My opinion, many games in one cabinet, but the feel is not fully there. Nonerheless they did a great job capturing it.

Virtual pinball is fun, it allows you access to many different pins. Unfortunately nothing beats the real thing. If you have limited space and or limited budget, they can be lots of fun.

Depending on how the cab is made/configured its fun. It will never replace pinball but its as fun as having a non-pinball game in your gameroom and tables are updated weekly so there is always something new/different to play.

They are fun, but you can get the same experience on a console for next to nothing.

It's not for me. I think they are terrible, and a waste of space and money, considering you can get "virtually" the same experience on your desktop or iphone cheap or free.

So my opinion hasn't changed. Others may feel differently.

Is this the company that took a bunch of Predator pre-order money from Kevin Kulek?

I own both real and a custom digital. There is a big difference running in a Cabinet, I have full feedback, shaker motor, working plunger, leds and it's much better then a console. Plus being able to customize everything is half the fun. No it's nowhere near as fun as my real machines but pretty fun. Here is mine running Ac/Dc

Star trek

If you enjoy it that's the only thing that matters. It's your hard earned cash, do what you want with it and I sincerely hope you have a blast!

But since you asked, I consider them an over-priced abomination... and no matter how much the tech improves I will not change my views on them. Whatever god you pray to, I assure you he or she is offended by their existence. The severe global weather patterns we're facing started flaring up around the same time these things were invented. Coincidence? Perhaps... but sounds like divine retribution to me.

IMHO it completely depends on the cab. A multi-screen, full force feedback equipped cab is not at all the same as playing on desktop or app.
Knockers, contactors, shakers, gear motors, RGB LEDs, real DMDs, real plungers, and motion sensors (for nudging) all add to the experience that you don't get from an app.
Yes it's still a video game, but when you can feel/hear all of the knocks and shakes of a real pin while nudging the cab, it makes the experience a whole lot more "real".
It also gives you the ability to try new pins that you haven't played before.
I've also tried modified roms for stern machines on the virtual cab first before running them on my real pins.

Having said all that, I love the virtual cab but I definitely prefer real pins. Virtual is just another cool toy to have in the gameroom.

Junky

Here's the deal. Access to location play for me is tough because of distance, family, work, and other commitments. The visual pinball software (not Zen or Pinball Arcade) has gotten much better. Think of all those pins you see and play on location or at a festival that you enjoy, but really don't want to own. You can play them all on a virtual cab any time. Want to play CCC, BBB, or Scared Stiff? Yoy can any time. The pins you truly love and want in your home, you can buy. Plus, the VP community is as fun to be a part of as the pinball community. So, have fun with what makes you happy.

I've thought about selling them myself but I don't think people would be willing to pay enough to justify the hours of work involved. I would have to charge a lot I think. I'm not sure if Paul (virtuapin) or others are selling complete force feedback cabs yet or not.

I'm thinking about selling mine and starting a new Theme build.

Here is a couple of videos for you

How you select the tables with Custom music I added

- cabinet
• new widebody cabinet (original bally/williams size )
• new pinball legs
• new widebody lockbar
• new (small) pinball siderails
• new coindoor (illuminated) with original pinball service buttons
• new playfield and backbox glass
• wired and fully functional coin acceptors (for real arcade feeling)
• Original silk screen artwork

- screens
• 42" playfield LG LED 1920x1080 LCD screen
• 27" backglass Samsung P2770 1920x1080 LCD screen
• 15.6" dmd widescreen AOC LCD screen

- pc setup
• optimized Windows 7 Ultimate
• INTEL I7 960 CPU
• Asus Sabertooth mainboard
• Watercooled CPU cooler
• 12 GB RAM 
• 1 Zotac gtx 970
• 256 GB Crucial M4 SSD Drive
• 650w power supply

- additional details
• 3 mercury switches for nudging
• Magna save buttons
• plunger and launch button
• IPAC button interface
• 4 port USB hub mounted under front of cabinet for easy access
• 3x 220mm fans for cab ventilation (2x cabinet / 1x backbox)

- force feedback
• complete LEDWIZ force feedback package (all ROM controlled)
• 8 contactors to hear and feel the mechanical flipper, slingshot, bumper etc. action
• shaker/vibration motor 
• 3 high power RGB-LED flashers (back of playfield area)
• stroboscope effects (back of playfield)

If the virtual pinball machine has the contactors/solenoids like the one Marcdaddy has, so you get the real force feedback, I think they are pretty good and are close to the real deal.

I've tried ones without the contactors and it just doesn't come close.

100% agree.

They are obviously nothing like the real thing, but I guess they serve a purpose if you don;t have access to a ton of games to play. THey just become a paperweight and need to be sold off at some point, but he so are a lot of real pinball machines.

I had one that I built, 3 screens, analog nudge, force feedback with 8 solenoids, and a decent sound system - I enjoyed it a lot for awhile, and building it was a fun long term project. That was my entry into the world of Pinball. But a real machine is significantly better in every way save variety. So when I only had one real machine it was nice to have the virtual cab to throw in some variety. It was wayyyyy better than playing any of the games on a PC. That was Visual Pinball X and newer, I didn't care for the other mobile or console based PC pinball games though, and never loaded any of them on it. I was running the Pinball X frontend if I recall correctly, which was really nice presentation wise.

I ended up selling it for a good amount 6 months or so ago, enough to easily cover a cheaper System 11 game. No way would I pay $3000 or more for a commercial VPin though - that will buy one of any number of nice, good playing, modern WPC-level machines. Pretty sure I've seen the higher end, force-feedback, nicely equipped models retail for about the cost of the real Stern Pro. That is flat out nuts IMO... I also did not at all like the Vertigo or whatever cabs that try to cross the gap between a pinball machine and an upright arcade machine.

Combine cost with the fact that none of the commercial units even come with a decent emulator like Visual Pinball X, to my knowledge, and they really don't make sense to me. If you're comfortable with PCs and customization then it's not hard to set that up yourself, but I imagine a fair number of people would be challenged by that and stuck with the garbage apps they come with.

I built my first three screen pinmame cab back in 2009 and traded it to someone who really wanted one. I built my next one using a SWE1 cab and reflected the DMD only the playfield glass as seen here.

Funny enough this is how I got into the hobby because I never even knew you could or people owned pinball machines. As I got more pins and meeting more local collectors with amazing collections I played my pinmame cab less and less so I sold it back in 2015 to make room for another pin

Recently I have been watching videos of these new VPX tables, they look and play amazing compared to VP9. So right now I am in the process of catching up with all the latest developments, tools and hardware people are using these days for feedback. I like to have all the software setup figured out before I start to build a cab and fill with screens.

The VP community has been anxiously waiting for Ghostbusters LE to be completed on VPX. Someone posted a final test video on youtube earlier today.

Your cash your call, what ever makes you happy. Personally I liken it to bangn a doll, might get ya off but nothin beats the real thing. And no I haven’t lol.

VPCabs is another place to check out. I bought a Vertigo (upright video game / pinball hybrid) from them a few months ago and love it. Of course it is not "real" pinball, but it is a lot of fun! And being able to play the occasional video game is pretty cool. They also make full size machines, but living in a high rise condo, a full size machine - virtual or real - is not an option.

I used to own a full blown virtual cab with all the good stuff. Anyone who says they are a waste and you can get the same experience on a pc is 100% wrong and likely have never played one and therefore shouldn't comment.

Would I ever pick virtual over real? Hell no but it's a great alternative for someone with limited space and wants to learn pinball. It's very impressive how close it feels to the real thing (solenoids are a must) and applaud all of the great contributors to the vp passion.

They hold their value too. When I sold mine I had three buyers lined up.

I have owned my Virtual machine for about 4 years now and the comments in this thread are right and wrong in my opinion. Yes the games truly are different then playing a real pinball machine, but the new Pinball 10 engine with the new creations from the Virtual Pinball Community is great. I own about 18 real pinball machines and the differences are noticeable but playing the virtual table is fun. You can play games such as Cactus Canyon or King Pin which I may never own as a real table in my entire life. You can also play the new Ghost Busters which is an excellent port. My virtual machine shows no signs of lag or stutter while playing which is important.

In my table I installed solenoids which give you the real flipper and bumper feel. I also installed LED's to enhance the overall gaming experience. My pinball machine also has a shaker motor and a DMD screen. I like playing my table and just tinkering with it to improve the overall experience of game play. I use the Pinball X front end which allows the user to choose the different tables in a visual way.

Blastin B, good luck with your table, hope you enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed mine. Below are some vids I created showing how to install the software and hardware that works with the virtual table.

Virtual Pinball Install Playlist Videos :

Virtual Pinball Play Videos :

Specs of my Virtual Table :

http://www.pinballsupernova.com/hardware%20software%20and%20build.html

What does a build like that cost in rough numbers?