The Idea
Original lighting in vintage pinball machines is dying — and the replacements are worse. OEM strips haven’t been manufactured in decades. Aftermarket options are generic LED strips repackaged at triple the price with the wrong connectors. Every machine is different: Bally connectors don’t match Williams, Stern uses a different pinout, and voltage rails vary wildly.
The plan is to design a single, versatile replacement that handles the variation instead of ignoring it. Addressable LEDs, a custom PCB with onboard voltage regulation, and firmware that adapts via configuration. Open design — schematics, gerbers, firmware, and BOM all published when it’s done.
Whether it’ll actually work out that neatly remains to be seen.
Follow Along
This project is being built live and documented as it goes.
Live builds happen on Twitch — check in to watch the work happen in real time, ask questions, or just watch me make mistakes.
Video summaries should come out on Tuesdays, covering what happened during the live sessions and any progress made in between.
Discussion happens on Discord — if you’re building along, have questions, or want to tell me I’m doing it wrong, that’s the place.
Videos
Videos will be added here as they’re released.
Specifications
- LEDs
- WS2812B / SK6812 (addressable)
- Controller
- ESP32
- Input Voltage
- 5V–12V (common pinball rails)
- Form Factor
- Strip — drop-in replacement
- Target Cost
- $15–25 per strip
- Design Tools
- KiCad, PlatformIO
- License
- Open source (schematics, firmware, BOM)
The writing on this page was done with help from Claude. The ideas, opinions, and questionable design decisions are all mine. More on that.