Build Book

I was tidying in the basement some time ago, and found many items from my childhood. I'm one of those nostalgic people who keep everything and always look back on the past. Hey, that's why I'm into pinball and arcade games in general, so it can't be all that bad!

One of the things I found was my Build Book. Looking back, I was more creative and inspired back then than what I am now. Quite influenced by my next door neigbour Thomas, who was my age, I always conjured up inventions and stuff to build. I can't say that the Build Book is very thick, but among the things in there are plans for a pinball machine!

I was maybe 8 at the time, and I obviously didn't know how a pinball machine worked, but it was a dream of mine owning one already at that time. I remember Thomas and I even scavenged the city dump looking for game machines, inspired by a story from his uncle, who had salvaged a fully working pinball. In retrospect I must say we didn't have much of a chance. We rode our bikes there a couple of times, and had no means to haul a 200 pound game machine back home. And his uncle must have gone to the landfill a lot, because he had found a stereo and several other items. It's not like pinball machines popped up every day, even back then.

I only have drawings of a couple of the parts needed for the pinball machine, but I remember I had drawings for slingshots, holes, spinners and drop targets.

The plunger and flippers were both quite simple, with the flipper buttons being linked to poles which physically pushed the flippers upwards. I later added springs to pull them down, but those drawings are nowhere to be found.

Flipper and plunger drawings

I had an electronics set for kids, so I had some very basic knowledge about circuits. The scoring/award system was based on lamps blinking when you hit something. Shown in the drawing below, the ball is supposed to come from the left and light the bulb.

Circuit

We actually started constructing a pinball machine later, using particle board, rubber bands and common building materials such as nails and screws. I recall the drop targets being small blocks of wood fastened to the playfield with hinges. Sadly I don't have any pictures of it. Or maybe that's a good thing, as it was probably far from the marvel I remember.

The pinball machine we built later using LEGO was more functional, and also our cardboard-based flick-a-coin.

Well, that concludes the nostalgia trip... I'm putting the book back and I'll save it for another 25 years.