This whole project started off rather simply. I needed a new coffee table and everything out there was either too expensive or too boring. I wanted something unique but didn’t want to pay an arm and a leg. Not sure how it happened but the idea of building a table out of a pinball machine struck me one night and got the gears turning. The biggest problem is that I’m not exactly what you would call “handy” with power tools. Luckily my grandfather is and usually when I bring a cool idea like this to him we build it together.

So off I went to design and figure out how to cram a pinball playfield into my living room in the form of a table. The first thing I did was find an old beat up pinball table online. I searched over Craigslist, local classifieds and eBay and finally found one there for less than $50. It was just the playfield from a pinball game called Tri-Zone, which was perfect for me since I didn’t want to destroy a working or refurbishable pinball machine… they ain’t exactly rolling off the production line much these days.

Read on to see how it all went together and I have a ton of pictures of the project!

So I picked up this beat up old POS pinball playfield and had my hands full breaking it down and cleaning it up. The whole thing was filthy and after a few hours of scrubbing looked damn good. New drop targets, rubbers, flippers, caps and more were acquired online and installed to make it look as brand new as I could get it without going crazy.

Then came the task of ripping all the guts out from underneath it. Wires were sliced and cut already when I got it, motors were corroded and I really didn’t want all the extra weight and sharp edges. Once that was all done (which took HOURS) I set down to wire up my own lights so I could make it light up!

This proved difficult since I refused to have a power cord running out the bottom to the wall. I ended up going with a few strands of Christmas lights hooked up to a small portable power supply. I could charge the supply then hook it up and light the table for a few hours on a charge. You can see in one of the shots in the gallery from underneath the table I taped up areas I didn’t want to light up then marked down the places to put lights. Then it was just a matter of wiring it up and gluing them in place. The lights don’t photograph well (they’re LEDs) but look great in person. Low tech solution but looks good and keep me from having an unsightly cord on the ground.

The table itself was built to hold the playfield snugly, which rests on a lip inside it. This way I could always put a new playfield in down the line. The molding around the edge is installed in a way that I can remove one end, slide out the glass to get to or replace the playfield if need be. I then installed a trap door underneath to be able to easily get to the portable power supply to charge it and turn the lights on and off.

For a first time project with no electrical experience whatsoever I’m pretty damn pleased with how it came out. I think if I knew what I was doing more on the electric side I would’ve wired up some flipper buttons on the side to turn the lights on and off. As it stands it’s an awesome conversation piece and I love having it in the living room. Also, I have coasters I just removed them to take the pics!

Check out a bunch of pictures from it here!

Pages: 1 2