Building an EM Pinball Machine: Part 3, Electro-Ball!

Now all the goodies are pretty well positioned, we wire the sucka up for sound. Tap those bumpas and flippas into some powa. Bat the ball around, see what happens? Pretend to play a game or sixty five.
I time each 5 ball game I pretend to play, and keep track in my head my progress in the game's sequence. Do I complete the sequence? Win a game, based on the rules I've imagined? I want the average game time to be around two or two and a half minutes. Does it play too short? Too long? If so, things need to be moved around. Outlanes widened, narrowed; gobble holes added, removed, etc.
Is the sequence too easy to complete? I think it's going to be about right. Not that easy. Since it will be a buttload of work to revise the rules once the machine is fully wired up, I want to decide all the rules now. If I'm not sure, I can include adjustable features (Jones plugs) in the programming. Many of the old games had adjustments the operator could make, which would change the number of free games awarded, or the frequency of lit features. This way the machine doesn't have to be perfectly programmed. It can be tweaked in post.
I like how the machine is playing, so I'm going to go ahead and build the relays and draw the schematic.

[@cpi23]

thanks for sharing the process with us

[@sydviscous7006]

Try angling the kickout holes so that they launch the ball back toward the flippers.

[@justincasekazoo]

That would be a fun arrangement, too. After a little more adjustment, I think I have a good balance of back and forth. I like the volley action, so I wanted to keep that. But kickout holes that "pitch" the ball to the flipper are enjoyable, so not a bad idea at all.