Special Guests

Walter Day

Walter Day is often described as the father of competitive videogaming for his creation of the Twin Galaxies International Scoreboard in 1982. During the videogame arcade boom of the early 80s Walter saw the need for an international scoreboard to track the achievements of players all around the globe and took it upon himself to be the scorekeeper with Twin Galaxies becoming the official supplier of videogame records for the Guinness Book of World Records. Walter was not only a scorekeeper, but also a mentor figure for an entire generation of gamers whom he encouraged to rise to their fullest potential not just as gamers but as people.

He has since retired from his duties at Twin Galaxies but is still heavily involved with the International Videogame Hall of Fame and is the creator of the Walter Day Trading Card Collection which aims to recognise gamers for their achievements and their contributions to the global videogame community. It is very exciting to welcome to the BPAC showcase such an inspirational man who has brought so many people around the world together through this hobby.

Walter will be at the BPAC Showcase for the Kong Off weekend.

Bowen Kerins

Bowen Kerins – tournament director of the largest pinball event on the planet, destroyer of reactors, champion of pinball diversity, number cruncher and the human responsible for teaching more of us how to play pinball then anyone else in the history of the planet via the PAPA tutorials is coming to the Brisbane Pinball Masters!!!!

Bowen will be in town all week so everyone will get a chance to catch up with one of the nicest humans in the pinball scene. Bowen will also be around to help commentate the QUEENS-Land Women’s Pinball Championship and may even throw down the first TNA reactor 9 on Australian soil if we are lucky.

Bowen has also been working for Spooky Pinball and is responsible for the rules on Alice Coopers Nightmare Castle and provided we can get one to the venue will do a deep dive on the rules and blow up the machine live on stage over the final weekend of the BPAC Showcase.

Richie Knucklez

The King of Arcades is coming to BPAC!!

Richie Knucklez is an arcade personality like no other. His passion for restoring old arcade cabinets and enthusiasm for seeing them played once again in his own arcade was the focus of “The King of Arcades” documentary in 2014.

Richie is the current world record holder on the arcade games Phoenix, Monaco GP, and Space Fury. Richie’s most famous world record was that which he held on Space Invaders between 2009 and 2018.

His greatest contribution to the arcade community has been his founding and running of the “Kong Off” tournaments in the US since 2011 with the Kong Off 7 taking place earlier this year in Banning California.

Richie has been a guest of honour and MC of the last two Australian Kong Offs at Netherworld arcade. BPAC is pleased to bring him out once again for the biggest Australian Kong Off yet!

Steve Richie

From the King of Arcades to the King of Flow!!

The BPAC Committee, Hutchinson Builders and Amusement Machine Distributors are super proud to announce that Steve Richie will be joining us for the second weekend of BPAC Showcase.

Steve Richie, affectionately know as the King of Flow, has been around the arcade and pinball community for 5 decades and is responsible for more classic, loved and revered pinball titles then just about any human in history.

From his first title Airborne Avengers with Atari in ’77, to designing the first multi-ball game in Firepower, to the first multi-level game in Black Knight, to High Speed and The Getaway, from AC/DC to Spiderman, from Star Trek to Elvis, to his Black Knight Trilogy, everything Steve touches leaves his signature trademark of innovative fast, fun flowing action.

His latest game Black Knight, Swords of Rage will be the feature game at the Showcase so expect a deep dive and Q&A with the great man about the game and his long history in the pinball scene.

Steve has said he will sign anything so please bring along your back glasses, translites, t-shirts, coasters, manuals, pinball machines, posters and children for living pinball legend Steve Richie to sign.

Jessica Denardo

Honorary Australian Citizen

Patron Saint of the Brisbane Pinball community

Mother hen to pinball veterans and noobs alike

Jessica Lea DeNardo is one of the greatest humans and most valuable assets within the world wide pinball community.

Jessica has been co host of The Pinball Podcast since 2017, chapter leader of the Portland Belles and Chimes since 2015 and was the tournament director for the Women’s International Pinball Tournament at Pinburgh in 2018.

Jessica will be generously helping out throughout the Showcase as an honorary member of the BPAC committee plus directing the QUEENS-Land Women’s Pinball Championship along side Tanya Lowe from Pincadia.

Jessica is one of the most knowledgeable and friendliest people within the pinball community so don’t hesitate in asking for her help in any aspect of the sport be it game rules, tournament tactics or flipper skills. Though be warned, Jessica is also an incredible player having qualified for last year’s ACS, finished third at last year’s Cooly Classic from a field of over 80 of Brisbane’s best and is the 21st highest ranked female player on planet earth.

Billy Mitchell

Billy Mitchell is arguably one of the most recognisable names in competitive videogaming. Billy was proclaimed “Video Game Player of the Century” by Namco founder Masaya Nakamura in 1999 in recognition of achieving the first recorded “perfect” game of Pac-Man with a score of 3,333,360 which is the game’s maximum possible score.

Billy achieved global notoriety however as one of the primary subjects in “The King of Kong” documentary of 2007 which has since inspired a whole new generation of classic arcade gamers and is arguably one of the driving factors behind the resurgence of classic games in arcade bars around the world.

Billy has also previously held the world record on the games Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr, Ms. Pac-Man, and BurgerTime.

Billy will be available throughout the Kong Off weekend providing hints and tips to new Donkey Kong players and veterans alike.

Billy is also aiming to throw down a perfect Pac-Man on the Friday to commemorate to 20-year anniversary of his first Perfect Pac-Man.

Be sure to bring any memorabilia you would like signed by one of the most recognisable humans on the planet, Billy Mitchell.

Huge thanks to Hutchinson Builders for making all our dreams come true

Phil Day

Phil Day will be gracing the BPAC Showcase and using is formidable commentating and interviewing skills across both the Kong Off 3 and Australian Arcade Championships.

Phil Day held the world record on Galaga (2009-2011) and competed in the Meow Wolf Score Wars Galaga World Championship in 2018. More recently he has become an active writer and the go to commentator on classic arcade game culture.