NEWS: ZapCon Honorable Mentions

By now, the glory of the Firebird Pinball Best of ZapCon winners has spread far and wide. But there are others who deserve a few minutes of recognition too, and a few other interesting postscripts. This year’s contest was our best yet, with the most ballots cast and some extremely close races. Thanks to everyone who brought down games, and extra thanks to these good folks:

Most Votes Ever

ZapCon HM1 — If you didn’t happen to see this game at ZapCon, it’s because there was a crowd of people surrounding it nearly the entire weekend. Killer Queen was a hit with fans and judges alike, winning our “Best-Playing Video Game” award from judges and coming in a close second in fan balloting for Best Video Game. Cumulatively, it received the most votes we’ve ever recorded!

ZapCon HM1a — Here’s what Killer Queen looked like most of the weekend.

A Two-Vote Race!

ZapCon HM2 — ZapCon the Game was a huge hit as well, coming in just two votes ahead of Killer Queen in our fan voting. Judges also praised the custom game, built by three-time winner Paul Santa Cruz and his Quality Assurance Team.

Votes All Around

ZapCon HM3 — Tales of Cthulhu was a hit with fans and judges, but so was everything in this row. Each game received at least a few votes from fans. In fact, of the 111 pinball machines we had eligible for votes, 53 of them scored at least one tally. There’s a game for everyone, apparently!

A One-Vote Push

ZapCon HM4 — This World Cup Soccer game also was a hit with voters. Thanks to a not-so-subtle ballot-stuffing campaign by its owner, it came in a near second to The Walking Dead LE that won our fan prize for pinball machines. Only one vote separated the two when the polls closed. That just proves one thing: Bring your friends to ZapCon!

Custom Games Ruled

ZapCon HM5 — Our custom Walking Dead machine also was a hit with fans and judges. We were glad to see so many custom machines at ZapCon — half of the pinball awards went to custom games!

An Uncanny Machine

ZapCon HM6 — The six-player X-Men game in the bottom left also was a hit with fans and judges alike. Our good friend Jake brought down this mega-size machine, not an easy task!

A Very Special Present

ZapCon HM7 — Fans also had a lot of praise for the man who made this happen! Our good friend Mark, head of the Arizona Pinball Players League, had Stern bring in brand-new Star Trek, Game of Thrones, Walking Dead, and Metallica machines.

ZapCon HM8 — Then there was this one at the end of the line.

ZapCon HM9 — We were thrilled to watch the unboxing of The Hobbit on Friday night. Then that’s about the last we saw of the machine, though, as a line of eager players wrapped around it all weekend. The game scored well with fans, and our judges cast a few votes for it as well. Thank you again, Mark! We can’t believe you brought all these games to ZapCon!

Other Notables

*The First Game to Go Down Award: This one was suggested by its owner, so we mean it in the best way possible! Brien’s “Bubbles” machine never made it out of the starting gate. Maybe next year!
*The Best of Both Worlds: Danger Dann’s Video Pinball again was a hit with fans.
*Eighties Fever: Pac-Man still has pull. Everyone’s favorite ghost buster still scores surprisingly well with fans!
*Use the Force: Kevin’s Data East Star Wars was mentioned by judges and fans alike.
*Best Rare Game: Our America’s Most Haunted, one of only 150 produced by Spooky Pinball, kept a line going all weekend, and earned a lot of new fans.
*Best Monster Game: Elvira and the Party Monsters scored votes as usual. Medieval Madness also had its dependable fans.
*Game We Can’t Stop Thinking About: Does everyone else still have Barney’s Fruity Pebbles rap running through their brains? Please make it stop!