Posts

Showing posts from April, 2024

An Augmented Reality Experience to Complement a Vintage Pinball Machine

My 1948 Gottlieb Cinderella pinball machine won 1st Place Best Antique at Texas Pinball Festival 2024! As one of the earliest games made with powered flippers, I worked tirelessly for weeks before the show to resolve any problems that would spoil the gameplay experience, such as mechanical malfunctioning and leveling inserts on the playfield so the ball doesn’t get stuck in spots. However, such an old game lacks many of the interesting aspects of modern games, so it might be overlooked by casual pinball players without some kind of augmented experience. Enter the Cinderella Augmented Experience! This augmented-reality (AR) app aims to provide its users a glimpse into what goes on inside the game as they play it. Games from the 1940s are much different inside than even other electromechanical machines from the 1960s and 1970s. For instance, before score reels were invented, there was a single score stepper that had rivets representing every possible score in the game. Aspects like this