Once a year, (nearly) every year, the Midwest Gaming Classic takes over what used to be the Wisconsin Center in the heart of downtown Milwaukee. Though there are far more attractions than simply pinball, it is the main event for this couple. MGC brings so many different fan groups together to share in a weekend of fun, games, and just a bit of debauchery.
Admittedly, prior to entering the Midwest dating pool I had no idea that pinball was so big still. I thought all games were created in or around the 80s and only vintage pinball games were spread across the country in eclectic dive bars. However, two-thirds of the men I dated had pinball machines in their basements and I happened to end up with the one with the biggest collection (still growing and changing as well.) Now, I live in a house with 10 games in the basement, I have attended three different show locations (three years in a row), and I have a wonderful group of friends in the community.
Pinball shows offer a plethora of exciting opportunities: the release of new games, fun merchandise, great connections, tournaments, new city exploration, and of course playing games that you may not see anywhere else. I do not claim to be good at pinball, in fact I openly admit that I am terrible. When playing in a group I always place last (now my boyfriend is far better than me and most of his people are far better than him) but I am slowly learning more and improving slightly. Though some of my favorite quotes from the weekend will hopefully lead to more motivation to improve.
"You know, if you keep hitting up the middle it may be easy, but you won't score many points."
"I've never seen a score that low."
The second quote was definitely from a game, shout out to Motorhead, but I can't say it brought the confidence up too much. Every once in a while though, I do have a surprisingly good game, and at the end of the day I have fun which I would argue is the whole point.
Photo evidence of the two times I did decently well on games at MGC.
Activities at Midwest Gaming Classic
Pinball
Board Games
LARP
Video Gaming
Tournament Play
After Hours VIG concert/rave
Live Seminars
Vendor Hall Shopping
Live Amateur Wrestling
Cosplay
There are events and activities for anyone and so many options for attendees to discover a new passion or skill. With a rumor of over 16,000 tickets sold on Saturday alone, Matt said it best when describing why MGC is his favorite show:
"When you unveil a new game at Texas Pinball Fest, everyone in pinball knows about it. When you bring a new game to MGC, everyone in pinball knows about it, but so does everyone here for other games." -Matthew Benzik
Unveiling new games of 2024
Though TPF (Texas Pinball Fest) was truly the one that saw them first, this year's new games were all at MGC for everyone to enjoy. Let's get into the new themes and how each can bring about new crowds and fans to the pinball world. I still am very unsure and not at all confident in my assessment of gameplay as a very weak player myself, so do not expect any helpful understanding of the mechanics. Starting with my personal (totally unbiased....) favorite:
The Princess Bride
Multimorphic released The Princess Bride this year, which was in all ways completely inconceivable. Truly, it was a wonderful decision on their part. The fandom for this movie is so strong and there wasn't a time I didn't see a line of people waiting to play this game. I was also brought right back into my happy place every time I walked past and heard that fantasy score so well known for accompanying Wesley, Buttercup, Inigo, Fezzik, and the rest of the amazing characters. With well thought out calls and modes, your pinball can "climb" up the Cliffs of Insanity, you can best the giant, and battle wits, but the best moment comes from completing the marriage mode prior to the True Love mode, which then turns into the Twoo Wuv mode. This game will one day find it's home in our basement. Thank you P3 for bringing my all time favorite movie into the world of my boyfriend's favorite hobby.
In the past, Multimorphic has released other big fandom games, mainly Weird Al. Their playfield set up is completely different from classic pinball games, with two-thirds of the playable area utilizing a tv screen and motion detecting lasers. Additionally, in a Multimorphic machine, you can swap out games. So if you buy one pinball game from them, you only need the one cab, and you can just buy different inserts to swap out, taking up much less space. I do believe that this style of system is more approachable for a non-pinball player to work their way into the pinball world.
Jaws
Stern released two games this year, the biggest being Jaws. Now, I have never seen Jaws, but I get the concept; massive, angry, hungry shark keeps gobbling up beachgoers and some fishermen have to save the day. This game does such a good job at incorporating the movie. The special modes, video clips, and call outs enhance the feeling of fighting off the shark. The artwork was also exquisite. One thing I think Stern does very well is appealing to a broad audience and picking themes that will be popular. People are drawn to the exciting new games and have so much fun playing game after game.
Venom
This year's other Stern release was Venom. I am a big Spider-Man fan so something within the universe was very appealing to me. However, I didn't enjoy the game play. I am not an expert obviously, but the ball was jumping a lot and kept falling off of ramps or bouncing in a less than smooth manner.
They've been very successful with their Marvel and comic based games in the past so I was a bit surprised. Nonetheless, it is a fun game that incorporates a theme people are familiar with. I will have to play more in the future and hopefully I will feel better about how the game feels.
Motorhead
To me, Motorhead has no relevance in my life. I can't say I have ever even heard a Motorhead song. Now, I can say that a callout in the game gave me some serious self esteem issues. However, a good friend of ours did all of the artwork on this game. Please, give Brad Albright some love and follow his socials or order some cool things from him. He's incredibly talented and an even better person which doesn't seem physically possible.
As far as the game goes, I am sure that when there is a level of connection to the game's theme it becomes far more enjoyable. I just got yelled at for playing badly, which is honestly completely fair because I was awful. Either way, the artwork is insane.
Looney Tunes
Spooky Pinball has been creating some of the coolest games recently, and setting up the most attention grabbing booths. Last year they released Scooby-Doo and had the Mystery Machine at each show. This year they had Looney Tunes, Motorhead, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre with a clap-activated manikin above their booth yielding a trench coat and fake chainsaw. They do an excellent job at creating games that appeal to everyone in the family. While kids go crazy over Looney Tunes and Scooby-Doo, adults love playing TCM or Motorhead.
Everyone at Spooky is incredibly kind, funny, and welcoming. This family-run business makes everyone feel at home at their booth and is always up for conversation. They even offered to help us create license plates for Killian's wheelchair. I look forward to talking to them each and every show.
Also, Spooky won a show award for Texas Chainsaw Massacre and we love to see wonderful people awarded for their hard work. Elton John
This release was announced via social media and built up prior to TPF. Jersey Jack Pinball made a game true to a fandom. Elton is fun (though my first playthrough was not enjoyable.) Matt was talking with someone about gameplay or other shop-talk that was lost on me. So I wandered around and played some games. This is a pretty normal occurrence at shows, but when there is a line I feel too much pressure to not take up someone else's time. So I didn't take the time to switch to a song I was excited about.
I vividly remember trying to focus on playing but hearing Elton John singing "Pinball Wizard" and just being so confused because I thought it was just The Who. (As I am writing this, Matt literally just explained to me that in the movie Tommy Elton John joined The Who in singing "Pinball Wizard". The more you know, I guess.)
Later, when Matt and I played together I was able to feel a bigger connection to the game by picking songs like "I'm Still Standing" or "Benny and the Jets". Overall the fanbase for Elton John is huge. Everyone has heard at least one song, even if it is just from The Lion King. I've seen instagram reels referencing this game, most popular is author John Green joking about pranking his wife in telling her he bought an Elton John pinball game but realizing the bigger prank would actually be purchasing the game. It would be a prank they could benefit from with hours of entertainment at home.
Labyrinth
I had heard of Labyrinth in the past, but couldn't tell you much about it. I now know that David Bowie was in it, than Jim Henson made it, and that the topper on the pinball machine is really cool and interactive. Once again, I was not good at this game at all. I missed the shots, I mean basically all of them, I let the ball slip past me a lot, and I just couldn't get a feel for the game. I do know that there are so many people who love this movie and therefore thoroughly enjoyed the game.
Clearly this game represents and entire universe of different creatures and places very well. Barrels of Fun has a successful game on their hands by picking the right theme and the right people to work on it. When you find passionate people to work on things, the finished product reflects that.
Other Moments
The genius that is Marco Specialties
At every show, Marco Specialties works closely with members of the community as well as with Stern Pinball. From supplying the newest and best Stern games, to setting up a creative display themed to that year's biggest release, to selling important pinball parts, to interviewing and streaming so members of the community can be a part of the entire experience. The staff are always gracious, knowledgeable, inclusive, and genuinely care about making sure pinball is growing.
This year, the main area was setup to highlight Jaws. We are very familiar with the Marco crew as Matt runs their lighting at a few shows a year. With blue lights shining down to replicate water and flashing red for a shark attack, he was very creative in his execution this year.
Throughout the weekend, there were several live presentations at the show but they were streamed online for the community as well. With panels of homebrew creators, arcade owners, people fixing machines, installing upgrades on machines, and Q&As with experts, they had so many bases covered. It was great to see the crowd growing with each presentation and even seeing pinball royalty watch and support during these panels.
For several people, the Homebrew panel seemed to be very interesting. In a setting like a pinball show, there are a lot of people trying to figure out how the games work and what it takes to make your own game. So having a panel of people talking about their process and the struggles they have had but how they've worked through them, and the community support to help each other get the games over the finish line; in a lot of cases, this can be so inspiring and motivational. The goal for these panels and info sessions is definitely to get more people involved in the pinball world.
After Hours Party
Throughout the weekend the vendors and the workers are constantly busy. However, you don't get into this business, and stay in it, unless this is truly an environment you enjoy. So, this show and most others have a time that closes to the general public so those who work all day can play games, have a few drinks, and connect with others like them.
At 8:00, the facility cut off power to the massive show rooms and ushered everyone without an all access or higher pass out. There was an off hour so people could eat and relax a bit. About 15 minutes prior to the show floor reopening, the show runner gave a moving speech that brought several people, including myself, to tears. The amount of care and devotion that he has for bringing this show to the community is moving. It may be an extremely stressful job at times, but seeing the show grow and people continuing to come out and support the community, support local businesses, and support each other truly makes a difference in taking an event and giving it some magic.
Then at 9:00 the party started. Marco Specialties hosted a Wacky Pinball tournament with a grand prize of tickets to any six flags location in the country. This Wacky Pinball tournament consisted of several games all with different challenges: the top glass was replaced with textured glass, you had to wear dizzy goggles, a game with fitted with challenge flippers, you needed to wear upside down glasses, you had to basically be in the splits, and a few more unique challenges.
Throughout the evening, everyone was socializing, challenging each other to fun games, and sharing in the fun they all provided. Having the opportunity to join this event and not have to wait in lines for games definitely adds a new level of enjoyment to the games. People's walls are down and they aren't in customer service mode so conversations flow easier. At the end of the longest day of the show, it is a wonderful way to unwind.
The evening is played out by resident superstar and all around cool human Scott Danesi DJ-ing a set for everyone. You haven't experienced anything quite like a pinball rave until a high level programmer and designer is the DJ, someone dressed as an alien wizard is headbobbing, a father and daughter duo are doing the worm, and a speaker wire shorts out but the only response is "let it burn!"
Like always, we had an absolute blast at the show. I think it'll take a week to catch up on our sleep, my legs are still sore from standing on concrete for several days in a row, we are living on cough drops to help with the loss of our voices, but we have a few months until our next show.
Here are the rest of my favorite shots from the weekend:
I truly believe that anyone who comes out to a show will leave with a greater understanding of pinball and a deeper appreciation for the game. Find a show near you and take a chance on going, the games are fun, the people are kind, and it's just a wholesome place to be.
Comments