Bringing a 1976 pinball machine back to life.
Aztec is a Williams® pinball machine for 4 players. Check it out on the Internet Pinball Machine Database. There is also a solid state version of the same machine. Mine is from the electromechanical series -- and this is where the fun starts. Of course it wasn't functional. The entire cabinet had been completely gutted, with only a few tilt mechanisms left dangling about. However, the playfield and the backbox were still mostly intact. Repairing it seemed tough, but since it's cool to have your own pinball machine, I decided to give it a shot.
It would have been rather expensive and difficult to get original spare parts for, or replicas of, all the missing components. So why not replace aztec's brain with a microcontroller? The looks and feel of the machine would still be the same. Only what's under the hood would be slightly more modern. Maybe this is a sacrilege for real pinball lovers... I have a feeling it is. Like an inverse Frankenstein - pretty on the outside. But I already did it, so there's no way back and no repentance. If you want to know how I've done it, check out the 🌽 repository wiki.
The source code running on the microcontroller and the PCB schematics. Basically everything you need to do something similar.
In case you have questions or suggestions, need support or simply want to get in touch, feel free to send me a message.