Eric Rhea's

TiltLab

Amusements Free play

Pinball built from scratch for a browser tab

Push the door open. The carpet glows, the paneling hums, and every machine on the floor is set to free play.

Each table here started as a question about pinball, and most of them grew out of a game in GameLab. Every one has a steel ball that has to feel heavy, and a room built around the cabinet.

  • 11 machines on the floor
  • 10 of them grown from GameLab games
  • 0 quarters needed

See what's playing Find a machine

Every poster on the wall is a machine on the floor.

Pick a poster to read its card. The ticket under it goes straight to the glass.

  1. TiltLab · Machine 01 Chrome Orbit Light the magenta bank. Ride the orbit. 3 balls · 2 flippers · Retro future Play
  2. TiltLab · Machine 02 Midnight Ride One if by land. Two if by sea. 3 balls · 1775 Play
  3. TiltLab · Machine 03 Folded Thunder A paper dinosaur against the blank page. 3 balls · 3 flippers · Storybook time Play
  4. TiltLab · Machine 04 Margin Aces Twelve pages. Twelve aces. After the bell. 3 balls · 3 flippers · The 1940s, in pen Play
  5. TiltLab · Machine 05 Black Budget Bird Eight sorties from a base that does not exist. 3 balls · 3 flippers · The Cold War Play
  6. TiltLab · Machine 06 FIELDWORK The water stopped. Make the world work. 3 balls · 3 flippers · After the drought Play
  7. TiltLab · Machine 07 FIREHAWK Car to robot. Street to ring. 3 balls · 3 flippers · 1986 Play
  8. TiltLab · Machine 08 PRISM LIGHT Keep the light. Bring them home. 3 balls · 3 flippers · The age of sail Play
  9. TiltLab · Machine 09 STEADFAST Fair weather, foul, and what comes up. 3 balls · 3 flippers · The age of sail Play
  10. TiltLab · Machine 10 MUD TRUCK ’99 Mud, rain, and a race behind the glass. 3 balls · 3 flippers · 1999 Play
  11. TiltLab · Machine 11 THE KHUFU KEY The pinball machine is the key, and it goes down with you. 3 balls · 3 flippers · 2560 BC and tonight Play
  12. TiltLab · Machine 12 Coming soon Still a sketch in the notebook. It starts from everything the machines before it built. Free play when it lands

Directory

Find a machine by what it asks.

Every table has a time, a place, a room and a list of parts. Narrow the floor by any of them, or search for a word you remember.

  1. On the floor · Machine 01

    Chrome Orbit

    Can a browser tab make a steel ball feel heavy?

    A chrome-and-airbrush cabinet with a cosmic backglass. Light the magenta bank, then send the ball around the orbit for the jackpot.

    When
    Retro future
    Where
    Deep space
    The room
    A black stage between columns of blue light
    From
    An original table
    • Orbit shot
    • Dot-matrix display
    Parts list
    • 3 balls
    • 2 flippers
    • 3 pop bumpers
    • 2 slingshots
    • 3 standup targets
    • 3 top lanes
    • 1 orbit
    Play Chrome Orbit About the machine

    49 files · 16.0 MB · loads everything before the first ball

  2. On the floor · Machine 02

    Midnight Ride

    Can a pinball table carry a whole game inside it?

    RevereBike as a pinball machine, painted in oils. Hang two lanterns in the Old North Church for multiball, aim the Bunker Hill cannon, ride the wireforms, and light all thirteen colonies to open Rainbow Road.

    When
    1775
    Where
    Massachusetts
    The room
    Boston harbor at night, under a painted sky
    From
    RevereBike, a GameLab game
    • Multiball
    • Ramp rides
    • Orbit shot
    • A toy you aim
    • Unlockables
    Parts list
    • 3 balls
    • 2-ball lock
    • 3-ball multiball
    • 2 wireform ramps
    • 1 cannon you aim
    • 1 orbit + spinner
    • 3 drop targets
    • 3 pop bumpers
    • 19 rides
    • 5 horses to unlock
    Play Midnight Ride About the machine

    66 files · 9.0 MB · loads everything before the first ball

  3. On the floor · Machine 03

    Folded Thunder

    Can the room a pinball machine stands in be part of the game?

    Pip the paper dinosaur as a pinball machine, standing inside a pop-up book of the Foldlands. Open three gates per world, drop each boss's guard and smash the Meridian Core, fold up for Thunder Multiball, and beat Mr. Blank to keep the future open.

    When
    Storybook time
    Where
    The Foldlands
    The room
    A pop-up book that unfolds a new world round the cabinet
    From
    Folded Thunder, a GameLab game
    • Multiball
    • Ramp rides
    • Third flipper
    • Boss fight
    • Captive ball
    • Campaign
    • Unlockables
    • Room in the game
    Parts list
    • 3 balls
    • 3 flippers
    • Captive-ball core
    • Vertical loop ramp
    • 2-ball lock
    • 3- and 4-ball multiball
    • 4 bosses + Mr. Blank
    • 4 FOLD lanes
    • 2 kickbacks
    • 6 papers to unlock
    Play Folded Thunder About the machine

    102 files · 9.6 MB · loads everything before the first ball

  4. On the floor · Machine 04

    Margin Aces

    Can a pinball machine carry a game’s history without stopping the game?

    The notebook shooter as a pinball machine, at the front of Classroom 4B after the bell. Twelve pages and twelve aces: claim the patrol, read the red ink before it fires, bring the ace down on its wire, and turn the page. The model kits you earn hang from the ceiling, and the archive opens the game’s own history as you play.

    When
    The 1940s, in pen
    Where
    Classroom 4B
    The room
    A classroom after the bell, with model kits on strings
    From
    Margin Aces, a GameLab game
    • Multiball
    • Ramp rides
    • Third flipper
    • Moving target
    • Campaign
    • Unlockables
    • Room in the game
    Parts list
    • 3 balls
    • 3 flippers
    • A moving ace target
    • 12 pages, 12 aces
    • Red-ink attacks and grazes
    • Vertical loop ramp
    • 2-ball lock
    • 3- and 4-ball multiball
    • 4 A-C-E-S lanes
    • 2 kickbacks
    • 12 model kits to earn
    • 51-entry history archive
    Play Margin Aces About the machine

    90 files · 7.3 MB · loads everything before the first ball

  5. On the floor · Machine 05

    Black Budget Bird

    Can a pinball machine fly a campaign, and keep the evidence?

    The SR-71 games as a pinball machine, in the control tower at Groom-7, an air base that does not exist. Eight sorties from Blackbird Recon and Black Budget Bird, each with its own objectives: build the Mach tape, climb, take on gas from the tanker, record the emitter, photograph the target and bring the film home, while a radar sweeps the table and SAM batteries fire along lines you can see coming. Every frame you take is pinned to the board on the wall.

    When
    The Cold War
    Where
    Groom-7 air base
    The room
    A control tower at night, with radar scopes and a board of photographs
    • Multiball
    • Third flipper
    • Moving target
    • Magnet
    • Campaign
    • Unlockables
    • Room in the game
    Parts list
    • 3 balls
    • 3 flippers
    • 8 sorties and Site Zero
    • A Mach tape that multiplies the score
    • SAM batteries and a sweeping radar
    • A jammer on the action button
    • A tanker’s magnet
    • Inlet unstarts
    • A moving camera target
    • 2-ball lock
    • 3- and 4-ball multiball
    • 41 photographs to pin
    Play Black Budget Bird About the machine

    84 files · 8.4 MB · loads everything before the first ball

  6. On the floor · Machine 06

    FIELDWORK

    Can the balls be the thing you are repairing?

    The FIELDWORK game as a pinball machine, in the windmill shed at the edge of a dead basin. The balls are cores, SAIL, DRIVE and WATER, and you choose which one goes in the shooter: each counts double on its own shots, and each has a cradle that takes only that core. Six jobs from the game, in its order, repair the valley outside the shed: hang the sail, fix the drive, power down the Sand Kraken that leeches the bus, fill the tank, water the fields, turn the Great Wheel until the Works wake. Then the drought breaks.

    When
    After the drought
    Where
    A dead basin
    The room
    A windmill shed that looks out on a valley you repair
    From
    FIELDWORK, a GameLab game
    • Multiball
    • Ramp rides
    • Third flipper
    • Boss fight
    • Moving target
    • Magnet
    • Turntable
    • Campaign
    • Unlockables
    • Room in the game
    Parts list
    • 3 balls, 4 in the flood
    • 3 flippers
    • 6 jobs and the flood
    • 3 cores you choose before you launch
    • 3 cradles, each for one core
    • A bus that multiplies the score
    • The Sand Kraken's node on a moving track
    • Mote's beam, a magnet in the middle
    • A drive gear that spins the ball
    • A drive chain lift
    • Works Multiball
    • 19 pictures in the field log
    Play FIELDWORK About the machine

    87 files · 9.7 MB · loads everything before the first ball

  7. On the floor · Machine 07

    FIREHAWK

    Can the playfield change shape while you play it?

    The Firehawk street fight as a pinball machine, standing in the middle of the intersection under the El in New York, 1986, with the game’s own street round it and both robots in it at full size. The table has two forms. In the street Redline crosses the middle as a car: build speed, ram it, and at 52 km/h take the jump. While the ball is in the air the table stands up into a ring, the medians and two bumpers sinking and Redline standing up as a robot, and the ball comes down in a hero landing. In the ring every shot is one of Firehawk’s moves, with the game’s damage and combos; block what Redline telegraphs and knock it out three times for the street duel.

    When
    1986
    Where
    New York City
    The room
    An intersection under the El at night, the game’s own street
    From
    Firehawk, a GameLab game
    • Transforming playfield
    • Multiball
    • Ramp rides
    • Third flipper
    • Boss fight
    • Moving target
    • Campaign
    • Room in the game
    Parts list
    • 3 balls
    • 3 flippers
    • Two forms: the street and the ring
    • 5 movers that change the table
    • 2 bumpers that sink
    • A jump at 52 km/h
    • Redline: a car, then a robot
    • 6 shots, 6 moves, the game’s combos
    • Blocks and the Hawk Dive
    • A 99-second round clock
    • A police roadblock
    • Rush Hour and the street duel multiball
    Play FIREHAWK About the machine

    93 files · 7.3 MB · loads everything before the first ball

  8. On the floor · Machine 08

    PRISM LIGHT

    Can the light itself be the thing you aim with?

    The Prism Light lighthouse game as a pinball machine on the gallery of Kelda Head Light, the game’s own bay below it: its sea, sky, reefs, ships and weather, imported from GameLab at run time. The beam is real. It sweeps up the playfield from a six-sided lens between the flippers, and only what it lights counts: hit a ship while the beam is on her and she takes her bearing; let the dark take it and she is lost, then wrecked. Turn the lens to the facet each hazard needs (Ember for fog, Rime for waves, Volt for waterspouts, Venom for kelp, Halo for the wreckers’ false lights, Void to let the thrushes go) and keep the light for five nights to dawn.

    When
    The age of sail
    Where
    Kelda Head, Lumen Reach
    The room
    The gallery of a lighthouse at night, the game’s own bay below
    From
    Prism Light, a GameLab game
    • Light as a mechanic
    • Moving target
    • Multiball
    • Ramp rides
    • Campaign
    • Room in the game
    Parts list
    • 3 balls
    • 3 flippers
    • A six-faceted lens you turn yourself
    • A beam that sweeps the table
    • Ships that need the light
    • 8-lamp bearing ring
    • 6 hazards, each with its facet
    • Rogue waves that rise
    • A waterspout and a kelp tangle
    • The Kraken
    • Five nights and the Endless Watch
    • The Falling Crown multiball
    Play PRISM LIGHT About the machine

    77 files · 6.6 MB · loads everything before the first ball

  9. On the floor · Machine 09

    STEADFAST

    What if the table were on a ship, and the ship were at sea?

    A pinball machine lashed to the deck of the Prism Light game’s frigate, under sail on an open sea built for it: a noon sky with clouds, a swell that rocks the ship and pulls the ball with every roll, and a pod of dolphins alongside. The weather follows the balls you have left. Fair at high noon on the first, a squall on the second, a thunderstorm on the last, with green water over the ramps and Saint Elmo’s fire on the shots. A few seconds into the last ball FIELDWORK’s Glassmire Kraken comes up alongside: beat its arms off the rails, hit its eye eight times, and the storm blows through.

    When
    The age of sail
    Where
    The open sea, outward bound
    The room
    The deck of a frigate under sail, from high noon into a thunderstorm
    From
    Prism Light, a GameLab game
    • Weather
    • Moving target
    • Multiball
    • Ramp rides
    • Boss fight
    • Room in the game
    Parts list
    • 3 balls
    • 3 flippers
    • A ship that rolls, and a ball that feels it
    • Weather on every ball
    • A pod of dolphins
    • Knots, leagues and landfalls
    • Green water over the ramps
    • Saint Elmo’s fire
    • A whirlpool
    • The Kraken on the last ball
    • All Hands and Fair Winds multiballs
    Play STEADFAST About the machine

    69 files · 6.4 MB · loads everything before the first ball

  10. On the floor · Machine 10

    MUD TRUCK ’99

    What if the table stood in the mud beside a real race?

    A pinball machine standing in the infield mud of the Mud Truck ’99 game’s fairground, right beside the south ramp. The race behind the glass is real: your red truck runs laps of the game’s track as fast as your shots drive it, against the game’s three sponsor trucks, through the game’s eleven-track campaign. Every truck that comes past throws mud at the cabinet, and three patches of the table cake up and slow the ball until the rain or a shot through the Puddle washes them off. The weather follows the balls you have left, drizzle to downpour, and the last ball is the Championship Mire.

    When
    1999
    Where
    A county fairground, race night
    The room
    The infield mud beside the track, from a drizzle into a downpour
    From
    Mud Truck ’99, a GameLab game
    • Live race
    • Mud zones
    • Weather
    • Moving target
    • Multiball
    • Ramp rides
    • Boss fight
    • Room in the game
    Parts list
    • 3 balls
    • 3 flippers
    • A live race behind the table
    • Mud that slows the ball
    • Rain on every ball
    • Rivals to pass in the middle
    • A boost bottle
    • Garage parts from the pit
    • Mud berms, the TV camera and the bog
    • The Championship Mire on the last ball
    • Demolition Derby and Victory Lap multiballs
    Play MUD TRUCK ’99 About the machine

    44 files · 5.8 MB · loads everything before the first ball

  11. On the floor · Machine 11

    THE KHUFU KEY

    What if the pinball machine were the key, and the place it stood in went down with it?

    A pinball machine that is the missing key to the Great Pyramid, standing in the Khufu exhibit’s own Giza: its terrain, its three pyramids, its chambers and its voids, imported at run time. Every chamber is a lock and every shot turns the key; open one and the whole cabinet moves on, down through the Pit, the Queen’s Chamber, the Grand Gallery and the King’s Chamber to the Big Void, out onto the plateau on the night the pyramid stands whole again and the capstone goes up under Orion, and down to the chambers a disputed radar reading puts under the plateau. Each place has its own trouble: a sandstorm that piles sand on the table, a pit that grabs the ball, stone doors, a rolling boulder, a coffin that is not empty, a wall of glyphs to shoot in order. The Consortium dig beside you the whole way.

    When
    2560 BC and tonight
    Where
    Giza, from the plateau to the bottom of everything
    The room
    Nine places: the plateau at sundown, five chambers inside the Great Pyramid and its voids, the restored plateau at night, and two chambers under it
    From
    Khufu: Beneath the Stone, a GameLab game
    • Travelling room
    • Era change
    • Moving target
    • Drag zones
    • Boss fight
    • Ordered shots
    • Multiball
    • Ramp rides
    • Room in the game
    Parts list
    • 3 balls
    • 3 flippers
    • Nine places, and the cabinet moves to each
    • The Khufu exhibit’s Giza around it
    • A rival dig to beat in every chamber
    • The Light of Ra
    • A sandstorm, a pit, stone doors and a boulder
    • The mummy in the King’s Chamber
    • A wall of glyphs to shoot in order
    • The capstone, the ZED and the key: three modes
    • Hero props built in Blender
    Play THE KHUFU KEY About the machine

    47 files · 6.4 MB · loads everything before the first ball

High scores

The board by the change machine.

Each machine keeps your best score on this device. Nothing leaves your browser, so the board only knows what you played here.

Play a ball and your score goes up.

High scores on this device
No.MachineBestGames
01Chrome Orbit------
02Midnight Ride------
03Folded Thunder------
04Margin Aces------
05Black Budget Bird------
06FIELDWORK------
07FIREHAWK------
08PRISM LIGHT------
09STEADFAST------
10MUD TRUCK ’99------
11THE KHUFU KEY------

Lineage

Every table starts from the last one.

Chrome Orbit is the root. Each new machine keeps what worked, adds one idea, and leaves the parts it built for the next table.

  1. 01

    Chrome Orbit

    Can a browser tab make a steel ball feel heavy?

    Introduced

    • Rapier ball physics at 120 steps a second
    • The TiltLab sound kit
    • The TiltLab start-up loader
    • A 128 × 32 amber dot-matrix display

    The root of the line. Every machine after this one starts here.

    Passed on to Midnight Ride, Folded Thunder, Margin Aces, Black Budget Bird, FIELDWORK, FIREHAWK, PRISM LIGHT, STEADFAST, MUD TRUCK ’99, THE KHUFU KEY

  2. 02

    Midnight Ride

    Can a pinball table carry a whole game inside it?

    Introduced

    • Multiball and a two-ball lock
    • Wireform ramps the ball rides out of the physics
    • A cannon toy you aim and fire
    • Unlockables that persist between games: rides, horses, golden horseshoes
    • Oil-painted art and Blender models carried over from a GameLab game
    • The table rig moved to tiltlab/shared/
    Carried in: 3 parts from Chrome Orbit
    • Rig From Chrome Orbit: the Rapier table rig, grown to carry three balls, locks, scoops and wireform rides, now in tiltlab/shared/rig/
    • Layout From Chrome Orbit: the lower playfield as it was: flippers, slingshots, inlanes, outlanes and the shooter lane
    • Kit From Chrome Orbit: the shared sound kit and the start-up loader, which now also racks the artwork

    Passed on to Folded Thunder, Margin Aces, Black Budget Bird

  3. 03

    Folded Thunder

    Can the room a pinball machine stands in be part of the game?

    Introduced

    • A room that is part of the game: each world's papercraft unfolds round the cabinet like a pop-up book
    • Boss fights: a boss on the stage that attacks the table, beaten through its weak shots and a captive ball
    • A third flipper, sharing a button with the right flipper
    • A vertical loop and a speed tunnel on a ramp ride
    • Sampled sound effects in the sound book, and a sound kind in the loader
    • Worlds that load in the background after the first one is up
    Carried in: 6 parts from Midnight Ride, Chrome Orbit
    • Rig From Midnight Ride: the shared table rig, which now also carries a captive ball, a third flipper on a shared button, coils a boss can weaken and a pull a boss can bend the table with
    • Rides From Midnight Ride: the scripted ramp rides, now with a speed tunnel and a full vertical loop, and the right ramp's lock diverter
    • Rules From Midnight Ride: the two-ball lock, multiball, combos, the ball save, the bonus and unlockables that persist between games
    • Upper table From Midnight Ride: the arch, the left orbit and spinner, the pop bumpers, the scoop and its drop targets, rearranged round a captive ball
    • Layout From Chrome Orbit: the lower playfield, unchanged for a third table: flippers, slingshots, return lanes and the shooter lane
    • Kit From Chrome Orbit: the shared sound kit and the start-up loader, which now also racks sound effects

    Passed on to Margin Aces, Black Budget Bird, FIELDWORK, FIREHAWK, PRISM LIGHT

  4. 04

    Margin Aces

    Can a pinball machine carry a game’s history without stopping the game?

    Introduced

    • A moving target: the ace flies a motorised track across the middle of the table
    • Telegraphed attacks: red ink first, then a shove; a near miss scores as a graze
    • A one-way shooter gate, a sideways crosswind and a coffee spill that slows the ball
    • A room that keeps time: the classroom’s daylight follows the notebook from morning to dusk
    • The playfield as a live page: pen trails, ticks, tally marks, rubber stamps and a page that turns
    • Unlocks you can see: model kits lowered from the ceiling, and the game’s own encyclopedia as the archive
    Carried in: 4 parts from Folded Thunder, Midnight Ride, Chrome Orbit
    • Room From Folded Thunder: a room that belongs to the game, now a whole classroom whose light follows the notebook’s day, with the unlocks hanging from its ceiling
    • Upper table From Folded Thunder: the third flipper, the vertical loop and its speed tunnel, the right alley and two kickbacks; the captive ball’s place became the ace’s moving track
    • Rules From Midnight Ride: the two-ball lock, multiball, the ball save, the bonus, and unlocks that persist between games
    • Layout From Chrome Orbit: the lower playfield, unchanged for a fourth table: flippers, slingshots, return lanes and the shooter lane

    Passed on to Black Budget Bird, FIELDWORK, FIREHAWK, PRISM LIGHT, STEADFAST, MUD TRUCK ’99, THE KHUFU KEY

  5. 05

    Black Budget Bird

    Can a pinball machine fly a campaign, and keep the evidence?

    Introduced

    • A campaign: eight sorties, each a list of objectives from the games, and the shots light to match the one in hand
    • A radar that sweeps the table, a lock you can see coming, and missiles you can outrun if the ball is fast enough
    • An action button: the jammer kills everything in the air
    • A magnet: the tanker’s boom catches the ball and holds it while you take on gas
    • A flipper that goes soft on one side, and the table that yaws, when an inlet unstarts
    • A room that watches the game: the tower’s radar scopes show your ball, the flight strips your objectives, and a jet goes down the runway with every launch
    • Evidence that stays: a board of photographs from ArtLab, GameLab and the music video that fills up across games
    Carried in: 5 parts from Margin Aces, Folded Thunder, Midnight Ride, Chrome Orbit
    • Threats From Margin Aces: Margin Aces’ red ink becomes grease pencil: every missile is drawn before it flies, and its moving target now carries whatever the sortie came to photograph
    • Room From Margin Aces: a room that belongs to the game, now a control tower whose sky follows the sortie and whose scopes, strips and board read the table as you play
    • Upper table From Folded Thunder: the third flipper, the climb loop and its speed tunnel, the right alley and the two kickbacks
    • Rules From Midnight Ride: the two-ball lock, multiball, the ball save, the bonus, and progress that persists between games
    • Layout From Chrome Orbit: the lower playfield, unchanged for a fifth table: flippers, slingshots, return lanes and the shooter lane

    Passed on to FIELDWORK, THE KHUFU KEY

  6. 06

    FIELDWORK

    Can the balls be the thing you are repairing?

    Introduced

    • Balls with identities: three cores you pick in the shooter lane, each doubling its own shots, each with a cradle that only takes it
    • A turntable: the drive gear in the middle spins whatever rolls onto it
    • A chain lift that carries the ball from the middle of the table up to the gearbox
    • A room that is repaired as you play: outside the shed the windmill turns, the canals fill, the fields green and the Works wake stage by stage, and on the title it stays as far as you have brought it
    • A boss that leeches the score multiplier while it is awake, and throws things you can net
    • A radio on the bench: songs from MusicLab, one job after another, and the game's own duel for the fights
    Carried in: 7 parts from Chrome Orbit, Black Budget Bird, Margin Aces, Folded Thunder
    • Draft From Chrome Orbit: the FIELDWORK draft built on Chrome Orbit’s engine: the three cores, their matching cradles, the repair chain and the multiball when all three are home
    • Rig From Black Budget Bird: the tanker’s magnet becomes Mote’s beam, and the shared rig gains a turntable for the drive gear
    • Rules From Black Budget Bird: a campaign of jobs, each a list of objectives with the shot in hand lit, and a board of pictures that fills up across games
    • Room From Black Budget Bird: a room whose sky follows the job, now a shed open on a whole valley that the game repairs
    • Threats From Margin Aces: the moving target and the marked blasts: the Kraken’s node rides the track and the drums it throws are ringed before they land
    • Upper table From Folded Thunder: the third flipper, the loop, the right alley and the two kickbacks
    • Layout From Chrome Orbit: the lower playfield, unchanged for a sixth table: flippers, slingshots, return lanes and the shooter lane

    Passed on to FIREHAWK, PRISM LIGHT, STEADFAST

  7. 07

    FIREHAWK

    Can the playfield change shape while you play it?

    Introduced

    • A playfield that changes shape: five movers and two sinking bumpers turn the street into a ring and back, and the playfield itself flips over, strip by strip, to its other face
    • An aerial transform: the jump carries the ball up under the glass while the table changes beneath it, and a hero landing shoves every other ball away
    • One opponent in two bodies on the same track: Redline as a car to ram, then as a robot that guards, telegraphs and is open after it swings
    • Shots as moves: each shot is one of the game’s moves with its damage, and shots back to back are combos called by the game’s own names
    • The game’s own street round the cabinet: the Firehawk game’s City and props, imported from GameLab at run time, with both robots at full size playing the table
    • A bill for the damage: bumpers, rams and landings run up a property bill, and the police heat it brings puts a roadblock across a ramp
    Carried in: 6 parts from FIELDWORK, Margin Aces, Folded Thunder, Chrome Orbit
    • Upper table From FIELDWORK: the arch, the loop ramp and the Overpass, the third flipper and the right alley, the Garage scoop with its shelf and its diverter, the drop targets and the track across the middle
    • Room From FIELDWORK: a room that answers the table, now a whole street from a GameLab game with its two characters at full size, playing every move
    • Rig From Margin Aces: the rig’s movers, five of them at once now: two medians, two bodies for Redline on one track, and a roadblock
    • Threats From Margin Aces: the telegraphed blasts, now Redline’s punches and stomps, with a block on the action button
    • Rules From Folded Thunder: a boss with a health bar and weak moments, three rounds of it, and a multiball when it falls
    • Layout From Chrome Orbit: the lower playfield, unchanged for a seventh table: flippers, slingshots, return lanes and the shooter lane

    Passed on to PRISM LIGHT, STEADFAST, MUD TRUCK ’99, THE KHUFU KEY

  8. 08

    PRISM LIGHT

    Can the light itself be the thing you aim with?

    Introduced

    • A beam that is the rules: a real light thrown up the playfield from a lens between the flippers, and a shot only counts as lit while the beam is on it
    • A lens the player turns: two buttons rotate six facets, each with one job, so aiming means choosing a colour as well as a shot
    • Ships that need guiding: each one crosses the table, takes her bearing only from lit hits, loses it in the dark and is wrecked if it runs out
    • Hazards that move the table: rogue waves rise in front of the ramps, a waterspout spins the ball, a kelp tangle holds it, and each is cleared by its own facet
    • Nights with a clock: five scripted nights from dusk to dawn, timed on live ball, then an endless watch drawn fresh each game
    • The game’s own bay below the gallery: the Prism Light world, fleet, weather and Kraken imported from GameLab and drawn in their own pass, at their own scale
    Carried in: 6 parts from FIREHAWK, FIELDWORK, Margin Aces, Folded Thunder, Chrome Orbit
    • Cabinet From FIREHAWK: the camera director, the two-pass room and the cut list, with the cabinet standing in the game’s own world
    • Movers From FIREHAWK: the moving target across the middle of the table, now a ship on her course, and rising walls in front of the ramps, now rogue waves
    • Kraken From FIELDWORK: the Glassmire Kraken, FIELDWORK’s machine, which the game borrowed and the table wakes with six cleared hazards
    • Campaign From Margin Aces: the scripted campaign of pages, now five nights from dusk to dawn with a clock that runs only on live ball
    • Rides From Folded Thunder: the ramp rides and the left loop, carried over to the Swell and Cutter Rock
    • Layout From Chrome Orbit: the lower playfield: flippers, slingshots, inlanes, outlanes and the shooter lane

    Passed on to STEADFAST

  9. 09

    STEADFAST

    What if the table were on a ship, and the ship were at sea?

    Introduced

    • A table on a moving ship: the frigate rides a real swell, and its roll is fed to the physics as a sideways pull, gentle at noon and hard in the storm
    • Weather that follows the balls you have left: fair at high noon on ball one, a squall on ball two, a thunderstorm on the last, in the sky, the sea, the light on the chart and the rules
    • A boss that waits for the last ball: the Kraken rises a few seconds into it, its arms come over the rail across both ramps and must be beaten back before its eye opens
    • A live sea built for the machine: Gerstner waves, a noon sky that greys into a storm, clouds, rain, lightning and a pod of dolphins that leap when you hit their leader
    • A voyage that adds up: every shot adds knots, speed bleeds off when you stop, and the leagues you sail turn into landfalls at named islands
    Carried in: 6 parts from PRISM LIGHT, FIELDWORK, FIREHAWK, Margin Aces, Chrome Orbit
    • Ship From PRISM LIGHT: the frigate, the Prism Light game’s own Blender model, now the deck the cabinet stands on, with the game’s storm loop and sea beds
    • Room From PRISM LIGHT: the playfield, the parts, the two-pass room and the bay’s camera, now riding a ship at sea instead of standing on a lighthouse gallery
    • Kraken From FIELDWORK: the Glassmire Kraken, which comes up alongside on the last ball, with FIELDWORK’s duel and victory music
    • Movers From FIREHAWK: the moving target across the middle, now a dolphin and then the Kraken’s eye, and the walls in front of the ramps, now green water and the Kraken’s arms
    • Crosswind From Margin Aces: the sideways lean, now the ship’s roll on the swell
    • Layout From Chrome Orbit: the lower playfield: flippers, slingshots, inlanes, outlanes and the shooter lane

    Passed on to MUD TRUCK ’99

  10. 10

    MUD TRUCK ’99

    What if the table stood in the mud beside a real race?

    Introduced

    • A race that runs on your shots: your truck laps the game’s own fairground behind the glass at the speed your shots give it, against three rivals at their own pace, and the running order is real
    • Mud on the table: every truck that comes past throws mud at the cabinet, and three patches of the playfield cake up and slow the ball (drag zones in the rig) until the rain or the Puddle washes them
    • Parts from the game’s garage: each ball left in the pit bolts a part onto your truck, out in the fairground and on the topper, and each part changes the rules
    • The game’s own synthesiser under the table: the engine you hear is the Mud Truck ’99 game’s, pitched to your speed
    • Sponsor trucks that get knocked about: a pass shoves the rival sideways and shakes a panel loose, in the game’s own damage model
    Carried in: 4 parts from STEADFAST, Margin Aces, FIREHAWK, Chrome Orbit
    • Room in the game From STEADFAST: a table standing inside the game it comes from, the weather following the balls left, and the boss on the last ball; the sea is now a race and the Kraken is Bayou Bolt
    • Drag zones From Margin Aces: the patches of the table that slow a ball, now mud thrown by the trucks
    • Movers From FIREHAWK: the moving target across the middle, now a rival’s truck, and the walls in front of the ramps, now mud berms
    • Layout From Chrome Orbit: the lower playfield: flippers, slingshots, inlanes, outlanes and the shooter lane

    Passed on to THE KHUFU KEY

  11. 11

    THE KHUFU KEY

    What if the pinball machine were the key, and the place it stood in went down with it?

    Introduced

    • A room that travels: open a chamber and the whole cabinet moves on, nine places from the Giza plateau down through the Great Pyramid to the chambers under it, each lit and dressed for itself
    • The pyramids change as you play: the Restoration puts the casing back on the exhibit’s Great Pyramid and sends the capstone up its north face under Orion
    • Props from Blender: the capstone, the coffin, the jackal, the boulder, the scarab, the core, the djed and the braziers are this machine’s own models, built from code (source/blender/build_props.py), and the stone ones wear the exhibit’s stone
    • The way down: when a chamber opens, the scoop holds the ball while the cabinet moves, and the floor gives way by itself if you wait
    • Shots in order: the Big Void’s wall plays a combination of glyphs, and the lamps and the backglass follow it
    Carried in: 5 parts from MUD TRUCK ’99, FIREHAWK, Margin Aces, Black Budget Bird, Chrome Orbit
    • Room in the game From MUD TRUCK ’99: a table standing inside the world it comes from, now the Khufu exhibit’s Giza, and the room no longer stays put: it moves nine times
    • Movers From FIREHAWK: the moving target across the middle, now the Consortium’s man or the coffin, and the walls in front of the ramps, now stone doors and portcullises
    • Drag zones From Margin Aces: the patches of the table that slow a ball, now sand piled up by the storm
    • Typewriter From Black Budget Bird: the field notes and the typewritten voices
    • Layout From Chrome Orbit: the lower playfield: flippers, slingshots, inlanes, outlanes and the shooter lane
  12. 12

    The next machine

    Inherits the sound kit, the loader and the table rig. It adds one new idea of its own.

Shared parts

Pieces one machine built that every machine now uses. The lineage grows from these.

  • TiltLab sound kit

    The sounds every table shares: flipper coils, pop bumpers, slingshots, rollovers, targets, steel rails, the plunger, the trough, the knocker and the rolling ball. Each machine adds its own speaker voice on top. It also carries what Safari on an iPhone needs: sound that starts in the first tap and comes back after a call or the lock screen, plays with the ringer switch on silent, and streamed music whose fades and mute work there.

    Since Chrome Orbit · Used by Chrome Orbit, Midnight Ride, Folded Thunder, Margin Aces, Black Budget Bird, FIELDWORK, FIREHAWK, PRISM LIGHT, STEADFAST, MUD TRUCK ’99, THE KHUFU KEY · shared/sound/pinballKit.js

  • TiltLab start-up loader

    Fetches every part before play, lights one insert per file, then waits while the machine compiles its shaders and renders its sounds. Each machine restyles it.

    Since Chrome Orbit · Used by Chrome Orbit, Midnight Ride, Folded Thunder, Margin Aces, Black Budget Bird, FIELDWORK, FIREHAWK, PRISM LIGHT, STEADFAST, MUD TRUCK ’99, THE KHUFU KEY · shared/boot/tiltLoader.js, shared/boot/tiltLoader.css

  • TiltLab table rig

    Chrome Orbit's Rapier rig, moved to the shared folder when Midnight Ride needed it: the 120 Hz step, motorised flippers and spring plunger, plus several balls at once, switchable parts, scoops and locks, scripted rides along wireforms, spinners, kickbacks and nudging. Folded Thunder added captive balls, extra flippers on shared buttons, coil strength and a pull. Margin Aces added moving targets, blasts with near misses, drag zones, one-way gates, a sideways lean and a shake for a ball that has come to rest. Black Budget Bird added magnets that catch and hold a ball, and coil strength for one side’s flippers. FIELDWORK added turntables that spin a ball rolling over them. Since Mud Truck ’99 it watches for a stuck ball: one wedged in place for five seconds gets a bump, and one still wedged after the bump goes back to the plunger as the same ball. Chrome Orbit still runs its own copy of the original, with the same watchdog added.

    Since Chrome Orbit · Used by Midnight Ride, Folded Thunder, Margin Aces, Black Budget Bird, FIELDWORK, FIREHAWK, PRISM LIGHT, STEADFAST, MUD TRUCK ’99, THE KHUFU KEY · shared/rig/tableRig.js

  • Shared engine

    One copy of Three.js r185 (with its loaders and post passes) and Rapier 0.21 for every machine that wants them, instead of one copy per machine.

    Since Midnight Ride · Used by Midnight Ride, Folded Thunder, Margin Aces, Black Budget Bird, FIELDWORK, FIREHAWK, PRISM LIGHT, STEADFAST, MUD TRUCK ’99, THE KHUFU KEY · shared/vendor/three.module.min.js, shared/vendor/rapier/rapier.mjs

  • TiltLab free look

    Drag to turn the camera round the cabinet, wheel or pinch to zoom, on the title and in play, so the room each machine stands in can be seen from anywhere. A Reset view button appears in the top bar once the view has moved. Chrome Orbit has its own version of the same idea; the later tables share this one.

    Since Chrome Orbit · Used by Midnight Ride, Folded Thunder, Margin Aces, Black Budget Bird, FIELDWORK, FIREHAWK, PRISM LIGHT, STEADFAST, MUD TRUCK ’99, THE KHUFU KEY · shared/ui/freeLook.js

  • TiltLab feel kit

    The table you can feel. Each machine passes it the same cues its sound map hears, and on a phone that can vibrate they come back as short buzzes: the crack of a flipper coil, the thump of a pop bumper, a bigger kick the harder the ball hits a post, the knocker for a free game, a rattle for a tilt warning, a swell for multiball. A buzz for a small part never cuts off a big one that is still playing. Cues a machine names for itself get a buzz guessed from the name, so a new table can be felt before anyone maps it. Android browsers vibrate. On an iPhone, Safari plays a single system tick during a tap instead. Desktops stay still. One Feel button turns it off on every machine.

    Since MUD TRUCK ’99 · Used by Chrome Orbit, Midnight Ride, Folded Thunder, Margin Aces, Black Budget Bird, FIELDWORK, FIREHAWK, PRISM LIGHT, STEADFAST, MUD TRUCK ’99, THE KHUFU KEY · shared/feel/hapticKit.js

House rules

What every table has to earn

  1. Weight. The ball should feel like steel, not a ping-pong ball with ambitions.
  2. A shot worth learning. Every table needs one route that rewards practice.
  3. A room worth looking at. Drag the view round any cabinet. Somebody built all of that.
  4. Phone first, too. Thumbs on glass should work as well as a keyboard.
  5. No quarters. Free play, always.

The management

Looking for more games? GameLab has the rest of the arcade.