Episode 369: Eight Ball Beyond
Sean Irby has given us a homebrew that takes the Eight Ball series of pinball machines to the next level. Eight Ball Beyond is delighting those who get to flip it in the NorthWest...and soon at Expo...
Highlights
- Sean Irby started the 8-Ball Beyond project in 2019 after quitting his job with savings to pursue homebrew pinball design.
- Sean scrapped his initial 2019 layout in early 2020 and started over with a simpler design focused on 8-Ball game lineage.
- The game features custom-designed clear ball stand-up targets using resin casting and pop rivet fastening to existing target switches.
- 8-Ball Beyond includes player-controlled multi-cue mechanics allowing flipper-button selection of target bank shots.
- Sean learned Fusion 360 and Blender software, spending about a month and a half learning Fusion 360 through YouTube tutorials.
- The project cost at least as much as a brand-new Stern pinball machine in parts and tools.
- 8-Ball Beyond is currently on location at Atta Ball in Fremont neighborhood Seattle.
- Sean plans to bring 8-Ball Beyond to Pinball Expo Chicago in October after completing playfield work over the summer.
Notable quotes
“I rushed into putting a layout together without really taking my time in the beginning to come up with a theme, to come up with a concept and have that inform the layout that I was making.”
“I think you come to a lot of points of indecision in a design, and it's great to have a theme to be your guiding light.”
“I think players find it really challenging and it keeps them trying again. I think people are a little bit surprised at the amount of depth in the game from all this flipper selection that's involved and the strategy needed to blow it up.”
“The skill shot phase is one that people mention a lot just because you have to choose your shot with your left flipper and then choose the award that you get with your right flipper... It's just overwhelming a little bit for some people.”
“I set out making this with the goal to do it as professionally as I could. I wanted it to be reproducible. That was mostly to put my name out there and say, like, hey, I can do this too.”
“It's because of people like you that make people want to do better. You never want to see the same old, same old.”
Entities
- Pinball Expo Chicago· event
- 8-Ball Beyond· game
- Metroid pinball· game
- Atta Ball· organization
- FAST Pinball Slack· organization
- Multimorphic Slack· organization
- Trident Pinball Discord· organization
- Ashley Weaver· person
- Jeff Teolis· person
- Keith Elwin· person
- Scott Denise· person
- Scott Gullick· person
- Sean Irby· person
- Blender· product
- Fusion 360· product
More from Pinball Profile
→ All content from Pinball Profile
Episode 439: Emily Reilhan
Talk about a banner year…and it’s only June! Emily has won everything under the sun so far in 2026 as you’ll hear, including the Women’s World Championship, the WNACS, the first ever Women’s...
Episode 438: David Morris of Phantom Amusement
If you’re ever in Manitoba, Canada, check out their growing pinball scene. David talks about the birth of the creating a pinball environment with the Manitoba Pinball League, the MPC, his arcade...
Episode 437: The Pinball Capital’s Francis Wisniewski
Good luck this weekend with the Grand Opening, including a Roger Sharpe appearance, a signed Bank Shot machine giveaway and more! Find out about this huge arcade in Stone Park, Illinois, and hear how...