I'm not particularly knowledgeable of or skilled at pinball but always been fond of and fascinated by it - so when I learned virtual pinball was a thing, it was an easy choice for a project.

Lots of research, testing and proof-of-concept-ing later, it soon became apparent that a ton of stuff was needed. But as someone who tends to have both old computers and old bits of wood knocking about, I figured it should be relatively easy and cheap?

Narrator: It was not easy, it was not cheap.

Anyway, many months later, here's my table. I don't have enough room for a full size table - or such a sizeable single-use item - so designed something relatively discreet that can fold away into a sort-of console table. The folding lid is a key feature, which packs backglass, DMD, speakers, and flashers (and a fairly solid 9mm plywood top) into just 26mm.

Setup is a work in progress, but here it is in action:

This was mainly made from recycled/reject timber and there is a full build log for anyone wanting the woodwork details; but the specs/highlights:

• Managed not to buy any actual computer stuff - used an old Mini ITX gaming PC, i5 4570 + GTX1050 - very modest but luckily does actually run VPX @ 60fps in 4K
• OTOH I couldn't upcycle any monitors; had to buy 32" 4K Lenovo; a 17" portable monitor for the backglass; and a 8.8" wide display for the DMD
• WS2812 LEDs w/Teensy+Octo for the led strips, flashers and fans
• Uitimarc RGB buttons and PacLED controller for the LEDs
• Some DIY code on a Pro Micro for the buttons (and nudge via a gyro sensor, a work-in-progress)
• 7.1 sound - backglass speakers, subwoofer and 4 exciter speakers for playfield effects - driven by a USB audio adapter and a few cheap amp boards
• Runs the open source Visual Pinball - aka VPX - and the gazillion other bits of software that go with it

Shoutout to the whole virtual pinball community. VPX especially, is at the same time, esoteric, inscrutable and fiddly; but also an amazing achievement. It's a nontrival learning curve to get it all running, but once it does, both it and the tables made by the community make for a very immersive experience.

There's plenty of info @ www.vpforums.org & vpuniverse.com but the main source of information is Michael Roberts' incredibly detailed and helpful Pinscape Build Guide