Most importantly, I will attempt to outline what I consider to be fundamental needs for a modern machine, as well as my opinion on things that are optional or not necessary. The goal of this post is to summarize the years of research that I put into my machine, to provide an overview of the current options for Virtual Pinball Machines along with their pros and cons. Advice from a few years ago may actually cause more harm than good, I have come across many situations where a complicated workaround was explained in great detail but further research showed that some smart person wrote the solution into code and a much simpler solution existed. This is because the hobby has existed for over a decade and it is regularly changing. In fact, the plethora of information available can be overwhelming and sometimes confusing. There are dozens of decisions to make, and deciding which path to walk was one of the most daunting parts of the entire process. I will not attempt to explain the build process because that has been done by remarkable people that are more capable than me (google MJR, TheWayOfTheWrench) there are also extensive and extremely helpful forums that very likely have answers to questions that you may have along the way, including troubleshooting. From building the entire virutal pinball machine from scratch to purchasing fully built and assembled virtual pinball cabinets that use real pinball parts. The fantastic thing about this hobby is that you can enter at whatever stage you are comfortable. I spent years and countless hours of deliberation on this virtual pinball machine. Before I get to that, there is some length any necessary topics to cover for those who decided that they want a virtual pinball machine but have yet to decide how to obtain one. While I will leave the full DIY build instructions to extremely capable people like Michael J Roberts and TheWayOfTheWrench, I am going to share my process and how I was able to build a fully capable, 4k 120hz blazing fast Virtual pinball machine with real pinball parts and Surround Sound feedback (don’t worry these terms will quickly become staples in your brain). Even do it yourself builds can cost upwards of $5,000. In reality, virtual pinball tables range from $700 to over $10,000. The virtual pinball cabinet is the only thing in the arcade that I obsessed over more than the Secret bookcase door (It’s technically a secret doorway bookcase but I really think that sounds dumb, roll with me on it). If you aren’t married then you could assume that the above means that virtual pinball machines can be expensive. I may have narrowed my target audience here a bit.
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