I'm gonna make a Star Trek pinball table for myself. But I want YOUR input!

[JRoss]

TL;DR I wanna make a Trek pinball table, and I'm asking you guys to help me narrow down my theme.
Okay, so I'm a lifelong Trekkie and a lifelong fan of pinball. I'm not nearly as deep into that hobby as I used to be. Haven't seriously played since I got married 15 years ago, and I don't have the space or money to support having a full-size pinball table in my home.
I've been thinking about making a smaller table or two as a DIY project for me, and maybe for my daughter, if she's interested.
Coming up with a theme was probably the most difficult thing. After a lot of debate I've decided that I want to go with Star Trek. One big reason is that while the Star Trek TNG pinball table is considered one of the greatest pins of all time, it's just not for me. I find that it plays too slowly, and in every machine I've playd there are significant issues with the ball draining down the middle. Also, the look just doesn't feel that "Trek" to me. The designers made the most prominent ship Lore's Borg Whatever-it-Was.

Here is where I'm asking you all for input. I love so much of Star Trek that I just can't decide how to theme it. Do I go with TNG? DS9? SNW? TOS? LD? PRO? There are so many choices. So I'm asking you guys which era you like best, particularly for its aesthetics. I plan on putting in art for Starfleet and alien ships.

 

[Captain pl1ngpl0ng]

for a star trek pinball machine i actually think that the TNG theme works really really well.

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[JRoss]

for a star trek pinball machine i actually think that the TNG theme works really really well.

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It is a very highly rated table. Like one of the most beloved of all time. My issues with it are mainly technical. Although I also think there is not enough Klingon representation in that table, and they really should have gone with a cube instead of that Type-3 thing. So much more iconic.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Do a Quark's bar theme. The big Quark's three-story art piece can be the standing background and inner decor, the bumpers can be dabo and tongo tables, there can be a railing for the ball that resembles the Allamarain game (along with the little character pieces), there can be a wormhole as the prize hole that opens up when you get it in, with gold-pressed latinum slips as rewards. Maybe DS9 as the main circular area where the ball roles around, or a dabo table. Maybe multiple levels to bump around on a 3d chess board. The paddles can be painted to look like phasers being fired from a runabout,

 

[JRoss]

Ooh, yeah! That would be great ramp art.

 

[JRoss]

Do a Quark's bar theme. The big Quark's three-story art piece can be the standing background and inner decor, the bumpers can be dabo and tongo tables, there can be a railing for the ball that resembles the Allamarain game (along with the little character pieces), there can be a wormhole as the prize hole that opens up when you get it in, with gold-pressed latinum slips as rewards. Maybe DS9 as the main circular area where the ball roles around, or a dabo table. Maybe multiple levels to bump around on a 3d chess board. The paddles can be painted to look like phasers being fired from a runabout,

All that is a bit ambitious for me. I'm thinking of doing it at like 1/4 scale in cardboard or chipboard and such. Like you see on YouTube. Maybe as wide as a regular table, but shorter.
Anyway, I think it would be cool to have a central "dabo wheel" that spins the ball out to one of four random exits or something.
I don't plan on powering this thing. All analog. But we'll see where it goes.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

The balls could be tribbles, perhaps.

 

[publiusr]

If laser pointers ever shrinks gel em up and make the ball a photon torpedo…bounce off bridge domes.

 

[JRoss]

If laser pointers ever shrinks gel em up and make the ball a photon torpedo…bounce off bridge domes.

YES! I'm thinking that I might even make this as a digital table first to prototype the ramp placement and such.

 

[publiusr]

Lasers are getting smaller all the time---wait for a bit...then use these:
https://phys.org/news/2023-01-high-performance-visible-light-lasers-fingertip.html
https://phys.org/news/2023-01-playing-angles-high-contrast-direction-tunable-lasing.html