What is the difference between solid state and electro-mechanical pinball machines?
Electro-mechanical (EM) machines are run by a large amount of switches, relays, solenoids and an electric motor while Solid State (SS) games are run by mostly circuitry. Any pinball machines made before 1977 are EM and any after 1977 are solid state. 1977 is the crossover year and has a mix of both. If you dont know the year the machine was made the simplest way to tell is to examine the game displays. Mechanical scoring reels means it is EM while digital displays mean SS.
