Some games are almost as much a part of Windows as the taskbar or the infamous blue screen. Seriously, nobody can deny the impact and legacy of games like Minesweeper, Solitaire, FreeCell, and Space Cadet Pinball (sometimes called 3D Pinball, Pinball 95, or Full Tilt! Pinball).
From Windows 95 to XP, Space Cadet was part of the experience when you got a new Windows PC and wanted to play around with it, and it came in clutch when you were bored and just wanted to kill some time between appointments or to pass the day.
The very same game is now available as an Android app in the Google Play Store, completely free just like it was back then. The same look, the same gameplay, everything the same. The perfect nostalgia trip.
Reddit user ksylvestre shared this in the Android subreddit and is apparently also the one who brought the app to the Play Store. Check out the original thread where he assures everyone that the game is being offered completely without ads, in-app purchases, or other annoyances that are common in modern games.
How to play Space Cadet Pinball
Once you’ve downloaded the game for free from the Google Play Store, you can get started right away. The controls are slightly different on a smartphone than on a Windows PC, of course, and now you have to tap the edge of the screen to press the pinball buttons.
Excitingly, the developer has also built in a leaderboard for high scores. This means you can compete with other players and try to score the most points. The game has already been downloaded over 50,000 times.
Why is Space Cadet Pinball no longer available on Windows PCs?
Even though I was born in ’97, I can still remember playing Space Cadet Pinball on my first computer, which was running Windows XP at the time. The cult classic game has accompanied Windows users for several generations, but can no longer be found on Windows 10 or 11.
The developer Ncommander revealed the reason for this in a YouTube video about three years ago. According to the video, the internal switch from AXP to Itanium in Windows Vista caused compatibility errors, which is why Pinball wasn’t implemented. It was only through a later add-on that the game was reintroduced into the operating system.
From Windows 7 onwards, however, the developers at Microsoft no longer considered Space Cadet Pinball to be up to date. The low-quality resolution and the game’s “low value” for younger users finally delivered the death blow to the game, at least officially.
You can still play the game for free on GitHub, and now also as an app on your smartphone to indulge in a little nostalgia.