Bill Paxton Pinball
Since 2005 I have been working on building my own custom pinball machine and now it is finally finished. It is based off the endlessly quotable films of Bill Paxton and thus is called… get this… Bill Paxton Pinball. (Very creative, I know)
Aside from “stock” items such as flippers and solenoids it has been completely manufactured from scratch. Most of the artwork is from his movies and has been assembled in stylized montage form as is typical for a pinball machine. It is controlled by a single Parallax Propeller CPU which runs PCM audio music & voice clips as well as handling game logic, I/O and driving the custom LED display. I did the mechanical design, layout, construction & programming all myself, except for the sound player libraries that I got off the Parallax Object exchange website.
I’ve prepared all sorts of stuff for people to check out, so please check out the links below. Also, I did consider creating a “Virtual Pinball” version of this machine but ultimately didn’t have the time. If anyone is well versed in that tool and wants to take a crack at it, let me know, I can supply with you specifications.
“Making Of” Story
A four part article that describes the making of the machine in great detail. Includes photos of the guts, making of video links and source code.
Bill Paxton Pinball Photo Gallery
Contains lots of photos of the machine and its various parts (finished condition).
Demonstration Videos
See the machine in action, and check out descriptions / demos of the specific modes and toys.
Bill Paxton Pinball Evolution
A downloadable video demonstrating the process from start to finish.
Notice: Bill Paxton Pinball is a personal project and therefore is not for sale or duplication. All music / images / audio used on it are owned by their respective copyright holders.
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March 16th, 2010 at 10:30 pm
Fantastic!
March 17th, 2010 at 12:18 am
Very cool, well worth the wait…
Just out of curiosity,
I wonder how hard it would be to make a visual pinball (vpinball) version of this table?
March 17th, 2010 at 12:48 am
Congrats on finishing an awesome awesome project. That thing looks sweet. I haven’t read the making-of yet, but I’ve followed the process up until now. And just watched all the new videos you posted on youtube. Really wish I could go to MGC and see it/play it.
March 17th, 2010 at 12:53 am
“Some celestial event. No – no words. No words to describe it. Poetry! They should’ve sent a poet. So beautiful. So beautiful… I had no idea.”
March 17th, 2010 at 3:24 am
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March 17th, 2010 at 3:24 am
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March 17th, 2010 at 3:26 am
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March 17th, 2010 at 3:31 am
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March 17th, 2010 at 3:32 am
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March 17th, 2010 at 3:33 am
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March 17th, 2010 at 3:45 am
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March 17th, 2010 at 4:01 am
Who remembers when Ben first showed the back glass when he made the Arcade Cabinet?
March 17th, 2010 at 4:10 am
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March 17th, 2010 at 4:23 am
[...] | Ben Heck | Email this | Comments AKPC_IDS += “10024,”;Popularity: unranked [...]
March 17th, 2010 at 4:24 am
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March 17th, 2010 at 4:24 am
[...] Wed, 17 Mar 2010 05:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Ben Heck | Email this | Comments Author: Vladislav Savov Categories: Technology [...]
March 17th, 2010 at 4:25 am
[...] Wed, 17 Mar 2010 05:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Ben Heck | Email this | Comments Read the original Article Here ben heck, bill [...]
March 17th, 2010 at 4:25 am
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March 17th, 2010 at 4:26 am
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March 17th, 2010 at 4:27 am
[...] Wed, 17 Mar 2010 05:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Ben Heck | Email this | Comments Categories: Engadget [...]
March 17th, 2010 at 4:28 am
[...] Wed, 17 Mar 2010 05:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Ben Heck | Email this | Comments Post Published: 17 March 2010 Author: Vladislav [...]
March 17th, 2010 at 4:29 am
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March 17th, 2010 at 4:45 am
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March 17th, 2010 at 4:46 am
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March 17th, 2010 at 4:47 am
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March 17th, 2010 at 4:58 am
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March 17th, 2010 at 5:03 am
[...] Wed, 17 Mar 2010 05:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Ben Heck | Email this | Comments none Leave a commentCommentsLeave a Reply Kliknij [...]
March 17th, 2010 at 5:23 am
[...] Wed, 17 Mar 2010 05:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Ben Heck | Email [...]
March 17th, 2010 at 5:42 am
You are crazy.
I love it!
March 17th, 2010 at 5:44 am
Just Incredible…. Its a BenHeck allright….
March 17th, 2010 at 7:15 am
[...] | Ben Heck | Email [...]
March 17th, 2010 at 7:26 am
[...] your eyes do not deceive you, you are looking at a [Bill Paxton] pinball machine. [Ben Heck], commonly known for his portable gaming system modifications has finally finished his [...]
March 17th, 2010 at 7:30 am
[...] Wed, 17 Mar 2010 05:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Ben Heck | Email this | Comments Tags: ben heck, Ben Heckendorn, BenHeck, [...]
March 17th, 2010 at 7:41 am
[...] | Ben Heck | Email this | Comments Categories: Technology Tags: Comments (0) [...]
March 17th, 2010 at 8:01 am
[...] | Ben Heck | Email this | CommentsPhilips SCD 589 Baby MonitorPhilips SCD 589 Baby [...]
March 17th, 2010 at 8:11 am
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March 17th, 2010 at 8:35 am
Sir, you are a god!
March 17th, 2010 at 8:45 am
That is sooooo cool!
March 17th, 2010 at 9:40 am
Oh my sweet sweet goodness….I……MUST…………HAVE………..IT!!!
March 17th, 2010 at 9:41 am
Very Nice! Is the Bill Pullman grocery store kiddie ride next?
March 17th, 2010 at 9:49 am
[...] Paxton Pinball The Official Blog of Benjamin J Heckendorn Game over man, game over! Reply With Quote + Reply to Thread [...]
March 17th, 2010 at 10:00 am
When are you making a Bill Pullman Pinball?
March 17th, 2010 at 12:17 pm
Bravo !…..
March 17th, 2010 at 1:52 pm
Excellent.
Although…
Has Youtube sent you a threatening email yet warning of the impending deletion of the audio in your videos? I used a few seconds of violin from an old movie and YT told me that Sony required that it be removed. Stupid thing only had 13 views after a week and I didn’t tell anybody about it. They either have an army of music experts listening to every single video that is posted, or they have “melody recognition software” that analyzes every clip that exists on their servers.
March 17th, 2010 at 2:53 pm
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March 17th, 2010 at 10:55 pm
[...] Bill Paxton Pinball [Ben Heck] Tagged:ben heckbill paxtonpinball [...]
March 18th, 2010 at 3:40 am
Bravo my good man. Absolutely gorgeous. Bill Paxton… of all people… ahahhaha…
GAME OVER MAN!
March 18th, 2010 at 7:15 am
Please tell me someone here has Bill Paxton’s contact info and get him over there to play his own game. Would be completely awesome plus he could sign it.
March 18th, 2010 at 10:16 am
OK Ben, you were already my hero for all the cool portable hacks you have done, but this is simply amazing. Not only is it a technical feat to make your own pinball machine, with the physical machine and the computer processing, but by picking Bill Paxton as your theme, you have left no doubt that you truly are king of the geeks, and we are all merely your subjects! Excelsior!!
March 18th, 2010 at 12:00 pm
phenom.
March 18th, 2010 at 3:36 pm
[...] the link here (or the pic) to read and see the coolest thing to come to pinball since Fun House. Bill Paxton [...]
March 18th, 2010 at 6:51 pm
[...] March 18, 2010 I wasn’t sure what I was going to write about today. That is, until I saw this. I love pinball, and I didn’t want to make a post on it so close after my discussion of [...]
March 18th, 2010 at 7:39 pm
[...] Bill Paxton Pinball via benheck.com [...]
March 19th, 2010 at 1:38 am
Dude, that’s amazing. You’re insane! hahaha
Congratulations for finally having finished it!
March 19th, 2010 at 5:45 am
THey’re gonna come in here… they’re gonna come in here and they’re gonna kill us…
This made my day. Bill Paxton pinball… wow.
March 19th, 2010 at 7:48 am
I don’t get excited by many things. But this is definitely one of them. Bill Paxton will be forever immortalized in your machine. You should talk to an arcade games manufacturer about getting into mass production for arcades across the world. What kind of world would we live in if a kid had to grow up without experiencing the wonder and excitement that is Bill Paxton.
March 19th, 2010 at 8:17 am
Congrats!!! Excellent work there sir…excellent work!!!
March 19th, 2010 at 11:09 am
Great machine Ben – been a long time coming. I noticed two things missing that I would have liked to see, one being a circular tube that would go large and then smaller for Twister mode (ball going around like in a twister) and a Terminator mode or bonus or sound bite since he was in T1 for 15 seconds..
March 19th, 2010 at 12:39 pm
[...] it himself. It is a joy to behold, and you can find out the story behind its creation on Heckendorn’s site. You can also check out a video of the machine in action [...]
March 19th, 2010 at 5:54 pm
[...] High Voltage Software’s Keith Hladik, console modder Benjamin Heckendorn (who will be bring his Bill Paxton Pinball machine), Sword of Fargoal creator Jeff McCord, and many [...]
March 19th, 2010 at 6:05 pm
[...] Voltage Software’s Keith Hladik, console modder Benjamin Heckendorn (who will be bringing his Bill Paxton Pinball machine), Sword of Fargoal creator Jeff McCord, and many [...]
March 20th, 2010 at 4:12 pm
[...] The Official Blog of Benjamin J Heckendorn [...]
March 20th, 2010 at 11:55 pm
[...] Over Man, Game Over! This guy Ben Heckendorn made a pinball machine as an ode to Bill Paxton. You may ask yourself, who the fuck is Bill [...]
March 21st, 2010 at 1:02 am
[...] di osservare la foto qui sopra ed esclamare “sticazzi”, c’è un opportuno sito ufficiale dedicato all’impresa e comprensivo di tutta la documentazione possibile immaginabile. Io per [...]
March 22nd, 2010 at 8:30 am
[...] right. As detailed extensively on his personal blog, Mr. Heckendorn’s wondrous creation, dubbed “Bill Paxton Pinball,” is a fully-customized, [...]
March 22nd, 2010 at 9:11 am
I have been toying with the idea of trying to build my own pin but I am curious if you would be posting any schematics for your I/O boards or any of the custom boards you built. Amazing job!
March 22nd, 2010 at 4:38 pm
[...] http://benheck.com/03-16-2010/bill-paxton-pinball [...]
March 24th, 2010 at 2:35 pm
This MUST COME to MGC this weekend.
March 25th, 2010 at 3:03 pm
[...] Bill Paxton Pinball. http://benheck.com/03-16-2010/bill-paxton-pinball [...]
March 25th, 2010 at 4:19 pm
[...] modder extrodinaire Benjamin Heckendorn spent the past five years constructing and programming the Paxton-themed pinball game from scratch. Ben clearly has big love for the “Vertical Limit” star and is smart [...]
March 26th, 2010 at 11:53 am
[...] Bill Paxton — This guy made a pinball game based on Bill… creepy [...]
March 26th, 2010 at 4:47 pm
[...] baseball card blurbs – (Slate) A homemade Bill Paxton pinball machine. Yes, really. – (Ben Heck) Does anyone really miss Crystal Pepsi? – (Asylum) 10 greatest March Madness upsets of all [...]
March 26th, 2010 at 7:23 pm
[...] What was discussed: Bill Paxton Pinball Machine, [...]
March 30th, 2010 at 7:23 pm
That’s undeniably cool. If I was Bill Paxton I would want to play.
March 30th, 2010 at 7:47 pm
[...] lays it all out on his blog, with many photos [...]
March 30th, 2010 at 9:03 pm
[...] lays it all out on his blog, with many photos documenting the process. The game has audio and/or visual elements from Titanic, [...]
March 31st, 2010 at 8:56 am
[...] manages to both confound and inspire with his subdued, irreverent charms, has been immortalized by Benjamin Heckendorn and his mind-blowing pinball montage [...]
April 1st, 2010 at 12:34 pm
[...] the by, there’s a very clear photo of the Bill Paxton pinball machine over at Ben’s blog. And it looks even more cool in real life.) 12:34 pm | Tags: Ben Heck, [...]
April 1st, 2010 at 7:04 pm
It tis magical.
April 5th, 2010 at 2:24 pm
I once wrote to Bally to see if they’d do an Eddie Feinor machine (he was the famed fast pitch softball pitcher called “The King and His Court” who with 4 players (pitcher, catcher, first baseman, and fileder) would regularly beat all comers at softball). It had potential. Bally quit making them shortly after my suggestion. I have been to MGC but have not been able to attend for the last few years. I have a few machines from the 70′s and one from 1942. Good job, Ben! Like Ferris B., you are my hero. I saw your feature in Isthmus and found the web site off The Daily Page.
April 6th, 2010 at 5:21 am
[...] And who else but myself would own an album of songs recorded by Chevy Chase? And who else but this guy would build a Bill Paxton pinball machine? Whoa, [...]
April 13th, 2010 at 11:35 am
I’m a huge pinball enthusiast and I have to say this is one of the most creative tables I have ever seen. Plenty of modes to keep people entertained and to spend more money on. A lot of thought went into the creation of this table. Its a shame that pinball is dying out and that there is only one major manufacturer anymore producing tables (and even they are not that great of quality in my opinion).
I would be fantastic to see your table converted for virtual pinball.
April 13th, 2010 at 2:03 pm
[...] Bill Paxton Pinball!!!! [...]
April 27th, 2010 at 10:18 am
[...] Same view, unit closed. Once again I’m using McMaster-Carr friction hinges. Expensive, but they work great. Gone are the days of me “rolling my own” hinges. “Don’t build what you can buy” (except for pinball machines of course) [...]
June 18th, 2010 at 12:12 am
[...] Serving Small Audiences by bcs on April 18, 2010 For people who enjoy both classic pinball and actor Bill Paxton, Ben Heckendorn (creator of the VCSp), presents: Bill Paxton Pinball. [...]
October 2nd, 2010 at 5:48 pm
[...] who has made everything from special one-handed gaming controller for an injured soldier, to a Bill Paxton-themed pinball machine built from the scratch.We sat down with Ben to discuss the Xbox 360 laptop project [...]
December 16th, 2010 at 10:47 pm
[...] Bill Paxton Pinball Creepy Crypt Coconut Island [...]
December 23rd, 2010 at 12:05 pm
I think Billy would benefit from having this machine, and in return he has to play it 1 hour a day for a year.
January 3rd, 2011 at 11:01 am
[...] I’ve made more of them and it made me more popular—so it was worth it, but it was tough. The pinball machine (pictured below) was actually more difficult, but you said mod, [...]
March 6th, 2011 at 11:56 am
Hello!
special design – very good!
March 20th, 2011 at 11:08 am
[...] Ben Heck of Madison will show off a custom pinball machine he built from the ground up called “Bill Paxton Pinball,” as well as a new prototype pinball machine he has yet to reveal to the public. There will also be [...]
July 24th, 2011 at 4:09 am
Why are there coin slots on this machine?
I would love to have my own custom pinball machine. I would make it perhaps the world’s only pinball machine with no theme. (Why do pinball machines need themes, anyway?) I also might not have a scoreboard — can’t look at it when the action’s too intense, anyway — and just tell you your score thriough the speakers.
December 12th, 2011 at 2:48 pm
[...] should come as no surprise to any of you that the background music for the Bill Paxton Pinball Machine is, at least part of the time, How Can The Laboring Man Find Time For Self [...]
January 7th, 2012 at 11:01 pm
[...] tables in real life. “That would be a really big undertaking,” Soren said. “The Bill Paxton pinball table that Ben Heck made, it took him years to finish that. We don’t have the tools, expertise, time or people — [...]
January 8th, 2012 at 4:21 am
[...] any of these tables in real life. “That would be a really big undertaking,” Soren said. “The Bill Paxton pinball table that Ben Heck made, it took him years to finish that. We don’t have the tools, expertise, time or people — but if [...]
January 8th, 2012 at 10:43 am
[...] tables in real life. „That would be a really big undertaking,” Sorens said. „The Bill Paxton pinball table that Ben Heck made, it took him years to finish that. We don’t have the tools, expertise, time, or people—but [...]
January 19th, 2012 at 11:07 pm
[...] and always a pleasure to see him) and Bill Paxton (who’s so great that someone had to make a pinball game about him!). And any movie with that crew crewing it up is bound to be watchable, cause it’s [...]
February 18th, 2012 at 7:11 pm
[...] Bill Paxton Pinball – with an improved shooter lane and a Start button that actually adds players the right [...]
March 25th, 2012 at 11:44 am
[...] fit an entire keyboard and mouse into a hand-held controller, to the crew that put together “Bill Paxton Pinball” the creativity evident at the conference was truly impressive. One company we spoke with was [...]