# Early Pinball Expo Tour!

**Source:** Cary Hardy YouTube Live Streams  
**Type:** video  
**Published:** 2025-10-16  
**Duration:** 29m 45s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lp12uR4hr24

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## Analysis

Cary Hardy provides an early morning tour of Pinball Expo before official opening, showcasing booth locations, new machines, and homebrew games. Tour covers Stern's Star Wars/Dungeons & Dragons/King Kong/Jaws displays, extensive homebrew area with games like Spaceballs and Adventure Time, Jersey Jack's Harry Potter collection, Barrels of Fun games, Spooky's Evil Dead presence, and vintage pinball selection. Notable reveals include Big Trouble in Little China playable at Stern booth, multiple Winchester machines at Barrels of Fun, and American Pinball's Whirlaball prototype.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] There are four Winchester machines at the show total—one at Flippin' Out booth and three at Barrels of Fun area — _Direct observation during tour with specific booth locations identified_
- [HIGH] Cary was the first person to play Big Trouble in Little China other than the creator — _Direct statement: 'I was the first person to play this other than the person that created it'_
- [MEDIUM] There are approximately six Evil Dead machines in the show with Spooky not having an official booth but strong presence — _Visual observation: 'I think, six Evil Deads over there' with note that Spooky has no official booth_
- [HIGH] Whirlaball is a prototype from American Pinball/Orbit Games and is not ready for FEC deployment — _Direct statement: 'I have to stress the word prototype on this, guys, because it is definitely not ready for FECs'_
- [LOW] Someone heard a rumor that a new game announcement is happening at the show this weekend — _Hearsay: 'I heard a rumor from a birdie that they're supposed to be announcing a new game this weekend'_
- [HIGH] Stern has fans on the coils for solenoids on Big Trouble in Little China to prevent flipper fade — _Technical detail observed: 'he's got fans on the coils for the solenoids so we shouldn't see any flipper fade'_
- [MEDIUM] Dune and Winchester machines may be brought upstairs at some point during the show — _Uncertain prediction: 'I think upstairs they're going to probably bring at one point in the show a Dune and a Winchester upstairs'_

### Notable Quotes

> "I was the first person to play this other than the person that created it."
> — **Cary Hardy**, ~13:30
> _Highlights access to Big Trouble in Little China at the show and Cary's privileged position as early tester_

> "They are going balls deep on homebrew this year guys."
> — **Cary Hardy**, ~6:45
> _Indicates Pinball Expo 2024 is emphasizing homebrew section significantly_

> "I have to stress the word prototype on this, guys, because it is definitely not ready for FECs."
> — **Cary Hardy**, ~29:15
> _Clarifies Whirlaball status and its intended target market (FECs vs consumer)_

> "Whether or not they're better, that's subjective. One person's yuck is another person's yum. That's the great thing about pinball."
> — **Cary Hardy**, ~25:45
> _Addresses implicit community comparison of Spooky/Barrels vs Stern quality_

> "The only carpet you're going to have at this show is in the stern area."
> — **Cary Hardy**, ~37:30
> _Notes Stern's booth infrastructure advantage (comfort amenity during long standing periods)_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Cary Hardy | person | YouTube content creator hosting early Pinball Expo tour livestream; media pass holder |
| Stern Pinball | company | Major manufacturer with central booth at Pinball Expo featuring Star Wars, Dungeons & Dragons, Elvira, King Kong, Deadpool Premium, X-Men, Jaws 50th Anniversary |
| Jersey Jack Pinball | company | Manufacturer with dedicated booth featuring Harry Potter (multiple editions including Collector's, Wizard, and arcade versions) and Avatar machines |
| Barrels of Fun | company | Pinball manufacturer/operator with canopied booth area featuring multiple machines; Carl D'Angelo working on first game |
| Spooky Pinball | company | Manufacturer with no official booth but significant presence with approximately six Evil Dead machines throughout show |
| American Pinball | company | Manufacturer of Whirlaball hybrid game; working with Orbit Games on prototype featuring loud mechanical ball rolling mechanics |
| Big Trouble in Little China | game | Stern pinball machine at Expo; first playable by Cary Hardy; features solenoid fans to prevent flipper fade |
| Winchester Mystery House | game | Barrels of Fun/Stern game; four units at show (one at Flippin' Out, three at Barrels booth); includes dual-hand control mechanism |
| Evil Dead (Spooky) | game | Spooky Pinball machine; approximately six units present throughout show with large toppers |
| Whirlaball | game | American Pinball/Orbit Games hybrid game prototype (not ready for FEC deployment); loud mechanical gameplay with complex ball routing |
| Harry Potter (Jersey Jack) | game | Jersey Jack's flagship machine available in multiple editions; full selection at Expo including Collector's, Wizard, and arcade versions |
| Jaws 50th Anniversary | game | Stern limited edition machine at Expo with stage setup for demonstrations |
| Turner Pinball | company | Vendor at Expo with external internet access; demonstrating 'Pin Access' feature |
| Fast Pinball | company | Homebrew board manufacturer represented by Aaron; supplying boards for various homebrew machines at Expo |
| CGC (Cactus Canyon Crew) | company | Vendor booth near Stern featuring playable Cactus Canyon machines with code variants |
| Carl D'Angelo | person | Designer/operator working at Barrels of Fun booth preparing first game for Expo |
| Zach Sharpe | person | Associated with Barrels of Fun/Flippin' Out; participating remotely during Expo |
| Ken Cromwell | person | Custom pinball-to-guitar conversion artist demonstrating playfield-to-instrument artwork at Expo |
| Joshua Root | person | Collaborator with Ken Cromwell on pinball guitar conversion project at Expo |
| Pinball Expo | event | Major annual pinball convention; 2024 edition featuring extensive manufacturer booths, homebrew showcase, vendor area, and classic pinball selection |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Pinball Expo 2024 venue layout and booth organization, New game releases and demonstrations (Star Wars, Jaws 50th, Big Trouble in Little China), Homebrew pinball games and community presence, Manufacturer booth strategies and presence (Stern, Jersey Jack, Spooky, Barrels of Fun)
- **Secondary:** Hybrid/alternative gaming (Whirlaball, miniature pinball machines, pinball guitars), Vintage and classic pinball availability for play/sale, Livestreaming infrastructure and connectivity challenges at venue
- **Mentioned:** Comparative quality/appeal of different manufacturers (Stern vs Spooky/Barrels)

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.78) — Cary maintains enthusiastic, supportive tone throughout. Praises homebrew effort, respects prototype status of Whirlaball, compliments Stern/JJP booth setups. Minor criticism of some niche games (e.g., Wonderland feedback, Whirlaball clarity issues) but framed constructively. Overall conveys excitement about Expo variety and community presence.

### Signals

- **[community_signal]** Barrels of Fun prominently featuring first-time designer Carl D'Angelo's game at major Expo booth with dedicated canopy setup (confidence: high) — Multiple references to Carl D'Angelo working at Barrels booth, four Winchester machines strategically placed, first game launch support evident
- **[competitive_signal]** Jersey Jack Pinball maximizing presence with full selection of Harry Potter variants (Collector's, Wizard, Arcade editions) and Avatar machines in dedicated row (confidence: high) — Direct observation: 'you've got every one of them. Just from... All of them. Well, there you go, guys. You don't see that very often.'
- **[event_signal]** Pinball Expo 2024 opening with significant homebrew presence, multiple manufacturer booths, and extensive vintage game selection (confidence: high) — Tour documentation of Stern, Jersey Jack, Barrels of Fun, Spooky, American Pinball presence; homebrew section described as 'balls deep on homebrew this year'
- **[market_signal]** Vintage pinball secondary market active at Expo with games priced $3,600-$5,800 range indicating collector demand (confidence: medium) — Multiple vintage machines listed for sale: Swords of Fury $4,200, Star Trek TNG $5,800, various 80s games $3,600-$4,200
- **[announcement]** Multiple new Stern machines on display including Star Wars, Dungeons & Dragons, King Kong variants, and Jaws 50th Anniversary (confidence: high) — Direct observation of playable machines at Stern booth with stage setup for Jaws 50th
- **[product_strategy]** Potential Dune machine availability for upstairs Expo display suggests ongoing production/availability management (confidence: low) — Uncertain statement: 'I think upstairs they're going to probably bring at one point in the show a Dune and a Winchester upstairs'
- **[rumor_hype]** Unconfirmed new game announcement expected at Expo this weekend (confidence: low) — Hearsay: 'I heard a rumor from a birdie that they're supposed to be announcing a new game this weekend' (likely Space Hunt related)
- **[technology_signal]** Hybrid games gaining presence at major Expo (Whirlaball mechanical innovation, pinball-to-guitar art conversions, miniature DIY machines) (confidence: medium) — Multiple hybrid game categories displayed: Whirlaball prototype, guitar conversion art, $1,000 miniature pinball DIY machines

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## Transcript

 I'm seeing inconsistent, basically, connection. And people are having a lot of connection issues here at the show. So, I'm hoping it's not blurry. If it's all blurry and pixelated, then I'm just not even going to bother doing lives, guys. And that's not me. But I might be able to see if I can get someone's hotspot. Turner Pinball's got some external internet access thing over here. So if push comes to shove, then I'll see if I can borrow their internet connection for a while to see if that helps. But we'll see what we got coming in here. Let me adjust some things. All chats are visible Alright, so the goal here Is to give you guys a complete tour of the show What's going on, Trash Can Ninja? We're going to give you a complete tour of the show Before all the crowd gets in here and for those of you that are probably out there waiting to get in here, you're going to know where to go to access a certain machine. So that way you can beamline right to where you want to go. So let me go to the very front of the show first and we'll start that way. Let me turn my damn camera around. You don't want to see me. You want to see what's going on. All right. How's the audio coming in guys? Doing good. Welcome to the stream. Is the audio coming in pretty good for you guys? I just want to make sure. Sounds good? All right. So this is where you first walk in. This is the dead center of the show. Rookie Pinball, he sells toppers here. Yeah, we'll definitely do another deep dive tour going over the entire show a little more in depth. But this is merely to show you guys where to go to play certain machines. So when you first walk in, you're going to notice that one of the big differences is Stern has their stuff right here. Yeah, I got my media pass there. so stern's gonna be showing off their star wars dungeons and dragons uh some elvira some king kong's i want to say i saw a deadpool premium over here some x-men uh jaws 50th so you haven't got a chance to see the jaws 50th up close and personal it is going to be over here But they've got a stage all set up. I'm guessing they're going to have like drinks with Jack and a number of other little events probably right here for people to watch. And looks like CGC is set up over here right next to him where you can play your Cactus Canyon. And I believe all the Cactus Canyons have the extra code and oh, not this one. This one doesn't have it. one does. Then you got some Medieval Madness Merlins. All right and let's go over here to the big thing of the show. I think this is gonna be where a lot of people are at. They are going balls deep on homebrew this year guys. So first of all I showed this on my patreon and everything last night but this thing is completely playable. But it's run by pneumatics. It's got a silent pump down here, a compressor, so you can actually play this. You can play it by putting your hands far apart, or you have the access to those right there. But it's very limited on how you can play it, because once you get a ball somewhere, then you have to manually take it out. So it's still, it's semi works. And here is the homebrew area, where you're gonna see all the homebrews. And they're gonna be all around here. There's Aaron from Fast Pinball over there. He's got fast boards and everything all these machines. So, these are the games that are currently here. We got Spaceballs, Adventure Time, Turbo Time, Beer Fest. Oh, Ryan brought Sonic. Sweet. Is this a cuphead? Is that what that says? Yeah, there's a... Cuphead is here, guys. Just not the one you're thinking of. And then there's a Pokemon game. Looks pretty clean. Good morning, sir. Good morning. Battle Stations. But yeah, here's all the homebrew areas. And they are still setting up, guys. The show doesn't officially start, I think, until another hour and a half. So. But, yeah, for all your homebrew needs over here. Tony Hawk, as well as a number of other stuff. So this far back corner, all homebrew. There's Emoto! Yeah, it is definitely a village, alright. Now if you're wanting to play Big Trouble in Little China, it's pretty much, see there in Stern, you walk straight up this aisle and there it is. I don't want to brag, but I was the first person to play this other than the person that created it. Ah man, I broke it. So yeah, if you want to play this, I foresee a big old line, but he's got fans on the coils for the solenoids so we shouldn't see any flipper fade. Should be hard, long, and strong like me and all show. So it's literally just straight up the aisle in front of the stern area. Then you have all of the electric playgrounds, toppers, and there are all their games right here underneath the tent Are y over here making out What going on Got a little something right here Alright space hunt I heard a rumor from a birdie that they're supposed to be announcing a new game this weekend. Got a Penn Sound booth over here. Showing off his things. the free play area looks to be all back here for those that just want to come in here and play some old-school pinball they are still building up the cups I was a little nervous earlier flying around this thing with my drone could you imagine oh my god I would feel so horrible just fucking fly my drone right through that shit okay and then flipping out booth is where you'll have one of the Winchesters. And then we got two lovebirds over here, Ken Cromwell, Joshua Root. That's a hell of a little boat that you got all set up. Yeah. Is Zach even going to be here or is he just cracking the whip on you? He'll be here via remote. All right, I'll see how he does it. Making our way around. This is something I saw earlier that I thought was pretty damn cool. Check these out guys. If you play guitar or you just like really cool artwork then this might be a thing for you. But yeah, he takes playfields and turns them into guitars that light up. And then setting up the cups right now for Flippy, so it's going to be even taller. I can already hear Winchester over there doing the scream. Somebody's over there doing the whispers in the dark mode. Over here we have a slew. There's more evil deads than I thought there would be. Wow. And they've all got the big topper on them. So Spooky doesn't officially have a booth. But they definitely are going to have a presence here with all of their evil deads. All right, let's head over here to Barrels of Fun now. We've got another vendor area right here. I don't know. And just so you're curious of where we're at in the show, that's the entrance that I came in right there, the main entrance. So if you want to go to Winchester, head left. And you've got a couple of Alice's right here to play. He's got the topper and the topper expansions connected yesterday. Turner pinball is going to be over here. They're still getting things set up and you're going to be able to see first hand pin access. Now you don't really know what this is yet, but when you get into the game, you'll be able to see. Kind of like pin bar, but it actually works. Alright. Here we have the barrels of fun area. Now I'm going to go over here and distract the hell out of Luke so he just doesn't play very well. So yeah, you've got one here, and then you've got... Oh, I guess they moved one. Did y'all move one upstairs? Oh, they're over here. They did some migrating. You got two more right here. So you've got three in the booth for Barrels of Fun, and one over there, and I'm flipping out. So they got a nice canopy over it so you're going to get better ambiance for these games. We got Carl D'Python Anghelo over here working hard, getting everybody ready to play his first game. Alright, let's get back over the tape. So as you go further to your left, you'll find more vendors. And then we got the Jersey Jack Pinball area right here, where you're going to find a bunch of Harry Potter's, Avatar. So if you haven't played Harry Potter yet, you've got a full selection of the collector's edition, wizard edition, and even the arcade. There's even a possibility that I might be getting one of these here somewhat soon. I don't really know. We'll have to just wait and see. No problem, Tilt Pin. Try to help you guys out as much as I possibly can. So then you have another slew of Jersey Jack games right here. Oh my god, is this the entire... This is all the... Okay, so evidently they have a Jersey Jack row. Alright, so you've got every one of them. Just from... All of them. Well, there you go, guys. You don't see that very often. and then we'll go over here oh showing off some badass restorations right here good almighty are you kidding me my only complaint is they're too shiny No, I haven't. I'm just now walking around here. We make a different day capsule. Oh. Cal, games are so damn shiny I'm afraid to touch them. It's like they're works of art. Look at that guys. Oh my goodness. Now we have the new iPhone that you can install this, like this. Oh man Why isn it on there We arrived yesterday. That will make it look even better. Very clean. Inside we wanted this one turning on the light. very this was black and white red and green we made everything this now is not beautiful because the plating protector is like a water but it's the highest we made the background that seems like a lot of work man Yeah. My beauty. Yeah, this is definitely very beautiful, man. Very beautiful. Thank you. Yeah. To comment on right there in regards to how Stern feels right now, yeah, you gotta imagine that. I missed the entire comment there, sad boy, but you gotta think about it. Spooky and Burial is just absolutely... Yeah, that's good. I'm pretty sure I know where he's at inzo. So, I know what you guys want to see. And I did this to my patrons yesterday. You want to see some figurines, right? Let's show them off. Alright, so look. Look at these things. I think some people just did not realize the scale on how big these damn things were. And this is also series two that no one has seen. So unless you're on my Patreon, no one else has seen these but you guys. But that's my hand. My hand's pretty decent size. But yeah, these stand about 12, I think I know for sure. The Martian stands about 15 inches tall. What pins are from Spooky and Barrels are better than any Stern? Well I suggest that you just come in and play some games to really figure that out for yourself. I mean whether or not they're better, that's subjective. One person's yuck is another person's yum. That's the great thing about pinball. All right, but I want to say, oh, okay, here we go. This will be good. Hold on. And Whirlaball from American Pinball slash Orbit Games. Yeah, guys, this is loud. going to hear this at the show for sure. But you've got Whirlaball, you've got ice cold beers, poly caves, and some more ice cold beers over here. A very addictive game. and then they have some of their pinball machines over here. Yeah, the Whirl Ball, that is their newest prototype, and I have to stress the word prototype on this, guys, because it is definitely not ready for FECs, which is what they're really targeting for this thing. but you roll the ball and it's like imagine that ramp is like a C shape so the ball starts and rolls up and then feeds back into the bottom back here behind here and then it rolls down and it feeds down the side and then back into your lane very loud you're gonna hear it at the show for sure if they're working I say if they're working because I think they were already having some issues yesterday. We got a dance floor going on right here. I'm not sure if someone didn't show up to the show. It's kind of like skee-ball, yeah, but I would argue that skee-ball might be better because you have a better idea what you're aiming for. They need to do some modifications on that system because you don't really know what you're shooting for. and then they even have some them ball effects going right here for those that want to do this would you like to try oh not right now at least let's go over here i think we're gonna wrap up this back corner because i want to say that's Oh yeah, I almost walked all the way around here about pointing this out. Alright, let's give it some coverage. Alright. Before you guys go shitting on it completely, I still haven't played it. Let's just look at this from the perspective of what we saw last year to what we're seeing now. So, let's give them some credit for definitely going from a black cabinet with nothing to a fully art and evidently playable miniature pinball machine for $1,000. So, it's difficult for me to just sit here and go crap all over it because they have done what they said they were going to do. And if you like putting your pinball machine together like an Ikea piece of furniture, then this is definitely an ideal piece of thing for you to get. But they've got two of them right here and you can play those. But, uh, yep. A little bit bigger presents than they were last year. And then this back wall right here is all vendors. You need some parts or anything like that. And then I want to say, we'll confirm, but I want to say this is all free play games over here for you to play. And some of these are for sale. For instance, yeah, this is a property of Robert Burke. It's sale for $5,800. You can get you a Star Trek The Next Generation. It's not too bad. Not too bad a condition. Let's see what games we have over here. I like how there was like no comments at all on regards to the the Wonderland game over Nothing Either you guys are very talkative about it or you just had nothing to say about it But I was expecting something from you guys. Alright, so these are all the games. And then of course I'm sure you'll have your typical $8 drinks and $20 burgers up back here. If you've got nothing nice to say, yep, that was what I was thinking too. A comment on the Wonderland started getting squeezed up both the ends. Oh my god, Jason. Yeah, the only carpet you're going to have at this show is in the stern area. I guess that is one perk in being in the stern area this year is to get a little bit of rest on your feet. Your wallet may be hurting And your ass may be hurting from staring But damn it, your feet are going to be comfortable When you're standing over there in their area at the show Oh my god I was hoping this was for sale I've got to get some time on this My first solid state machine I ever got man Some nostalgia there for it Is it a great game? Oh no No no it's not But there's definitely nostalgia here The art style, the sounds Yeah. Where's Raven? No one wants Raven. Well, I don't know. I don't think we have it. I see some Gottliebs. I don't know if they've got a Raven here. Either I missed it, But I don't think I saw a Raven. No Raven for you. And I think there was some other games over here. We'll check these out. Maybe we have some... Maybe there's some Raven over here. And it looks like a lot of these games are for sale. well. Four grand, $3,600, $3,750, $4,200, $3,700, $4,200. Man, $4,200 for Swords of Fury? Feeling pretty good about getting mine all fixed up now. That's a pretty good condition Swords of Fury, guys. If you've never played this, I highly recommend it. It's going to be one of your favorite 80s. Especially because of the music. Water World. And a lot of these games look like in pretty good shape too. And let's go over here. Man, we've even got Super Hoop. I have never played a working version of Centaur 2. So I may have to play this just so I can say I finally have played the sequel that's working. Oh man. The home version of Transformers. Wow. I don't see that. home star wars costco as well as the topper yeah all the home edition games are over here that's nice I think we have one more row of games and then And we'll do a few rounds of a Q&A that you may have. But yeah, I don't see a raven. Sorry, you raven guys. Man, this is a really clean looking Star Trek. I mean, it's not as good as yours, Williams, obviously. So yeah, you got plenty of older games to play, it looks like, as well as checking out the new hotness stuff from manufacturers. All right, guys, is there anything in particular that you wanted to know where things were at? I know some of you arrived a little bit late to the show, but I have done a complete walk around to give you guys an idea of where to go when you get in here in about an hour. I think the show opens up in one hour, and then you can get up on it. There are a total of four Winchesters. You've got one at the Flip N Out Pinball booth. You've got three over there in the actual Barrels of Fun area. Spooky booth. There's no booth for spooky, but there are, I think, six Evil Deads over there. Go play the Ikea Alice. I will eventually. I've got to give it a try. Is there an extra room of games? There will be, I think, rooms somewhere else. I think upstairs they're going to probably bring at one point in the show a Dune and a Winchester upstairs. All right, guys. I think that wraps up the tour right there for you. About a 30-minute walk around. So let me turn this around real quick. There you go. Look forward to seeing all of you at the show. And we'll see. we might do a tour later on, but I wanted to get in here and give you guys a tour. That way you know where stuff is at before everybody's in here. And then I had to like scream to get over all the volume that's going around me. Before you buy. Must play before you buy. All right, guys. I'm going to go hang out. I see Ralph and everybody's here now. So I'm going to go hang out and catch up with them. Later.

_(Acquisition: youtube_groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: c83b947e-ea9b-4559-a02f-d1e20b31280f*