Pinball Machine control with either Prop-2 or Prop-SX

[jukingeo]

Hello All,

I got some food for though for you guys here.   In addition to working with the Prop-2, I do have a long interest in pinball machines.   Over in the pinball machine newsgroup, there have been those that have attempted to create their own ruleset on the basis of creating there own pinball machine.

The premise is as follows:

1) Take an old pinball machine, one that has preferably has a worn playfield that can be stripped down and redone.

2) Rebuild the playfield back up, perhaps with a different theme.

3) Connect the existing main board (or replace it entirely) with a PC or some other programmable controller to change the ruleset.

4) Do any finishing artwork

5) Smack around the silver ball to your own custom made machine.

Up to now in terms of the control element, I have seen a PC being used.  But on some of the simpler games...such as the Electromechanical Games that were built prior to the 70's and or some of the early 80's games, I was wondering if it were possible to actually create a 'computer' for a pinball machine through the use of several Prop-2 or Prop-SX controllers.

I personally think that it is possible if the game is kept simple.

Another thing is that a Pinball machine, especially an older one,  is very linear in programming.

In terms of input and outputs, Pinball machines use a matrix.   Much like a computer keyboard does.   The computer runs a loop and senses any input made on the matrix.   The matrix itself is made up of all the possible switch closures that are on the playfield.  This, in turn, gets registered in the computer and an appropriate action takes place...either another event is triggered and/or a scoring action is registered.

More than likely it seems that I would need at least one controller to register the inputs, another one to register the score, and finally one to register the outputs (driving bulbs motors or other playfield gagets).

Of course another board would be needed to drive the sound.

Granted using a computer is a more elegant approach and would be absolutely necessary for larger, more ambitious projects.  But for a simple game, I am thinking that a few Prop-2s, or Prop-SX's will do the job.

I am interested in hearing anyone's take on this.

Just for the record, the use of micro-controllers HAS come up several times in the newsgroup, but apparently no one there know too much about them.

Geo