Homebrew Showcase: Cuphead Pinball by Scott Miller

Marco Pinball·video·9m 43s·analyzed·Nov 7, 2025

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.027

TL;DR

Scott Miller unveils Cuphead homebrew at Expo 2025, bridging VP design and physical machine building.

Summary

Scott Miller showcases his Cuphead homebrew pinball machine at Pinball Expo 2025, detailing his journey from Visual Pinball designer to physical machine builder. Starting with a modified Visual Pinball table and an inexpensive Allied Leisure Thunderbolt donor machine, Scott spent 6-9 months building the game in his basement using Mission Pinball Framework, with custom graphics, a holographic fan topper, addressable LEDs, and gameplay refinements including 2-in-1 flippers and two-ball multiball. He credits collaborator Adrien Bordaloo for graphics and Ben Heck for design feedback, and plans future projects rewiring classic EM machines.

Key Claims

Scott has released approximately 16 Visual Pinball tables and helped write scripts for another dozen or so.
high confidence · Scott Miller, direct statement about his VP history
The original Cuphead VP table had 3-in flippers making it too easy to play, so Scott and Adrien Bordaloo modified it to 2-in flippers to make it more EM-like.
high confidence · Scott Miller explaining the modification rationale
The physical Cuphead machine started as an Allied Leisure Thunderbolt purchased for approximately $150.
high confidence · Scott Miller, direct statement about donor machine
The machine took between 6 and 9 months to build, completed in 2021 in Scott's basement.
high confidence · Scott Miller's direct statement
The game is coded in Mission Pinball Framework, which Scott found difficult due to strict typing, though the community support was excellent.
high confidence · Scott Miller discussing MPF experience
Ben Heck (Scott's friend) provided critical feedback on the whitewood, suggesting the pop bumper direct shot design was problematic.
high confidence · Scott Miller crediting Ben Heck's design critique
The holographic fan topper uses software to convert MP4 videos into executables, with animations created in Blender and Photoshop.
high confidence · Scott Miller explaining the topper technology
All graphics are hand-done decals, pieced together from 8.5" x 11" pieces, with two playfields created (one displayed with addressable LEDs).
high confidence · Scott Miller describing the artwork process
Peter Morrison (original VP Cuphead table designer) approved the physical machine and released the VP version as 'Cuphead Pro'.
high confidence · Scott Miller recounting his contact with Peter Morrison

Notable Quotes

“I always wanted to do a homebrew for a number of years, but I didn't think I was creative enough to come up with a good theme for it.”
Scott Miller@ 0:48 — Reveals Scott's initial hesitation and how seeing the VP Cuphead table inspired him to take on the physical build project.
“What do you think of it? I think it's great. I said, 'You know what's missing?' He said, 'Yeah, 2-in flippers.'”
Scott Miller@ 1:24 — Describes the collaborative moment with Adrien Bordaloo that shaped the design philosophy toward EM-like gameplay.
“My idea was I wanted a table that you played for about 5 minutes and said, 'Wow, that's was a lot of fun. Let's do it again.' So, it's not going to be real deep as far as playing time is concerned, but um you can hold that. But, uh but I wanted it to be fun nonetheless.”
Scott Miller@ 1:39 — Articulates the core design philosophy: accessible, quick-play fun over deep ruleset complexity.
“If you don't do it quite right, it's not going to work cuz it's very strongly typed. So, for me, it was hard. It was easy to get the game running, but it was hard to do some of the finetuning on it.”
Scott Miller@ 3:34 — Technical assessment of Mission Pinball Framework's learning curve and strictness.
“The ones that are animated like that are done by um a series of uh PGs and Photoshop turned into a movie.”
Scott Miller@ 6:33 — Describes the technical workflow for creating the holographic topper animations.
“I threatened to my wife that I was going to take in the backyard, pour kerosene on it and light it on fire a few times.”

Entities

Scott MillerpersonMarco PinballpersonAdrien BordaloopersonPeter MorrisonpersonBen HeckpersonAnthony Van WicklpersonCupheadgameCuphead (Visual Pinball Table)product

Signals

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event_signal: Cuphead physical pinball machine exhibited at Pinball Expo 2025 homebrew section, representing the growing homebrew community presence at the annual trade show.
high · Direct attendance and showcase of working machine at Pinball Expo 2025 homebrew section
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design_innovation: Successful methodology for adapting Virtual Pinball tables to physical machines, using VP physics validation and community designer collaboration.
high · Scott's documented process of testing VP table, modifying gameplay with collaborators, and translating to physical machine
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design_philosophy: Intentional shift toward EM-style mechanics (2-in flippers, quick play sessions, straightforward rules) in modern computerized homebrew machines, bridging classic and contemporary design.
high · Scott's explicit design rationale for 2-in flippers and 5-minute play sessions; future plans to rewire classic EM machines
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technology_signal: Mission Pinball Framework continuing to be used by homebrew builders for physical machines; community support cited as strong but learning curve steep for newcomers.
high · Scott's detailed experience learning and using MPF; commentary on strong user group support
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community_signal: Strong collaborative patterns in homebrew community, with expertise shared across graphics design, mechanical engineering, and software development; peer feedback (Ben Heck, Anthony Van Wickl, Peter Morrison) integral to design iteration.
high · Multiple collaborators (Adrien Bordaloo, Ben Heck, Anthony Van Wickl, Peter Morrison) contributing specialized skills and feedback

Topics

Homebrew machine construction and designprimaryVirtual Pinball to physical machine adaptationprimaryMission Pinball Framework coding and technical challengesprimaryEM-style gameplay in modern homebrew machinesprimaryCollaborative design and creative partnerships in homebrewprimaryCustom graphics, decals, and artwork techniquessecondaryHolographic and interactive display technology for pinballsecondaryPinball Expo 2025 homebrew showcasesecondary

Sentiment

positive(0.87)— Strong enthusiasm from both the host and Scott Miller about the project. Marco expresses excitement about the machine's appearance and gameplay. Scott speaks candidly about frustrations but frames them as normal challenges overcome through persistence. No negativity toward manufacturers, designs, or community members.

Transcript

youtube_auto_sub · $0.000

guys. All right, we are back once again. Pinball Expo 2025 in the homebrew section. A special treat right here. If you're a VPinner, this looks familiar to you because this the playfield at least because this is Cuphead that you can download on VP Universe. Well, Scott here has made it into an actual game and we're here right now with Mr. Scott Miller here. You're going to be right here. I'm here. Scott, very [music] nice to see you here at Expo. Um, what gave you the inspiration to do? Actually, I always wanted to do a homebrew for a number of years, but I didn't think I was creative enough to come up with a good theme for it. So, uh, I'm very active in visual pinball. I've uh released probably 16 tables and uh helped write scripts for another dozen or so. And uh I saw this Cuphead table released in Visual Pinball and I thought, "Wow, this is a great table, but it was super easy because it had these big 3-in flippers. It's hard to drain on it." So, one of the guys that I work with quite a bit, uh you can get death saves. Isn't that cool? Uh Adrien Bordaloo, who is just brilliant when it comes to uh graphic design, I said, "Have you seen the new cuppet table?" I said, "Yeah, I have." And I said, "What do you think of it?" I think it's great. I said, "You know what's missing?" He said, "Yeah, 2-in flippers." So, the two of us went through and modded the table to make it more em like. So, my idea was I wanted a table that you played for about 5 minutes and said, "Wow, that's was a lot of fun. Let's do it again." So, it's not going to be real deep as far as playing time is concerned, but um you can hold that. But, uh but I wanted it to be fun nonetheless. I I I I wanted to get on this one, guys, because this is Cuphead and it looks beautiful. So, so Scott's gonna hold his own microphone. No worries. Okay. So, so you you thought you couldn't do it and then you looked at this and said, "All right, I'm going to give it a shot." Yeah. Well, I I didn't think I could do the graphics and the design work, but once I saw that we had a really nice table that we could modify, uh, we went through and added a two ball multiball to it, put twoin flippers on it, and I did not know Peter Morrison at the time, but uh, I contacted him afterwards and said, "Hey, we love the table. what you did with it. We made a few changes to it to make it a little more EM like and uh he said, "Wow, that's wonderful. Can I release it as Cuphead Pro, which is probably the version you may have played on Visual Pinball." Uh so once that was done, I knew that this was going to be a table that would play well because the physics of Visual Pinball, although it's not real pinball, is perfectly very good as far as uh Right. Right. Right. Hey, Francis. It's It's perfect as far as the ability to um as far as the ability to mimic the shots and and tune things. So, I knew it was going to play well in reality. And that that got me started with my pre-Whitewood, if you will. Okay. And so, where did you build this? In your garage. I built this in my basement uh sort of during CO. It finished up in 2021 and uh it's coded in Mission Pinball Framework. So the first thing I did is I wanted to make sure that I could get the software running before I spent any time with uh hardware or spent any money on hardware. And how was it in working in Mission Pinball Framework and stuff? How was that? I I found it kind of difficult because there's a lot of I I I don't know how to describe it, but if you don't do it quite right, Oh, wow. Nice save. If you don't do it quite right, you know, it's not going to work cuz it's very strongly typed. So, for me, it was hard. It was easy to get the game running, but it was hard to do some of the finetuning on it, if that will. Right. Okay. But it's such a wonderful uh user group that uh you know what, I keep hearing that over and over and over again that everybody in the group is fun and easy and it's driving me nuts. Yeah. [laughter] Well, I I mean, you look at the uh the reels that are in the back glass. Those didn't exist until Anthony Van Wickl, who's here at the show. I met him for the first time. He designed those for me and he did such a beautiful job because they're cartoony. They don't go step step. They go roll stop roll stop. Yeah. I don't see it. I spell soul. I know a little bit about this game. Oh, okay. There we go. Yeah, they do. They chunk. Yeah, they kind of chunk along. So, it's it adds to the cartoony effect to it. Uh the game started out as a Allied Leisure Thunderbolt that I picked up for about 150 bucks. Okay. And uh then I went on and um reused any of the parts in it that I could and sold off the rest on eBay so that you know no Allied Leisure suffered from it. That just helped other machines get re rehabbed again. Excellent. And uh and it was a very economically uh worked out quite well economically. Um then once the Whitewood was done, I had my friend Ben Heck stop by. My friend Ben Heck. Ben Heck. Yeah. Are you friends with Ben Heck? Yeah, I am. Wow. And uh and he uh he critiqued it for me, which was awesome. So he said, "Well, like it's a bad idea to have a direct shot on a pop bumper from the from the uh flippers." So I created this little uh you know, King Dice protects the devil, right? So he blocks you from being able to get the devil. That's not in the Ven. No, it's not in the VP, right? Yeah. Yeah. There's a number of things that aren't in the Ven that are in this. There are some things in visual pin like the Vpin will kick this all the way up here or kick this. You try to do that with a table that actually kicks upward and outward. you'll break the glass. So, I I changed it so it ra the sides of the uh drop targets instead. Okay. So, you get a clean you get a you get well you got a chance at getting a sweep and then like I said the uh the way the multiball works is if you can get into that predition lane three times the third time you get in it locks you and then it releases the second ball which is like Mugman coming to Cuphead's rescue. Yeah. And but you have to hit the devil bumper. If you don't the machine dies, the ball drains and it laughs at you. It's it's it's really di diabolical, but yeah. Oh, man. And it it is it me or is the topper interactive with the game? No, it's it's purely programmed. It's a it's a holographic fan I picked up on Amazon. It comes with uh software for being able to turn uh MP4s into EXEs. And so the like that cup head that's spinning right now, that was done in Blender. And uh I rotated it in Blender so that you could see it, the camera view. and that turned that into an MP4 or rotate it, spin it or, you know, flip it one way to the other so you get a little action. The ones that are animated like that are done by um a series of uh PGs and Photoshop turned into a movie. I'll try and get the camera to face for a second. But so, so from from beginning to end, it took you about what to say a year or I think it was between 6 and 9 months, but I'm retired so I've got a lot of time. Okay. Okay. But it wasn't easy. There were there were a lot of problems that I had during it. Uh it was very frustrating at times and I threatened to my wife that I was going to take in the backyard, pour kerosene on it and light it on fire a few times. But I imagine that that happens to [clears throat] a few homebrew. I I think it's probably common to everybody that you run into something that you really you run into a wall and and how you recover from those and how you uh deal nice save. The way you deal with it is uh a big determination as to whether or not it works. And you get death saves because it had three-inch flippers and so the drain is small. So don't give up on a ball when it drains cuz you might be able to get it back. Isaiah, play one more solo. Yeah. Uh the graphics are all done by hand. Uh they're decals. Uh they're very small decals, like 8 and 1/2 or 8 by 11. So it's all pieced together. I did two playfields. So you'll notice that there's one of them hanging up next to the where the machine is at that I put uh addressable LEDs behind it. So and it's driven by a ESP32 in the ball trough area. So uh all the plastics are done uh they were CNCed and the uh graphics are done in clear inverted put on the back of it and then it white over the top of that for the occlusion so that it looks like a Marc Silk screen. Scott, how much h how did you feel once you started getting this thing flipping and it was actually reacting? It was not no longer a vis virtual pin. It was an actual pin. How did that feel? Yeah, it it was really cool. Even just setting the the blank piece of plywood in as a white wood before it it's like, wow, this looks like something. Yeah, this look like something. Yeah. Well, this is absolutely beautiful. Scott, thank you for bringing this by. It really pops. So, I was setting it up and I looked at the camera and it just pops. It looks nice. What do you do you have any other plans for this or is this or is this uh this this is pretty much done. Um if I do another homebrew, I think I'm going to do I'm an EM guy, so I think I'll take an EM and rewire an EM and program it, you know, via the the wiring looms to make it a different game, something different. That's awesome. I'm a big fan of Ted Zale, so um Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I I would probably do like an asymmetrical playfield with uh maybe a cross playfield launch like 4 million BC and a multiball like Capersville and some sort of combination of that. So just sort of thinking through what I might want to do get away from the computerized side of things and try to do it old school with relays and storm motor. You you you my friend can do it. This is beautiful. Thank you so much for bringing this down and and bringing it over here. It's no small task for these guys to bring these machines over. So, uh, Cubad, man, I'm so happy I got to flip this. Thank you. Isaiah knows I don't I wasn't flipping anything and I was like, I got to get it on this one. So, thank you, man. Thank you very much. Cheers.