Go Full Tilt

The Rocky Mountain Pinball Showdown and Gameroom Expo will offer a far-reaching blend of arcade nostalgia this weekend, whether you're a curiosity seeker with a pocketful of quarters (though you won't need them if you have a ticket) or a serious gamer looking to win one of nine different pinball...

By Josiah Hesse

April 26, 2012

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The Rocky Mountain Pinball Showdown and Gameroom Expo will offer a far-reaching blend of arcade nostalgia this weekend, whether you're a curiosity seeker with a pocketful of quarters (though you won't need them if you have a ticket) or a serious gamer looking to win one of nine different pinball tournaments. There will also be more than 100 arcade classics, from Donkey Kong to Ms. Pacman, on hand in an open-play game room.

Tournaments include parent/kid team competitions and pre-1978 electro-mechanical pinball competitions; more than $2,500 in prizes will be awarded.

"You can't duplicate pinball on a video screen," says Expo creator Dan Nikolich. "It's its own little world of a steel ball rolling on wood under the glass." This will be Nikolich's ninth pinball tournament, and he estimates that there will be about 2,000 entries. "A lot of young people are discovering pinball, while a lot of adults are rediscovering it; you'll see everything from four-year-olds to grandmothers."

The expo runs today from 11 a.m. to midnight at the Embassy Suites Denver Tech Center, 10250 East Costilla Avenue in Centennial, and again tomorrow from 9 a.m. to midnight and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets are $20 per day, $10 for kids ages seven to twelve (six and under get in free). For more information, visit www.pinballshowdown.com.
April 27-29, 2012

Josiah Hesse

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