EM / SS Pinball Comparison

The table below provides a very general comparison of Electro-Mechanical and Solid State pinball machines. Like all generalizations there are many exceptions. During the change-over from EM to SS in the late 1970s the new machines were not that different from a look and play point-of-view. The goal here is to capture the common cases of comparison between a 70s EM/early SS machine and late SS / 90s DMD or later machines.

This table summarizes an RGP discussion started on 11/29/2011 by Kirkd2.

Category	Late EM / Early SS	Late SS / DMD
Ball Time	Short, design is about 30 seconds per ball	Games tend to be longer
Speed	Slower, playfield slope about 3.5 degrees (1)	Fast, playfield slope about 6.5 degrees
Randomness	The ball is wild	Controllable shots, many machines have shots that return the ball to a flipper
Game play	No memory from ball-to-ball for multi-player machines	Player state tracked from ball-to-ball
Objectives	Easy to understand, difficult to master	Deep rule sets, complete missions or goals
New Players	Easy to see game objectives	Often overwhelmed
Sounds	Mechanical bells, chimes, and score reels	Broad range of electronic sounds, including voice and high-quality music
Lights	On, Off, When-Lit, and blinking	Broad range of light shows and attract modes
Display	Light up or mechanical score reels	Gas plasma numeric, alphanumeric, dot matrix
Theme	Original themes	Original and licensed themes
Artwork	Original artwork	Trend toward photo-realistic art, less spot-color screen printing, art sometimes dictated by licensee
Playfield	High-quality multi-color screen printing	Lower-quality dithered color screen printing
Maintenance	No diagnostics, need to trace problem on schematics	Built-in diagnostic modes
Repair	Rarely need parts replacement other than maintenance	Transistor replacement on driver boards
Longevity	Could still be working 100 years from now	Electronics will eventually fail

(1) Later EMs can have fast play if they are set up and adjusted correctly.