A big problem with restoring old arcade or pinball machines is finding original parts to get them running again. That’s part of the fun, though; when something finally works after weeks or months of effort. On the other hand, in some cases the only hope for old parts that will never be in a pinball device again is for [Randy] to come across them. one of those parts he had lying around was a backglass for an old machine, and chose to turn it into a distinct word clock.

The original pinball device was built in 1956, and despite its age the backglass had practically no signs of wear or damage. There are 43 lights on this particular device which is much more than enough for 12 hours, minutes (by the 10s), seconds, and a few extras. An ATtiny85 serves as the controller and drives a fleet of Neopixels hidden in the display. There are also three buttons which control the brightness and allow the time to be set.

Be sure to check out the video below of this one-of-a-kind clock in action. A lot much more went into this build as well including framing the glass, giving it a coat of paint and polish, and programming the clock into the microcontroller. Old backglasses from pinball machines seem to be relatively popular to repurpose into much more conventional clocks, too, even clocks of an atomic nature.