How are pinball machines made? A movie that hits the manufacturing factory is open now

PinballAlthough it can be said to be a representative of a classic arcade game, there are still a lot of persistent fans even today, and there are also game centers that have a floor dedicated to pinballs even in Japan. Overseas MediaThe A.V. ClubThe movie released by the company has made it possible to better understand the manufacturing process of the pinball machine at the long-established "Stern Pinball" of the pinball machine maker, which was founded in the 1930s.

Stern Pinball teaches us how to make a pinball machine from start to finish - YouTube


"Stern Pinball" holds about 10 teams for creating pinball machines, and about 30 to 40 members are enrolled in one team from persons who manufacture games to game designers.



Approximately 3500 parts are required to make one pinball machine. Here all parts are staggered.


All parts are "RoHS"Pinball machine of" Stern Pinball "does not contain harmful substances such as lead.


Also, although most people do not know, most parts for pinball are made in Chicago.


And check whether the arrived parts conform to the standard is done in this place.


In this case, to check whether the parts such as drop targets are the correct dimensions, I put them in a mold and check them. These tests are going to cover 20% of the total parts that arrived, and if there are 3% or more defective products, we refuse the arrival as an inspection failure.



In the very first step of making a pinball machine,Wire HarnessI will make it.


Women are doing wiring work, this is done manually.


From a large amount of wiring, we will make wiring of 400 to 800 meters in total length for pinball. Work takes about 5 to 6 hours.



she isAC / DCWe are building wires for pinball machines.


Here is the wire harness for the pin ball machine created in "Stern Pinball" in the past. in the past,Ghost Busters,Star Wars,KISSI was making such.


Next, in the section of the cabinet on the base of the pinballDecalI will paste.


They are about to transfer the seal of Star Wars. It is basically the same way you put it on a car or building.


Sprinkle with soap water on a decal ......


SqueegeeUse to remove moisture.SilkscreenThere is also a way to use, but adopting a method of sticking a decal that can realize higher resolution and other advantages as well.


In this section, we make various gimmicks and parts to entertain pinball.



This is a "Hyper Loop" used in Star Wars, characterized by four powerful magnets.


In addition, you can see various tricks such as Death Star.




The last section to make a pinball machine. We will consolidate all the parts here and assemble them.


This is the play field of the pinball machine. We will install all the parts on this board.


The man on the left side of the screen has installed a lot of hardware such as a guide lane for rails and balls, posts and so on.



What I was creating was a new Star Wars pinball machine, using a circuit board for the gimmick on the playfield, and a more modern approach was taken on recent pinball machines You can see that there is.


The huge wire harnesses that were first made are installed at the assembly stage ... ...


It is connected to LED, circuit board, coil, switch and so on.



The woman on the right of the screen seems to be doing a coil test. The state of the pinball machine is diagnosed and taught by the computer.


When the diagnosis is over, put the play field in the cabinet.


The place pointed to by the man on the left side of the screen is illuminated with LEDs and you will notice that you are no longer using fluorescent tubes for lighting.


A beautiful liquid crystal display is also mounted on the top of the table, and it is possible to display more contents than the analog pinball machine.


And finally cleaning and shipping the pinball machine, the work at this factory is over.