Sponsored by
Dan Kitchen
Activision Game Designer
Dan Kitchen
Activision Game Designer
Dan Kitchen – As passionate game player and veteran Activision Game Designer, Dan Kitchen is credited with producing over 240 commercially released games across 15 game platforms. During his career Dan is renowned for designing such Atari 2600 classics as CRACKPOTS™, GHOSTBUSTERS™, TOMCAT: THE F-14 FIGHTER SIMULATOR™, CROSSBOW™ and KUNG-FU MASTER™. Dan has recently released CASEY'S GOLD!™ for the Atari 2600 which has been received with rave reviews.
Garry Kitchen
toy/video game designer
Garry Kitchen
toy/video game designer
Garry Kitchen – Garry Kitchen is a renowned toy/video game designer. Kitchen’s hit games include Donkey Kong (Atari), Keystone Kapers, GameMaker (1985), and Bart (Simpson) vs. the Space Mutants. Garry’s awards include Designer of the Year, Video Game of the Year, and SPA Excellence in Software. His work is highlighted in many documentaries, including World 1-1, Atari: Game Over, Batteries Not Included, The Artists, and Unlocked: The World of Games, Revealed. Kitchen serves on the Advisory Board of the National Video Game Museum.
David Crane
Activision Video game designer
David Crane
Activision Video game designer
David Crane – David Crane is one of the most successful designers of entertainment software in the world. His award winning video games, led by Pitfall!™, Ghostbusters™, A Boy and His Blob™, and Amazing Tennis™ are acknowledged as some of the most innovative and popular in the interactive entertainment industry.“ – Classic Gaming Expo “Crane helped define Activision’s earlier efforts with games like Pitfall!, Decathlon, Ghostbusters (a particularly great effort considering most licensed games — especially in the earlier days of the industry — were terrible to the point of almost causing it to cave in on itself) and Little Computer People (arguably the first modern digital pet).” — IGN
Barrels of Fun
Houston Texas Pinball Manufacturer!
Barrels of Fun presents Jim Henson’s Labyrinth, where YOU battle Jareth the Goblin King. It’s up to you to defeat him before the 13th hour! In this game you will meet new “friends”, who may hurt you or help you in your quest. What will you choose, left or right? Up or down? Do you take a “friend’s” advice or totally ignore them? It’s all up to you as you try and avoid the Oubliette, the Cleaners as well as the Bog of Eternal Stench.
Brett Weiss
Game Author
Brett Weiss
Game Author
Respected video game historian, journalist, and national columnist Brett Weiss is the author of over 10 books, including the Classic Home Video Games series, The 100 Greatest Console Video Games: 1977-1987, and The SNES Omnibus volumes 1 and 2.
G to the Next Level
Sega Historian & YouTuber/Twitch Streamer
G to the Next Level
Sega Historian & YouTuber/Twitch Streamer
"Growing Up Genesis: How Sega and Sonic Changed Gaming Forever"
Join Sega Historian and Sonic Enthusiast, G to The Next Level, as they take you back to one of the most exciting times for the house that Sonic built: a celebration of the Sega Genesis! Time for a nostalgic trip down its history, important must-play games, hidden gems, and of course, Sega's influence during the 90s Console Wars. They will also discuss their Growing Up Genesis project: a compendium of every officially released Sega Genesis game across YouTube, Twitch (and perhaps a book!), letter by letter, and have a Q & A.
Kevin O’Connor
Pinball Artist
Kevin O’Connor
Pinball Artist
Kevin O’Connor is a prolific pinball artist whose career spans from the late 1970s to the present day, having created art for more than 60 machines. He started at Bally during the golden age of pinball, where he produced iconic artwork for titles like KISS, Centaur, Flash Gordon, and Star Trek—each featuring his signature use of vibrant color, dynamic figures, and imaginative compositions. O’Connor’s early success helped define Bally’s classic “house style,” yet he remained adaptable enough to work with other manufacturers (including Williams, Midway, Data East, and Stern), continually evolving his approach as technology and player tastes changed.
Mike Vinikour
Stern Pinball
Mike Vinikour
Stern Pinball
Mike Vinikour is an Associate Game Developer at Stern Pinball. Mike has worked on almost every Stern game released in the past several years including RUSH and James Bond 007. Other titles Mike worked on are Batman, Iron Maiden, KISS, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Beatles, and many more. Mike also has an impressive resume with some of your favorite arcade games including Mortal Kombat. You can usually find Mike hanging around in the Joystix booth answering questions, teaching the rules to games, and giving away Stern swag.
Mikel Allen
Gamer Cosplayer
Mikel Allen
Gamer Cosplayer
I am a cosplayer who was born in Chicago and moved to Houston. Since I was a big guy when I started cosplay I had to build my own armor and props as well as sew my own cosplay outfits. I started cosplaying in 2017. Later I learned how to build and design wigs for afro centric hair. I have won cosplay competitions on stage at cons and online. I am the Co-Creator of Chicago POC cosplayers. A group created to bring inner city Chicago Black children together who want to learn how to cosplay and build props. I won the Cartoon Network Adult Swim cosplay contest in 2021. I won the cosplayer of the year award 3x from Urban Anime Lounge. I have appeared and was published in cosplay magazines, newspapers, and a cosplay calendars. My cosplay journey has been a very fun one and I don’t believe I will ever stop living this dream.
Gerry Stellenberg
Pinball Designer, Manufacture MultiMorphic
Gerry Stellenberg
Pinball Designer, Manufacture MultiMorphic
(guest/booth/Panelist) The P3 is a modular, multi-game, pinball platform that merges the physical gameplay with interactive art, modular shots, and customizable cabinet. Come flip the latest creation of the company’s newest release, Weird Al’s Museum of Natural Hilarity! List of games he has worked on here!
Stephen Silver
Game designer
Stephen Silver
Game designer
Meet Stephen Silver, a man of many talents and many hats. He joined Multimorphic in 2012 to help with video production and has continued expanding his role throughout the years. He was the Creative Director on Heist and co-Creative Director on Weird Al's Museum of Natural Hilarity, but he's also played a large role in the creative process for all aspects of our business.
We met Stephen at the Texas Pinball Festival in 2012 when showing off the very first P3 prototype. He saw a small team of dummies trying to do really cool things with a new pinball machine that had an embedded video screen, and he instantly knew we needed his help.
Paul E. Niemeyer
Game Artist
Paul E. Niemeyer
Game Artist
(guest/Booth/Panelist)
In a career spanning disciplines as diverse as arcade game cabinet illustration, board game design, marketing and advertising art and design, and haunted attraction and amusement ride design, Paul E. Niemeyer has created a niche for himself as a creative adventurer. While his illustration work for the Mortal Kombat arcade cabinet and logo is perhaps some of his most revered work in pop culture history, his work also graced the video games Tron, Spy Hunter, PacMan Plus, Super PacMan, Professor PacMan, and many, many more. He keeps busy these days designing amusement rides, and continues working in game art and design
Scott Danesi
Game designer: Spooky, MultiMorphic
Scott Danesi
Game designer: Spooky, MultiMorphic
(guest/Musician/Panelist) is the designer of the Rick and Morty and Total Nuclear Annihilation pinball machines released by Spooky Pinball. When he’s not designing games, he’s composing music or working on a number of cool things over at Pinball Life as their manager of 3D design and development.
Tim Kitzrow
Game voice Talent: Bally/Williams, EA Sports, Stern
Tim Kitzrow
Game voice Talent: Bally/Williams, EA Sports, Stern
(guest/Booth/Panelist)
TIM KITZROW is the iconic voice of your favorite sports franchises — NBA Jam, NFL Blitz, NHL Hitz and MLB Slugfest — and over a dozen classic pinball games. With NBA JAM, which grossed over $2 BILLION to date, Kitzrow introduced BOOMSHAKALAKA to the NBA lexicon and earned pop culture immortality.
Todd Tuckey
Game Personality: TNT Amusements, You Tube Personality
Todd Tuckey
Game Personality: TNT Amusements, You Tube Personality
Todd Tuckey (guest/Panelist) Todd is the owner and President of TNT Amusements Inc.; he also runs the company’s official YouTube channel. With over 1200 YouTube video episodes and 500 hours of programming showcasing our beautiful, reconditioned Arcade machines that we sell, TNT Amusements Inc. in Southampton, PA, continues its tradition of quality and craftsmanship in its 37th year, selling over 27,000 machines to over 13,000 customers worldwide! Plus, our free LIFETIME tech support by phone or email is available 6 days a week – even in the evenings!
Barry Evans aka Sonic 1992
Guinness World Record Sonic Collector
Barry Evans aka Sonic 1992
Guinness World Record Sonic Collector
It all began as fun playing a new game from Sega in the fall of 1991, Sonic The Hedgehog! The love of the game set off a collecting passion that over the decades has become so big that it now holds a Guinness World Record!
Michael Grant
Stern Pinball
Michael Grant
Stern Pinball
Stern Army Street Team Leader, Driving Grassroots Pinball Community Growth Worldwide at the Local Level | Brand Advocate | Pinball Ambassador