Special Guests of the Festival

The festival brings people from industry and the community to give you great opportunities to interact with awesome personalities, to discuss timely topics, and to learn about different areas of pinball, retro console, and classic arcade gaming. Meetups and seminar topics are numerous in theme and format. Each year we look to bring you a fresh, in-demand perspective of our wider community. Topics range widely from player technique workshops to interactive panels with favorite guests to participation with live podcasts. What do you want to meetup about, and who do you want to meet? Let us know! 2023 updates coming soon!

Gary Stern @
Stern Pinball

Stern Electronics was formed when the Stern family bought the financially troubled Chicago Coin in 1977. Chicago Coin's assets were purchased at bankruptcy sales forming the core inventory of Stern Electronics, Inc.; however, as a separate company, they did not assume any of the debt Chicago Coin had amassed.

The first two games made by Stern were Stampede and Rawhide, both originally made by Chicago Coin, which only had changes made to their branding and logos. After a weak start, Stern Electronics' sales started picking up by the end of 1977. By 1978, they had switched over to fully solid-state electronics for their games. In 1979, Stern acquired the jukebox production assets of the bankrupt Seeburg Corporation, and the company became known as Stern / Seeburg. Coincidentally, Seeburg also owned Williams in the 1960s, when Sam Stern was its president.

When arcade video games became popular in 1980, Stern Electronics produced Berzerk. In 1983, Stern became one of many victims of the amusement industry economic shakeout that occurred. In 1985, Stern Electronics left the amusement industry. Personnel from Stern Electronics formed a short-lived venture known as Pinstar, producing conversion kits for old Bally and Stern machines. Gary Stern was the president of Stern Electronics, Inc, Pinstar Inc, and Data East pinball.

On March 16, 2023, Atari announced that it had acquired the intellectual property rights to 12 Stern Electronics titles, including Berzerk and Frenzy.[1]
By 1999, the pinball industry was virtually dead and Sega left the pinball industry, and in October 1999 sold its pinball division, previously purchased from Data East in 1994,[2] to Gary Stern, the son of Sam Stern, who had been running Data East/Sega pinball since 1986, and Stern Pinball was born.[2][3][4] Stern Pinball, Inc. is based in Elk Grove Village, Illinois.
As of 2023, longtime designers Brian Eddy, John Borg, and George Gomez are designing pinball games at Stern Pinball, alongside top-ranking competitive player Keith Elwin and popular pinball streamer Jack Danger.[5]
Some Stern pinball tables were also digitally released through The Pinball Arcade and Stern Pinball Arcade.
​Bio courtesy Wikipedia

Blizzard Mountain Pinball @
Kevin and Laura McCarthy & Family

Kevin McCarthy is a local collector and owner of Blizzard Mountain Pinball. Since he began collecting in the 1990s, he has accumulated dozens more games and learned through trial and error some great resources on how to keep games playing well and looking good.

​The McCarthy clan will share with you how to get a game show-ready from basic cleaning to common repairs. Visit them at Blizzard Mountain Pinball in Conifer to enjoy well-maintained machines for casual play or league nights!

 Jet Ternlund @
Zen Pathz Productions

Jet Ternlund sold his first game, written primarily in 6502 assembly language, at age 13. He now works with a Colorado game development studio, Limn Interactive, on VR and eSports games, including Zen Pathz and Tank Soccer. He consults on projects primarily with well-known game companies and has recently completed projects with Sony and Microsoft Corporation. Jet also teaches game design and development at the University of Colorado and helps coordinate the Colorado Game Developers Association and AR/VR group. The group is free to join and is the longest running formal gathering of game developers in Colorado and across the nation. At the festival Ternlund is hosting Limn Interactive demos and eSports tournaments where you can compete to win prizes.

Benjamin Pope @
Live in the Game

Benjamin Pope is an experienced game developer working with world class indie teams building state of the art games. He is currently managing projects as CEO/creative director for his studio: Live in the Game. After a recent successfully published title: Lunarsea on Steam and Mobile, he is also working as assistant producer and QA lead for Razor Edge Games. Now finishing Eden Falling moving to Steam Early Access this Fall, stop by to learn more. Don't miss Jet and Ben SATURDAY 6:00pm for: Video Games: Esports and Indie Game Development.

Ryan Wanger @
​Comet Pinball

Playing like a pinball wizard:  Pinball 101 and beyond -- come see one of the most popular seminars, a workshop on pinball playing tips and tricks from beginner to wizard level with Ryan Wanger of Comet Pinball and Lyons Classic Pinball.

Wanger owns Comet Pinball, whose company goal is simply to find ways to bring to fellow pinheads a superior collection of LED products to enhance their personal games and collections. This creative customization results in outstanding visual enhancements for gameplay. Comet provides customers with the best products, pricing and customer support.

Key Festival Staff

Todd Darnell @
Speaker Director

Todd Darnell is a former Navy photographer who now works in the web department at the Denver Public Library. He has loved gaming since Zork was a new release and has fond memories of the Denver arcade scene, especially his beloved Celebrity Sports Center.  He's secretly not very good at pinball, but is always looking to improve. Darnell is the speaker director for the Rocky Mtn Pinball Showdown and Gameroom Expo and has been a tremendous asset to our festival team for many years. He is the go-to man for all speaker and meetup needs, including speaker relations, A/V and set up. 

Valerie Kleinman @
Chief of Staff

Valerie Kleinman is the festival's chief of staff. For 19+ years, she has tirelessly supported Dan and Holly, listening to their crazy business ideas, playing devil's advocate, and helping them to make the festival awesome.

​Valerie is a highly accredited residential REALTOR for buyers and sellers, homes and land, and a full service, licensed Colorado broker with HomeSmart.

She is mother to two grown daughters, wife of a retired Air Force-now-Lockheed Martin husband, an exceptional cook, and volunteers with the Junior League of Denver.

Dan and Holly Nikolich @
Rocky Mtn Pinball Showdown LLC

Through thick and thin. We are a family affair, and we love hearing from YOU, our family in this great community. We've been doing this amazing festival since 2004.

Dan and I are lucky to be a creative and complementary business team, married with a great family.

We have a fun time thinking of new ways to rally interest in pinball and classic arcade community and culture. What seems like thousands of games later, many well-earned business lessons, and some great friends to enrich our lives, we invite you, your family, and friends to experience the magic and the rush of playing pinball and classic arcade games at the Rocky Mtn. Pinball Showdown and Gameroom Expo.

The festival is a labor of love; it occupies evenings, spare time and weekends. Our days also are packed full with family to cherish and full-time careers to pay the bills.

And -- we opened two bars, Colorado Pinball Pub, because we needed a year-long home base for our love of all things and people in pinball.

Dan is a professional civil engineer in commercial construction. Holly is residential REALTOR® in partnership with my mom, Valerie Kleinman. We have 35+ years of solid real estate experience as Colorado licensed brokers for buyers and sellers, homes and land, with HomeSmart. We have helped tons of friends and fans find the right fit with a home in Colorado -- call us anytime! I'm also a volunteer with Girl Scouts and member of the Junior League of Denver. We have three amazing kids, Alexis, Matthew, and Michaella.

Dave Johnson @
Sanctioned Tournament Director

Dave Johnson is the lead tournament director for the festival's sanctioned Open and Novice Pinball Tournaments. Dave is a tremendous wealth of pinball knowledge from trivia to repair, which he rocks at. He hosts a weekly stream on Twitch that you should be sure to watch. He is a stellar part of the pinball community and a great friend.

Making history in the community: PinChat topics and hosts

• Jim Schelberg, PinGame Journal, 2019
• Steve Ritchie, Stern, 2019
• Jeff Rivera, The Pinball PodCast, 2019 2019
​• Jeff Johnson, Video Gamer Developer, 2019
​• David Thiel, Deeproot Pinball 2019
• Joe Balcer American Pinball, 2019
• Butch Peel, Jersey Jack Pinball, 2019
• Snow Galvin, Pinball Educator, 2018
• Mark Gibson, Pinball Educator, 2018
• Jack Guarnieri, Jersey Jack Pinball, 2018
• Eric Meunier, Jersey Jack Pinball, 2018
• ​Kevin McCarthy and family, Blizzard Mountain Pinball, 2018
• Barry Oursler, Pinball Designer, 2018
• Ryan Policky, Night Mutilator, 2018
• Jeff Rivera, The Pinball PodCast, 2018
• Jim Schelberg, PinGame Journal, 2018
• Roger Sharpe, Pinball Designer and Author, 2018
• Jet Turnlund, Limn Interactive, 2018
• Xyla DuVal, Hyperspace Arcade, 2018
• Ryan Wanger, Comet Pinball, 2018
• Scot Wickberg, Virtual Pinball Designer, 2018 
• Xyla DuVal, Hyperspace Arcade, 2017
• Kevin McCarthy, Blizzard Mountain Pinball, 2017
• Dean Grover, 2017
• Haley Gabbard of the Belles and Chimes, 2017
• Q*Bert designer and actor Warren Davis, 2017 
• Ben Heckendorn, 2016
• Butch Peel, Jersey Jack Pinball, 2016
• Jim Schelberg, PinGame Journal, 2016
• Martin Ayub, Pinball News 2016
• Andrew Heighway, Heighway Pinball, 2016
• Gerry Stellenberg, Multimorphic, 2016
• John Trudeau, Stern Pinball, 2016
• Billy Mitchell, 2016
• Walter Day, 2016
• Joel West, 2016
• How to play pinball, Ryan Wanger, 2016
• The Pinball Podcast Live!, 2016
• Jet Ternlund, Limn Interactive, 2016
• Arcade Monitor Repair - CraftyMech.com, 2015
• The Hobbit's Tale - Jersey Jack Pinball, 2015
• The Pinball Podcast Live! - Don and Jeff, 2015
• So Awesome it's Scary - Spooky Pinball, 2015
• Whoa Nellie! Big Juicy Melons - WhizBang Pinball, 2015
• Meet Pinball Artist John Youssi, 2014
• The Pinball Podcast, 2014
• Boxwood Pinball, 2014
• Jersey Jack Pinball, 2014
• Multimorphic PinChat, 2013
• Pingineering, Paul Mandeltort of Marco Specialties, 2013
• History of Video Games PinChat with Bovine and Medic's Retro Arcade podcast hosts, 2013
• Jersey Jack Pinball, Jack Guarnieri, 2012
• Whizbang Pinball, Greg Freres and Dennis Nordman, 2012
• Founder of Stern Pinball, Gary Stern, 2012
• Internet Pinball Serial Number Database, Jess Askey, 2012
• New arcade video game, flytrap, Adam Coate, 2012
• VPForums, Brian “Destruk” Smith, 2011
• Internet Pinball Serial Number Database, Jess Askey, 2011
• Pinball game designer John Trudeau, 2011
• New pinball company, Jersey Jack Pinball, Jack Guarnieri, 2011
• Internet Pinball Serial Number Database by Jess Askey, 2010
• Art repair and replacement techniques by Dennis Book, 2010
• Pinball artist Greg Freres, 2010
• Pinball designer Dennis Nordman, 2010
• 1990s Bally-Williams Board Repair by John Balogh, 2009
• Rare and Sexy Pinball Machines by Kevin Carroll and Basil LeBlanc, 2009
• 1990s Bally-Williams Board Repair by John Balogh, 2008
• Producing the King Pin Pinball Machine by Gene Cunningham, 2008
• Playfield Restoration by Kevin Ryan, 2008
• Internet Pinball Serial Number Database by Jess Askey, 2008
• 1990s Bally-Williams Board Repair by John Balogh, 2007
• Building a Custom Pinball Machine: Cabin Fever by Jeff Mathews, 2007
• Electro-Mechanical Restoration: Part II by Mark Gibson, 2007
• Pinball Shopping 101 by Jeff Askey, 2007
• Producing the Big Bang Bar Pinball Machine by Gene Cunningham, 2007
• Electromechanical pinball machine Restoration by Mark Gibson, 2006
• Pinball Programmer Memoirs by Dean Grover, 2006
• Pinball Machine Playfield Restoration by Kevin Ryan, 2006
• WPC Pinball Repair by John Balogh of Colorado Pinball, 2006