5. General Pinball Knowledge

This section of this project is where I am going to explain some of the deeper concepts of electromagnetic pinball systems. I am going to attempt to answer all the questions I had when I started and hopefully your questions as well. If you have a question that I have not answered, please feel free to reach out to me at the email in my bio.

Q: What are the differences between pinball systems?

A: From the earliest days of pinball there have been three major companies leading the field: Gottlieb, Bally and Williams. Although the basic concepts of each companies systems are the same, the execution has slight differences. One of the biggest differences is in the solenoids that each company uses. Williams, for example, tended to use solenoids rated at 50v while Bally operates at a much lower voltage of 15 volts. These companies also cahnged their systems over time. While this is an electromechanical system, pinball machines now are solid state meaning that there are many less mechanical systems and much more computation power used.

Q: Why is the flipper wired different than the bumper?