Full tilt: Pinball Expo fills Schaumburg Convention Center with all the bells and whistles

Pinball Expo, the longest known annual pinball machine exhibition, is marking its 39th year this weekend at the Renaissance Schaumburg Covention Center Hotel.

“We are so happy to be growing year after year, and to be able to keep the event in the greater Chicagoland area where pinball was born,” founder Robert Berk said.

This year's expo features special guest Roger Sharpe — known as “The Man Who Saved Pinball.” Having overturned New York's 35-year ban on pinball machines, he is attending each day of the show where his new movie “Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game” was screened Thursday night.

Back by popular demand is the retro game area, featuring some of the very first video game systems like Atari and PlayStation.

Among the hundreds of machines at the expo will be a Magic Girl pinball machine, one of only 19 ever made. Seven years in the making, it's one of the rarest in the world.

The expo is open to the public from 10 a.m. to midnight Friday and 10 a.m. Saturday until to 2 a.m. Sunday. For a schedule of events, admission details and other information, visit pinballexpo.com.