Star Explorer

The Star Explorer, manufactured by Sentinel Inc. in 1977, is a single-player solid-state electronic pinball machine built for the home market, with a space fantasy theme. Its innovative use of conductive ball properties for switchless rollovers, slingshots, and pop bumpers, along with metal-spring slingshot contacts, reduced maintenance needs, though it made responses a bit clunky compared to conventional switches.

The game is played over 3 balls per turn, using a single steel ball. Its two flippers are interconnected and powered by a single solenoid, so pressing either flipper button fires both simultaneously; the flippers' inward fulcrum point and shallow factory angle give them an action similar to a shorter, less powerful flipper, and players must adapt to this quirk. The pop bumper bodies appear to be repurposed 1970s Bally units, each solenoid firing two bumpers, adding a touch of cross-manufacturer nostalgia to the machine's otherwise self-contained design.

Star Explorer shares its playfield layout with several other Sentinel Inc. titles, including Wonder Wizard CB Charlie, Wonder Wizard Demolition Derby, and Flying Aces, distinguished mainly by different artwork, and it was also sold under the Phillips Electronics name with a different model number. While its clunky switchless response may be an acquired taste, the machine remains a low-maintenance, historically interesting example of a home solid-state pinball design from the late 1970s.