MAYA Pinball

07/10/2026

https://mayapinball.com/blog/jev-scorekeeping-pinball/

Can vision models and Jev automate pinball scorekeeping? How combining image OCR with discrete classification could eliminate tournament data entry.

28/09/2026

Little wrap up of the European Pinball Champs and combined UK open event. Lots of stats on the games through the weekend.

European Pinball Championship and UK Open 2026 results, plus qualifying stats: void rates, best card timing and the scores needed on every machine.

24/09/2026

Does a lower-resistance pinball coil hit harder?

We put the theory to the test with real coils, measuring resistance, current, inductance and winding characteristics to see what actually happens.

A bit of pinball engineering, a bit of maths, and quite a lot of measuring.

Read the full experiment:

Lower resistance means more power, says the forum rule. We measured 26 AWG coils to see how much unwinding really helps, and where it stops.

24/09/2026

Ever wondered what the numbers on a pinball coil actually mean?

Wire gauge? Number of turns? A manufacturer's part number? Sometimes it's surprisingly difficult to tell.

We’ve put together a guide to decoding pinball coil numbers, with real examples and a few of the traps to watch out for.

Read it here:

In 23-800, 23 is the wire gauge and 800 is the number of turns. How to read pinball coil labels and flipper part numbers, and what your coil should measure.

24/09/2026

We’ve been measuring pinball coils.

Resistance, inductance, wire gauge, turns, dimensions and more — all measured and published in one growing reference.

If you’re repairing, restoring or just curious about what’s actually inside a pinball coil, have a look:

https://mayapinball.com/papers/pinball-coil-data/

More coils and more data to come.

Resistance and inductance measured on 29 pinball coils, and what the numbers say about how hard each one pulls.

23/09/2026

There’s a surprising amount you can learn from a pinball coil before you ever fit it to a machine.

We’ve been measuring coils to understand the numbers behind them: DC resistance, inductance, winding count, wire gauge, wire length, dimensions and weight.

That means we can start answering practical questions like:

What coil is this?
Is this resistance normal?
What do the numbers on the coil actually mean?
How does one winding compare with another?
And does a lower-resistance coil really mean a stronger coil?

We’ve now measured 29 individual coils covering 24 coil types and published the results as an open pinball coil reference.

It’s part of a bigger project at MAYA Pinball: building useful technical data for pinball repair, restoration and engineering, rather than leaving everything buried in old manuals and scattered forum posts.

More coils, more measurements and more data to come.

PinballParts

23/09/2026

Ever wondered what the numbers on a pinball coil actually mean?

On a winding spec like 23-800, the 23 is the wire gauge and 800 is the number of turns. Simple, right?

Except not every number you see on a coil is a winding spec — sometimes it's just a manufacturer's part number.

We've put together a guide explaining how to decode the numbers, what they tell you about the coil, and where things get a bit more complicated.

🔗 Full article at mayapinball.com

21/09/2026

https://mayapinball.com/blog/epc-uk-open-2026/

Some useful info (and fun infographics) about the upcoming MEGA pinball event in London later this week

The European Pinball Championship and the UK Open run 24 to 27 September 2026 at the Wandsworth Civic Suite in London.

07/09/2026

Well that was quick!! Probably because it is awesome 😎

120 tickets sold in 48 hours - we are now SOLD OUT!

We are overwhelmed by all the support, and excited for 2027 already! The waiting list is open, so if you've missed out, jump on to be notified when a ticket becomes available. (Don't try and buy from one of the bots in the comments!)

04/09/2026

Octane is MAYA Pinball's patent-pending flipper control platform, and this is a first look at it running live.

This rig was demonstrated at Pinfest UK 2026 in a cabinet enclosure housing two Octane boards: one driving a bare flipper and knocker to demonstrate knock recovery in isolation, the other integrated into a classic solid-state pinball machine so attendees could play a full game on it. This video was recorded back in the workshop, running the same demonstration on the lab bench.

Most flippers built in the last few decades use a mechanical end-of-stroke (EOS) switch, which can catch a knock by reopening under the impact and retriggering power. It works, but as a mechanical contact it's inconsistent, affected by wear, bounce, and placement. The video first shows the demo rig with Octane's electronic EOS switched off and no mechanical switch fitted either, a deliberately bare fixed-pulse drive with nothing watching the plunger at all. A knock there simply wins.

With Octane engaged, the controller identifies end of stroke from the coil's own current instead of a mechanical switch, and recovers from a knock in real time, more consistently and with no moving parts to wear out. Individual knock events are shown with timestamps to illustrate knock detection.

The video also demonstrates closed-loop current regulation: a flat, settable current level is held through the coil for the duration of the stroke, rather than the fixed voltage/duty-cycle approach used elsewhere. That flat profile is a single configuration; the underlying control loop can shape the current into an arbitrary profile.

This work forms the foundation of a broader flipper control platform, drawing on closed-loop current-sensing techniques with precedent in automotive solenoid and fuel injector control, applied here to pinball for the first time.

Learn more: mayapinball.com/octane