alt.hn

7/30/2026 at 11:23:12 AM

3D Pinball for Windows (1995)

 https://98.js.org/programs/pinball/space-cadet.html

by mushstory

7/30/2026 at 4:50:57 PM

Recently stumbled across a YouTube channel (no affiliation) where a guy is documenting his process of building a working physical replica of Space Cadet Pinball. I found the process pretty interesting. If you're intrigued: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BU_02HABZ4s

by dgritsko

7/30/2026 at 3:12:50 PM

I remember that it was a lot easier if I had 10 instances of Winamp running at the same time, it was not just that time slowed, the physics was different. Was this ported?

by maximeago

7/30/2026 at 9:14:02 PM

I dont know why but this feels like some esoteric enchanment that would unlock higher dimensions of possibilities if only explored further. Perhaps new harmonies could have been discovered,

Did anyone think to try this with excel? or notepad?

by ionwake

7/30/2026 at 1:47:32 PM

After all this time, I still don't know how to select a mission, or what missions are

by timvdalen

7/30/2026 at 2:27:44 PM

There's a set of lights in the lower left-hand edge and on the very upper right-hand edge. When it's time to select a mission look for the yellow arrow near those lights. Hitting the lights lets you select a mission. Sending the ball up the ramp confirms the mission. I don't quite remember what the missions were - typically "hit some combination of things" - but they were worth a lot of extra points and/or an extra ball.

by unregistereddev

7/30/2026 at 2:21:52 PM

I am of the impression that the mission is defined by having the pin ball hit the places where the blue arrow points within a set amount of time.

It's a bit of a shame that Microsoft only licensed Space Cadet Pinball from Cinematronics for Windows 95 and XP [0].

[0] https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20181221-00/?p=10...

by Nzen

7/30/2026 at 7:35:16 PM

IIRC, it was a decision based around not porting to 64bit in the newer versions of Windows. I agree it's a shame it didn't move forward... same for a lot of things that were in earlier versions that didn't make the cut.

by tracker1

7/30/2026 at 4:00:41 PM

Do you see the flashing arrow? You have to hit one of those tiles, and then launch the ball up the ramp.

by cwnyth

7/30/2026 at 2:21:28 PM

Where did you see missions?

by stavros

7/30/2026 at 6:23:48 PM

This guide is impressively thorough and can help answer this: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/pc/563047-3d-pinball-space-cad...

by forsalebypwner

7/30/2026 at 6:25:27 PM

Man, Gamefaqs always had such amazing guides. I always wondered how these people knew every single little thing in the games they wrote walkthroughs for.

by stavros

7/30/2026 at 3:02:30 PM

Did it always have this music? I don't remember it having music.

by hootz

7/30/2026 at 5:49:20 PM

I only discovered very recently that it was supposed to have music as well. I played on Windows XP back in the day, and I'm 99% sure the music must have been turned off by default.

by outadoc

7/30/2026 at 3:32:20 PM

Definitely did - that MIDI file is etched into everyone's soul who played Space Cadet but this was early days, maybe it's possible the win9x machine you played on didn't have a sound card?

EDIT: From what others have said it sounds like it's off by default. It's been decades so I don't remember.

by vunderba

7/30/2026 at 4:04:10 PM

Huh, I don't remember turning it on. Who would want it off? The music is amazing, and it laid the seed for me to get into chip music, especially early keygen music (much of which can be found here: https://keygenmusic.tk/#).

by cwnyth

7/30/2026 at 5:25:58 PM

Right? Space Cadet, Tempest 3000, One Must Fall 2097 - so much fire tracker/chiptune music from that era.

This site's been around for a while and is really good as well (has a bunch of classic collections including High Voltage SID)

https://chiptune.app

by vunderba

7/30/2026 at 5:51:14 PM

Thanks for the link!

by cwnyth

7/30/2026 at 3:32:02 PM

Apparently it did, but it was turned off by default since it could have a performance impact on slower machines.

by Jordan-117

7/30/2026 at 3:37:19 PM

Yes. It's original.

by recursive

7/30/2026 at 5:47:58 PM

That brings back memories. I didn't check if it store highscore, but remember finding how to edit to highscore list in the original game to totally destroy my brothers best score

by rypskar

7/30/2026 at 6:06:03 PM

Unrealistic physics.

I had a ball last more than 10 seconds.

by jader201

7/30/2026 at 3:05:01 PM

I never really got into the 3D pinballs, for some reason those are less fun, maybe because visually they are harder to read?

I always preferred the "2D" pinballs, with Pinball Dreams and Slam Tilt my two favourites. I still play those from time to time.

by binaryturtle

7/30/2026 at 5:36:54 PM

I also liked a lot pinball illusions, it had great music, graphics and gameplay. Given that it was created by Dice, the studio that years later created the Battlefield franchise

by shellwizard

7/30/2026 at 1:53:00 PM

space bar - shoot ball

z / - press it

x . - shaking

by mushstory

7/30/2026 at 3:54:20 PM

Does the shaking even do anything in this game?

by 0x1ceb00da

7/30/2026 at 5:13:23 PM

I recall shake/tilt was most useful in the sections of the field where rolling over a sensor would toggle a light, and lighting all three toggles yielded a prize. There is one cluster at the top centre, and another in the left purple platform. The ball is moving slowly enough here that a nudge can send to one toggle or the other.

I bought this knowledge with my uni gpa, NO RAGRETS.

by GLGirty

7/30/2026 at 4:09:35 PM

Definitely. Looking at the code it weirdly changes ball accel, which is not how nudging works in actual pinball.

https://github.com/alula/SpaceCadetPinball/blob/master/Space...

by GlickWick

7/30/2026 at 5:14:32 PM

Possibly because it's easier to approximate the ball's position moving vs the table than simulating the table's position in space moving (which is what happens in real life with a nudge?) and the ball's trajectory not altering?

by pixelesque

7/30/2026 at 3:59:51 PM

Does x help you avoid that deadspot in the middle, where the flaps cant reach?

by irthomasthomas

7/30/2026 at 2:29:11 PM

Exactly what I was looking for for my non-US keyboard :)

by harrouet

7/30/2026 at 3:04:59 PM

getting: Uncaught InvalidStateError: Failed to execute 'drawImage' on 'CanvasRenderingContext2D': The image argument is a canvas element with a width or height of 0. at start_freeze_frame (space-cadet-menus.js:140:18) at MutationObserver.<anonymous> (space-cadet-menus.js:429:3)

by rimworld

7/30/2026 at 1:40:43 PM

oh man i love this game thanks...why no scoreboard tho?!

by zenmaster10665

7/30/2026 at 4:08:11 PM

if you're playing on a phone, the right side of the window might be cut off. you could rotate the screen, or you could select the desktop version in Chrome options (but it will be very small).

by Fib0112358

7/30/2026 at 2:30:56 PM

Or https://pinball.alula.me/

by Skywalker13

7/30/2026 at 5:18:02 PM

In this port, using the menu to disable the music has no effect. Surprisingly, typing "hidden test" does have an effect, but the interpretation of mouse movements is weird and uncontrollable, unlike the original Windows EXE game.

by nayuki

7/30/2026 at 4:36:43 PM

It was a mini-game included by default in Microsoft Windows 2000.

by mangoclimb

7/30/2026 at 3:03:05 PM

Remind me my computer lesson of primary school

by raytracer1

7/30/2026 at 2:02:42 PM

People have build IRL Space Cadet pinball machines.

by ourmandave

7/30/2026 at 4:01:42 PM

this brings me so much joy. thank you!

by Fib0112358

7/30/2026 at 4:51:36 PM

I wasted my youth on this thing!

So now I should waste my working hours on it?

by diego_moita