Skip to main content
Up and Coming
January 16, 2015
Question

My other "virtual" project, a virtual pinball table

So yeah, I custom built a full-sized, virtual pinball table. It also doubles as a jukebox and custom light show, all remotely controlled, of course! :) I'm very proud of it, even though it's not yet finished. I can play hundreds of licensed tables and hundreds more custom builds.

Here's my build blog if you want to see how I did it.
https://virtualpinballblog.wordpress.com/

Edit: oh, it also plays NES and SNES emulations, and movies (blu-ray, DVD, video files). And aside from the internal sound system, it also has headphone capability for silent pinball, or can easily hook into a home theater to really rock the room.

    18 replies

    Inspiring
    January 16, 2015
    Nice.
    AMD Ryzen 7 1800X | MSI X370 Titanium | G.Skill 16GB DDR4 3200 | EVGA SuperNOVA 1000 | Corsair Hydro H110i Gigabyte RX Vega 64 x2 | Samsung 960 Evo M.2 500GB | Seagate FireCuda SSHD 2TB | Phanteks ENTHOO EVOLV
    Up and Coming
    January 17, 2015
    Really nice job!
    VizionVRAuthor
    Up and Coming
    January 18, 2015
    Thanks guys. I'm pleased with the results so far. Once I get back on my feet (shattered femur back in May) I'll be able to complete it.
    Not a Rift fanboi. Not a Vive fanboi. I'm a VR fanboi. Get it straight.
    Up and Coming
    January 18, 2015
    How does one do that? (Shatter a femur)
    VizionVRAuthor
    Up and Coming
    January 18, 2015
    "andrewtek" wrote:
    How does one do that? (Shatter a femur)

    A large truck pulled right out in front of me (his fault). I locked my leg pushing on the brake pedal to stop and pow. Now I have a large titanium bar from hip to knee due to multiple, non-union breaks. The doctor's official prognosis was "the femur is dust". That was back in May and I still have many months of therapy before I can walk again.
    Not a Rift fanboi. Not a Vive fanboi. I'm a VR fanboi. Get it straight.
    Honored Contributor
    January 20, 2015
    the leg sucks balls, hope it all heals well soon. My uncle is a bit of a bionic man due to 1 too many motorbike accidents.

    other than a bit of pain in winter however, he is fine now, so fingers crossed.

    as for the pinball table very very good work. My mate has one, and its on my "to do" list to supplement my MAME arcade cab.
    I assume you already have them, but just incase you have only been looking at the "real" tables emulated in visual pinball or pinMAME

    The pinball FX tables run on digital pinball cabs perfectly and offer something a bit different from the "real" tables.
    Fiat Coupe, gone. 350Z gone. Dirty nappies, no sleep & practical transport incoming. Thank goodness for VR :)
    VizionVRAuthor
    Up and Coming
    January 20, 2015
    "bigmike20vt" wrote:
    the leg sucks balls, hope it all heals well soon. My uncle is a bit of a bionic man due to 1 too many motorbike accidents.

    other than a bit of pain in winter however, he is fine now, so fingers crossed.

    as for the pinball table very very good work. My mate has one, and its on my "to do" list to supplement my MAME arcade cab.
    I assume you already have them, but just incase you have only been looking at the "real" tables emulated in visual pinball or pinMAME

    The pinball FX tables run on digital pinball cabs perfectly and offer something a bit different from the "real" tables.

    Thanks for the get well wishes. Much appreciated. :)
    I use the Pinball X software in order to play both Future Pinball and Visual Pinball at the click of a flipper button. I have roughly 75 licensed tables from the sixties to modern, and have a few hundred custom tables including my personally designed table based on the Mars Attacks cards from the sixties. :)
    I haven't played with the Pinball FX tables, but it's definitely on my to do list.

    My next project is actually a slight mod of something I've already designed. It's a Pinball emulator in a box. This "pinbox" will contain a Raspberry Pi and have all the working buttons, plunger, and tilt mechanisms for real feel pinball play on a tabletop. It's ideal for a small bar or game room.
    Not a Rift fanboi. Not a Vive fanboi. I'm a VR fanboi. Get it straight.
    Up and Coming
    January 29, 2015
    "vizionvr" wrote:
    My next project is actually a slight mod of something I've already designed. It's a Pinball emulator in a box. This "pinbox" will contain a Raspberry Pi and have all the working buttons, plunger, and tilt mechanisms for real feel pinball play on a tabletop. It's ideal for a small bar or game room.


    I wanted to do something like this so bad and have a couple spare Pi's around here somewhere, If you could post how you build that I would be very happy about that. When I was a kid I had a little pinball machine I'd play all the time until I took it apart :) It was x-con or something, remember those action figure with the magnets in their feet?

    Good choice with the I-pac, I love them things, arcade like response and no input ghosting. I had to put one of them in my x-arcade tankstick when I found out the keyboard encoder in there is actually a piece of crap.
    http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=120271.0

    This is so cool btw (as if you didn't know that) :)
    Participant
    January 29, 2015
    That is excellent, congratulations.
    Mariah Albert Mobile Application development Company
    VizionVRAuthor
    Up and Coming
    January 29, 2015
    "molton" wrote:
    "vizionvr" wrote:
    My next project is actually a slight mod of something I've already designed. It's a Pinball emulator in a box. This "pinbox" will contain a Raspberry Pi and have all the working buttons, plunger, and tilt mechanisms for real feel pinball play on a tabletop. It's ideal for a small bar or game room.


    I wanted to do something like this so bad and have a couple spare Pi's around here somewhere, If you could post how you build that I would be very happy about that.


    Seeing what you've done, I think a pinbox would be a relatively simple project for you. The tilt mechanism was the most difficult thing to design and construct. My own design is a pendulum in a ring that triggers one of three (left, right, and push) circuits wired into the I-pac. A Magnet beneath the pendulum keeps it centered and prevents it from swinging wildly at the slightest nudge. I'm pretty sure nowadays you can buy a plunger that has a tilt mechanism built right in.

    It looks like you put some serious work in your machine! I'd like to see more. Do you have progress pics?
    Not a Rift fanboi. Not a Vive fanboi. I'm a VR fanboi. Get it straight.