Dim light. It helps in seeing the ball.

We like to play in the dark. Sometimes if guests are over we play with lights on if many people are in the game room area for safety reasons, but we prefer just the atmospheric light of the machines.

Our Star Trek premium is so bright when it is on it is almost like playing with the lights on anyway.

I like to keep the lights on. The last time I played in the dark I kept going for the wrong hole!

In the dark......with a black-light on if that counts as a light.......Only one of my PITA buddie's will complain he cant see good which is just an excuse for him losing all the time lol

In the dark, but with neon providing some ambient glow.

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It's better in the dark.....just like Space Mountain.

I have dimmers on the lights in rooms I have pinball machines.
Don't like playing with no background light but very dim lighting
mellows the room and enhances the action on the games.

Two of the greatest pinball shows I've been to had subdued lighting.
Pacific Pinball Expo (*really* miss this show) and one of the two
held in Las Vegas years ago when they turned off the lights late at night.
Steve

I just thought about this question on my way home from work so I did a search and found this thread.

I just can't bring myself to play in the dark. Maybe I'm too old or something but it bothers my eyes to play in the dark. I even lose the ball sometimes. What is that you get out of doing so? I could see less reflections from overhead lights maybe but with that comes increased back box reflections by turning the lights off.

It’s cool to look at games in the dark, but I hate playing them that way.

mostly in the light. some games with led's are bright enough that i will play in the dark once in a while. it makes it more challenging for sure

we have the same topper for TZ. it's a cool one for sure.

Agreed..love that thing, and getting pretty hard to find.....

I really enjoy the dimmable overhead approach....nothing brings out the beauty of the whole game that way. And dark spots? Umm...none, just vibrant PF colors as they were designed...still use a spotlight here and there to balance things out, but that's it...

I get dressed in the dark.

I like having neon lights on while playing pinball in the dark otherwise. Something about neon and pinball that goes great together. And Pinstadium lights are awesome for playing in the dark and letting you see the ball prefectly, even better than in a fully lit room.

Yeah, it helps me focus on the game more

Man, kool-aid runs deep, even outside the main thread....we are now defeating physics with these things. Come on.....

Dark. All the time. Every time.
~Steveo

I prefer it dark, but not pitch dark. Like to have just a small lamp on in the room so I can see my cocktail better. . .

Not defeating physics but using it to our advantage. The intensity or brightness of light follows an inverse square relationship as a function of the distance from the light source.

Having two strips of bright LEDs positioned just below the glass close to both sides of the playfield ensures bright uniform illumination of the game with the additional benefit of little or no glare which makes tracking the ball much easier. Compare that to overhead lighting which will be more diffuse since it is further from the source, probably less uniform unless it is directly overhead, which would cause reflections.

This thread is about playing pinball in the dark and in my opinion these lights are the best way to do that, and it’s not even close. I was skeptical too until I saw them in person at TPF. Seeing is believing.

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Inverse square law is something I use daily in both the Audio (primarily) and Lighting (much more involved than 1 formula) design realm. You seem to miss the point that the LED strips positioning (on the side) are actually brighter on the edge, then diminishes the closer to the middle of the playfield, not to mention the inherent pronounced shadowing caused by prior (nothing uniform about it, but a cool mod). No way can (2x) led strips, w limited throw patterns, come even close to uniform, evenly distributed overhead light (leaving the rainbow ramps out of it)
You've made some great posts, but inverse square is irrelevant here. Proper placement (overhead in this case) of correct luminary device to distribute uniform color temperature across entire playfield is the relevant point.

The thread is dark or lit room, and I stated I preferred a properly dim, overhead lit one. I own a set (or 2) and have relegated them to other purposes.

Please change title to "nerd alert!"

This is a friendly discussion and I appreciate that. My initial comment was that I think the Pinstadiums let you see the ball more clearly than a fully lit room. I stand by that. Thinking about this some more I remembered that Scott had his games under a tent or canopy at TPF. You can barely see that in the top of this photo from Pinball News. His games were more enclosed than any others that I recall seeing at the show, probably in an attemp to exclude overhead lighting. Scott is a smart guy and I’ll wager he went to that extra effort and expense to contrast his games to those that were in the fully lit open room. The comparison was definitely to his benefit. He had an Addams Family which looked amazing with his mod as you can see in the photo. There was another one nearby. The difference as far as being able to see the ball was night and day, no pun intended.

And I think the inverse square law definitely applies here. You can see how close the Pinstadiums are to the playfield. Very little brightness is lost due to distance. On the other hand the convention room at TPF has a very tall ceiling, which is where the lights were located, so by the time the overhead light reached the playfield much of the luminance had diminished, which is why most games looked relatively dark in comparison.

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Dimmers on overhead LED lights.

I play in the dark, sometimes I will have a neon sign on. I do tweek all my games to make them easy to play that way. Going back to the dark arcade is part of the nostalgia for me. I rarely tilt or nudge at home, I'm so brainwashed from my youth and an adult yelling he was going to come knock you around if you bump that machine again, it wasn't a threat in those days.

Ditto...I like Scott, and think his mod is obviously a hit. Fortunately, my ceilings aren't nearly as high as the convention center. Games can be beautifully lit from proper overhead lighting, and I don't like a pitch black game room, or artificially added color to the playfield, GI or otherwise. I stand by my answer - give me a properly lit gameroom ....can see the ball just fine.

Back on track, and away from infomercial pros and cons....

Right you are!!!

I'm really surprised at how many people say they play in complete darkness...weird.

I only have 1 actual light fixture in my game room that takes 1 bulb and I have a color changing Led bulb in it. I get my lighting from 2 neons a pool table light with blue bulbs in it and the games. Much like a bar dimly lite.

Fair enough

I have a couple of pinball neons. I prefer dimly lit but also in the dark. In daylight I think there is something lost. You do not see all that the controlled lighting does on a SS. Ems also look better in low light.