Over romanticizing your childhood is part of the “grappling with middle age” starter pack. I spend a lot of time during this project reminiscing about going to the arcade with my dad. He taught me to love video games. He inspired a love for tech through his love of science fiction. My dad inspired me to look to the stars and see not what is, but what could be. 

This project is a combination of Pinball and Air Hockey. You have a puck like air hockey, but you use flippers to bat it towards your opponent's goal. There's also bumpers and breakable glass barricades that keep things interesting. 

Physics based gameplay will still be fun 100 years from now. I have no doubt that long after the apocalypse there will be some kids in a bunker slapping plastic pucks at each other. Likewise smashing a ball with a flipper is just… Fun. Pinball is inherently entertaining by its very nature.

A good number of the people I’ve shared Flip Puck with are non-gamers. It’s interesting because it requires no explanation. The moment folks look at the game board they instantly understand what’s supposed to happen. Putting the buttons on the side has become cultural shorthand thanks to pinball. Even though Flip Puck is something unique, it borrows from existing design language. Seeing people “just get it” is very gratifying.

I wanted this to be more than a video game. I wanted it to have an actual case that would be reminiscent of those childhood arcades. I'm very happy with what I came up with. The decals and the pink "neon" light really tie everything together. 

This is one of my inventions that I'm most proud of. Not just from a technical standpoint, but because I feel like I put a piece of myself into its creation.