LIBERTY, Ohio (WKBN) – Ohio PinBrew Fest 2022 kicked off at the Metroplex Expo Center in Liberty Thursday afternoon.

The pinball and local craft beer festival features more than 100 pinball machines, a pinball tournament, food trucks and craft beers from six different breweries.

Attendees can play the different machines for free, all you have to do is pay the entry fee.

This is the second year for the pinball festival.

PinBrew directors Keith Campanelli and Marvin Ortscheid say they just want people to have fun.

“We’ve had two years of complete misery. We did do the show last year, we were actually the first pinball show in the country post-COVID to come out and do it. It was our first year and we did very well,” Campanelli said.

Project MKC, a non-profit serving vulnerable children and families in Northeast Ohio, is this year’s beneficiary of the event. One hundred percent of the donations will be used for the non-profit’s programming.

Project MKC serves 10 area counties with programs that include Best Foot Forward, an initiative to distribute new boots to children, as well as Hope Totes, where packages are provided to children undergoing chemotherapy at Akron Children’s Hospital of the Mahoning Valley.

The non-profit also worked with social service agencies to provide child-care essentials including over 850,000 diapers and over 1.5 million wipes distributed in 2021.

PinBrew runs through Saturday night.

Tickets are available online at www.pinbrewfest.com or are available for purchase at the door.

The Youngstown area has significance in pinball history as the first coin-operated pinball machine “Whiffle” was designed and created by Youngstown’s Arthur Paulin and Automatic Industries, Inc. in the 1930s. The first-ever pinball festival called “Pinball Expo” was founded by two enthusiasts from Warren and Canfield.