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Pinball Expo 2025 - The Homebrew & Custom Games Industry Awards

Marco Pinball·video·38m 4s·analyzed·Oct 24, 2025
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.029

TL;DR

Pinball Expo 2025 homebrew awards celebrate indie designers with legendary industry judges.

Summary

Marco Pinball hosted the Pinball Expo 2025 Homebrew & Custom Games Industry Awards, featuring a legendary judging panel including Roger Sharpe, Larry DeMar, Eugene Jarvis, George Petro, Ed Boomy, and others with combined 350+ years in game design. The event presented 40+ awards across categories like best software, design, art, and gameplay, with Big Trouble in Little China winning Best of Show, Mad Max as second runner-up, and Invasion as first runner-up. Judges emphasized the quality and innovation of homebrew games, noting some are production-ready and contain ideas surpassing commercial titles.

Key Claims

  • The judging panel combined approximately 350 years of game design and pinball/video game talent

    high confidence · Joe Camo, event organizer, speaking during awards introduction

  • Big Trouble in Little China won Best of Show homebrew award

    high confidence · Larry DeMar announced final winner at end of ceremony

  • Some homebrew games presented are production-ready prototypes that could be manufactured

    high confidence · Larry DeMar, commenting on quality of homebrew entries versus historical homebrew standards

  • Monster Hockey may break the historical pattern of failed head-to-head pinball games

    medium confidence · Eugene Jarvis, while presenting Eugene Jarvis Pet Show award to Monster Hockey

  • The homebrew games contain ideas better than some commercial games in the market

    medium confidence · Joe Camo, during awards introduction, stating 'there are some ideas in here that are a lot better than the ideas out there'

  • Award names reference pinball industry legends and game modes from classic games

    high confidence · Larry DeMar, explaining award naming convention during introduction of Larry DeMar Best Software award

  • All judges unanimously agreed on every award presented

    high confidence · Joe Camo, explicitly stating 'every award we did, we agreed on' with Eugene Jarvis affirming agreement

  • A homebrew game was created by a young man and his uncle through high school years

    high confidence · Larry DeMar, awarding Larry DeMar Best Software Award to Mad Max, specifically praising 'this young man and his uncle'

Notable Quotes

  • “There are some ideas in here that are a lot better than the ideas out there. And I saw some stuff that I've never seen on a pinball machine here.”

    Joe Camo @ ~early in awards ceremony — Indicates homebrew games are pushing creative boundaries beyond commercial titles

  • “The amount of hard work, sweat, and tear that went into these games... the excitement and the enthusiasm and the discovery.”

    Joe Camo @ ~early awards ceremony — Emphasizes the passion and dedication of homebrew designers

  • “Some of these games we're seeing today actually are at the point where you could take and produce them off these prototypes.”

    Larry DeMar @ ~during software award discussion — Suggests production-ready quality homebrew, a notable achievement milestone

  • “I think Monster Hockey is maybe the one that's going to break through. I mean, it was a lot of fun.”

    Eugene Jarvis @ ~during Eugene Jarvis Pet Show award presentation — Industry legend endorsement of a homebrew head-to-head pinball concept, addressing historical failures

  • “I don't want to be up here again. I want to see one of you guys up here with a fantastic game.”

    Joe Camo @ ~closing remarks — Expresses desire to see homebrew designers graduate to commercial success

  • “It's incredible for me because I didn't know I was coming here... I'm still sleeping in my bed in France and I'm dreaming.”

    Tech (Invasion designer, speaking from France) @ ~after Invasion announced as first runner-up — Shows international participation and emotional significance of homebrew recognition

  • “It was really hard to get us all to agree on everything.”

    Joe Camo @ ~before announcing final winners — Indicates deliberative judging process despite ultimate unanimous agreement

  • “Ken kept everything together. He was the sane one that made sure schedules happened, games made.”

Entities

Joe CamopersonRoger SharpepersonLarry DeMarpersonEugene JarvispersonGeorge PetropersonEd BoomypersonKen FedznapersonChuck BlakepersonGeorge Gomezperson

Signals

  • ?

    event_signal: Pinball Expo 2025 hosted comprehensive homebrew awards ceremony with legendary industry judges, indicating formal recognition infrastructure for custom/indie pinball games

    high · Full awards ceremony with 40+ categories judged by 9+ industry legends including Roger Sharpe, Eugene Jarvis, George Petro, Larry DeMar

  • ?

    design_innovation: Multiple homebrew games demonstrated production-ready quality and novel mechanical/software ideas surpassing some commercial titles

    high · Larry DeMar: 'Some of these games we're seeing today actually are at the point where you could take and produce them off these prototypes.' Joe Camo: 'there are some ideas in here that are a lot better than the ideas out there. And I saw some stuff that I've never seen on a pinball machine here.'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Awards designed to recognize different achievement types: software quality, hardware innovation, art, gameplay mechanics, originality, each named after industry pioneers

    high · Larry DeMar Best Software, George Gomez Best Bumper Arrangement, Steve Kordek Best Game Experience, 40+ distinct award categories reflecting different design specialties

  • ?

    community_signal: Homebrew competition includes international participation (French designer 'Tech' with Invasion game), expanding beyond US-centric pinball community

    high · Tech, designer of Invasion (first runner-up), expressed surprise at being at Pinball Expo from France, indicating unplanned international entry and community reach

  • $

    market_signal: Large, active homebrew designer community with diverse age demographics including high school-age designers producing competition-quality work

Transcript

youtube_auto_sub · $0.000

0:02
light blink. I shoot for the blinking light. Um, we have an illustrious group of people that judged today and I don't know if you guys know who they were. Um, Chris Ranchie, thank you for or who they are. Sometimes some of us are husbands, but um um Chris Ranchie made this great um t-shirt up for us. Thank you, Chris. But I want to talk to you about a couple of the people we figured out. There there are like 350
0:34
um years of game design and pinball and video game uh talent that judged you guys today and um everything from video games to pinball machines. A lot of these guys were uh and continue to be. Some of us are were um but I'm going to introduce you to everybody that that's that's judged you. First off, the man the safe pinball, Roger Sharp, [cheering] or as my wife refers to him, the or as my wife refers to him, the mustache, the safe pinball. Roger's been designing pinballs and Sharpshooter has written books about pinball. He's the only guy in around here that has a movie written about him and and starring in and amazing. Larry Demar, one of my best friends. Larry [applause] of course Adams family twilight zone worked with Eugene on defender Stargate Robbitron Williams operating system. So when we're talking operating systems, Larry Judge the co part of this um is kind of amazing. What Black Knight of course um Eugene Jarvis goes without saying Eugene designed uh [applause] some of the early Atari pinballs and Flash and and and Firepower and F14. Amazing. Chuck Blake who was at Williams all those years that made the hardware happen on all of those games and then went and had a second career at Stern and just recently retconed
2:11
us. Hold on. Stepped on it. Hold on. Stepped on it. Hold on. power.

Joe Camo @ ~introducing judges — Recognition of Ken Fedzna's role as industry organizer and stabilizer

Chris Turnerperson
Pinball Expo 2025event
Big Trouble in Little Chinagame
Mad Maxgame
Invasiongame
Monster Hockeygame
Steve Ritchieperson
Steve Kordekperson
Constantino Mitchellperson
Williams Electronicscompany
Stern Pinballcompany
Harry Pottergame
Pulp Fictiongame
Hellraisergame
Luaugame
Steamboat Williegame

high · Mad Max created by 'this young man and his uncle through his high school years' and won Larry DeMar Best Software Award; 40+ homebrew games entered

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Monster Hockey represents potential breakthrough in historically failed head-to-head pinball category, endorsed by Eugene Jarvis

    medium · Eugene Jarvis: 'I think Monster Hockey is maybe the one that's going to break through' despite noting 'there's been a history of kind of these head-to-head pinballs and they've all been a complete disaster'

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Multiple legendary pinball designers (Roger Sharpe, Eugene Jarvis, Larry DeMar, George Petro, Ed Boomy) actively engaged in judging and mentoring homebrew community

    high · 9+ industry legends served as judges; emphasis on mentorship and encouragement; Joe Camo stated judges considered returning next year if community interest continues

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Industry leadership formally recognizing homebrew games as legitimate design contributions worthy of major awards and potential commercial consideration

    high · Legendary judges unanimously judged homebrew games using same rigorous standards as commercial games; Larry DeMar emphasized production-readiness; Joe Camo: 'I want to see one of you guys up here with a fantastic game' at commercial level

  • ?

    content_signal: Marco Pinball provided video documentation and platform for Pinball Expo 2025 homebrew awards, indicating content creator role in industry events

    high · Content source is 'Marco Pinball' video titled 'Pinball Expo 2025 - The Homebrew & Custom Games Industry Awards'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Awards ceremony deliberately named awards after industry pioneers (Steve Kordek, Constantino Mitchell, Gary Stern, etc.) to honor design heritage and educate newer designers

    high · Joe Camo: 'we named a couple of them over some people that we worked with over their career like a Steve Kordek' and explained legacy of each namesake

    • 2:19
    It's a plus right there. Just be careful. Wait for it. Okay, here we go. We're back. Okay, here we go. We're back. [applause and cheering] Okay, we we we have Ed Boon who designed Okay, we we we have Ed Boon who designed multiple pinball machines, started as a pinball game designer. Um, was taxi your favorite one or which was your favorite one?
    2:49
    Black Knight 2000. By the way, if you've ever heard of a little video game called Mortal Kombat and created it, of course, George Petro, who started at of course, George Petro, who started at Williams the same time I started at Williams. George has had an incredible career both as a pinball designer, of course, now has and just finished the Pulp Fiction game, but he goes back to the early days of Williams. of course made a little stint of of a little what's that little game you made? Oh, Buck Hunter. Big Buck Hunter for 25 years. And of course, you know, Terminator Gun and a bunch of other ones. The the glue that binds us all together. Ken Fedzna, he was like the grand pua of Williams. [applause] He took all of these as Larry taught me. Larry taught me how to be the oily wheel. He took all this squeaky oily wheels and figured out how to keep us all at bay, keep us at work. Maybe maybe not Python, but um he kept Ken kept everything together. He was the sane one that made sure schedules happened, games got made and had both a huge career at Williams and Midway uh all those years running it and of course with team play making some some great amazing games also. So, I mean, what a judging crew. It's absolutely amazing. So, we wanted to do something a little different this year. Um, we we decided the names of of the trophies and the categories. We all judged. We've been actually looking at the games the past several days. We took a lot of time and a lot of thought. And this morning, we we went through everything again. We spent time what about 2 and a half hours at lunch today, George looking at things and then things we weren't 100% sure of. We came back and had a separate and a second look and around 4:00 we we decided Price Waterhouse has all of the uh awards. Some of these awards are really near and dear to our hearts. We named a couple of them over some people that we worked with over their career like a Steve Cord who was one of the fathers of pinball to uh a Shelley sack at uh Stern. Some of them are are kind of fun but we but every one of these awards really fit the game that gets it. And I wish I could give all of you guys the first place award cuz you all in your own right deserve it. I mean, the amount of hard work, sweat, and tear that went in these games. But what what excites you more than anything is the excitement and the enthusiasm and the discovery. And let me tell you guys, there are some ideas in the in here that are a lot better than the ideas out there. And I saw some stuff that I've never seen on a pinball in here. So Rob told me if you guys would like next year Larry will lead this thing. I'll come back again and maybe we'll judge this again. But we were really, you know, I think for all of us, we were really excited by what we saw. So, what I'm going to do is we're all going to take some time. We're all going to present a couple of the awards, talk a little bit about them. Um, and I guess Larry, you want to start us off? So, everybody, Larry Dear.
    6:17
    All right. As um as Joe mentioned, we we named a lot of the awards after all stars in the industry and name them for specific attributes in the games um that were associated with the people. Um this award is the uh Larry Dear best software 2025 award and some games will receive multiple awards. So, if you don't get the one you like, just keep hoping we'll uh you know, and we're gonna we're not going to have any acceptances to sing you off stage. Um, but I am proud to award the Larry Dearb Best Software Award to Mad Max.
    7:12
    I I am so impressed with this young man and his uncle who uh created this game uh through his high school years. So congratulations Justin.
    7:38
    This is uh interesting in in in light of the seminar we just gave. This is the Python Angelo most unique design 2025 goes to Adam.
    8:10
    Can anyone guess whose award uh this is in the name of? No. The Steve Richie Most Complex Play Award goes to Harry Potter.
    8:46
    M Michael Oonnell did finance for data e spinball and its successor. So he has the Michael O'Donnell it cost too much awards. Also goes to Harry Potter.
    9:09
    We have the Charlie Emory Gary theme award goes to Hellraiser and and just a few words again. Um Pat and I did one of the first home bruise when we did wreck and ball which turned into bonsai run. Um it was really hard and what I've seen today and and it and it was not a production ready game. Some of these games we're seeing today actually are at the point where you could take and produce them off these prototypes. So, um, mind totally blown, head exploded, and and hats off to everybody who participated.
    10:02
    Steve Cordic award. Yes. Yes. For the best game experience award, it's no surprise that this goes to Luo. It was Steve Cord's name.
    10:23
    I I grew up on wedge heads and uh it was really beautiful to see this original game. Steve Cordic would have loved it. Barry, best playfield award for Big Trouble in Little China.
    10:46
    Truly, truly wonderful game. All right, last one before we turn it over. The Brian Schmidt Best sound award goes to Sana.
    11:23
    You know, there was some uh debate amongst the judges, you know, so I'm not responsible for any of these awards. I was overruled. So, you know, distinction of the overruled. Here we go. Um the uh this This is the Eugene Jarvis Pet Show award. And back when I was programming, that was like turning on all the lights and turning them on, you know. And uh Monster Hockeyy's got it.
    12:00
    Monster Hockey, you know, it's you know, there and there's been uh congratulations. You know, there's been a history of kind of these head-to-head pinballs and they've all been a complete disaster. Um, but I think Monster Hockey is maybe the one that's going to break through. I mean, it was a lot of fun. Thank you.
    12:24
    All right. This is the Constantino Mitchell Emerging Artist Award,
    12:38
    Okay. Connie was an was a early pinball artist. He did uh Flash. He did uh uh beat uh Yeah. Fire power, Pinbot. Yeah. Laser Ball. Um he did all the early Williams games. He was uh amazing. And it was him and his wife did those games. and also he did uh the back glass for Defender and Robbitron and Stargate. So he did some amazing work. Then he went on to Bigger and Better Things making Happy Meals and uh was pretty famous for that too. So uh the winner of the Constantino Emergent Art Award is Battle Station.
    13:33
    All right, we have the Alvin Gotale, who was probably the guy that invented Wedge Heads, best original theme award. And uh I know you guys probably Gotly used to be the number one pinball company back in the 70s uh and uh late late uh late 70s and you know like the 50s through the 70s. Amazing stuff. The wedge heads, the great Target games. They just they could have used a little more powerful flipper, I think, but you know, I guess that was part of the challenge. Um, so the winner is Adventure Time. Adventure Time. Congratulations. That was really, really sweet.
    14:35
    details award. Okay. No detail. You know, when you start when you're obsessing over a pinball game, it's like you start worrying about every scratch, every smidgen of dust, every little adjustment. And uh but uh the guys that really got the details right was Big Trouble in Little China.
    15:00
    And I'll do one last one and we're going to switch off to Chucky. Chucky. Hey, what do you feel for Chuck? Get up here.
    15:17
    All right. This one is the uh best gadget award. This is the one that goes for the best gadget award and it goes to Turbo.
    15:44
    This one's a little closer to me. Uh, this goes to the best hardware usage award. This goes to the best usage award. Hardware usage and that's for me. Um, and that goes to Steamboat Willie.
    16:16
    Next one is you ain't seen nothing yet award. other one is best game for kids award. This one goes to Elf.
    17:08
    Next one is best show flow. Pick the best shot flow. And Contra is the winner of this one. Congratulations.
    17:35
    Best bar game. Probably everybody knows we're listening to goes to Beerfest.
    17:46
    Is the beer still cold? And this one's a baby in the hole award. That goes to Space Ball.
    18:20
    Baby in the Hole was a game uh done by Harvey Heights and years ago at uh Betty's East Pinball. Rob, you know, Harvey designed this game. Never got built. Rob was like, "You got to build it because it's his dream and it's his it's his passion." And that's why he got that award because that was his dream. It was his passion. You know, his wife brought it back here for everybody to see and enjoy his dream and passion and that's why he got the Harvey Award. That's what it means. Okay.
    18:49
    Oh, well, I'll do one then I'm going to turn over to George. This is the Joe Camo best overall package award and that goes to Steamboat Willie.
    19:10
    All right, George, take take over and then we got up there next. Do you have mine?
    19:21
    Thank you. We all named awards for ourselves, so I'm going to give out mine. This is the George Petro first game design award, and that goes to Trogdor.
    19:40
    There you go, man. Good job. Good job. All right, let's see. All right, let's see. Uh, this is the George Gomez best pop bumper arrangement award.
    19:52
    This goes to Yes. What do you mean? Why they won? Yes. What do you mean? Why they won? Yeah. Well, so this one goes to Mad Max Yeah. Well, so this one goes to Mad Max and it's for the contactless pop bumper, which is pretty amazing. So,
    20:17
    Okay, this is the Larry Platker Best Printing Award. For those of you that don't know, Larry was instrumental in printing of many, many back glasses for games that you all love to play and look at. And uh this one goes to The Greatest Show on Earth.
    20:45
    Okay, this is the Gary Stern not on my game award. I guess Gary was Yeah, he wouldn't Gary would not have Yeah, he wouldn't Gary would not have made this game. And this goes some other ship.
    21:09
    Okay. Oh, this is cool. This is the George Oppperman Most Modern Graphic Art Award. So, George Operman was uh the artist that did a lot of Atari, the Atari pinballs, right? So, they're super cool, super modern. And we gave this one to Mass Effect 2.
    21:41
    Okay, this is the uh Michael Stroll we make the games that make the industry award. Uh Michael Stroll was a CEO of Williams Electronics for several years and our mantra at Williams was we make the games that make the industry. So this one goes to Black Knight, of course.
    22:10
    Okay, this is uh this one is in honor of Nick Wade who was a wiring guy for uh many companies at East, right? Yeah. He worked at Williams, too. This is the Nick Wade Cleanest Wiring Award also to Black Knight.
    22:36
    I'm going to turn it over to Roger. Does anybody know who Roger Sharp is? I don't
    22:50
    Okay. So, let's see. with my glasses on. Pickle Expo Homebrew Contest. Roger Sharp Best Award for 2025. What might it be? Coming to America.
    23:34
    I didn't bring my reading glasses. Uh, Pinball Expo Homebrew Contest. Ah, the Tim Seckle I want to be a pinball designer award. And Timmy was just awarded to be in the Pinball Hall of Fame. So this is for House of Flesh and Blood.
    24:08
    Okay. Pinball Expo Homebrew Contest, the Jack Lidden Dot and Screen Graphics Award. Did you want to fill in a little bit on Jack? was the guy that did the first dot matrix dots on the first dot matrix pinball checkpoint.
    24:25
    Probably creative guy. This goes to PMO. Okay. Moving on to the uh Pinball Expo homebrew contest. Susan Giani, best voice in a pinball award 2025. Suzanne uh was the voice on Xenon and a couple of other games. An incredible artist, very talented. Number of years back she gave a talk and uh just just amazing. So, this award goes to Monsters, Inc.
    25:21
    Thank you. I'll do one more. Somebody who can I'm going to do two more so somebody can actually read these things. Oh, okay. The Pinball Expo Homebrew Contest. Sam Stern best game for beginners award of 2025. Legend of Zelda.
    25:58
    Pinball Expo home brew contest. Shelley Sachs shipped from the furthest distance award 2025. Shelley was the backbone for data e Sega Stern over all these many years was just an incredible human being who dealt with a lot of stuff and we're looking at invaders
    26:24
    from France of course. A pleasure. All right, let me turn it over to Mr. Ed Boom.
    26:41
    Uh, the Pinball Expo home brew contest. Ed Boom best overall kickass game. I didn't I didn't name the category.
    27:00
    That was that that game that Big Trouble was actually a big inspiration for the first model comic game.
    27:11
    Okay. Okay. And for the Ken Fedzna Best Ready for Prime Time Designer Award, Mad Max.
    27:39
    So, the best back glass back glass art award goes to Okay, I'm going to accept it on behalf of
    28:06
    I guess uh best video graphics awarded. for the most fun to play award. That's a big one. Sonic
    28:49
    for the best ramps award. Tony Hawk. What's going on here? George is what? Crippling with the puck.
    29:07
    Okay, they're making us uh young guys get up here cuz we can still step up here, right? And Reed, I have glasses, though. All right. Uh best cabinet art award. Invaders.
    29:33
    All right. Best shots award. Best shots, Sonic. All right. The best Playfield art award. Best playfield art. Coming to America.
    30:08
    That's what did it. Uh, best theme original. Best original theme award. Enigma.
    30:25
    All right. And then this is the best art award for Steamboat Willie.
    30:40
    Giants. It's a good package. All right. Who's next? You want to do some learning?
    31:10
    Best implementation award goes to got to catch them all Pokemon.
    31:26
    We're getting down to the last few here. Best theme licensed award goes to Monsters, Inc.
    31:44
    Best sound award goes to Sonic the Hedgehog. All right. This is the best gadget award. Any nominations out there? Beer fastest
    32:29
    And this is the best music award. The greatest showman. Well, this is the hard part. First of all, I want to get all my judges back up here with me. Give them a hand. You know, we have to judge this in a lot of different ways because we understand not every game is a modern game. Some games like blue hour were a take on a classic and traditional and they all had to be judged based on what they were trying to achieve. So, now here's the hard part. First off, you guys have been incredible. You've been so encouraging of each other. Keep this enthusiasm. Keep doing what you're doing. It has been this has been just a great experience for all of us. Uh and we we thank you all. But now we're going to do Yeah. Yeah. It was really hard to get us all to agree on everything. And by the way, every award we we did, we agreed on. Yes, we did. Don't you agree, Eugene? Okay, I would like to ask three people or three games to come up. Larry, you want to announce our top three? Okay, we're going to announce Well, we're going to bring everybody up, but we're going to say who who they did, right? Invasion needs to come up here. Big trouble and little China needs to come up here. and Mad Maxi to come up here. And I like you all to come up here. We're going to have the second runner up. Larry's going to announce the second runner up. What?
    34:27
    bottom. Okay. Okay. Okay. This is the second runner up. Best of show as voted on by this very esteemed panel. If you are unhappy with our decisions, talk to Kim. The second runner up, Mad Max.
    34:58
    You guys want to say something? [applause] Now, Larry is going to announce our I wanted to announce this one. Um, all three of the finalists. I loved all those feelings. Um, we all picked different top games. I got out voted with those who made it sound like Harmon. So, the first runner up for the home competition for 2025 is Invasion. My favorite
    35:51
    I'll be back next year to get the game right. Tech, would you like to say a few words?
    36:01
    Surprise. Everything is a surprise. And I imagine everybody everybody know why I'm here because of this man. He's the best. You crazy too, huh? You crazy too, huh? I saw him. He say I say you crazy. So I I saw him. He say I say you crazy. So I follow you and it's it's incredible for me because I didn't know I was coming here and uh on the paper the French because it wasn't supposed to be here. So it's great honor. It's it's incredible. I don't believe it. I still sleeping in my bed in France and I'm dreaming.
    36:59
    All right. Well, you know who the winner is then. No surprise. Come on, Tino. All right. Big trouble in Little China.
    37:32
    I got uh three things super quick. Number one, thank you to everybody who actually makes what we do possible. the software folks, the hardware folks, the folks that build boards, the folks who toil hours just to build software so we can make these cool games. Thank you. Number two, if you brought a game here, please raise your hand. Everybody else, please clap for those people who brought a game. An amazing, talented, incredible group of human beings. They're all awesome. And if you want to build a game, talk to those folks. The last thing I want to say is I don't want to be up here again. I want to see one of you guys up here with a fantastic game.