Quoted from Aurich:They're actually very cheap. The process of making the buck for the vacuum forming is the cheapest form of modeling pinball companies do (cheaper than rotocasting, much cheaper than injection molding), the plastic is cheap, the process is cheap. They simply don't add a lot to BOM compared to many mechs.
That's why you can buy a pair of ramps from Starship for less than a single drop target bank from Pinball Life.
Two long ramps $181: https://www.starship-fantasy.com/ramps/Party-Zone-left-and-right
One Stern 3 drop target bank $225: https://www.pinballlife.com/stern-3-bank-drop-target-assembly-17103.html
Designing them isn't hard, prototyping them isn't hard, it's all just a normal part of designing a playfield. What really matters is the per unit cost for your BOM when you're multiplying everything by thousands of games.
This.
(Plastic) Ramps used to be much more difficult to create, wireforms not so much. But once they caught on, it was a no brainer. Way cheaper than an upper playfield, way more fun frankly.
I don’t care if PF is R-rated or not, but I grant it probably should be based on the responses here!
Hudson, WI
