NEWS: Full Best of ZapCon Results!

We’re still recovering from all the fun we had at ZapCon, the state’s biggest pinball and arcade convention. But we wanted to get out a few words of thanks to everyone involved. The convention depends upon volunteers and contributors, those awesome folks who share their own personal games with what seemed for a few hours like most of the world. And the folks below deserve special thanks. They brought the best of the best to share. Here are the Best of ZapCon award winners for 2017, along with a few honorable mentions. THANK YOU EVERYONE, and CONGRATULATIONS!!

Each winner received an awesome bag of goodies, including a custom plaque from the local HJ Trophy, a gift card to Cobra Arcade, some libations, a certificate of coolness, and a keychain from our Random Keychain Collection. Congratulations, everyone! — Each winner received an awesome bag of goodies, including a custom plaque from the local HJ Trophies and Awards, a gift card to Cobra Arcade, some libations, a certificate of coolness, and a keychain from our Random Keychain Collection. Congratulations, everyone!

We gave out two fan awards, based on votes cast by everyone who attended the two-day convention at the Mesa Convention Center. Receiving the most votes of any game at the whole convention was Monster Bash, brought down by the good folks at StarFighters Arcade. It wasn't on their original list of games to bring, but when they got to ZapCon, they realized there wasn't going to be a Monster Bash there, and they went back and got theirs. Good thing they did! — We gave out two fan awards, based on votes cast by everyone who attended the two-day convention at the Mesa Convention Center. Receiving the most votes of any game at the whole convention was Monster Bash, brought down by the good folks at StarFighters Arcade. The color DMD is impressive, and the LEDs, apron lights, and UV strip give this game a great glow. This game had a line behind it nearly all weekend!

Receiving the second-highest number of votes of any game at the convention was the custom Starfighter arcade game, built for the convention by Team ZapCon. This awesome crew decided last year that they'd had enough fan requests for a game like this, based on the game played by the protagonist in the classic 1984 movie The Last Starfighter, that they had to do it. Great work, guys! One person told us it the game realized a dream she'd had since childhood, of actually feeling like the hero of her favorite movie. — Receiving the second-highest number of votes was the custom Starfighter arcade game, built for the convention by Team ZapCon. This awesome crew decided last year that they’d had so many fan requests for a game like this — based on the game played by the protagonist in the classic 1984 movie “The Last Starfighter“ — that they had to build it. Great work, guys! One person told us it the game realized a dream she’d had since childhood, of actually feeling like the hero of her favorite movie.

The first of our six judged awards went to the Data East Star Wars machine brought by Kevin Curtis. This machine played great, and looked amazing. Judges and fans alike were impressed by the job Kevin had done with it, along with a few cool mods, including the voice-activated topper, which shoots lightning from the hands of the emperor. Great work, Kevin! — The first of our six judged awards went to the Data East Star Wars machine brought by Kevin Curtis. This machine played great, and looked amazing. Judges and fans alike were impressed by the job Kevin had done refurbing it, along with a few cool mods he’d added, including the voice-activated topper, which shoots lightning from the hands of the emperor. Great work, Kevin! You deserved the Judges Favorite Pinball award.

The second of our judged awards went to Robert Whipp, and this Evel Knievel machine he spent an amazing amout of time restoring. His hard work truly showed, and the judges and fans alike were impressed with this game. — The second of our judged awards went to Robert Whipp, and this Evel Knievel pinball machine he spent an amazing amout of time restoring. His hard work truly showed, and the judges and fans alike were impressed with this game. It won the Best Custom/Restored Pinball award.

It was hard to get close enough to take a good picture of the next of our judge’s award-winning machines. Ben Baraldi’s brand-new Batman 66 (on the far right) was a hit the entire weekend, often with lines behind it. It received a lot of votes from fans, and the judges couldn’t ignore it, either. It won the Most Fun Pinball award.

See that game in the bottom left of the screen? It was surrounded almost the entire weekend! Killer Queen, brought down by the good folks at The Grid: Games and Growlers scored high for the second-straight year with fans and judges alike. This ten-player game is only one of a dozen like it in the world, and folks couldn't stop playing it. You can see it again at the Grid now! — See that game in the bottom left of the screen? It was surrounded almost the entire weekend! Killer Queen, brought down by the good folks at The Grid: Games and Growlers scored high for the second-straight year with fans and judges alike. This ten-player game is only one of a dozen like it in the world, and folks couldn’t stop playing it. You can see it again at the Grid now, the judges’ Most Fun Arcade Game.

This cocktail Joust game also was a hit with everyone. Brought down by Scott Goldsmith, this game was an amazing restoration. It had been partially converted to a sports theme, and was in horrible shape. But Scott brought it back to mint condition. Great work, Scott! It won our judges’ Restored/Custom Arcade award.

Our final judges' award went to Kent Ponterio, for this totally cool machine gun game, Ambush Shooter. This EM game from a different era puts you in the jungles of Vietnam, doing your best to survive. Thanks for sharing, Kent! You got the judges' Favorite Arcade award. — Our final judges’ award went to Kent Ponterio, for this totally cool machine gun game, Ambush Shooter. This EM game from a different era puts you in the jungles of Vietnam, doing your best to survive. Thanks for sharing, Kent! You got the judges’ Favorite Arcade award.

For the first time, we actually gave a little presentation with the awards. Team ZapCon was definitely photogenic.

And Ben was more than happy to be lauded twice.

Of course, there were a ton of other games that deserved a recognition. Judges lauded Kevin's Pirates of the Caribbean as well, which also had some cool custom features and an awesome topper. — Of course, there were a ton of other games that deserved a recognition. Fans lauded Kevin’s Pirates of the Caribbean as well, which also had some cool custom features and an awesome topper.

And fans cast some good votes for these cool games, the custom Tales of Cthulu and Black Hole.

Fans also raved about these upright video pinball games. They sold out before the weekend was even finished!

This rare Discs of Tron game also was worthy of a lot of folks' attention. — This rare Discs of Tron game also was worthy of a lot of folks’ attention.

There were even a few votes for the Fancy Taxi.

Thanks again, everyone. Check out our previous award-winners here.
Now get some rest. And we’ll see you next year!