DIY Pinball Machine Under $100

The goal of this project is to build a pinball machine from tools and materials totaling less than $100 and to publish a simple procedure for its construction on Instructables. The design of the machine will be simple enough that it can be easily replicated by a person with limited electrical or mechanical experience, and the assembly directions will be written accordingly.

For the purview of this project, research was conducted on the topic of pinball machines to provide a deeper understanding of the background, standards and possible methods through which a pinball machine can be constructed. This information facilitates the design of a pinball machine that would be replicable by the target audience but would also be closely based on implemented standards and previous designs.

Supplies

Electronics:

Arduino Mega 2560 | x1 from Amazon at $20.69

SunFounder LCD1602 LCD | x1 from Amazon at $7.99

EDGELEC 120ct Wires | x1 from Amazon at $6.79

Aluminum Foil Sensor | x1 from Meijer at $3.56

LED Diode assortment kit 200ct | x1 from Amazon at $6.68

Hardware:

Hyper Tough Model 6832 Utility Knife | x1 from Amazon at $2.20

XLG X-Large Cardboard Box | x3 from Uhaul at $2.99

AdTech Floral Mini Hot Glue Gun | x1 from Amazon at $4.27

Pasco Wood Saw | x1 from Amazon at $6.75

HDDH1248 ½” x 48” Wooden Dowel | x1 from Home Depot at $2.39

¾” Hardwood Furniture Knob | x1 from Annies Down Home Store at $1.25

9” X 11” 500 Grit Sandpaper Pack | x1 from Harbor Freight at $1.97

E7000 Wood Glue | x1 from Amazon at $2.48

BAZIC multicolor 465ct Rubber Bands | x1 from Amazon at $5.15

48ct Plastic Spoons | x1 from Dollar General at $1.00

Acrylic Paint Set | x1 from Amazon at $12.59

Assorted Brush Set | x1 from Dollar General at $2.50

Step 1: Cutting the Cardboard to Size

Begin by cutting a seam on the cardboard box so that the box can be flattened out.

Next measure and cut out each individually labelled part shown in the photos above, starting with part A. Here is a list of how many of each part are required for assembly.

• A x1
• B x1
• C x2
• D x1
• E x1
• F x1
• G x2
• H x1
• I x2
• J x1
• K x1
• L x1

While there should be enough cardboard to cut out each piece in whatever manner you feel, we recommend grouping some of the parts together when possible to make the most of what is given and also to allow for excess in case accidents happen along the way. The cutout photos help to show the process we used for this reason.

Step 2: Assembly

Now that you have everything cutout you are ready to assemble the pieces together. Plug in your hot glue gun so that you can glue the pieces together.

Once you have done that, you want to group the body pieces together. Grab the following pieces: A, B, C, and D. Glue the edges as shown in the photos above and the base of the pinball machine will be complete.

Next group together the pieces for the scoreboard housing, that being F, H, E, G as shown in the photos above. Glue the edges and you will be given a completed scoreboard housing.

Next group the ramp pieces together. Grab the following pieces: I and J. These should be the two large triangle-like pieces and the long strip for the ramp. Glue the ramp strip in the middle of the body where the whole in B is. Then, glue the two triangle pieces on each side of the strip.

Cut the dowel rod down to 5” and glue the knob onto one end. Now cut a straight section of spoon and use the dowel or pencil to poke two holes above the main hole for the plunger to be placed. By wrapping a rubber band onto one side of the spoon and feeding it through one of the holes made, it can be wrapped around the plunger and fed back through the other hole and latched onto the other side of the spoon section. Another rubber band can then be wrapped around the plunger and glued to the bottom of the machine as shown in the photos above. When gluing rubber bands onto the cardboard, it is recommended to use something like an extra spoon or extra piece of cardboard to hold the rubber band stretched while the hot glue dries and then can be pulled out while the glue is tacky but not completely dry.

Next group the top pieces together. Grab the following pieces: L and K. You are going to assemble the ball catcher portion on the machine. Glue the ball catcher piece (Part L) to the top piece (Part K) according to how the pictures are shown. It should be glued at the bottom of the top piece where the ball would roll into so the plunger could launch the ball.

Now glue a rubber band onto the upper side of the slot on the pinball machine, insert a spoon between the rubber band horizontally and twist the rubber band so that the spoon is forced to return to the back bumper. Glue the other end of the rubber band onto the base as shown above and repeat for the other flipper.

Step 3: Understanding the Electronics

Before starting the build, it’s important to know what each component does and why it was selected for use in this project. Below is a description of each electrical and mechanical component.

Arduino Mega 2560: Microcontroller board based on the ATmega2560, with 54 discrete programmable digital input/output pins. Chosen because of its versatility and availability of pins.

LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) Module 1602A: Flat panel display that applies a magnetic field across liquid crystals to form a text output, used to display player score. Chosen for its accessibility and ease of reprogramming.

Foil Sensor: Simple sensor with contacts built from aluminum foil, designed to provide input to the microcontroller when contacted by pinball. Chosen for low cost and ease of installation and adjustment.

LED (Light-Emitting Diode): Semiconductor device which emits light when a voltage is applied, lit to indicate special play modes of the pinball machine. Chosen because it is inexpensive, reliable, and available in a variety of colors.

Plastic Spoon: Inexpensive plastic cutlery from any grocery store, used to create a manual flipper with a fast reaction time. Chosen for their low cost and ability to be reshaped when heated.

Step 4: Building the Electronics

The electronics of any system follow a simple order: inputs to controllers to outputs. In this pinball machine, the inputs are a set of sensors that signal the controller when the pinball contacts them. To economize this project and make fabrication as simple as possible, make bare electrical contacts by gluing strips of aluminum foil to a folded cardboard plate. Then, puncture a hole through the foil and the cardboard using a pencil or small knife, and feed the wires through the hole. Wrap the wire around the cardboard and glue them down if necessary.

When mounting the contacts to the body of the pinball machine, one side should be securely affixed to the play surface while the other is allowed to move. The folded cardboard tends to spring open quite wide, so a strip of paper can be glued to the top of the folded cardboard to restrict the maximum relative angle of the contacts. When the pinball contacts the sensor, an electrical connection is formed between the foil contacts and is detectable by the controller.

The controller is an Arduino Mega 2560, which is a simple breakout board built around an Atmel microcontroller called the ATmega2560. One signal wire from each contact should go to GND on the ATmega2560, while the other should be wired to one of the eight bits of PORTA.

The only electrical output of this machine is the scoreboard. Users earn points by contacting the foil contacts with the ball, and the score is incremented by the controller and displayed textually on the LCD display. Likewise, the pinball machine displays a brief splash screen on the display when the controller powers on.

The flippers and plunger, which each ordinarily have at least one electronic input and output in a normal pinball machine, are built from simple mechanical linkages and have no connection to the controller inside.

Wiring the display is simple. As shown by the diagram, the 1602A LCD communicates in parallel to avoid coding the UART program that is necessary for a serial LCD. ATmega2560 PORTL is connected to the data pins in ascending order, such that PORTL.0 connects to D0 and PORTL.7 connects to D7. PORTB.0 connects to RS, PORTB.1 connects to RW, and PORTB.2 connects to E. V0 on the LCD does not communicate with the controller, but it should be set to a value between 0V and 5V using a potentiometer or a resistor divider.

The electronics are complete!

Step 5: Writing the Software

Now that the controller is connected to the peripherals of the pinball machine, we need to tell it how to convert its input signals into the desired output. This is achieved using a program written in a programming language called C. To upload the code, you will need to download Arduino IDE. Be sure to use the installer, not the app version.

Open Arduino IDE, then download the attached text file titled “code” and paste its contents into Arduino IDE. Click “File” → “Save”, then choose a name and location for your new Arduino project. Select “Tools” → “Board: xxx” → “Arduino Mega or Mega 2560”, then select “Tools” → “Port” and click whichever port is listed first.

Compile the program by pressing “Sketch” → “Verify/Compile”. In the blue readout at the bottom of the screen, the text “Done compiling.” should appear after a few seconds. Then, connect the Arduino Mega 2560 to your computer using a USB-A to USB-B cable and press “Sketch” → “Upload” to send the code to the controller. If the upload fails, reselect “Tools” → “Port” and try different ports until the upload succeeds.

Step 6: Verification

In order to ensure proper machine functionality as well as that the machine follows certain safety standards, it is in the user’s best interest to check the following:

The overall dimensions should not exceed 4ft long x 3ft wide x 1.5ft tall. If the pinball machine is within these dimensional constraints then it is built correctly. This dimensional constraint was put in place to ensure the user can fit the machine on a standard-sized desk with little to no issue in space and or weight.

The plunger must be able to launch the ball into the playing field. To test this, allocate the ball to the starting position. Then, pull the plunger back so that it is fully extended and released. If the ball is shot into the playing field, then this verifies that the plunger is working properly and that the user will be able to restart the game after the previous round has ended.

The flippers should be able to return the ball back into play. After ensuring that the plunger launches the ball into the playing field test to see, using the flippers if the ball can be launched back upwards toward the obstacles in the playing field. This test verifies that the flippers are both strong enough and two quick enough to effectively return the ball into play.

Other things to keep in mind while verifying that certain functionality works are that the foil sensors react when the ball makes contact, as well as making note that the LCD screen is wired. To test that the wires are configured correctly for the LCD consider printing a test message to the LCD. This verifies that when the game code is uploaded that the LCD will have no ensure displaying the scoreboard and will react to bumping into the obstacles and increment the players' score.

Step 7: Painting/Customization

Game Dynamics

One manner in which one can customize one’s pinball machine would be to first decide on the difficulty that one wishes to make one’s game. Depending on the desired difficulty the user can add or subtract the number of obstacles that the player has to interact with. Another way of customizing the difficulty of the pinball game would be to adjust the slope in which the user plays increasing the slope of the playing field increases the rate at which the ball sink to the bottom of the playing field thus giving the player less time to react, resulting in a greater level of difficulty.

Game Aesthetics

Depending on how “Extra” one is feeling there is another way to customize one’s pinball machine that does in fact require a bit of “extra” work and that way is through interactive or decorative LED placement. For pinball machines, it's commonplace to have flashing, stagnate, interactive and gradient-filled LEDs going at all points in time while the game is powered on while doing so is not inherently difficult as shown in this video/instructable Link: how to set up an LED. Something to be made aware of is the fact that the LEDs also serve additional purposes in a pinball game and that is to both draw in the player to play and divert their attention while playing thus including them can be a double-edged sword.

Post Production Appearance

Depending on one's interests the outcome of the overall appearance can vary drastically but in this part of the game development is when the creator can let their imagination run wild by incorporating their favorite movies, games characters, and superheroes the sky is the limit. However, due to copyright reasons, for this demonstration, the project has been constrained to original artworks and geometrical aesthetic representatives only to give users an idea of what can be done. Granted as the creator of this project which will only be used for recreational use only among friends, family, and colleagues therefore not for public distribution the creators will not be subject to copyright infringement or any legal action regarding the personal choice to customize their personal belonging after a particular movie, game or superhero franchise. Also keep in mind that appearance and overall outcome quality are subject to vary depending on one’s own designing, painting, drawing, printing, and or gluing capability. Good luck!

Step 8: Conclusion

We hope that you have enjoyed building your own pinball machine for under $100. Now you can play with friends and family or if you're just bored you can take out the pinball machine and pretend that you are at an arcade. Feel free to send feedback about anything that you had trouble with doing and we can try to fix that. Also, feel free to share with others about our project.

Enjoy!!!

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