Four Months, Zero Code Experience, and a Best in Show Win: The Greatest Showman

Sometimes the best pinball stories start with a simple confession: "If I can do it, anybody can."

That's Lisa Sue Jones talking about coding her first pinball machine. Four months before Pinball Expo 2024, she'd never written a single line of code. By show time, she and her husband Jeffrey brought The Greatest Showman to the homebrew showcase — a fully realized Mission Pinball Framework game running on FAST boards, complete with movie clips, custom callouts, and a rule set that walks players through the magic of the film.

Out of 40 homebrews at the show, they won Best in Show.

"We were honored," Jeffrey says. "It was amazing."

From Restoration to Creation

The Jones family owns about 15 pinball machines. Jeffrey's been doing high-end restorations for a decade, making machines gorgeous. But restoration was his hobby — they'd never worked on a pinball project together.

"We play," Lisa Sue explains. "We don't really work on pinball together. This was the first time we've ever done a pinball project together, and it was a lot of fun."

Jeffrey laughs. "It was frustrating at times."

Lisa Sue grins. "It wasn't a lot of fun."

But here's what changed: they came to Expo multiple times, saw what the homebrew community was doing, and thought — we want to join in.

The theme? That part was easy. "We just really love the movie," Lisa Sue says. "It came out in 2017, and I think I saw it 6 or 7 times in the theater. I loved it so much."

Lisa Sue begged Jeffrey to build The Greatest Showman. He finally agreed — but only when she figured out the rules. Jeffrey knew he could make the machine beautiful. That's what he does. But pinball needs more than beauty. It needs a ruleset. It needs a game.

"I said, all right, we need to sit down and discuss the rules," Jeffrey recalls. "And she said, 'We don't have to do that. That's way down the line.' I'm like, no. The playfield will have words and numbers and things that need to mean something."

Learning to Code in Four Months

Lisa Sue had never touched code before. But she dove into Mission Pinball Framework — and discovered a community eager to help.

"Mission Pinball Framework was very complicated at first," Lisa Sue says. "But there's a wonderful community. Anybody who wants to do this, do it, because we'll all help. And we all share our code with each other, which helps because looking at other people's code is very helpful."

That's how knowledge spreads in homebrew pinball. One person figures something out, shares it, and the next builder gets a head start. Rising tides lift all ships.

Production-Ready Polish

The Greatest Showman isn't a white wood. It's not "almost done." Jeffrey and Lisa Sue set out to make something that looked like it rolled off a production floor — and they succeeded.

The base is a Whirlwind geometry — but that's where the similarity ends. New boards. New wiring. Completely different rule set. All the music and movie clips come straight from the film. Voice actor Jeff Tarloss recorded custom callouts. Artists Alexi Cotton and Jay French handled the artwork, with Jay doing about 80% of the visuals.

Five Challenges, One Wizard Mode

The gameplay centers around five initial challenges listed on the left side of the screen. Complete them, and you unlock Challenges Multiball. After that, the wizard mode opens up: collect the circus oddities for a final six-ball multiball.

"We like games that you can walk up to and figure out how to play," Lisa Sue explains. "So our screen tells you what you've done. If you've done two of something and you need ten, it's very obvious what you need to do."

Smart design. The screen guides you. No guessing. No mystery. Just clear goals and satisfying progress.

During the interview, Isaiah from MPT3K stacked all three multiballs at once, finishing the challenges while balls were flying everywhere. "It all started happening at once," he said afterward. "And it felt really good to play."

Representation Matters

Here's why this story matters beyond the build itself: pinball has traditionally been a male-dominated space. Seeing Lisa Sue step into coding, game design, and rule creation — and win Best in Show — opens doors and minds.

"Typically pinball is really like a dudes sport," Manu from MPT3K says. "It really makes me happy to have you working on this game because I feel like we need more representation from all genders to add their ideas to this kinetic game that we call pinball."

Lisa Sue's advice? "I think I'm the poster child for Mission Pinball because I don't know anything about code. But I was able to do that. So do it."

The Heart of Homebrew

Jeffrey and Lisa Sue didn't just build a game. They built something together — navigating the learning curve, the frustrations, the triumphs, and the community support that makes homebrew pinball possible.

"The community is great," Lisa Sue says. "All the community."

That's the spirit that keeps the silverball spinning. Builders sharing code. Veterans offering feedback. People solving problems together. Every pin that rolls out of a garage or workshop is proof that pinball's future is in good hands — not just in boardrooms, but in basements, garages, and game rooms around the world.

Want to see The Greatest Showman in action? The machine tours with the Jones family to pinball shows, spreading the message that if they can do it — you can too.

🎥 Watch the full interview to hear Jeffrey and Lisa Sue talk through their build process, design philosophy, and what it took to go from zero code experience to Best in Show in four months.

Building your own game? Marco has the parts, tools, and community connections to help you bring your dream machine to life. Check out this blog post for more info on how and where to get started: https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts-blog/homebrew-loot-crates

Awards

Pinball Expo 2024 — Best in Show (out of 40 homebrew machines)

Texas Pinball Festival 2025 - Best Custom Game

🎙️ Listen to Jeffrey and Lisa Sue on Pinball Profile Episode 409 for the full interview about their build process and what it took to create The Greatest Showman.