Date: 17th October 2023 Location: 500 S Hicks Rd, Palatine, IL 60067, USA Shortly before the start of Pinball Expo last month, Pinball News paid a visit to the Palatine home of American Pinball to see what had changed since our previous visit twelve months earlier. The American Pinball and Aimtron building in Palatine, Illinois The building on South Hicks Road is shared with American Pinball’s parent company, Aimtron, with the right half being home to the pinball business. The American Pinball entrance to the building Since our visit was taking place the day before Pinball Expo began, there was much work underway to prepare the American Pinball stand and ship numerous pinball machines the four miles to the Schaumburg Convention Center. Game Designer, Ryan McQuaid, setting up the inflatable UFO beaming up a cow for the American Pinball stand at Pinball Expo Several Galactic Tank Force machines destined for Pinball Expo With American Pinball’s Executive Vice President, David Fix, also responsible for all the vendor stands at Pinball Expo, a number of machines from other manufacturers were staged at the company’s office so they could more easily be shipped together to the Convention Center. The inflatable UFO on the American Pinball stand at Pinball Expo Also preparing for his appearance at Pinball Expo was Galactic Tank Force’s Game Designer, Dennis Nordman, who was also busy in his office working on his upcoming titles. Dennis Nordman talks about his upcoming games After spending some time talking, David showed us around the factory to see the company’s current games being built. Inside the manufacturing area Last year, while there were plenty of playfields being built for Oktoberfest and Legends of Valhalla, there was a shortage of the cabinets and backboxes needed to make complete games. This year there was no such problem, with multiple playfields and cabinets being equipped, and many completed games boxed-up and ready to ship. When we visited, the company was busy building Houdini and Galactic Tank Force games on two separate playfield lines – Galactic Tank Force on the left, Houdini on the right. Completed Houdini cabinets and backboxes awaiting the installation of fully-populated playfields The equipped cabinets and backboxes A mixed rack of Houdini, Hot Wheels and Galactic Tank Force playfields with the first items of hardware installed The right side of the production area building Houdini playfields Houdini playfields being populated Near-completed playfields This run of Houdini games is the last to include all the original 3D sculpts for the bumper toppers, the milk can, the spirit plaque, the stage spotlights and the wooden trunk. Future runs of the Deluxe model will replace these models with artworked flat plastics, and use decals to simulate the wood effect on the trunk. Some of the 3D sculpts on the Houdini games A rack of wooden magic trunks API Grand playfield displays On the left side of the production area, Galactic Tank Force playfields were being built. Building Galactic Tank Force playfields The GTF production area Galactic Tank Force playfields under test The completed playfield The underside of the playfield Tested Galactic Tank Force machines Buyers of the upcoming Signature Edition of Galactic Tank Force will receive a retro-style tin lunchbox with their game, while they and Limited Edition buyers get the RGB lit tank tracks for the sides of their machine. Tin lunchboxes for Signature Edition buyers Stacks of illuminated tank track side panels for Signature and Limited Edition buyers While some parts arrive fully-assembled from contractors, games usually require many sub-assemblies to be built in the factory before they can be installed on the playfield. There is a dedicated area for making these sub-assemblies. The sub-assemblies construction area Every pinball machine uses hundreds of parts and none of them can be completed until all those parts are in-stock. So, much of the space within the factory is take up with parts storage – from the smallest screws to complete cabinets. David Fix outside the stock room with tubs of screws, nuts and bolts Racks of Hot Wheels playfields Boxes of wireforms and other playfield components More game parts in the storage area Cabinets and backboxes arrive pre-built and sprayed Last year there were piles of cardboard shipping boxes and packing pieces. This year the supplies had reduced as more games have been built and boxed, but there were still plenty ready to go. A smaller, but still large pile of cardboard Some of the completed games ready to ship Some Galactic Tank Force models are shipped with the separate tank turret box That brings us to the end of this look around the American Pinball factory. Huge thanks to David for the invitation and for showing us around. A final look at the production area
