I am a software / hardware / mechanical engineer.. Before 2015 I had only made MAME boxes.
In 2015, I was asked to fix a Pachinko machine. While getting parts to make the machine work, I saw pinball parts, which lead me to buying a $500 craigslist blow up box. I then learned how pinball machines work.
I then bought a black hole lower playfield and got it to run on Arduino.. I am currently fixing the upper playfield and back box for use as a full machine with custom controller boards and new game logic..