From Ars Technica · · 1m 50s
Pinball Expo 2026: Past, Present, Future
Stern Pinball dominates market with 90% share as homebrew and VR innovations reshape pinball's future.
In brief
Stern Pinball dominates market with 90% share as homebrew and VR innovations reshape pinball's future. Stern controls 90% of pinball market while homebrew projects and modular systems like Multimorphic's P3 expand the industry. Originally reported by Ars Technica.
Pinball Expo 2026 opens
Hundreds gather outside Stern Pinball headquarters in Elk Grove Village, Illinois on a brisk fall Friday morning.
Gary Stern's 40-year legacy
Gary Stern, founder of Stern Pinball, greets visitors at the factory tour and explains the company's 40-year history.
Market dominance
Stern controls 90 percent of the current pinball market with new license releases cementing its position.
“at any given time, stern controls 90 percent of the current pinball market, and everybody else splits the rest”
Homebrew boom
Homebrew projects and hobbyist designs are growing rapidly with new tools for creating custom pinball machines.
Stern's latest release
Stern's new Fallout pinball game stands near the entrance of the convention floor with other major manufacturers.
Virtual reality experiments
Several companies showed virtual reality pinball setups with physical controls for tactile play.
Multimorphic P3 system
Multimorphic's P3 system uses a swappable playfield with real-time game changes based on player choices.
“the way the p3 is designed is that the lower two-thirds is a ball-tracking interactive display… we have floating mechanisms above the screen floating flippers floating slings floating targets. and the upper third is a swappable play field. weve got 10 different play fields now that we can swap and change the entire game”
Dungeon Crawler Carl
Dungeon Crawler Carl will enter production at the end of the year with seven book-based pinball games.
“we're planning on doing seven books in the game… you can play them in any order you want”
Pocket Pinball
Pocket Pinball is a free Android app that lets users load any Visual Pinball X table on their phone.
Homebrew highlights
Homebrew projects like Shaolin Flow and Akira-themed machines are gaining popularity with new tools.
Project Pinball charity
Project Pinball raises money to place pinball machines in children's hospitals.
Pinball Expo's diversity
The expo features retro games, custom accessories, and homebrew projects alongside major manufacturers.
Future of pinball
More manufacturers and homebrew developers are creating pinball games across different regions and platforms.
The big picture
Stern controls 90% of pinball market while homebrew projects and modular systems like Multimorphic's P3 expand the industry.
