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Entirely Mechanical Pinball machine/game
NoOne=NBA=:
How detailed do they want the "mechanical" part of this project?
You could build an entirely manual version of Taito's Ice Cold Beer fairly easily, with the tools you have access to.
Instead of using the joysticks to raise/lower the sides of the rod, you would just use handles.
I don't know if that would qualify as a mechanical toy though, since there aren't any real mechanical features.
I've thought about building a golf-themed version of that where you have to get the ball to hole 1, then 2, etc... with a ball counter across the top, to count the number of balls you drain to make it through the nine holes.
If I were doing the project I'd probably head down the Chexx hockey path.
If you did do a pinball-based project, Flipper Football would probably be a good pin to base it on.
You could put multiple buttons up the sides of the machine to run various flippers to advance the ball to an enemy goal protected by gravity based knockdowns.
Another off-shoot of that would be a battle flipper type game.
You could have you and an opponent trying to shoot various targets at the peak, or just have a five ball battle to see who drains the least balls on their side, with appropriate obstacles to work past.
And lastly, at least for the moment, would be a pound and shoot basketball game.
The kind where there are holes in the playing field, and the ball stops on them until you pound a lever to send it skyward toward the opposing basket.
Ping-pong balls would work good for that one.
JonnyBoy:
These are great suggestions. I wasn't aware of most of these games.
I don't have a lot of time to build this (think around 3 weeks or so), so the scale of these is going to be fairly small. But these definitely give me a direction. I am not planning on copying these verbatim, I want to something fairly original but with a classic feel. These mechanisms are good inspiration though.
Thanks guys and keep em coming.
Xiaou2:
You could remake an Electromechanical shooting gallery type of game.
Research any EM game, and you can see what amazing things that they had
come up with. Blacklights w/ florescent artworks, bells/buzzers, holograms (2way mirrors) /projections, score reels, force feedback (gun kick), and more.
Some were simulated... which used a pcb with a sliding contact attached to the
gun. If the gun was over a trace with the trigger pulled.. at the time the target
was operational.. it would complete the circuit and register.
You could also make a physical version, which uses actual projectiles. Ive seen
some use nylon balls via air powered blasts.
There are tons of amazing EM games. And there were tons of great
EM only pinball machines. Such a beast wouldnt be an easy thing to make
in a short time period however... imop.
EM games can be insanely complex as far as custom parts and electrical wiring goes.
JonnyBoy:
Yeah, I can't use any electricity whatsoever unfortunately. I'm restricted to the old days.
Xiaou2:
Opps. My Bad. >.< Sorry, saw mechanical, and assumed electromechanical.
Havnt been getting enough sleep lately heh