Pin Money Demo v0.9.0: What's New
I've been busy improving the demo for Pin Money over the last 2/3 weeks, based on feedback that I've received from you, the community. A heartfelt thanks goes to those who have tried the demo, and to those who provided feedback. I listen to all feedback, however small, so don't hesitate to get in touch if you find any bugs, want a feature, or just want to say hello.
Here are the fixes:
Bowling & aiming
Reworked the aim minigame into a real skill check: faster cursor, tighter strike pocket. Timing now matters.
Aim upgrades rebuilt into two paths: Steady Hand slows the cursor, and the new Wide Pocket widens the strike zone. Tough to start, but easier as you upgrade.
Hook Ball: a new early upgrade that curves the ball into the pocket.
Increased the average pins per roll in the early game, so you should see more pins knocked down early in your playthroughs
Gold Pins are now set randomly after each frame, rather than being permanently placed in the same position throughout the playthrough.
Bowling should feel a little more physics-based, rather than programmatic.
HUD & presentation
Full bowling-scene HUD restyle: neon boxes for the day, timer, loadout, auto, pause and scoreboard.
Redesigned lane indicators and a restyled aim bar.
The READY indicator now pulses when you can bowl.
Hover the day's modifier chip to see exactly what it does.
Cleaner shop/skill tree: single centred tab bar, refreshed panel styling, clearer affordable-vs-locked node contrast.
More licks of paint here and there to enhance clarity and to match the game's aesthetic.
Quality of life & fixes
Smoother skill-tree zoom.
Sub-dollar idle income display, instead of rounding to the nearest dollar.
Auto-bowl now states that it's not great to start with in the tutorial (upgrades to the Auto feature are included in the full game)
Removed some distracting end-of-day flash text.
Re-wrote some of the upgrade effects so it's clearer what they effect.
Faster music transitions which fixes the small stutter/lag issue when a music changes track.
Increased the contrast between what upgrades are affordable and what's not in the skill tree.
Expanded tutorial coverage.
Tweaked the enf-of-day summary to be more obvious and vibrant, rather than it being a standard text string.
Fixed a bug where, sometimes, three balls could be thrown in a single frame.
Fixed a bug where playing in certain resolutions would cause the upgrade stars to break onto 2 rows.
Fixed and issue where Pin Explosion burn makr artifacts were layered on top of pins.
UI text updated across all 12 languages.
Pin Money [Full game]
As well as all of the above, I've been making strides with the full game. Here's a sneak preview into some features that will appear in the full game which releases on 13th August 2026:
Tournament mode: A 10-tier knockout bracket against rival bowlers where you can earn trophies.
"New Season" prestige: A new prestige system with an additional trophy tree system
Franchise endgame: expand into new bowling alleys across US cities. That's all for now. Enjoy the new features and fixes in the demo, and don't forget to wish the game.