Electronic Pinball

Most people who now play a pinball machine, play a simulated computer game. But that is not always the case and a few manufacturers still put out the original pinball machines. The ironman pinball machine shown above is an example. The goal of this 4^th year project is to design and build, as well as play, a pinball machine which has a Department of Electronics theme.

What this project will involve

The pinball machine is a game where a metal sliver ball is propelled on an inclined surface and interreacts which mechanical components. The player has control over two “flippers” and through these can attempt to control the trajectory of the silver ball. The goal of the game is to accumulate points, leading to a free play, or complete tasks, leading to bonus points, extra ball, free play ... Students will be required to address the following:

· Decide on the “Department of Electronics” theme of the game. You will need to decide what is the objective of the game and at what score count would a replay be awarded. You would need to determine the games subtasks. You could even decide a feature of the game that awards a fictitious graduation diploma.

· Actuators. You will need to design the mechanical components that are used to propel the silver ball “Flippers”, energize the ball “Bumpers”, relocate the ball “worm holes”, … These actuators are to be mechanical devices with an electronic interface to them for power and for accumulating scored points.

· Power management. The electronic pinball game will require several levels of AC and DC voltages (and currents) to properly operate. You will be required to design and address the power supply requirements for the entire game.

· Electronic interface. An electronic circuit will be required such that it will sense which actuator is interacting with the silver ball and the points associated with the actuator. The circuit will be required to “turn on indicator lights”, on the game platform to indicate the progress of a particular game task. The circuit will also be required to keep score and verify when a free play score is reached. You may also wish to interface an audio stream to the progression of the silver ball. The circuit will most likely be composed of several sub processors (Arduinos) linked to a processor performing a function similar to a finite state machine with numerous inputs and outputs.

To familiarize yourself with electronic pinball, components, actuators, … do a search on the internet for “electronic pinball”.