Virtual Pinball Tables are so much fun so I'm making one.

MrTickles

Cultured gentleman but fucks like Bunny.
kiwifarms.net
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May 20, 2019
I saw it on youtube and realized I want. You can download and play ~1000's of pinball machines. ~100 are really worthwhile, it is those I will install onto my cabinet.

I had two monitors lying around, a 32 inch and 19 inch 4:3. I eventually got this simply sitting on a table:

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Then I did some research and have now started building a custom cabinet tailored for my height and the screens I have. I designed it without measurements and built it according to the monitors.

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Days 1 and 2 went well.


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Day 3 I finish Cabinet and spray paint it satin black. Day 4 I throw in the hardware and Day 5 I get some custom art, vinyls etc. For reference because I was able to salvage a decent PC, two monitors etc this will all up cost me ~$350 + 5 days of work. 5 hours of effort a day, so around 25-30 hours all up.

Starting fresh, this would cost around $1,500 for a 1080p setup, or ~2,500 for a 4k setup (need a high end gpu to drive a 4k panel in most of these virtual tables). Resale value if built well is very high ($3,000 used for a 1080p mini cabinet).

Consider this as a hobby project, you can't lose.
 
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Endless Tables vs. Feedback is a tough choice. My grandparents have a fucking ancient pinball table in their basement, it's soccer themed with little orange balls that fill up a rack on the backboard. Most of the mechanisms are sticky and stuff and it's pretty simple, but it still works.
 
you are already committed to the idea, why are you not building a real table? ben heck made a few good videos about how to build one.

The mechanical engineering involved in a real table is beyond me. Plus it would be stuck with a single arrangement and theme. These visual pinball X/Future pinball tables are very high quality reproductions, down to using actual table roms and 4k playfields. Plus of course when I get bored of one virtual table I switch to another.

Real ones are cooler, especially when you consider that you can tilt the game.

Forgot to mention, I'm using wiimote + glovepie for full tilt/nudge motion control. There will be a wiimote slot in the front of the cab. Also using shaker speakers to make it rumble and separate surround sound so ball has audio-spacial presence beneath the glass. The software supports many more attachments but I won't bother with leds or a real plunger. I'm happy with the aforementioned.
 
The mechanical engineering involved in a real table is beyond me. Plus it would be stuck with a single arrangement and theme. These visual pinball X/Future pinball tables are very high quality reproductions, down to using actual table roms and 4k playfields. Plus of course when I get bored of one virtual table I switch to another.

the mechanical part doesn't go much further then where you are now, just drill a few more holes in the table. this way just strikes me as the soy version of the original, it is more consumerism then love for pinball itself and like with soylent it's the fast but flavor less way to get a product. enjoy your soyball table in the end.
 
I'd just make a cocktail unit if I was putting that much effort into emuing, but that's nifty.
 
So it's like a MAME cabinet for pinball? How does it work? The real magic of pinball is the physicality of it, and the game itself revolves around the actual table and the layout of it.

Like for me, you could even put two little arcade-style pad buttons on the side for the flippers but without the mechanical resistance, it's just hollow. You hear those little sounds of the ball bouncing, the actual table making all this racket, the mechanical levers and gears and the thud when you push the button; you can feel the weight of the table, I dunno, it's fun. Im a little bit older so I remember playing actual pinball with my dad at Fuddruckers as a kid and that was when they were already on their way out and dad said it was kinda rare to see an actual table--so I have some weird feelings toward it.

I mean it's a cool project though, dude. Good job!
 
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I was a little bit skeptical at first because I have a soft spot for pinball, but that video you linked looks pretty good. What games are you going to put on it? I would think on of the advantages of a virtual pinball machine is you get to put multiple games on it.
 
I live by an arcade that has a few dozen pinball tables. Love the place to death and can easily kill an hour of time on $5.

Nothing will ever replace the real thing, but I applaud the craftsmanship that goes into making a virtual adaptation. I still really want to have a mame cabinet but I really wouldn't know where to begin when it came to building one myself, and definitely don't desire paying top dollar for a prebuilt.
 
That table looks really nice, if I hadn't played Pinball Arcade(on a vertical monitor, with a keyboard, it was still good) I would have scoffed at the idea but I can see that working really well.

So it's like a MAME cabinet for pinball? How does it work? The real magic of pinball is the physicality of it, and the game itself revolves around the actual table and the layout of it.

Like for me, you could even put two little arcade-style pad buttons on the side for the flippers but without the mechanical resistance, it's just hollow. You hear those little sounds of the ball bouncing, the actual table making all this racket, the mechanical levers and gears and the thud when you push the button; you can feel the weight of the table, I dunno, it's fun. Im a little bit older so I remember playing actual pinball with my dad at Fuddruckers as a kid and that was when they were already on their way out and dad said it was kinda rare to see an actual table--so I have some weird feelings toward it.

I mean it's a cool project though, dude. Good job!

There's plenty of pinball bars that have opened over the last ten years. It's full of hipsters trying to play Theater of Magic but other than that it's good to see old favorites again. I've seen several pool halls that have a single table as well, the thing that sucks is that there's not that many skilled pinball repair people left so it's a crapshoot if those work as intended, it really makes you appreciate how fine tuned those tables were when a single worn out rubber lining can fuck up how it plays by making the ball bounce differently.
 
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So it's like a MAME cabinet for pinball? How does it work? The real magic of pinball is the physicality of it, and the game itself revolves around the actual table and the layout of it.

Like for me, you could even put two little arcade-style pad buttons on the side for the flippers but without the mechanical resistance, it's just hollow. You hear those little sounds of the ball bouncing, the actual table making all this racket, the mechanical levers and gears and the thud when you push the button; you can feel the weight of the table, I dunno, it's fun. Im a little bit older so I remember playing actual pinball with my dad at Fuddruckers as a kid and that was when they were already on their way out and dad said it was kinda rare to see an actual table--so I have some weird feelings toward it.

I mean it's a cool project though, dude. Good job!


That's where solenoids come in. That flipper and bumper physicality on real tables can be replicated 1:1 on a virtual table. I've ordered a few but all that weird stuff I had to get via ali express so it will take 1-2 months to arrive. My table already weighs 40kg without hardware, trust me you will feel the weight of it when the time comes. I designed the legs so the cabinet can shake and grumble without damaging them.

I was a little bit skeptical at first because I have a soft spot for pinball, but that video you linked looks pretty good. What games are you going to put on it? I would think on of the advantages of a virtual pinball machine is you get to put multiple games on it.

Basically Top 100 or 110 of most popular tables of all time, mostly 80's and 90's, some 00's and even 2010's. Not many pre-mid 1970's, those get simple and random fast.

I live by an arcade that has a few dozen pinball tables. Love the place to death and can easily kill an hour of time on $5.

Nothing will ever replace the real thing, but I applaud the craftsmanship that goes into making a virtual adaptation. I still really want to have a mame cabinet but I really wouldn't know where to begin when it came to building one myself, and definitely don't desire paying top dollar for a prebuilt.

The most complex thing about any of this is setting up the computer and software. The arcade buttons, wiring, doodads etc is nothing. The woodwork is certainly not a big deal, it's simple. Takes time, measuring and cutting is all.
 
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'Pinbaby' Build Day 3:

Finished the detachable back glass canopy.

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After 4 bottles of black spray paint, and one bottle of silver. Still very wet:

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Still wet but dry enough to install buttons, note that plunger button should be big and yellow, still waiting on that in the mail. Still room for a coin slot - I can cut that space easily later on.
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Inside controls compartment; not much room to work with once the wires go in, each button will have 4 wires leading off to encoder and molex psu, or 32 wires all up.

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Things to improve: it is not possible to get the cabinet edges looking perfect, without some kind of bezel to hide them. I will look into that, perhaps some kind of metallic tape with strong adhesive.

to do on Day 4: Installation of hardware.

Bonus:

A new Mr Tickles innovation of sorts; I've decided to place the playfield monitor and glass on a sponge. Thus a floating playfield in the vertical axis. Sponge keeps its form 100% at any level of compression. The main screen will thus shake (safely without damaging it) when subs or future solenoids / shakers kick in vertically. Horizontally the cabinet will rumble without screwing with the playfield too much.

Yes I know sponge is flammable, but it takes an open flame to set it off. Like, don't even worry man. It also degrades but that takes years. Easy to replace.
 
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Day 4:

I integrated the screen and pc into the cabinet, and connected up the buttons. I am going to go out and buy a proper 5.1 sound system, so sound still needs to be integrated.

Day 4 is proving to be the most difficult in terms of progress. I have to get some glass cut, I have to set up the frontend, I have to install sound system and also fix the edges by putting on some nice metal bezels and also need one on front for the hands to rest on.

BUT

I'm too distracted by the cabinet, I spent 2 hours just playing pinball. It's awesome even in its unfinished state. Help, can't stop playing. 😰

Wiring:

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Cabinet with screens (no glass or bezels)

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