Visiting the Exploratorium — best Thanksgiving trip

This year I’m thankful for a chance to see the Visible Pinball machine in its new home at the Exploratorium. Visiting his awesome San Francisco science museum was the perfect end to a long Thanksgiving weekend. Kids and adults were playing pinball nonstop, so excited to see the game.  Wade and the Pacific Pinball Museum created a gift to the city and beyond when they made this machine.

surf champ pinball machineExploratorium will be moving to a new home at Pier 15 in San Francisco this spring — I can’t wait to see the magic they make in an expanded space. Based on the huge interest and enjoyment I saw with the exhibit, I hope more museums buy clear pinball machines for their visitors.

Best 5 Days of September

A few photos from the Pacific Pinball Expo, definitely my favorite five days of September!

Charlie Kuttner and I filmed the whole load in, an amazing 2 day transformation of an empty room to a pinball wonderland, and then of course I got to meet and talk to a lot of you, play pinball, see cast and crew members, eat donuts, and screen my films. It doesn’t get any better than that.

Thank you to everyone who came out to the show and to the amazing volunteers of the Pacific Pinball Museum who make the magic happen!

child plays pinball at pacific pinball expo 2012

photo by Charlie Kuttner

 pinball playfield at pacific pinball expo 2012

giant backglass mural at at pacific pinball expo 2012

volunteer repairs pinball machine at pacific pinball expo 2012

pbdg preview screening at pacific pinball expo 2012

photo courtesy Matt Walsh

Jeri Ellsworth Matt Walsh Anna Newman

photo by Charlie Kuttner

And congratulations to Jeri Ellsworth on her 2012 Maker Hero award!

Wade Krause film opens Pacific Pinball Expo

Hope you’re coming on Friday to the Pacific Pinball Expo; the first festival event in the Sausalito room will be Wade Krause: Pinball Artist.  Wade himself will be there to talk about his work and help me answer questions about the film.

dirty donny and beatniks

image from Wade Krause: Pinball Artist, photography courtesy Joe Bansuelo

Get behind the backglass with Wade! You’ll learn about his restoration work and his collaborations with artists like Dirty Donny on the Metallica game, Beatniks, Hellacopters and other cool games.

Date: Sept. 21, 2012
Time: 11:00 AM
Where: Sausalito Room, Pacific Pinball Expo, San Rafael, CA
Directions: http://www.marincounty.org/Depts/CU/Directions

Hope to see you there.

PS: Stay for the whole weekend so you don’t miss seeing Pinball Donut Girl on Saturday.