Pinball Wars!
As many of you know I have been working on a Bill Paxton themed pinball machine for several years, and have made a lot of progress since last summer. A few months ago I was on the “Fat Man and Circuit Girl” show and suggested to Jeri Ellsworth that she attempt a machine of her own, since she loves pinball so much and could obviously handle it.
Cut to a few months later and not only is she working on one but making amazing progress as well! The theme is “As Seen on TV”, so I’m hoping when the ball drains it says “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!”
Some of her friends have started their own innovative pins as well. A bit of trash talk later and now it’s a race to see who can finish their machine first and “out toy” each other!
If you’d like to keep tabs on this epic battle and egg us both on, see below:
Benheck.com YouTube channel
Benheck Twitter Feed
Jeri’s YouTube Channel
Jeri’s Twitter Feed
Well met!
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January 1st, 2010 at 11:25 pm
Nice side panels Ben.
January 2nd, 2010 at 1:32 pm
Here’s hoping this begins a new surge in the interest of manufacturing pinball machines, and some of these folks start up new companies making and selling them! I for one would buy a Bill Paxton Pinball or As Seen on TV Pinball, and I’d definitely play them at an arcade or bar.
January 2nd, 2010 at 9:36 pm
Hey, so this is the pinball machine you spoke of. You came to the Shack today, I didn’t know if that was your or not. Pinball machine looks awesome! Whenever you need more supplies, you know where to go.
January 3rd, 2010 at 2:43 pm
That was me all right! Yes, the phototransistor pair worked fine with my circuitry once I figured out the correct resistance to get it to drop past the low state threshold.
January 3rd, 2010 at 5:38 pm
no offense to anyone, but your machine is definitely better than jeri’s… they’re both awesome, but yours seems more authentic, and who could turn down bill paxton? of course this one seems to be more completed… congrats, anywho. everything looks great. the “playable” factor is the hardest thing to achieve and you’ve clearly done it here.
January 4th, 2010 at 10:22 am
Well Ryan, she just started hers and mine’s been in progress for a long time.
I guarantee when she’s done hers will have some AMAZING mechanical stuff going on that will exceed mine.
January 6th, 2010 at 5:48 pm
I’m not saying that it didn’t look impressive. Hell, I wish I could whip up a pinball machine that looked nice, let alone worked well. But the time you put into all of that hardware, I don’t know… :) And yes, you have been working for a while now, so only time will tell I guess.
January 18th, 2010 at 12:21 am
You mentioned in a past post something about making a kit with circuitry. Please please please do!!! That’s the only way non-genuises like me will be able to navigate the sea of technical complexity required to make a pinball. This is really great!
January 25th, 2010 at 11:44 am
That’s the most random themed pinball machine ever. I like it!
February 2nd, 2010 at 11:25 pm
I can only assume you forged this beautiful machine due to your undying admiration for the great Bill Paxton. I wonder if you could weigh in with your opinion on my friend’s blog; there is currently a rabid Bill Paxton vs. Bill Pullman debate raging and she is leaning in the wrong direction. Your insight would be appreciated.
http://pushinguproses.com/?p=120
February 3rd, 2010 at 4:35 pm
Great Stuff man, very like your pinballmashine :-)
March 24th, 2010 at 6:05 am
i like your pinball machine , its realy cool. i also liked your PS3 laptop, what happened to that and how many did you make