The Coin Game News

[p][/p][p][/p][h2]To celebrate the up-coming launch on March 19th, we've put together a giveaway for you to enter![/h2][p][/p][h2]This time, you don't need to collect five cards to win this Dunko 🦆[/h2][h2][/h2][p][/p][p][/p][h3]"But how do I enter the giveaway?" We hear you ask. It's easy:[/h3][p][/p][h3]All you need to do is follow the link here and complete at least one of the activations. [/h3][p][/p][h3]The more activations you complete, the more likely you are to win! [/h3][p][/p][h3]The giveaway starts today and ends on Thursday 26th March.[/h3][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]*Terms and conditions apply. However, the eligibility for the Competition is only for those who are 18 years and above of age as of the date of entry. To enter the Competition you must be a resident of North America and Europe (excluding Russia and Ukraine). This Competition is not open to all residents Worldwide. We may ask you to submit proof of your eligibility to the Competition. The Competition is void where prohibited by law. Employees, independent contractors, interns, officers, directors, and agents of Kwalee Ltd. (the “Sponsor“) their respective affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising and promotion agencies, suppliers and their immediate family members and/or those living in the same household of each are not eligible to participate in the Competition. The Competition is subject to all applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p]

[p][/p][h2]March 19th, 2026![/h2][p][/p][p]Save the date! THE COIN GAME V.1.0 WILL BE RELEASED! [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]I am happy to announce that the long road to 1.0 has come to an end. The Coin Game is coming to PC and Consoles on March 19th, 2026! [/p][p][/p][p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][/p][p][/p][p]Released on Steam Early Access in 2019, The Coin Game was a tiny idea I had pitched to Steam Green Light. After a few months of gathering votes it passed. I was blown away that others liked the idea of a small town arcade time waster. Here we are almost 7 years later and now with a rock solid new foundation to build into the future on! [/p][p][/p][p]Fresh new whips...[/p][p][/p][p]Fresh new locations...[/p][p][/p][p]Lets look back at where we came from...[/p][p][/p][p]This is the map back in 2018: (One small location with 6 machines)[/p][p][/p][p]This is the map from Today: (Now with over 150 Machines and games!)[/p][p][/p][p]Coming March 19th this 1.0 release comes with a range of optimizations, updates, new content and all new Survivor Mode adventures. The new version even comes with a couple new vehicles to relive your favorite cruising pass times of the 90s.[/p][p][/p][p]SuperKart:[/p][p][/p][p]New Transporter system: (Survivor mode fast travel unlockable system)[/p][p][/p][p]with more info to come... Stay tuned to our socials, turn on whatever notifications you got because we will be releasing more info over the next couple of weeks. So be ready to waste some time Islandville style![/p][p][/p][p]Gary and Nanny Bot are ready to go![/p][p][/p][p]As always... Thank you VERY MUCH for all of your wonderful support of The Coin Game and I will see you soon in 1.0![/p][p]Kevin[/p]

[p]Hello Islandvillers![/p][p]I just wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from my family to yours! I hope you hit ALL the Jackpots and Bonuses in 2026![/p][p]I wanted to say how THANKFUL I am to ALL of our players and supporters for giving me the opportunity of a lifetime. From starting out in Steam Early Access over 8 years ago with a silly idea to now progressing to multiple gaming platforms coming in 2026 and also coming soon to more than a dozen new languages, The Coin Game has far exceeded all of my expectations. So for making that happen, again I am forever grateful to EVERY player, streamer, reviewer and new friend I have made along the way for making that happen. THANK YOU.[/p][p]I also want to thank Kwalee for giving me a wonderful platform/team to build this amazing place. I have spent the entire last year of my life working with new members and teams that are completely dedicated to fixing, rebuilding and upgrading The Coin Game for its real 1.0 launch into the world. THANK YOU.[/p][p]And Last... I have said this before and I will say it again.... because it is killing me to not be able to release new content for the last 8 months. I never in a million years thought I would be rebuilding the entire game behind the scenes from scratch... but I am now glad that we did. Its amazing. We are now in the final "beta testing" stages after 8 months of work. We are almost there. After the new year I will be back with some more pics and info about the coming changes and new content. Until then, If you celebrate... I wish you all the most wonderful holiday wishes! [/p][p]Side note: I AM SO SORRY for not being able to turn on the Christmas lights and snow this year during the construction in Islandville. The game was in a hundred pieces and thrown all over the shop at that time. haha. The new versions of the game were simply not done in time for the Holidays this year. The Christmas cheer will return EVEN BIGGER AND BETTER for 2026. You have my word on that. I have put Barry on a XMAS CHEER committee and he will be raising more donations from the bots for more lights and cheer. Lots of lights. Lot of cheer. [/p][p]I love you all. Tell your friends and family that you love them. Maybe even go to an arcade with them this Holiday season and then tell the Arcade that The Coin Game sent you. We must support them or we will lose them. [/p][p]See you all in 26'.[/p][p]Kevin[/p]

[h3]Grab those cheesy poofs, get comfy on the sofa, and tune into this mini behind the scenes with devotid![/h3]

[h3]This week, we’ll be looking at the iconic DUNKO machine 🦆[/h3]



Which real life machine inspired the idea of the DUNKO coin pusher?

When I was around 10 I lived in a small town that would host a traveling carnival. I only lived about a block away from the park so I would ride my bike there every summer. They had a couple traveling trailers full of “shady” coin pushers. They were the older wooden pushers that you could pause the game and load em up for a good push. I would play them for hours and annoy the workers so much that they would send me away to the local party store for snacks and made up orders. I loved them as I felt like I was “in control”. All the other games required fighter pilot precision, popeye throwing arm or just straight up luck. The coin pushers were a way for me to get the prizes I wanted… but it took time. Lots and lots of time but as a 9 year old kid in a small town, one thing I had was lots of time. Haha.

Where did the name DUNKO come from?

It was inspired by the “PLINKO” game on The TV show “The Price Is Right”. I mean.. Who didn’t love that game?. Very early on when I prototyped the gameboard for the Dunko coin pusher I thought a “plinko inspired” theme would be fun to drop coins into and it would add a little to the first step of the game. Making it a little harder to “aim” your shot. The interior of Dunko was supposed to be a spin on the old “water/oil” filled hand held games of the 70-80’s. I put a bunch of bubbles inside to try to make it look like it was full of water. But when I put actual water textures in there it just felt too silly. Hence the bubbles magically floating in air now. Things sometimes work funny on islandville.

PLINKO on The Price is Right

What is your favourite arcade memory of the machine that inspired DUNKO?

The Dunko coin pusher’s gameboard was one of the first physics systems I built in Unity back in 08-09 when I was just getting started. I basically started my game dev journey with just that main machine. I went on to create a couple other games in other genres and then one day I opened up that old project to play with some physics ideas and The Coin Game was born.

When making the DUNKO machine, did you know that you wanted it to be in Larry’s Arcade originally?

Originally the game was just going to be inside Larry’s Arcade. It had a small parking lot with a tall fence around it. It was about 5% of the size of the current island. Early on I was just focusing on getting more machines into the game and thought the single location would be enough. Then one night I was playing with a tool called “Gaia” (back then it was a new Unity Asset for building huge realistic terrains). I was having a blast generating random islands and mountains in another test project and then it hit me. Why not have a bunch of arcades and cool stuff from that same era?

A very early DUNKO build!

How long did the DUNKO machine take to create in game?

About 3 years… hahah. If you count the time the original prototype sat on my hard drive when I was working on D Series Off Road Simulation and RC Simulation 2.0. But to be serious, once I was committed full time on The Coin Game I would say it was about 2 months to finish it up. An average machine in the game takes about 1-2 months to complete. I start with the model, texture, add physics, create game logic and then add score keeping with leaderboards. I finish with lots and lots of play testing and tweaking.

The early build to the iconic machine in game!

Now we ask you, Islandvillers…what is/was YOUR favourite game at the arcade? We would love to hear your answers in our Steam Discussions! Follow the link here to join our dev diary discussion of the week.

[h3]Peel your eyes away from the TV for a bit and take a look at this instead![/h3]

[h3]👾 The Coin Game now has a shiny new trailer, letting you know that 1.0 will be coming in early 2026 👾[/h3]

Old Frankie even tuned into The Winter OTK Games Expo to check it out: he thinks he’s famous now.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

We know this has been a long time coming, and we thank you for your continued support of The Coin Game throughout the Early Access period. It’s been a real ride!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/598980/The_Coin_Game/

Alright, you can get back to your regular scheduled broadcast now - I’m sure you’ve heard enough of me yapping!

Sarah @ Kwalee