The Idea to Build a Vin Cab

The idea started as a daft one. A pinball cabinet where the ball is a vinyl record and the plunger is a needle, played the way a jukebox plays an album. It turns up constantly as a video, and I have never once seen one running.

Before I spend money on a donor cabinet I want to know whether it is even a sensible machine to build. A record needs a reasonably flat, undamaged surface, which rules out a lot of second hand vinyl, and the needle is the part I keep getting stuck on. A cheap stylus will wear a groove into a record in an afternoon. A proper one costs more than I want to spend on something that might be a novelty.

Then there is the physics. A steel ball rolls forever and a vinyl disc does not, so every ramp, every curved return, and the entire outlane design has to change. The ball also loses energy differently on the way back up, so the plunger strength and the skill ceiling are completely different. None of that is a dealbreaker, it just means this is not a weekend build.

So the honest version of this post is a running list of what I still do not know. Cabinet sourcing and condition, needle and cartridge choice, whether to cut a new record or find one flat enough, and whether the whole thing is playable or just a very convincing display piece.

Next step is to stop theorising and go look at some real cabinets.