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The step-by-step, mechanical logic of old pinball machines

Technology Connections · explainer · Watch on YouTube

Electronics & circuit designMechanical & precision engineeringGame history & retro gaming

What it is

Technology Connections takes apart the step-by-step electromechanical logic of a 1970s pinball machine. He shows how relays, steppers and switches track state and score without electronics.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN recommends it as an in-depth look at mechanical logic, and uses it as an analogy for state machines and biological instruction processing.

  • 1 people recommended it
  • 1 different months
  • 0 strong recommendations
  • first 2024, last 2025

What HN commenters said

  1. “It goes horribly in-depth (in a good way).”

    Very in-depth look at a 1970s pinball machine's mechanical logic

    brewdad, 2024-01 · Recommendation · in “Why a toaster from 1949 is still smarter than any sold today (2021)”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: pinball, relays, state machines, electromechanical, technology connections

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