I’m not sure what kind of obsession is weirder: being obsessed with pinball or being obsessed with Bill Paxton. I do know that being obsessed with pinball AND Bill Paxton is definitely a little weird. Not weird in a serial killer way but in a slightly awesome way. It’s that kind of obsession that compelled Ben Heckendorn to spend the past five years building his own custom Bill Paxton pinball machine. Repeat: his own custom Bill Paxton pinball machine.
Aside from stock parts like flippers and bumbers, the machine was created from scratch, which in and of itself is pretty impressive. Movies referenced in the machine include ALIENS, TRUE LIES, TITANIC, NEAR DARK, FRAILTY, A SIMPLE PLAN, CLUB DREAD (?!) and MIGHTY JOE YOUNG. Strangely I couldn’t find any reference to WEIRD SCIENCE but maybe Chet is in there somewhere.
Luckily Ben has posted a complete making-of his personal Paxton pinball on his blog. It’s probably a little more technical for most non-pinball enthusiasts but that also gives you a greater appreciation for all the work that went into building a personalized Bill Paxton pinball machine. Oh and before you ask, YES, it says “Game over man!” when you lose. Of course…
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