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If you want to build something different than the standard PCBs or measuring devices, you can get started with this kit for a real working electronic pinball machine. It's the highest level of difficulty, but the result is worth it! |
Introduction to the EG01 pinball machine from ROKR
What is ROKR?
ROKR is a sub-brand of the Chinese company 'Robotime Technology' from Suzhou. This company was founded in 2007 and now has more than 500 employees. Robotime specialises in wooden puzzles, three-dimensional models, educational toys and mechanical construction kits. Typical products include electronic and mechanical music boxes, instrument-like models, vehicles and, the icing on the cake, this wooden pinball machine with electronically generated light and sound effects.
What can you expect?
In the video below, an excerpt from a YouTube video by 'PuzzleGay', you can see how to play this pinball machine.
Where can you buy it and how much does it cost?
Robotime has a branch in the Netherlands (https://www.robotime.nl/) with a shop in Arnhem, but the products are also available by mail order and through regular toy shops and online retailers such as bol.com. The official price of the 'Robotime 3D Pinball Machine EG01', as this pinball machine is called, is € 179.95. However, via AliExpress, you can buy this kit from the 'Robotime Local Store' for € 138.69. The kit will then be delivered from a warehouse in Spain within a week.
The end result
This pinball machine is composed of no fewer than 482 parts. In theory, no glue is required for assembly: the wooden parts fit together with miniature mortise and tenon joints. You can also leave the soldering iron in its stand. All connections between the electronic components are made with flat ribbon cables with miniature plugs.
The ready-made pinball machine measures 47.5 cm long, 27.5 cm wide and 28.0 cm high. For powering the machine, you need a 5 Vdc USB power supply that can deliver 2 A.
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| The ready-made pinball machine EG01 from ROKR. (© Robotime Technology) |
Difficulty level: six stars
According to the manufacturer, this kit is suitable for youngsters aged fourteen and above, but we seriously doubt this. We believe that very few kids of that age would have the patience to complete this complex kit successfully.
What's more, the manufacturer has given the EG01 a difficulty rating of six stars, so even experienced builders will find this kit a real challenge. That's no exaggeration, because during construction we found ourselves wanting to throw the whole thing into the corner of the room a few times. A calm temperament and a great deal of patience are therefore absolutely essential qualities that you must possess as a builder! In addition, you must have a keen eye for detail, because every detail in the illustrations in the manual can be essential to completing the build flawlessly. For example, we forgot to install one of the three infrared optical interrupters, a small detail in one of the drawings. It took us a lot of blood, sweat and tears to make up for this omission.
Delivery of the construction kit
Accustomed as we are to the sloppy delivery of Chinese building kits in a plastic bag, it is a pleasant surprise when GLS rings the doorbell with the box in which this pinball kit is delivered. This very professional-looking packaging measures 47.0 cm by 31.0 cm by 10.5 cm.
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| The very neat box in which the pinball machine kit is delivered. (© Robotime Technology) |
The contents of the package
After opening the cardboard box, a second surprise awaits us. Great care has also been taken with the contents. Underneath the wooden construction boards (more about these later) is a plastic insert containing the remaining mechanical and electronic parts, neatly packed in small bags. All packages are numbered and coded so that they can be easily found during construction.
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| All non-wooden parts are packed in numbered bags. (© 2025 Jos Verstraten) |
The manual
The third pleasant surprise is that a great deal of care has been taken here too. You build your pinball machine using an A4-sized booklet containing no fewer than 58 pages. Every step of the construction process is described very clearly. However, it is absolutely essential to study all the drawings carefully. If you don't fully understand the details, the assembly can sometimes go wrong and, ten steps later, you may find that you have assembled two parts incorrectly or forgotten something. All new parts to be assembled are coded with number and letter codes in the left margin of the pages. These refer to the plastic bags or wooden plates. If you need a bolt or washer from a bag, the manual contains a full-size drawing of that component, so you can easily find the right part in the bag.
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| One of the many clear construction drawings in the manual. (© Robotime Technology) |
The components of the pinball machine
The wooden construction plates
The pinball machine itself is made entirely of wooden parts. These are cut from the wooden plates using a very fine laser. They are still attached to the plate in a few places, but can usually be easily pressed out of the plate. Sometimes, when pressing out one part, other parts fall out of the plates as well. Fortunately, almost all parts are marked with a code, so you can easily find them.
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| The wooden plates from which the pinball machine is assembled. (© 2025 Jos Verstraten) |
Mortise and tenon joints
These wooden parts fit together with miniature mortise and tenon joints. It is advisable to have a small flat file ready. Running the file over the sides of the tenons will help the wooden plates fit together smoothly. Only occasionally will you need to apply some force to assemble two plates on or into each other. However, sometimes these joints are so loose that it is advisable to fix them with a drop of ten-second glue.
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| Hundreds of these types of connections keep the construction stable. (© 2025 Jos Verstraten) |
The other parts
The photo below shows an overview of the other parts included in this package. In addition to the wooden plates, there are also a number of black, white and transparent plastic plates from which you can remove parts.
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| The other parts. (© Robotime Technology) |
The electronic control system
The electronic control system of the pinball machine consists of two modules, which are connected to each other by a flat ribbon cable. These modules are mounted on the underside of the playing field and are connected by a ten or so cables with plugs to the electronic components that are scattered throughout the cabinet.
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| The electronic control system. (© 2025 Jos Verstraten) |
The contents of the large module
The contents of the largest module are shown in the photo below. In addition to fourteen transistors, we only find two ICs, coded EG01 and TM1617. The TM1617 is a specialised LED driver that is controlled serially from a microcontroller, which is of course very appropriate for a pinball machine with all its flashing lights. The EG01 is undoubtedly a microcontroller programmed specifically for this pinball machine.
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| The contents of the largest module. (© 2025 Jos Verstraten) |
The contents of the small module
In addition to a chip also called EG01, we discover three 9435s, a MOSFET driver that can switch a considerable amount of power. These are undoubtedly used to control the three electromagnetic actuators in the pinball machine that give the ball a good push.
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| The contents of the small module. (© 2025 Jos Verstraten) |
The LED lighting of the playing field
In addition to three LED light strings measuring 2 x 50 cm and 1 x 16.5 cm respectively, the pinball machine contains a large number of individual LEDs. Some of these are located on the back of the two modules described above. The rest are located on a few small circuit boards, which are connected to the modules with cables. All these LEDs are located on the underside of the playfield and shine their light through small semi-transparent covers, which you have to mount in openings in the wooded plate of the pinball machine.
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| One of the LED circuit boards. (© 2025 Jos Verstraten) |
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| One of the three light strips that illuminate the playing field. (© 2025 Jos Verstraten) |
Other electronic components
In addition to the LED circuit boards and light strings, there are other electronic components:
- Three electromagnetic actuators that give the ball a push.
- Three infrared optical interrupters that report the position of the ball.
- A small loudspeaker.
- A score counter.
- A toggle switch.
- A power connector.
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| An IR optical interrupter and an actuator. (© 2025 Jos Verstraten) |
The mechanical components
Of course, a complex device such as a pinball machine cannot function without a handful of mechanical parts such as screws, bolts, nuts, pins, washers, rubber bands and springs. These are contained in 26 numbered bags.
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| Bags with mechanical components. (© 2025 Jos Verstraten) |
The construction of the EG01 pinball machine
Assembling the rear panel
Construction begins with assembling the rear panel of the pinball machine. This panel is really only decorative and has no practical function. However, it is very detailed, with lots of ornaments. The photo below shows the back of this panel. This panel is a real gem; you have to attach 126 wooden parts to each other using eleven pages in the manual.
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| The back of the rear panel. (© 2025 Jos Verstraten) |
There are only two electronic components in the construction of this panel. Firstly, the power connector and secondly, the 16.5 cm LED light string, which you must attach to a wooden plate using the double-sided adhesive tape supplied.
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| The LED light string in the rear panel of the pinball machine. (© 2025 Jos Verstraten) |
Assembling the side panels
Next, it is time to assemble the two side panels. These are also beautifully decorated and serve to keep the playing field at a certain angle so that the metal marbles roll down automatically. They also support the axes of the two flipper buttons.
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| One of the side panels. (© 2025 Jos Verstraten) |
Assembling the front panel
This part contains the storage compartment for the metal balls, the plunger, the loudspeaker and a toggle switch that allows you to switch off the sounds. All credit to the designers who thought of such a nerve-saving feature! For this assembly, too, you should only use the parts from the wooden plates. This does not apply to the plunger, which consists of two springs, a plastic ball and a metal rod.
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| Assembling the front panel. (© 2025 Jos Verstraten) |
Assembling the playing surface
The playing surface is constructed on the largest wooden plate in this kit: 42.5 cm by 23.0 cm. You will need to assemble countless parts on both the top and bottom of this plate. To give you an impression of the complexity of the whole, we have included a photo of the fully assembled top of this plate below. You can see a number of elevated tracks, the idea being that you shoot the ball into these tracks using one of the flippers. Due to the speed of the ball, it should follow the entire trajectory of the track, which of course earns you points. However, some are quite steep and it takes a lot of skill to launch the ball at sufficient speed onto such a track.
It should be noted that this step of the construction involves a few very fragile wooden parts that break very easily. Extreme caution is required!
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| The fully assembled top of the playing field. (© 2025 Jos Verstraten) |
Of course, we will not discuss all the assembly steps here; that is what the manual is for. We will only focus on a few ingenious constructions.
Construction of the pop bumpers
A pinball machine isn't a pinball machine without a few pop bumpers. What are they? When the ball rolls against a pop bumper, an electromagnetic coil is activated, which in turn activates a plunger system. The plunger suddenly pulls the pop bumper down, giving the ball a powerful boost and launching it back into the playing field at high speed. The ROKR pinball machine has three of these pop bumpers, which are located in a triangle at the top left of the playing field. The photo below shows what these three components look like.
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| The construction of the three pop bumpers. (© 2025 Jos Verstraten) |
An electrically conductive plastic strip is glued to the wooden plate. This is connected to a wire at the bottom of the plate by means of a small bolt. A metal half-sphere is hidden under the wooden rings that form the bumpers. This is screwed onto the metal shaft of the electromagnet. When the metal ball rolls under such a bumper, it connects the conductive plastic strip to the half-sphere under the bumper and thus to the shaft of the electromagnet.
In the video below (© Robotime), you can see how this conductive strip is mounted on the wooden board of the playing field.
That signal is passed on to the electronics in the small electronics module. This sends a strong current through the coil of the relevant electromagnet via one of the three MOSFETs. This pulls its shaft inwards, causing the pop bumper to be pulled down and the ball to be launched by the movement of the half-sphere. This construction is, of course, located on the underside of the wooden plate and is shown in the photo below.
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| The control of the pop bumpers. (© 2025 Jos Verstraten) |
The infrared optical interrupters
As mentioned earlier, there are three infrared optical interrupters that detect when the ball passes by and, via the processor, activate certain light and sound effects and increase the score counter. The photo below shows how these electronic components are integrated into the wooden construction of the pinball machine. The interrupter consists of an IR LED and an IR-sensitive diode, which are mounted next to each other. When the ball rolls past, the IR light reflects off the shiny surface of the metal ball and activates the diode.
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| The installation of an infrared optical interrupter. (© 2025 Jos Verstraten) |
Assembling the two long light strings
The two remaining 50 cm light strings are used to illuminate the playing field. These are mounted in a number of transparent plastic guides that you must attach to both sides of the wooden plate. These guides have slots into which you must push the light string. You secure the strip with pieces of adhesive tape; the special roll of narrow adhesive tape is also included. This is quite a job, as you can see in the video below (© Robotime).
Assembling the flippers
Although there are no electronic components involved in assembling the flippers, we will nevertheless focus on this to demonstrate the fine details of this construction kit. The video below (© Robotime) demonstrates how the mechanics behind the two flippers work and how to attach this construction to the playing field plate.
Final assembly
At this point, you have five ready-made parts:
- The rear panel.
- The front panel.
- The left side panel.
- The right side panel.
- The playfield.
The aim now is to assemble these five parts into a pinball machine. On paper, this looks fairly straightforward, but in practice it is not so easy. This is mainly due to the fact that all kinds of assembly tolerances now come together. For example, when joining the playing field to a side panel, no fewer than eight tenons must fit into just as many mortises. Our advice: file the tenons slightly and, after assembly, use ten seconds of glue to fix any loose connections caused by filing.
Connecting the electronic components
You now need to connect a total of seven cables to the two modules on the underside of the playing field. The end result is shown in the photo below. As you can see, cable clips are even included, which you can use to secure all the cables to the playing field plate.
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| The connections between the electronic components. (© 2025 Jos Verstraten) |
Playing with the ROKR pinball machine
The light and sound effects
To power the pinball machine, you need a power supply that delivers 5.0 Vdc with a current capacity of 2.0 A. This power supply is NOT included!
Strangely enough, there is no ON/OFF switch. After connecting the power supply, the electronics go through a start-up routine that introduces you to all the light and sound effects that the pinball machine can produce.
Between the two flippers, you will see the 'scoreboard'. Ten red LED stars keep track of the number of points you have collected. The maximum score is 1,000 points, at which point the spectacle shown in the video is started as a reward.
Limitations
Of course, you cannot expect a € 120.00 kit to offer the same possibilities as a real pinball machine, which still costs at least a thousand euros second-hand. One of the limitations is that you have to insert the balls by hand. However, a ball that leaves the playing field does automatically return to the firing position. The compartment in the front panel where the balls are collected is therefore only a storage rack where you can keep the balls and has no further meaning or use in the game. A second limitation is that the flippers are not powered by electromagnets but are manually operated. A third limitation is, of course, that the dimensions of the playing field are incomparable to those of a real pinball machine.
Our conclusion
This kit is undoubtedly the masterpiece among the countless wooden 3D kits currently on offer. But as with almost all model building, the adage 'building it is much more fun than playing with it' applies here too.
