Pinball Dreams!

For the last few years somewhere just before spring, I get inspired to build something. This year is no different. This year, I chose to build a pinball machine. Inspired by Visual Pinball, and the growing hobby to build arcade machines based on M.A.M.E. (multiple arcade machine emulator) I decided that Visual Pinball needed to have a machine built around it. Playing pinball on a PC is fun but it was missing that real arcade feeling. Having already built two arcade cabinets for my home I decided that no arcade was complete without a full-blown pinball machine.


I wanted the machine to look like a pinball machine so I searched ebay for a set of pinball machine legs. I found a set for $8! I found some pinball shipping diagrams on the web and was able to determine the exact dimensions of a typical pinball table. I quickly diagramed it out to determine the materials I’d need from the hardware store on a budget of about $150.00 (not counting the computer and monitor).


Once I had the materials and a borrowed circular saw I started to put it all together. It took less than 3 hours to completely assemble and a few more hours to paint (3 coats).


You can read more about it here (www.tacticalneuronics.com)