FAST Pinball Blog¶

Follow the latest news, announcements, and homebrew and custom pinball tech content here on our blog.

August 4, 2023
in Announcements
3 min read

The FAST Pinball Cabinet I/O Board is now available

We are excited to announce that our Cabinet I/O board is now available for purchase! This is a special purpose I/O board designed for placement in the pinball cabinet itself (typically mounted on the left side near the front of the machine). This board handles I/O for all cabinet switches (flipper buttons, start button, tilt, etc.), as well as the coin door interface, a bill validator or ticket reader, low current drivers for LEDs (for the coin door and lighted buttons), a single high-current driver (typically for a knocker). It receives power via a dedicated header on the Playfield Interchange Board and also features a dedicated high-current 12V power output header for powering a shaker motor or other 12V devices in the cabinet.

December 14, 2022
in Announcements
5 min read

FAST Neuron Starter Bundles are in stock!

We are beyond excited to announce that the FAST Neuron Controller, and several related new boards, are now in stock and available for purchase at the FAST Pinball online shop! Our previous controller, the Nano, has been the workhorse of the FAST Modern Pinball Platform for the past six years and used in hundreds of pinball machine projects. But we've unfortunately been out of stock since this past summer.

But today, the FAST Neuron Controller, which has been proving itself this past year in commercial pinball machines, is finally now available for sale to homebrew pinball makers as well!

December 8, 2022
in Tech Notes
8 min read

A guide to the Neuron controller for current FAST Pinball users

We're just about to release the FAST Neuron Controller, which will replace the current FAST Nano Controller which we've been selling since 2016.

This new Neuron is a big deal—it's so much more than just replacing a controller with a newer model! The release of the Neuron is a major update and refinement of the entire FAST Modern Platform, with several new and updated boards which all work together with the Neuron to provide a complete "Generation 2" FAST Modern Platform.

November 22, 2022
in Newsletters
5 min read

Another busy month has flown by! If you've been reading this newsletter for awhile, you know we always say that. But it's always true! We've been working on so many exciting products for the past few years that are all starting to come together just now, and we're giddy with excitement for them getting out into the world.

The month of November, for us, was putting the final touches on our new boards: The FAST Neuron Controller, the Smart Power Filter Board, the Cabinet I/O board, the Playfield Interchange Board, several different models of expansion boards, various breakout boards, redesigned lighting boards ... We can't wait to see all the amazing things you build with them!

October 25, 2022
in Newsletters
7 min read

Hello FAST Friends! Happy October! (err, and September too, as our last monthly-ish newsletter was way back in August.)

We just got back from a busy and fun Chicago Pinball Expo 2022. So much is happening in the FAST Pinball universe as we transition from talking about new things to delivering these things into the market.

October 24, 2022
in Events
8 min read

FAST Pinball booth tour and show recap of the Chicago Pinball Expo 2022

What a weekend! We're just catching up on sleep after an amazing and energetic five days in Chicago for the Chicago Pinball Expo 2022. The FAST Pinball booth was our biggest ever, and packed non-stop! If you weren't able to attend the show in person this year, this blog post provides a virtual booth tour, our reflections of the show, and a link to watch the video of our talk.

October 21, 2022
in Events
1 min read

Your pinball making journey starts now! Video from the Chicago Pinball Expo 2022

Aaron and I gave a talk at the Chicago Pinball Expo 2022 called "Your Pinball Making Journey Starts Now!" In this talk, we walked the audience through the various steps they (or you!) can take to start "making pinball". The idea of building a pinball machine can be daunting, but luckily there are multiple paths you can take.

August 26, 2022
in Newsletters
3 min read

Hello FAST Friends! Wow! Can you believe it's the end of August already? Actually, can you believe it's almost the end of summer?

We've been busier than ever this summer, getting ready for some major product launches and the fall pinball shows, as well as welcoming new members into the FAST family who are taking their first steps to building their own pinball machines!

July 19, 2022
in Newsletters
3 min read

Hello FAST Friends! This month's newsletter is all about videos! In the past month, we've posted videos from our Northwest Pinball Show, a new tutorial, and we highlight the YouTube channels from the FAST Pinball community.

June 14, 2022
in Newsletters
5 min read

Hello FAST Friends! This month's entire newsletter is about our FAST Pinball community presence at the Northwest Pinball & Arcade show earlier this month.

We had an awesome time at the show this year! The photo above is just a portion of our 70-foot long booth with 16 pinball machines showcasing much of the cool things we've been building! Our booth was PACKED for the entire show!