Popular Mechanics:

In the late 1980s and early ’90s, if you lost a quarter to a mercilessly tough pinball machine, you likely lost it to a game designed by one of the four big players: Stern, Williams, Bally, or Gottlieb, all pinball makers headquartered in Chicago. But that once shimmering golden age of pinball is now gone, and now only one remains.

Today, there are boutique pinball manufacturers like Jersey Jack Pinball that keep the industry’s blood pumping with a specialized release every few years. But in terms of major pinball machine makers, only Stern Pinball is still in the game. We got a look inside their Chicago factory to see how a 21st century pinball machine comes together.

I love the old, mechanical pinball machines of my misspent youth. The newer electronic ones don’t compel me to pump quarters into them.