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1995 - 2007
3D Pinball: Space Cadet
“Ball lost. Insert another lunch break.”
- Birth year
- 1995
- Shutdown year
- 2007
- Lifespan
- 12 years
- Peak era
- 2001-2006
- Company
- Cinematronics / Maxis / Microsoft
- Category
- Games
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What Was It?
3D Pinball for Windows – Space Cadet was the game hidden in the Games folder of countless school, office and family computers. It was a single table taken from Full Tilt! Pinball, a 1995 game by Cinematronics and Maxis, licensed to Microsoft for the Plus! pack and later bundled with Windows itself.
Players launched the ball, worked through missions, and climbed ranks from Cadet towards Fleet Admiral, usually with the volume turned down and one eye on the door.
Windows Vista arrived in 2007 without it. Microsoft engineers later explained that a bug in the 64-bit version had been part of the reason it was left out, and Space Cadet became one of the most missed parts of older Windows.
Things You Probably Forgot
- Promotions from Cadet to Fleet Admiral
- Holding the space bar just long enough on the plunger
- Nudging the table and tilting it anyway
- Playing it on every computer that had Windows XP
The Story
- 1995 Full Tilt! Pinball was released and its Space Cadet table licensed to Microsoft for Plus!
- 1998 The game was included on the Windows 98 CD.
- 2001 Windows XP shipped with 3D Pinball in the Games folder.
- 2007 Windows Vista was released without it.
How It Died
Space Cadet was no longer included with Windows from Windows Vista in 2007 onwards, after problems porting it to 64-bit versions of Windows.
What Replaced It?
Memories
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