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The Sonic Pinball Machine That Never Was!

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With all the deep fakes these days, it is hard to tell what is real and what isn’t.

We will never ever know why Sega didn’t capitalise on it’s Sonic franchise back in the 90s by releasing a pinball machine. If Nintendo’s Mario got two pinball machines made, then surely Sonic deserved at least one! But all is not lost, thanks to talented folks like Ryan McQuaid, with his homebrew Sonic Spinball creation being the closest we will ever get to a physical Sonic based pinball machine – albeit a one of a kind.

Then there are folks like Greg Miller, who got us all excited when we stumbled upon his Sonic Pinball Panic machine! Before we dug deeper, the trade magazine-like ad for Sonic Pinball Panic looked like the real deal, even down to the 90s aesthetic and slogans that were bandied around those days. We did get excited for a moment, but then realised we had never ever hear of this machine, even the prototype – could this be fake? Of course it was fake, and Greg Miller didn’t hide this fact – he even explains how he did it!

The renders look so real!

All isn’t lost though, as Greg did create Sonic Pinball Panic in digital form. So, for all those Sonic fans wanting their pinball fix with their favourite speedy blue hedgehog, head on over to Greg’s site and grab the game for your Windows PC or Mac right now!

story and image source: Sonic Pinball Panic



Pinball Expo 2022 – The Homebrew Pinball Machines

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If you are into pinball and were in Chicago this past weekend, you would’ve no doubt attended Pinball Expo!

Being one of the larger pinball events in the world, among the many things to see, do and play is the homebrew section. The homebrew machines are so good these days that it could lead to a pinball designer gig at one of the many pinball manufacturers in North America – just ask Ryan McQuaid (Sonic Spinball) and Mark Seiden (Metroid Pinball), both are now pinball designers at American Pinball and Jersey Jack Pinball respectively!

For Pinball Expo 2022 there were quite a few eye popping and amazing homebrew pinball machines designed and built by enthusiasts that we just had to share with you all. Licensing notwithstanding, do you see any you would like being mass produced? We love the look of Elf, Pokemon and League of Legends!

image source: Pinball Expo via Facebook



Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball – The Real Pinball Machine

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We absolutely love DIY creations, and Pinsider Ryan McQuaid’s (aka:McSquid) homebrew Sonic The Hedgehog Spinball pinball machine is definitely no exception!

To make a virtual pinball game is one thing, but to make a real flipping pinball machine is something totally different – making pinball machines is HARD!

We have been following McSquid’s Sonic The Hedgehog pinball machine build for the last 7 months, and we must say, the progress has been fun and quite amazing to see it go from a digital creation to a physical beast. This kind of project ain’t for the faint-hearted!

So why a real Sonic The Hedgehog pinball machine? Well, according to Ryan, he had been lamenting for years that SEGA never made a Sonic the Hedgehog pinball machine. Despite SEGA manufacturing pinball machines in the 90s (remember that!) and placing Sonic animations in the DMDs of their pinball machines (as as well as in their manuals), they never pulled the trigger on creating a pinball machine based on their celebrated blue mascot.

With his Nintendo rival, Super Mario, having his own pinball machine, and coupled with Ryan being a huge Sonic video game fan, plus loving to go FAST, it was a match made in pinball heaven or should that be Green Zone heaven…..

First rule of designing a pinball machine – do it in the virtual world first, and iterate!

With his pinball restoration skills honed over a number of years, the idea of making his own pinball game was always in the back of Ryan’s mind, with the theme seeming to be quite obvious. Like all good homebrew creations, Ryan started writing down his ideas and allowing the design to evolve naturally. Teaching himself to use Visual Pinball (digital pinball platform), Ryan set out to design his dream theme pinball machine in the virtual world. With multiple iterations of his digital Sonic pinball machine, Ryan finally settled on his creation that was worth his time to build in the real world.

The iconic Sonic (360) Loop comes to life! Wow, what an amazing ramp!!

The donor cabinet in Sonic blue!

The video assets are coming along nicely too

With a donor pinball cabinet found, Ryan’s dream theme has taken one giant step to reality. With the current health crisis and restrictions in place, Ryan has powered through with the build of his Sonic pinball machine. From the video assets, sound and effects to a flipping whitewood playfield, Ryan is at a point where we can all see the fruits of his labour, and that there is indeed a light at the end of the tunnel to this amazing project! Just imagine how it will look once everything is completed, including some cool Sonic art on the cabinet, backglass and playfield!

Being a perfectionist, we know that Ryan will only make this creation even better, so we are hanging on his every update. So stay tuned as we bring you more work in progress updates on this amazing homebrew pinball creation! Go FAST or go home!

Looking, sounding and shooting good so far!


source: Ryan ‘McSquid’ McQuaid via Pinside