Homebrew Showcase: Atom Pinball by Coleman Martin

Marco Pinball·video·10m 54s·analyzed·Nov 7, 2025

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.022

TL;DR

Coleman Martin showcases Atom, a 3D-printed mini homebrew with innovative magnet and accelerometer mechanics.

Summary

Coleman Martin showcases Atom, a homebrew pinball machine featuring extensive 3D-printed components, a mini playfield design, and innovative mechanics like magnet-assisted shot setup and an accelerometer-based drain timer. This is his second homebrew following Greek Gods, which featured a transmissive LCD screen revealing an underworld mini-playfield. Coleman credits Scott Denise and the Multimorphic community for inspiring his homebrew journey and discusses his self-taught approach to music composition using Ableton.

Key Claims

The entire case, ball guides, ramps, and most playfield mechanisms are 3D printed
high confidence · Coleman Martin describing Atom's construction
Stock pinball components used include pop bumper mechanisms, flipper mechanisms, and spinner
high confidence · Coleman Martin listing non-3D-printed parts
The playfield is on its third form, with multiple iterations to address shot difficulty balance
high confidence · Coleman Martin discussing design evolution
An accelerometer in the board system counts down energy (drain timer) to prevent indefinite gameplay sessions
high confidence · Coleman Martin explaining the accelerator energy mechanic
This is Coleman Martin's second game; his first was Greek Gods with a transmissive LCD screen showing an underworld mini-playfield
high confidence · Coleman Martin's direct statement about his homebrew history
Scott Denise's Total Nuclear Annihilation and the Multimorphic community were key inspirations for Coleman to pursue homebrewing
high confidence · Coleman Martin crediting influences on his homebrew journey
Coleman used Fusion 360 for CAD design work on Atom
high confidence · Coleman Martin stating he's using Fusion for layout
The playfield uses prismatic car wrap vinyl with rainbow hue, with plans to print custom art on the same vinyl for final version
high confidence · Coleman Martin describing cosmetic finish plans

Notable Quotes

“my wife said we have room for uh four pinball machines in the basement and but there was this lonely little corner and I thought maybe I could make something small”
Coleman Martin @ early in conversation — Origin story of Atom — space constraint inspiration for mini playfield design
“I do a lot of uh 3D printing and uh wanted to uh experiment with how much of the machine could actually be 3D printed”
Coleman Martin @ design philosophy section — Core design constraint and technical goal for Atom
“It's not about the size, it's about what you can do with it.”
Chat participant (attributed to Chad context) @ gameplay observation — Encapsulates the homebrew philosophy — compact form factor with complex mechanics
“I suppose I could turn that into a tilt.”
Coleman Martin @ mechanics discussion — Shows iterative design thinking — accelerometer dual-purpose potential
“Scott Denise bringing Total Nuclear Annihilation to uh years ago... made me confident that I might be able to build a homebrew”
Coleman Martin @ inspiration discussion — Demonstrates community influence on homebrew development culture
“I ended up uh you uh learning some woodworking, learning some electronics... Scott was super supportive to everybody building their homebrews.”
Coleman Martin @ community support section — Highlights Multimorphic community support infrastructure for homebrew developers
“It's not great, but it definitely a step up from the the work I did before.”
Coleman Martin @ music composition discussion — Shows learning progression from OPZ to Ableton for pinball music composition

Entities

Coleman MartinpersonAtomgameGreek GodsgameScott Deniseperson Total Nuclear Annihilationgame MultimorphiccompanyMarco PinballorganizationPinball Expoevent

Signals

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design_innovation: Extensive use of 3D printing for case, ball guides, ramps, and playfield mechanisms in a fully functional pinball machine
high · Coleman Martin: 'The whole case is 3D printed... The ball guides are 3D printed, the ramps, uh bunch of the mechanisms under the uh playfield are 3D printed.'
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design_innovation: Innovative use of magnet beneath flipper to set up precision shots and improve playability on mini playfield
high · Coleman Martin: 'so we have a magnet that grabs uh the ball underneath the wand that floats in and out over the playfield. Uh that uh magnet will set up shots for the red flipper.'
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design_innovation: Use of accelerometer to implement countdown drain timer preventing indefinite gameplay sessions
high · Coleman Martin: 'The board system has an acceler accelerometer in it... the accelerator energy is counting down... If it gets all the way to zero, you lose your ball.'
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community_signal: Multimorphic community providing active Slack support for homebrew developers, with Scott Denise cited as particularly supportive mentor
high · Coleman Martin: 'We had a terrific uh uh multimmorphic slack group at the time. Uh, and Scott was super supportive to everybody building their homebrews.'
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product_strategy: Emerging homebrew design niche of compact, high-complexity mini playfields addressing space constraints in home collections
medium · Coleman Martin: 'my wife said we have room for uh four pinball machines in the basement and but there was this lonely little corner and I thought maybe I could make something small'

Topics

Homebrew Pinball Design and Constructionprimary3D Printing Applications in Pinball MachinesprimaryMini Playfield Design and MechanicsprimaryHomebrew Community Support and InspirationprimaryPinball Music CompositionsecondaryInnovative Game Mechanics (Magnet Assist, Accelerometer Drain Timer)secondaryCAD Design Tools and WorkflowssecondaryTransmissive LCD Technology in Pinballmentioned

Sentiment

positive(0.92)— Hosts and participants express genuine enthusiasm and amazement throughout. Coleman is humble and self-aware about his learning journey. The tone celebrates innovation and community support. No negative sentiment detected.

Transcript

youtube_auto_sub · $0.000

right, we got a special treat. We have the man who loaned the entire streaming rig to Marco and Pendev. The reason that we're streaming at all, this is Coleman. and Coleman. Um, maybe I'll just let you talk about your game. Coleman bought a game. Maybe I'll just let you talk about You can tell the name and everything. And my name's Coleman Martin. I'm from um, uh, Kansas City. And come over here. You're in the shot. There you go. Okay, great. Thank you. U, and I made Adam. Uh my wife said we have room for uh four pinball machines in the basement and but there was this lonely little corner and I thought maybe I could make something small that would uh uh take up that space. I was actually working on a larger machine and developing a mini playfield for it. Uh the mini playfield uh became kind of its own game. So I decided to see how far I could go with it. I do a lot of uh 3D printing and uh wanted to uh experiment with how much of the machine could actually be 3D printed. Oh, really? So, that's what this game. Yeah, I'll I'll jump back in cuz this this game is amazing. So, I got to get a part of this. Um the whole case is 3D printed. It is indeed. The uh the ball guides are 3D printed, the ramps, uh bunch of the mechanisms under the uh playfield are 3D printed. Uh the things that are uh stock pinball are the pop bumper mechanisms, the flipper mechanisms, uh the spinner. Uh I uh put precision flippers on it because I was uh I was Because you really want to break all your 3D stuff, right? And I wanted to I wanted to make it play play nice and look nice. Um the uh playfield is a piece OF THERE YOU GO. OH, YOU GUYS. You got it. You got it. You guys. Okay. So, the the um Okay. You want to shoot underneath the the uh uh red flipper for your multiball. What in the heck is going on? Are you seeing this on stream? So, we're making an atom. We've got the electron in orbit. We've got the proton trapped at about 12:00. Oh. Oh, he almost had the atomic multiball. Dude, dude, that is epic. [laughter] I'm going to grab my phone just so I can see what it's so Chad, what do you think? Uh, is is it as small as it looks? Small. There's a lot going on. It's It's not about It's not about the size, it's about what you can do with it. The Playfield is in its really third uh form. Uh it's it's the original piece of wood, but uh many of the shots were too hard on the first version. So I um uh moved the uh ramp. I moved uh this um uh this flipper shot here. Um uh reprinted a bunch of the pieces uh to uh make it a more enjoyable game. What did What did you um So what are you uh laying out in? You like using Blender Fusion? What? I'm doing Fusion. Okay. Still figuring out the flippers. There's There's this one and then there's there's this one. Got to got to keep it under control. Isaiah, you got the atom going, man. I I haven't even seen that today. So, so we have a magnet that grabs uh the ball underneath the wand that floats in and out over the playfield. Uh that uh magnet will set up shots for the red flipper. Otherwise, trying to hit the drop targets and the ramp is random. If you uh just have the ball passing by the red uh uh flipper, but with the magnet setting up the shot, uh you can really aim. So, all three drop targets are down. The uh the lights are inviting a shot to the Electron orbital. I keep I keep doing the wrong flipper. [laughter] Oh, I love it. I'm getting those uh I'm getting those uh highspeed vibes. One of the There we go. Okay, so you can get your multiball now shooting underneath the red flipper, but you can still trap your proton at the uh lock at 12:00. The fish bowl. I think most tilts are disabled for the show. Oh. Oh, we drained. I was trying to get that lock. All right. All right. Is there a tilt in this? No. Yeah, it's disabled for the show. Uh, originally I just had this on a workbench. I decided to put it on a little uh wooden table, but there casters on it, which I did just to help me move it around the basement. It lets you nudge. And that's one of the things I've learned taking it to Expo this year is how much uh uh people will nudge the table to try to keep from draining. I definitely wanted to nudge. If you watch it back, I' i've tried to nudge. The board system has an acceler accelerometer in it. I suppose I could turn that into a tilt. Hey, good shot, Isaiah. Ah. So, the accelerator energy is counting down. 62 61. If it gets all the way to zero, you lose your ball. That's my way of making sure that someone doesn't start an electron in orbit and then walk away and an hour later the whole thing's melted down. Right. Right. Right. Right. Uh step here a little bit. Come this way a little bit towards me so we can get you in the shot still. So this is this is amazing. Tell me a little bit about uh well how what other games have you met? Was this your first? This is my second game. Um, my first game was Greek Gods that I brought to uh Expo twice before. Uh, it's a full-size game. Uh, and it's, uh, most interesting aspect of that game is it has a u an LCD screen much like this one, but it's a uh, what's called a transmissive LCD where you can render it transparent. Wait a minute. The fishbowl, are you listening to this? and uh and then uh for certain modes uh the screen sort of vanishes and then the player's looking down into a mini playfield and there's another game that they can play down there. So that's the underworld of Greek gods and after their they drain their third ball uh if their score is high enough they can try to redeem their soul in the underworld for an extra ball on the main level. Wow. See, I never knew a shot like that would actually work, but I guess it does. I mean, a screen like that. People have It actually works pretty well. People have told me and I didn't believe them. There's someone in chat who told me I didn't believe them. So, is there is there another game in uh your future in the I expect so. Um but this one needs a few more tweaks. I'll cut another playfield and put some art on it. Uh currently the uh playfield is covered with um prismatic uh car wrap vinyl, which is why it has this rainbow uh hue to it. I hope that's showing up on camera. Yeah. Um it does look cool. And uh but I I can uh print art on that same vinyl uh and I'll use that for my final version. It also needs a good clear coat. Yeah. Well, Coleman, this is amazing. This is really super cool. The unfortunate part, like I said, of of Expo, is you can't hear the sounds. Who did the sounds in this? Oh, uh, I did the music. Um, and uh, it seems really confused right now. I'm going to give it a a reboot. Okay. Well, anyway, that is we will have it up and running again in a few minutes. But the the sound has been a um uh a real labor of love. Um reaching reaching across for the power button. That's okay. Yeah, there we go. Um, one of the things that uh made me confident that I might be able to build a homebrew is uh Scott Danesi bringing Total Nuclear Annihilation to uh years ago. Uh, and of course he did the music for that too. Um, so I I ended up uh you uh learning some woodworking, learning some electronics. We had a terrific uh uh multimmorphic slack group at the time. Uh, and Scott was super supportive to everybody building their homebrews. I thought, well, you know, maybe I can uh I can do uh music in mine as well. So, I started taking music lessons. Wow. Initially did um did my music on a uh Teenage Engineering OPZ. Um so, that was the music for Greek Gods. It's not great, but you know, it's it's decent pinball music. [laughter] And uh my music teacher encouraged me to pick up a uh Ableton Push Three. So, Oh, wow. So, uh this music is done in uh uh in Ableton. Um it's not uh I don't consider it my final music. Uh it's it's not great, but it's it definitely a step up from the the work I did before. And I had another song I was working on for Expo, but then I designed a whole bunch of uh other software uh pieces for uh for this and I went with that instead. Well, how many people here could actually say, "Hey, I did pinball music, right? I did music." So that's it's an excellent job, Coleman. This is amazing. Um, guys, if you're here at Expo, come over. Coleman will happily show you Adam. Adam. Yes, Adam. Not the not the KCO failed computer back in the 80s, but the new pinball machine. That is awesome. [laughter] I'm showing my age again. Thank you, sir. Thank you. All right.