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Homebrew Showcase: Turbo Time Pinball at Texas Pinball Festival 2026

Marco Pinball·video·15m 37s·analyzed·Apr 10, 2026
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.027

TL;DR

Nick Moran's Turbo Time homebrew debuts at TPF 2026 with steering wheel control and racing-themed modes.

Summary

Marco Pinball showcases Turbo Time, a racing-themed homebrew pinball machine by Nick Moran debuting at Texas Pinball Festival 2026. The game features a custom steering wheel controller (sourced from Atari's Road Blasters), a functional V8 Hemi engine sculpture, and innovative mechanics including rally, drift, autocross, and track modes that map actual American racetracks to playfield shots. Moran discusses design inspirations (Steve Ritchie, Getaway 2, Scared Stiff), the integration of steering wheel controls with traditional flippers, RPM management, modular multiball, and a wizard mode featuring international tracks and a NOS boost feature.

Key Claims

  • Turbo Time features a V8 Hemi engine with 170 cc's displacement (10.7 cubic inches)

    high confidence · Nick Moran, discussing the engine sculpture on the machine

  • The steering wheel controller is sourced from Atari's Road Blasters arcade cabinet from the 1980s

    high confidence · Nick Moran, explaining the steering wheel component origin

  • Turbo Time is Nick Moran's first homebrew game

    high confidence · Nick Moran, confirming 'Is this your first game? Yes.'

  • Development took approximately 2 years, from initial concept at a prior Texas Pinball Festival to finished product

    high confidence · Nick Moran, describing timeline: 'I started on Turbo Time 2 years ago'

  • Nick Moran works for Dodge and incorporated Mopar elements into the game design

    high confidence · Nick Moran: 'I work for Dodge... that's why there's a lot of Mopar on the playfield'

  • Turbo Time includes homages to multiple racing games including Getaway 2 (RPM targets), Road Show (map mechanic), and Scared Stiff (Alvara mode unlock system)

    high confidence · Nick Moran, discussing design influences and mechanical inspirations

  • Steve Ritchie has played Turbo Time at Expo 'a few years ago' when it was still a flipping whitewood

    medium confidence · Nick Moran, uncertain about whether Ritchie played the finished version at TPF 2026

  • The game offers both automatic and manual transmission modes with different risk/reward mechanics (stalling engine in manual mode)

    high confidence · Nick Moran, explaining RPM and transmission mechanics

Notable Quotes

  • “I work for Dodge. So I was like FGM, F Corvette. I got to take that idea but bring it to the next level.”

    Nick Moran@ 0:28 — Establishes Moran's automotive background and design philosophy of improving on existing pinball mechanics

  • “I developed this game kind of after Steve Ritchie games where it's just Fast and Furious. Play better.”

    Nick Moran@ 6:08 — Reveals design philosophy inspired by legendary Stern designer Steve Ritchie

  • “There is support here to get me to the finish line... the community is so supportive. You are not alone when it comes to homebrew.”

    Nick Moran@ 7:28 — Reflects on homebrew community culture and how it enabled first-time builders

  • “Get it flipping. Get your flippers working. Mount stuff to the playfield. See what works and see what doesn't and bring it to a show.”

    Nick Moran@ 6:58 — Practical advice for prospective homebrew builders on starting and showcasing unfinished games

  • “When you play Turbo Time, you are driving Turbo Time. You are driving the car. And I wanted to integrate that feeling as much as possible.”

    Nick Moran@ 11:42 — Core design intent for the game's steering wheel integration and thematic coherence

  • “I personally own a Dodge Viper... the stripes on the side of the cabinet are the first generation Dodge Viper and the last generation Dodge Viper with the blue and white stripes and the red and white stripes.”

    Nick Moran@ 13:31 — Personal connection to design elements and attention to authentic automotive detail

Entities

Nick MoranpersonMarcopersonManupersonSteve RitchiepersonErniepersonTurbo TimegameRoad BlastersgameGetaway 2gameScared Stiffgame

Signals

  • ?

    design_innovation: Turbo Time uses a durable arcade-grade steering wheel (sourced from Atari Road Blasters) as primary control mechanism alongside traditional flippers, with steering inputs controlling both flipper activation and game-specific mechanics like shot lighting and diverter activation

    high · Nick Moran explains steering wheel functionality, durability considerations, and integration with gameplay modes

  • ?

    design_innovation: Game mechanics (track-based shots, RPM management, drift/rally/autocross modes, NOS boost) directly map to racing game concepts, creating narrative-driven gameplay where physical pinball actions translate to in-game driving scenarios

    high · Nick Moran: 'When you play Turbo Time, you are driving Turbo Time. You are driving the car.' Track shots mapped to actual American racetracks

  • ?

    design_innovation: Player can modularly trigger multiball by locking 1-8 balls; configurable ball count based on player preference and game state, allowing flexibility in multiball intensity

    high · Nick Moran describes modular multiball concept allowing players to hold locked balls and choose when to start multiball with variable ball counts

  • ?

    community_signal: Nick Moran credits Texas Pinball Festival 2-year-old encounter with homebrew community (Ernie, Marco, and others) as catalyst for starting first homebrew; emphasizes supportive collaborative culture enabling first-time builders

    high · Nick Moran: 'I met Ernie and Marco and all the homebrew people... there is support here to get me to the finish line'

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Steve Ritchie (legendary Stern designer) has played Turbo Time in whitewood form at Expo event; Nick Moran aspires to Ritchie's fast-paced game design philosophy

Topics

Steering wheel control integration and unconventional input methodsprimaryFirst-time homebrew builder experience and community supportprimaryAutomotive theme design and personal automotive passionprimaryComplex rule design, mode variety, and player communication challengesprimaryMechanical innovation: engine sculpture, ball locks, divertersprimaryDesign homages to classic pinball games (Getaway 2, Scared Stiff, Road Show)secondaryWizard mode and secret mechanics (NOS boost, mini-wizard mode)secondaryHomebrew community culture and collaborative developmentsecondary

Sentiment

neutral(0)

Transcript

youtube_auto_sub · $0.000

What's going on everybody? We are back for another homebrew. I am hanging out with Nick. The first thing that is immediately striking me is that we have a giant engine on here like Corvette. We got to talk about that. What an amazing sculpt. So, I'm glad that you brought that up right away because when I was designing my pin engine, I work for Dodge. So, I was like FGM, F Corvette. I got to take that idea but bring it to the next level. So Corvette just shakes the ball and I was like it's got to be a ball lock. I I love this. So is this an inline 8 or a V8? It's a V8. All right. That thing got a Hemi in it. So do you feel like having a Hemi in your pinball machine makes it perform better? Absolutely. It's 170 cc's, 10.7 cubic in of displacement. I I did the math. Amazing. So, obviously the first thing I can notice from your game is that you're you can play it with a steering wheel controller. Yeah. So, you mentioned that this game was Road Blasters. That steering wheel is actually from Road Blasters, which is an 80s Atari gameing, which was one of my favorite games as a kid. The game is Turbo Time, but Oh, God. Sorry, I miss because the tag up there. It only says it right there. So, it's hiding on the side of the backbox. Got to advertise better. Yeah. No, no, that's all good. That's my bad. So, I mean, how has the feedback been playing with something that's not standard? I mean, the only other game I can really think of offh hand is Demo Man that has kind of like Yeah, a lot of people really like it. I think some people are a little hesitant to nudge the machine on the steering wheel, but you absolutely can. Very cool. Uh, I made sure of that. That's one of the reasons I picked an arcade like specific uh steering wheel as my steering wheel for the game. I wanted to make sure it was durable and would last. Sure. And if you can't tell from the stream, cuz the steering wheel is just off the bottom, Manu is turning it left and right in order to fire the left and right flippers. There are some specific game things that you can only do through the steering wheel as well. Can you What are some of those? So, I have a rally mode where when you steer the the steering wheel, it lights each major shot. And as you light the shots and make them, uh, you get haul out and and you you progress through rally mode. Uh there are secondary buttons on the cabinet that function for most of the stuff that the steering wheel also does. Uh once you get your driver's license, you can open diverters in the orbit that go to your pit stop, which is your track select mode, and your your other uh diverter in the left orbit, which is uh your mystery award. So you you light oil and then uh you get to go collect a mystery award. Very cool. So if I don't have a driver's license or am I too young, am I allowed to play this game? Yeah, you can. You you earn it on on the way. Amazing. Well, so we can kind of see we backed the camera out now, so you can actually see the interaction between it. And this is really one of the things I love about the homebrew area is that the innovation of not being afraid to do something that's like completely experimental like this. Other than loving the Atari game, like at what point during the development were you like, "Wow, this is going to work." So, I kind of developed this entire idea as like a huge brain blast, it just like invaded my thoughts when I was coming up with the idea of the homebrew. I wanted it to be a 90s racing game. Right off the bat, I wanted to have a steering wheel that had the integrated controls. Um, there's kind of little homages to lots of stuff in here, though, because you've got like the RPM from Getaway 2. You kind of got like a road show kind of map going on with the United States. So, I I I wanted to take a lot of like stuff from a bunch of like really fun uh racing games, but I wanted to also integrate the shots on the playfield into like a track mode. That's the main mode of the game where if you make a left ramp shot, that's the left turn on a track. And and the spots on the map are actual racetracks from around America that I've converted into pinball shots. That's amazing. I've noticed you got something else here. We were just talking about it the other day about interaction with glass in order to like give player feedback in a certain way. I've noticed you've got the leaping leaper uh uh standups and and the cones on them hit the glass. Yep. So, you brought that up exactly. Uh, Alviv is one of my favorite games. So, the modes in this game are very reminiscent to how you would unlock them through Alvra as well. Um, with like combo ramp shots. Which Alvara? Scared stiff. Scared. Yeah. So, that's where I got that mech that with the pop targets is from Alvra. I just did traffic codes because uh in in autocross uh they have cones in a parking lot where you like have to drive through the track. So, I've tried to represent every major motorsport in my game. There's there's drift mode, there's track mode, there's rally, there's autocross with the cone mania mode, and then there's just cruising. Just cruising. I love it. So, I've noticed on the back glass uh or I'm sorry, the LCD, we've got tires, gas, all sorts of things that are on your car. Can you talk a little bit about how the interaction between like the car and the actual gameplay works? Yeah. So, uh if you look at the tires, they're currently green. Uh if uh the the left uh return kicker is green and as your tires wear out, it'll go to yellow then to red. And by left turn kicker, you're talking about the Banzai Run mechanic that's hiding in there. The left outer. Oh, I'm sorry. It looks like it looks like the slingshot has one too, though. The Banzai Run mechanic is there. Uh but uh it's it's there just mainly for fun as a as a call. It says drive fast, turn left when you hit the the kicker there. Can I ask a question? Do I get a bon? Is it like um uh demolition man where I get less points from the flippers than I do from the wheel? Technically, yes. But uh uh if you hit that left shot, you'll get your driver's license. So then you can light shots and then you can make extra points that way. Oh, okay. So once you hit that uh that left ramp shot, you'll you can backhand it as well. Uh you you'll get your driver's license, so then the steering wheel will be fully integrated. Oh. And then you can go to your track select modes and other things in the game. It's kind of like Godzilla. hit the ramps to like kaiju battle. Yeah. So, Manu, can can you can you get us some blocks? Can we see how the engine works? Yeah. So, uh the Manu, can you play better? Uh it's it's hard. I I developed this game kind of after Steve Ritchie games where it's just Fast and Furious. Play better. Yeah, I get it. I get it. Uh I like to joke around that like I'm not good at pinball. I'm only good at the game that I own. Like this is the only game I'm actually good at. So, I've seen Steve Ritchie here. Has he played it? He's played it. I kind of like fanboy like super hard when he's around to scare him away. I got to work on that. But uh he played it uh at Expo a few years ago when it was just a flipping whitewood. I don't know if he's played it today or at TPF this year. I really hope that he will. So we we were talking about how not to be afraid to bring your game even when it doesn't have art and early iteration of it to any kind of like exploration. What would you say to somebody who is uh in the process of thinking about starting a homebrew? Honestly, like get it flipping. Get like like uh get your flippers working. Mount stuff to the playfield. See what works and see what doesn't and bring it to a show. Like you'll find stuff that you never realized. You know, you you don't know what you don't know until other people, other walks of life. Play your game and you can get criticism of course, but also helpful advice. Sure. And uh I think that like homebrew has gotten so far now that it's almost like intimidating to bring an unfinished game, but bring it. We'll help you out. We'll get you flipping in. We'll wire your game here if we need to. Like there the community is so supportive. You you are not alone when it comes to homebrew. Like the everybody wants all the homebrews to be better because it makes the homerew area more of a experience for people to come to and it helps more people see the games. So this is kind of an anniversary for Turbo Time. Two years ago, I met Ernie and Marco and all the homebrew people and I was like I felt to myself like I can do this. There is support here to get me to the finish line. And so I started on Turbo Time 2 years ago and I feel like now this is pretty much the finished product for this game and I'm happy to bring it here and uh and share it with everyone. Sure. Is this your first game? Yes. And what a doozy to like start on. Oh, I'm serious. It's like I've seen a lot of home brewers come in with their first iterations of games and and this has got so much going on to it and I think Manu really nailed it by saying this is so much fun and I I really think that's when you know you've nailed something special. Yeah, thank you. It's uh it's pretty fast. Uh I I like it. Like the faster the game the better for for me personally. Uh um I'm so glad I'm not flipping cuz I know Manu would make be making fun of me for playing more be uh you will lose RP. So, uh, in this game, you don't get a nudge warning or a tilt warning. Uh, you just lose RPM. And you you gain RPM by making flow shots, and, uh, if you choose, uh, automatic or manual transmission, it'll automatically shift for you in automatic. And if you go to zero RPM, you won't stall your engine. In manual mode, you get skill shots. You get shifting, but you can also stall your engine. And you have to shift the the OP the the uh plunger. So if you shift there, you gain playfield multiplier in the form of PSI. That's that's really cool. Flow shots. So I love that you've taken like traditional mechanics like So when you when you when you play Oh, you stalled your engine. So you can shift and press the start button to re to restart your engine. So it's kind of a risk we reward like you can you can nudge all you want, but then there's also the risk there. So this one thing I love about homebrew is all of these kind of like crazy modifications to rules. On the downside, how do you communicate this stuff to the player so they know how to do this? Right? Flashing red lights and there there is like a how to play thing in the in the attract carousel. So the rules are there. Normally the the rules cards would be here in the apron, but I've taken that space for my uh my my gauges. Uh so yeah, it's honestly like I kind of feel a little bad for the normal player, but I know all the rules. I try to express that better. That's something I definitely need to work on. But also, you're making this game for you, but also Exactly. It it also it seems like it's just absolute fun just coming up and flipping and not knowing anything about the rules. And really, like I think every pinball machine needs to be that as well. It's kind of like a fool around and find out. Like there there's a bunch of modes where you just have to kind of make the shots. Like drift mode is alternating left and right ramp shots. And you can make that, but you don't know it's there until uh you hit like two or three in a row and then the lights come on and say, "Hey, keep keep going." Manny, what's your what's your favorite shot on this so far? So, uh, well, that upper ramp, I made it once. It felt so good. So, it's it's from the up, uh, upper right flipper, right? This flipper to that ramp up there to the to the engine, I guess. Yeah, sure. It feels really good when you hit it, but I I only hit it once. So, can you can you please can you start the engine, the multiball for us now? Oh, we asked like twice now. So, so there's two ways to start the pin and multiball. The first way is to lock all eight balls. That's a lot of balls. The second way is a modular concept. Like say when you're playing venom and you lock a ball and you don't want to start multiball, so you hit the start button and and you choose to like keep the ball locked there to try to like build up. So you you could roll this with like six pistons down if or five pistons down if you needed to as low as one. So once you lock a ball, you if you gain RPM, uh if you go over RPM, the call outs will say shift gears. And uh I've actually used the callouts from Get away too. Yeah. So, get away. Little shameless there, but uh if you go over RPM, it'll spit the balls out and then you go into a multiball. So, however many balls you've locked up to that point, it's however many that you will get and be able to play with. And then at the same time, you're dealing with managing their RPM, increasing the playfield multiplier, potentially playing it with the steering wheel wild. When you play Turbo Time, you are driving Turbo Time. You are driving the car. And I wanted to integrate that feeling as much as possible. This is a '9s racing game as a homebrew pinball. So, does flipping the flippers versus turning the the wheel like give you any advantage in terms of scoring? Uh, so when you light your shots uh with uh the steering wheel, it does give you uh uh point advantages. Like say in drift mode, you'll get double scoring if you steer into the shots and make them. Uh but in rally mode, uh I I need to integrate the steering wheel more. I actually thought like if you steer left and steer right, it'll activate the flippers, but I thought like people would just kind of go a little crazy in that way. So, I I want to integrate it for later renditions, but not now. But I I want to integrate uh when you when you light the shot and you hit the shot that's lit, it does give you more points. Interesting. Can I communicate that I'm emotionally in a lot of pain because this coffee is a lot hotter than I thought, but I'm trying to be cool about it. Um this is really fantastic. You know, I mentioned about the art on Monsters, Inc. At what point did you actually go for artwork and can you talk a little bit about the process of how you did that? So, uh I I love me a classic like American road trip, cross-country driving. I've driven almost every state of the United States. Uh and I I just love the open road and I wanted to express that with uh like the diner Route 66. Route 66 is an actual mechanic. Uh it's also personal to me because uh I grew up in LA and moved to Michigan and my dad and I drove Route 66 when when I the entire way when I moved there. Uh but uh so I I love cars. I work for Dodge. That's why there's a lot of Mopar on the playfield. Uh I personally own a Dodge Viper. Wow. Do you remember the TV show? Yeah. So, the the stripes on the side of the cabinet are the first generation Dodge Viper and the last generation Dodge Viper with the blue and white stripes and the red and white stripes. And the stripe uh sizing is actually how they paint them on the Viper hoods. That's very cool. Um our last question. Does your game have a wizard mode? Yes. So, if you uh finish a track, you get international. You can go to the Nurburg Ring or a bar. Uh there's a track in Australia that you can also visit and then it goes into your wizard mode where you shoot every shot and uh um everything's like a lot of points, but there's also uh like a secret mini wizard mode where there's a NOS button on the steering wheel. And uh if you hit the gas lanes, you qualify your NOS. And uh my pot bumper is supposed to be your gas station. And I have Octane targets lit up on the side of the pinion over there. And if you uh if you hit all those, you build your uh NOS tank in uh the car traffic. And when you max it out and you hit the NOS button, you get max PSI and everything just kind of goes crazy and you have a um unlimited ball save cuz when you hit NOS in a racing game, if you're hitting the the borders of the game, you don't care. You got NOS, man. You're going to go you got to go fast, you know. Uh that's funny. I think uh Manu got really close to filling up both his NS tanks. I don't think he realized that. So, you can actually uh if you keep hitting the gas when you're in NOS, you can stay in NOS mode into perpetuity. If you keep filling up your NOS as you go, I feel like no engine would like that. Yeah, we'll see. The pigeon's good for it, though. That's amazing. Well, Nick, I really appreciate it. Uh I'm going to give you the stage here. If there's anything you want to say, just say your name and your game and uh yeah, you're going to be have this at other expos coming up. Yeah. Uh it it plays great now. Uh, come and play it, please. It's a little fast and furious, but I I hope that everyone enjoys it. And uh, Turbo Time, let's go. Uh, what's your full name? Nick Moran. All right, everybody. Come and check out Turbo Time uh, if you're here at TPF. If you're not, check it out at Expo or some other upcoming events.
  • “if you keep hitting the gas when you're in NOS, you can stay in NOS mode into perpetuity. If you keep filling up your NOS as you go.”

    Nick Moran@ 14:51 — Describes an emergent mechanic allowing extended gameplay during NOS mode

  • Road Show
    game
    Demo Mangame
    Dodge Viperproduct
    Corvetteproduct
    Texas Pinball Festival 2026event
    Marco Pinballorganization
    Dodgecompany
    Route 66product

    medium · Nick Moran: 'Steve Ritchie... He's played it... at Expo a few years ago when it was just a flipping whitewood' and 'I developed this game kind of after Steve Ritchie games'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Designer grappling with challenge of communicating complex rule system (multiple transmission modes, RPM management, steering wheel integration) to casual players while maintaining 'fool around and find out' discoverability

    high · Nick Moran acknowledges: 'On the downside, how do you communicate this stuff to the player so they know how to do this?' and later 'there's a bunch of modes where you just have to kind of make the shots'

  • ?

    design_innovation: Game uses RPM loss instead of traditional tilt/nudge warnings; manual transmission mode can cause engine stall requiring plunger/start button intervention, creating unique risk-reward mechanic

    high · Nick Moran: 'you don't get a nudge warning or a tilt warning. You just lose RPM' and 'if you go to zero RPM, you won't stall your engine. In manual mode... you can also stall your engine'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Turbo Time positioned for exhibition tour across multiple pinball expos following Texas Pinball Festival 2026 debut, leveraging event circuit for player feedback and visibility

    medium · Marco: 'if you're not [at TPF], check it out at Expo or some other upcoming events'

  • ?

    event_signal: Texas Pinball Festival 2026 features dedicated homebrew exhibition area with Marco Pinball providing video content coverage; area serving as incubator and testing ground for first-time builders

    high · Marco's showcase format, Nick Moran's story of initial community connection at prior festival

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Nick Moran advocates agile homebrew development approach: get flippers working early, physically test on playfield, bring unfinished prototypes to shows for community feedback rather than pursuing polish before exposure

    high · Nick Moran: 'Get it flipping... See what works and see what doesn't and bring it to a show... you don't know what you don't know until other people play your game'

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Game emphasizes continuous shot flow with RPM gain system rewarding sequential shot-making; automatic/manual transmission modes provide skill expression through shifting timing and manual stall risk management

    high · Nick Moran: 'you gain RPM by making flow shots' and describes transmission modes with skill-based shifting mechanics

  • ?

    design_innovation: Steering wheel input simultaneously functions as flipper activation, shot targeting aid (lighting shots during rally mode), and diverter control; durable arcade-grade construction supports full nudging capability

    high · Nick Moran: 'people... are a little hesitant to nudge the machine on the steering wheel, but you absolutely can' and describes rally mode shot lighting via steering