Building a virtual pinball machine can become a giant headache if you don\u2019t know what you\u2019re doing. That\u2019s why we\u2019ve created this resource page for all things virtual pinball. You\u2019ll find useful websites to learn more about the game, and some links to places to pick up parts as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is a great forum for anyone interested in virtual pinball, from newbies to veterans. A lot of questions have been answered and you can easily<\/strong> ask your own<\/strong> after signing up. They have a guide to installing VPX on the top left of the menu which is especially useful for beginners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The various references on the site will help you create your own games<\/strong>, upload sound effects, and it\u2019ll give you some ready-made images you can use as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n VPUniverse is essentially the Pinside for everything to do with <\/strong>virtual pinball<\/a>. They have easy to install graphics and backglass displays, upgrades and VPX tables. They also have a forum where you can ask any questions you have and there are a lot of tips for starting a virtual machine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n VPinball has a bunch of downloadable tables, easy step by step guides and a forum of their own as well. They even have an<\/strong> app<\/strong> you can download for easy access to all of their resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is a site that sells every part you\u2019ll need to make your own virtual pinball machine<\/strong>. This includes kits for cabinets and bundle packs too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This will ensure a fast processing speed that can handle fast-paced gameplay. There are cheaper ones like the i3 that will work fine as well, but the later generations and the i5-i7 are more powerful<\/strong>. If you can, you should try to buy one with a fan or cooling system already installed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This motherboard should handle most Intel processors<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This will give you enough space to download lots of games <\/strong>onto your machine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This handles 750mb per second transfer speed<\/strong> with a life expectancy of two million hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is compatible with many MSI Motherboards and with 8GB of RAM<\/strong> you\u2019ll be sure to have your machine running smoothly at all times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is a smart energy cooling fan<\/strong> for your pc. As these machines will get very hot playing games, it\u2019s good to have one or even two of these to keep the temperatures down as much as possible. Adding a fan or two pushing air out of the cabinet will help as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You will most likely be running one or more monitors, so you\u2019ll need a good graphics card<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re building the cabinet yourself you should only need some wood, glue, screws and maybe some metal supports. But if you\u2019re interested in buying a kit, VirtuaPin<\/strong> has some easy DIY kit builds<\/a> with step-by-step guides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n VirtuaPin also has button kits<\/a> for all the flipper buttons, some extra selection buttons and a launch button too. These also include a few extra buttons just in case you need to replace one<\/strong>. They also have a great speaker set designed for the backbox of your machine. These are called Flipper Fidelity<\/a> with 3 different sizes: 4\u2033, 5.25\u2033 and 8\u2033<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If a launch button doesn\u2019t entertain you as much as the plunger, you can grab a Virtual Plunger kit<\/a> instead. For added style<\/strong> you can add on a full color dot matrix display<\/a>. This can be placed under your backglass display.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After the cabinet is constructed you may want some decals or paint to make it look good. If you\u2019re putting on decals yourself, you want to paint the cabinet first so the decals will stick to the cabinet. A bucket of paint is usually quite cheap<\/strong> and if you\u2019re putting decals on it there\u2019s no point in splurging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When ordering decals, try to get Air Egress Vinyl<\/strong>, preferably the cast product. And make sure it can be or is laminated as this will protect it from UV damage and any dings to the cabinet. VirtuaPin has some premade decals for your machine<\/a>, or you can make your own custom decals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Retro Refurbs<\/a> also have decals, but as they\u2019re based in the UK<\/strong> you may need to factor in shipping costs. Game On Graphix<\/a> sell graphics for arcade machines and will take custom orders for pinball cabinets. Planetary Pinball<\/a> has a wide variety of pinball decal artworks to look through as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n TV monitors will be your main expense as they act as the backglass and playfield areas. Whether you are building your own cabinet or purchasing a kit you must make sure it will fit the TV screens<\/strong>. Popular sizes are 40-46\u2033 for playfields and 20-27\u2033 for display screens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These TV screens should be LCD or LED flat panel, as this will make sure they are very light, don\u2019t take up a lot of space and result in clear visuals. 40\u2033 TVs are becoming harder to find<\/strong> and a lot of companies have gone for around 32-36\u2033 and 42\u201d and above, but there are some like this TCL 40\u2033 1080p smart tv<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For the backglass display a 22\u2033 LED Sceptre E225W Ultra Thin<\/a> is a good idea. Crucially, it supports 1080p quality<\/strong>. For your displays it\u2019s advised to have monitors that can display at least 1080p resolutions. This will give your table a very crisp look and make it easy to really see all the detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some people have gone up to 4K displays which could be seen as overkill, but it depends on your price range and if it\u2019s worth it for you personally. But when you upgrade to 4K TVs, you will also need a more advanced computer<\/strong> to display at that resolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you do not know how to build a pc, buying a prebuilt one is a perfectly fine alternative. This SkyTech Shadow Gaming Computer<\/a> will run VPX as it has over the minimum requirements without breaking the bank<\/strong>. You get 1TB of hard drive memory, a GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB graphics card, 8GB of Ram and a 4-core 3.1 processor by AMD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can also try it out with a computer you already have. Just install VPX and test out a game to see if it works. However, it\u2019s not recommended that you use an older computer<\/strong> that already has a lot of files on the hard drive, as this can slow the game down and will make the computer work harder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This LEDWhiz 32 output controller<\/a> will help control all your buttons, lights, LED lights and any other special effects you install onto your cabinet. This will allow you to control settings for each input<\/strong> for 5 to 12 volts. This SainSmart relay board<\/a> can be used for higher voltage parts such as relays and solenoids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adding some lights to your machine can make it feel like you\u2019re playing on a real pinball cabinet<\/strong>. There are many different kinds, from flasher lights to LED strips. This LED Strip<\/a> will give you 16.4 feet of flexible color changing lights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you have a lot of wires or are going to add dimmers you might want some LED channel holders. These will help give you easy access to the lights in a holder instead of just sitting against the wood, which helps keep things tidy<\/strong> as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Relays and solenoids by Siemens (model 3RH1140-1BB40) can make your machine very realistic in that they will sound like a real switch when you use any buttons or hit any bumpers. The average number you\u2019ll need is 8, with 2 for each flipper, and then for slingshots too, but you can get up to 16.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These will be used with the SainSmart relay board. You can also find used versions of these on eBay since they can be quite expensive<\/strong> to buy brand new. There are also different models out there for much cheaper prices, so you should shop around before settling on a particular model.<\/p>\n\n\n\nVPUniverse <\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
VPinball<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
VirtuaPin<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Electrical Components For Your Virtual Pinball Machine<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Intel Core i5 Processor<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
MSI Motherboard H310 Pro-M2<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Seagate BarraCuda 1TB HDD Hard Drive<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
OCZ 120GB Vertex 3 SSD Drive<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Corsair 8GB Kit 2133 DDR4 RAM Memory<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
600 Watt Thermaltake<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
MSI GeForce GTX 1050 Graphics Card<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Parts For The Machine And Cabinet<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Buttons<\/a> And Speakers<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Decals<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Other Components<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Monitors<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Prebuilt PCs<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Special Effects Controller<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Lights<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Relays And Solenoids<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Controller<\/h3>\n\n\n\n