The Modern Firepower Pinball Project - Introduction

Welcome to the web home of Pinball Chameleon.  My name is Paul, and I'm building a pinball machine.  From scratch.

Work in progress...

It was a lot harder than I first expected, and I turned to the web a lot during the design of my pinball machine.  I decided I should return the favor and pay it forward.  I plan to share information, tips and tricks that I've discovered along the way. 

I've titled this crazy journey "The Modern Firepower Pinball Project".  The name will explain itself in due time.

I've played pinball machines, but not a lot.  Not even a little.  If I had to put a number to it, I'd wager that I've spent less than 4 hours playing real pinball machines.  In my life. 

How then does it come to pass that I'm building a pinball machine from scratch?  Well, I guess the easy answer to that question is that it is mostly Troy's fault.  Mostly.

Just over four years ago while working together on a project, my close friend and business partner Troy and I were hashing out ideas of "what's next" for us.  We wanted to start a company that made a physical product that we could sell, but we also wanted something fun and interesting to sell.  Like any good brainstorming session, crazy ideas were thrown around.  And one of those ideas, pinball machines, stuck.  Troy's a real pinhead, the only one I know, and his love of the game is infectious.

Me?  I just love a good challenge, and the idea of building a pinball machine was too challenging to pass up.

Almost immediately the research began.  I didn't know much about pinball machines, so I had a lot of ground to cover.  Progress has come in fits and starts, and at times I’ve gone more than a year without expending any effort on the project.  Several times I hit roadblocks that made the project seem impossible; well, at least impossible for my limited skill set.  Eventually solutions have presented themselves.

And now, four fast years later, I'm mere days away from bringing my first creation to life.  My goal is to play a pinball game on the machine before the year is up, though I'm sure final assembly and painting won't happen until later.

I’ve decided to share the build with the world right here.  Over the coming weeks, I’ll continually post the progress and share the details of the design. 

Hope you enjoy following along.