The tested complete games are then wrapped, strapped, and packed. ‘Under the hood’ of the new Medieval Madness remake Medieval Madness remakes being built alongside the Monster Bash machines We’ll look at that topper in a moment, but there were some of these new Medieval Madness games being built in the factory alongside the Monster Bashes in preparation for the reveal at Pinball Expo a couple of days later. The top-of-the-line Royal Edition features a special topper with its own controller board. The playfield is installed into the cabinet with the backbox addedĪlthough Monster Bash was the game being manufactured during our visit, the company was just launching their new, upgraded Medieval Madness remakes. When the playfield, backbox and cabinet are complete, they are brought together and tested. On another line, the games’ cabinets have their electrical components such as the power connector, transformer, switch box, bass speaker, tilt bob, ground straps, flipper buttons and start button, along with the coin door wiring and some pure mechanical parts like the playfield prop, leg bolt brackets, vent covers, lock bar bracket and playfield sliders. Nearby, the backboxes are equipped with the control boards, speaker panels and translite light box.ĭriver boards are put on their mounting plates before going into the backboxes The playfield is flipped over and top-side assemblies added The playfields on the line in their rotisserieĪssemblies are loaded into sloping trays above the line for use when needed With the posts installed, the playfield crosses the room and moves onto the production line where it sits in a custom-designed rotisserie with sliders on the base. The Monster Bash playfield at the start of the production line The playfields we saw just now come into the production area and initially have posts and ball guides added. Not all parts need assembling though, like these plastics for Monster BashĬompleted assemblies are placed on shelves unless they are needed immediately for production, in which case they go onto the line.Ĭompleted assemblies go onto sloping racks which are picked up on the other side and installed on the playfield Key components such as solenoids and switches have their connector cables attached here On the right side as you enter is the sub-assembly area, where mechanisms and basic game components are put together, ready for mounting on the playfield. This is a remarkably compact facility given the number of machines they build and the quantity of components used. So, what happens to all these playfields and the cabinets we saw earlier? They are turned into complete pinball machines in the Chicago Gaming pinball production area. Racks of clearcoated Monster Bash playfieldsĮach playfield is inspected for any flaws in the printing, alignment or clearcoat When all the screened layers have been applied and the inks fully dried, the playfield is clearcoated in a special spray room and left to cure before entering final inspection. The finished product on the left, the playfield with just the base white layer on the right The next playfield is inspected after another layer of ink is screened onto itĪ rack of freshly-printed playfields drying The blank playfields are then screen printed The playfields are put into racks after each colour is screened, where a pedestal fan speeds up the drying process. Individual playfield designs can use a dozen or more different screens depending on the complexity of the artwork. Each colour layer has its own screen with the ink applied by hand, starting with a base white layer. Once a playfield had passed inspection, it goes to the screen-printing room to have the artwork applied. Plain Monster Bash playfields are inspected to make sure they are perfectly smooth and flat Not only do playfields have to be very accurately cut and routed, they then have to have inserts glued in, be sanded smooth, and then be printed and clearcoated. The cabinet building is relatively simple compared to the production of title-specific playfields.
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