How it's made: Understanding the inner workings of a pinball machine
Few can resist the allure of a pinball machine. The face-paced movement, the flashing lights, and the sounds are triumph are truly mesmerizing. While everyone has played a game of pinball, only a few really understand how these intricate machines work. At the recent Maker Faire Denver, Mark Gibson, a longtime restorer and collector of pinball machines, curated an interactive exhibition highlighting the creativity and ingenuity of the original pinball machines.
According to Tyler Winegarner for Make: "Fun With Pinball is an exhibit dedicated to helping people understand the world of electromechanical pinball machines. Back in the 60’s and 70’s, pinball games had all the gameplay sophistication of modern machines, but their game state was maintained entirely without the help of transistors, computers, or solid state storage – it was managed entirely by solenoids, relays, and mechanical devices. In the exhibit, Mark Gibson has presented many of the mechanisms that went into these games as a single interaction – you can actuate them yourself with buttons that allow you to see how the mechanics take place."
According to David Grossman for Popular Mechanics: "Built from used pinball machine parts, 'Fun With Pinball,' as Mark Gibson's exhibition is called, has been traveling the country since 2013. 'The devices are all from electromechanical (EM) pinball machines which were made until the late 1970s when solid state (SS) machines built with electronics took over,' Gibson explains on his website. 'Most of these devices are well used, having been replaced during a game restoration, but still work well enough for demonstration purposes.'
The mechanics of these pinball machines offer a depth that may not be noticeable when you're in an arcade. There are switches and currents, electromagnets and acceleration, musical chimes that resemble small glockenspiels and vibrations emanating out of the box."
To learn more, read "Fighting Bots, Pinball, Emulators, and More at Maker Faire Denver" from Make and "The Mesmerizing Mechanics of an Old-School Pinball Machine" from Popular Mechanics.
About the Author
Alexis GajewskiAlexis Gajewski
Senior Content Strategist
Alexis Gajewski is a manufacturing writer and editor with nearly 20 years of experience covering the people, practices, and technologies that keep industrial facilities running. For more than a decade, she served as Senior Content Strategist for Plant Services, creating content for plant managers, engineers, and maintenance professionals on a variety of industrial topics.
During her tenure, Alexis worked to develop the brand’s digital strategy and helped launch and produce Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast. She also created The Lighter Side of Manufacturing, a weekly blog that explored the inventive and sometimes humorous side of the industry.
Alexis co-founded Influential Women in Manufacturing, a recognition program that honored 49 women in its first two years, earned an industry award for Best Product Launch, and received a proclamation from Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and a commendation from U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth.
She also led newsroom operations and development at a large media company where she set editorial standards, developed training curriculum, and helped support AI adoption for more than 150 editors across 80+ brands spanning manufacturing, industrial processing, automation, and more.
Additionally, Alexis works as a freelance writer and editor, and her areas of interest include continuous improvement, the skilled workforce, and the role of emerging technology on the plant floor.
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