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    Collector Con 2025

    Collector Con Events Getaway Judge Dredd Maverick
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    ​A couple of weeks ago, Fiona and I attended     Collector Con in Minto. This is another great local collecting and pop culture convention run in the local area. While we like doing some of the bigger shows such as Collectfest and Pinfest, we also enjoy spreading the joy of pinball in our local area at smaller events, so we were happy to contribute three machines for patrons of Collector Con to enjoy.
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    Australian Collectables Expo 2025

    Australian Collectables Expo Events Johnny Mnemonic Super Mario Bros Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
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    ​I'm writing this after a monster of a Saturday. I just got up after a 12 hour sleep and I still feel tired! I'm smashed because Fiona and I spent yesterday at the     Australian Collectables Expo (also known as the Campbelltown Card Show), and we spent the couple of days prior to that getting ready for it. Only a week after our appearance at TCXPO, we decided to contribute to this show because it was local (only ten minutes away from home!) and because the van was already half-loaded with the machines and parts from the last show, so loading up wouldn't be too difficult! And, of course, it helps us in our mission to spread "pinball to the people". ​
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    TCXPO (Trading Card Expo) 2025

    Events Eye Of The Tiger Super Mario Bros Tcxpo Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
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    Trading cards? What's that got to do with pinball? Well, not much. However, I like to take any opportunity I can to spread the joy of pinball around. So whenever a pinball or pop culture-related expo comes around, I like to offer my services as a "Pinball Advocate" and bring some machines for the public to experience for the first time, or enjoy for the thousandth time, whatever the case may be. TCXPO is the latest venture of Amy from Collector Con, who organises several pop culture events throughout the year. It was on for the first time on Sunday, and it's awesome to be a part of an inaugural show!
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    Leisure & Allied Industries "Skill Tester" (Type 1)

    Arcade Claw Machine Leisure & Allied Redemption Skilltester
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    Normally I start each blog entry with an image of the flyer for the game I'm going to be working on. Unfortunately, Leisure & Allied Industries (LAI) produced very few flyers for their games, particularly the simpler redemption games. However, there are few games that were as ubiquitous in Australian arcades as the classic skill tester claw machine by LAI. This particular example was one of the cabinets from our container-of-games pickup several years ago, and it was basically in working condition when I got it. However, it had never had a proper clean, and a few small issues were starting to appear, so it was time to give this machine a good going-over.
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    Pinfest 2025

    Events Maverick Pinfest Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
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    And here's another event report! Will we get sick of constantly going to pinball events? Probably not! We've already been to three over the last two months, so what's one more? Besides, this is the one pinball event I look forward to the most every year - Pinfest! This year, we decided to be a little more organised than normal by finalising repairs to machines early and packing for the event a few days before. That didn't quite work out, as we were still hurriedly finishing repairs on the Friday morning, a few hours before we left. It always seems like there's an issue or two that pop up at the most inopportune time, but that's pinball! ​
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    Ice Ball Alley Roller

    Alley Roller Arcade ICE Ice Ball Skee Ball
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    ​If you thought it was already ridiculous enough trying to move heavy, bulky pieces of coin-operated equipment around such as pinball machines, driving games, and videogame cabinets, you're in for a treat! But first, I'll have to explain what type of game I'm going to be talking about. If you saw the flyer above and thought this game was called a Skee-Ball machine, you'd be mistaken! And so was I when I first started researching it. Even though this is an "Ice Ball" machine made by     Innovative Concepts in Entertainment, ice ball isn't the correct term for it either. Skee-Ball actually refers to a very specific iteration of these machines, which were first manufactured by the Skee-Ball Alley Company at the start of the 20th Century (their website has a great page on their history).