Homebrew Showcase: Mad Max Fury Road Pinball by Justin McNulty

Marco Pinball·video·17m 36s·analyzed·Nov 7, 2025

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.032

TL;DR

Mad Max Fury Road homebrew by McNulty & team showcased at Pinball Expo 2025 with 5-year dev cycle.

Summary

Marco Pinball showcases Mad Max Fury Road, a homebrew pinball machine by Justin McNulty and Nathan (last name not provided), at Pinball Expo 2025. The game was developed over 5 years using FAST boards and MPF software, with Solid Works CAD for mechanical design and Adobe After Effects for graphics. The designers discuss their development process, mechanical features (Newton ball lock, upper flipper jump shot), rule set influences (Metallica, Black Knight, Godzilla, Stranger Things), and their iteration based on show feedback to balance difficulty with player accessibility.

Key Claims

Mad Max Fury Road was developed over 5 years with periodic in-person collaboration between designers in Vegas and Southern California.
high confidence · Nathan states: 'He lived in Vegas. I live in Northern San Diego, Oceanside area... every about every 3 or 4 weeks he'd come for a weekend and we would just work really hard.'
The game uses FAST boards and MPF (Mission Pinball Framework) for software.
high confidence · Directly stated when asked about build platform: 'We use fast boards and MPF for the software.'
Justin McNulty had no prior pinball coding experience before this project but learned through MPF documentation and community.
high confidence · Justin: 'before we started this uh I haven't really coded I I knew a little bit about it but I haven't really coded anything nothing on this scale.'
The game was made more accessible after shows like TPF where players drained in 30 seconds due to difficulty; ball saves and mode difficulty were adjusted.
high confidence · Nathan: 'At TPF there was like there was only four homebrews there and there was like a 45 minute hour long wait and most people got up and the game's brutal and just we're done in like 30 seconds and we felt horrible about that. So he we put in some uh longer ball save times, tweaked the code a little to get to the multiballs easier.'
The three ramps in Mad Max represent the water pipes from the film, inspired by the opening scene with Mortuary Joe opening the valve.
high confidence · Nathan: 'we decided we wanted three ramps and the three pipes because in the movie at the beginning of Morton Joe opens up the valve and the water comes shooting out of the pipes.'
Nathan's father purchased four machines (Godzilla, Alien by Pinball Brothers, Black Knight Sword of Rage, Stranger Things) which influenced the game's rule design.
high confidence · Justin: 'my dad bought those four machines and those were... Godzilla, uh Alien from Pinball Brothers, uh Black Knight, Sword of Rage, and uh Stranger Things.'
The designers plan to potentially work on a head-to-head game for a future project but have not begun serious development.

Notable Quotes

“I actually got to play this at Golden State, and I'm telling you, this is a banger.”
Marco (host) @ Opening — Sets the tone of high anticipation and positive reception for the game at community venues.
“the fun sort of found us.”
Justin McNulty @ Mid-interview — Describes the organic, iterative process of discovering fun in homebrew design rather than designing for it upfront.
“At TPF there was like there was only four homebrews there and there was like a 45 minute hour long wait and most people got up and the game's brutal and just we're done in like 30 seconds and we felt horrible about that.”
Nathan @ Mid-interview — Illustrates the real-world tension between home balance (fun on free play) and show balance (need for accessibility with queues).
“if we're going to do another one, it's going to be something crazy. Probably some sort of head-to-head game.”
Justin McNulty @ Late interview — Hints at ambitious future direction for the design team beyond single-player homebrew.
“So, you know, some decisions are really risky and they like change the game completely. Like our uh inlane outlane switch where we kind of have it like fathom where the in lanes are the death lanes.”
Nathan @ Late interview — Reveals a deliberate risk-taking design philosophy inspired by classic games like Fathom.
“his dad had four. So it is a gateway drug almost.”
Marco (host) @ Mid-interview — Humorous observation about how building a homebrew introduced the family to pinball collecting.
“I I really like the Newton ball lock where we can lock a ball behind the Newton ball and it's physical only and then and it's stealable like any player can take it cuz it's a physical lock.”
Justin McNulty @ Mid-interview — Highlights a key mechanical innovation in the design with stealable physical locks.

Entities

Justin McNultypersonNathanpersonMarcopersonMad Max Fury RoadgamePinball Expo 2025eventFAST PinballcompanyMPF (Mission Pinball Framework)productMetallicagame

Signals

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design_innovation: Mad Max features a stealable Newton ball lock (physical lock behind Newton ball) and an upper flipper with a minimal upper playfield for jump shots, described as unique mechanics not commonly seen in homebrew.
high · Justin: 'I really like the Newton ball lock where we can lock a ball behind the Newton ball and it's physical only and then and it's stealable like any player can take it... I think this jump shot is pretty unique off that upper upper flipper with the tiniest upper playfield in pinball.'
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gameplay_signal: Mad Max was originally brutally difficult, causing player frustration at shows (30-second drains with hour-long waits). Designers made significant code adjustments post-TPF to increase ball save times and ease mode access, demonstrating adaptive design based on venue feedback.
high · Nathan: 'At TPF there was... only four homebrews there and there was like a 45 minute hour long wait and most people got up and the game's brutal and just we're done in like 30 seconds and we felt horrible about that. So he we put in some uh longer ball save times, tweaked the code a little to get to the multiballs easier.'
?
design_philosophy: Designers deliberately balanced complexity (influenced by Godzilla's deep rule set) with simplicity (influenced by Black Knight's straightforward progression), aiming for multi-playstyle accessibility while maintaining a coherent main objective.
high · Nathan: 'we were trying to balance those two in sort of our game... you wanted it to have that, uh, sort of I can beat this, but you can't really beat it sort of feel.'
?
technology_signal: Mad Max demonstrates mature homebrew tooling: FAST boards for hardware control, MPF for software framework, Solid Works for professional CAD design, and Adobe After Effects for GUI/screen graphics with point80 GDAU plugin integration.

Topics

Homebrew Game Development ProcessprimaryMad Max Fury Road Pinball Design & MechanicsprimaryRule Set Design Philosophy & InfluencesprimaryShow vs Home Play Balance & Difficulty TuningprimarySoftware & Hardware Tools for Homebrew (FAST, MPF, Solid Works)primaryTeam Collaboration & Remote DevelopmentsecondaryGUI/Screen Design & Playfield Art IntegrationsecondaryCommunity Feedback & Iterationsecondary

Sentiment

positive(0.87)— Strong enthusiasm from host and community reception. Designers show collaborative spirit and genuine care for player experience. The only tension is around difficulty balance adjustments based on show feedback, but this is framed constructively. No negative sentiment toward the game, manufacturers, or community.

Transcript

youtube_auto_sub · $0.000

All right, we're back, ladies and gentlemen. Pinball Expo 2025. This is one of the more entirely uh highly anticipated games. I actually got to play this at Golden State, and I'm telling you, this is a banger. I I heard nothing but and this is from like people who run arcades. They're like, "Did you play Mad Max?" So, I think I think they want to put this in and make money off of it, [laughter] but it's a homebrew and and and we're not going to go there yet. But we got Nathan and we got Justin. Justin, they're both part of the team, the MadMax team. Nathan, are you who which one are you the main designer here? We designed it together. Together. I did all the like most of the mechanical stuff as far as making it and bolting it together and then he wrote every line of code. He did the GUI, everything on the screen and all the modes and everything. Is this built in uh anything here like fast or what is it? We use fast boards and MPF for the software. Are you a coder, Justin? Uh I guess I am now. before we started this uh I haven't really coded I I knew a little bit about it but I haven't really coded anything nothing on this scale and uh just doing this was a huge learning experience you know uh here let me just adjust this so we can see Justin a little bit there he is see yourself over there say hi all right so Justin why don't you get flipping on the game and I'm going to talk to Nathan about the development of stuff so where' the idea come from when he was a senior in high school, he was thinking [clears throat] about being an engineer and what what he should do. And I was like, "Hey, what if we did like a a pinball machine as a project to see if you like that kind of thing?" And then the and then the the first and then we were like, "Well, what machine should we do?" And the first thing someone said was, "Mad Max Fury Road." Who was that someone though? This guy. And uh once that was set, we never even brought up another another theme. That was it. We're like, "Yes, that's it." Okay. So you guys look back from there. So you guys sat down in a living room with a pencil and paper and said, "How do we make a Mad Max pinball machine or how did that work?" Uh he actually lived in Vegas. I live in Northern San Diego, Oceanside area. And uh a lot of the decisions we were just talking over the phone on how it would be and we'd send drawings back and forth ju just to like rough draft the machine. Lots and lots of phone calls calls and uh then I drew the whole thing up in Solid Works. Wow. Look. Okay. Like if you open the Solid Works file, it looks exactly like this. And then we [clears throat] made it. We've got different, you know, there different homebrew people use different ways. Some some You're the first I've ever heard you actually use Solid Works, which is a professional CAD CAM software. Some people use Fusion. Some people use a David Hankin, but uh did it help you get through Solid Works to get to the physical for you? Uh yeah. Well, I I'm a machinist, so I do CNC programming. I have Solid Works already and have drawn tons of stuff in Solid Works already. So that made it easy and it it it made the layout really easy to do. I think just just visually I placed everything and like Solid Works doesn't really have simulation for the ball or whatever. I just see the solids and just by like kind of looking to tell what would work and what wouldn't. Hey, so Justin, how was it programming your first pinball machine? It's a little bit different different experience than regular programming. um sort of in in a way it uh as long as you understand uh just inputs and outputs then uh you'll just kind of get the hang of it uh uh with the code in MPF there's so much documentation on that that um uh it's just so easy to learn like how to get uh a certain set of code done and a lot of people uh a lot of things in pinball are very uh like cookie cutter like uh mechanic. You know, often, especially with Homebrew, there's a lot of unique things that might change a lot, but for the most part, there's a lot of things that um are just they've been done before. People have done them before, so you can always talk to the community and figure out uh how to get something done. It's cool. So, what what what's some of your favorite features about your MadMax game? Uh let's see. I I really like the Newton ball lock where we can lock a ball behind the Newton ball and it's physical only and then and it's stealable like any player can take it cuz it's a physical lock. So I like I think that's a cool feature. I think this jump shot is pretty unique off that upper upper flipper with the tiniest upper playfield in pinball. I think you have a a shot to take as it's passing by and and that's it. Yeah. What are some games that influenced this? Like some some some current primo machine that maybe influenced you. Uh I think for sure Metallica influenced us. I'm going to and uh cuz I I had owned a Metallica years ago. So and we weren't that into pinball when we started this. So since has changed. Yeah. So when we when we started this, we had no pinball machines and uh before we were done with this, his dad had four. So it is a gateway drug almost. Um has either of you worked in like uh virtual pinball platforms at all? Oh, that's actually something that I regret because we we drew it up in Solid Works, which is great for making the machine and uh yeah, it's it's uh you can do simulation in it, but it's it's very tricky and it's a lot of work, but uh you know, VPX, I've heard a lot of great things from a lot of people that draw it up in VPX and you can see how the game plays before you even make it. It's almost like there are multiple paths to success though because Jack Danger famously uses VPX to maybe as his David Hankin test, right? And some people actually use napkins and you guys I'm I'm I'm assuming you drew it out on paper first and then you went for straight to solid work. Yeah. Just I you know I had like a blank blank of wood and just was moving stuff around. Why not? That's your uh that's your David Hankin right there. Solid. So, I I like bought all the mechs that I knew we were going to use, you know, like flipper mechs and everything, and then measured them all out and made solid models of them, and then I could just move them all around the playfield and solid works. So, one question I I I I wish I had asked more homebrew cuz since you guys are a team, here's the question. How do you make a game, but how do you find the fun? How do you find the fun in the game? Uh, I don't know. the the fun sort of found us. [laughter] We just um you know the way we started we just had a bullet point list of all the features we wanted in the game and then we got all those in and then whenever we could do more we added to that. Um I guess to make a game fun for us the theme of making it fun was making it brutal. you know, as hard as the game could be, people would find the fun in that, you know. Uh, as far as the rules, the design, um, you know, you wanted it to have that, uh, sort of I can beat this, but you can't really beat it sort of feel. Yeah. Just one more because that's always the the, you know, when you I was about to say when you make a homebrew, but this is pinball. It's all the same, right? You guys could literally be selling this. I mean, outside of the license and stuff like that, um, this layout can be reused for an actual actual game, but what when you guys bring it to a show, right, you like it to be brutal, but when you bring it to a show and you see the people's reactions, has that affected the gameplay? Like, have you went, "Well, maybe we should back off on this." Absolutely. At TPF there was like there was only four homebrews there and there was like a 45minut hourlong wait and most people got up and the game's brutal and just we're done in like 30 seconds and we felt horrible about that. So he we put in some uh longer ball save times, tweaked the code a little to get to the multiballs easier. It just just more fun. He's right. When it when it's home play, it's fun to have a devast game cuz it's just on free play and you you know there's no line. You're just playing non-stop. But at these shows Yeah, exactly. We went to TPF. There was a lot of rules where uh people just couldn't get to certain modes cuz it was just barely out of reach. But uh you know, we've done a few more shows since then and like leading to now, uh a lot of the modes are so much easier to get to. Yeah, you make a really good point because when it's home play, you can just start it up again. But even though people are not putting quarters in your game, they are spending the time to stay in the line. And if they show up, play for 30 seconds, they walk away. Yeah. I actually felt bad like I wasted I wasted an hour of their time at the show cuz they just triple drain really fast. So like he originally had the game where you had to make the skill shot to to get a ball save. So there would be no ball save for most people. And it was, you know, and the game's brutal enough as as it is. So, you know, we added that in because I'm telling you this, the first time I shot this, I was having fun. And and and I can't quantify where that fun came from. I just feel the shots felt good. The the the all the stuff on the screen. Who worked on the stuff on the screen? They did 100%. Yeah. That was all done in uh Adobe After Effects using uh the point80 GDAU on MPF. And there's just dozens of videos online that'll show you how to make these crazy good uh like graphic effects and all you need is just like a like the way the pinball GUI is set up in most games is it's just a video in the background with some fancy font over it telling you what to do. So if you could just get that down uh it's not a lot of work for a really good looking screen. you know, uh, when we first started, probably the hardest part of the GUI was we went a complex rule set, but you have to balance that out with letting people understand what they're saying. You know, we had a GUI that just had numbers everywhere. Uh, you know, all these rules going at once. And the thing, you know, you could it it didn't look fun. It just looked like uh like an accounting book. You know, it looked like homework. So, a lot of work was spent trying to keep it as simple as possible. you know, only showing the player what they need to see, score, ball, free play, and only things as they come up. And a lot of the stuff that you want them to do is reflected in the inserts, correct? Yeah. How did you handle doing all your inserts and stuff like what are they what's underneath? At first, we had way more inserts on the playfield. And then the uh the guy who was doing art was like, "Where where am I going to put art? There's no room for art." [laughter] So, yeah. Yeah. there's how how you know we we told him what we wanted. We wanted a Morton Joe and you know all the characters and he's like yeah where do you want that? There's there's no room for it. So that so that that's how we we moved most of the lights to the apron. That's how we came up with all the lights down in the apron. So Justin, talk me through a little bit of what you're doing if if you can play and shoot at the same time. What is your goal in Mad Max? So, your goal is to defeat all five of the warlord bosses. You got uh Jew warrior, Rickus, Immorton, Joe, Bullet Farmer, Slit, and the Peeple Eater. And uh once you defeat all five, that'll unlock the wisdom. That's your ultimate goal. And of course, there's a bunch of other things to do in the machine. You know, you don't want it to just be uh a game where you're only doing one thing. You I like it to be a game where it sort of presents the opportunity to you and you see the flashing shots and you go, "Yeah, I'm going to go for that." So, if you want points, you got to put the points in the boss. But it's always fun to put points on little side objectives and little quick things. Everyone has different way to play pinball. Some people like ramps, some people like just bashing uh the target, some people just like playing in multiball the whole game, you know? So, it's trying to create a wide variety of play styles all in one game. What are some games and rule I'm assuming that you looked at a lot of rule sets when you started doing this. What are some games and rule sets that resonated with you? Um Wow. Well, my dad bought those four machines and those were I took a lot of those machines were um Godzilla, uh Alien from Pinball Brothers, uh Black Knight, Sword of Rage, and uh Stranger Things. You got a killer collection. Oh my god, what a diverse set of rules right there. Yeah, it was uh you know, taking a lot of and you know, some of those games have really deep rules like Godzilla that just keeps going forever. So there I would say probably black knight sort of sort of rage influenced influenced us the most on the riskreward where you can like go for more bonus and like end up losing it all. Yeah. Simple like that one shot you just keep going for to build up your bonus. And a lot of it was trying to combine uh complex with simple. Like Black Knight is very simple game. It's just start the boss, beat the boss, move to the next boss. But uh you know a game like Godzilla just has all sorts of things going for it. So we were trying to balance those two in sort of our game. But there was a lot of other games too like um Metallica obviously we looked at that was probably the first game that we looked at for the rule set and that's sort of more uh macro at least that's sort of more like Black Knight where it's just you get through the songs uh you know and there's some multiballs on the way. So, we were just trying to aim for that sort of uh play style where you can do the main objective and there should be a main objective, but you can always do you can always play the game how you want to. I love the um the shots through the back and coming out the front. Who who thought of that one? Uh like when we first thought about the game, we decided we wanted three ramps and the three pipes because in the movie at the beginning of Morton Joe opens up the valve and the water comes shooting out of the pipes. So that's that's like one of the first design decisions we made. Yeah. To like represent the those water pipes. There's actually a multiball you to get to where you have to lock a ball in each one of the pipes. And um if you fail during the locking sequence, the ball's over and you hear Martin Joe just say, "Do not become addicted to water." Turns the valves off and you see them dry out and fall over. God, this is so nice. I just got to take a take a look and see what's going on here. How long was it did it take to uh from concept to to pretty much 1.0? Uh 5 years. That sounds that sounds about right. That's like the sweet spot. Um that sounds about the sweet spot where um you uh you can a lot of the home brewers are are 3 to 5 years to do it. I mean, you know, he lived in Vegas. I'm in C southern California. So every about every 3 or 4 weeks he'd come for a weekend and we would just work really hard and then it'd be a couple weeks off. So we could get it done faster but and we should have got it done faster but a lot of time is spent uh on deliberation like whether you should do this or that. There's a lot of option paralysis, you know, because it's such an open-ended uh idea. You know, there's so many ways you could take this thing. Uh a lot of time and toil is spent on just Yeah, exactly. Is this a good idea? This seems like, you know, some decisions are really risky and they like change the game completely. Like our uh inlane outlane switch where we kind of have it like fathom where the inlanes are the death lanes, you know, stuff like that. Some people really don't like that kind of stuff. Some people really like it. So, it's uh it's just a lot of time is spent trying to figure out what's the best thing to do. So, what's the next Are you guys going to be a team or you both going to go solo and do your own solo careers or what do you what I know you maybe you don't want to tell me, but are you working on another game? We haven't done any work. We're just kicking around some ideas. I got some ideas. I think if we're going to do another one, it's going to be something crazy. Probably some sort of head-to-head game. Wow. Sort of like we showed the monster uh monster house the other day or whatever it is. Well, thank you so much, Justin. Thank you. Thank you, Nathan. This is Mad Max. And if you are you guys going to be at any more shows or is this it? This is probably it for a while. We might do indis even though it's not like homebrew centric just cuz it's so close to my house. So, all right. All right, Mad Max, we're here at Pinball Expo 2025 and we got a couple more to show you. Stick around.