Analog Pinball Machine | Charbel Estephan

THE GOAL

Build a fully playable, full-size pinball machine without a single microcontroller, scoring, sensing, and actuation all running on discrete electronics instead of code.

Built at full regulation size, not a scaled-down model
No microcontroller anywhere: control logic runs on discrete AND/OR gates and comparators
FSRs (force-sensitive resistors) and proximity sensors handle ball detection
Solenoids drive the flippers and kickers
Fully functional pop bumper: a piezo sensor triggers a solenoid on impact

Full-size analog pinball machine built without a microcontroller, showing the playfield and bumpers — The finished machine at full size. The three bumpers on the playfield and the plunger lane are visible here, with the sensing and actuation electronics tucked underneath.

HOW IT WORKS

Proximity sensors and force-sensitive resistors (FSRs) feed AND/OR logic gates and comparators, which drive solenoids for the flippers and kickers directly, no firmware, no code in the loop. The pop bumper works the same way a real arcade bumper does: a piezo sensor picks up the ball's impact and fires a solenoid to kick it away. Structural parts were 3D-printed and iterated in-house.

Close-up of the pop bumper's piezo sensor and solenoid mechanism in its 3D-printed housing — One pop bumper's guts: the white 3D-printed cap and spring assembly sit on top of the solenoid that actually fires it when the piezo sensor picks up an impact.

3D-printed pinball machine bracket being fabricated, shown with 3D printer control software — One of the machine's structural brackets straight off the 3D printer, next to the slicer/print-control software used to fabricate it. All the mounting hardware was iterated and printed in-house.

SIZEFULL SCALE

CONTROLDISCRETE LOGIC — AND/OR + COMPARATORS

SENSINGFSR + PROXIMITY

ACTUATIONSOLENOIDS

BUMPERPIEZO + SOLENOID

AnalogPinball Machine