virtual pinball and MAME in one

[joninkent]

Im looking in to building a Virtual pinball machine and wanted to get the most out of the hardware and was thinking about making a 2 in 1 cabinet. Has anyone done this? I've done some sketches of what i was thinking.... just wondering if anyones has got any thoughts.

[brudibru]

Nice project, I have never seen such a setup. 

It seems quite difficult to achieve though.

For example the pinball table must be inclined to make it realistic which should make the transformation into the arcade cab mode quite difficult.

I guess you have to make some concessions toward building a perfect pinball replica.

Anyway I wish you the best of luck and I am really curious to see how it evolves.

[Metalzoic]

Yeah. a pinball table isn't flat as in your drawing so that side-on playstyle probably won't work.

Then you have the rather large amount of internal wiring, PSU's etc... that a pinball cab needs would probably keep you from having enough space to rotate side-ways like that. It certainly wouldn't have enough room for rotating, wiring and adding a full blown arcade control panel.

Cool idea though, but I think to pull it off you'd end up with both an awkward pinball machine and an awkward arcade machine.

Might be easier to build a fairly standard v-pinball table and use a large backglass screen as the pinball backglass and as the arcade screen.

Then instead of rotating out sideways, maybe make the front slide out to reveal an arcade CP and play the games on both the backglass screen and the playfield screen.

(again, still probably not nearly enough room for the control panel though)

Hmmm...

[Metalzoic]

For your original idea:

Instead of rotating it all, it might be possible to just have the playfield screen prop up on the backside. That would solve the pinball internals being in the way.

Then you could possibly have a side panel that folds down for your arcade control panel. That way you could (maybe) place it high enough that there's room inside for it.

You'd still have the issue of the pinball machine and topglass being angled and awkward for this though. I still think playing from the front somehow would be a better call.

[joninkent]

Thanks guys for the advice, thinking about what you said and leaving the playfield fixed like a normal Virtual pinball and maybe rotating the top part of the back panel 180 degree and putting the joysticks on the back (see attached Sketch) 

[ninja2bceen]

Doable or not I literally said out loud that is so cool

(Tapatalk)

[1337atreyu]

I was actually thinking somewhat of the same thing. If you could either attach a foldable arcade CP to the front that you could stow during pinball time or if you could wire everything to a simple connector where you could swap out the playfield for a CP, it might work. Interesting project for sure. I may sketch something up on my idea if I have a few minutes...

[parhelion]

Or you could make a table top 2 in 1 machine

(Fix control panel on top of backglass and turn it around!)

[Agrajag]

Now that's what I call a novel solution! I like the concept, but it might be a bit impractical in reality. Anyone up for the challenge? :-)

[Metalzoic]

Or you could make a table top 2 in 1 machine

(Fix control panel on top of backglass and turn it around!)

Rather than having a control panel you cover the backglass with, maybe build the CP on the back of the backglass and just make it swivel.

[Kermyb123]

Like the original idea best.  All you need to do to get your incline on the play field is make the front legs adjustable.  If they can go down 2-3 inches that should give you a nice incline.  Now that I'm writing this you should make all legs adjustable, that way this could be a stand up or sit down machine.

 

Do it!

[VictorMan]

This is my PINMAMECAB

 

[FoxStar]

Was thinking about my next project. This is my first idea.

 

 

[Agrajag]

Another novel solution there! I like this idea a lot.

[andyco40]

this is mine but just plays vertial games of mame im my pin cab

 

 

 

[VictorMan]

Was thinking about my next project. This is my first idea.

 

I think it is a great idea. Whenever the screen is protected to avoid bumps on legs when not in use.

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Me parece una gran idea. Siempre que se proteja la pantalla cuando no esté en uso.

[VictorMan]

this is mine but just plays vertial games of mame im my pin cab

 

003.JPG

 

Good Work.

[madhatter3339]

Stop this madness!!!    I've built some arcades and always looking for more ideas for different looks for those and then I saw first virtual pinball cab!!! Obviously I want to build a pincab now and looking for ideas on how to do that!!  Now you guys are talking about combining both!! At this rate I'll never get anything built or my wife will divorce me for having too many projects and too much stuff taking over the garage!!! This hobby is killing me!!!!  Thanks a lot!!!  LOL!!!

[VictorMan]

jajaja Extends the garage!!!

[Metalzoic]

Was thinking about my next project. This is my first idea.

I like this idea, but the actual pinball playfield screen would be far to small if you kept the arcade CP at normal height.

A re-design with the pinball screenbeing much long and sliding further into the cab when stowed could maybe work though.

[TerryRed]

Here's my virtual pinball / arcade cabinet I'm working on.... I call it Pincadia! It can play PC games (MK X, SFIV, anything on Steam, etc), Arcade games (MAME,etc), and all of glorious pinball, (PBFX2, TPA, FP, VP)

 

The backglass was made to make use of tables like SLAMT1LT's that have movie clips/colour dmd/extras, etc...

 

It has 5.1 sound with the front speakers in the backglass, the sub pointing down from the bottom, and the center and rear speakers at the front/bottom of the cabinet also pointing down.

 

The control panel is wired to two Logitech F310 gamepads, which are basically XBOX 360 controllers. I like these controllers because of the extra features and functionality they have (Direct Input, X-Input, and most importantly D-Pad / Left Stick swapping at the push of a button)  The pinball controls are also wired to the first gamepad for maximum compatibility and ease of navigation, in ALL games, Steam, etc... It's still a WIP (like needing a big dome "Launch" button and Pinball Wiz LEDs of some sort), but its mostly done.

 

A brief tour on YouTube:

 

 

...and some pics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[VictorMan]

Excellent!!!