HackerTube

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

Technology Connections1 HN recommenders · 2024–2025
1.1M views · explainer · evergreen · Uploaded 2023-12-29

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.

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

Electronics & circuit designMechanical & precision engineeringGame history & retro gaming

Watch on YouTube

4 comments from Hacker News

@brewdad2024 · in “Why a toaster from 1949 is still smarter than any sold today (2021)”

I've been watching his videos on a 1970s pinball machine. It goes horribly in-depth (in a good way). Fascinating how much complexity could be managed with the simplest of interfaces. [LINK] [VIDEO]

RecommendsView on HN
@spaceribs2024 · in “Does DNA have the equivalent of IF-statements, WHILE loops, or function calls?”

After reading the reason why code isn't a good analogy, the mechanical/analog logic of old pinball machines might be a better example of how DNA processes instructions? Ref: [VIDEO]

CitesView on HN
@wgrover2024 · in “Can you get root with only a cigarette lighter?”

Yup - the first few minutes of one of Technology Connections' videos on electromechanical pinball machines shows this mechanism in action: [VIDEO]

CitesView on HN
@matheusmoreira2025 · in “VVVVVV Source Code”

I think it's pretty charming. Games have so much abstraction these days it feels like there's no way to truly understand what it is they're even doing. One can spend months agonizing over the true nature of things and how ideas and concepts relate to each other and eventually distill it all into some object oriented organization that implements not just your game but all possible games. One can also just cycle the game's state machine in a big function, haha switch statement go brrr. Reminds me of the old NES games which would statically allocate memory for game objects, very much in the "structure of arrays" style, they too had game logic just like that. Also reminds me of old electromechanical pinball machines. You can literally see the machine cycle. [LINK] [VIDEO]

CitesView on HN