HomeSHOWSPINBALL AT THE BEACH
Date: 6th - 9th February 2026
Location: TradeWinds Island Grand
5500 Gulf Blvd., St. Pete Beach, FL 33706, USA
Welcome to our live coverage of the second Pinball at the Beach which is being held, as it was last year, at the TradeWinds Island Grand resort in St. Pete Beach, Florida.
 The entrance to the TradeWinds Island Grand resort
Pinball at the Beach is a very different style of show, designed to be much more relaxed and enjoyable for everyone attending. Although there are many special guests from across the pinball world, there are no seminars and very few vendors. The emphasis is on socialising, playing the machines and hanging out in the resort with friends old and new. With that in mind, there are no single day tickets sold, only tickets for all three days which cost $199.
The event is organised by Little Shop of Games’ Marshall Jeff Dickson and Edward VanderVeen, formerly of the Texas Pinball Festival. They met at the FreePlay Florida show and conceived this unique type of pinball show, with the inaugural PatB taking place in February 2025.
We’ll be updating this report across all three days of the show to bring you a feel for the machines, the atmosphere and the many attractions of a Floridian beach location.
So, let’s start with the resort. The Island Grand is a large complex of hotel rooms, conference facilities and leisure spots. Within the grounds are numerous pools, miniature golf, tennis courts, a boating lake along several bars and catering outlets, all located on the beach.
 Two of the accommodation blocks facing the Gulf
 St Pete Beach
 St Pete Beach
 One of several pools at Island Grand
 The boating lake compete with an island
 Plenty of places to relax
You may notice the scarcity of people in the pictures above. While the sun is shining and the skies are blue, the heatwave experienced at last year’s event hasn’t yet come to Florida. So temperatures up until Friday have generally peaking at around 60F/16C. However, things are warming up as we head into the weekend, with 68F/20C expected on Saturday.
While the Island Grand resort is large, it has a sister property next door called RumFish Beach.
 RumFish Beach on the far left of the two Island Grand blocks
 The RumFish Beach resort next door
Island Grand and RumFish Beach together form the TradeWinds resort. Pinball at the Beach guests can stay at either resort hotel and use all the facilities of both.
 A map of the TradeWinds resort
Hotel rooms for Island Grand sold out soon after becoming available at the show rate, but RumFish Beach still had availability at the time of writing.
So, let’s move on to Pinball at the Beach itself.
The show opens to guests at 5pm on Friday, but we arrived at midday on Thursday to get a preview of the machines available and see how the show was being set up.
Thursday
Pinball at the Beach’s machines are housed in a large tent in the Island Grand complex, called The Pavilion.
 The Pavilion – home to Pinball at the Beach’s machines and vendors
 The entrance to The Pavilion
By Thursday lunchtime there were quite a few machines already inside, but many more would be arriving later in the day and on Friday.
 Inside The Pavilion at midday Thursday
The first manufacturer to set up was Spooky Pinball. Their recent Beetlejuice machine was quickly sold out, but they also made a batch of games for shows such as this.
 Spooky Pinball are here and set up
For Pinball at the Beach they brought twelve Beetlejuice machines, split into a row of eight with the Dante’s Inferno topper, and an island of four fitted with the Beetlesnake animatronic topper.
 The row of eight Beetlejuice machines
 An island of four more
 Some pre-show checks and updates
Elsewhere in the hall, the latest games from Jersey Jack Pinball and Barrels of Fun had arrived.
 Some of Jersey Jack Pinball’s Harry Potter games
 Machines from Barrels of Fun
On the other side of The Pavilion, Stern Pinball machines were being set up.
 Some of the many Stern Pinball titles
While the machines are prepared, room dividers, drapes and electrical feeds were being installed.
 Installing the power cables and outlets
As the sun started to set over the water, we left the team for the evening and returned Friday morning to check on their progress.
Friday
Although there was still plenty to do, the show hall was starting to take shape.
 Inside The Pavilion on Friday morning
 More of the Stern Pinball machines plus a guest Bally Dungeons & Dragons
Although most attention has been on Beetlejuice, there is a row of previous Spooky Pinball titles set up as well.
 A line-up of earlier Spooky Pinball titles
Likewise, the full catalogue of Jersey Jack Pinball machines is set up along with multiple editions of Harry Potter.
 All the Jersey Jack Pinball titles are here too
Not to be outdone, all three Barrels of Fun titles are available too. Two of their newest Winchester Mystery House, two Dune s and a Labyrinth.
 The row of Barrels of Fun machines
Although the doors don’t open until 5pm today, registration was available for guests in a building opposite the entrance to The Pavilion.
 The Pinball at the Beach registration team
As opening time of 5pm came around, the queue to get in grew. Along them, three rather special vehicles arrived.
 It’s the Batmobile
 It’s the Jurassic Park jeep
 We have no idea why this Tuk-Tuk is here, but it’s super cool
So, as 5pm approached, the first in line got excited to have the whole hall of games at their disposal.
 The front of the line
Finally, 5pm came around and the show hall opened. Pinball at the Beach 2026 was officially open.
 The doors are open, so the show begins
Although there were plenty of amazing games, many guests made their way to the back of The Pavillion for some Beetlejuice.
 Lots of lovely new Stern titles
 More great new Stern pinballs
 Seems like everyone wants to get some Beetlejuice
However, there was still a strong demand for show merchandise.
 The line for show merch
 Some of the many T-shirts available to purchase
A little later in the evening, the number of players increased and, while there were still plenty of opportunities to play, many of the more modern machines were occupied.
 Players on the newer Stern Pinball titles
The 5pm opening time for The Pavilion was also the start time for the Pinball at the Beach tournament, run by Colin Colin MacAlpine and Phil Grimaldi. This was located in the Tarpon Key room which is near the Island Grand’s reception lobby.
 The location of the tournament
The schedule is far more laid back than a more formal tournament, with qualifying split into four three-hour slots over the first two days of the show.
 The tournament schedule
 Inside the tournament room
Tournament machines were positioned along the back and side walls, providing plenty of space and a limited amount of seating.
 Some of the tournament machines
 More tournament machines
 More tournament machines
 Awards for the top four in the tournament
A little later in the evening there were opportunities to watch a movie or relax in the sands as the sun went down.
The movie screening took place in the room next door to the tournaments.
 The movie screening room
The movie in question was Roger Sharpe’s biopic, Pinball: The Man Who Saved The Game, and Roger was present to give an introduction and also answer some questions from the audience after the showing.
 Roger Sharpe introduces the movie
Roger also talked about the Sharpshooter game which he co-designed and which bears his likeness on the backglass.
 Pinball at the Beach organiser, Marshall, with Roger and the owner of the Sharpshooter machine, Tucker
On the hotel’s beachfront, drinks were served as the sun set and music was provided as guest sat around the fire pits to enjoy the evening.
 Enjoying the cool evening sea breeze
 Music was provided by Casey Allen
Saturday
The show opened at 10am and it quickly looked and felt as though it would be a warmer day than Friday.
 Saturday morning in one of the hotel’s courtyards
 It could be a decent beach day
 Members of the Stern team enjoying the sun
Inside The Pavilion, lines quickly formed for games such as Winchester Mystery House where there were only two machines. Where there were multiple copies of a game it didn’t take long for the opportunity to play.
 Lines to play at Barrels of Fun’s machines
 More machines means shorter waits
 The Spooky Pinball area with their twelve Beetlejuices
 Elsewhere in The Pavilion there was no problem finding a machine to play
Let’s take a look around The Pavilion and the games available at this year’s Pinball at the Beach.
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Outside The Pavilion, another vehicle had joined the three we saw earlier.
 In anticipation of the warmth returning, the Ice Cream Hearse was on hand
At 3pm an autograph session was held in the Breckenridge building, opposite the entrance to The Pavilion. A long line of guests with items to sign soon formed.
 The start of the line for the autograph session
Nearly all the VIP guests at the show were in attendance (including Pinball News), armed with Sharpies to sign whatever poster, banner, jacket, flyer, backglass, translite, playfield or other item was presented to them.
 The autograph session
The length of the queue exceeded everyone’s expectations. After two hours, the doors to the room had to be closed, and it took another thirty minutes for those already in to get all their items signed.
 Jack Danger and Dwight Sullivan were amongst the VIPs signing items
As the sun went down, there was another Drinks on the Beach event, with free drinks and hot snacks served.
 Saturday’s Drinks of the Beach
Although the day had been warmer, the evening became quite chilly, with groups huddled around the firepits.
 Keeping warm
 Definitely not T-shirt Carl Weathers
However, the chill didn’t stop the ever-popular karaoke session from taking place.
 Saturday night karaoke
We braved the cold for as long as we could, before returning to the warmth of The Pavilion to socialise and play some more games. The first group we found hanging out together were from Stern Pinball and Barrels of Fun.
 Seth Davis, David David Van Es, Brian Savage and George Gomez
 Lots of machines to play on Saturday evening
 More guests enjoying the machines
 Still a good number of available machines to play
Over in the Tarpon Key room, the tournament was heading towards a result.
Both the Early and Late qualifying groups played the first six of their twelve rounds on Friday, with the remaining six taking place on Saturday. Once those were over, the top 16 from both groups went into the play-offs where they competed in groups of 4 on three machines, with the top two players from each group progressing.
There were two divisions, A & B, with each having their own play-offs.
In the A Division, it was a win for Shannon Stafford, who repeated his win from 2025’s event. In second place was Donovan Stepp, while Eric Stone was third and co-organiser, Colin Colin MacAlpine, was fourth.
 A Division top four: Shannon Stafford (1st), Donovan Stepp (2nd), Eric Stone (3rd) and Colin Colin MacAlpine (4th)
In the B Division, first place was claimed by Malik Berger. JT Thomas came second, Cody Hilliard was in third and Tony Pierce was fourth.
 B Division top four: Tony Pierce (4th), Cody Hilliard (3rd), JT Thomas (2nd) and Malik Berger (1st)
Sunday
Pinball at the Beach opened at 9am on its final day, with vouchers handed out for a free Mimosa or Bloody Mary cocktail from the bar in The Pavilion. After that, show guests had the opportunity to play some of the titles they either never got to play before, or would like to play once again.
 The row of Beetlejiuces was still busy on the show’s third day
 With near-zero technical issues for their new title, it was a good show for the Spooky Pinball team
 It’s a long row of Stern titles, but they are all being played
 There were still plenty of machines with which to reacquaint yourself or to experience for the first time
 It was also a good time to find a friend and play some of the head-to-head games
The clock reached the closing time of 2pm all too soon. There was no public address announcement, but machines were gradually switched off until just the last few remained powered, while the stands were torn down and packed away.
 Packing away the show merchandise stand
Even then, there was a line for the Barrel of Fun games until Brian Savage told everyone not to start any new games once their current game was completed.
 The line to play continued even though the show had officially closed
 Eventually all the games had ended and the machines switched off, well, almost all…
That concludes our coverage of the second Pinball at the Beach. To congratulate the organisers, Marshall and Ed, for putting together another great show, Pinball News presented them with a couple of small gifts of appreciation.
 Pinball News Editor, Martin Ayub, presents the gifts to Marshall and Ed
We hope you have enjoyed our coverage from Pinball at the Beach 2026.
The show, the guests and the games will all be discussed in the next edition of the Pinball News and Pinball Magazine PINcast, released at the start of March and available from your favourite podcast supplier or right here on Pinball News.
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