parts alone would be closer to $8000.

The kicker is doing one off parts and mechs. If you can do your own fabrication, 3d printing, assembly, ramp molding, have a treasure trove of parts and have the desire to work for free, maybe 2k.

If you just buy a Striker Extreme you're done and under budget!

Ask John Popadiuk!

Stern spends $1,000,000 on a game for full development.

Make sure the game takes standard parts. Legs, glass, lockdown bar....don't reinvent the wheel.

If you were building your own game, you get to cherry pick the very best playfield parts.

So Williams flippers from the WPC era, Bally drop target mechs from late 70s, Bally pops from the 80s...... the patents have expired on all that stuff, so if you build something and there is commercial interest, you are free to go.

Then you need a platform, and a programmer who is familiar with the language. Bally -35? FAST? P-ROC?

Then you need the art talent.

Then you need the music talent.

Then you need all the voice acting talent.

You need some CAD guys, someone who has access to a CNC router, maybe a 3d printer?

Nah, that's way high. Your original $1500 should be just fine. Custom molding the parts is only a few bucks. And if you have a yard with trees you have plenty of wood for the cab and playfield. A bit of glue and a can of latex from Home Depot and you're on your way to showing these guys a thing or two.

I can see it now.. Spray paint, duct tape and J-B Weld.. $1500 later. Pinball. That guy with the Striker Extreme idea sounds about as close as you are going to get.

Easily--and probably more--considering many of them are reinventing the wheel, doing their own boardsets, throwing in new designs, concepts, and technologies, etc., and gearing up for production. Just doing a one-off custom game from spare parts and existing platforms wouldn't cost nearly as much.

Not at all.

This gives me an idea for a theme. Sort of like a Red Green pinball.

it's impossible to estimate unless you have a volume number. If you figure JUST the cabinet alone (if you're buying single off-the-shelf parts, not re-designing your own)

$280 - flatpack WPC cabinet
$80 - flatpack backbox cabinet
$30 - back box glass
$5 - backbox latch
$9- hinges
$8 - lift channel
$30 - speaker panel
$6 - speaker panel hooks

Pball life
$47 - WPC steel side rails
$10 - set of 4 leg brackets
$5 - 8 leg bolts
$49 - williams legs
$4 - set of 4 feet
$64 - lockdown bar
$79 - lockdown bar reciever
$145 - coindoor
$9 - tilt bob assembly
$20 - playfield glass
$10 - playfield channels
------------
$890

And you haven't included any buttons or any artwork yet, and that's just the cabinet. You still haven't added driverboards, speakers, amps, power supply, or the playfield itself

Coin Mechs!

Its called a Ratpin, like in a Ratrod car.

We've seen a game with no license fees paid, no interactive toys, built in a basement, priced at barely break even $4750. And that was with no margin left for distributors to resell it.

Exactly ^^^^

Now for reference, in quantity 1000, a cab from CCC costs $400 assembled, painted and decalled.

So we learn 2 things:

1. You need a good volume to get good pricing.

2. Never pay retail.

fugetaboutit.jpg

If you were just using classic Bally cab dimensions, you can lay the cab parts on a sheet of plywood and cut an exact replica with a pattern bit.

Exactly. It's a new generation of custom pinball machines. Hipster custom pins. Nice condition pins are for losers. We are on to something here it is time to sell you nice pins.

I think the only cost "effective" way to build a custom machine would be to 're-skin an existing game and use a p-roc system.

exactly, the sum of the parts are worth more than the whole

072808-stepbrothers.jpg

Snore-Roc. We want something like this.. Something that says "Yea I'm crafty but I also have style"

I think you could do it for $2,500. Calling in favors or having donor items would help more. Remember...do not reinvent the wheel(like someone already said). A simple bash toy and std parts is the way to go. I have thought about doing thus myself.

It costs a lot! Especially if you just do one.

I'm looking at doing this same thing although I work for and have access to a full shop. I'm actually looking for others to work with on a combined-effort custom pin.

I have I can 3D model, 3D print, CNC ramp bucks, Vacuum form, weld, water jet, laser cut vinyl print, automotive paint booth, full wood shop, mold shop and silks screening all in-house.

What I can't do is program the game driver boards. I think that the total cost of the mechanical parts, leds, lamp sockets, driver boards, etc. would probably run about $2000 to $3000 depending on how much you do. The cabinet parts and hardware is minimal by comparison to all the electronics.

You wanna take some pinball jobs? how big is your vacuum former?

I would get most of the assemblies (flippers, slings, drop targets, ball trough) and any other misc parts you can like rubbers and posts from pinball life. They have a great homebrew section now. As far as the cabinet, the side rails, lockbar, and lockbar mech new will run you like $260, ideally you want to find those used, or keep a look out for a used cabinet.

Whoever you get to program your game is going to sort of define what electronics you get. If they are comfortable in P-ROC, that's what you'll be buying. If they are ok with mission framework, you can go either FAST hardware or OPP.

I'd spend some time here:
http://pinballmakers.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

Don't reinvent the wheel here, either. If you are going DIY completely, use one of the existing projects, like the Open Pinball Project hardware. Or roll your own with a microcontroller(I did it this way, because of the constraints of my situation). Use a Raspberry Pi 3 with Mission Pinball Framework for the rules and the overall control. You can do most of the game with just configuration files and no custom programming.
I would start simple. Go to http://pinballmakers.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page, hit up the "Files Section" and grab a playfield DXF. Cut it out with your CNC machine, mount some aftermarket or ebay parts and work on a proof of concept. I've started with populated playfields, but my goal is also a complete DIY game at the end.

EDIT: LOL, someone beat me to the submit

LOL. I just read my post from last year.... Man was I WAY off! If you are purchasing new components instead of stealing from donor machines or buying used, for a modern style machine, consider the costs to be more like $6000 to $8000