If we could have anything near what WMS puts in slot machines these days it would be tremendous. Transmissive LCDs on the tables, for example. Imagine the upper clear layer of a transmissive LCD mapping specific shot vectors on the table. Inserts are no longer individual pieces, but displayed instead as graphics. You wouldn't need to take your eyes off the table to look up at mini modes on an LCD backbox or DMD, it would all happen right on the playfield.

OLED buttons can be made into OLED targets. The durable tech is already there in our local casinos. Targets could evolve on the fly, show completed hits, display video graphics. The whole game could be made wild with color. With flexible OLEDs, even ramps could be made to display video graphics.

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Hate headsets.

Nope, gonna get rid of solenoids for those altogether

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Thanks for the article. Interesting the kinds of challenges that you don't really expect to run into until you start to do some R&D prototyping:
"At present, there are just two downsides to the LCD playfield glass - the fact it's not totally transparent in the clear areas, producing a fine mesh effect, and how the playfield is effectively the LCD panel's backlight, which in turn demands much more light on the playfield in order to see the LCD panel's output."

Well, Pinball 2000 (RFM) has it - at least for scoring anyway.
http://www.mypinballs.com/tournament/

Like, release a finished product? *ducks*

Pinnovators has this for WOZ...it's called "Pintooth"

I don't think it is really a question about aesthetics as compared to line up, although back box is associated with tradition as an advertising marquee...
It says "this is the story" or this is the fantasy we are presenting. Much like a novel has a cover, a movie has a poster or a CD has a case. Any of those could simply have some boring text to label what it contains, but pictures or art catch the eye and imagination.

I still disagree with anyone thinking that removing the backbox is the way to go. Take cues from the casino industry, they surely could save some money removing the equivalents of backboxes from slot machines, but instead pump them up to be more elaborate to draw the customer in. Who knows better than a casino about how to draw the customer to buy into a game? I know when I am a casino I have to scan this ocean of advertising in front of me to find titles I would be interested in playing.

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Depends on the frequency it is running at, on average EL will become half as bright after 2800 - 3000 hours running at 2000Hz.

Typical incandescent bulbs last 1,000 to 2,000 hours - that is the mean time to failure: half the bulbs will fail by that point. And because lamp manufacturing has become so routine, most of the rest will fail within 100 hours or so of that point.