Windows' classic 3D Space Cadet pinball is getting a physical re-creation

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If you owned a Windows computer in the late ’90s or early ’00s, you probably remember 3D Pinball for Windows – Space Cadet, a surprisingly competent virtual table included for free with multiple Microsoft OS releases through Windows XP. Despite the game’s authenticity to real pinball, Space Cadet wasn’t based on an extant physical table, but was merely one part of the Full Tilt! Pinball software collection sold by Maxis starting in 1995.

In the intervening years, hobbyists and enthusiasts have discussed the possibility of crafting a homebrew physical table based on Space Cadet many times, without much tangible progress to show for it. A company called Deeproot Pinball went so far as to develop a reskinned prototype of Space Cadet‘s layout for a planned 2021 release before the whole company went under amid fraud allegations.

Where Deeproot failed, though, hobbyist CNCDan hopes to succeed in creating...

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