The Challenges Ahead

Like any project, there are always hurdles to jump over, and "Mission: Space Cadet" is no exception. These challenges can be divided into three main categories: Physical, Technological, and Logistical. Some game-specific challenges will be looked at in a future post.


Physical Challenges

When designing a pinball machine, there are a few things to consider: How the game feels to play, and how everything fits together.

In this instance, how the game feels is mostly set in stone, as the general layout already exists. Things like ramp slope, and flipper power can still be adjusted to make the game feel better to play. Very minor changes to the layout can also be made to improve game-feel, but such changes must be made in a very deliberate way, as to not change the presentation of the game.

While it looks like there is plenty of open space on a pinball machine, underneath is a far more congested space. Even something as small as a flipper can take up a great deal of space on the underside of the playfield.

Diagram of a modern Stern Pinball flipper assembly, viewed from below
(Visible flipper highlighted in red.)

The size of all necessary assemblies will need to be considered, both the topside space required, as well as underneath. Using various pieces of CAD software will help ensure all the needed parts fit as they need to. After checking fitment, a prototype (often called a "whitewood" because of its lack of artwork) playfield will be put together to check for game-feel.

Underside detail of a Bally "Addams Family"
Photo taken by Allen Shope

Technological Challenges

In many cases, custom pinball machines are so-called "re-themes"; where a person takes an existing pinball machine, changes the artwork (and possibly moves some parts around), but leaves a fair bit (if not, all) of the original game's programming intact. "Mission: Space Cadet", being an "original" game will need to have the programming built from the ground up. There are frameworks that exist to make such programming easier, but there will certainly be the matter of learning said frameworks, and troubleshooting code.

Logistical Challenges

The last major challenge is a matter of logistics. To build the brains of this machine would require either a new boardset, such as from Multimorphic, or a set of original boards from late-era Bally/Williams machines, or SEGA/Stern boards, but still requiring a supplementary board.

Getting a new boardset would run into the current issue of chip shortages. Obtaining a set of Bally/Williams or SEGA/Stern boards runs into sourcing, as many pinball machines using these boards are still in service, and some are highly sought-after games (Medieval Madness, Twilight Zone, and Addams Family among them), so the actual supply isn't always that high.

Acquiring the needed boards may be something that is done piecemeal, as availability fluctuates. This will also ease the financial blow, as the cost is spread out over a longer span of time.

In Conclusion

While there are many hurdles to jump over, they are far from insurmountable. As "Mission: Space Cadet" continues forward, there will be more challenges, requiring their own solutions.

There always remains the option of bringing other people on board as well, to help move things along. Should that be an avenue worth pursuing, contact information will be made available for all who may be interested.