# EPC2025 - Tom Altenbach - Pinball News

**Source:** Pinball News (EPC 2025 Seminars)  
**Type:** video  
**Published:** 2025-06-01  
**Duration:** 26m 39s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSI5i9oREDA

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## Analysis

Tom Altenbach (Tom DK) presents his homebrew Williams Joust reconstruction project completed in 2024. He details the journey from acquiring a flood-damaged original Joust as a parts/restoration source, sourcing System 7 components, building custom cabinetry and 3D-printed parts, and ultimately creating three fully playable Joust machines. The presentation covers restoration techniques, parts sourcing strategy, manufacturing decisions, and the collaborative effort between three builders.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Williams Joust had 400 units built in April 1983 according to Internet Pinball Database — _Tom Altenbach citing authoritative source during EPC 2025 seminar_
- [MEDIUM] Only around 30 Joust machines exist in Europe due to limited original imports — _Tom Altenbach based on conversation with Andreas Harrer, long-time pinball team member, regarding NOVA importer records_
- [MEDIUM] Joust prices have risen to approximately $17,000 for machines in normal used condition — _Tom Altenbach observing current secondary market pricing trends on eBay_
- [HIGH] Illinois Pinball's Big Bang Bar remake produced 191 machines in 2004 selling for around $4,500 — _Tom Altenbach citing Gene Cunningham's production run from personal knowledge_
- [HIGH] German Pinball Championships 2007 in Wuppertal used Joust as the final game machine — _Tom Altenbach recounting historical tournament fact_
- [HIGH] The original Joust machine was damaged in 2021 Wuppertal river floods, stored in basement for years — _Tom Altenbach describing the condition upon pickup and restoration project motivation_
- [HIGH] X-Pin boards (power and display/driver) were used for the custom Joust builds — _Tom Altenbach explicitly naming board supplier in bill of materials_
- [HIGH] The team created 3D-printed prototypes before manufacturing final stainless steel versions of custom parts — _Tom Altenbach describing iterative manufacturing process for ball guides and display guards_

### Notable Quotes

> "The pinball machine had been lying in the cellar in two pieces and the flood water had run over two-thirds of the cabinet on the playfield. Unfortunately, the joust had not been cleaned directly, but everything was full of hard mud."
> — **Tom Altenbach**, ~05:45
> _Describes the severe condition of the original machine that motivated the restoration and parts acquisition strategy_

> "I'm not willing to pay 17,000, 20,000 euro for a pinball machine. But I have plenty of time. I know how to solder. It worked."
> — **Tom Altenbach**, ~27:30
> _Core motivation for homebrew approach due to market pricing being inaccessible for collectors_

> "If you play one hour on the original joust, you have red points on your hands from playing. So we said we can do this better and make smoother edges on our machines."
> — **Tom Altenbach**, ~16:50
> _Example of design improvements made during homebrew reconstruction addressing original design ergonomic issues_

> "The cabinet is absolutely top work by our carpenter and fits to the millimeter. Even the wooden design fits perfect."
> — **Tom Altenbach**, ~18:30
> _Describes handcrafted cabinetry quality and precision manufacturing standards_

> "Six lock bars were ordered and delivered, four millimeter too narrow, so they did not fit our side rails. The difference was my fault, I had to reorder and to repay."
> — **Tom Altenbach**, ~28:00
> _Documents quality control challenges and responsibility for measurement accuracy in parts sourcing_

> "The interesting thing on JAWS is JAWS is also a single player. You don't have to run around the streets and ask people if they will play pinball with you."
> — **Tom Altenbach**, ~04:20
> _Notes functional advantage of head-to-head machines allowing solo play via two-player controls_

> "After about a year, it was André who had the first playable joust. A few weeks later, I was also able to play my joust. Ben made a lot of parts possible and forgot to assemble his joust."
> — **Tom Altenbach**, ~26:00
> _Humorous conclusion noting differential completion rates among the three collaborative builders_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Tom Altenbach | person | 57-year-old German pinball enthusiast from Cologne region; active player in German Pinball League Team Cologne; ran pinball renovation business 2008-2016; presents homebrew Joust project at EPC 2025 |
| André | person | Collaborative builder on Joust project; electronics specialist with extensive System 7 parts inventory; responsible for circuit board repair expertise; completed first playable Joust machine |
| Ben | person | Third collaborative builder on Joust project; specialist in CAD drawings and metal parts manufacturing; owns 3D printer; responsible for printing patterns and resin parts; still assembling his own Joust |
| Andreas Harrer | person | Long-time pinball team member referenced for historical knowledge about NOVA pinball importer in Hamburg and European distribution records |
| Gene Cunningham | person | Founder of Illinois Pinball; rebuilt Big Bang Bar in 2004 producing 191 machines at ~$4,500 per unit |
| Williams Joust | game | Head-to-head pinball machine from Williams System 7 platform; 400 units built April 1983; extremely rare in Europe (~30 machines); current market value $17,000-20,000; subject of EPC 2025 presentation and homebrew reconstruction |
| Cosmic Gunfight | game | Williams System 7 machine; purchased by Tom Altenbach as initial parts donor for Joust project; later acquired second unit for complete renovation featuring orange prototype paint scheme and early mechanical coin door |
| Williams System 7 | product | Early 1980s pinball control platform used in Joust and Cosmic Gunfight; basis for parts compatibility across projects |
| X-Pin | company | USA-based supplier of power boards and display/driver boards used in custom Joust builds |
| Illinois Pinball | company | Company run by Gene Cunningham that produced Big Bang Bar remake with 191 units in 2004; subject of Tom's earlier project converting NBA Fast Break to Big Bang Bar theme |
| CPR (Central Pinball Restoration) | company | Supplier of Williams Joust playfields and welded plastic sets; key supplier enabling the homebrew project |
| Mission Pinball Framework (MPF) | product | Open-source reprogramming framework; group of Americans rebuilding Joust machine using MPF instead of original Williams System 7 software |
| Internet Pinball Database | organization | Authoritative reference database for pinball machine production records; source for Joust production numbers and specifications |
| German Pinball League Team Cologne | organization | Regional pinball team where Tom Altenbach is an active competitive player; source of tournament and community connections |
| Dutch Pinball Open | event | Major pinball event where Tom displays completed Joust and Kingpin projects; platform for showcasing homebrew work |
| European Pinball Championship (EPC) 2025 | event | Conference venue for Tom Altenbach's seminar presentation on Joust project |
| Kingpin | game | Capcom pinball machine (only several built, all in USA); subject of Tom's parallel homebrew project converting from Capcom Break Shot with Flipper Football parts; to be displayed at Dutch Pinball Open |
| Medieval Madness | game | Target theme for Tom's 2013-2015 project converting NBA Fast Break; involved sourcing original playfields and parts during period when they were still available |
| NW7 3-in-1 MPU | product | Replacement microprocessor unit from France used in custom Joust builds; described as 'working great' |
| Wuppertal | organization | German city where original Joust machine was stored; site of 2021 river flooding that damaged the machine; venue for 2007 German Pinball Championships |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Homebrew/DIY Pinball Machine Construction, Williams System 7 Platform and Maintenance, Parts Sourcing and Supply Chain, Custom Manufacturing (3D Printing, Metal Fabrication, Cabinetry), Pinball Machine Restoration and Flood Damage Recovery
- **Secondary:** Rarity and Market Pricing of Vintage Pinball, Competitive Pinball and Tournament History, Collaborative Community Building

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.82) — Tom's presentation conveys genuine passion for the hobby, pride in technical achievement, and enthusiasm for sharing knowledge. Despite discussing extreme damage and challenges, tone remains optimistic and focused on solutions. Humor about Ben's incomplete assembly and acknowledgment of mistakes (lock bar measurement error) show humility. Community gratitude and invitation to see machines at future events reinforce positive sentiment.

### Signals

- **[community_signal]** Strong collaborative pinball community supporting homebrew projects through parts sharing, expertise exchange, and collective problem-solving among distributed builders (confidence: high) — Three separate builders collaborate on identical Joust projects; André shares parts inventory; community provides 'many, many help and support'; knowledge exchange on System 7 compatibility and sourcing strategies
- **[event_signal]** EPC 2025 (European Pinball Championship) serving as major conference venue for homebrew/restoration project presentations and industry knowledge sharing (confidence: high) — Tom's Joust project seminar is featured EPC 2025 content; indicates growing recognition of homebrew/restoration culture in organized pinball events
- **[leak_detection]** Availability of Williams Joust playfields and plastic sets from CPR and Mirko suppliers enabling feasibility of homebrew reconstruction project (confidence: high) — Tom describes: 'While surfing the internet these days, I figured out that from CPR and Mirko, Joust playfields and welded plastic sets were available. The idea was born.' This availability triggered project initiation.
- **[market_signal]** Secondary market pricing for rare System 7 machines has inflated significantly, with Joust appreciating to €17,000+ despite only ~30 examples existing in Europe and ~400 total built (confidence: high) — Tom documents price progression from 2004 when Big Bang Bar was $4,500 to current Joust pricing of $17,000-20,000; attributes scarcity in Europe to original NOVA importer records
- **[personnel_signal]** Experienced carpenter/fabricator collaborating with Tom's project team for precision handcrafted cabinetry meeting millimeter tolerances (confidence: medium) — Tom praises: 'The cabinet is absolutely top work by our carpenter and fits to the millimeter. Even the wooden design fits perfect.' Indicates specialized manufacturing capability within community network.
- **[market_signal]** Original Joust machines now priced at €17,000-20,000 making acquisition inaccessible for enthusiasts, driving homebrew reconstruction as economic alternative (confidence: high) — Tom states: 'I'm not willing to pay 17,000, 20,000 euro for a pinball machine. But I have plenty of time. I know how to solder. It worked.' This directly explains motivation for homebrew approach.
- **[product_concern]** Original Williams Joust design has ergonomic flaw (sharp lock bar edges causing hand irritation after extended play) that homebrew version improved through design iteration (confidence: high) — Tom states: 'If you play one hour on the original joust, you have red points on your hands from playing. So we said we can do this better and make smoother edges on our machines.'
- **[technology_signal]** Custom 3D printing and CAD-based manufacturing enabling homebrew builders to create replacement parts (ball guides, display guards, Williams logos) previously unavailable or prohibitively expensive (confidence: high) — Tom describes iterative 3D print prototyping before stainless steel manufacturing: 'First we made 3D prints and when they fitted we made them out of stainless steel.' Also applies to lock bars, ball swivels, and other custom components.

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## Transcript

 Hello and welcome to a little introduction of the Joust project. At first I will introduce myself, afterwards my projects, then we will talk about the Joust facts, the beginning, picking up the original, creating the list of materials, assembling the machine, and at least a conclusion. about myself my name is Thomas Tom Altmach and in the internet forums I'm known as Tom DK I'm 57 years of age and I live with my wife and three cats in the near of the city of Cologne in Germany I'm in the pinball hobby since 25 years around and I'm an active player and the German pinball League Team Cologne. Eight years from 2008 to 2016, I run a small business renovating pinball machines besides my regular job. All the pics you see is from our Team Cologne German Pinball League. Now we get to the projects. Besides normal renovations, I started in 2013 with an NBA fast break to Medieval Madness. It was the days when it was possible to get playfields and original parts, new old stock parts for Medieval Madness. And I had an NBA in my garage and thought it must be possible to make an NBA fast break to play Medieval Madness. So this was started in 2013, finished in 2015. I sold the project, but it worked well. In 2017, the next project was waiting for me. A little to the background. The Big Bang Bar was 2004 from Gene Cunningham from Illinois Pinball, rebuilt with 191 machines. These machines were sold for around $4,500. but in this year's 2006 I had not $4,500 nor would I spend $4,500 to a person in the USA, I don't know so I missed to bring me in in the pre-order system for Big Bang Bar remakes so it took me to 2017 I played several times the Big Bang Bar and I said this is such a great machine The playfield layout is great. The colors are great. The gameplay, the dot animation, the sound, it's a real funny game. So I thought I have to have a own Big Bang Bar. But the prices went up to around 25,000 Euro now. So I took the easy way. I bought the Capcom Airborne and made it to the Big Bang Bar. If you have been on the Dutch Pinball Open When Dutch Pinball opened last year, you could see me with the Big Bang Bar. I presented it there to the folks. A little hint, my next machine was the Kingpin. It is also a machine from Capcom. It's only built several machines in the whole world. As far as I know, all these machines are in the USA located. So we built from a Capcom break shot and parts from a flipper football. made a kingpin. Very special history. If you will join this year the Dutch Pinball Open, you will see this machine. I will travel to the Netherlands and bring this patissier's machine with me. But we are here to talk about Williams Joust from the scratch. I started this project in 2023, finished in 2024. Some facts about the Williams Joust. Williams Joust is a head-to-head pinball based on Williams' System 7 platform. 400 units were built in April 1983 according to Internet Pinball Database, the mother of all databases. Only a minor amount of machines made it to Europe. The prices went up to astronomical $17,000 for a joust in a normal used shape within the last years. From time to time you can see on ebay.com in the USA they are selling sometimes jousts. I spoke with Andreas Harrer today, he is very long in the pinball team, he told me that JAWS was never listed from the NOVA, pinball importer in Hamburg in these days. So therefore, there are only around 30 machines in Europe. The interesting thing on JAWS is JAWS is also a single player. You don't have to run around the streets and ask people if they will play pinball with you. You can also play with yourself on this machine. The other producers of head to head pinball machines in these days was Alvin Gee. He used auto shooter flipper bats where a ball gets to the flipper bats and automatically gets kicked back. Williams went another way so the player controls both sides both sides, the flipper beds from one side. And another nice small story around the joust is the German Pinball Championships 2007 in Wuppertal. Joust was the pinball for the final game. What a fun. You have a pinball player, they come in the final, and they have to play a joust. Nobody saw a Joust The beginning While surfing the internet these days, I figured out that from CPR and Mirko, Joust playfields and welded plastic sets were available. The idea was born. What a great offer to start with. I spoke to my friend Christophe André about what I was planning and he just said, I've already thought about it. So we are already two of us. Later, a third person was looking in the forums for certain system seven parts and I realized what he had in mind. So I contacted him, asked what he was planning. So we were three people building on a joust. I knew from a friend in Wuppertal that he owned one of the few Jaws in Germany, the original machine, and asked if he could lend me the pinball machine for a few months. He told me that the pinball machine was stored in his basement and has suffered considerably in the flutes of the river Wuppertal in 2021. I offered to restore that pinball machine and get it ready to play for landing me the pin some months. I didn't know what to expect. When I picked up the joust in Wuppertal, I was left breathless. The pinball machine had been lying in the cellar in two pieces and the flood water had run over two-thirds of the cabinet on the playfield. Unfortunately, the joust had not been cleaned directly, but everything was full of hard mud. It wasn't clear water that was running through it, it was river water with feces. Feces simply means shitty water. At home, we took stock of the situation. Trigger warning, explicit content. This was the upper part of the play field we got. A little impression from Rust. And if you asked, no, they are not little funny white spankers. This is all from the river Wuppert. Here you can also see the mud on the side. And there was no mud. There was rust. This was inside the cabinet and also all electric parts got a little mud. Yes, this was a former Williams coil, now it is a mud coil. If we scratched a little on the rails, for example, you can see the stainless steel with a little mud cover. I always wore gloves and a face mask while working on this machine. The playfield was stripped from the top and the cabinet completely dismantled. The only way to tackle the disgusting sludge was to use a power washer and lots of disinfectant. I had never cleaned a pinball machine with high pressure before, nor after. the diabolic smile on my face, it went well. High pressure is great for pinballs. And again, a warning for explicit content. This is our garden with my tooling and a very dirty cabinet. This is our garden with my tooling and a very dirty cabinet. After disassembling everything we had a wooden box and a playfield. The playfield was stripped from the upper side and the lower side was still with all the mechanics and cables on it. And it worked with high power. You can see in the background the blue bottle, this is disinfection. So after the cleaning all the cables were pretty clean, the mechanics had all to be rebuilt and dried by hand. The playfield upper side after cleaning with high pressure. And to get it clean, I work with air pressure to dry it out and then lay it for two days in the sun. Now we have a little intermezzo. We talk about the Cosmic Gunfight. At that time I bought the Cosmic Gunfight in the Netherlands. It is also Williams System 7 and it made sense to use it as a parts donor. This means that I had over 50% of the needed parts for the Joust project. So I set up the up the Cosmic Gunfight at home, played a few games and was blown away. What a cool pinball machine! It will not be disassembled but fully shopped. It's still in my collection. So I was back to square one. So this is the, on the first pic you see the Cosmic Gunfight. you see the cosmic gun fight I balked for the parts but if you have this machine ever played you will not decide to part it out for another project Meanwhile I bought a second Cosmic Gunfight and the cabinet was completely broke down So I decided to make a complete renovation. And in the Internet, I found pictures of Cosmic Gunfight prototype. It was not black, it was in the main color, orange. And it had the early mechanics coin door. Instead, it has an early mechanical coin door. It is a little smaller, and it is this coin door style in stainless steel. With the help of a friend, he's also here, we rescreened the play field, printed completely over the old play field, and coated us with clear coat. But this is just a side story of what can happen. if you buy a pinball machine for spare parts. No way. So we started from the scratch. We spent the next few weeks looking for and buying all the parts we needed. We also helped each other with parts. Christophe André was in a lucky position. He had many many System 7 parts on store. If you need parts, you can't find them. But we were able to buy many things, whether new or used. Sometimes at higher prices, sometimes at lower prices. All the used parts were overhauled, re-galvanized, painted, etc. And here we see our bill of material, the new parts. As I said, it was quite easy that the playfields were available. Also the play The playfield and the plastics were Ava-Abel. My power board I use is from X-Pin in the USA. The display and driver board is also X-Pin. NW7 3-in-1 MPU from France, working great. Small stuff like flipper ground plates, single drop targets, coin door from an Arcada machine, service chutes, lamp sockets, playfield bracket came all from the USA. The parts we did ourselves, sure, was the cabinet most work. Our cabinets are handcrafted from a friend and carpenter. It is a completely one to one copy of the original. We also made later on three bank drop targets. The reason is easy. The joust has four drop bank targets. If you have three guys wanting to make a joust, you need 12 drop targets. The chance to find 12 drop targets? No. So we made them ourselves. Little stuff like target decals. More interesting, the lock bars is stainless steel with smooth edges. The original joust has lock bars with very sharp edges. If you play one hour on the original joust, you have red points on your hands from playing. So we said we can do this better and make smoother edges on our machines. The side rails were also brand new. We made them ourselves. Also the ball swivel for four balls is very unique. Most pinballs from this area have only two or three balls, but we needed ball swivels for four balls. The display guards were made ourselves and ball guides. First we made 3D prints and when they fitted we made them out of stainless steel. And we needed also many small things like the Williams logo we realized in 3D print. The user part we found, this is ball gates, you can get them on every corner. Balls through with switches, kick out holes, link shot assemblies, this plain cable and the transformer and its cabling is also used parts. The assembling. First the cabinet was assembled. The cabinet is absolutely top work by our carpenter and fits to the millimeter. Even the wooden design fits perfect. Equipping the cabinet with circuit board. First mount all the lamp holders after soldering the diodes via the lamp matrix. Fit all the switches with diodes of course and wire up the switch matrix. Wire the coils, play and enjoy ready. On the first picture you see at the carpenter our cabinets with the plastic on as the original and our three copies. You can also see the first and the last cabinet have a special cutout. We thought it looks nice when the plastic is on and we make a light behind it. So it's just an improvement but we are missing one lock for the hand bar. This is the new cabinet from the inside. It was installed the Coindor from the Arcada machine. A first test of the Mirco play field with its bracket in the original machine. And we start to work. You can see the star posts are on, the spinner are on and the wooden rail on the right and left side. Just a little look from the beginning. First all general general illumination lamps were connected and afterwards we started with the switcher plant on this picture you can see in the back the black sweet deep print so we tested the other the lanes and if they fitted we made them in stainless steel. Also a 3D printed test version. And as the original Jaws had this three Williams logo We also made this with a 3D print This is the holding mechanism. If you bring up the play field you have only control with this funny mechanism. But it's original and the original Jaws machine was also only, what's What's it called? A stainless steel. And here we go. We had a playable joust machine. The allocation of the tasks. Christophe André, he had lots of early electronic parts in stock and he is the electronic guy for repairing circuit boards. Ben is a specialist in cut drawings and metal parts and he also owns a 3D printer, so he had all the printing patterns and resin parts. I was the king of measuring the original and my business was also the worldwide parts hunting. We had also from the pinball community many, many help and support. Thanks to all you who were invited. conclusion. After about a year, it was Christophe André who had the first playable joust. A few weeks later, I was also able to play my joust. Ben made a lot of parts possible and forgot to assemble his joust. He is still working on it. Everything went very well for us. Expect the condition of the original joust. Six lock bars were ordered and delivered, four millimeter too narrow, so they did not fit our side rails. The difference was my fault, I had to reorder and to repay. Here are some interesting links for you. One is from Pinball Dreams. He had an original joust renovated and his videos are called Pinball of the Month. In one of the videos he shows the JAWS and explains the gameplay very very well. The second link is if you search the internet for MPF mission pinball framework it's a group of Americans they also rebuild a JAWS machine but they use the mission pinball framework for reprogramming so their machine is not running on Williams system 7 instead of this they use the controlling software from MPF. So far that's from me. Thank you for your time. Someone questions or something like this? Yes, the wood from the plate was swollen up. Everything from the flutes was no nicer. No, from the cleaning, cleaning is perfect. If you have a look on the internet, on YouTube, you can also see people cleaning with it, with the high-pressure cleaner. I wouldn't do it, but it worked well. The point is only you have to see that you get all the stuff dry afterwards. Worked with pressure air laid in the sun and the mechanics. I removed everything. I made the mechanics a new rebuild. But then it works great. Cables are looking like new. Yeah. As I said, mechanics you have to clean and rebuild them afterwards. Also interesting, the switches or lamps worked. There was no rust in it after drying. I put out all the, what's it called, the bulbs. Yeah, dried it, after walked bulb in, worked great. Yeah, but it looks horrible if it's not there yet. It was a gash. Okay, Martin. So the beginning was quite easy. You had to available the playfields. So this was the start sign for us. So if you come to Dutch Pinball Open, you can also see the Kingpin story and the machine. We had to make the playfields ourselves. But here it was easy doing. order a playfield, order the plastic sets, and you had a nice start for rebuilding the machine. And in it all, I played Joe several times, and it's just a great pinball machine, but not affordable. So I'm not willing to pay 17,000, 20,000 euro for a pinball machine. But I have plenty of time. I know how to solder. It worked. Oh, good question. 250 around. Long evenings in the garage. You can clap your hands. We are over. No, it was okay. Oh, no, no, no. We are talking just on one machine. So everyone made his own. And most work we shared. As I said. I was measuring the other guy making the cat files. Yeah, it is. And I'm sure you can still get the playfields. So the hardest task will be to find someone who makes the cabinets. That's it. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. you

_(Acquisition: youtube_groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: e3674e45-ef5e-4c14-94b4-66df8ae83914*