his past weekend was the latest installment of Houston Arcade Expo. My full post recapping the weekend’s events will be up shortly, along with a couple of other previous events in the queue. So yes, this will be slightly out of chronological order but I do feel it is important I get this out immediately.

Quoting the Houston Arcade Expo website, specifically its page on the Dan Ferguson Memorial Award:

Dan Ferguson was a beloved figure in the Texas pinball community, best known as the founder of the Lone Star Pinball Museum in Texas. He passed away on December 14, 2019, leaving behind a legacy cherished by enthusiasts across the state and the country.

Dan Ferguson’s passion for collecting pinball was legendary. He created the Lone Star Pinball Museum (LSPM), a unique and vibrant space that was once an old run-down restaurant located in Hockley, Texas. Dan and his son Dan jr. refurbed the old building and expanded it with building other storage sheds that showcased his vast collection of pinball machines and memorabilia. The museum wasn’t just a place to admire his vintage machines it was a living gathering place for friends and fans of Dan and his collection.

We at the Houston Arcade Expo have created this award to keep his collecting spirit and memory alive within the community of kindred collecting spirits.

Each winner of this award picks the next person who they think has best expanded and kept the spirit of the collecting community alive with their hard work and time.

I have no objection to the concept of this award (honoring someone who meant so much to the pinball collecting community). In fact, I think it’s a great idea. From what I have heard and read, Dan deserves to be fondly remembered in this way.

However, my concerns lie with who has received the award, particularly the last couple of years. Letting the previous year’s winner pick the next winner is starting to look questionable to me. This is both from the standpoint of the best interest of the community as well as Dan’s legacy.

I’ll start with 2024 (and unfortunately, I might add, I was unable to attend Houston Arcade Expo that year). Blake Dumesnil was selected to be the next winner (by Phil Grimaldi who won the award in 2023). Honestly, Blake has an abrasive personality and a history of machine abuse at Space City Pinball events. Those two things should have been enough to disqualify him from receiving this award.

As I see it, receiving the Dan Ferguson Memorial Award is supposed to be a prestigious honor. I think looking at someone through rose-colored glasses and seeing just the graphic design talent and longevity when deciding who to give the award to was a mistake. Not only this, I’m surprised that Blake didn’t get banned from Space City Pinball events some years ago. He earned it with his conduct and personality at least two or three times over.

(The impression I got was that Blake got a “get away with it card” for having done so much graphic design work for SCPL and other classic arcade/pinball related events. But that’s a rant for another day.)

But no, it doesn’t stop there. Guess who Blake picks to win the award this year (2025)?

In an unconscionable turn of events, Blake picks Rusty Key. This is someone who outright lied about who I am and what I stand for. This is someone who has refused to apologize despite being asked to.

I’m still waiting. And while I’m waiting, I’m (still) boycotting Rusty’s business interests as previously mentioned on this blog (we’re now approaching a year and a half). Most importantly, I am (still) encouraging my supporters not to patronize any business interests of Rusty Key until such apology is tendered.

I have not forgotten. Mr. Key’s debt due to his attack on my character does not have a statute of limitations. The boycotts remain active. In place of The Game Preserve, I recommend patronizing Cidercade. In place of Key Arcades, I recommend giving your business to just about any other arcade/pinball dealer in the Houston area. Finally, in place of Adaptive Game Products, the only company I have been able to find with a remotely similar product is Inclusive Gamewerks. Ordinarily I am extremely reluctant to recommend a non-local company over one that’s local. But the alternative in this case is that I let someone get away with attacking me, and that’s not happening.

I recognize I may have a minority opinion compared to the rest of the community. However, I do not take attacks on my reputation and character lying down. That’s just not who I am.

Regular readers will notice I have attended the Texas Pinball Festival, including the Wizards tournament, for the past four years starting in 2022. I appreciate the opportunity to attend and compete in the tournament over the past four years. The annual trip to Frisco has resulted in quite a few fond memories and it has been an honor to share them here.

For various reasons which I will not be elaborating on at this time, I have made the difficult decision to spend the time and money I would have spent preparing for and attending the 2026 Texas Pinball Festival on another interest. I have not yet decided if I will attend once again in 2027 or later years.

I do tentatively plan to attend Houston Arcade Expo this year as I have in years past (as a regular attendee, not a vendor or pinball tournament player) and this announcement should not be construed as affecting my plans to continue attending that event each year.

For those just now catching up, here are the series links for my posts on each of the past four years of TPF:

• Texas Pinball Festival 2022
• Texas Pinball Festival 2023
• Texas Pinball Festival 2024
• Texas Pinball Festival 2025

Moving on to the few outings I was able to complete in September. Admittedly this is a bit sparse, but there’s a reason for that which I may or may not be explaining soon.

September 5, Del Mar Lanes:

One of my better runs on Godzilla at this location. Still looking to beat my old grand champion score, though.

September 12, Luna Pizzeria:

A couple of quick games on the multi-arcade cabinet. I never considered myself all that good at Donkey Kong Jr. and only decent at Frogger. So I’m pretty satisfied with both of these.

September 23, Cidercade Houston:

Usually I put Cidercade visits in their own post as I tend to play a lot of different titles, both video and pinball, over the course of an evening. So there’s a lot to digest here.

Most of these are fairly run of the mill, though I do have something of a stand-out run on the D&D pinball. I’m not sure where the score for the carnival shooting game lands, I would like to think that’s pretty good.

I’ve got a lot to catch up on, as I didn’t realize I managed to get two whole months behind. This post will cover what I was up to for August, with the following post covering September.

August 4, Poison Girl:

A pretty good evening, I’d say, with 250k+ on Playboy (Bally) being the likely highlight.

August 8, Luna Pizzeria:

Quick run on Mr. Do (multi-arcade cabinet).

August 9, Hot Dog Stand:

Quite a few games I either don’t get to play often (everything but Looney Tunes), or have played for the very first time (Looney Tunes). I was only able to get about $3 in change so I had to make the most of it. The Bow and Arrow score is what I’d consider the highlight; for Cactus Jack’s and Looney Tunes I’m not really that sure what a great or even good score would be.

August 15, Eureka Heights:

One of my better runs on Pulp Fiction in recent memory, with a mode high score to boot. Though I’d say that the Godzilla score was pretty good too (note this is a premium version, not a pro version like the one at Del Mar Lanes).

I’m going to go ahead and combine all of these into one post, since I’m unfortunately so far behind.

I endeavor to get everything within a month at most, but that was just not possible this time around. There is also the possibility that posts here may become fewer and farther between due to some changes happening in other aspects of my life. I will mention details appropriate for public consumption as they become appropriate and time allows.

July 11: Del Mar Lanes

Yet another decent run on Godzilla good for a high score.

July 14: Little Dipper

A few good runs, with the standout game being a 727k+ on Firepower (personal record).

July 25, Cidercade

The standout game here would be the 39,200 on Pengo. I had some pretty good pinball scores as well (including the high score on D&D, which probably made in on because the high scores were recently reset).

July 27, Blue Rooster

Didn’t play all that many rounds on Stranger Things this time, so this will have to do.

Not a whole lot to report on for these. Stranger Things at Blue Rooster is still on the same (ancient) code, which thankfully is the only thing really “wrong” with it. I managed to beat my previous grand champion score by a little bit.

I also got a few games of pinball in at Comicpalooza, as John Speights was kind enough to lend a couple of his games to the Eureka Heights booth. This is one of my better runs on Star Wars (anywhere); I had a lot of other things to do at the show.