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Homebrew Showcase: Big Trouble in Little China Pinball at Texas Pinball Festival 2026

Marco Pinball·video·14m 47s·analyzed·Apr 6, 2026
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.023

TL;DR

Big Trouble in Little China homebrew showcased at TPF 2026; discussion of homebrew quality and manufacturer interest.

Summary

Marco Pinball hosts a casual gameplay showcase and competition of the Big Trouble in Little China homebrew pinball machine at Texas Pinball Festival 2026, featuring competitors JBS Jamie and Retro Ralph playing and discussing the game's quality, mechanics, and artwork. The conversation explores how homebrew games are becoming increasingly polished and professional-looking, and speculates whether commercial manufacturers like Stern and JJP are monitoring homebrew designs for licensing opportunities and mechanical innovation. Fast Pinball's modular platform and community support are praised as enabling factors for high-quality homebrew development.

Key Claims

  • Kyle's Big Trouble in Little China homebrew looks commercially viable and could be sold as a retail product

    high confidence · Retro Ralph, speaking about the game's visual polish and quality: 'Like if this was being sold I would be like, Oh yeah, it looks ready to go. This could be on your next like reveal stream or whatever or YouTube channel, right?'

  • Homebrew games are being used by manufacturers as inspiration for themes, mechanics, and playfield designs

    medium confidence · Manu and Ralph discussing whether Stern and JJP look at homebrew work; Ralph: 'I do think they look at that. I do.' Manu observed Stern staff playing homebrews and 'smiling the whole time'

  • Some homebrew designers have been hired by commercial manufacturers (example: Ryan McQuillen hired by American Pinball for Sonic)

    high confidence · Manu mentions Ryan McQuillen being hired at American Pinball after making Sonic homebrew

  • Fast Pinball's modular system and Aaron's customer support has been key to enabling high-quality homebrew development

    high confidence · JBS Jamie and Ralph praise Aaron's support for easy hardware expansion and non-destructive modularity; Manu: 'it's the enabling of the community by companies like Fast Pinball'

  • Homebrew game quality has evolved significantly, moving from bare wood machines to polished, theme-rich games with custom artwork and animations

    high confidence · Ralph: 'the classic version of the homebrew is a bare wood with some stuff stapled to it... And then all of a sudden, you know, these machines are starting to come out like Saw and that was a really unbelievable machine'

Notable Quotes

  • “These look like some of the I mean, Kyle's games look like commercial games.”

    JBS Jamie@ 2:58 — Key observation about homebrew quality reaching commercial standards

  • “Like if this was being sold I would be like, 'Oh yeah, it looks ready to go. This could be on your next like reveal stream or whatever or YouTube channel, right?'”

    Retro Ralph@ 6:59 — Direct statement of commercial viability of Big Trouble in Little China homebrew

  • “I think they could look at different things from Top Gun to Tony Hawk to Saw to whatever Monster League Hockey and say hey there's some really cool mechs in here maybe we can look at something like that”

    Retro Ralph@ 13:02 — Speculation on what manufacturers might extract from homebrew innovation

  • “it's the enabling of the community by companies like Fast Pinball and um you know all the companies that are coming out with node boards and stuff to make your life easier. This is why we kind of gone back to 20 guys making a pinball machine to like one guy in their garage making a pinball machine”

    Manu@ 10:06 — Explanation of democratization of homebrew development through accessible technology

  • “When you see a pinball manufacturer come over and play a homebrew and they're smiling the whole time, that says something, right? They are they're taking interest in what people are doing.”

    Manu@ 13:35 — Observation of manufacturer engagement with homebrew community

Entities

ManupersonJBS JamiepersonRetro RalphpersonKylepersonRyan McQuillenpersonAaronpersonMarco PinballcompanyFast PinballcompanyBig Trouble in Little China

Signals

  • ?

    design_innovation: Big Trouble in Little China homebrew features innovative ramp mechanics including fast whip shots around skull design, demonstrating creative playfield engineering

    high · Ralph: 'the ramp is really cool on the left. I love that it whips around... around the skull it does this like super fast whip 180 thing which is really cool'

  • ?

    community_signal: Homebrew creators are being hired by commercial manufacturers, indicating a talent pipeline from homebrew to commercial production

    high · Manu mentions Ryan McQuillen hired by American Pinball; discussion of commercial interest in homebrew designers

  • $

    market_signal: Homebrew machines are reaching commercial quality standards in artwork, mechanics, and presentation, blurring lines between homebrew and retail products

    high · Ralph: 'homebrews are getting so good now that this looks like a commercial game to me... could be on your next like reveal stream'

  • ?

    technology_signal: Fast Pinball's modular platform is cited as key enabler for homebrew development through accessible, non-destructive component integration

    high · Manu: 'it's the enabling of the community by companies like Fast Pinball... one guy in their garage making a pinball machine cuz they can buy all the stuff'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Commercial manufacturers (Stern, JJP, American Pinball) are actively observing homebrew games at shows and may use themes, mechanics, and designs as inspiration for future products

    medium · Manu: 'Stern guys were coming and looking at everything. And they were excited... they are looking at it to take ideas'

Topics

Homebrew pinball quality and professionalismprimaryCommercial manufacturer interest in homebrew innovationprimaryFast Pinball platform enabling homebrew developmentprimaryKyle's homebrew games (Big Trouble in Little China and Friday the 13th)primaryCompetitive gameplay and challenge coin competition formatsecondaryHomebrew ecosystem and community growthsecondaryGame design innovation in homebrew vs. commercial machinessecondaryMarco Pinball's role in homebrew showcase and community supportsecondary

Sentiment

neutral(0)

Transcript

youtube_auto_sub · $0.000

Hello everybody. Welcome. We're back here in the homebrew section of Marco Pinball. My name is Manu. I am honored to be here with JBS Jamie and Retro Freaking Ralph and the freaking I added because it's YouTube safe. Um hello guys. How's it going, man? Good, good, good. We're excited for this. It's going to be fun. And you know, Jamie and I are a little competitive with each other, so we'll see how it goes. You know, I'm going to win this. I'm going to win this, man. I'm winning it. He's overconfident before technically. No, not really. Well, let's What was that? Wait, what was that? Technically, you played it. I played one ball at Pinball Expo, but I felt bad the lines were super long, so I kind of let other people play, so everyone's always hyped to play. What a nice guy. Just sat there the whole time. He didn't care about anybody behind him, so it's fine. Who's first? I'm going. All right. So, we're at Big Trouble in Little China. And uh the reason we're doing this kind of fun thing with Jamie and Ralph here is cuz we already spoke to Kyle. We have an interview in the bag about this game. This game is extremely popular. Uh if you were watching earlier, we did um Kyle's other game, which is Friday the 13th. And so now we're just going to have a little fun flip on Big Trouble, which believe it or not, Jamie, myself, and Ralph don't we we don't get to play these because we're letting the community. We're letting, you know, you guys play it, but what do you think so far, J? Uh, Ralph, I mean, it they for sure captured the movie in this game. I mean, 100% captured the movie theme, which is awesome. So, I'm excited to play it. Uh-oh, that was quick. I didn't get to talk to Ralph for a while. I guess I'm talking to J. I got to dead bounce more. If I don't start dead bouncing, it's I'm terrible. Oh, is that just in general in pinball? Just in general in pinball, I need to dead bounce better and I get flipper happy, you know. I I agree. My fault is kind of trying to trying to drop catch everything. Yeah, I don't have drop catch in my arsenal to be honest with you, man. You know, I think you you may Do you think you need it? Yeah. You think so? So this game is absolutely beautiful. If you haven't played it before, you know, come to a show just to this is what homebrew is really all about. And I I the homebrew section that Marco and Fast Pinball have put together here at and at Expo and at TPF and at Houston Arcade Expo has been fantastic. I'm really proud to be a part of it. Are you? You should be. You you really should be cuz it's just fantastic and everyone is so lovely in this booth because we want creators and you never know what's going to come out of this. I mean, you just never know. Yeah. These look like some of the I mean, Kyle's games look like commercial games. Um I I And we never want to scare homebrew newbies off. Your game is probably not going to look like this when you first start, but don't let that scare you because Kyle's game didn't look like this when he first started. Um, no, I'm sure it's multiple iterations and takes time and tinkering and figuring out. I'm not a mechanical engineer, so I couldn't do any of this stuff, but I I just love playing the homebrews. It's one of my favorite part of the show. Look at him. All right, so Ralph, I was going to say we might need to do best of three. I think that's the safest if we do best of three. Well, we only How much time do we have? We have like 15 minutes. So, Ralph's having a good ball already. So, I was basing off of your ball, though. Oh, that's fair. That's very, very fair. I'm just messing with you. Very, very fair. Guess who's not playing? I am not getting in the middle of this. No, it's okay. We're very competitive. So, Ralph and I have this little competition that we do. Come on, baby. You're going down. Uh-oh. You know when they say that, they drain. Instant drainage right now. He's got two ball multiball. Uh-oh. Spaghettio. But we have this competition, Manu. Uh when we come to a show together, we play 11 games and the first to six wins. Wow. You know, wins. 11 games or whatever. Well, you know, if you win, you get to uh the loser gets to choose the next game and then they go first. It's just this little thing that we do. We're doing it for a challenge coin. If you see Ralph here, hit him up for a challenge coin. Wow. Ralph is a It's the gloves, Manu. It's the fact that he wears gloves even for a homebrew game. You know what? You know, I You know what? I the last time I wore gloves, I played better, but people started making fun of me. Well, rightfully so. Rightfully so. What's next? A light. Going to put a light. He's going to have a light. He's going to have a pin shape. WAIT A SECOND. THAT WAS SO UNFAIR. He's talking smack. Whatever, man. He was leaning on the thing cuz your ball time was too long. All right. So, hey, I got to I'm going to I'm going to come correct about the gloves, okay? And this is this is a it's a it's a personal choice, but I have very sweaty hands, man, like it's sweaty, and I feel like it's out of respect, really, because does anybody really want to put their hands on a sweaty lock bar? No. And you don't want to do the thing where you take your shirt and you're wiped down and then No. So, so Jamie may think it's goofy and and you know what? People do make fun of me, but I'm I'm confident. I'm okay with it. I don't care about it at all. I injured my hand once and I wore the gloves and I found that they were actually better for me to play with. And then people on stream made fun of me and I and I and I fell into that. Don't Don't. No, I did. Don't. I'm going to give you the confidence to wear the gloves. Let's I need to check in and see how Jamie's doing cuz I'm a little bit stressed out that he's going to beat me. Let's talk more about the game. Ralph, what what are you getting right now from the read of the game? I know this is a new You guys don't know the rule set, but what are you getting? Yeah, I'm trying to find the shots like so I don't I don't know everything yet, but this the ramp is really cool on the left. I love that it whips around. I do like that like around the skull there's like it's fast though, so you got to be careful. But around the skull it does this like super fast whip 180 thing which is really cool. So I'm I'm liking it so far. Reminds me of No Fear actually a little bit. And the artwork is is like really spectacular. So I don't know if people can see it on the stream well. Hopefully they can. But the art just like ties it all in. So it's it's they did a really good job on it. Like it to me homebrews are getting so good now that this looks like a commercial game to me. Like if this was being sold I I would be like, "Oh yeah, it looks ready to go. This could be on your next like reveal stream or whatever or or YouTube channel, right?" 100% could. And I know this is a movie that a lot of people have nostalgia for. So I feel like it was a smart game to make a homebrew out of. I mean there's so many great homebrews. I know we're talking about this one, but like I haven't even played. There's the Top Gun Maverick one here. Now, there's a whole bunch of great games. So, like I always encourage people like if you want to see the next generation or these ideas people come with, I feel like they come from homebrew now. Like they're doing very creative things, don't you think? Yes. Well, in the Yes, I do. Um, some of the people making homebrew are getting hired. Yeah. And that's amazing. Like it had What was the um I always forget his name. The one that got hired over at American originally that made Sonic. It was his name. Oh, Ryan McQuit. Yeah. Like I mean that's a great if you like Sonic that's a great game. The Pokemon one. I mean obviously there's now a Pokemon by Stern. That's another fun one. But do Ralph do you think that the but do you think that the um the companies like Stern and JJP are looking at the homebrew what they're creating and going after those licenses? I don't know. That's a really good question. I I got to think that because homebrew ties into the the nostalgia so much, like they usually choose like these real the ones that haven't been done yet. I do think they look at that. I do. All right, Ralph's up. It went all right. Come on over, Jamie. All right. He's winning right now, though. You're winning. Oh, okay. I just I wasn't sure. You're winning. I wasn't sure who's winning. He He's winning right now, but I'm going to believe I believe in ball three. By the way, it only takes one ball, boys and girls. Yeah. And uh Ralph has a tendency to choke when he's ahead. I heard. Yeah. So I'm not worried about it. I'm not worried about it. What's up, baby? Um let's talk more about the game. So what do you feel right now? Play shooting it. So the the left orbit and the magnet up there to get that shot is really wicked cool. Um uh-oh. Uh-oh. I have to figure out how to get the moldy ball. Obviously, I know it's the green shots in the middle, so I'm going to work on that on ball three. Uh, I like the mystery. I like the cutout scenes. This is not a typical homebrew, right? I mean, cuz it's hard to say, though, cuz this is becoming what the typical homebrew is. That's true. I mean, I understand what you're saying, right? But the classic version of the homebrew is a bare wood with some stuff stable to it. And then hopefully maybe that was that way like 5 years ago. And then all of a sudden, you know, these machines are starting to come out like Saw and that was a really unbelievable machine. Tony Hawk uh I haven't played Top Gun yet and that's the talk of the town here. So yeah, they've just done an amazing job. These artists are what they are. Their artists and you know what it is? It's a it's the enabling of the community by companies like Fast Pinball and um you know all the companies that are coming out with node boards and stuff to make your life easier. This is why we kind of gone back to 20 guys making a pinball machine to like one guy in their garage making a pinball machine cuz they can buy all the stuff kind of. Well, Aaron from Fast Pinball has been such a great proponent of uh homebrews. He's really done an amazing job with the Motoko and Marco Specialties and so you know sky's the limit and I can't wait for a manufacturer to pick one of these up and you know they're doing it. Yeah. That's kind of like what what Ralph and I were chatting about. Oh, oh wow magic. Oh yeah. I think Oh man. He's got a little bit of an uphill climb here. He's got a little bit of uphill climb. I Jamie gets really cocky though. We It is friendly though. It's friendly for the most part, but he gets a little cocky, so we'll see what what he pulls out. But I did hear Jamie talking about uh Fast Pinball the system. I So my first experience with Fast was with with Predator and um like one of the things that Aaron does that it's so cool with his platform is he um he makes it so you can easily expand it. So like my I didn't get a Predator with a shaker motor. I talked to Aaron, he sends the shaker motor board and it was it was just super easy. It was it was Yeah. And he he always tells me he's like, "Look, I did I win." Oh. Oh, Jamie, can we I'm at 14. Where are you at? No, brother. You're way off. I'm way off. All right. So, here's what we're going to do then, Ralph. I think you're going to play a play a solo. Yeah. Let him play the last ball. Play a solo. Last ball. Oh, yeah. You Oh, you have a ball left. Yeah. Oh, it's a walk-off. I was saying are we are we cool with um can we add one more thing with um so when I talked to Aaron he's like look I made this system so it's super modular and easy and I I had called him and he's like don't worry about it if the plug looks like it fits you can't you can't break anything and it was it was all that was really cool to me so I I called up Aaron I'm like dude I can see why the homebrew community is adopting your platform so it's I like that if it if the if it fits in the hole you can't break it I love it yeah that's what he basically said it's like you can't mess it So, I asked this question, Ralph's going to finish the game. I asked this question to Ralph, but um we were talking about and you had just mentioned, is it possible now that the pinball manufacturers are taking a peek over in the homebrew and seeing what's high on the I still beat him. I still beat him. Oh, yeah. You win my rear end. So, yeah, come on. Come on over. Um let's finish up this this chat real quick. Okay. um about the the home brewers and this the manufacturers possibly looking at the home brewer stuff and going maybe we should get that license or you think it's that's not happening right now. I I mean go I already answered it but if you want to get yeah I don't necessarily think that it might it might be the license per se Manu I think it could be look at that mech look what this guy created or girl look what they are doing I think they could look at different things from Top Gun to Tony Hawk to Saw to whatever Monster League Hockey and say hey there's some really cool mechs in here maybe we can look at something like that yeah I agree that'll be happening I agree with on the playfield field designs. I think they look at it and go, "Okay, this is different. We don't have lots of shots like this or the layout might be less traditional, so it's pushing a little bit of the limits of what you can do." I they absolutely think I mean, George, I watched last year at Expo, I mean, the Stern guys were coming and looking at everything. And they were excited. When you see a pinball manufacturer come over and play a homebrew and they're smiling the whole time, that says something, right? They are they're taking interest in what people are doing. And I got to think they are looking at it to take ideas. I the one thing I do disagree with a little bit. I do think they look at the themes and go, "Huh, we haven't done this before. Is it possible to get this license?" You know, I don't know. You know, I don't know. I don't know. I have no idea. But it doesn't matter because these guys are so great, you know. Uh Fury Road, there's another one that Have Have you ever played that? The Fury Road. That is unbelievable. And wait, Mad Max, if you're Mad Max. Oh, I played that. Oh, yeah. Isn't that unbelievable? Oh. Oh, these guys are great. So, Manu, thank you for your time, man. I really appreciate it. It was great. Meet this guy. You saw it live and it happened in front of everybody. It happened today on Yeah, it happened today. But what about my day? It wasn't Jamie's day, but what about tomorrow? It's not going to be his day either. I'm kidding. I love this guy. Thank you, sir. Thank you so much.
game
Friday the 13thgame
Stern Pinballcompany
JJPcompany
American Pinballcompany
Texas Pinball Festival 2026event
Pinball Expoevent
Top Gun Maverickgame
Tony Hawkgame
Sawgame
Mad Max Fury Roadgame
Sonicgame
Pokemongame
  • ?

    event_signal: Texas Pinball Festival 2026 and Pinball Expo feature dedicated homebrew sections organized by Marco Pinball and Fast Pinball as community platform

    high · Manu mentions TPF, Pinball Expo, and Houston Arcade Expo as venues for homebrew showcase with community participation

  • ?

    content_signal: Marco Pinball is producing video content showcasing homebrew games and conducting interviews with creators at major pinball festivals

    high · Manu references interview with Kyle 'in the bag' about Big Trouble in Little China and earlier Friday the 13th coverage

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Homebrew creators are leveraging classic film IP and nostalgic themes (John Carpenter films, Mad Max, Top Gun) that haven't been heavily exploited in commercial pinball

    high · Ralph discusses homebrew choices like Big Trouble in Little China: 'I feel like it was a smart game to make a homebrew out of' due to nostalgia