Digitised pinball machines

Old pinball machines rarely fail at the playfield. They fail at the electromechanics: relays that bounce, contacts that burn, bulbs that need replacing over and over. We developed boards that convert electromechanical pinball machines without touching how they look. Solid state relays of our own design replace the switching contacts; digitally addressable LEDs rated at around 50,000 hours replace the bulbs. An AVR microcontroller runs the machine, and the game logic is fully programmable. You notice it most while playing: displays and playfield actuators switch far faster than before. The machine looks exactly as it did, but responds more directly. The biggest difference is power. Digital LEDs, new toroidal transformers and a long-life DC-DC supply cut standby consumption from 200 watts to 10.