Homebrew Showcase: Monster League Hockey Pinball by Jake Danzig

Marco Pinball·video·7m 4s·analyzed·Nov 7, 2025

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.020

TL;DR

Jake Danzig's Monster League Hockey homebrew pinball showcased at Pendev Con 2025 with production interest list.

Summary

Jake Danzig showcases Monster League Hockey, an original homebrew pinball machine designed as a simultaneous two-player party game inspired by Street Fighter mechanics rather than licensed IP. The game features custom artwork by Brad Albright, voice work by community members including Antuinette and audio engineer Glenn Weckner, and gameplay modes including competitive hockey, co-op, fight mode, and upcoming single-player AI. The team is gauging interest via a signup list with plans to partner with an established manufacturer if 100+ people express interest.

Key Claims

Monster League Hockey was designed as a party game to avoid long multiplayer wait times, inspired by Street Fighter's simultaneous two-player format
high confidence · Jake Danzig explaining game design philosophy
The game features 12 team members across Nashville, Tampa, and Austin including designer, artists, audio engineer, and voice actors
high confidence · Jake Danzig listing team credits
The game will pursue production with an established manufacturer if an interest list reaches 100+ people
high confidence · Jake Danzig discussing production plans
Single-player mode code is 90% complete and will use proximity sensors under all flippers for AI gameplay
high confidence · Jake Danzig on development status
The game includes fight mode, overtime sudden death mode, and an upcoming attract mode where the game plays itself
high confidence · Jake Danzig describing gameplay features
Original NHL licensing concept was abandoned in favor of a fantasy-based monster hockey theme
high confidence · Jake Danzig on theme development
Proximity sensors were chosen over wire-based flipper automation because vintage Alvin G flipper replacements are no longer manufactured
high confidence · Jake Danzig discussing technical design decisions

Notable Quotes

“I wanted something more like Street Fighter where two players can play at the same time, whether it being competitive or co-op, either way.”
Jake Danzig@ 0:46 — Core design philosophy explaining the fundamental appeal of the homebrew
“It's not based on anything. It's all from my own creation.”
Jake Danzig@ 1:10 — Clarifies Monster League Hockey as original IP, not licensed
“If we can build that list up to at least 100 people, then we'll consider it for production with an established company. I'm not going to produce them myself.”
Jake Danzig@ 2:35 — Key signal about production pathway and business model
“Brad came up with a lot of his own ideas. I gave him a lot of free range. I just I gave him my ideas and then I said, 'Run with it.'”
Jake Danzig@ 3:19 — Demonstrates collaborative creative process with artist Brad Albright
“There's proximity sensors underneath not half the flippers, but literally all of them. That way you can play single player against the computer, but in addition, we will actually have an attract mode where the game will play itself.”
Jake Danzig@ 4:48 — Technical innovation detail showing sophisticated AI/automation approach
“There's not a lot of rules, but they're very important. There's some stuff player one can do in this area that can affect player two.”
Marco Pinball (host)@ 6:11 — Characterizes the rule depth and strategic interaction between simultaneous players

Entities

Jake DanzigpersonMarco PinballpersonBrad AlbrightpersonGlenn WecknerpersonAntuinettepersonNikki GreenpersonMaddiepersonJoe FarnsworthpersonEric ClotszpersonAustin CarrianpersonLonnie Mianperson

Signals

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machine_intel: Original homebrew pinball machine Monster League Hockey publicly showcased at Pendev Con 2025 with 90% code completion and production interest pathway
high · Jake Danzig presenting at Pendev Con 2025; game physically playable with nearly complete single-player code
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design_innovation: Innovative party game design using simultaneous two-player mechanics inspired by Street Fighter rather than traditional turn-based pinball
high · Jake Danzig explicitly stated design intent to create Street Fighter-style simultaneous gameplay
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design_innovation: Use of proximity sensors under all flippers for AI-controlled single-player mode and automatic attract mode gameplay
high · Jake Danzig describing proximity sensor implementation as alternative to vintage wire-based flipper automation
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product_strategy: Homebrew developer using 100+ person interest list as threshold to pursue production with established manufacturer rather than self-manufacturing
high · Jake Danzig: 'If we can build that list up to at least 100 people, then we'll consider it for production with an established company. I'm not going to produce them myself.'
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design_philosophy: Collaborative team-based development model with 12 people across multiple cities; creative freedom given to artist; organic ideation driving iterative improvements
high · Jake Danzig crediting team members, Brad Albright's independent contributions, Antuinette's influence on game inclusion

Topics

Homebrew pinball machine design and developmentprimarySimultaneous two-player gameplay mechanicsprimaryOriginal IP creation vs. licensed themesprimaryCollaborative game development processsecondaryArtificial intelligence and proximity sensor automationsecondaryProduction pathway from homebrew to commercial manufacturingsecondaryGame art and visual designmentionedAudio design and voice actingmentioned

Sentiment

positive(0.92)— Enthusiastic reception from host, excitement about game design innovation, collaborative team dynamics praised, technical achievements highlighted as impressive. No negative sentiment detected. Community engagement evident through interest list model.

Transcript

youtube_auto_sub · $0.000

All right, Jake. Look at this. Look at this, you guys. This is monster monster league hockey. Hello. Hello. Monster League Hockey. So, Jake, tell us a little bit about like the development of this game. Well, the development started when I really wanted to build a party game cuz it's not so much that I get tired of waiting playing multiplayer on pinball. I just don't like people waiting on me so much going back and forth. So, I wanted something more like Street Fighter where two players can play at the same time, whether it being competitive or co-op, either way. So, the game was going to be NHL, but that didn't just that didn't work out for me so well. So, I decided to go a fantasybased. So, we came up with monster League hockey. So, this is this is based on which game? It's not based on anything. It's all from my own creation. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Well, I was just saying there there is there are similar um I mean similar in that they're just dual player games, right? You have Joust, you have that uh Godly game. I forget what it was called. Um this I found extremely exciting because you guys took the rules kind of the sleepy rules of those and turned it into a real battle where the monsters matter. Can you tell us a little bit about that? Uh yeah, my initial idea was just have it being monsters playing hockey, but then I got the idea of incorporating some of my friends into it. So, I got Anuanette and then I got my friend Nikki Green. She's the girl with the big uh dragon wings on the side. And then we got Maddie here. Yeah. [laughter] So, um Maddie does some call outs in the game, right? She does some call outs in the game. Antuinette does a lot of the call outs. Uh my audio engineer, Glenn Wckner, he did all the audio and all the rest of the call outs for two more characters. Um So, this looks very polished. Is this is this is this going to be available for purchase or is still just a home? We keep getting asked that every 5 minutes. It just looks too good, man. Uh we decided to start an interested list. If we can build that list up to at least 100 people, then we'll consider it for production with a an established company. I'm not going to produce them myself. Um, this was, even though this was my idea, this was really a collaborative effort with my team. All in told, there's about 12 people involved. We got Joe Farnsworth, Glenn Wckner, uh, Eric Clotsz, and Austin Carrian all in Nashville. We got Lonnie Mian in Tampa. Uh, we got Maddie and her dad in Austin, Texas. Uh, the artist is actually Brad Albbright. Brad is amazing. The art on this is beautiful. Yeah, it is. Uh Brad came up with a lot of his own ideas. I gave him a lot of free range. I just I gave him my ideas and then I said, "Run with it." So, one of the great things he did I loved was that he's got a Kraken busting up through the ice as a goalie. A Kraken. [laughter] Yeah, I like that. And then um everybody had their own ideas and just kept making it better and better. Isn't that wonderful to have you know you start you start the party and say all right what do you guys what do you guys got? I actually have Antuinette to thank for a lot of things such as uh I didn't want to be on the game but she kind of insisted and I said no it's not my thing but then she said Jesse who's my little dog could be in with me and I was like I can't believe I didn't think about that but I was like yes absolutely of course. So, it got me as a referee. Uh Jesse is the a linesman biting one of the monsters. And then I decided, well, it's hockey. I got to have one referee and two linesmen. So, I needed one more linesman. That's when it hit me. We used Barlo, which is Christopher Christopher Franchi's little dog, which is right there. That's awesome. Uh so, you mentioned that there's more code to come, including a single player mode on this. Absolutely. Uh the single player aspect is already uh physically in the game. We just um it's not coded in yet. We got the code at least 90% done. Just a few little things left to go. There's proximity sensors underneath not half the flippers, but literally all of them. That way you can play single player against the computer, but in addition, we will actually have a an attract mode where the game will play itself. Oh, that's amazing. The the the the old God game, they had to put wires on the flippers and it was really flimsy and they kept breaking. We actually looked at that and considered it. Um, actually, I was insisting on it, but uh the other guys, they said proximity sensors would look better. And then once I discovered that nobody remakes those Alvin G flippers with the wires on them, well, that turned into a nightmare because if one of them broke, there's no replacing it. There's a whole reason why they don't make those cuz they were not that great. Well, anyway, Monster League hockey. This is really super cool. Um, you can see our two our two monsters right here going to battle. This is so much fun. The score is uh four to one right now and they're in period three. This is really fun. Now, there's a the thing is uh you're getting if you're just watching right now on stream, you're seeing the game happen and it looks exciting, but once you learn there's not a lot of rules, but they're very important. There's there's there's some stuff player one can do in this area that can affect player two. They both have a goalie. You can it's I love the level. It's it's it's I would say it's not simple, but it's a great stack of gameplay. So, thank you so much. Absolutely. And there is a little bit more than what you can tell. Like there is a fight mode in it. Uh there is an overtime sudden death mode. If the game ends in a tie, you go to sudden death for up to one minute. So, there's a little bit more to it. Actually, I'm still kind of learning on it myself. Yeah. Well, if you're here at Expo, thank you guys. Thank you so much. This is Monster League Hockey here at Pendev Con 2025. Thank you guys so much. Thank you. Thank you.