
How to Build a Pinball Machine - evo_9
https://howtobuildapinballmachine.wordpress.com/
======
koz1000
Very nice work. Now that you have a platform, you can start on the next
mountain: making a fun game. =)

Here's an old presentation I did on designing the MONOPOLY pinball machine for
Stern back in 2001. (so old I had to dig it out of the Internet Archive)

[https://web.archive.org/web/20040806155145/http://www.patlaw...](https://web.archive.org/web/20040806155145/http://www.patlawlordesign.com/making/index.html)

~~~
ghuntley
Isn't it amazing who you bump into on HN?
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Lawlor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Lawlor)

TAF, RS and NGG are amongst my childhood favourites. Thanks :-)

~~~
koz1000
Well, I can only take credit for one of those but thanks. It's always great
meeting people that played our stuff all those years ago.

~~~
reddiric
Thanks Louis :) I've put so many hours on NGG it's ridiculous. Childhood and
current favorite, great full-package game at its best. Set it at a steep pitch
with no outlane post and Fire Down Middle on. Full throttle, ignore the wall!

~~~
koz1000
Awesome!

About that last line. It actually has a double meaning. I don't think Pat has
ever discussed it.

First one was that Pat is a big NASCAR fan (we were trying to get that license
even back in the Williams days). So that's an obvious one. Pedal down and turn
left!

The second one was a dig at Williams management. Pat had tried to reason with
them to not overproduce games and/or stuff them down the throats of
distributors. Forcing weak games on customers and stuffing the pipe was bad
for business and things had already taken a serious turn for the worse
business-wise (and we were still a full 2 years before shutdown).

IIRC, the conversation with management was "if you don't slow down we're gonna
hit the wall" and the reply was "f __* it, full throttle! " This is why Pat
hid that text in the back loop where nobody would really see it.

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sparkzilla
That seems like a lot of work. I suggest starting with pinball restoration. I
bought and restored a Creature From the Black Lagoon [1] which took about six
weeks work. There's a very active restoration community and lots of parts
suppliers, and just getting inside a real machine will give you lots of
experience if you want to make your own.

[1][http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=588](http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=588)

~~~
ghuntley
Pinball restoration is a hoot, just make sure you get someone to show you the
ropes. Start with a flipper rebuild - don't attempt to do a play-field swap
without someone who has done it before. There is a very active international
hobby community over at [1] Pinside who will be eager to show to the ropes.
There's plenty of mod options available, such as [2] replacement of all globes
with LEDs, [3] replacement of the plasma DMD to full color LCD DMD's, [4] to
playfield swaps to brand new reproduction playfields.

[1] [https://pinside.com](https://pinside.com)

[2]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2-2dlTH_wg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2-2dlTH_wg)

[3]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_7E_DgtkJY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_7E_DgtkJY)

[4]
[http://de.myalbum.com/Album=W3DHWYNS](http://de.myalbum.com/Album=W3DHWYNS)
|| [https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/fs-new-star-trek-
the...](https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/fs-new-star-trek-the-next-
generation-repro-playfields)

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jloughry
So, flippers are more complicated than I thought; they have a microswitch and
_two_ coils in the solenoid for quick impulse response with low holding
current. That's fascinating!

~~~
reddiric
They are fascinating :)

Also, flipper EOS switches are leaf switches, not microswitches.

Through the early 90s the flipper button switches were also leaf switches. In
the early 90s some time after the introduction of the Fliptronics system by
Williams/Bally, they switched to using a plastic opto-interrupter and U-shaped
opto(s) rather than a leaf switch.

Games with upper flippers often used ganged leaf switches and later dual optos
to allow independent "staged" control of lower and upper flippers on the same
side of the machine. That allows you to press the flipper button in half way
to engage only the lower flipper, and then all the way to also engage the
upper flipper(s).

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elstevo
Reminded me of this [1] that looked like a really interesting project to
undertake, especially when you can create your own theme.

[1] [http://www.benheck.com/bill-paxton-pinball-making-
of/](http://www.benheck.com/bill-paxton-pinball-making-of/)

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ghuntley
The recent pinball machine 'Wizard of Oz' by Jersey Jack under the hood runs
Ubuntu and the recovery image is available at
[http://www.jerseyjackpinball.com/game-specific-
downloads/](http://www.jerseyjackpinball.com/game-specific-downloads/) and it
works quite well under VMware. If ever wanted dig deeper software wise into
what goes into a modern pinball machine this is the place to start. Boot the
image with _' init=/bin/bash'_ and your in.

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AdrianRossouw
I've lost most of the month to zen pinball on ps4.

I'd never really considered pinball as a way to spend my time before, but I
now see it as a future source of RSI in my wrists.

~~~
ghuntley
30 mins on this bad boy is guaranteed to bring on adrenaline induced RSI
[http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=1000](http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=1000)

------
geon
Nice!

I've always wanted a physical version of Partyland from Pinball Fantasies (DOS
game from 1994).

[http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/pinball-
fantasies/screensh...](http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/pinball-
fantasies/screenshots)

Like this guy:
[https://www.flickr.com/photos/felipesanches/sets/72157594271...](https://www.flickr.com/photos/felipesanches/sets/72157594271342944/)

