The Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show is an annual pinball and arcade game festival held in Tacoma, Washington, United States.
The Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show draws between 3,000 collectors and fans each June to the Seattle area. The festival began as a small annual event held by Washington pinball collectors, but in 2008 became a full-fledged regional convention featuring hundreds of pinball machines, arcade games, electro-mechanical games, speakers, vendors and tournaments. In 2013 the show expanded in size, prompting a move from the Seattle Center to the Greater Tacoma Convention Center.
2020
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show was cancelled. The decision to cancel the show came two months before it was originally scheduled. The action was specifically taken "in the interest of public health safety.”
2019
The 12th annual Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show took place at the Greater Tacoma Convention Center from May 31, 2019 June 2, 2019. There were over 400 playable machines.
2018
The 11th annual Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show took place at the Greater Tacoma Convention Center from June 8–10, 2018. There were over 400 games that were free to play. Seminars were held by Dave Okert, Victor Tan, and others.
2017
The 10th annual Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show took place at the Greater Tacoma Convention Center from June 9–11, 2017. There were 218 playable machines, 192 of them being free to play on the show floor. Several seminars were held, given by Mark Ritchie, John Youssi, Greg Freres, and others.
2016
The 9th annual Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show took place at the Greater Tacoma Convention Center from June 3–5, 2016. There were 215 playable pinball machines, 185 of them being free to play on the show floor. Several seminars were held, given by Nolan Bushnell, David Theil, and others.
2015
The 8th annual Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show took place at the Greater Tacoma Convention Center from June 5–7, 2015.
2014
The 7th annual Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show took place at the Greater Tacoma Convention Center from June 6–8, 2014.
2013
The 6th annual Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show took place at the Greater Tacoma Convention Center from June 7–9, 2013. The new venue was larger and accommodated more games, more vendors, more exhibits and more people. Pinball designer and artist Python Anghelo came to the show for the first time and hosted an engaging fireside chat, moderated by pinball historian and collector Gary Flower, as well as doing a seminar later on "The Future of Pinball." Angelo's game credits include arcade games Joust (video game) and Sinistar, as well as dozens of pinball machines including PIN•BOT, Taxi (pinball), Cyclone, Bad Cats, Fish Tales, The Machine: Bride of Pin-Bot, Police Force (pinball), High Speed and Comet. Kevin Kulek and Aaron Klumpp of Skit B Pinball brought out their new Predator pinball machine to talk about it, both it and their one of a kind Duck Hunt pinball machine were available to play throughout the weekend on the show floor. Gerry Stellenberg, owner of Multimorphic, spoke about the new P3 Pinball and P-ROC. Pinball artist Kevin O'Connor designed the 2013 show poster and spoke about his experience in the industry, O'Connor's game credits include Monster Bash, Kiss, Creature From The Black Lagoon and many more. Jersey Jack Pinball's Butch Peel did a seminar on the "Making The Wizard Of Oz Pinball" and brought a finished The Wizard of Oz (pinball) for everyone to play during the show. Longtime Washington State game operator Bill Masterman spoke about operating games on location and arcade high score sensations Todd Rogers and Steve Wiebe, star of "The King Of Kong" movie, also spoke. There was a premiere for the movie "The Space Invaders: In Search of Lost Time" with a Q&A with director Jeff Von Ward and locals Aaron Davis and Barry Shilmover gave a talk on "Turning Your Pinball Design Ideas Into A Real Machine!" and their new pinball company Skillshot. Gary Stern, owner and president of Stern Pinball gave a seminar and drew the winning raffle ticket at the end in which someone took home a new X-Men Pro pinball game. For the first year NW Pinball and Arcade Show trophies were presented and the show awarded a number of scholarships to local college students going into game design related fields.