This product was designed to add illumination and lighting effects to star posts and other areas commonly found scattered around the playfield on most pinball machines.
A little bit of history on this product:
The concept of the illuminated star post is not new. In fact there have been at least 6 commercially produced pinball machines that had lighted star posts! All of them were produced by the Rally Play pinball company of Nice, France from 1966-1969, over 40 years ago!
The pinball machines Rally Play made during these years were far ahead of their time, being EM games that used electronic displays (nixie tubes) instead of score reels, had electronic sound, and featured illuminated posts! For the illuminated posts, Rally Play games used a miniature bulb that fit inside the post which fit through a hole in the playfield.
Click here for some beautiful pictures of a Rally Girl by Rally Play. Page 2 contains technical drawings of the illuminated posts.
Click here for some excellent pictures of a West Club by Rally Play.
IPDB has some information on these rare games here, but if the link doesn't work, search IPDB for the following games: Rally Girl, West Club, Playboy (or Play Boy), Comics, Schuss, and Flower's Child.
40 years later - At the 2009 Pacific Pinball Expo, Steve Charland showcased a modified Gottlieb Alien Star. Instead of using lamps, Steve used LEDs. Unlike the Rally Play games where the star post lights are continuously lit (GI), Steve connected the LEDs to "flash" when the slingshot coil activated. However, just as with the Rally Play games, the LEDs fit underneath the star posts through a hole (or holes) in the playfield. This is evident from the following picture as there are no wires visible.
In February of 2010, GLM began developing the first commercially available star post lighting product that would not require any playfield modification! In addition, the goal was to create a lighting system that would be able to simultaneously perform both general illumination and flashing effects without the need for any additional circuitry or complicated wiring.
On March 19th, 2010, the GLM star post lights debut at the 2010 Texas Pinball Festival.
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Watch a video of the star post light board in action! The lower star post will flash when the slingshot coil is activated. Hover over image below for play controls.
Watch an impressive video of a Williams F14 fully decked out with GLM star post lights! Notice how the star post lights have been connected to flash to various different events in the game, creating a spectacular light show! A big round of thanks to John Kirby for creating this monster!
Great Lakes Modular offers a 6-month limited warranty for this product against all workmanship defects! This warranty does not cover any damage caused from installation, modification, or use!
This product was designed as an aftermarket retro-fit into specific pinball machines only! Because Great Lakes Modular has no control over the conditions surrounding the installation and use of this product, the end user shall assume all liability and agrees to fully indemnify Great Lakes Modular and its agents, for any and all damages resulting from the installation and/or use of this product.
Should you encounter any problems with this product, please email us first! We will try to help as best we can to get the board installed and working!