Update: If we raise double our goal ($110,000 total) we will also digitize the incredible Star Trek: The Next Generation table! Please read Update #5 (in the Updates tab) for more details.

Update: We're worked it out with Microsoft so that all of the Rewards will also apply to the Xbox 360 version of the table!

Here at FarSight Studios we've been developing console videogames for over 20 years. For the last seven years we've been developing modern videogame recreations of classic pinball tables. We have licenses from the original manufacturers of the tables (Bally, Gottlieb, Stern, and Williams) to do this. Our latest project is called the Pinball Arcade and is currently available on a wide variety of platforms: the iPhone, iPad, Android phones and tables, the Kindle Fire, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PS Vita, and Macintosh, with versions coming soon for the PC, Nintendo 3DS, and Nintendo Wii U. Check us out at www.pinballarcade.com.

Here's what the gaming press has to say about the Pinball Arcade:

"FarSight Studios has been making digital pinball for nearly a decade, and Pinball Arcade is the culmination of that effort and experience… a must-own" -IGN

"Simply one of the best pinball games I've ever played" –Touch Arcade

"an impressive title, and one that is bound to please pinball fans" -148 Apps

"As close to the pinball experience as you will ever get in the palm of your hand" –Pocket Gamer

"This game is superb along with great presentation" –Inentertainment

"Authenticity is the name of the game here, and Farsight has absolutely nailed it" –GameLive.TV

"Pinball doesn't get any more real or fun on mobile" –Gamezebo

"presentation of these tables is immaculate" –App Spy

The process of digitizing these tables is very complex. We first acquire the actual physical pinball table we want to digitize. We want our videogame version to play exactly the same as the table played when it was new, so we start with a thorough restoration of the table. We then strip the table down to the bare wood playfield and take high-resolution digital photographs of every part. We use these to create three-dimensional computer models of each of the components on the playfield. When the modeling is complete we export the data into our graphics engine, which displays the table on each of our target platforms.

Next we implement the table logic and sound. We do this by emulating the electronics in the original pinball table. Most complex tables were controlled by what are by modern standards primitive computers. We've created ROM-emulation technology that allows the same program which controlled the original table to run on our target devices. This means that every rule, sound effect, and light sequence is exactly correct in our digital version. The idea that you can run the original code that controlled a huge cabinet-based pinball machine on your iPhone is pretty cool!

The last step in digitizing a table involves tuning the pinball physics. We've continuously improved our pinball physics engine for the last seven years and we're very proud of it. We can individually control reflection angles and physics parameters for every section of any component on the playfield. We use the original table as reference when doing this to ensure accuracy. Finally the table goes through a review process where it's critiqued by pinball experts and approved by the table manufacturer. The end result of this painstaking process is an exact digital recreation of the pinball table that you can play on your handheld device or in your living room.

What we're most proud of is that we're preserving these tables for future generations to enjoy. We can remember when these tables were in every pizza parlor and bowling alley, but they are becoming increasingly rare. If you find one chances are it's not been well treated and many features are burned out or broken. If you're a pinball fanatic like us you can buy one and restore it, but they are expensive, maintenance-intensive, and there are fewer of them every year. Chances are very good that our children will never get the opportunity to appreciate these great tables in person- but by digitally preserving them they can!

Some of the greatest pinball tables were based on licensed properties. Often when a manufacturer created a special new table they'd base it on a popular cultural feature of the times: a movie perhaps, or a band or television show. Their original license to use these properties have long since expired, so when we want to create digital versions of these tables we must research who now owns the rights and negotiate with them. Sometimes the discussions are easy and sometimes they are very difficult. In addition if the table features actors on the backglass or playfield we must secure licenses to