48 replies to this topic

[PorkChop63]

Hi everyone,

 

I’ve been working on RetroPinJuke, a free Windows jukebox for virtual pinball cabinets, and wanted to share it with the community. Totally free - although there is a donate button to buy me a coffee if you like!

 

The idea is to give your cabinet another use between games: pick some music videos, tune into internet radio, and enjoy a classic jukebox interface on your playfield.

It includes:

• YouTube music videos and internet radio
• Decades, genres, search, favourites, queues and Auto DJ
• Separate playfield, backglass and DMD displays, or a single-screen setup
• Configurable cabinet buttons, keyboard and gamepad controls
• PinUP Popper integration, with launch instructions and downloadable wheel artwork

You can try the radio mode without a YouTube API key. Music videos require your own key, and the website includes a step-by-step guide.

It runs on Windows 10/11, 64-bit, with installer and portable editions. It’s free to download and use.

 

Download RetroPinJuke, see screenshots and read the setup guide

 

A quick heads-up: the Windows builds are currently unsigned, so Chrome or Windows may show a download/publisher warning. The download page explains this and includes SHA-256 checksums.

 

Does your cabinet already have a jukebox setup? I’d be interested to hear what you use, or how RetroPinJuke works on your cabinet. Feedback and setup questions are welcome!

Edited by vpforumchop, 15 October 2026 - 09:16 AM.

[Breadbox64]

Unbeliveable, just a few days ago I had the idea to ask if anyone here could workout something like that. But I didn't found a proper section to post that request. Because of optical reasons I tend to a separate build, that looks like a jukebox, but the basics are the same. The VPX engine seems ideal for a jukebox build as it delivers everything needed. So a big THANK YOU for that!

 

I didn't tested your program right now, so here come a few questions and wishes.

My idea was to have one screen displaying a video of the jukebox mechanics. Like a record is played during playback of a song and hopefully even something like a rotating record storage wheel between the tracks... You do know, all the stuff a real jukebox does and that is visible behind the glass at many older models. to get an video file shouldn't be very difficult, but to make it show the right sequence in the right moments is a different story. You will need to set the triggers for all the different video sequences. Is that even possible? But to me to see the working mechanics is what makes a jukebox to an jukebox. That is the reason I always disliked the newer jukeboxes where all the working mechanism is hidden behind title displays. Many times before i was thinking about to convert an old wallhanger slotmachine into a MP3 jukebox, but i always resisted because I thought it would be lame.

[PorkChop63]

Hi Breadbox,

So currently it doesn't do what you describe exactly with the mechanics but I'm pretty pleased with it. There are two modes of operation:

 

1. You get a list of tracks - when you play the backglass will play the video (all of this is driven by YouTube) Essentially what you have is a video jukebox. When a track is finished it will play the next one from the visible selection cards. This means you can add favourites and then show all favourites from a specific artist and all the tracks will auto play.

2. You can also stream radio stations. The backglass in this case will show the album art of the currently playing song if the station makes this data available - most of them do.

 

I wanted to make this easy to use with a pinball cabinet - so you can use just three buttons to navigate easily through the menus (left, right and action) definable from the setup menu.

 

And of course the most annoying thing I found when setting up a cabinet was the screen rotations and so on which always seems to screw up, so this is totally configurable. You can have one screen, two screens and DMD rotate each one separately and it works really simply.

 

Anyhow I encourage you to try it out, its totally free no strings attached. There's even a portable version so you don't even need to install anything.

 

Of course any feedback is very welcome!

[alessandro1971]

Hello, thank you very much for your beautiful software.

Is there a way to play mp3 files saved in a folder on the HD of my VirtualPinball?

If that's not possible, do you think you could implement this feature?

Thanks and congratulations

[PorkChop63]

Hi Alessandro,

 

Yes you can play local MP3 files in v1.0.69 I have just updated.

Go into the setup menu and select your MP3 files folder, it will then show a new button to play MP3 files.

 

 

It will read the ID3 tags in the files and categorise the artists.

 

 

 

[floyd5]

Hi,
very cool programm. Thank you.
I will defintiv try out on my cab
Basic question: is it legal to play youtube videos with usage of the API-Key feature?
I tried it on my pc and this is fantastic. Very fast!
Best
Hartmut

Edited by floyd5, 18 October 2026 - 08:31 AM.

[PorkChop63]

Hi Floyd

 

Basic question: is it legal to play youtube videos with usage of the API-Key feature?

Yes it is 100% legal, it uses the official YouTube API (this is why you need to enter your own API  key). The only restriction is it must show the YouTube video window - which it does. Obviously it works better if you have a Premium account which removes adverts.

 

[floyd5]

Hi,

That's great news   
I've already integrated it into Pinup Popper, and it works great! Thank you so much!
Just a small request: Is there a way to better configure the DMD window? The track info appears here, and it has a light-colored background, which is a bit distracting. Would it be possible to invert it so the text is light-colored?

Best regards,
Hartmut

[beertent123]

This looks very cool. Im gonna do a setup for sure Thanks.

 

Loaded the portable to see, its very nice. I did notice you can see how many songs are queued,

is it possible to see what songs are queued?

My cab is offline so would be using the local drive.

Edited by beertent123, 18 October 2026 - 07:27 PM.

[PorkChop63]

Version 1.0.74 is on the website for download now.

 

As requested:

DMD - configurable colours and fonts (Dot matrix / system font etc)

Queued tracks are displayed on the backglass ticker at the bottom of the screen - also adds badges 1/2/3 on the cards indicating position in the queue,  and these are reshuffled / sorted to indicate playing order.

Note the portable version takes a couple of seconds to boot up (its uncompressing libraries) if you need an instant startup - use the installer.

 

[floyd5]

Wow, thats fast response.
How to update? Overwrite and save the config before?

[PorkChop63]

Wow, thats fast response.
How to update? Overwrite and save the config before?

Rerun the installer. It will remember your settings no need to save anything.

v1.0.81 I have added a bunch of visualisation options as well.

Edited by PorkChop63, 19 October 2026 - 09:01 PM.

[beertent123]

Wow impressive stuff here its very well done.

 

Thanks for the next up and the visualisations they are a great touch.

[beertent123]

So far so good for me, going great on my desktop. I love the Vintage HiFi skin.

Would it be possible to have that skin showing during youtube play? 

Thanks for this its needed to keep the man caves alive

Edited by beertent123, 23 October 2026 - 02:10 AM.

[PorkChop63]

So far so good for me, going great on my desktop. I love the Vintage HiFi skin.
Would it be possible to have that skin showing during youtube play? 
Thanks for this its needed to keep the man caves alive

As previously mentioned, YouTube prohibits playing music without the YouTube video window showing.

It maybe possible to have a tiny crt type screen on the hifi skin somewhere, I'll see what I can do.

[beertent123]

The search window is awesome but i think the font is too small for the letter selection.

Is it possible to limit the search in youtube to only find audio tracks not video?

Also when you use the radio feature i notice a button for more stations which works.

Is it possible to add a button for more song titles when you click a genre using youtube now just loads around 30 to 50 cards.

Im loving this btw ty.

[floyd5]

Hi,

 

Your program is really well done.

I've integrated it into PinupPopper and it works well.

However, I'm having trouble when I try to enter search terms. When I use a keyboard, I run into problems with the pre-assigned keys, since the Shift key and other keys trigger actions.

Using the search field with the keys is very tedious.

Here’s an idea: Why not use the same function as in Highscore instead of the keyboard field? Cycle through the letters using the pinball buttons and confirm with Start. That’s what people are used to with pinball, and it uses the same buttons.

I haven’t quite figured out yet how to find other content in the genres. But I’m sure I’ll figure it out ;-)

Thank you very much for the great work!

 

Best regards,

Hartmut

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

[beertent123]

@floyd5 you have to edit the genre in the settings panel.

what it searches for is in the quotes.

add a new line with your search inside quotes, in the genre to expand the search.

Edited by beertent123, 24 October 2026 - 01:57 PM.

[floyd5]

@floyd5 you have to edit the genre in the settings panel.

what it searches for is in the quotes.

add a new line with your search inside quotes, in the genre to expand the search.

thanks ;-)

[beertent123]

I use a mouse in desktop with great success. Left click plays a selection right click queues, thats perfect. Adding a favourite though requires the keyboard.

Is it possible to maybe long right click to add as favourite or a scroll click? all suggestions of course.

I can control the entire software with the mouse except add a fav

a clear queue button somewhere other than the settings would tidy the next up if needed.

Edited by beertent123, 24 October 2026 - 02:34 PM.