# Off the LDB: Gemini & Star Wars with Dan Howard. Gottlieb as an artform. Recorded at GSPF 2026. **Source:** DRI374 **Type:** video **Published:** 2026-05-16 **Duration:** 34m 7s **Beat:** Pinball **URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1ATVPW4fdw --- ## Analysis Dan Howard (Board Dog) showcases two custom homebrew pinball machines at Golden State Pinball Festival 2026: a Mission Pinball Framework-controlled recreation of the rare 1978 Gottlieb Gemini using P3-Rock controller, and an original Star Wars design inspired by 1970s Gottlieb aesthetics running on Cobra Pin hardware. Both machines feature electromechanical elements, chime-based audio, and demonstrate Howard's philosophy of designing games that blend modern control systems with classic mechanical and artistic approaches. Howard is actively developing additional games including Highlander (1985 theme) and Descent (1995 video game theme), all styled after Gottlieb eras. ### Key Claims - [HIGH] Gemini was made in quantities of 300 units, originally released in 1978 as an Ed Krinsky design — _Dan Howard discussing Gemini specifications at GSPF 2026_ - [HIGH] Gemini playfield reproduction was completed in approximately two weeks before the show — _Dan Howard stating 'this is 2 weeks old literally got this together two weeks ago'_ - [HIGH] Gemini playfield uses Mission Pinball Framework and P3-Rock controller board — _Dan Howard explaining Gemini's control system at GSPF 2026_ - [HIGH] Star Wars game was originally designed in virtual pinball approximately 10 years ago — _Dan Howard: 'I designed it in virtual pinball like 10 years ago'_ - [HIGH] Star Wars physical machine took approximately 6 months to build, with software development spanning several years — _Dan Howard discussing Star Wars build timeline at GSPF 2026_ - [HIGH] Star Wars uses Cobra Pin hardware controller with custom extra driver add-on board — _Dan Howard explaining Star Wars hardware setup_ - [HIGH] Dan Howard holds a Computer Science degree from 1986 that he never used professionally, instead becoming a hydrogeologist — _Dan Howard biographical statement during interview_ - [HIGH] Howard is developing at least three additional games, including Highlander (1985 themed) and Descent (1995 video game themed), all styled as Gottlieb games — _Dan Howard: 'I'm working on at least three more. Oh, you are all God leaves? I'm just curious. Oh, actually, yeah.'_ - [HIGH] Mission Pinball Framework is written in Python and is one of the most accessible programming languages for beginners — _Interview discussion of MPF coding accessibility_ - [HIGH] Star Wars game features custom-length chime bars to extend from 3 to 6 chimes for playing Imperial March melody — _Dan Howard explaining chime modifications: 'I made some custom length chime bars to give me one lower and two higher notes'_ ### Notable Quotes > "This is a game I've always just loved. I've never played a real one. I did a recreation of it in virtual pinball BBX. And played the heck out of that and managed to acquire parts to be able to build one." > — **Dan Howard**, early in interview > _Explains Howard's motivation for Gemini recreation—combining passion for the game with practical acquisition of parts_ > "I programmed all of that in so that's rad. That's so cool. So this is basically like a almost like a preservation technique, you know, to kind of rebuild a 70s game with with a lot of modern games, but make it behave like a like an old one." > — **Host**, mid-interview > _Identifies the broader cultural/technical significance of Howard's approach as preservation and historical recreation_ > "I designed it to be like a Godly. If God had gotten the Marvel Star Wars license in 78 instead of Spider-Man and Hulk, if they had gotten Star Wars, this artwork is all the Marvel comics artwork from the 78 comics." > — **Dan Howard**, Star Wars discussion > _Articulates the core design philosophy: a counterfactual Gottlieb Star Wars game using period-authentic Marvel comic artwork_ > "I have a computer science degree from 1986 that I never used. Oh, okay. All right. Became a hydro geologist and moved off different ways." > — **Dan Howard**, mid-interview > _Personal background explaining how he came to pinball design and coding despite non-technical career_ > "Cobra Pin is based on Open Pinball Project, okay, which was designed to be a lowcost thing. Now, it's one guy out of his garage designing and doing this." > — **Dan Howard**, hardware discussion > _Provides insight into Cobra Pin ecosystem and manufacturing model—garage operation by single developer_ > "It's just Star Wars. It's totally based on Star Wars the movie. Yeah. There there's no in my world, A New Hope as a subtitle does not exist. No. There were three Star Wars movies made." > — **Dan Howard**, late interview > _Expresses 1970s purism—Howard's design philosophy centered on original trilogy era only, rejecting later retconning_ > "I originally had three and I could play the first two measures. And I decided and I looked at the next couple measures and I go, 'What do I need? I need three more notes.' So I made some custom length chime bars to give me one lower and two higher notes." > — **Dan Howard**, chime discussion > _Demonstrates iterative problem-solving and commitment to detail—custom fabrication to achieve specific audio/musical goals_ > "I'm just curious. Oh, actually, yeah. Yeah, they're all going to be styled like god leaves. Yeah. I'm actually going to put the godly system 3 flippers on the next one." > — **Dan Howard**, future games discussion > _Confirms Howard's design philosophy is consistently Gottlieb-inspired across all future projects, with specific mechanical choices_ > "I kind of use themes that exist. Yeah. as opposed to an original theme. Mainly because it gives me artwork, sometimes gives me sound." > — **Dan Howard**, future design discussion > _Explains practical constraint: licensed themes provide source art and audio assets that simplify development_ > "I'm retired. I have to have hobbies. Yeah. I mean the thing is you I see I see the future myself in you, right? Because I want to do this as well." > — **Host / Dan Howard**, closing discussion > _Reveals Howard's retirement status enables full-time hobbyist development; host sees himself in similar trajectory_ ### Entities | Name | Type | Context | |------|------|---------| | Dan Howard | person | Homebrew pinball designer and builder, known online as Board Dog. Retired, holds Computer Science degree (1986), former hydrogeologist. Created Gemini recreation and original Star Wars custom EM/solid-state hybrid games. Designing additional games including Highlander and Descent themed titles, all styled after Gottlieb eras. | | Golden State Pinball Festival 2026 | event | Pinball festival where Dan Howard showcased his Gemini and Star Wars games. First time Howard attended with games. | | Gemini | game | Rare 1978 Gottlieb EM pinball machine (300 units made). Ed Krinsky design with Gordon Morison artwork. Howard built a Mission Pinball Framework/P3-Rock controlled recreation using reproduced playfield, original mechanics, and chimes. Playfield scanned from new-old-stock and digitally restored. Completed two weeks before GSPF 2026. | | Star Wars | game | Original homebrew solid-state pinball game by Dan Howard, inspired by hypothetical 1978 Gottlieb Star Wars machine. Uses Marvel Comics artwork from 1978 Star Wars comics. Built over 6 months (after 10+ years VPX development). Runs on Cobra Pin hardware. Features 7 multiballs, Mission Pinball Framework code, 6 custom chime bars, Gottlieb-style mechanics and aesthetics. | | Mission Pinball Framework | product | Open-source Python-based pinball control software used by Dan Howard on Gemini. Event-driven game engine supporting multiple control board platforms. Accessible to non-professional programmers. | | P3-Rock | product | Pinball control board used in Dan Howard's Gemini recreation. Part of primary hardware platform ecosystem alongside Fast Pinball and Cobra Pin. | | Cobra Pin | product | Hardware controller platform used in Dan Howard's Star Wars game. Single integrated board with switch inputs and drivers, based on Open Pinball Project design. Lower cost alternative to P3-Rock and Fast Pinball, developed by single engineer in garage setup. | | Ed Krinsky | person | Designer of original 1978 Gottlieb Gemini pinball machine (300 units produced). | | Gordon Morison | person | Artwork artist for Gottlieb machines from 1970s, including Gemini. Known for distinctive art style across Gottlieb releases of that era. | | Gottlieb | company | Classic pinball manufacturer (1970s-1980s era). Design philosophy, mechanical standards, flipper types, and aesthetic sensibilities serve as primary inspiration for Dan Howard's custom builds. Howard styling games as Gottlieb-era machines across all projects. | | Highlander | game | 1985 movie-themed pinball game in development by Dan Howard. Will be styled as early alpha-numeric era Gottlieb game with ramps and modern features. In VPX development stage for layout testing. | | Descent | game | 1995 video game-themed pinball machine in development by Dan Howard. Will feature fake DMD-style display and be styled as 1995-era game. Currently in VPX layout testing phase. | | Northwest Pinball Show | event | Upcoming pinball show approximately 3 weeks from GSPF 2026 where Dan Howard will display both Gemini and Star Wars games. | | Open Pinball Project | product | Open-source pinball hardware project that Cobra Pin is based on. Designed for low-cost pinball control systems. | | Virtual Pinball Cabinet | product | Cabinet style with TV in back glass for digital pinball simulation. Dan Howard originally built Star Wars VPX game for virtual pinball cabinet, later converted physical cabinet to host actual Star Wars machine. | | PinSide | organization | Online pinball community forum/database where machine pricing and market data (like Gemini estimated at $10,000) are referenced and discussed. | | Pinball Expo | event | Major pinball industry event held in Chicago. Dan Howard has never attended and has no current plans to attend, citing logistical challenges of transporting custom games. | | Rocky Mountain Pinball Show | event | Pinball show mentioned as geographically distant from Dan Howard's location, requiring significant travel effort. | | Marvel Comics | organization | Source of 1978 Star Wars comic book artwork used in Dan Howard's Star Wars pinball machine design and playfield art. | | Fast Pinball | product | Hardware control platform for homebrew pinball, part of primary ecosystem alongside P3-Rock and Cobra Pin. More established support and infrastructure than Cobra Pin but higher cost. | ### Signals - **[design_philosophy]** Dan Howard explicitly designs custom pinball machines to emulate Gottlieb-era design language, mechanics, and aesthetics from 1970s-1980s. This philosophy spans all his projects (Gemini recreation, Star Wars original design, Highlander, Descent) and influences flipper types, mechanical choices, playfield layouts, artwork sourcing, and chime audio. (confidence: high) — Howard: 'I designed it to be like a Godly. If God had gotten the Marvel Star Wars license in 78 instead of Spider-Man and Hulk... I like kind of rare games... It's part of why I wanted this game... they're all going to be styled like god leaves.' - **[design_innovation]** Howard demonstrates innovative hybrid approach: electromechanical playfield components and authentic EM aesthetics paired with modern software control (Mission Pinball Framework, P3-Rock, Cobra Pin) to enable complex rule logic, code-based emulation of EM nuances, and precise behavior replication of vintage machines. (confidence: high) — Gemini uses Mission Pinball Framework/P3-Rock to control original EM mechanisms including score reels, chime units, and score motor. Howard programmed EM-specific behaviors like 'if you hit two drop targets as one, you'll only get credit for one.' - **[technology_signal]** Cobra Pin presented as low-cost, single-developer garage hardware alternative to established platforms (P3-Rock, Fast Pinball). Positioned for hobbyists seeking affordable entry point despite less corporate support infrastructure. (confidence: high) — Howard: 'Cobra Pin is based on Open Pinball Project... which was designed to be a lowcost thing. Now, it's one guy out of his garage designing and doing this. So, the support and everything behind it isn't quite as big as P3 Rock or Fast... but the cost isn't anywhere near as big either.' - **[community_signal]** Homebrew pinball community actively exhibits custom machines at regional pinball festivals (GSPF 2026, Northwest Pinball Show). These shows serve as both social gatherings and public showcase venues for independent builders, fostering community engagement and peer recognition. (confidence: high) — Howard brought two custom games to GSPF 2026 for first time attendance, plans to exhibit both at Northwest Pinball Show in 3 weeks. Motivated to share with 'homebrew guys' and broader community. - **[product_strategy]** Howard consciously selects licensed IP themes (Highlander 1985, Descent 1995) over original themes to leverage existing artwork and audio assets, reducing design burden and accelerating development. Themes chosen to match specific game eras for aesthetic coherence. (confidence: high) — Howard: 'I kind of use themes that exist... as opposed to an original theme. Mainly because it gives me artwork, sometimes gives me sound.' Highlander chosen for 1985 alpha-numeric era theme, Descent for 1995 fake DMD era. - **[manufacturing_signal]** Playfield reproduction for Gemini completed in ~2 weeks (artwork scanning, Photoshop restoration, CNC work, direct printing/clear coating). Star Wars physical build took ~6 months of fabrication after 10+ years of VPX design and several years of software development. Timelines suggest distributed labor and iterative approach. (confidence: high) — Howard: 'this is 2 weeks old literally got this together two weeks ago... Physically building it was maybe 6 months... The MPF part of it was over several years.' - **[gameplay_signal]** Star Wars demonstrates design principle balancing accessible core mechanics with substantial rule depth: simple playfield layout but 7 distinct multiball modes, mission structure, lock stealing, skill shot, Greedo hurry-up, and ball save logic. EM-inspired but beyond period-authentic complexity. (confidence: high) — Howard: 'simple layout doesn't mean simple rules... There's seven different multiballs... So there's a lot going on... if you drain out the right out lane, it lights the left one for extra ball... if you get to ball three and you haven't lit a lock, it lights one of the outlines for extra ball.' - **[restoration_signal]** Gemini playfield art sourced from new-old-stock original, scanned, digitally restored via Photoshop (removing pluck marks), then direct-printed and UV clear-coated. Demonstrates modern digital restoration techniques applied to preserve/reproduce period-accurate artwork while exceeding original condition. (confidence: high) — Howard: 'I bought I got a new old stock playfield... And I scanned that... the playfield I got is pretty heavily plked and wouldn't be good in a playfield in a game... he touched it all up, fixed everything... This is direct printed, clear coated... it looks fantastic.' - **[collector_signal]** Gemini positioned as high-value grail machine (original estimates ~$10,000 on PinSide, rare with only 300 units produced). Howard's reproduction targets accessibility to rare game experience and preservation of hard-to-find title. (confidence: high) — Host: 'on pinside pricing is currently like $10,000... I can't imagine how much this game would sell for because it looks absolutely brand new... it looks like original... This is This is the whole This is one of those grail games, right?' - **[content_signal]** YouTube long-form interview content capturing detailed technical discussions and gameplay demonstrations of homebrew machines. Positioned as educational media for community (mechanics, code, hardware choices, design philosophy) and entertainment. (confidence: high) — Video is titled 'Off the LDB: Gemini & Star Wars with Dan Howard' recorded at GSPF 2026, structured as conversational interviews with gameplay footage and detailed technical walk-throughs. - **[operational_signal]** Homebrew game transport to distant shows presents significant logistical challenge (cannot fit overhead, requires plane travel and ground logistics). Limits participation to regional shows; major venues like Pinball Expo in Chicago geographically/logistically prohibitive for individual builders. (confidence: medium) — Howard: 'Maybe Rocky Mountain, but it's a trek to get to Chicago... Yeah. To bring a game anyway... it's just like it's logistics. You can't really put this in a in overhead pin, right?' --- ## Transcript All right, folks. Uh, I'm here at the Golden State Pinball Festival 2026. I'm here with a gentleman that have two absolutely stunning games here. Uh, and I'm going to start uh with the with the God's Gemini, and you're going to hear the story about that. It's crazy. And then we have a Star Wars we're going to get to a little bit later. So, uh, who are you and uh, welcome to the channel. Thanks. Um, my name is Dan Howard. I go by Board Dog on all the forums and Twitch and all of that. All right. Now, now it rings a bell. Okay. that name I'm I recognize. All right, there you go. Yes. Um so yeah, this is my first time at this show and I brought these two games down to to share cuz it's kind of fun to do and get together with the homebrew guys. Yeah. And uh so Gemini is just this is a game I've always just loved. I've never played a real one. I did a recreation of it in virtual pinball BBX. All right. And played the heck out of that. and managed to acquire parts to be able to build one. So, I built this playfield. This is a a reproduction playfield. Yeah. And I I do own an original playfield, but it's pretty blank and not in real good shape, so I didn't use it. Understood. Yeah. And for the folks uh seeing this game and wondering what the hell is that? And that is because this is a they made 300 of these. 300. Yeah. So, it's an Ed Krinsky design. Gordon Morison artwork like most of the god leaves from 70s. Yeah. Um came out in 1978 originally and as far as I know a lot of them were exported. Yeah. I see a lot of them in Argentina for some reason. Um but it's a game on pinside pricing is currently like $10,000. $10,000 for an EM. And and like I wouldn't I can't imagine how much this game would sell for because it looks absolutely brand new. like the back glass you were able to source like it looks like original there's one mark on it in the lower right corner by yeah I did I didn't see that yeah um but yeah it's basically I mean this is 2 weeks old literally got this together two weeks ago oh wow it's the first show so it's probably got some bugs and still in the code and whatnot so all right so you mentioned code so it's not electromechanical or it is it's kind of a hybrid Oh, it is. So, it's controlled by Mission Pinball Framework. All right. Um P3 Rock is the controller board set. Oh, wow. Um that runs it all. So, you can see it's got an attract. There's no attracts in EM. Oh, that's right. That's trippy. Yeah. But it is made with EM all the EM mechanicals, the score reels. I actually have the player unit in the backbox and I tried to emulate in code firing that off like at the start of a game. Yeah. There's actually a score motor down in the cabinet. All right. You won't be able to hear it here. It's too loud. Okay. But when I play at home, I can hear the score motor cycling when it's scoring and doing its thing. So, that's one of the cool things with EMS, I think, is just hearing the the everything kind of spinning and, you know, when you rip a spinner or when you get like a big special, you know, get a 10,000 point kind of score, the whole machine kind of, you know, rattles, right? It's got an original God leap chime unit. Um, it's all godly mechanisms that are in here. So, I tried to recreate it as as closely to the original as I could. Yeah. But it is set up to where I could change, add things, do whatever I want. Yeah. Further down the line. But the the first goal was to get it working as original. Yeah. That's that's really rad. And I guess uh like some of those uh weird Spanish games, they have like score reels, but they have solid state sound, right? Yeah. So you you could be able to do something with like that. Easy to add sound. Although I just like chimes. You'll see in my other game it's just chimes as well. Oh yeah. Yeah. I just Nothing beats chimes. Yeah. That that's the that's the upside of designing your own games. You kind of set the rules of what you want to do, right? Yeah. Absolutely. So, so and uh how did you uh get the artwork because that is something that you've edited yourself or did you had an artist kind of you know created? I bought I got a new old stock playfield. Oh, okay. And I scanned that. Okay. And used that art to reproduce this. So, I had a friend of mine Okay. that is better at Photoshop and all that. So, the playfield I got is pretty heavily plked and wouldn't be good in a playfield in a game. Okay. Gotcha. Um, so he touched it all up, fixed everything, got it all working pretty. This is direct printed, clear coated. Yeah, it looks fantastic. So I did the CNC work and then had somebody else do the hard work on it. Oh, yeah. Yeah, it looks it looks very legit, like proper, you know, this this is how they made the games back in the 70s, right? So yeah, it's just awesome. It's part of why I wanted this game. Yeah. Besides, I like kind of like rare games. Yeah. This is This is This is the whole This is one of those grail games, right? Yeah. 10 10 grand on thin side. Yeah. That's that that will do you. Absolutely. Yeah. Do you want to play a game or you go first and we'll see how it's All right. Fire up a two-player game. So, it's so you can hear the backbox, the player. Yeah. That's crazy. Let me see if I can get some of that sound in back there. like like most of the games of the era, it's not really complicated. It's, you know, bonus driven. This one, it's all about these drop targets. Yeah. The dangerous one. They're they're dangerous, but it's where all the points are. Yeah. So, going through the lit colored lanes is what lights the stars by each of the four colors. Oh, interesting. So, it has similar like the stars rule set there. Yeah. The exact same insert almost. Yeah. Almost. It is. Yeah. So when they're lit, when you hit one of the drop targets is what? 1,000 plus 1,000 for each red star. So it starts the score motor, gives you a th00and, then it checks. If that one's lit, it gives you a,000. If that one's lit, that So you can get up to 5,000 on the drop targets. Oh Yeah. So this is a game you roll at the 100,000. So that's that's a lot of points. And I did program in the EM nuances to where if you hit two drop targets as one, you'll only get credit for one. Oh wow. So basically if the score motor is running Yeah. Yeah. They can't score anything else. I programmed all of that in so that's rad. That's so cool. So this is basically like a almost like a preservation technique, you know, to kind of rebuild a a 70s game with with a lot of modern games, but make it behave like a like an old one. Yeah. This is awesome. But I mean, so the flippers, it feels exactly like a Godly. It It's all Godly mechs from that era. Yeah. Although it's set up a lot steeper than God would have back then. Oh yeah, it definitely it doesn't feel very floaty. Let's just put it that way. Yeah, but the flippers are so snappy, so it doesn't really matter. It's super fun. I actually de-tuned it. The flippers and the pops and the slings were way too strong when I first put it together. Yeah. You don't want to I mean, when you do that on the old games, it's usually you get cracked plastics and stuff like that. You don't want that. Yeah. It's generally like most EM. It's quick games. Yeah. For sure. That's what we like. But it's set to five ball. I guess it's set to three ball. Oh, it's three ball. Yeah. We're at the pinball show. People want to get moving. There's not a lot of difference between three ball and five ball in the rules wise. Oops. Um the only thing is the pop bumpers on three ball would normally score a,000 points. On five ball they score 100. Okay. I actually have them set for 100 on three ball. Okay. It's actually fairly easy to roll it. Oh, it is. All right. I'll aim for that. All right. Let's get some rollovers. No, no, no. See if we can get shooting for those yellows seems a little bit dangerous, but let's do it. All right, let's see the backhand there. Look at that. Beautiful. Yeah, this is turning into something. Oh, look at that. Now, this is special. drop targets, right? Bonus multiplier. I got the special. And the special. Yeah. So then on the last ball, it spots you the 2x. So if you clear them, you get to the 3x. Yep. Clearing all the four colors. Lights extra ball on the left out lane. Yeah. You already won the game. I already won, but I want to play it. Walk off. Yeah, the thing is it's so fast and snappy. It's just very difficult to game. It's a really quick game. Yeah, this is awesome. I just going to just going to fly over with a gimbal on the on the awkward work here to make sure that I get uh everything captured here. Let me just uh There we go. Yeah, this looks like an absolute uh dream for any everything like the the playful is like glass, right? So So what what clear coat there did you did you see? This a UV clear coat printed UV clear coat. Okay, there's a custom Clear coat looks absolutely fantastic. So trippy with all the little faces. Like this 70s vibe here is just absolutely gorgeous. Look at all that hair going down there. Yeah, this is the back glass is just absolutely stunning. And did you do the cap paint as well because that you know See the See the details here. It has that, you know. So, I recreated I recreated the stencils from pictures. Yeah. And it has that stain in it. All right. Cool. Uh let's uh jump over to Star Wars. Um and see how that uh comes along. All right. So, the next game here we're going to check out is uh I'm just going to do it like that so we can see the game. So, this is uh so we can just hang around here. Um so, this is an old custom EM game or custom. I did the design originally in virtual. Okay. And then uh just last year I made the real version of it. So it's my my full design, full coating, built the cabinet, did the stencils, everything on it. So the artwork is all from Marvel comics from 78. Oh, okay. Gotcha. Yeah. It kind of looks like those comic books from the 80s. Is that kind of the cooler? I have them hanging on. Yeah, this looks amazing. Let me Yeah, I'm just going to get the uh the gimbal out. Yeah, we're we're going to record this game. All right, got a little bit of a cold view there, but we're going to This one I originally designed the new ones are made out. I made this to be light. All right. Awesome. This chain looks so sick. It really has that, you know, 80s Star Wars comics vibe to it and has a lot of gothle elements to it. So, let's let me see if I can get the b the borg dog. Yeah, there we go. All right. So, so so what are we looking at here exactly? because this is a solid state game. Oh, it says Mission Pinball in the display there now, actually. And Cobra pin powered and all that stuff. So, yeah, this is a game I originally designed in virtual pinball like 10 years ago. Gotcha. And I didn't design it with the intention of building a real one. Mhm. But it evolved into that as I got more into into real pinballs. So, you can get both. There's two different versions of virtual of this on BP Universe. Yeah. This one is kind of advanced beyond those. Has a lot more. So there's like seven different multiballs. Seven different multiballs. And there's there's four main ones and then a few addabals. Oh And stuff like that. So there's a lot going on that that it doesn't it I designed it to be like a Godly. If God had gotten the Marvel Star Wars license Mhm. in 78 instead of Spider-Man and Hulk, if they had gotten Star Wars, this artwork is all the Marvel comics artwork from the 78 comics. Yeah, it looks I I love that like kind of black key art that they did at that time. Yeah, I had several comic Star Wars comic books and they look exactly like like these. Yeah. So, this highly inspired by a lot of Got Leaf games. Yeah. Um I I have features like Alien Star, the right in lane lights the spinner for ripping. Ah, gotcha. Things like that. The one reel slinging the one dummy one on the right that's in a lot of God leaf games. Yeah. So again, you know, God leaf flippers. It's mostly all God mechs all the way to go spinner godly pops. Yeah. They're godleaf styled, but it's actually day to east pops. Okay. that are the one unit you just put through the big hole. Yeah. But you can actually put different upper ends on it. I wanted the godly one. So Oh, understood. Understood. So, is there anything hiding beneath the big kind of plastic up there or be behind the Death Star? So, that's where one of the multiball locks is. I have a diverter. Oh, and when tractor beam on is what's on the insert. When that's flashing. Yeah. The diverter's open and there's a lock. You can lock a ball back there. That's how you get And when you lock a ball, you have that three bank of targets. That's actually from Attack from Mars. Yeah. That lowers down. There's a captive ball that you have to hit that'll go back and hit a target and that's how you start the multiballs. Yeah. Okay. So, it is a bank that lowers. That makes sense. So, there's four four missions like in this is all just the original movie. Yeah. So, you got to train Luke, you got to rescue the princess, escape the Death Star, and deliver the plans. Yeah. So that's that's training loop is the advanced training when lit. So there's two targets in the that those three targets advanced loop when they're lit. Rescuing leas hitting the five drop targets down which have stormtrooper art on them. Yeah. Escaping the Death Star is basically shooting three left orbits. Delivering the plans is you got to clear the top lanes. Yeah. Gotcha. The Godly was kind of backwards as you probably know that they had lit lanes and you clear them. Yeah. Most other people had they were unlit and you had to go through them to light. Yeah. So this is more the god leaf style. So once you complete three of those will either light the droid or the death star for lock. You lock a ball and then that lowers and you hit the captive ball to start a multiball. Or you can complete the other mission and you can light block both of them and then you'll start a three ball multiball. So there's two different two balls depending on which one you lock and then the three ball and then there's an add ball. If you complete the drop targets in order starting from the top one down. Oh Complete them in order. That's an add a ball. Wow. There's a Greo. If you go through the left in lane, it says Greo hurry up. It pops up a drop target like in Cactus Canyon. Oh yeah. In the middle. You shoot Greedo four times and then it'll do an add ball. Greedo multiball. Oh Um, if you complete the missions in order, Yeah. you train Luke first and lay it, then it'll it's another add a ball multiball. Um, I'm sure there's another one. Yeah. So, there you hear it, folks. Like a simple layout doesn't mean simple rules. No. And I go a lot of games where I don't even get to the multiball, which is kind of the main thing. Yeah. It's pretty wide open outlanes on this. Yeah, there's holes you can maybe pick out in the play field to add a post if you want it. I decided to never add the post. Oh, okay. Gotcha. Yeah, but yeah, looks looks pretty fun. So, but all the rules and stuff that is that something that you do yourself or Yeah, it is. Yeah. So, you're a software engineer background? I I have a computer science degree from 1986 that I never used. Oh, okay. All right. Became a hydro geologist and moved off different ways and Oh, okay. But I'm familiar with computers and enough Mission Pinball pretty much anybody can learn to code something. Yeah. It's Yeah. Mission Pinball framework is written in Python. It's one of the most easy programming languages to learn. I I'd argue. I'm not a software engineer either, but I I look at a lot of code sometimes and Python is by far the easiest to to read as a definitely a learning curve and that was definitely the hardest part for me physically building this and wiring and all. I was very comfortable doing that. Yeah. No problem with that code. That took a lot longer. Yeah. Understood. And so what what hardware platform do you use on this game? Is that different from Gemini or is it similar? This one uses Cobra Pin hard controller. Okay. Um just a different controller system. So Cobra Pin, Fast Pinball, and P3 Rock. Yeah. Are the main three that are out there. Yeah. So, what do you get with Cobra Pin? You get a power driver board. You get some flash matrix or Cobra pin is currently all one big board. Oh, okay. That has the switch inputs, the drivers, and all of that. All right. Um, and then he does have some add-on boards. If you need more drivers, you can add on. So, I have an I do have an extra driver add-on board on this one. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Um, but it's all, you know, it controls all your lights and everything like that. So, uh, Cobra Pin is based on Open Pinball Project, okay, which was designed to be a lowcost thing. Now, it's one guy out of his garage designing and doing this. So, the support and everything behind it isn't quite as big as P3 Rock or Fast. No, but the cost isn't anywhere near as big either. No, no, no. Understood. So that is definitely a good solution if you kind of want an easy cheap start all in one kind of thing. Yeah. You could definitely just get his one main board and it would probably run a lot of machines. Yeah. That's that's interesting. It's a good starting point. All right. So, how how long have you built spent building this game? Uh 15. You said Yeah, you built the VPX first. built the VPX was about 10 years ago and I built the VPX to go with my virtual pinball cabinet if you're familiar with those that have a TV in the back. This cabinet was my virtual pinball cabinet and I designed it with the Star Wars to be a Star Wars themed virtual cabinet and designed the the game to go with it. Yeah, it's like a Pokemon evolution. You go from VP to the real thing, right? And yeah, now I've reversed it. That same cabinet is now this one. So physically building it was maybe 6 months. Oh wow. That's that's amazing. The MPF part of it was over several years. I actually had it fully coded before I ever built the physical machine. Yeah, understood. And and you can you can play test within Mission Pinball Framework and test everything out. There were there were bugs and there probably still are and Yeah. Yeah. Thanks for tweaking and I added more stuff as time went on. Yeah, all software has bugs, that's for sure. So, we're not worried about that. So, does it have any subtitle or is it just Star Wars? It's just Star Wars. It's totally based on Star Wars the movie. Yeah. There there's no in my world, A New Hope as a subtitle does not exist. No. There were three Star Wars movies made. Yeah. You know, and I would, you know, when I was 14, when Star Wars came out Yeah. Yeah. It just blew my mind. Yeah, I bet. I bet. I can't imagine. I mean, yeah, I I I'm not quite as old. I I kind of uh Yeah, I was born 76. So, it's like when Empire Strikes Back came out kind of came out, I kind of became aware of Star Wars and then I just completely lost it, you know, like everyone did. Yeah. Had all the toys and all that. So, yeah, let's let's fire it up and uh play a game. So, this all have chimes and Yeah. I don't know if you could pick up the chimes. So, I programmed it with Star Wars tunes. There's actually six chimes in here. Yeah. I I can hear I can definitely hear a chime. All right. Let's Let's play. Oh, that's a good rip. Yeah. The chimes actually can't keep up with it. So, it'll often times play keep playing chimes after you're done. That's stuttering. So, then all the progress is tracked on the board. So like the lay of targets, it clears the lights as you clear the targets. Yeah. The tractor beam it lights inserts. Those are lit. Does it carry over ball to ball? It does carry over. Yes. And now two-player game there is lock stealing. So if I lock a ball, you can steal it. So was there a skill? Yeah, the skill shot is the flashing shot. The flashing one. You can't move it at all. It's just there. It's fixed. Yeah. It's like El Dorado, right? Isn't that the same thing? I want to I want to shoot that spinner. That looks really fun. Greedo. So, I want to hit the Greedo when I get a left in lane. Is that Yeah. Lefting lane pops up. Greedo. Okay. Yeah. That's crazy. Just like you can hear the pop. If you pop up Greo three times and don't shoot him. Yeah. He kills you. That's hilarious. That's not So when Greo kills you, the flippers die, lights go off, and the playfield turns red like blood spilling out from the middle. Yeah. Okay. So, the skill shot go one, two, three, I guess then. I I think it's random. Oh, okay. I just happened to It just happened to go that way. Or it may go that way. I don't know. I don't remember how I coded it. It's the blinky one. The blinky. Okay. So, I want to get I want to get a good rip. How hard can it be? You You want it? Yeah. That's it. So, I put in fun little things. I don't know. When you If you drain out the right out lane, it lights the left one for extra ball. You spend way too much time on this game. Oh my god, this is so funny. So, it also it gives you if you get to ball three and you haven't lit a lock, it lights one of the outlines for extra ball. So, I just got that extra ball. It's like a consolation. Yeah. Your your pity multiball or whatever you want to call it. Yeah. I already have all those. I didn't need that. Oh, nice. Another one. Perfect. Third one. Oh, look at that. It's a multiball. Yeah. See, you got an auto launcher on it. That's kind of I figured that like come out. Oh, now the visor is down. Yeah. So, I completed the loop mission. I'll see if I can keep this alive long enough to I got them all cradled up. So, you can zoom in on that if you want. Yeah. I want to I want to capture. The multiball is pretty basic. It just scores 2x scoring while you're in the however many balls on the playfield. So there's one captive ball in there. Okay. Go. Trying to hit the captive ball. Oh no. So during all of that, I locked the ball in the Death Star. Yeah. So you said that there is a physical lock in the back there. Yeah. There's a diverter in that orbit and a saucer in the back. That's awesome. All right. Let's see if I can uh beat that. Yeah, I want that spinner too bad. That's very obvious. Yeah. So, I got the extra ball. He says extra ball on the displays. I keep forgetting that I add things and look up at the displays and go, "Oh, yeah, that's and that didn't give me a No, no, no. It's playing some melody, right?" Yeah, it was. It plays the Imperial March. Oh, was that what it was? Yeah. How many notes do you have on a chime? Is it like six? It's six. I have six chimes on there. So, I originally had three and I could play the first two measures. Yeah. And I decid and I looked at the next couple measures and I go, "What do I need? I need three more notes." So I I made some custom length chime bars to give me one lower and two higher notes. Oh yeah. Yeah. Ah, that's super rad. Yeah. Super rare game. So uh folks always wonders where you can play these games. So are you going to the Northwest Pacific? Yeah. Both of these will be at the Northwest Pinball Show coming up in 3 weeks, I believe. Yeah. Awesome. So otherwise they're at my house. They're at your house since cocaine. Yeah. So, super rad. Have you any plans on going to expo or have you been to Expo with any games? I have never been to Expo and I don't really have any plans to go there. Okay. Um, this was kind of the next closest show for me. Yeah. Understood. Maybe Rocky Mountain, but it's a trek to get to Chicago. Yeah, it is for sure. Yeah. To bring a game anyway. I mean, it's hop on a plane, you can get there, but Yeah. Yeah. But it's just like it's a logistics. You can't really put this in a in overhead pin, right? It's not even going in a hole, right? Yeah. That's the things we do for pinball. Yeah. I mean, is there is there any other kind of interesting detail that you can reveal about this game? Uh do you have any new games coming out or you know what's your what's your process? I'm working on at least three more. Oh, you are all God leaves? I'm just curious. Oh, actually, yeah. Yeah, they're all going to be styled like god leaves. Yeah. I'm actually going to put the godly system 3 flippers on the next one. The little skinny pointy guys. They're the ones that raise up really high. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So, like I'm not going to use those mechs, but they're flipper bats are are long and skinny. Yeah. So, it's like the Stargate and the bar wire. Yep. So, will that be a modern game with ramps and things or So, I'm I kind of use themes that exist. Yeah. as opposed to an original theme. Mainly because it gives me artwork, sometimes gives me sound. Um, so I have one in the works based on the 1985 Highlander movie. Oh, sweet. Which they're now doing a remake of the movie, but so that one in 85 was like early alpha numeric. You're just getting more ramps, things like that. Yeah. So you're holding the they move into the title to the era of games. Yes. I like it. So that's like this one. Yeah. I mean, this is obviously has things that didn't exist in 78, but I styled it and it looks and plays like an early solid state. Yeah. I mean, that's the important bit. Yeah. The other one I'm working on is the 1995 video game Descent. Oh, yeah. I remember freedom roll upside down. Yeah. That was kind of revolutionary PC game, right? Because it had that, you know, 360° movement. Yep. Complete free space. That's Yeah. So that one will be that era have have like a fake DMD type display in it and all that. So I have no time frame for those. I'm mostly working visual pinball to get layout and just to test shots and stuff. Yeah. It keeps the mind occupied. That's awesome. I'm retired. I have to have hobbies. Yeah. I mean the thing is you I see I see the future myself in you, right? Because I want to do this as well. But I got I got a day job, dude. Right. I can. It is a time consuming uh but it's fun. It's I love making things. Yeah, I bet. I mean, you know, making the cabinets, doing the wiring, the playfield, all figuring out how to do all this is a blast. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Thank you so much for bringing them down here for people to to enjoy that. People is going to be stoked to see and play these games. Uh thank you so much for being on the channel. Yeah. Hey, thanks for stopping by. Yeah, thank you. Hope to have you have your next set of games. Highlander and sometime sometime. Sweet. All right, folks. That's all for me. _(Acquisition: youtube_auto_sub, Enrichment: v5)_ --- *Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-06-06 | Item ID: 11ad82de-9443-42d5-b45f-d4a076a7fb64*