The Dutch Pinball Open / Expo 2017
The Dutch Pinball Organisation celebrated their 25th birthday in 2017. And how better to celebrate than with a pinball party? Not just any party: it was the largest pinball gathering ever held in the Netherlands!
OK, technically it wasn’t only a birthday celebration, but the DPO: the annual Dutch Pinball Open competition. As it was the 25th anniversary, people wanted to do something special, bigger and better than ever before. During the initial brainstorming sessions, the idea of a very large venue came up: Evoluon in Eindhoven. This former Philips museum is now an event hall. It’s designed to look like a flying saucer, but also resembles a pinball pop bumper.
Although the idea was initially dismissed for being too large and expensive, it was later reconsidered... especially as the number of available pinball machines began to grow in the months leading up to the event—first 250, then 350, and in the final weeks it became clear that the magic number of 500 machines was within reach.
And it wasn’t just a competition, it was a full pinball expo. There were seminars, and game designer Barry Oursler and artist Kevin O'Connor were invited to talk about their careers.
I’m happy to say that the Dutch Pinball Organisation reached their goal: this was the most impressive, spectacular, and largest DPO ever held. Over 500 pinball machines gathered in one location, in a stunning venue, the world’s largest 'pop bumper' building! The venue has four floors (rings), and the view from the top level was jaw-dropping: hundreds of pinball machines stretched out in every direction.
The entrance and registration area, which also served as the DPO shop.
A rolling ball sculpture.
Pinball Magazine booth
Pinball Magazine’s booth, selling posters and books.
Pascal Janin’s booth offering replacement boards.
Mirco Playfields with replacement playfields and a variety of spare parts.
PPinSound’s replacement sound boards, installed in three machines for demo play.
More vendors offering pinball parts.
Belgian Carl Jacobs selling games and backglasses.
Two The Big Lebowski machines by Dutch Pinball: one built by Ara, the other by their new Chinese contractor.
More new Stern pinball machines.
The view from the top floor was truly impressive!
Hundreds of pinball machines
The competition area was well organized.
Additional games dedicated to tournament play.
The DPO catered to both young and old pinball fans!
Special and rare machines were everywhere, with many grouped on the top floor. Here's an Atari Hercules.
A Pacman converted pinball machine
Two homemade machines by a DPO member: a converted Data East Star Wars and Medieval Madness.
The Minions, a newly built pinball machine from scratch.
Captain Nemo pinball machine.
If you're looking for pinball parts, then check out Pinballshop.nl (affiliate link).