Pinball 101

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We had the great pleasure of playing teacher to an awesome group of young adults last week, when students from a home-school co-op visited us in the shop to learn about building pinball machines.
 Check it out!

A dozen students and siblings visited us from Branches Homeschool Community, a program that gives home-schooled students from across the city the chance to try out some cool electives in a collaborative and educational environment.
Students this semester asked their coordinator, Debbie Gillespie, if they could learn about building a pinball machine. She got right on it, and lined up a project from Instructables.
She also arranged some field trips, including visits to our shop, and to one of the best arcades in town, StarFighters Arcade in Mesa. Students visited us on Friday and listened to a quick history lesson from the big boss, along with some cool explanations about the mechanics behind pinball machines.
We set up a bunch of mechs for the kids to play with, and put out some spare parts for them to take back to class. They also wanted to play a few games while they were here, all in the name of education, of course.
The students (ages 10 to 13, along with some younger siblings) were great, and had a ton of questions. This seems like an awesome class!
Now that’s a cool grab bag! We’ve invited the students to bring their creations to ZapCon this year, so let’s see what they come up with! Thanks for visiting, you all were inspiring!