My Personal Project - Emily Cosson

I am Emily Cosson and for my Personal Project, I am repairing and retheming an old EM pinball machine in order to influence younger generations to play pinball. I also aim to positively impact the community and environment from the creation of my product.

My goal for my Personal Project is, “To redesign and recreate an aesthetic pinball machine that appeals to children whilst using scientific and technological innovation to be eco-friendly by reusing resources to encourage youth to enjoy pinball machines”.

In this project, I am wanting to achieve a fully functioning, re-designed, EM (electro mechanical) pinball machine that is used for competitive practice and to encourage youth to play pinball. My Project has been influenced from my personal interests of regularly playing competitively in pinball competitions and enjoying art and being creative. From 8 to 9 June, I competed in the Southern hemisphere championships in Sydney with over 70 competitive pinball players. I was the youngest player and I had won the women’s competition by beating the world’s number one woman pinball player in the world. From competing in several competitions over the years, I am now ranked 50th in Australia out of 2,457 ranked players and I am the number one woman pinball player in Australia.

To complete my project, I had to undertake various research in order to finish aspects of my pinball machine and to consider my chosen global context. From extensive research, I found that Netflix is the number one platform to watch TV shows and movies with a survey conducted by 5,500 teenagers stating they spend 38 per cent of their time watching Netflix. This allowed me to select the theme of the machine being, Stranger Things because it is the second most viewed Netflix TV show. My global context is ‘scientific and technical innovation.' By choosing a theme popular to young people, it will influence the younger community to play the pinball machine. As a result of this, the environment of people playing pinball machines alter because more younger people are playing pinball.

Further research was also conducted to analyse how the machine would impact the environment. To manufacture new pinball machines, more resources/materials are needed as well as the machine needing over $1 million in investments to fund the production of the machine. By reusing a machine that is 50+ years old, I am positively impacting the environment because I am using a machine that would normally be thrown out and I am reusing resources/materials that are already provided from home.

In order to repair and redesign the pinball machine, I had multiple conversations and involved people to complete the product. Interviews were conducted to learn tips and the most effective ways to repair and repaint the cabinet and back box of the pinball machine. Professional EM pinball repairers also came to my home to assist with repairing the machine so it was fully functional. After concluding the theme of the machine, additional research was done to learn how to use specific programmes to design the machine with relating images to the theme researched and included into these designs. By seeking advice from a friend working in a printing company and from friends and family, I was able to successfully create a back glass and playfield design for the machine.

From completing my Personal Project, my pinball machine will be used in the Pinball Brisbane Masters Competition at the ECA. As well as this, before the competition, I will have a TV interview to advertise the pinball competition for the ECA. I’m grateful for this project because I was able to create something I have been wanting to do for a while and the opportunity allowed me to develop many skills that can be useful for the future. Whilst this project has been long, I am proud of the outcome, proud of my product and I will remember this experience for the rest of my life.