Zapcon 2014

    Zapcon was today!  We got there around 3:00, paid our $25, and for the next five hours had our choice of probably 60 or so pinball machines, and maybe 40 or so Arcade games.

    This is Yours Truly camped out on a machine I used to play back in my college days.  Of the five hours, I probably spent 3½ of them on this one, re-learning the various shots needed to hit the 13 targets for extra balls.

    I found a second one from my era, and played it for at least 30 minutes, winning five games on points, out of 15-20 total played.  So I was reasonably happy with my performance.

    I had a blast.  I think Zapcon is a yearly event.  If so, I will definitely go again next year.

Pinball Wizards

    Geez but this brings back old memories.  We used to play this machine for hours upon end at a local place called Tempe Bowl.  This was back in the late 60's and very early 70's.

    It didn't cost us all that much money.  We were all Pinball Wizards after all.  But I'm sure it cost me GPA points, as we would camp on this machine for whole evenings, from 7:00 PM or so until the bowling alley closed.  Not a lot of time left for studying after that.

    Anyhoo, I post these pics because there's a giant pinball/arcade game convention here in Phoenix this coming weekend.  Something called Zapcon.  $25 gets you an all-day pass for either Saturday or Sunday.

    There will be about 4 dozen pinball machines, and maybe 2x as many arcade games.  You can google "Zapcon" for details.  Most of the pinball machines are from the 80's and 90's, well beyond my "active playing" years.  But this one....  The King of Diamonds is special.