# Homebrew Showcase: Friday the 13th Pinball at Texas Pinball Festival 2026

**Source:** Marco Pinball  
**Type:** video  
**Published:** 2026-04-07  
**Duration:** 17m 15s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N96uaSaudg8

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## Analysis

Kyle showcases his homebrew pinball machine Friday the 13th at Texas Pinball Festival 2026, discussing his design philosophy, development process, and approach to homebrew creation. The game features 12 movie adaptations, 25+ modes, and represents his first completed homebrew project before moving on to Big Trouble in Little China. Kyle emphasizes iterative design, hands-on prototyping, and accessibility for aspiring homebrew creators.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Friday the 13th debuted two years ago at TPF24 — _Kyle stated directly during the showcase_
- [HIGH] This is Kyle's first game; Big Trouble in Little China is his second project — _Kyle explicitly stated: 'So, this is my first game... Big Trouble is number two'_
- [HIGH] The game features 12 movies and 2 video games with 23-25 total modes — _Kyle: 'I think there's something like 23 or 25 modes in this game'_
- [HIGH] Kyle used Cobra board (single board) instead of Fast boards (multiple node boards) — _Kyle explained his board choice during technical discussion_
- [HIGH] Kyle designed the playfield layout on a napkin and used minimal digital tools — _Kyle: 'I tried VPX for about 10 minutes. I'm like, No, I'm done. I rage quit that'_
- [HIGH] The Friday the 13th font in the game only supports numbers up to 3, causing crashes with 4+ — _Kyle revealed this technical constraint while discussing the high score screen's use of Roman numerals_
- [HIGH] Kyle went through 4 complete playfield iterations before the final version — _Kyle described the progression: whitewood → inserts → refined inserts with art → direct thread clear coat_
- [HIGH] Kyle used PowerPoint and CapCut as primary design tools — _Kyle: 'The tools that I use are pretty rudimentary. So, I use PowerPoint and CapCut were like the big things'_

### Notable Quotes

> "The enemy of like creativity is pretty much everything. Right. So, um the fact that you lay this out on a napkin, I have a lot of new homebrew people say, 'Well, what fancy digital things should I use to get started?' And the only thing that's really going to do is interrupt your iteration, right?"
> — **Kyle**, ~17:30
> _Core philosophy about homebrew design methodology and avoiding tool-related friction_

> "There are a hundred reasons not to do a homebrew. The biggest thing you need is a desire to finish a game. And it could be on your own timeline, on your own terms. And you get to define what success means."
> — **Kyle**, ~49:00
> _Foundational advice for aspiring homebrew creators addressing barriers to entry_

> "The hardest part for me when I was coding this game was deciding what not to put in. I've got 12 movies, two video games, all these different actors who were totally on board to to say whatever I wanted them to say. What does not go in the game."
> — **Kyle**, ~31:00
> _Design constraint and prioritization challenge illustrating scope management in homebrew projects_

> "You you have to be kind of good at everything. If you're really really good at one thing, that that doesn't mean you're going to be successful."
> — **Kyle**, ~51:00
> _Commentary on the multidisciplinary skills required for successful homebrew development_

> "I put the piece of wood down and I start drilling. And if it doesn't work, I cover it up with wood body and I drill somewhere else. And I try to do all of those things in quick succession, lots of practice, lots of prototyping."
> — **Kyle**, ~15:00
> _Describes hands-on iterative prototyping methodology and fail-forward approach_

> "This level of polish on the game... the ultimate compliment is to say it looks like a commercial game that could be shipped tomorrow, right?"
> — **Manu (Marco Pinball host)**, ~44:00
> _Validation of Friday the 13th's commercial-grade quality despite being a homebrew_

> "I'm very much a tinkerer and I'm a doer. So, I put the piece of wood down and I start drilling... I want to fail forward. I found 35 different ways not to do something."
> — **Kyle**, ~13:00
> _Self-description of design philosophy emphasizing experimentation over planning_

> "Ernie has a patience of Job. He was able to walk me through all of my, you know, questions and issues."
> — **Kyle**, ~10:00
> _Credits Ernie Silverbird with Trident Pinball as critical mentor and kit provider_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Kyle | person | Homebrew pinball designer and creator of Friday the 13th and Big Trouble in Little China; presented at TPF26 DevCon booth |
| Manu | person | Host of Marco Pinball showcase at TPF26; conducted interview with Kyle |
| Becca | person | Flipronic representative; played Friday the 13th during the showcase demonstration |
| Ernie Silverbird | person | Founder of Trident Pinball; provided homebrew kits and mentorship to Kyle during his first build |
| Friday the 13th | game | Kyle's first homebrew pinball machine; debuted at TPF24; features 12 movies, 2 video games, 25+ modes; uses Cobra board architecture |
| Big Trouble in Little China | game | Kyle's second homebrew project; designer incorporated lessons from Friday the 13th to improve accessibility and front-loaded moments |
| Texas Pinball Festival 2026 | event | Major pinball community event where Kyle's Friday the 13th and other homebrews are showcased; includes DevCon presenter booth |
| Marco Pinball | company | Content creator and homebrew community organizer hosting DevCon showcase at TPF26; provides kits and resources for DIY builders |
| Trident Pinball | company | Homebrew kit provider; Ernie Silverbird offers Fast and Cobra board options for aspiring builders |
| Flipronic | company | Organization represented by Becca; present at TPF26 Marco Pinball booth |
| VPX | product | Digital pinball design tool; Kyle attempted to use but abandoned after ~10 minutes, preferring hands-on prototyping instead |
| Cobra Board | product | Single-board control architecture offered by Trident Pinball; used in Friday the 13th; simpler alternative to multi-node Fast boards |
| Fast Boards | product | Multi-node board architecture offered by Trident Pinball as alternative to Cobra; more complex but potentially more scalable |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Homebrew pinball design methodology, Iterative prototyping and playfield development, Game rules design and mode structure, Friday the 13th IP licensing and multi-movie integration, Barriers to entry for aspiring homebrew creators
- **Secondary:** Hardware architecture selection (Cobra vs Fast boards), Digital tools vs hands-on design trade-offs, Commercial game quality standards in homebrew

### Sentiment

**Neutral** (0)

### Signals

- **[design_philosophy]** Kyle explicitly rejected VPX digital design tools in favor of napkin sketches and hands-on drilling; advocates for rapid iteration and failing forward rather than extensive pre-planning (confidence: high) — Kyle: 'I tried VPX for about 10 minutes. I'm like, No, I'm done. I rage quit that.' And: 'I found 35 different ways not to do something. But as soon as you find a way that it works, then you move on.'
- **[design_innovation]** Friday the 13th integrates 12 movies and 2 video games into a single ruleset with 25+ modes; demonstrates ambitious scope for homebrew IP adaptation despite fragmented licensing (confidence: high) — Kyle stated he selected 'the cream of the crop' from extensive Friday the 13th media catalog; each movie has a 'final girl mode' plus side quests
- **[design_innovation]** Kyle designed the game loop around player identity ('You are Jason') rather than starting with mechanics; used this thematic anchor to drive all rules decisions (confidence: high) — Kyle: 'I want to know who I am before I even drill anything. Who am I when I walk up to the game? So for this game, you're Jason. That drives all the rules.'
- **[design_concern]** Friday the 13th's difficulty and depth resulted in players not discovering much of the designed content; Kyle addressed this in Big Trouble by front-loading moments for better early-game discoverability (confidence: high) — Kyle: 'The problem I saw was that the game is so hard is that nobody really saw a lot of what I was trying to do. So, I kind of went back and tinkered a bit and a lot of the lessons learned from this one I put in Big Trouble.'
- **[product_concern]** Friday the 13th's font support is limited to numbers 1-3; attempting to display 4+ causes game crash; Kyle worked around this by using Roman numerals throughout the interface (confidence: high) — Kyle revealed: 'The Friday the 13th font only goes up to three. If you use a four, it has a string of things and the game will crash. That's why there's a lot of Roman numerals in the game.'
- **[community_signal]** Ernie Silverbird at Trident Pinball actively mentors new homebrew creators; Kevin emphasizes collaborative community support and multiple valid approaches to homebrew development (confidence: high) — Kyle credits Ernie's patience and walk-through support; emphasizes 'There's help all over the place. Everybody's there to help you.'
- **[design_philosophy]** Friday the 13th attempts to blend horror/spookiness with levity and fun; includes Nintendo mode and non-scary actor callouts; design philosophy values player enjoyment over pure thematic authenticity (confidence: high) — Kyle: 'I also wanted to add a lot of levity and fun... I had six of the actors provide callouts for the game and they're not all spooky. They're kind of fun. So, again, this is kind of a tongue-in-cheek cult game.'
- **[manufacturing_signal]** Kyle implemented 4-stage playfield refinement process: whitewood prototype → inserts phase → refined inserts with art → final clear coat; treats first iteration as disposable learning tool (confidence: high) — Kyle detailed progression: 'The first one is just I go bananas... The second playfield, plain wood, but now I've got inserts... The third playfield has those refined inserts... Then this is the fourth playfield, which is a direct thread clear coat. It's done.'
- **[community_signal]** Marco Pinball and DevCon actively promote entry into homebrew by showcasing completed games and emphasizing that multiple valid design approaches exist; no single 'correct' way to build (confidence: high) — Manu and Kyle discuss how different creators (Kyle, Ernie, others) approach design differently; emphasis on helping new creators find their own path
- **[content_signal]** Marco Pinball's TPF26 booth features playable homebrew games with curated demonstrations; Becca's on-camera gameplay provides authentic player reactions and technical insight (confidence: high) — Becca plays Friday the 13th live during showcase, triggering specific modes and mechanics; provides real-time feedback and demonstrates difficulty curve
- **[personnel_signal]** Kyle has completed 2 games (Friday the 13th, Big Trouble in Little China) and is actively developing a third homebrew scheduled for TPF27 debut (confidence: high) — Kyle stated: 'I'm working on number three, which will hopefully be here next year at TPF.'

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## Transcript

Hello, welcome. We're back here. We're at the Marco Pinball booth with the homebrew pinball DevCon. My name is Manu. That's Becca from Flipronic. And we have Kyle, who you guys remember and know and love, the creator of Big Trouble in Little China. And uh, is this Friday the 13th? Now, did this come first? This was my first game. So, this one debuted two years ago at TPF24. Um, I'mma move you over. I'm going to move you over this way. Actually, let's switch. Here we go. There we go. Yeah. So, this is my first game. Debuted here two years ago. I got home with this game and I immediately started working on Big Trouble. So, this is my first game. So, it's near and dear to my heart. Okay. I don't believe you because this is a Finnese Stern game. So, now can we really see what you worked on cuz it has to look like a little rough and junky and this doesn't. So, uh, what I wanted when I brought a game, when I bring a game to the show, I want to make sure that people kind of have that layer of polish and the game kind of looks well put together. So, it's awesome that other creators kind of bring their games in various states of completion. For me, it was I'm just I'm kind of just being snarky. All right. No, so what you see is what you get. You know, a couple little trouble areas here and there that uh any time anybody creates something, they always look at it very critically like, "Oh, if I only done this or done that." But for what it was, the experience level that I had, I'm very proud of the game. This is Okay. So, this you did this was done two years ago. Uh what number of games? So, I know a lot of homebrewers have done multiple games. Which what number game is this for you? So, this is number one. All right. Big Trouble is number two, and I'm working on number three, which will hopefully be here next year at TPF. What was your inspiration first for the um the movie theme? I'm a total 80s nerd. So I grew up in the video um store. My dad was a policeman. One of his side hustles was he owned a video rental store. So I went to visit my dad. He would just put me behind the counter and say, "Pick whatever you want." What did I pick? Evil Dead So Big Trouble in China. Right. So these are movies that I grew up with at a time in my life where I was very impressionable. So now that I'm older, um I just kind of want to recreate that experience. So, some of the big guys probably wouldn't uh tackle this. And I figured, hey, uh there are 10 movies. The rights are all over the place and video games and all kinds of stuff. So, I said probably nobody would get everything that they wanted. So, I decided to build one on my own. All right. So, being a homebrew builder, this is your first build. Um what resources or what inspiration did you look for to even get started? Okay. Think about you're talking to a person who wants to do this but has no idea how to get into it. So when I started I didn't even know if I could build a game. So I said, "Okay, I'll try it." So at the same time, Ernie Silverbird with uh with Trident Pinball started to um put out kits. Like here's a kit for home. I'm like, "Oh, I think I can do this." So Ernie has a patience of Job. He was able to walk me through all of my, you know, questions and issues. I bought the kit from him. So I'm like, "Okay, so I have the computer. I have the boards. I put it on like a couple of milk crates and I got it flipping. I'm like, "Oh my god, this is going to happen." Wait a minute. Wait a minute. That's computer and a board. Uh so I um some of the homebrews have fast boards, which is how the game talks to the computer. With this one, I use Cobra. So Ernie was offering fast and Cobra. Cobra was a little bit uh more simple. It was like one board versus fast. It had multiple node boards. So I did the Cobra board. Um and the game I knew I wanted it to be fast and brutal. So it to me I wanted a combination of Iron Man and T2. So the right ramp on this game is from T2. The middle ramp is from Kiss. So I I didn't want to have some crazy weird layout. I just wanted something very simple. Two ramps, a bash toy, some drop targets and stuff. Um because I didn't know if I was going to be able to pull off. So it got flipping. I started to add assets. I started to code. It started to get away from me. I'm like, "Oh my god, this is going to become a thing." And then here you go. Now, when you started to design, did you use what did you use any digital um things or did you just draw it on a napkin? And I'm talking about the playfield layout legitimately a napkin and and I'm not being hyperbolic. Uh I did I tried VPX for about 10 minutes. I'm like, "No, I'm done." I so I rage quit that. So, uh I am very much a tinkerer and I'm a doer. So, I put the piece of wood down and I start drilling. And if it doesn't work, I cover it up with wood body and I drill somewhere else. And I try to do all of those things in quick succession, lots of practice, lots of prototyping. Like we talked about last time, I want to fail forward. I found 35 different ways not to do something. But as soon as you find a way that it works, then you move on to the next thing. And you fail and you fail and then it works. So, as best as I could, everything in this game is just a result of hours of testing, troubleshooting, and prototyping. I think that speaks volumes because I wanted other homebrew creators who haven't gotten into this to understand the enemy of like creativity is pretty much everything. Right. So, um the fact that you lay this out on a napkin, I have a lot of new homebrew people say, "Well, what fancy digital things should I use to get started?" And the only thing that's really going to do is interrupt your iteration, right? So you're you're a proponent of iterate, iterate, iterate, and don't block creativity. Absolutely. So there are a hundred barriers of entry to homebrew. I've never coded anything. I don't know how to put together a cabinet. I don't know where to get in the playfield. There's a thousand reasons to say no. You just got to do it. Get a piece of wood, a computer. There's tons of resources out there. If you've never coded anything, if you don't know how to put everything together, um it's a magic trick. You get a piece of wood flipping and it's not fun. I mean, sure, you're batting a ball around, but then you add the light and you add the music and you add the callout and then you add the UI. You've just now made a moment. So, with me, the tools that I use are pretty rudimentary. So, I use PowerPoint and CapCut were like the big things that I used. Super easy tools, but it's all part of the magic trick. The screen is only up there for so long, but once you put all those things together, it just creates that moment for the player. Yeah. Um, just just for now, I'm going to ask Becca some questions. So, you've been playing for a little while. All the lights went out and it was very scary. Like, this really does feel like I love a good horror movie. And this is one of those things where I like the way that this flips. I do really feel that like center kiss ramp. Like I do like the torture of knowing that if that drop goes down, there is not a good chance I will get it back. Um the multiball is really satisfying. I need to figure out how to get the head to pop up. Um and then what skill shot is this that's like tempting me to to short plunge and then die immediately. So you've got the normal skill shot. You soft plunge and hit one of the Jason targets. This one is like a 3/4 plunge and you just hit the flashing drop. So the middle one is typically the one to go for. If you pull it too hard, you're going to brick against one of the posts right there. So maybe like a 3/4 pull, time it to the middle flashing drop, and you should be able to get it. You get all that. She do it. OH, YOU GOT IT. But that is my fault. You nailed it. But the drop didn't fall because um I don't know that because pinball. So you totally got it. You got cheated out of that. I get the personal satisfaction and that is fine with me. I think everybody saw that. So, so the game is scary. There's some spooky moments, but I also wanted to add a lot of levity and fun. So, you've got the Nintendo mode in here. So, she's got 44 more switch hits before she activates 8-bit attack. Um, I had six of the actors provide callouts for the game and and they're not all spooky. They're kind of fun. So, again, this is kind of a tongue-in-cheek cult, you know, game. Yeah. Okay, let's get back to the game design part of it. Um, your rules, how h how much Here's a question I ask a lot of um game designers in general, not just pinball. How did you find what your game loop is? So, the thing you continue to do to get through progress is sometimes defined as what the game loop is. So, what is your game loop here? Okay, so first of all, she got 8-bit attack. This is my favorite mode in the whole game. And anyway, so um I love that uh like I say in my seminars, right? I want to know who I am before I even drill anything. Who am I when I walk up to the game? So for this game, you're Jason. That drives all the rules. Um what am I? You are Jason. You are battling counselors. So now um she is battling through the Nintendo game. Look at it. Yeah, it's a Nintendo game. Um, so all the different shots unlock a different scene from the video game. She doing really good. This is a hard game. Okay. Um, it was important to me to have all the all the movies, all the moments. So, um, the hardest part for me when I was coding this game was deciding what not to put in. I've got 12 movies, two video games, all these different actors who were totally on board to to say whatever I wanted them to say. What does not go in the game. So, I had to like cherry pick just the cream of the crop um and then create those moments. The challenge for me was you I've got 12 different movies and every movie has a final girl mode. So, there's a mini wizard mode and then I've got all the side quests. So, I think there's something like 23 or 25 modes in this game. The problem I saw was that the game is so hard is that nobody really saw a lot of what I was trying to do. So, I kind of went back and tinkered a bit and a lot of the lessons learned from this one I put in Big Trouble to put more of those moments right up front, right? Um, yeah. So, there's no secret sauce to coding. It's doing something that that connects with you and you just hope other people dig it as well. Okay. Did Well, what are we doing? And your friends, you and your friends are dead. Game over. Oh, that's the end of the Nintendo mode. Yeah. She She beat it. Oh, wow. She's a really good pinball player. You guys should uh you guys should hire her. But Becca Bea Becca does okay on the weekends. Yeah, I think you're okay. I think you're all right. Um well, this level of polish on the game. Uh what this is obviously not like your first whitewood, how many iterations of the playfield um did you have to go through before nailing this? Four. So the first one is just I go bananas. I I drill. I do whatever I want. Are you in agreement that like the first one you you can guarantee you're going to throw away. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. But you want the shell of the idea on that first playfield. This gives you an opportunity to kind of see what works, what feels good. The second playfield, plain wood, but now I've got inserts. Uh, and that will let me start to code light shows, but you're still refining. The third playfield has those refined inserts, maybe a few more cutouts for whatever you want to do, and now you start slapping art on it. So, um, the third playfield should be relatively semifinal, minus a couple of, uh, minor adjustments. Then I've got a decal that I slap the art on top of. Okay. That will let me visually see how I want the plastic to look, how everything lines up. And then this is the fourth playfield, which is a direct thread clear coat. It's done. That's it. So, is this is this a discipline that you you learned or that you knew going in? Because there's a lot of homebrew people who maybe think, "Oh, that first whitewood should be the one." And they get upset or they get too far into the weeds and start making ramps and everything, right? Um, so that's a great question. Um, nobody does it the same way. There is no way to make your own game. I didn't know the way to make my own game. I just said, "Okay, now I've got this board. I got this computer. I have a piece of wood. What do I do?" So, I kind of just put some ramps down. I So, I drew some pictures. literally like I drew a picture of Jason. Um and then you start to see in your mind of what that game might look like. So, um Ernie does it differently than I do, different than Kyle. We we we all have a different way for for me and my background and my skill set that really works well for me. Kyle does everything like in uh CAD or something and it's like it's it's like the 3D model that is super intimidating for me. Um so it's it's there's no way to do it. It's whatever you're comfortable with. But the great thing is that there's help all over the place. Everybody's there to help you. Yeah. I mean, that's the important takeaway. Um, Becca's killing his game, man. I almost got to a final girl mode. And I'm a little sad that I immediately drained out the right outlane. If you pick part five as the movie, that's a multiball. And everything works, including the pop-up Jason. So, you've got the spinning buzz saw will work, pop up Jason, the whole thing. Well, that would have been really nice for if it would have done that for me. Are you Are you having fun while you're building these? Absolutely. Um it's uh hours of fun and seconds of sheer frustration where I want to rage quit and set the thing on fire. But um I think like I told you last time, oh, she got she's killing it. Killing it. She's doing better. Your Jason is killing it. So, um, so now this is the Alice Cooper music video from the from part six, uh, the man behind the mask. Anyway, um, so, so I took a lot of walks. I I think I've told this last time. Yeah. If I get to a point where I have no idea what to do next, I'm frustrated. I'll just go take a walk and I'll and I'll kind of process in my brain. But the way my personality works is I can't let a mistake or a problem go. I have to solve it before I move on. I I have to be selective about that because I if I get to a point where I can't move forward, that's a problem as well, right? So, the great thing about homebrew is that there's always something to do. If you get tired of wiring, you can code. If you don't want to code, you can drill in some ramps. There's always something to do, right? Is is there How many games have you done? The two so far. So, uh this is the first one. Big Trouble with number two. And then number three is uh is is coming along nicely. Yeah. If there was a little bit of advice you could give to new homebrew people, what do you what would it be, Kyle? Um there are hundred reasons not to do a homebrew. The biggest thing you need is a desire to finish a game. And it could be on your own timeline, on your own terms. And you get to define what success means. Does that mean that I got a flipper flipping? Does that mean that I want a super polished game? Do I just want to bring something to a show to kind of show it off? What I hear a lot is, "Oh, I'm a I have a software background, so that's fine. I'm really worried about the cabinet." Or, "I'm a woodworker, so I'm not worried about that, but I've never coded anything." You you have to be kind of good at everything. If you're really really good at one thing, that that doesn't mean you're going to be successful. So, um, decide for yourself that you're going to finish this game, which means that you're going to need help. Um, come to the show, talk to other creators, figure out what works for them, and then go down your own path with what works for you. That that that sounds super hokey, but it's true. No, it's it's great. Kyle, you did an amazing job here. Let me just say, Friday the 13th, it looks I mean, you know, the ultimate compliment is to say it looks like a commercial game that could be shipped tomorrow, right? So, thank you. Thank you so much. Becca is tearing this up. She is. I don't think anybody else is is going to get a chance behind her. And she's definitely going to put up her initials. Um which is my uh my second favorite thing in the game after 8-bit attack is the high score um screen. Uh five part five. We might have to kick her off. Do uh go. Okay. So this is part four. Oh, I can't do numbers. I got all Roman numerals. So he here's a fun tidbit. You see how I use Roman numerals? The the Friday the 13th font only goes up to three. If you use a four, it has a string of things and the game will crash. So that's why there's a lot of Roman numerals in the game because the font doesn't like uh doesn't like numbers. Ask me how I figured that out. That was about a week of me pounding my head against the wall like why doesn't my game work? Stuff like that. You you never know. All right, I think we're going to let Becca keep playing, but you guys, this is Kyle. This is Friday the 13th. We're at PinDevCon. Marco Pinball, thank you so much. It's a beautiful game. Okay, take care, guys. See you.

_(Acquisition: youtube_auto_sub, Enrichment: v4)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 68f00edd-b89c-4ef3-ad78-4ec6d7a4dfc8*