifting is done right here I was doing it then I was like yeah I'll just hold the camera my arm is getting tired that's more work than my arm can handle many more drills let's see what kind of games we got going on here Thank you After we helped set up all these games, well not all of them, but we did volunteer and set up a good portion of them, that was when we went to the restaurant called Super Dogs. And that's when I first met Todd, Tucky, and the crew. So that was a good experience for me because I've been wanting to meet Todd for years. ever since I got into the hobby. He's partially one of the reasons why I even know as much as I do about these games is because of his content. As far as the restaurant Super Dogs goes, I wasn't impressed. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't anything that I would say is one of a kind, at least what I had. After we had dinner at Super Dogs, that is when Ed, Kevin, and I parted ways. Zach, Minnie, and I loaded up in the flipping out van and drove out to Steve Beattie's house for the flipping out stream party which was a one hell of a time i mean one we had like fried food beer as well as plenty of other designers out there i mean when he's up there we had hell we had uh dwight sullivan we had uh john borg we had man i can't think of everyone uh eric from jjp was out there uh todd tucky and the crew were out there as well i mean if i'm missing anybody i'm sorry but there was definitely a lot of people out there and uh chris the pen turn next time we meet it's on again you got me when i was having an off night uh and i've never played willie wonka before but at that time so i'll let you win that's the story i'm sticking to it after that party it was already like two o'clock at night i was already exhausted from setting up the machines as well as the flight i only had like an hour or two of sleep so i was ready to hit the sack and start the next day And that's essentially my first day at Pinball Expo in Chicago, which is also where I'm going to be stopping this video. I've got more content to come with Expo, but I'm going to break it up in video series. If you like what you've seen here, do not forget to hit the like button down below. And if you haven't already, do not forget to hit subscribe. That way you can be notified of whenever I upload something for your viewing pleasure. Until next time, guys. Peace out. Outro Music

_(Acquisition: youtube_groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: a3b3bf00-e898-49f8-9d07-64e6f3f5e45c*