How a Pinball Machine works in Slow Motion - The Slow Mo Guys 

Uh oh. I've gone and lied to you. All of you. At 7:20 in the video a thing pops up saying 1000fps but it's actually 100fps during that part. I hope this erroneous 0 does not cause a rift between us. Lots of love. - Gav

Just me or was this like the most interesting video of the year?

"I'm a total novice at pinball" does a perfect slap save 3:05 bro you are better than like 99.9% of people

This video is like candy for any pinball fan. Very well done. Thanks.

0:43 the absolute loudest game in existence. Even when the computer volume was at 10/100 this game was still loud AF

gav deserves an oscar for sound editing I swear

I always wondered how the bumpers worked, so seeing them in slow motion with a full explanation was pretty cool.

This is art. It's so beautifully shot and edited! It is so incredibly relaxing, too... thank you!

All this did was make me seriously want a pinball machine. Great.

We're developing an open source pinball simulator. You can't imagine how valuable this is. Cheers!

I found the footage incredibly relaxing. Wish they had hours of this stuff. Would be better than meditating.

I started playing pinball machines in the mid to late 1970's as a young teenager. Back then, they were completely mechanical, including the score board which used rotating wheels to display the digits in your score. The thing the newer electronic machines sadly lack are mechanical flippers. On the old machines, the button was connected to a rod which connected to the flipper. You had complete control over how hard the flipper pushed the ball. If you caught the ball on your right flipper, but wanted to hit a target off of the left flipper, you could give it such a gentle tap that the ball would do a u-turn from the right to the left, then you could slam it up towards the target. That fine control and finesse is completely absent in the more modern machines. The flippers swing at 100% force or not at all.

this was mesmerizing

Makes me wonder. Due to these crazy flipper rubber physics, is a live catch possible on a virtual pinball machine? I’ve never played one (other than space cadet) but maybe someone can let me know? - Gav

Does anyone else wanna see beyblade in slow motion cause I’ve always been curious how they contact eachother

This is a type of video that will be in everyone's recommended 7 years later

He's really getting that mad scientist look going.

When you learn to play Pinball you discover that those games are actually really deep. Most people dont know that most of the modern tables have a proper "ending". I saw that sense of discover in this video. Also, the slowmo shots are amazingly edited.

Best parts for me was learning how the "tilt" mechanism works, and the "High Game" sound...such a surprisingly simple way to make such a delightful sound!

I absolutely adore how simplistically mechanical pinball machines are in terms of it just being several forces pushed against a ball bearing, but wow, the way it uses clever circuitry down to the milliseconds and even relays the information instantaneously to flash appropriate lights and update game scores and progress? Very smart machines that evolved from your very traditional and very static Bagatelle games. So much fun.

I wasn't sure this was going to be an interesting video, but I really enjoyed how well made it is.. Thank you!

"just shoving the camera in different spots and learning how each piece works from the footage alone" is exactly how my doctor briefed me for my colonoscopy.

3 years later this is till one of my favorite RU-vid videos of all time. Been watching RU-vid since it came out

Being a huge pinball fan, I have to say that was EPIC! This was so interesting!! I think 1 of the more brilliant things about these machines is that even though the score rollers have been replaced with digital screens, they've basically remained unchanged for decades.

this is how i wish episodes of " how it's made" would be done. I like how he was describing the actions of all the mechanisms at the time they were being activated.

Being a kid in the 60's and 70's this was one of the first 'games' I ever played. So enjoyed the peek into the inside workings and the trip down memory lane is just a bonus!!

A humble English gentleman doing experiment very kindly with extreme sensetivity. An experiment hasnt been treated this kindly and humbly before. Thank you humble gentleman.

When I think of the past it just brings back so many memories. I won a actual arcade pinball machine in 1981 by getting the high score over one month period at a local Cal-Skate (roller skating) in Chico, Ca. I still have it and plan to restore it one day.

I've only ever played pinball on Windows as a kid so I had no idea how complicated pinball machines are.. I just assumed the ball bounced off of things and that was it lol. Very interesting!

this game mechanic is over 100 years old. fascinating how much engerning went into this game

I've never thought about pinball bumpers but that mechanism makes so much sense.

Discovering hobbies by accident is one of life’s great pleasures

If Dan was there, we would've taken a pinball to the face. For science.

The cinematography of this was absolutely beautiful, the moving slow motion shots were absolutely gorgeous! Reminds me of like early 2Ks CGI movies but you did this physically, absolutely insane

In 16 years of RU-vid, this is of the top 10 best videos I've ever seen. Thank you SO much for this magnificent content about these beautiful marvels of technology, art, and entertainment.

I love how simple but complex pinball machines are. This video is always fun to watch and learn about the physical mechanisms of a pinball table.

“In other news, the worldwide buying of privately-owned pinball machines went up by a sudden 340%...”

I love that fimography that goes into this video. That angles, timing and framing of shoots. This is not only super interesting. This is art.

That Windows pinball game was the GOAT back in the day! I too was absolutely ADDICTED to it when I was a kid! :D

As a long time subscriber, I put off watching this video for awhile because I just couldn't imagine there was that much going on in a pinball machine that I miss living at 100% speed. I mostly maintain that, but was so impressed by the cinematography, the sound design, the shot composure and use of the probe lense... the production quality and creativity of this project alone was enough to keep me completely fixated. Keep it up and cheers Gav

Gavin: “Please excuse my terrible pinball skills and terminology” Also Gavin: live catching, dead-bouncing, tip-passing, stacking multiballs, making side shots, describing the rules of the game perfectly and making a GC. Next stop, PAPA. 😁

This is so cool. The cinematography on this is incredible.

I love this video. Pinball is something I had limited time with at least physically, yet had endless fascination towards especially in form of video game adaptations, fantastical video game logic filled or simulation. And playing actual machines whenever rarely possible. I would love seeing the same for older "Less electronical" pinball machine, though most things this video focuses on are probably going to be same, with more simple electromechanisms. Solanoids are still solanoids in 70's tables as they are on this modern table. I also really feel bad for Depp's Wonka, could not even get a pinball table made decades after movie...

So much more shaky and lively in there than I would have thought. Everything just shaking about and all wobbly, really put the physics of pinball on display.

7:52 - 7:55 is probably one of my favorite shots you guys have produced

I don't think I'll be alone in saying this was possibly the most interesting and educational video of 2020

To me, the amount of mechanical engineering involved for entertainment purposes is amazing.

today, machines like these are seen as outdated, yet building these, requieres so much skill and knowledge

For someone who loves pinball machines this was awesome video! You should do another video with a mechanical Slot Machine. I have a real Las Vegas Mechanical slot machine you could use here hit it would be far too expensive to ship.

There's a reason Ed named one of his newer albums "Silverball" and it's 'cause he can't get enough of this game.

Whoever invented a pinball machine was a wizard. A Pinball Wizard!

It must be strange to make these videos and then never look at something the same again, like a pinball flipper. What an amazing production!

Okay but was anybody else genuinely entertained watching him play in real time? I swear there needs to be a twitch channel for live pinball

This reminds me of a song.... but I forget Who it's by.

Probably one of the coolest pinball machines I’ve seen, and mostly just cause I love the original movie so much.

It's absolutely amazing how reliable and robust the playfield items are considering a metal ball slams into it thousands of times

I've been fascinated with pinball..... ... Ever since I was a young boy

"And the Oscar for best documentary short goes to..."

Wow, this is a great demonstration of the physics of a Live Catch. I always wondered how that worked. In theory, that should be the same physics during a Drop Catch as well.

So much movement, flexing and bending. And some pinballs are 45 years old and still going. Magic. Thank you for this.

I didn’t know that pinball machines are so mechanical. I’m saying this as a mechatronics student: “I’m buying a pinball machine when I live on my own!”

0:40 I used to play this all the time when I was a kid too! So much memories

Definitely one of my favorite videos on this channel! A perfect choice for a subject, really cool to watch, and gives you an appreciation of how high-technology these machines were when they were first made.

Wow. I played Gor Gar in the 70’s. It’s addictive for sure.

The shot at 7:52!

I miss playing pinball machines. The Adams family one was my fave.

I love normal Slow Mo Guys videos, but I also love this style of mini-documentary. Really well-edited, super informative!

Gosh I love pin ball, they’re one of the best revolutionary gaming mechanisms. Even new ones are just so famously popular

This was actually really dope! Pinball is one of those things you kind of just never really think about the detail and mechanics behind it -- it's sort of like a magic trick! I feel like you just revealed the magician's secrets by showing us all the cool tech stuff up close ✨

Gorgeous shots!

I have 3 pins in my game room and have been playing pins for 50 years now. Your video showed me something new. Thanks.

I noticed for whatever reason that I'm getting more and more into pinball right now, so seeing all of the kinetic excitement I'm currently enjoying in slow mo was just delightful. Also appreciated the mechanism breakdowns; so simple yet so clever.

This video reminded me of two things...how much I used to love playing pinball and how long it's been since I played it. When I first played, Space Invaders hadn't been invented yet and the machines still had mechanical wheels to display the score.

YOU GUYS SHOULD DO WOODTURNING ON A LATHE IN SLOW MO THAT WOULD BE AWESOME

Good job! I worked from 1979 to 1989 as a pinball machine repairer.

The shots were insane tbh. When the ball rolls down the gobstopper ramp straight into the camera 😮 sick

Probably one of the best Slo Mo guys videos of the year, and it's great to see Gavin interacting with so many comments. One of my oldest and favorite subscriptions.

So you're telling me there's actually tactics and aiming involved with playing pinball, not just button-mashing?

As a kid of the 80s, this is the slo-mo video I had no idea I needed. Wonderful.

I remember being a teenager in the 80's and playing The Black Knight multi-ball pinball machine. To this very day, I would love to own one of them.

Love ya'll! I love it when you upload! Stay safe during the pandemic!

It is incredibly amazing to how Gavin successfully made the slow mo footage looks like a drone in a amusement park at an extreme ride

Frankly I dunno, what's more fascinating. The slo-mo video, or that absolutely fantastic hybrid of classical electrical engineering and physics class.

That pinball on the old windows was the best game ever.

Gavin: the most recent iteration of Discount Jesus.

This is absolutely beautiful. They filming is so perfect and would have took you so long to record and edit this. You did an amazing job and deserve a reward for this! Great job!

Amazing shots Gav, thank you

pop bumper is easily my favorite part of a pinball machine. the **tsing** sound the machine gives off and the incredibly fast bumping is so satisfying

7:52 what an amazing shot! 👏🏻✅

everybody gangsta until the machine says "You Tilted" Gets me every time...

I've always wondered how a pinball machine works and what a great channel to see it!

It's amazing over all the years and modernization of pinball games they maintain all the basic mechanical components.

Super interesting, more pinball please. 😀

Now I know how my parents feel when I try to teach them how to play a game

Amazing ingenuity and inventiveness in those machines .

Gavin's camera skills are so satisfying. He gets perfect footage!

The animations and transitions here are honestly top class 👌

I need Gavin to go pro in pinball. Its amazing to watch this Geico Caveman play Americana Pachinko.

Brilliant video. Not only some great close up slo mo shots from multiple angles but also explaining the gameplay mechanics also.

The cinematography of this is video is beautiful.