Chicago Pinball Expo 2026: Tommy Is Coming to Chicago

Clear the ramps, tighten the flippers, and warn the hotel staff: I’m heading to Pinball Expo 2026.

From October 14 to 17, the Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center will become, for several glorious and noisy days, the happiest, loudest, most beautifully overengineered building in Illinois. More than 400 pinball and arcade machines will be waiting, and yes, I intend to conduct important “industry research” on as many of them as humanly possible. This is serious work. Please respect my sacrifice.

Pinball Expo is the longest running pinball show in the world, which means it has survived changing technology, changing tastes, and several decades of grown adults explaining why one more machine will absolutely fit in the basement.

I’ll be there representing Nitro Pinball, meeting collectors, catching up with manufacturers, checking out new games, and talking pinball until either my voice disappears or someone tilts me. If you see me wandering the floor like I’ve misplaced something, it is probably my self-control near the new releases, do not worry. 

The Expo packs in free play machines, tournaments, seminars, factory tours, vendors, and enough blinking lights to make Las Vegas file a noise complaint. Whether you own twenty games, just bought your first, or still believe you are “only looking,” you will be among your people.

Come find me and say hello. Tell me what you are playing, what you are hunting for, and which machine has recently bullied you out of a perfectly good score. I may offer expert advice. I may also tell you to shoot the flashing arrow, which remains undefeated as pinball strategy.

Chicago, prepare yourself. Nitro Pinball is coming, and I plan to leave with new stories, new friends, and absolutely no explanation for the size of my luggage.