I did experiment with using a mirror at one point, but that was to deal with focal length

Thanks. Having done two machines, with this being far more sophisticated, I look at what Jpop did, and there are just some really obvious mistakes he made, that really get back to him having zero business sense. One of the most critical things, given the incredible complexity around making a machine, is to use as much stock stuff as you can and avoid the 'not invented here syndrome'. You have to be so careful about wasting time and resources on the wrong things -- like custom cabinet designs that then need custom glass, creating your own control system (or really copying someone else's) vs just buying theirs. Dozens of re-do of art, when you don't have a working whitewood (which could likely then result in changes that affect artwork). Focusing more on the look, then the playability. Now the reality is, if you plan to do a 1,000 machines, well, then you can afford more custom things, but if you are going to 24, you just can't. You have to wonder how much time and money was wasted designing and creating things that could be bought instead. Probably a full years worth of the salary he was drawing.

Even understanding the time value of money, and my desire to use stock when I can, there are times I will fabricate my own mech, etc., which could possibly end up costing more in time, than buying, but sometimes I just can't bring myself to pay the price for some piece of metal or sometimes I have not patience to wait for a part. Bottom line is you have to make comprises, and you have to accept that, so you then need to make good choices around those.

Curious as to the reasons why you think it is not 'practical'.

Wasn't as much an excuse to do machine vision stuff, but that certainly was a fun intellectual challenge and pretty satisfying once I got it to work. It really came about from thinking about what kind of cool toys could I have (which is also what led to going forward with the theme). Using real dice had a natural appeal, and when I though about the old 'dice popper' from the kids game Trouble, then it sort of came together. Once I decided on real dice, (and I wanted real vegas dice), it led to variety of ideas on how to read them (including some that have subsequently be suggested here), but the machine vision seemed to be the most practical (although extra challenging with transparent dice). I certainly felt it would have a pretty high cool factor having the real dice and having the machine be able to read them.

I'd rather say 'spending time' vs 'wasting time' since I am not sure if I said to my wife "I'm going downstairs to waste time on the pinball machine" that would play as well as "I'm going downstairs to work on the pinball machine" -- even if she knows the truth. Of course it is really a tradeoff, I end up playing a lot less pinball when I am focused on building.

I think we all decide, in homebrew, on certain things we want to "roll our own", based on our experience, skills and interests. There was at least one guy who built is own boardset, but after that ended up going to one of the off the shelf products, since the software support was already there. Not to say that you can take either of the current frameworks and create the necessary drivers/interface for it. You can also pick and choose and use part of existing solutions in combination with your own. Other factor is just around the shear amount of things that are needed, some of which you can't just buy off the shelf or hand to someone else do it. Ultimately there is a lot more than one way to go about it. In reality, no two people approach it exactly the same.

A a live ticker would be pretty cool, not quite enough surface area and with the curve be tricky to pull off, but i do like it.

Right now the short term plan is to have it be labeled 'CRAPS' with white lettering and black background, when Craps is 'open' the lamp would turn on and the word CRAPS would be illuminated -- at least that is the current plan and hopefully I get to that by expo, getting to the point where I have to prioritize which of the 763 items on the punch list I focus on.

Very true, I'm sort of a jack of all trades, so I enjoy getting to do most of it. Needless to say I am better at some things than others, and certainly leverage other people and options where it made sense to me. For example, I did have a buddy build the ramp and returns for me, from my designs, as welding is not a skill I have. I also had a friend do the routing and 3d printing from my CAD drawings, since I have not invested in that type of equipment. I also had a someone do a bunch of callouts, since I really don't want to use (hear) my voice if I can avoid it. Cabinet art was vector art I purchased and that was then modified and pieced together. The hydrographics done to make the roulette wheel look like wood, was done by another buddy who had done something similar for his machine (Buffy the vampire slayer)

Not surprisingly I had to learn some skills along the way (like doing CAD), but all of that is just part of the journey. But one of the best parts are the people I've gotten to know who are my fellow build your own enthusiasts. A great group of guys, who are all very supportive and willing to help each other.

I believe this will be the best and biggest year yet at the P-roc booth at expo.

I've not worked on it or even tested it yet in this new build, but the issue was just with sixes and only on occasion. Pretty sure I can tweak it to solve it, time will tell. Bigger concern is how it handles radically different lighting conditions.

The 'state' of the game changes when a shot is made, so only option would then be to delay all aspects of the completion of the shot/objective. Since other things light and flash there is an indication when it happens. I may extend the insert 'light show' to be a touch longer so that the start of the flashing of the slot machine toy is closer to when the inserts finish their show. Ultimately I can ditch its little circuit board and just control the lights myself, but this was a quick and easy add -- took maybe five minutes to install it after I changed the graphics.

There is a spinner in a different spot, that earns you spins for when you open and play the slot machine (also a stand-up target near the slot machine awards more 'lines', which are really more valuable then spins). Have thought about changing behavior so that once the spinner is hit X times, instead of earning a spin, the first reel would stop then after X more the second reel stops. But I decided that it would be almost impossible for the player to really see what was happening with it (the inner loop where the spinner is, is incredibly fast). Plus, some awards are better given when the ball is being held.

Added lighting to the top of the craps dice popper. It is an LED ring and it turns on when craps is open. The text needs to be a touch smaller so as not to have the darker band at the bottom and the top needs to be covered.

IMG_1927.JPG-1 (resized).png

Below you cans see that the base has now been fully covered in felt (vs just the dice area), I had saved some left over scraps of felt from when I re-felted a pool table a year ago. The cylinder has been cut down by .75", which I did in anticipation of issues with clearance of the glass (and hopefully I will be okay now, since can't really cut it much more without running into an issue with range of view of the camera). I also felt the height was a little too big compared to the width and this is more in line with the original vision/sketches I did.

IMG_1928.JPG-2 (resized).png

The reduction in size did require adjustments to the software parameters used for the machine vision and based on some testing getting very, very good accuracy on the read. Also ran into unexpected issue when moving the machine vision software over to Linux from my mac (thought I and previously tested it, but apparently not). The issues were around color formats and some supported parameters for the image capture, an unexpected issue, but fortunately was able to work through it, but was time consumuning.

I am happy with how the dice popper has come together, and almost ready to move on to other stuff. Time getting short, 21 Days and counting, and playfield still not in the cabinet nor have I done any real play testing. The list of what won't be ready for expo is growing.

I have considered it and it is still very much a possibility. The reality is that to really play draw poker, you want to do a catch and cradle when the vuk puts the ball into play, so you can be precise on your shots, and that would also give you the chance to review the cards and strategize. The goal is for to be about skill and not just keeping the ball up on the mini-playfield and smacking the drop targets. In addition, there is a pause after the cards are dealt and before the VUK fires to give you a chance to review. Regardless, changing the cards is still a possibility, but I'm also considering adding a large two char label above that would just be the number and suit info, and It is likely I would try that before changing the cards, since I like having the real cards.

Three possibilities . . .

1) The ball falls out the bottom, e.g. drains from the mini-playfield, you automatically lose the hand

2) after hitting the cards you want to toss, you shoot the ball past the drop targets, cards are drawn and a payout is made if you win (win also counts towards completion of draw poker objective)

3) after hitting the cards you want to toss, you bounce the ball back into the vuk, cards are drawn and points awarded if a winner, then a new hand is dealt and the ball put back into play. However, only one win 'per visit' counts towards the completion objective.

The craps table also will let you have multiple wins 'per shooter', but only one counts towards the objective until you lose and then re-open craps.

There is an opportunity to win 'just spades' via the slot machine. If you win that award, the next time you play poker the deck will only have spades in it, so it guarantees you a flush (as long as you don't drain), and you are then playing to get a shot at a straight or royal flush.

I'm also considering adding a feature where if you get all of the drops down, when you draw cards, it will guarantee you at least a pair of jacks or better. This sort of changes the skill required, but at least if you mess up and knock down the wrong target, you can still improve your chances of getting a win. I'll consider this further down the road, since it is not a quick add.

Blackjack will also be played on the 'card table', but will require a little less skill. You will have two targets for 'hit' and two for 'stand' and occasional a double down or a split option. You hit the 'hit' target to draw another card (and target resets), then you need to hit one or more of the stand targets and then shoot through (or just drop it back into the vuk to have the dealer finish up the hand).

Right now once the ball is shot past the targets, it goes right back into play, possible in the future I'll use a disappearing post to hold the ball while the hand is finished up.

Was so busy working on the machine and talking with folks playing, I did not take any photos or video, but when I get it back up I'll do so.

Game was up and down first twos days due to a column short issue, but was solid on Saturday, but did keep the glass off most of the time due to a couple of ball hang spots. Suspected it would be an issue, but took a wait and see approach, and well, it was, so bad call on my part.

Seemed lots of folks liked it, especially gamblers who really like how craps was really craps and not some psuedo "you rolled 11, so 11,000 points". Craps worked nearly flawlessly as did draw poker except when Craig knocked down all five and the drops would not reset, until I figured it out. I had switched from a 70v to 48v supply a day or so before expo and some things I had not adjusted correctly for the lower voltage, and roulette did not work nearly as well as It did with 70 so that will require some attention/modifications

The three non gambling modes worked well and as it turns out were just as appropriate for expo as for Vegas. "Find parking", (an homage to move your car), "can't remember my room number" and "all you can eat Buffett". In hindsight should have made first shot easier on "find parking" so more would hear the voice call outs and see the "breaking bad" meets "move you car" animations. Almost any time someone started a mode there was a smile or a laugh at what the mode was or its sound track.

Probably be a week or two before I even set it back up, pretty fried from the rush to expo.

Thanks again to all of those who stopped to play, was great meeting and talking with everyone.

Thanks, one of these days I'l get around to posting some video of game play, have not booted it up since Expo, too busy with other stuff.

There is a plastic shield in front and small gap to absorb a hit. In addition, since it is such a short playfield, the flipper power is not all that strong.

It is totally doable, it is sort of an optical illusion due to the odd alignment of the opening, but it is actually wider than you think. If you go back to this post . . .

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/casino/page/2#post-3307593

you will see the actual width, which is close to 2".