Best UK supplier of a VP table ?

[boosted_jeep_uk]

I will be in the market soon for a new table at home.

As I've only got space for one, I've decided to go down the virtual route to enjoy as much variety as possible.

I really want a full size table with solenoids etc. to try to replicate the real table experience.

Seems to be a few company's supplying/building in the UK and wondered if anyone has experience of which one is better/worse than any of the others.


Cheers !!

 

[Jmac]

Personally I wouldn’t be buying from a company who churn them out on a commercial basis but speak to @Pick Holder to see if he has any in the pipeline. Much better spec from Phil. Alternatively put a wanted ad up on here and someone might part with one of his old builds

 

[Fantazia2]

Have you not considered the DIY approach? I think thats half the fun for me, actually getting everything setup and then modifying it how I want it.

 

[Pick Holder]

First of all, if I was you the ideal set up for me would be one real pin and a vpin. Given the choice I would rather own one real pinball over a vpin. I do know a couple of people who have one of my builds and do not own a real pin (when previously they had 3 or 4).

However the news is currently I am not taking on any builds. This may change next year.

Reasons are:

1 - I spend ages messaging people on here, give them advice. Take a lot of time spec'ing stuff out and they end up just grabbing one from somewhere else. I always price it as a 4K resolution machine will cost from £4K to buy.

2- I can not get cabs anymore. In 2022 machines are not being scrapped. Even not so good games go for £2K in players condition. There was/is an empty cab on here priced at £550. That was without any hardware. Throw the hardware in, three monitors, 80-120 hours and there just is not enough meat on the bone.

3 - The last one I did on here sold for £3K and that was a 4K playfield - with solenoids and great specification. I lost money on this build if I allowed £10 a hour for my labour. I may as well stack shelves at the local supermarket.

4 - Prices of computer parts are thru the roof. A video card (used) that you need to run 4K is probably £250 minimum. Ram/processors/motherboards are all at an all time high.

5 - People have gone quiet when I ask them for funds up front. A 50% deposit does not cover all my outgoings by a long way, but it stops people changing their mind when you are half way thru a build as something else has happened. Plus some do not like waiting 4-6 weeks.

6 - Some customers do not understand anything about computers. It makes life difficult when they attempt to add tables etc.

There are companies I would advise not getting stuff made by. I do not want to publically put names up. I have seen a lot of vpins made and 90% suck. I would say stay well away from KASE-EO. There is an amazing company in Australia - but the shipping and VAT will throw the cost thru the roof. Have seen his work and it is amazing.

@Fantazia2 's approach is also good. I have been building these things for probably a decade now. Started off converting early Ultrapins. I did 7 Ultrapins. I think only 10 or so came into the UK. Plenty of documentation and websites/facebook pages exist to help you. Making your first one will bug the hell out of you at times, and it will never be finished. Always something else gadget wise to add.

I would maybe put a wanted advert on here for one of my builds. They do get traded around. Sometimes I buy them back and update them, then resell them.

Hope you get sorted.

 

[Andypc]

Have to agree with @Pick Holder. The best option is to get a one real pin and a small Vpin. You can easily build a smaller Vpin with a 27" main screen and 19" 4:3 monitor for the backbox. You only need a 1080p screen for a smaller Vpin and can easily put together a decent enough PC for under £200. I recently did one for @Itch with an i7, 16GB ram and a GTX950 and it easily runs all the latest VPW tables and even Pup tables like Batman 66 and TNA with no problem.

The advantage of the Vpin is you can play it late at night without waking everybody up. I am able to have the Vpin in the house, where as the real pins are out in the garage. That way you get the best of both worlds.


View attachment 20220726_224040.mp4

 

[boosted_jeep_uk]

Have you not considered the DIY approach? I think thats half the fun for me, actually getting everything setup and then modifying it how I want it.

I have but knowing how slow i do things it might never get finished...

I've got a truck sitting on my drive still waiting to get parts installed i've had for 9 months

 

[boosted_jeep_uk]

First of all, if I was you the ideal set up for me would be one real pin and a vpin. Given the choice I would rather own one real pinball over a vpin. I do know a couple of people who have one of my builds and do not own a real pin (when previously they had 3 or 4).

However the news is currently I am not taking on any builds. This may change next year.

Reasons are:

1 - I spend ages messaging people on here, give them advice. Take a lot of time spec'ing stuff out and they end up just grabbing one from somewhere else. I always price it as a 4K resolution machine will cost from £4K to buy.

2- I can not get cabs anymore. In 2022 machines are not being scrapped. Even not so good games go for £2K in players condition. There was/is an empty cab on here priced at £550. That was without any hardware. Throw the hardware in, three monitors, 80-120 hours and there just is not enough meat on the bone.

3 - The last one I did on here sold for £3K and that was a 4K playfield - with solenoids and great specification. I lost money on this build if I allowed £10 a hour for my labour. I may as well stack shelves at the local supermarket.

4 - Prices of computer parts are thru the roof. A video card (used) that you need to run 4K is probably £250 minimum. Ram/processors/motherboards are all at an all time high.

5 - People have gone quiet when I ask them for funds up front. A 50% deposit does not cover all my outgoings by a long way, but it stops people changing their mind when you are half way thru a build as something else has happened. Plus some do not like waiting 4-6 weeks.

6 - Some customers do not understand anything about computers. It makes life difficult when they attempt to add tables etc.

There are companies I would advise not getting stuff made by. I do not want to publically put names up. I have seen a lot of vpins made and 90% suck. I would say stay well away from KASE-EO. There is an amazing company in Australia - but the shipping and VAT will throw the cost thru the roof. Have seen his work and it is amazing.

@Fantazia2 's approach is also good. I have been building these things for probably a decade now. Started off converting early Ultrapins. I did 7 Ultrapins. I think only 10 or so came into the UK. Plenty of documentation and websites/facebook pages exist to help you. Making your first one will bug the hell out of you at times, and it will never be finished. Always something else gadget wise to add.

I would maybe put a wanted advert on here for one of my builds. They do get traded around. Sometimes I buy them back and update them, then resell them.

Hope you get sorted.

Thank you very much that's a great reply.

I've had a couple of real pins, and currently doing up my summerhouse to be a bit of a man cave and really have space for only one.

I went from a fish tales to flintstones years ago and always regretted it, and would really not want to spend somewhere nearing £10k on a real pin to find out its not what i hoped it would be.

I'll watch the for sales or put a wanted - looking at what i'd seen on like from UK sellers, i was expecting around £6-7k for a fullsize with solenoids etc., so a used one of your's should fall well within my budget.

I wont be ready for a pin until next year, so shall keep an eye out in case you're back in the market for building one

 

[boosted_jeep_uk]

Have to agree with @Pick Holder. The best option is to get a one real pin and a small Vpin. You can easily build a smaller Vpin with a 27" main screen and 19" 4:3 monitor for the backbox. You only need a 1080p screen for a smaller Vpin and can easily put together a decent enough PC for under £200. I recently did one for @Itch with an i7, 16GB ram and a GTX950 and it easily runs all the latest VPW tables and even Pup tables like Batman 66 and TNA with no problem.

The advantage of the Vpin is you can play it late at night without waking everybody up. I am able to have the Vpin in the house, where as the real pins are out in the garage. That way you get the best of both worlds.

View attachment 179875
View attachment 179876

That does look good - but with space limited to one, I think i want as much variety as i can...

I shall keep an eye out for a second hand @Pick Holder built unit hopefully.

At least even if its not the most recent i'll have a good base to build on.

 

[Pick Holder]

That does look good - but with space limited to one, I think i want as much variety as i can...

I shall keep an eye out for a second hand @Pick Holder built unit hopefully.

At least even if its not the most recent i'll have a good base to build on.

I would probably take on the job of upgrading one of my old builds. 4K is the way to go (if you can afford it). Trouble is the PC spec has to be a lot higher to run it.

This was one I sold recently.

If you look on my channel there will be a few more.......

 

[Pick Holder]

 

[s000m]

@Pick Holder GPU prices have completely crashed now.

You can pick up a RTX 2060 for £200.

PC market is recovering since the crypto crash.

 

[VeeMonroe]

I got a mini vPin from ArcadeLand, who make them commercially. It was a great little machine and I couldn’t fault it in terms of build quality, etc.

Arcadeland

Virtual Pinball Machine Manufacturer - Pinball Machines And Arcade Machine UK Distributer

arcadeland.co.uk

Andrew from Arcadeland was very lovely - he even took a trip to London to deliver our vPin in person as he couldn’t arrange a timely courier.

HOWEVER, I resold it within months because I realised the physicality of real pins is a big part of why I like them and the vPin couldn’t replicate that experience. Despite having hundreds of tables on the vPin, I just drifted back to playing my real pins instead.

A couple of things to note:

1. vPins depreciate really badly. I lost several £100 on my vPin in the space of two months while it was hardly used and in perfect condition. Real pins aren‘t (currently, at least) like that;
2. Having more tables available doesn’t mean you’ll want to play them;
3. VPins are not quiet compared to real pins. We had the vPin in the bedroom (where it was noisy) and we have the real pins downstairs in the front room (where they are noisy). You can turn the volume down on both real pins and vPins. This is how I sleep despite hearing, faintly, “every strong lad should ready himself for battle” over-and-over every night, and how I manage to own four pinball machines in the same terrace as a crazy noisy-obsessed elderly man who sends long angry emails about my toddler singing;
4. If you are used to real pins, you may find the experience of a vPin disappointing. If you’re worried about buying the wrong pin (and, as a Fish Tales fan, swapping Fish Tales for Flintstones was definitely a wrong choice ), I‘d recommend going to lots of league events, arcades/pubs and pinball clubs (e.g. The Pinball Office), and trying lots of pins. Then you can get an idea of what sort of things you enjoy. It is very telling that the first pin we are selling is the one we never played before purchase.

Finally, I would definitely consider a vPin if you’re someone who loves arcade cabs as part of the wider ‘retro gaming’ experience. I’m not remotely interested in arcade cabs and barely play computer games, so it didn’t work for me at all.

 

[boosted_jeep_uk]

I got a mini vPin from ArcadeLand, who make them commercially. It was a great little machine and I couldn’t fault it in terms of build quality, etc.

Arcadeland

Virtual Pinball Machine Manufacturer - Pinball Machines And Arcade Machine UK Distributer

arcadeland.co.uk

Andrew from Arcadeland was very lovely - he even took a trip to London to deliver our vPin in person as he couldn’t arrange a timely courier.

HOWEVER, I resold it within months because I realised the physicality of real pins is a big part of why I like them and the vPin couldn’t replicate that experience. Despite having hundreds of tables on the vPin, I just drifted back to playing my real pins instead.

A couple of things to note:

1. vPins depreciate really badly. I lost several £100 on my vPin in the space of two months while it was hardly used and in perfect condition. Real pins aren‘t (currently, at least) like that;
2. Having more tables available doesn’t mean you’ll want to play them;
3. VPins are not quiet compared to real pins. We had the vPin in the bedroom (where it was noisy) and we have the real pins downstairs in the front room (where they are noisy). You can turn the volume down on both real pins and vPins. This is how I sleep despite hearing, faintly, “every strong lad should ready himself for battle” over-and-over every night, and how I manage to own four pinball machines in the same terrace as a crazy noisy-obsessed elderly man who sends long angry emails about my toddler singing;
4. If you are used to real pins, you may find the experience of a vPin disappointing. If you’re worried about buying the wrong pin (and, as a Fish Tales fan, swapping Fish Tales for Flintstones was definitely a wrong choice ), I‘d recommend going to lots of league events, arcades/pubs and pinball clubs (e.g. The Pinball Office), and trying lots of pins. Then you can get an idea of what sort of things you enjoy. It is very telling that the first pin we are selling is the one we never played before purchase.

Finally, I would definitely consider a vPin if you’re someone who loves arcade cabs as part of the wider ‘retro gaming’ experience. I’m not remotely interested in arcade cabs and barely play computer games, so it didn’t work for me at all.

Thank you ArcadeLand is one of those i've been looking at.

Appreciate all your thoughts on it - but you probably hit the nail on the head with the last part - retro gaming is a bit of a thing, last time i had a pin i had a Scud Race arcade cab as well - this time, i'm going retro with a number of 90's home consoles to complement one pin and a cinema setup.

 

[boosted_jeep_uk]

I would probably take on the job of upgrading one of my old builds. 4K is the way to go (if you can afford it). Trouble is the PC spec has to be a lot higher to run it.

This was one I sold recently.

If you look on my channel there will be a few more.......

Thanks, that would be good - i'll put up a wanted posted at some point.

Those videos do look good !!

 

[Pick Holder]

Thank you ArcadeLand is one of those i've been looking at.

Appreciate all your thoughts on it - but you probably hit the nail on the head with the last part - retro gaming is a bit of a thing, last time i had a pin i had a Scud Race arcade cab as well - this time, i'm going retro with a number of 90's home consoles to complement one pin and a cinema setup.

Those are one companies I would not recommend. They are really underspec and a lot of games when you get to multiball stutter like mad.

 

[boosted_jeep_uk]

Those are one companies I would not recommend. They are really underspec and a lot of games when you get to multiball stutter like mad.

Ah right - thankyou - will stick with Plan A and look out for one of your old pins.

Watched a number of your videos on youtube but then got distracted by Duran Duranish - very good !!

 

[VeeMonroe]

Ah right - thankyou - will stick with Plan A and look out for one of your old pins.

Watched a number of your videos on youtube but then got distracted by Duran Duranish - very good !!

I’m not going to disagree with @pick here as I think, if you can find a second-hand home built pin, it is likely to be more lovingly built and generously specced than one built commercially. However, my mini vPin did not ’stutter like mad’ on multiball. It had perfectly-acceptable performance on all the Future Pinball, VPX, Pinball FX3, etc tables I played on it.

I, obviously, can’t comment on the larger vPins, as I didn’t purchase one and have never played one, but I would be happy to recommend a small vPin from Arcadeland because mine was fine.

 

[Doggard]

I’ve also got a vpin that was made by arcadeland, I’ve owned it 2 years, it’s used virtually every day, and has been rock solid. Mine is slightly under powered, only tables using pup packs though, works great for everything else. It’s not a massive issue for me, as I’m no fan of pup packs, the last thing I want to do while playing pinball, is watching movie clips, so generally avoid those few tables. I have a friend who purchased one recently, and he has no slow down issues whatsoever, so maybe they have upped the pc specs nowadays.

 

[Lroy]

As someone looking to accompany my one real pin with a virtual pin, this thread has been very, very interesting and useful to read. Thanks to all the participants for their opinions and advice.

 

[VeeMonroe]

I’ve also got a vpin that was made by arcadeland, I’ve owned it 2 years, it’s used virtually every day, and has been rock solid. Mine is slightly under powered, only tables using pup packs though, works great for everything else. It’s not a massive issue for me, as I’m no fan of pup packs, the last thing I want to do while playing pinball, is watching movie clips, so generally avoid those few tables. I have a friend who purchased one recently, and he has no slow down issues whatsoever, so maybe they have upped the pc specs nowadays.

Mine was fine with the pup packs.

 

[Doggard]

Mine was fine with the pup packs.

Yeah mine is an earlier version, so a bit under powered.
Bought mine from a guy I used to work with, who had it for 6 months. So it’s 2.5 years old now.
Tbh there’s only a couple of pup pack tables it struggles with, I was playing the dark knight last night, and it was running fine, although video on the back glass was pixelated

 

[boosted_jeep_uk]

Cheers guys - appreciate all the feedback.

I'm now off to google 'pup packs'

 

[OTRawrior]

PuP packs replace the back glass and DMD with video clips based on what's happening on the table.

Lord of the Rings is a good example if you've ever played it.

When your in the seige of orthanc/isengard mode, every time you hit the shot, you'd see Treebeard lobbing rocks at the tower as clips from the film. As opposed to pixel animations on the DMD.

Also see most modern real pinball tables, which have a big screen with clips from the film or whatever.

 

[boosted_jeep_uk]

PuP packs replace the back glass and DMD with video clips based on what's happening on the table.

Lord of the Rings is a good example if you've ever played it.

When your in the seige of orthanc/isengard mode, every time you hit the shot, you'd see Treebeard lobbing rocks at the tower as clips from the film. As opposed to pixel animations on the DMD.

Also see most modern real pinball tables, which have a big screen with clips from the film or whatever.

Thank you

 

[Lroy]

@boosted_jeep_uk Like you, I was hoping to get one of @Pick Holder
VPin builds but the timing just never worked out - in terms of their availability and having the cash on hand to buy one. Sadly, now he is no longer making them.

Thanks to generosity of the wife (plus some money I’ve saved up) for my birthday this month I’m finally going to take a chance on getting a VPin from a UK manufacturer. I’m only going mid-range to test the water with VPX and see how I take to it. So my machine won’t have all the bells and whistles you’re probably after but I’m happy to share my experience of how the company is to deal with once I have the machine in my hands.

Hope you manage to get your VPin sooner or later too.

 

[Marvello]

I've got a decent spec VPin but I still also play on my 10" tablet. There are lots of bells and whistles like feedback and PuP packs but the most important thing with virtual pinball is it runs smoothly and the flippers are responsive. If you don't have both of those it will ruin the experience.

 

[Lroy]

I've got a decent spec VPin but I still also play on my 10" tablet. There are lots of bells and whistles like feedback and PuP packs but the most important thing with virtual pinball is it runs smoothly and the flippers are responsive. If you don't have both of those it will ruin the experience.

Yep, fingers crossed even a modest build to get me started will allow me to taste the variety of virtual tables available on VPX. I’ve put hundreds of hours into the commercially available digital pinball platforms but am desperate for new tables to try that never came to those games.

 

[Lroy]

On a related note to this thread. Does anyone know of a UK supplier of custom toppers for VPin machines? Just thinking I’d like to add ornament/topper item to mine when I get it. Preferably one that includes lights but not essential as I guess there always those LED strip lights I could combine with a figurine/topper.

Just not been able to find much online when looking. Obviously would assume it needs to be smaller than a standard pin topper.

 

[Marvello]

On a related note to this thread. Does anyone know of a UK supplier of custom toppers for VPin machines? Just thinking I’d like to add ornament/topper item to mine when I get it. Preferably one that includes lights but not essential as I guess there always those LED strip lights I could combine with a figurine/topper.

Just not been able to find much online when looking. Obviously would assume it needs to be smaller than a standard pin topper.

What theme would your topper be though as unlike a real Pin there isn't a set theme with a VPin?

Those who do have a topper just use another screen that the PuP pack outputs to.

 

[Lroy]

What theme would your topper be though as unlike a real Pin there isn't a set theme with a VPin?

Those who do have a topper just use another screen that the PuP pack outputs to.

Yeah, unlike a real pin with a set theme, this can be anything related to any table.

The closet I’ve found so far are some little statues of the head and shoulders of the Universal Monsters. Hard to judge whether one or a few would be needed to decorate the flat topside of the backglass of the VPin. So not a screen, it would be the top of that screen housing. So a physical toy to go on top. Think these mini bust statues are 15cm. Or sort of mug sized (?)

I’ll have to wait until I actually get the VP in my hands to actually measure the size and get a sense of what scale I’d need the topper to be but I guess this could be an option, three of these monster mini busts and some led lights threaded around them. Sounds a bit naff and crude though. I was hoping some clever person or persons had already started making and selling custom sized toppers for VPins seeing as the digital side of the hobby only seems to be growing like the swelling interest in the real thing.

I’ve seen some videos where people have lights like you’d find on The Getaway: High Speed II. So there are some options that have lights built into them. Just no luck finding a website that sells stuff like this.