Space Cadet Pinball

What is Space Cadet Pinball?

Space Cadet Pinball is a faithful recreation of the 3D Pinball engine that shipped with older Windows releases. The project was started by Andrey Muzychenko and released under the MIT license, with the latest update (2.1.0) arriving in October 2023. It runs on modern Linux distributions via Flatpak, providing a straightforward way to play the old pinball tables.

The target audience is anyone who wants to revisit the nostalgic tables without the hassle of Windows emulation. It works out of the box on most desktop environments, and the installation is as simple as a single Flatpak command.

Compared to the original Windows tools, the Linux version feels very similar; the tables render the same way and the controls are identical. The only noticeable difference is the lack of bundled table packs – you need to supply your own .pin files, but the core engine runs flawlessly.

Best for: Users who want a quick, authentic Space Cadet Pinball experience on Linux without extra setup.

Key features of Space Cadet Pinball

• MIT‑licensed open source
• Flatpak distribution for easy installation
• Supports original .pin table files
• Keyboard and mouse controls identical to Windows
• Runs on X11 and Wayland
• No external dependencies beyond Flatpak runtime

Tips for Windows users

If you’re moving from 3D Pinball for Windows, keep your .pin table files; they load directly in the Linux engine. Use the same keyboard shortcuts (Space to launch, arrow keys for flippers). The only workflow change is installing via Flatpak: flatpak install flathub com.github.andreymuzychenko.spacecadetpinball. There’s no built‑in table editor, so any custom tables must be added manually to the ~/.config/SpaceCadetPinball directory.

Recent releases

• 2.1.0 — October 16, 2023

  Feature release focusing on FT compatibility. Main highlights: - FT: collision system changes, table control changes, multiball, three MIDI tracks. - Work in progress: localization support. Depends on external font selection for most languages. - HW…

• 2.0.1 — December 29, 2021

  First bug fix release of cross-platform port. Main highlights: - Improved Linux support: install target, icons, desktop shortcut, alternative data paths. - Improved game controller support. - High precision sleep mode for ~0 frame time jitter. - Integer image…

• 2.0.0 — October 30, 2021

  First release of cross-platform port. Main highlights: - Windows dependencies removed. - Graphics and sounds rendered with SDL. - Dear ImGui GUI. - CMake build script, compiles on a lot of platforms. - A number of 3rd party source ports. All features of v1.x…