Electrifying Announcements of a Mechanical Publication

Coin-Op Carnival in Diamond Previews

Posted by Ryan and Nick September 17, 2021


BIG NEWS!!! Coin-Op Carnival is currently featured in Diamond Previews!
https://www.previewsworld.com/Catalog/JUL218773
For the uninitiated, Diamond Comics Distributors is a national distribution company from which Comic Book Retailers purchase most of their comics. This allows Coin-Op Carnival to be carried in local comic shops across North America (and select shops in Europe).
This is VERY early news (to be printed in the November Diamond Previews catalog with orders showing up in stores around Jan 2022), but we've been working toward this for several months now, and was recently confirmed.
If you have ties to a local comic book shop, we'd really appreciate you pointing them to the URL above and letting them know you'd like to see Coin-Op Carnival in their store. Thanks for your help!

Coin-Op Carnival Tour Stop Revision

Posted by Ryan on July 29, 2019

Nick and I are sad to report that the Saturday, August 3rd, 2019 Burke Baker Planetarium event in Houston, mentioned previously and listed on our itinerary…


…was cancelled due to low pre-sales. We were really working hard, doing a lot of coordination to get everything ready, and essentially had it all ironed out. Our apologies that the planetarium event will not take place.
However, we have some good news to report. We’re still coming to Houston this weekend and now we’re doing two stops instead of just one! Here’s the info for the mid-day stop:
Coin-Op Carnival Book Signing
Saturday, Aug 3rd, 2019 from 1-3pm
Bedrock City Comic Company
6516 Westheimer Rd
Houston, TX 77057
https://www.bedrockcity.com/westheimer
Bedrock has made short work of marketing this recent event addition and created a facebook event here:
https://www.facebook.com/events/478599346023993/

On top of that, they’re even looking into the possibility of bringing in a (SOME!?) pinball machine(s)!!! I couldn’t believe that was even a thought in their mind (that I DID NOT PLANT)! I guess we’ll see what they manage to find on Saturday. They’re even reaching out to some local pinball organizations and leagues to get the word out about our event, so…this all sounds SUPER-promising.
Then we’ll migrate slightly south to a new venue in town:
Coin-Op Carnival Book Signing
Saturday, Aug 3rd, 2019 from 6-8pm
The Game Preserve – NASA Location
20810 Gulf Fwy., Unit Z
Webster, TX 77598
http://www.gamepreservehouston.com
This location of The Game Preserve (near NASA!!!) just opened last weekend. It looks big, beautiful, and quite honestly, we feel honored to even be holding an event here. I think it’s gonna be a great supplement to the mid-day signing and will likely put us in front of an entirely different audience…unless you’d like to follow us from the first venue and play some more pinball, a plan we’d certainly endorse.

In closing, we’d like to thank both Bedrock City Comic Company and The Game Preserve for putting their faith in us and becoming a part of the Coin-Op Carnival Tour on such short notice. Houston, we look forward to seeing you on Saturday!

Pinball at the Planetarium Wrap-Up

Posted by Ryan on April 22, 2019

This past weekend, the second tour stop on the 2019 Coin-Op Carnival U.S. Release Tour was held at Michigan State University’s Abrams Planetarium, where I delivered a presentation about Coin-Op Carnival and the featured designer of issue #1, Wayne Neyens!

Photograph by Pete Mathis


Photograph by Pete Mathis

The presentation also included the first public viewing of the 360 degree full-dome video of the most prolific pinball designer of all time, Wayne Neyens.

Photograph by Goose Elliot

After the presentation, full-dome video, and Q&A, everyone poured out into the lobby of the planetarium, where I signed books…

Photograph by Goose Elliot

…and chatted with attendees.

Photograph by Goose Elliot

I could not have done this without the help of my intrepid wife who made every single sale the entire night:

Photograph by Goose Elliot

Thanks, Honey!
Also in the lobby, there were several electro-mechanical pinball and arcade games set on free-play for all to enjoy.

Photograph by Goose Elliot


Photograph by Goose Elliot


Photograph by Goose Elliot


Photograph by Goose Elliot


Photograph by Goose Elliot


Photograph by Goose Elliot

And if folks needed a break from the excitement, there’s always an opportunity to take a stroll through the blacklight gallery, which ushers people into the planetarium theater:

Photograph by Goose Elliot


Photograph by Pete Mathis

Finally, just for posterity, here are the games that were present.
These first two were games brought from my personal collection. The first is a 4-player, dedicated 3 ball game from 1956 by Gottlieb called Score-Board:

Photograph by Jared Goodrich

Then, a 1968 Gottlieb Paul Bunyan (the last game Wayne Neyens designed):

Photograph by Jared Goodrich

Both of which were signed by Wayne Neyens:


Then, my friend and MSU colleague, Jared Goodrich, brought his beautiful 1959 Gottlieb Around the World:

Photograph by Jared Goodrich

Scott Langford drove over an hour (actually, almost two in inclement weather that evening) from Grand Rapids to bring his gorgeous 1954 Gottlieb Mystic Marvel (the featured pinball machine outlined in Coin-Op Carnival #1):

Photograph by Goose Elliot

So, in case I neglected to mention it, all of these aforementioned pinball machines were designed by Coin-Op Carnival #1 interview subject, Wayne Neyens.
Finally, the second featured game review in Coin-Op Carnival #1 is an electro-mechanical arcade game from 1968, a Williams Space Pilot. This particular example hasn’t left its cozy Battle Creek home for the past dozen years, but was brought to the planetarium for public play by Michigan collector extraordinaire, John Dayhuff:

Photograph by Goose Elliot

And here are a couple shots of the lobby before anyone showed up and you can actually see the games. Ha-ha!

Photograph by Goose Elliot


Photograph by Goose Elliot

Many thanks to Jared, Scott, and John for hauling their games out to East Lansing. You all helped make this the best book event I’ve ever been a part of.
I’d also like to thank everyone who attended this event, some from several states away. Your interest in and support of our work means so much to Nick and me.
Finally, huge thanks to the MSU Abrams Planetarium for all their support. This event has been in the planning stages for the past year and I can’t even begin to describe what an instrumental part they were in seeing this unusual vision of mine to fruition, especially Abrams Planetarium Director, Shannon Schmoll, and Planetarium Tech, John French. This, quite literally, could not have happened without each of you. Thank you.
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