1950s-Era Pinball Table Transformed into Incredible Rock Band Tribute

After obtaining a non-functional pinball table from 1959, an ambitions team of hackers at Death By Audio Arcade decided to turn it into a tribute to the band A Place to Bury Strangers. As this band features very loud music and an audacious lights show, the table was built to follow suit.

Besides the requisite painted marquee, sound system, and new playfield, the reborn table now sports a small video screen that plays video of the band, blacklights, a glow-in-the-dark ball, and a VFD score display. There’s even a fog machine and brightly flashing strobe lights to truly show off the table’s rock and roll lifestyle.

In addition to new hardware, redoing the table took a massive amount programming of work, which included creating a simulation of the table’s playfield on a computer with openFrameworks. This allowed the software developers to experiment with game mechanics while the extensive hardware retrofit was ongoing.

The table is now equipped with no less than four microcontrollers — two Arduinos and two Teensys — along with a Raspberry Pi that coordinates everything gameplay-wise.

You can see it in action in the video below, or if you happen to be in the NYC area on July 15th, it’ll be on display at Le Poisson Rouge.

[h/t: Hackaday]