Pinball Expo 2026 is underway this weekend at the Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center Hotel, marking the 42nd year of what organizers bill as the world's longest-running annual pinball convention. The four-day show, running October 14 through October 17, brings together collectors, competitive players, and independent machine builders from around the world for a packed schedule of tournaments, factory tours, and hundreds of free-play games, as reported by CBS News Chicago.
Organizers expected this year's attendance to top 2025's record crowd of roughly 6,000 visitors, according to the Daily Herald, with expanding international interest and social media buzz cited as drivers of the growth. The show, which spans four days at the suburban convention center hotel, has become a fixture in Schaumburg's event calendar since its founding in Rosemont back in November 1985, when organizer Rob Berk launched the inaugural gathering after running a 1984 survey through a collector publication, per Wikipedia. That origin story later earned the event a Guinness World Record as the longest-running annual pinball convention anywhere.
Factory Tours Highlight Chicago's Manufacturing Legacy
Part of what sets this year's expo apart is its behind-the-scenes access to the region's manufacturing base. Attendees can tour the nearby Elk Grove Village assembly plants of both Jersey Jack Pinball and Stern Pinball, with Stern marking its 40th anniversary during the event, the Daily Herald's report notes. The tours underscore suburban Chicago's long-standing role as the primary hub for global commercial pinball production, a legacy the region has held for decades.
That manufacturing footprint has only grown in recent years. Post-pandemic, direct-to-consumer sales came to represent roughly 70% of Stern Pinball's business, prompting the company to open an expanded Elk Grove Village production facility in 2023, as Hoodline previously reported. The shift toward home ownership has helped widen pinball's manufacturing base well beyond traditional commercial arcades.
Homebrew Builders and a New Digital Championship
Hobbyists get their own spotlight this year in an expanded Homebrew Village, which features more than 45 custom pinball games and prototypes built by independent creators, according to Marco Pinball. The lineup reportedly includes machines themed around Cuphead, Fallout, and Sonic the Hedgehog, giving independent builders dedicated floor space to show off custom engineering and playfield mechanics.
Competitive play is also getting a new showcase. Pinball Expo 2026 includes the inaugural IFPA Digital Pinball World Championship on October 17, organized in partnership with AtGames to bring sanctioned tournament competition to virtual pinball cabinets, according to GameSpace.com. The addition arrives amid a broader surge in competitive pinball: sanctioned events worldwide grew to 12,693 in 2024 with nearly 288,000 player entries, a 17% year-over-year increase in active tournament players, according to International Flipper Pinball Association data Hoodline reported in August.
Tickets, Free Play, and a Mall Kickoff Party
For those planning to attend, admission includes free-play access to more than 500 pinball machines, eliminating the need for coins or tokens across the exhibition floor. Single-day adult passes run between $55 and $60, while three-day general admission is priced at $160, per the same GameSpace.com account.
The week of festivities kicked off Wednesday with the Bumper Blast welcome party at Enterrium, an arcade and entertainment center inside Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, the Daily Herald reported. Woodfield Mall remains a major commercial landmark in Chicago's northwest suburbs, and the party's placement there reflects how deeply the convention has woven itself into the local business scene surrounding the main event.
Behind it all is Berk, the expo's founder, who holds his own Guinness World Record for owning the world's largest personal collection of pinball machines, exceeding 1,041 units. He houses that collection at his Past Times Arcade in Girard, Ohio, which he opened to the public in 2023 inside a renovated former grocery building, according to Past Times Arcade. More than four decades after he launched the first show, Berk's event continues to pull in record crowds drawn by the same mix of grassroots enthusiasm, commercial manufacturing muscle, and competitive tournament play that built it.
