One of the most challenging aspects of pinball design is to see if ideas that work well on paper can be actually turned into a real pinball machine.

Typically, there are three prototype games hand-built during a design cycle, (called Whitewoods because the playfield is just bare wood).

The first is a very rough layout of the game, used primarily to test the kinetics of the game and to see if things are physically possible.

The second whitewood is much more complete and used to refine requirements for software drivers, artwork and overall game feel. Typically it concentrates on the main "toys" of the game and how well they work and contribute to gameplay. Most of the mechnical engineering work is reflected in this game. (Neatness doesn't count, just function!)

The third is as close to the vision of the actual production game as possible and used for final artwork, rule implementation and mechnical requirements before a game is produced on an assembly line.

• Whitewood #2
• Whitewood #3
• Cirqus Voltaire #1