Solo developer builds a free Linux pinball engine, hopes to pitch it at IAAPA Expo
I'm Working on a FOSS Linux Pinbal Simulation Engine
A developer is building a fully FOSS pinball simulation engine for Linux, adding a dynamic sound system, improved physics, an in-game editor, multiple camera modes, and even an Asteroids mini-game. The engine isn't ready for release yet, but he plans to show it to vendors at the 2026 IAAPA Expo to gauge interest in Linux and open-source support. He's also seeking help with table art.
It will be fully FOSS, but it needs some more work before it's ready for an initial release. I hope to show it at the 2026 IAAPA Expo next week to some vendors to gauge their interest in support of Linux and FOSS.
- sysrpl
As the title says, I am working on a FOSS Linux Pinball Simulation Engine. It is based on my Pascal Tiny.Sim library which has been in github for many years. Tables are designed in parametric CAD (OnShape for now) and imported by my engine as 3D meshes. It simplifies many of the physics bodies into primitives and has options to configure how meshes are convert into a table. The logic for a table is written in Typescript. Users can also edit the table inside the game. The idea will be that users can use the engine to play and share pinball tables of their own designs. I am supporting Linux because I use Linux every day and it needs more support when it comes to playing good fun games.
If you want to help Linux and are an artist, I plan make the initial source code release with 3 different tables and a guide for how to create your own pinball tables. I am looking for artwork to help with table artwork. My contact information is on the page linked to this submission.
- malbs
I love pinball, personally terrible at it, I always thought a some luck came into play depending on where the ball was dropping/heading, until I watched someone actually good at pinball play.
He showed me there is a fine art in bumping the machine subtly enough to move the balls line so you can stop it from going straight down the middle or into one of the dead lanes... but not so much to trigger the sensors to shut the machine down.
Watching him play pinball blew my mind. I've never been able to do what he could do, but it's definitely an art form...
So, can you implement machine bumping? :-)
- berkes
I've been playing and loving Vector Pinball (Floss, on fdroid: https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.dozingcatsoftware.bouncy...) a lot.
I can only applaud more options for pinball games in the FLOSS world. Thanks!
- panki27
Make sure to also check out Visual Pinball, the community has built tons of tables for that.
- Tade0
I'm interested in knowing how the physics are realized here.
I've been working on a golf game to play with my friends and the first hurdle I had to go through was the fact that you can't just slap an off-the-shelf physics engine on it and call it a day, because over certain velocities the ball will tunnel through the walls.