Remember Space Cadet Pinball? Here’s Why It Disappeared from Windows

In the old days, Microsoft Windows came with free games like Spider Solitaire and Space Cadet Pinball. In the case of the latter, here’s why it disappeared in modern PCs.

The Disappearance of Space Cadet Pinball

If you used a Windows PC in the 90s and early 2000s, I’m sure you’ve come across Space Cadet Pinball. After all, the game is free and is included in every copy of WIndows OS, making it easy to pass the time with the game trying to rack up that high score. Then one fine day, the game just disappeared into thin air.

The introduction of Windows XP was the beginning of the end for Space Cadet Pinball, with some of the reasons being cited here is the move from 32-bit to 64-bit version of Windows, according to Windows developer Raymond Chen. However, this didn’t make sense as there is legitimately a 64-bit version of the game, so what gives?

After some research, we came across a YouTube channel with the name NCommander, who had a similar goal of finding out the truth behind the disappearance of the game. Surely enough, the move to 64-bit isn’t the nail in the coffin for the game as the 64-bit version of the game only had some graphical bugs at worst.

NCommander found that the game simply became too outdated for new technology. Space Cadet Pinball was actually developed by another company and later purchased by Microsoft. This would point towards Microsoft shelving the game as they didn’t have the rights to it anymore, or chose not to spend money / time on further development for the game.

Today, gaming has advanced so far ahead with hyper-realistic graphics and gameplay we could only dream of decades ago. Having this game return today would make it feel so out of place. If one simply wants to play pinball, there are plenty of alternatives out there, even on your browser. However, nothing will compare to the lights and sounds from this specific game that enriched our lives growing up.

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Pokdepinion: I’ve seen some ridiculous pinball games over the years, from realistic ones to the ones with crazy physics. I still find it funny that I’ll always want to come back to Space Cadet Pinball in spite of all that.