# Pinball Expo 2024 Recap [ 05 / 08 ] - Aaron Davis with Fast Pinball

**Source:** In Before the Lock  
**Type:** video  
**Published:** 2024-10-31  
**Duration:** 33m 39s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmsubdl581E

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## Analysis

Aaron Davis from Fast Pinball discusses the 2024 Pinball Expo homebrew showcase with the In Before the Lock host, highlighting approximately 38 homebrew games on display. The conversation covers specific games, designer stories, and the collaborative community spirit that supports homebrew pinball creation, emphasizing how the event has become a gathering of friends and a celebration of creative talent across the pinball industry.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] This is the most homebrew games that have ever been in the same place at the same time at Pinball Expo. — _Aaron Davis states 'I think that's somewhere, probably 38-ish or so... This is definitely the most homebrew games that have ever been in the same place at the same time.'_
- [HIGH] Jeffrey Jones and Lisa Su came to Expo two years prior to 2024 as beginners and have since become game creators, with Lisa Su learning to code for the first time. — _Aaron Davis describes how they 'came out to the show two years ago from this Pinball Expo' and she 'never coded before in her life' but has now 'coded more pinball machines' than others._
- [HIGH] Ryan McQuaid's Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball homebrew game got him hired at American Pinball. — _Aaron Davis: 'This is the one that got Ryan McQuaid a job at American Pinball.'_
- [HIGH] Mark Seiden's Metroid pinball machine got him hired at Jersey Jack Pinball as designer on James Cameron's Avatar Limited Edition. — _Aaron Davis: 'Mark Seiden made his Metroid pinball machine and that was again one of the projects that got him attention got him hired at Jersey Jack Pinball and he was the designer responsible for the new James Cameron's Avatar (Limited Edition) machine.'_
- [HIGH] Tattoo Mystique was the first game running Mission Pinball Framework and Fast Pinball hardware at a pinball show. — _Aaron Davis: 'This is the first game that was running the Mission Pinball Framework and the Fast Pinball hardware at a pinball show.'_
- [HIGH] The Harry Potter homebrew game is the first game built by its designer, features 84 drivers and approximately 140 switches, and uses LCD screens and moving playfield sections. — _Aaron Davis: 'This is his first game, yeah.' and 'this one's got, like, 84 drivers... 140-some switches, I think, on top of that.'_
- [MEDIUM] Nightmare Before Christmas began as a whitewood game at Pinball Expo approximately 10 years prior to 2024 (around the 30th anniversary). — _Aaron Davis: 'this game, I think, was originally at Pinball Expo as a whitewood. I think it was at the 30th anniversary, like 10 years ago.'_
- [HIGH] Fast Pinball brought homebrew games via trailer from Seattle area and picked up additional games from Southern California. — _Aaron Davis: 'we drove out a trailer from the northwest from the Seattle area bringing homebrew games from up there. But then we picked up a couple more down in the Southern California, like Santa Clara and then Monterey, California.'_

### Notable Quotes

> "This is my fourth show now... I think this is the first time that I'm actually felt like I'm just walking around just seeing all my friends. That's the part I think that brings the most joy, especially with the homebrew community and stuff like that."
> — **Aaron Davis**, early in conversation
> _Reflects the community-building aspect of Pinball Expo and the value of in-person connection for homebrew developers._

> "I want everybody here to know how cool, how kind, how smart, how eager the people are here to create good pinball."
> — **Aaron Davis**, after discussing his seminar
> _Core statement about the character and motivation of the homebrew pinball community._

> "She said this on stage, never coded before in her life. I love that story. Make sure that everybody knows that. I'm like, you can't tell people you're not a coder anymore."
> — **Host**, discussing Lisa Su
> _Emphasizes the transformative journey of newcomers to homebrew pinball development._

> "Be clear with your questions. Pretend like you're getting the person's attention that has the answer to what you're asking you're going to grab it for five minutes."
> — **Aaron Davis**, advice section
> _Practical advice for how to engage effectively with experienced community members in technical support._

> "That's one of the things I'm most proud of about the community that we have here... everybody's excited... the new people jumping in and excited to help the newer people, that's it paying forward."
> — **Aaron Davis**, community discussion
> _Articulates the 'paying forward' mentality that sustains the homebrew pinball ecosystem._

> "Jake Danzig's up there... we were talking almost like 200 away from 10,000 people that are paying attention to what's going on in pinball. That's amazing."
> — **Host**, discussing homebrew community reach
> _Indicates the scale of the homebrew pinball community's social media reach and engagement._

> "Stairway to Heaven... this mechanism... he made sure he wanted to exist... he's not a mechanical engineer but I'm like I think you kind of are at some point when you can build something like this."
> — **Aaron Davis**, discussing Steve Condress's game
> _Highlights how homebrew designers develop engineering skills through practical challenge-driven design._

> "How the heck is he going to fit these castles below the glass?"
> — **Host**, discussing Harry Potter game
> _Expresses initial skepticism about the feasibility of the Harry Potter homebrew design, later proved successful._

> "This is incredible... I would love to find any way I can to help you achieve this because this is massive."
> — **Aaron Davis**, discussing Harry Potter game support
> _Demonstrates Fast Pinball's commitment to supporting ambitious homebrew projects technically and logistically._

> "It takes a village. And the whole village getting around loves to stand around and play the games when they're all here."
> — **Aaron Davis**, discussing community support for games
> _Summarizes the collaborative, supportive nature of the homebrew pinball community at shows._

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Aaron Davis | person | Founder of Fast Pinball, hardware/software provider for homebrew pinball machines; actively supports homebrew community at expos; interviewed about games and community at Pinball Expo 2024. |
| Fast Pinball | company | Pinball control board and firmware company; provides Mission Pinball Framework integration; transported homebrew games to Pinball Expo 2024 from multiple regions. |
| Pinball Expo | event | Annual pinball convention; 2024 edition featured approximately 38 homebrew games, the most ever at a single show; major community gathering and career-launching venue. |
| Jeffrey Jones | person | Homebrew pinball game creator; attended Pinball Expo two years before 2024 as a beginner interested in homebrew; has since become an active game designer and seller. |
| Lisa Su | person | Homebrew pinball creator; attended Pinball Expo two years before 2024 with no coding background; learned to code for pinball development and has since created multiple pinball machines. |
| Jake Danzig | person | Homebrew pinball designer; creator of Dukes of Hazzard re-theme; runs Fight for the Night tournament and Strictly Customs Facebook group with ~10,000 members; major community organizer and promoter. |
| Brian Cox | person | Homebrew pinball designer; created Tattoo Mystique, the first game running Mission Pinball Framework and Fast Pinball hardware at a show; hand-placed decals as art approach. |
| Steve Condress | person | Homebrew pinball designer; creator of Led Zeppelin pinball with 'Stairway to Heaven' signature mechanic; runs YouTube channel 'The Pinball Room'; pickup by Aaron Davis resulted in attendance at Expo. |
| Ryan McQuaid | person | Homebrew pinball designer; created Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball game; hired by American Pinball as a result of homebrew project; brought rethemed Spirit Halloween version to Expo. |
| Mark Seiden | person | Homebrew pinball designer; created Metroid pinball machine; hired by Jersey Jack Pinball; became designer on James Cameron's Avatar Limited Edition machine. |
| Lynn Manuelian | person | Prolific homebrew pinball designer; created Haunted Cruise, Magic Forest, Frozen, Christmas Countdown; computer/mobile game designer by trade; known for rapid game output and iterative refinement. |
| George Gomez | person | Pinball industry figure; observed playing Nightmare Before Christmas homebrew game at show and providing feedback to designer; described as the game's 'baby.' |
| Michael Rourke | person | Portland-area homebrew community member; assisted Nightmare Before Christmas designer by creating custom bathtub mold, exemplifying community collaboration. |
| Joel | person | Homebrew pinball designer; created Boys Night Out based on his original film; reluctant to do interviews but received positive reception; collaborated with Aaron Davis from Monterey. |
| Alex Lobosco | person | Software specialist; flew to Pinball Expo to provide software support for Jake Danzig's Dukes of Hazzard game despite difficult conditions; exemplifies community support ethos. |
| Coleman | person | Homebrew pinball designer; created unusual form factor pinball game using portable/unconventional design; explored mirror finish and lighting effects as design theme. |
| Ed Owens | person | Homebrew pinball designer; creator of Ghost in the Shell game; one of oldest homebrew games at Expo. |
| Mission Pinball Framework | product | Open-source pinball machine software framework; integrates with Fast Pinball hardware; used by multiple homebrew designers; Tattoo Mystique was first public show display of framework. |
| Marco Specialties | company | Pinball parts supplier; credited as being in 'OG category'; Nightmare Before Christmas game associated with Marco community; organized homebrew village space at Expo. |
| American Pinball | company | Commercial pinball manufacturer; hired Ryan McQuaid from homebrew community based on his Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball game. |
| Jersey Jack Pinball | company | Commercial pinball manufacturer; hired Mark Seiden from homebrew community; manufactured James Cameron's Avatar Limited Edition. |
| In Before the Lock | organization | Podcast/video series covering pinball culture; hosted interview/walkthrough at Pinball Expo 2024 with Aaron Davis discussing homebrew games. |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Homebrew pinball community and culture, Pinball Expo 2024 showcase and homebrew game displays, Community collaboration and mentorship in homebrew design, Fast Pinball hardware and Mission Pinball Framework adoption
- **Secondary:** Career pathways from homebrew to commercial pinball manufacturing, Homebrew game design philosophy and mechanics, Social media and community organization (Facebook groups, online communities)
- **Mentioned:** Logistics and transportation of homebrew machines to expos

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.92) — Overwhelmingly positive sentiment throughout the discussion. Aaron Davis and host express genuine enthusiasm and pride in the homebrew community, emphasizing the collaborative spirit, creative talent, and mutual support. Specific admiration for individual designers' work and their accomplishments. No critical or negative commentary about community members or games; slight moments of humor about design challenges addressed constructively.

### Signals

- **[community_signal]** Mentorship and technical skill-sharing approach: Lisa Su (coding newcomer two years prior) now creating multiple games; advice formalization on how to ask technical questions effectively (confidence: high) — Lisa Su's progression from 'never coded before' to multiple games; Aaron Davis standardized advice: 'get some log files, define what you tried, when it worked, when it didn't work'
- **[community_signal]** Jake Danzig's social media organization reaching ~10,000 community members through Strictly Customs Facebook group and Fight for the Night tournament (confidence: high) — Host: 'Jake Danzig's up there... we were talking almost like 200 away from 10,000 people that are paying attention to what's going on in pinball'
- **[community_signal]** Record-breaking 38 homebrew games at single Expo, establishing Pinball Expo 2024 as largest homebrew showcase to date (confidence: high) — Aaron Davis: 'I think that's somewhere, probably 38-ish or so... This is definitely the most homebrew games that have ever been in the same place at the same time.'
- **[event_signal]** Pinball Expo positioned as primary venue for homebrew community gathering, networking, and career development; described as 'show' defined by community friendships (confidence: high) — Aaron Davis: 'I think this is the first time that I'm actually felt like I'm just walking around just seeing all my friends... It's like these are all friends. We talk on a daily basis and all over the world'
- **[sentiment_shift]** Strong positive sentiment around 'paying forward' ethos and collaborative problem-solving (Michael Rourke mold creation for Nightmare Before Christmas; Alex Lobosco on-site debugging) (confidence: high) — Aaron Davis: 'That's one of the things I'm most proud of about the community that we have here... the new people jumping in and excited to help the newer people, that's it paying forward'
- **[community_signal]** Fast Pinball providing logistical and technical support to homebrew builders, including multi-region game collection and on-site debugging assistance (confidence: high) — Aaron Davis organized trailer pickup from Seattle, California multiple locations, and provided on-site support; Alex Lobosco flew in to provide software debugging during show
- **[design_philosophy]** Homebrew designers exploring unconventional form factors, lighting/visual effects, and artistic approaches beyond traditional playfield design (confidence: medium) — Coleman's unusual form factor game, Brian Cox's tattoo-themed aesthetic and color-changing ball mechanic, Lynn Manuelian's vacuum-form ramp molding, focus on 'playing with light'
- **[design_philosophy]** Homebrew designers focusing on central signature mechanics as starting point, then building surrounding gameplay (e.g., Stairway to Heaven mechanism, Engine Block ball lock) (confidence: high) — Aaron Davis: 'Steve's approach... I put him in the category of starting with an idea mech. That mech that he made sure he wanted to exist'; same approach with Turbo Time
- **[community_signal]** Homebrew designers transitioning from software/digital design backgrounds to physical pinball (Lynn Manuelian from mobile gaming; Harry Potter designer moving from CAD to physical builds) (confidence: medium) — Aaron Davis: 'he's a computer game designer by trade... once you start seeing pinball as an input and output device, as a user experience, your mind starts to race'; Harry Potter designer 'deep modeling with Fusion 360'
- **[personnel_signal]** Homebrew pinball games serving as talent pipeline to commercial manufacturers (Ryan McQuaid to American Pinball, Mark Seiden to Jersey Jack Pinball) (confidence: high) — Aaron Davis: 'This is the one that got Ryan McQuaid a job at American Pinball' and 'Mark Seiden made his Metroid pinball machine... got him hired at Jersey Jack Pinball'
- **[product_strategy]** Fast Pinball iterative firmware development with patient homebrew builder collaboration (Turbo Time designer patience with 'Kingston firmware' development) (confidence: medium) — Aaron Davis: 'he's patient enough with us to, like, work that out... on the bleeding edge of, like, making that stuff move, once it started moving, it was like, my design works'
- **[technology_signal]** Adoption and public showcase of Mission Pinball Framework and Fast Pinball hardware as standard platform for homebrew development (confidence: high) — Tattoo Mystique described as 'first game that was running the Mission Pinball Framework and the Fast Pinball hardware at a pinball show'; multiple games using stepper motors and servo control boards

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## Transcript

 Alright, here we are. I'm here with Aaron from Fast Pinball. Hello. Always a pleasure. Dude, this is awesome. You've become one of the people I seek out at the show because that makes it a real show. It's not just random people you see at pinball all over the place now. It makes it a show. Do you know what? This is my fourth show now. Okay. Two TPS and this is my second expo. Okay. I think this is the first time that I've actually felt like I'm just walking around just seeing all my friends. That's the part I think that brings the most joy, especially with the homebrew community and stuff like that. It's like these are all friends. We talk on a daily basis and all over the world, all walks of life, that kind of thing. And so getting here, it is true. It's like I've been, you know, a plug for the pinball people. Have you seen that game over there, the all-white cabinet? Yeah, yeah, yeah. All our lips are cracked as hell. We've been trying to get over there. everybody's walking over there interrupted along the way and then we get over there and they're gone for the day so a pack of us saw we had people at the Chicago gaming booth we're keeping an eye out we got the text messages they were there we all made the beeline so that's the one of the few times we actually get away from the home booth here so I came to see your seminar the other day was it yesterday it was yesterday yes yesterday how did it sound it was great I mean I'm up there on stage and it feels like a clown car racing out of control and I'm hoping I don't kill anybody you've got a lot of personalities to manage, don't you? Let's just put it that way. It's a good time. I mean, like, those are the advantage of getting everybody together is it inspires, you know, and everybody's excited, but I think also, too, some people are a little shy about sharing what they do. I want everybody here to know how cool, how kind, how smart, how eager the people are here to create good pinball, you know? I thought what was interesting was there was a couple of people who were punters, essentially, like a year or so ago, and they came to you and said How viable is it to create a homebrew game? Yeah. They're up on stage. That was Jeffrey Jones and Lisa Su. And they came out to the show two years ago from this expo. And they said, we heard you were coming. We want to learn what it takes to make some homebrew games. And they came back and forth, asked questions. And eventually they came back and said, we're going to sell one of our games and we're going to do this. And it has been so awesome watching her go from, and she said this on stage, never coded before in her life. I love that story. Make sure that everybody knows that. I'm like, you can't tell people you're not a coder anymore. Yeah, you've coded more pinball machines and I have now yeah, that's impressive I was asking her a little bit about it cuz I was over it. Okay yesterday. Yes I was like yeah, but she's like yeah, I was like tell me about that Yeah, just talking about like, you know some of the hurdles that she had to overcome the technical issues I mean she was just talking like a go-to Yep, you know and we tell people like the advice I give is like be clear with your questions Okay, so I say pretend like you've got the person's attention that has the answer to what you're asking you've got it for five minutes. So be clear, get some log files, define what you tried, when it worked, when it didn't work, and from there, you'll get the answers. And now when you see the new people jumping in and excited to help the newer people, that's it paying forward. And that's one of the things I'm most proud of about the community that we have here. Yeah, and it's a credit to you and everybody else that that has been created. I know that some of the guys manage Facebook groups and things like that, don't they? Sure, yeah. Yeah, Jake Danzig's up to, like he said, we were talking almost like 200 away from 10,000 people That are paying attention to what's going on in pinball. That's amazing. And look, this space is massive. Yeah, this is incredible. We've been working with the Marcos crew on extending this whole pin-dev-con idea. The idea of, like, this is people getting together, building and creating pinball. Like, all the best things that it takes to do this stuff are highlighted in a way that shows it's not just a couple random games stuck in a corner somewhere, you know? And I think that that's one of the things that there's a certain amount of prestige by being able to be here, being shoulder-to-shoulder with some of these full-dress games, but with the rawness of some of these white woods and stuff like it's On all various states of film. Oh I know and we have to tell people like don't be intimidated by some of these full dress art packages We all get you know decent advantage to these high format or large format printers and stuff But really like seeing the game show up that are just whitewoods age like like Moog's Turbo Time game here It's got like a an engine block running on a stepper motor that locks balls And I mean it's incredible and watching him build through all that like it's just It's wild. The biggest buzz is seeing what people come up with. It is. And how they use them to fulfill their dreams. Oh, it is. And by the time I get a chance to play, it was like watching people stand and play these games. And I'm wandering around trying to get a chance at it. I only got to get through, I think I've gotten through all the games now. But it was late last night. And as the place was closing down, you had Brian's Borderlands 2 game over here with the play field that moves all around. Of course, I'm like, can we open it up? I want to see what's inside of this game. And oh my god, it's like, let's go, go. All right, so here's the Overwatch game. So this is done by Mike and his sons. And so this is a story that we got to see the actual, like, you know, everybody wants to collaborate with their kids, show them how to do cool things. But, like, this is literally the byproduct of that, you know. I think these kids are here right now, right? This is family, right? Okay. Okay, so I'm Aaron Davis. We do the fast pinball stuff. So I've gotten to know your dad. Like, this is incredible. And he raves about you guys and the fact that you actually work together. Everybody wants their kids to get into building pinball, and you guys are actually doing it. So that's incredible. This game is awesome. Thank you. I got to sit here and shoot it with him standing over my shoulder giving me instructions and stuff. So, dude, I wish you guys could have been here and up on stage with us yesterday. But, I mean, dude, you got school or something, I heard? Like, come on, you know. But, dude, it's so – But seriously, this is really great. I mean, like I said, everybody wants their kids to work on a project with them. You guys are doing it. So we're probably going to have parents reaching out to you and find ways to inspire their own kids to get up off the couch, get off their phone, and actually build pinball. So there we go. This is fantastic. We got to meet in real time. So good job. Very, very cool. Thank you. All right. Let's see what else we got. Let's check this one out here. So this is Tattoo Mystique. This was created by Brian Cox. This is the first game that was running the Mission Pinball framework and the Fast Pinball hardware at a pinball show. So now this is the reimagination of that original game that had been beat to hell and transported all over the place. So this was his fresh take on it. So all of this artwork, he hand-placed as decals all over this and then clear-coated the whole piece. But he calls himself a pinball artist. The idea that this is the canvas, that he wants to create this aesthetic that really plays homage to a certain era. So this was done in the Navy-style tattoo. And the whitewood play field is meant to, it's not a lazy art package. It's done to look like the skin that was tattooed on. So the art package and everything like that was incredible. It does a little trick where the ball, through certain shots, changes between a black ball and a gold ball. So as you shoot in this way, the ball changes color coming out the other side. So I love those little things that add to the narrative and make you kind of go, what am I looking at here? You know, like, that's what I find a lot about when I play these kind of games. It's like, that's something I'm a fan of. Oh, yeah. That's something I'm a fan of. Yeah. More often than not, every single game, that will be one of those things. Yeah, and you'll find, well, and I think so, and you'll find the little simple things that you love. Like, one of my favorite things about this game is, like, this little bounce. If it goes out this left outline, it bounces back in. I mean, just come on. That's fun. Incentivizing. Oh, yeah. It's super fun. Okay, let's check out Led Zeppelin here. So this is Steve Condress. He has a YouTube channel called The Pinball Room. And so he tells a story about how he started this game because he's like, Led Zeppelin, I want to do a music pin. I think it would be really great. Nobody's made a Led Zeppelin pin. Well, then Stern made a Led Zeppelin pin. But here's the thing. Steve's approach with this was like, I put him in the category of starting with an idea mech. That mech that he made sure he wanted to exist. So in this case, it was the literal stairway to heaven. you know so this mechanism you know and he tells people he's you know he's not a mechanical engineer but I'm like I think you kind of are at some point when you can build something like this that actually grabs the ball stacks it up stores it and creates a game experience so so here it is with an earth magnet holding it on the step so as it's going to move on you're going to clear that drop target it's going to move up again you're going to add another so see we appreciate you help us navigate this whole story here so as you continue to add and fill all the staircases it He eventually gonna dump everything out to the top there and create a crazy multi Super cool So this was actually one of the games that so we drove out a trailer from the northwest from the Seattle area bringing homebrew games from up there But then we picked up a couple more down in the Southern California, like Santa Clara and then Monterey, California. when we saw the navigation was going to get us through Salt Lake City, we figured, well, Steve is there, and he wasn't going to come to the show then. And I said, if I pick your game up, could you fly in? And he's like, I'll be there. So we rolled up to a South Lake. It was like 1 in the morning with a trailer, got the game in there, and carried on, drove the rest of the way to Expo. All right, let's check out Borderlands here. So this is the game that we were just talking about. Right now it's moving around already. So this is the whole play field moving and changing the depth of the game in ways that you can't do with a play field that's locked in place. I'm glad we got it there in the first guy. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I'm so sorry. So I think he's kind of shortcutting some of the moves here to see this stuff happening in real time, you know. But I think this is one of the ones, too. It's like you get an idea of something you want to accomplish. and the challenge that you have, he even described how like, you know, people have asked like, what's happened to this game since they saw it last? And he said, I've made it transportable. So the idea of like, how do you fix a cabinet like this in position when you're moving it around if it's free-flowing in there? So the design challenges are not just necessarily as a fun to play, but how can this actually be taken on location and experience and stuff like that too. We're currently saying you can keep the ball a long life, the ball life longer in the five-year code. There you go. All right, so let's check out Lynn's games over here, too. So Lynn Manuelian has been doing all sorts of stuff with Homebrew, not only just like pinball 2000 style that he calls pinball AR, but so he's created the Haunted Antonio Cruz game, the Magic Forest, the Frozen game, and then also I can't remember. Very busy boy out there. Oh, he is. He's in the, we call him the rapid fire category, where it's like if you take your eyes off him for a minute, another pinball machine spawns. So this game here, the Christmas Countdown, he actually built over a series of streams, showing how he was modeling it in software, and then actually turning it into molds for vacuum form ramps. Eventually the code that runs that stuff, the playfields he was getting cut. He's a computer game designer by trade, isn't he? Exactly, mobile gaming and things like that. So he talks about how he got into pinball stuff when he started doing a pinball-based mobile game, I believe. And then once you start seeing pinball as an input and output device, as a user experience, your mind starts to race. Yeah, and he obviously just got hooked into the whole ethos. And I tell people, too, it's like he was one of the guys that was one of the first people I met in pinball when I saw somebody online on Pinside that was doing homebrew pinball machines. And we ended up on the telephone talking like schoolgirls. We're just so, oh my gosh, I think you're so great. No, you are. And then we got to meet finally at these pinball shows, you know, years ago. And now we're buddies, you know. He's one of the first homebrew guys that I've had a chance to have a chat with. He's OG. He goes way, way back. He's a swell guy. If he was here, he'd be telling you about all the buttery smooth ramp shots he makes, how many times he iterates on that until it matches exactly what he wants it to be. But, I mean, what a cool thing to be around, somebody who just keeps wanting to make things better and better and better all the time. I don't understand where his time comes from, you know. I mean he's got a job and a family. I mean come on like that's that's a lot. Okay, but let's roam on like what else We want to save Yeah, yeah So he does a score bit integration, I mean everything like it takes it like all the way, you know, so all right Let's walk over here. Look at the nightmare before Christmas. So this is really like, you know, this is Mark and cities in the og category So this game, I think, was originally at Expo as a Whitewood. I think it was at the 30th anniversary, like 10 years ago. Fresh off. Yeah. Just play great pinball, and we're just going to gossip over your shoulder here. So this game originally showed up, I think it was about 10 years ago, as a Whitewood. And it was just really great. I mean, that's like, I'm impressed at the depth of this game. But it was also cool, too, that within the community, I remember distinctly, like there was a time where they were trying to get like a mold made for the bathtub that's the ball lock up there and i think it was michael rourke out in in tacoma or sorry in the portland area who was like just give me your dimensions let me make that for you real quick carry on with your project don't waste time learning how to model that one piece yeah i think a lot of times in the homebrew community especially and i mean in all walks of life it's sometimes it's fun to jump out of your tasks and problems help somebody else out and then jump back in and i think there's a lot of inspiration in that too so yeah yeah i mean i remember going there before christmas yeah years and years ago oh i know um you know it's one of the first ones sort of popped up on my radar in terms of homebrew i mean it was out there with its paper cardboard ramps and all that stuff and very famous game one of the things we try to do at these shows too is i like to try and capture pictures of like you know the pinball elite the celebrities out here playing and i remember there was a point where george gomez was playing the game and you can see him standing in background watching his baby get played super cool oh it's awesome oh yeah and give some feedback and some suggestions or whatever it is so okay we're gonna walk right into the the Harry Potter homebrew game here this thing is incredible so now so when I first saw this yeah the first thing that okay so I think somebody sent it to me so look watch a JV a working on I was like hey there's a lot of confusion I know the second thing that jumped out to me was How the heck is he going to fit these castles below the glass? Yeah. And you can see it's this whole custom cabinet. I think he's off at the Pinball Olympics right now, running on a treadmill and playing pinball, something like that. But for the people watching, the dark in the background, that's a whole LCD screen. So as you're playing this, you're looking at off into the skyline behind Hogwarts Castle, and they will see the day and night changes and stuff like that. Be able to work in different effects, as different modes and stages of the games progress through what would have been the seven stories, the seven books, the films, that kind of thing. That's a shootable edition. It is. So he got it here physically. Physically, all the mechanics, all the mechs are hooked up, all the boards are hooked up and things like that. And that was literally in the last week or so here, finishing that stuff up. So the next step is really... I played it dead quite recently. Well, the interesting thing about this game is like a lot of times I've seen people do a lot of deep modeling with Infusion 360 or SolidWorks, but until the reality of what the physical pinball world kicks in, those projects tend to fizzle out. And so as I saw that this project was still going, I was like, man, I would love to find any way I can to help you achieve this because this is massive. What we thought was cool is there's an in-depth use of servo motors, stepper motors, like DC motors and things like that. So being able to get him hooked up on the platform and to make a game like this is badass. I saw the design of this. Yeah. I was like, that's not going to work. Yeah. That's not going to work. I know. And then lo and behold, here it is. I think it was this clip that I saw. That's just what they spiked. Oh, I know. But here it is. But I mean, in this whole upper deck area here, this all lifts up. So it's basically these shots are going to raise and lower on stepper motors here. You can see the drive shafts here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that as that entire level moves up and down, you're making these shots at these different. So even though they're staggered like that, as it raises, you'll have this shot available, eventually this shot available, and eventually that. I mean, come on. Like, that's incredible. That's really cool. I was wondering about that. Yeah. And that solves that problem. Well, and I think that that was the thing, too. We were looking at, like, I think this one's got, like, 84 drivers. So, I mean, that's, like, coils, magnet controls, DC motor controls, and then 140-some switches, I think, in it on top of that. Opto switches. This is his first game. This is his first game, yeah. it's just right it's insane so the thing that you're going to realize about this too is the more people hear him talk about it is that he knows the lore so well so really it's not just like oh I think it'd be really cool to throw Harry Potter on something and getting it played now this is like so in depth you know the flu network system he created it not like some of the ball transport and stuff from like what that Star Trek next generation Ball goes in one place comes out the other side that kind of thing. So again this is just incredible. All right let's see let's go and check out. So I think that like our goal was to to get to like 40 games. So I think it's somewhere, probably 38-ish or so, I haven't counted it yet. This is definitely the most homebrew games that have ever been in the same place at the same time. But so, let's check this out. This is Coleman's game. This is such a strange form factor. And I walked up to it, I'm like, I'm having to embrace and hold this game to be so close to it. And again, I love interesting form factors. Years ago, I built a portable pinball machine they can fold up and fly on a plane with me. This thing was like right up my alley and stuff like that too. So seeing what gets in people's head and the fact that like being able to build and make stuff come to life more, I don't know, in a more straight line. The story behind this originally was it was basically a test bed. Right. I think that's what he said. Yeah, yeah. I was learning in real time how some of that stuff came together, you know. I bet you were. I bet you were. Yeah, it sounded like it was a test bed. So they could. Oh, yeah, that was it. The test fixtures. The mirror finish. Oh, yeah. So his whole story was talking about, like, playing with light. So this is one of his other games here, The Greek Gods. Yeah. The lighting factor. I just love hearing that unique storyline of, like, what attracts people to making games. We started talking about playing with light. Yeah. I mean, that's incredible. Not just blinky lights, but, like, what does that look like? Yeah. So we've got a mirror light field in here. I think this was just originally built to test whether that was resilient enough to, like, you know, a week's worth of use. Oh, I know. But when it was created, it was so much fun. At some point, anything can be turned into a game, if you look at it from the right angle, you know? All right, let's roll down here. Ghost in the Shell, this one was done by Ed Owens. We were trying to determine, I think this might be the oldest or one of the oldest games in the lineup here. I think that Tattoo Mystique in its original incarnation may have had a beat, and I know that Nightmare Before Christmas is about the same time, too. Yeah, come on, man, but this one. Yeah. So a lot of good stuff a lot of people get to know these homebrews and come back to experience them year after year, but Okay, so boys night out this is this is Joel's game here He actually the boys night out it was based on a film that he did and then using that as the theme for the pinball machine He made it's like so many more layers deep, you know, he generated the original IP that was based on So this is the full dress version. Yeah, come up and get a look at this, you know Yeah, I mean, the backbox is the full treatment, you know. So this game originally showed up at the Northwest Pinball Show, at least according to my experience with it, showed up out of nowhere. And I'd never met Joel before, and I got the chance to, like, stand there and play the game as he's standing over my shoulder telling me what to shoot at. And I think I had a pretty good game while he was standing there. I forced him to do an interview with me and told me that he was uncomfortable with doing those things. but the interview was fantastic. That's all I loved about you. I was like, that's like Krakow. He's ignoring me. He's too focused. Yeah. Yeah, so we drove out together from Monterey to bring this game out. That was a great experience. How's it going? Good, man, good. So yeah, so this game, the first time I played it was just white wood, like handcrafted. This is the reinterpretation, full art dress, like artwork, color, all that kind of stuff. really brings it together. So, a lot of fun. And if you get a chance to see the interview that I did with Joel at the Homer speaking, you've got to check it out. It's so memorable. So memorable. Okay, so Sonic Spinball, everybody recognizes this one. This is the one that got Ryan McQuaid a job at American Pinball. And here he brought it in. He kind of rethemed it as the Spirit Halloween game. I mean again a lot of these video game properties are fantastic for pinball you know Mark Seiden made his Metroid pinball machine and that was again one of the projects that got him attention got him hired at Jersey Jack pinball and he was the designer responsible for the new avatar pinball machine which is just I mean it's so incredible to help support these games get made and then see people literally start careers in making pinball based on that. Yeah. Oh, I'm so proud to even be in the most minute way associated with these people getting to get their start. So it's just badass. Like, super cool. Oh, it is. I love it. I love it. Okay, so let's check out Pokemon over here. All right. So these guys, so Owen, I tried to track him down for the talk that we did, and they were too busy running around somewhere else, probably getting a meal that we all forget to eat when we're at these shows. But this game, you look at it and you're like, this is kind of wide open, is this fun? And you get down and play it, and it's fantastic. If you know the Pokemon properties, the sounds, the characters, I mean, it instantly is familiar. So I think this is a game that they've brought it a few different times, but it keeps getting better and better and better. It's a lot of space. Yeah, a lot of space to run around. These big wide open ramps that you hit from different angles and stuff, definitely super enjoyable. But this was, I think, the last game I got to play out of all of these, and it only took the show being almost closed for me to be able to get a chance to get up and play it. They've done an amazing job of the dock. Oh, I know. And you'll need to get a shot, too, of their whole mode side progression here. I mean, come on. It's not only just the instruction, but it's done aesthetically very, very well. That is quite a significant rule set. Seriously, that's not shoot the blinky light in the color of the character, is it? It's not. We didn't know that. Okay, so a radical switch. We're going to go to Dukes of Hazzard. So this game, this is from Jake Danzig. It's a rich re-theme to a paragon. And, you know, I mean, Jake does so much for the community, he'll deny it if we were standing here. He runs the Fight for the Night. Correct. the Strictly Customs Facebook group. And he does so much to make sure that everybody knows about any of these homebrew projects that he ever sees. And I like to tell people that I think I'm aware of every project that's going on, but there'll be stuff that pops up in here from a project from five years ago that I totally missed. And what a great way to show how deep the heritage is in the homebrew pinball creation community. But one of the things I do want to say about this game, too, is I know that Jake was having some software problems when he got here. And Alex Lobosco, who is down here, flew in just to hang out and offer software support at a pinball show, which is insane. I mean, working on pinball machines at a show is awful. Working on software in a loud room like that is even worse. I'm not even sure I could manage that even if I was there. Oh, you don't want to go there. And I think that Jake was so appreciative of his willingness to jump in and lend a hand. That's incredible. So, I mean, that's just showing the community it's not about building the games, But we want everybody's games to look as great as possible and be playable and transported to shows. I mean, it takes a village. And the whole village getting around loves to stand around and play the games when they're all here. It's amazing, man. They did such a great job. Absolutely beautiful. All right. Let's roll over this way. Yep. So this is Turbo Time. This is by, I'm going to say, Moogly Moog put this one together. But check this out right here. this engine block designed to lock balls that's going to lock eight balls in it and eventually it moves them like pistons in the process of ejecting those balls out of the play field like it was just just fantastic but again this is a lot like steve condor's stairway to heaven it's that central mech that was the thing he wanted to see exist and that's what that is there then everything else around it all the street cones and stuff like that you know popping up as you're hitting targets. But what we love to see too is like the line drawn idea stuff that shows up on these games And usually it a Sharpie but this guy went with blue ballpoint pen You know a different take It different yeah I wonder how many hours it took him to get that right You know, I don't know exactly. I mean, it was one of those things I remember, like, a few weeks ago, like, you know, he's using one of our new Stepper motorboards. And, you know, of course, we're working on Kingston firmware, and he's patient enough with us to, like, work that out. But to get on the bleeding edge of, like, making that stuff move, once it started moving, it was like, my design works, you know? So that's super, super fun. So this one's got a lot of ground to move on, but the idea and the passion around the designer, Nick working on this stuff, is like, it's going to look great. I've got high hopes. All right, where are we going to go next? Let's check out... Yeah, let's do Saw. So this is a special booth over here. We've got two games that started initially as re-themes of the Whirlwind pinball machine. so the saw game i mean my first experience with this was at the texas pinball festival and so as we were like trying to find games to fill out the homebrew space um you know i said like are there any fast power games showing up here and they're like yeah saw is going to be there i'm like oh my god like this is incredible and um the depth of the art package the code experience the even the audio packages that glenn put together i mean it created it was incredible And, you know, a side story on this, like, you know, we were down there, the top runners for, like, you know, Best Homebrew down at the Texas Pinball Festival looked like they were going to be Saw or Kyle Smith's Friday the 13th. And, you know, at the end of the show, we usually go through and do interviews one-on-one with all the game designers while they're playing the game. And we were standing there, and Moto was filming it, I'm interviewing him, and somebody comes up and taps Austin on the shoulder and goes, you guys just won Best Homebrew. And so we go running over to the main stage. His partners on the game were standing up there, and they won the award. So it was one of those reality show moments to have that experience. That particular show was just one where everybody was absolutely blown away. It was. On a quality level. It sort of went from things that were in people's bedrooms to actual, legit, production-ready games. And nothing caps that off better than, I mentioned Friday the 13th that Kyle Smet made. That game won Best of Show over the commercially produced games by all the biggest companies. So just an incredible moment for Homebrew Pinball. And I think that it really... Oh, yeah, there's no going back. Now the bar's raised so high, but we're really working hard to make sure people don't feel too intimidated to get in. Because everybody who started at Homebrew started from cutting wood and bending metal and hooking up wire and writing some code. So, yeah, so saw is fantastic. So the reverse bear trap, Mac on the top there that scares the crap out of everybody when that goes off is super, super cool. So they tell the story about when they were down at TPF, how it's got the air pressure tank that's used to clap that clothes, and they kept going back to the, I think it was an air soft gun place, to get it recharged. And they're like, what are you guys doing with this thing, you know? It's like you don't want to know. Yeah, definitely. It wouldn't make any sense. Definitely a fun experience. But these guys are fantastic. Now, this was also a show that they've been playing in tournaments at each of the shows that they go to. This was the first one they decided, you know what, we don't want to play in the tournament because we want to hang out in the homebrew space. Because everybody's here. You're standing around. You're connecting with people. You want to be a part of that. And I think that being divided and isolated in the tournament space, where the only time they ended up coming back would be, we've got a stuck ball. We've got to come back and get this. So just getting to be here and be in the space is something that brings so much joy, and it really gets you to share those kind of serendipitous moments of those fun stories that come up that you never think anybody would be interested in that you get to share. So let's roll over and check out the greatest showman. We mentioned the world in the interview in regards to the fact that a year ago... No, it was two years ago from this show where they came out. They saw that we had Fast Pinball at a booth, and they said, we got some questions. Jeffrey was down to do the physical build, but he was like, I'm not writing code. Lisa Sue kept bringing it up. I keep wanting to make... We want to make this game. We want to make this game. Finally, she's like, okay, I'll write the code. She's never written code. She'll tell you she's a nurse practitioner. her hobbies are sewing and she's busy. And so her dropping in and committing to learn code and watching that whole experience going from literally nothing to she's now programmed more pinball machines than I have. And I'm kind of a big deal in the homebrew space. Yeah, right. I was looking at this guy yesterday, you know, to go, okay, this has been done by somebody who's new to code. Yes. And now she's layering video assets. Yeah. She's layering text in different areas of the screen. She's updating those things. Yeah. You know, she's done a significant amount of work. Yeah. You know, a significant amount of complicated work. Yes. And all the rule-based stuff and all the event-based stuff. Oh, yeah. All the machines are, you know, they're in poor race conditions, aren't they? Yeah. Oh, there's so much that stacks up. And I think that, like, you know, it's funny, too. She'll talk about, like, and this is a common vibe when we get together like this, is people go, you know, where's Anthony Van Winkle? Like, where's Mike Becker? Like, I owe those guys drinks. Yeah. They've spent many late nights and hours helping me through the projects. I just love hearing people get called out by name. It's like, how do I pay back? And often it's drinks and food and hugs and high fives and whatever it takes. Now, this is the Greatest Showman. Yep. And it's another re-theme of whirlwind. Yes, that's correct. And I played it yesterday. It's fantastic. I love the brightness of this art package. So you don't see a lot of full gold, yellow, red. I mean, it stands out. You'd see this from across the room. You're like, this is gorgeous. and it really stands out in a tasteful way. I mean, it plays, it's so respectful to the property and it really makes people walk up and go, I want to know more about this game. Yeah, it's absolutely gorgeous. In a very old school way, they're taking that kind of, you know, the era and really cracking it up. Well, I think also too, it's worth mentioning that like, you know, making pinballs hard, ha ha ha, but like designing it, it takes a lot. Now it's not just the aesthetic, the physical build and the geometry that you're creating to make this game. You've got to shake that one. There you go. It's a five million. What it takes to do it takes so many different disciplines. So in this case here, suspending the need to design the layout and say I want to focus on telling the story and creating the game experience is a way to take what is a massive amount of disciplines and knocking one of them out of the way so you can focus on telling the story. It's a really bright entry point. Yeah, it is. I spoke to them yesterday that they're already working on their next game. I'm excited. Yeah, which is going to be another one. You might know the theme, but they wouldn't tell me, obviously. But they said it's another famous movie from the 90s, I think. Family-friendly, comedy, but everybody knows it. Possibly more in America. That's what I was told. I guess I'd say that's the part, too. that I love the idea of once people start thinking of properties they love, films they love in a pinball context, it's not unlike adapting a story or a book to a stage play. So you take a film and you're adapting it to this theater stage that is a pinball stage and try and find those ways to convey those moments in ways that are not just playing video clips. It's using the sound assets. It's using different targets that represent the same stress and challenge that the characters in the film are going through, you know, or the silliness that turns into one of the most memorable scenes, you know. So I love seeing what people do when they take properties they love and they get the chance to pay that homage to it, I guess, you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think we're at the end, aren't we? Dude, this is fantastic. I mean, I love getting to do these interviews with you. I mean, we're just a bunch of goofballs who love pinball, but it is about getting together. I'm so proud of you and I think it's just such an incredible part of pinball. It's growing all the time. Yeah. And you know, every time I come and talk to you, there's just more going on. Dude, next year will be even bigger. We can't stop now. There's so many more in the wings that are coming up. We're going to need more square footage, longer talk times, like good challenges to have. Yeah. Awesome, man. Thanks so much for taking the time. See you. Bye. Bye.

_(Acquisition: youtube_groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 0e06c5ce-a0bd-42cd-b640-819a5d569a17*