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Walkthrough and under the hood of Hellraiser Pinball (Homebrew Retheme) by Clint Jarrett

In Before the Lock·video·18m 10s·analyzed·Feb 9, 2025
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.026

TL;DR

Clint Jarrett showcases custom Hellraiser homebrew retheme with working puzzle box and extensive mechanical/audio mods.

Summary

Clint Jarrett presents a detailed walkthrough of his Hellraiser-themed homebrew pinball machine, a retheme of Devil's Dare based on Clive Barker's horror film. The build features a custom-engineered puzzle box mechanism that actually functions, extensive sound customization via wave triggers, mechanical and electrical modifications including a VUK conversion and gate save, and collaborative artwork by Brian Allen and Neil Fraser. The project demonstrates advanced mechanical engineering, incorporating linear actuators, relay logic, and custom 3D printing to achieve thematic authenticity while maintaining playability.

Key Claims

  • The original Devil's Dare game layout was rethemed as Hellraiser because Jarrett believed no commercial Hellraiser pinball would ever be made

    high confidence · Jarrett directly states he loved the game layout but not the name, felt no one would ever make a Hellraiser, so 'we make it ourselves'

  • The puzzle box mechanism uses linear actuators and dual motors—one for vertical movement and one for rotation—to create a functioning replica of the Hellraiser puzzle box

    high confidence · Detailed technical explanation of the motorized puzzle box with linear actuators controlling up/down and left/right movement

  • The cabinet was modified to extend beyond standard 1982-era single-level depth to accommodate the puzzle box and habitrail

    high confidence · Jarrett explains the glass was moved up and cabinet extended; custom 3D-printed puzzle box scaled to 2.75 inches (vs. 3 inches in film) to prevent glass contact

  • Clive Barker attended and signed the machine at Spooky Pinball Empire, described as one of his last public appearances

    high confidence · Jarrett mentions bringing it to Spooky Pinball Empire specifically because Barker was attending and wanted him to see the working puzzle box

  • The VUK conversion and gate save mechanism on the outlane were custom additions not in the original Devil's Dare

    high confidence · Jarrett explains the original saucer lock was converted to a VUK, and a light-triggered relay gate was added to the outlane

  • Matt Malone designed the relay-based control system connecting the puzzle box mechanics to gameplay switches without using a Raspberry Pi

    high confidence · Malone explains he 'wired this up in an afternoon' using relays and speed controls to modulate motor power

  • A Pascal timing board was installed to add ball save and other features (flickerless ball drain recovery) not in the original game

    high confidence · Jarrett states the Pascal board 'gives you things like ball save which the game did not originally have'

Notable Quotes

  • “I always loved the game, but I did not like the name of the game...and I felt at some point, nobody would ever make a Hellraiser. So what do we do? We make it ourselves.”

    Clint Jarrett@ 1:34 — Explains the core motivation for the entire homebrew project—filling a perceived gap in commercial pinball licensing

  • “The box in the movie is three inches by three inches. This one had to be custom 3D printed to two and three-quarter, so that when you double that, it was five and a half inches, plus a little bit more space so it doesn't scrape the glass.”

    Clint Jarrett@ 5:42 — Demonstrates the precision engineering required to scale the iconic puzzle box mechanic while fitting cabinet constraints

  • “Even Clive Barker, when he saw that move, was amazed. The nostalgia of it.”

    Clint Jarrett@ 4:18 — Validates the design goal by noting the original creator's positive reaction to the functional puzzle box

  • “I watched every single movie, pulled every single quote from all of the movies. There's so many things that you could use for this game.”

    Clint Jarrett@ 12:20 — Shows the depth of thematic research and fandom devotion applied to audio design

  • “I knew I could make this work with a bank of relays, and that's what we did.”

    Matt Malone@ 16:12 — Demonstrates commitment to proven mechanical/electrical control methods over digital solutions

Entities

Clint JarrettpersonMatt MalonepersonMarcel GonzalezpersonBrian AllenpersonNeil FraserpersonClive BarkerpersonDevil's DaregameHellraiser Pinball (Homebrew Retheme)productSpooky Pinball EmpireeventFree Play Florida

Signals

  • ?

    community_signal: Jarrett is actively sharing the completed Hellraiser homebrew across multiple platforms (Free Play Florida, Spooky Pinball Empire, Pinside, Simply Custom Pinball) to reach and educate the broader pinball community

    high · Jarrett states: 'I'm trying to share it with everybody. I think that people like it and they want to see it. You know, we're on Pinside and Simply Custom Pinball'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: VUK habitrail addition and gate save mechanism represent significant playfield modifications from original Devil's Dare, changing ball flow and gameplay strategy; described as intentional improvements to shot reliability and engagement

    medium · Jarrett explains VUK conversion: 'This is a shot you can make to actually get into this lane to light the spinner...instead of relying on chance'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Clint Jarrett deliberately pursued a functional puzzle box mechanism as the centerpiece of the Hellraiser homebrew, rejecting purely cosmetic approaches and investing heavily in motorized engineering to achieve thematic authenticity

    high · Jarrett states: 'I didn't want to do this unless I could have a working puzzle box configuration' and describes the extensive linear actuator and motor systems built to achieve this

  • ?

    event_signal: Clive Barker's attendance at Spooky Pinball Empire and viewing/signing of the Hellraiser homebrew represents rare intersection of original IP creator validation and pinball community culture; Barker's reaction described as 'amazed'

    high · Jarrett brought machine specifically for Barker viewing; notes it was 'going to be his last public appearance'; Barker signed the machine after viewing puzzle box mechanism

  • ?

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.054

0:00
What's your pleasure Mr. Cotton? The box. Take it, it's yours. It always was. No, we had this at two other shows. Okay, okay. One was Free Play, Florida. That was at a late play last, was it November? And then Spooky Empire, which is where it made its first appearance. I brought it there because Clyde Barker was going to be there, and I wanted him to see this because I heard the song. I see he signed it, right? Yeah, yeah. It was going to be his last public appearance, and I don't know. I just kind of wanted him to see that it was one of these. Yeah, so we've got a ton to talk about, But let's just start with Hellraiser and your love for Hellraiser. Obviously, you're a big fan. Tell us about that. So this game originally was a devil's dare by Godly. And I always loved the game, but I did not like the name of the game. I know it sounds contradiction. So you love the game itself, the original. That's cool. Yeah, the play field, the layout. I did love that. And, of course, I knew that, or I felt at some point, nobody would ever make a Hellraiser. So what do we do? We make it ourselves. Yeah, yeah. So, you know. So this is more than just you. You had a team on it? Yeah, there was a lot of people that did contribute to this thing, yes. I got, like, my friend here, Matt Malone, and I got somebody that helped me with the sound, Marcel Gonzalez, and, of course, artists and stuff like that. I didn't do the art. Yeah, yeah. So we got Brian Allen that did the play field and back glass, and then Neil Fraser of graphics from the U.K. that did the cabinet art. Nice, nice. So we're going to talk a lot about a lot of detail, But just to set this up, you got a lot in here. Is this like the normal setup of that game, or did you do something to get started on that? Yeah, basically everything is pretty much the same, with the exception of at some point this was a saucer, a lock. That's where you lock a ball. And now this was transformed into a VUK, a virtual upkeep. And we have the habit trail that goes across the play field. There's a couple of benefits to having that. This is a shot you can make to actually get into this lane to light the spinner. And when you roll over that, it lights this spinner so that it's a shot you can actually make instead of relying on chance. And that's the one addition that I made. There's not many additions, but of course the biggest thing is I didn't want to do this unless I could have a working woman configuration. That's the puzzle box. pretty easy to fire that up and make that run? Yeah, we can start again. It'll make some noise. Okay, okay. All right, so it's going to go up the second I press start. So, ready? Yeah, go for it.

NECA action figures (Butterball, Shatterer, Kinghead, Chatterbeast) were modified and incorporated into the playfield design

high confidence · Jarrett explains these were purchased NECA figures he had to 'cut as a collector' and integrate into the playfield

event
Dragon Ball Z (Homebrew)game
E.T. (Homebrew)game
Flyland Designscompany
NECAcompany
Simply Custom Pinballorganization
Pinsideorganization
Rob Quinnperson
Pascal Timing Boardproduct
Wave Triggersproduct
Linear Actuatorsproduct

community_signal: Jarrett demonstrates deep fandom-driven iterative design process: watched all Hellraiser films, extracted dialogue for audio cues, incorporated licensed collectible figures, custom 3D-printed components to scale, engaged original IP creator (Clive Barker) for validation

high · Multiple examples: 'I watched every single movie, pulled every single quote'; custom puzzle box scaling; Barker's attendance and positive reaction

  • ?

    community_signal: Collaborative team approach with specialized expertise distribution: Jarrett on design/vision, Matt Malone on mechanical integration, Marcel Gonzalez on audio, Brian Allen on playfield/art, Neil Fraser on cabinet graphics—model of distributed homebrew development

    high · Detailed attribution of contributions: Malone handled relay logic and puzzle box mechanics, Gonzalez on sound, Allen on visual art, Fraser on cabinet graphics

  • ?

    product_strategy: Pascal Timing Board installed to add features (ball save, flickerless drain recovery) not present in original 1982 Devil's Dare, representing modernization of game logic while preserving playfield integrity

    high · Jarrett describes Pascal board adding 'ball save which the game did not originally have' and preventing flipper death on ball drain situations

  • ?

    technology_signal: Deliberate choice to use analog relay-based control systems rather than digital microcontrollers (no Raspberry Pi) for puzzle box movement and gameplay integration, indicating preference for proven mechanical methods in homebrew context

    high · Malone explains: 'I'm sure there's guys going, why didn't you use a Raspberry Pi? But that's not my wheelhouse. I knew I could make this work with a bank of relays, and that's what we did.'

    • 3:33
    So basically when you press start and the ball ejects, it goes up and then the next step to make it turn is you can complete any one of the banks and then you're going to have this soul save right here, which is a kickback that brings the ball back into the play field. And when you press the soul save button right here, this will turn.
    3:57
    Oh, it turns too. Yeah. Well, it didn't fire that time. You know, I was playing it and I was wondering what that third button does. So it's part of it. And is that, is there a scoring aspect of that? No, it's not so much an interactive toy. Sure, right, right. It's more like a visual. Power Razor fans can relate to that. Even Clive Barker, when he saw that move, was pretty, pretty amazed. The nostalgia of it, yeah. Yeah, because even in the movie, they don't have a working woman configuration. They do it by hand Okay okay okay This is mechanical obviously you can have a player doing that by hand So let talk about the plans for this I mean that obviously very well thought out There so many sculpts in this and is this something to where like even with the back box with the scenes was that all there from the beginning or did it kind of just keep growing? No, no. It was just discovering the fact that there was an empty space back there. I figured I wanted to utilize something that brought you into a deeper, a little, like, we're in a world under the glass. So this is like another world kind of like behind what most people would put a plastic or a ramp that might curl around, which is cool. But I didn't have any of those things, so just to utilize it a little bit better. And if I understand correctly, like, the depth of this cabinet is not normal. Like, you didn't normally have this much space to work with. You changed something about it? Yeah, the glass was normally right to here, as most of the 1982... So it's like a single-level game, basically. Yeah, single-level. Okay, okay. So it's just extended up to accommodate the wire form, have a trail, and the box. When the box is extended, it has to go up. So the box in the movie is three inches by three inches. This one had to be custom 3D printed to two and three-quarter, so that when you double that, it was five and a half inches, plus a little bit more space so it doesn't scrape the glass. So that was a big problem because even though I thought I planned it all out, when I put the glass on, it did hit it a little bit. So I had to lower this just a drop, just a little bit more, so it didn't scrape the glass. It's really close. Wow. So tell us about the sculpt. Is this a lot of stuff that you were able to find? So, yeah, so that's going to go down. Okay. When you drain the bolt, that goes down. Right, right. The sculpts that are here, the Butterball, the Shatterer, and Kinghead are from NECA. Anybody could buy these. It was hard for me to cut them as a collector because I didn't want to cut them, but I had no choice. I had to do it. This one's a custom-made one from a guy, a friend of mine, Brian. And this was made from a guy on Facebook that makes miniature Coleco tabletop games. He's a really, but he makes them like, but, uh. that TV just playing some random videos. And then this guy right here underneath the plate. Oh, yeah, that's a chatterbeast. That's also a NECA figure. A lot of people will know it from series one and series two. Yeah. And this one's from Hellraiser 3, Hell on Earth. And oh, this was a box before. Now it's some kind of. Yeah, now it's a star configuration. Oh, my God. So what happens is we shoot the ball again. So what we'll do is we'll shoot the ball again. We'll drain. Okay. And it's going to go back up. and then what happens is, good observation, once you're there, you can complete any one of these banks, by the way. Here, Beast, whatever, you'll get your soul save again, and then this will turn back into the other original square. Okay, wow. And then, of course, you'll have to train. So, yeah So, once you train That goes back to Attica And tell us about the art So Brian Allen did the plate field Brian Allen did this for me About two years ago It was like the first thing I did He started creating the laminate configuration We got the art from Brian Allen He did a great job And it was only recently Where I said, you know I did my own backflash But I wanted this to have some continuity So I hired him to rearrange the already existing characters that he drew for a backless. Gave him a template and he was able to make the same art right here. And are these LED panels on the side? Yeah, well the game actually came like this with these little, what appears to be speaker grills. But there's no speakers in here originally, but there are now. And I think that, you know what, it's an opportunity, you can see light through it, to have LEDs, interactive LEDs. What's about the code? Did you have a lot of customization, sound package updates? There's a lot of sound updates, definitely. We use wave triggers to trigger all different things, and put little switches everywhere. I'll show you that in a little bit. As far as the gameplay the only modifications that were done is I used a Pascal timing board which gives you things like ball save which the game did not originally have There a couple of other features like when you lock a ball if you lose the second ball the ball would drain, the flickers would die. That doesn't happen. It gives you the ball back, goes back, it's a game play. So, as far as his contributions to it, was making that work, making configuration actually connect to the game. So this is actually brass etched. You know, these are all little brass etchings that were glued on there. So the upgrades that we put in here is obviously going to be the VUK. But we also have something over here on the bottom right. Yeah, I noticed that. So that wasn't a factory? Yeah, no. So what happens is when you spell pain, you've got to hit this target twice. Of course, there's a bulb out. What else is there? And when you spell that, that lights that up. That's connected to a light-triggered relay. That opened this gate right there. So once the ball rolls over, this is the out lane, rolls over, it'll close and go back to the shooter lane. Hitting the ball back. So, shut that off. Well, that's one of the other features that we threw in there. So, yeah, can we get a look underneath? Yeah, sure. Let's do it.
    10:20
    Good, right? Yeah, so we got the play field up, and like we said, you had a lot of people working with you on this. Yes. We got someone here that did some help with it. Yes, my best buddy, Matt Malone. So he helped with all the mechanics and connecting the mechanics to the gameplay. So it's interactive basically to some degree. And have you worked on games before or is this your first project? I made the Dragon Ball Z and the E.T. homebrews, which are electromechanical. You can check them out on the pin side. Those are original layouts? Original layouts. He helped me with the art on those. We help each other out. Yeah. Yeah, so tell us a little bit about what's going on because there's a lot of customizations. So the first thing was obviously if you're going to have a Hellraiser, you've got to have two things. A working lumen configuration, which is the puzzle box, and you've got to have pinhead quotes. If you don't have pinhead quotes, it just doesn't really have the same effect, I think. So these three things here are wave triggers for sound. And these are connected to the wiring that goes to all different switches in different, these are literally mechanical switches. So if, like, say, for example, when this thing resets, it's hitting the switch. So there's some EM kind of thing that's going on. Yeah, there's definitely some mechanical stuff going on. And then we've got that going to a mixer.
    12:01
    So, you know, these things are limited to how many sounds you can have on each one. So I had to get a couple more.
    12:09
    I had a little bit of a hard time hearing it here, but there's definitely some deep sounds that hit at certain points, which obviously weren't part of the original game. Right. Spent a lot of time on that, I assume. Oh, yeah. I watched every single movie, got every single quote from all of the movies. There's so many things that you could use for this game. Like he says, you know, no more games and all kinds of quotes that are just applicable to this. Tell us about these lights right here. These are light-triggered relays. These are not working right now. Okay. This one is the one that you saw the gate save with that little gate move. Yeah. So when that lit up, that's what triggers that gate save to work. Wow. So, yeah, they're just little relays. And this is cannibalized from a parts playfield or black hole. Okay, okay. And these lights up here, are those for your show? Because we're not seeing those on the outside. These here? Yeah, yeah. Well, actually, those are just to make it a little easier so that I can. Basically, these are light triggers. So these light triggers, they got some little shrink ramp around here to isolate the trigger and the light. So these are just dragged from here to there so that it's easier to connect it. So these lamps are in parallel with other lamps in the play field. That way it makes it an easier location to pick up the light trigger. So there just not a spider or wire going everywhere It needs to be literally dead right on the light bulb itself If you got got any of our toppers guys you know those because we use those in our toppers Okay so there you go That it And this is the reason why I got a little scratch on my forehead This thing right here will forever be scratching my forehead Now that a little gnarly I don see that in a starched jaw No no It a very dangerous neck I mean it kind of beautiful Yeah yeah Thanks So uh
    14:01
    I mean, tell us just a little bit about what the hell is going on with this, because we saw what was happening up top. This is where I'm thinking all that happened, right? Yeah, so this right here, it's like a little mini elevator. I think, that's what I think it is, of it is. This basically has a motor in it. So this motor here makes this go up and down, and then the motor that's inside of there makes it turn. So we're using some stuff called linear actuators. Yes. Are you using those in this? Yeah, this is a linear actuator, exactly. So, again, on one of the things, it's just carrying this other motor up to turn it. Right, right. That's the turn value. And of course, these are making the huge spin, but these do... This is making it go up and down. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is making it turn right and left. So, right here, I can't do it because it's down right now. The second piece of the puzzle box is shafted directly to here. Right. So then you're just moving that second piece up and down with this motor. Yeah.
    15:03
    So. And, like, what's going on with this over here? All right, so this is where Matt Malone put his contribution to this game. Besides, obviously, getting the thing to work. It was a basket case when I got it. But, so this is something that I think he's better up explaining. Okay, yeah, let's hear it. All right. Matt, explain how this is connected to the game. Sure. So this rail right here, and it's, Clint, is this loose? Yeah, it's loose. Okay. I took it off. All right. So this whole rail here is something that I wired up in an afternoon to get this to work and operate by Grabbing whatever switches we can we can kind of grab from the game
    15:45
    to make the puzzle box move Yeah, I know there's a little close to each other yeah, that's your fault yeah, he's in Cape Coral I'm in Fort Myers So you guys are based here in Florida? Yes. Okay, great. Yes. So coming off of E.T. and Dragon Ball Z, I mean, this is my wheelhouse. This is what I know how to do. I'm sure there's guys going, why didn't you use a Raspberry Pi? But that's not my wheelhouse. You knew you could get to where you wanted to go. I knew I could make this work with a bank of relays, and that's what we did. Nice, nice. Yeah, so everything else in here, these things here are just a speed control. So for each motor there's a speed control so just basically what lowers the power or yeah controls the power So that the box is not spinning too fast and not going up too fast or too slow You can modulate the speed basically right? This is for
    16:42
    You leave it on the flipper Well, we should somebody's We're here to play pinball, guys. Yeah, I just forgot. Thanks for taking the time for this. This is amazing. You gonna have it anywhere else this year at all? Yeah, I'm trying to share it with everybody. I think that people like it and they want to see it. You know, we're on Pinsa and Simply Custom Pinball. You have a channel? No, no. That's it, you know. Check it out, Simply Custom Pinball. Quinn Jarrett, thanks for taking the time, man. That's okay. Thank you.
    17:18
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