diff --git a/codeGenVirtual/src/prog8/codegen/virtual/ExpressionGen.kt b/codeGenVirtual/src/prog8/codegen/virtual/ExpressionGen.kt
index 9c105a9e9..4d55977d2 100644
--- a/codeGenVirtual/src/prog8/codegen/virtual/ExpressionGen.kt
+++ b/codeGenVirtual/src/prog8/codegen/virtual/ExpressionGen.kt
@@ -85,12 +85,14 @@ internal class ExpressionGen(private val codeGen: CodeGen) {
             return when (segment) {
                 is PtFunctionCall -> {
                     val segWithArg = PtFunctionCall(segment.functionName, segment.void, segment.type, segment.position)
-                    segWithArg.children.add(0, PtMachineRegister(sourceReg, sourceDt, segment.position))
+                    segWithArg.children.add(PtMachineRegister(sourceReg, sourceDt, segment.position))
+                    segWithArg.children.addAll(segment.args)
                     segWithArg
                 }
                 is PtBuiltinFunctionCall -> {
                     val segWithArg = PtBuiltinFunctionCall(segment.name, segment.void, segment.hasNoSideEffects, segment.type, segment.position)
-                    segWithArg.children.add(0, PtMachineRegister(sourceReg, sourceDt, segment.position))
+                    segWithArg.children.add(PtMachineRegister(sourceReg, sourceDt, segment.position))
+                    segWithArg.children.addAll(segment.args)
                     segWithArg
                 }
                 else -> throw AssemblyError("weird segment type")
diff --git a/compiler/src/prog8/compiler/astprocessing/AstChecker.kt b/compiler/src/prog8/compiler/astprocessing/AstChecker.kt
index ca5240684..b0cdcc416 100644
--- a/compiler/src/prog8/compiler/astprocessing/AstChecker.kt
+++ b/compiler/src/prog8/compiler/astprocessing/AstChecker.kt
@@ -1132,6 +1132,14 @@ internal class AstChecker(private val program: Program,
             throw FatalAstException("pipe is missing one or more expressions")
         if(pipe.segments.any { it !is IFunctionCall })
             throw FatalAstException("pipe segments can only be function calls")
+
+        if(compilerOptions.compTarget !is VMTarget) {
+            pipe.segments.forEach {
+                it as IFunctionCall
+                if (it.args.size > 0)
+                    errors.err("only unary functions supported in pipe expressions for now", it.position)
+            }
+        }
     }
 
     override fun visit(postIncrDecr: PostIncrDecr) {
diff --git a/compiler/test/TestPipes.kt b/compiler/test/TestPipes.kt
index d82023ad8..c60099b4b 100644
--- a/compiler/test/TestPipes.kt
+++ b/compiler/test/TestPipes.kt
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ import prog8.code.target.C64Target
 import prog8.compiler.astprocessing.AstPreprocessor
 import prog8.parser.Prog8Parser.parseModule
 import prog8.code.core.SourceCode
+import prog8.code.target.VMTarget
 import prog8tests.helpers.*
 
 
@@ -473,4 +474,39 @@ class TestPipes: FunSpec({
         errors.errors[1] shouldContain ":7:42: invalid number of arguments"
         errors.errors[2] shouldContain ":7:56: invalid number of arguments"
     }
+
+    test("non-unary funcions in pipe ok for target virtual") {
+        val text = """
+            main {
+                sub start() {
+                    uword @shared wvalue = add(3,4) |> add(48) |> mkword(234)
+                }
+                sub add(ubyte first, ubyte second) -> ubyte {
+                    return first+second
+                }
+            }"""
+        val errors = ErrorReporterForTests()
+        val result = compileText(VMTarget(), optimize = false, text, writeAssembly = true, errors=errors)!!
+        errors.errors.size shouldBe 0
+        errors.warnings.size shouldBe 0
+        result.program.entrypoint.statements.size shouldBe 3
+    }
+
+    test("non-unary funcions in pipe not yet ok for other targets") {
+        // NOTE: once other targets also support this, merge this into the test above
+        val text = """
+            main {
+                sub start() {
+                    uword @shared wvalue = add(3,4) |> add(48) |> mkword(234)
+                }
+                sub add(ubyte first, ubyte second) -> ubyte {
+                    return first+second
+                }
+            }"""
+        val errors = ErrorReporterForTests()
+        compileText(C64Target(), optimize = false, text, writeAssembly = true, errors=errors) shouldBe null
+        errors.errors.size shouldBe 2
+        errors.errors[0] shouldContain "only unary"
+        errors.errors[1] shouldContain "only unary"
+    }
 })
diff --git a/examples/test.p8 b/examples/test.p8
index a17b0cd6b..3992c3880 100644
--- a/examples/test.p8
+++ b/examples/test.p8
@@ -16,9 +16,14 @@ main {
     }
 
     sub start() {
+        ; TODO: test with builtin function using multiple args (such as mkword)
         ubyte source=99
         ubyte value = add(3,4) |> add(10) |> mul(2) |> math.sin8u()     ; TODO should not work yet on vm codegen, but it compiles.... :/
         txt.print_ub(value)
+        txt.nl()
+        uword wvalue = add(3,4) |> add($30) |> mkword($ea)
+        txt.print_uwhex(wvalue, true)
+        txt.nl()
 
         ; expected output: aaabbb aaa bbb