I built this for my Oculus Rift to use with Pinball FX. It plugs in via USB 2.0. It has a working plunger and mercury switches to simulate nudging. I even threw in some arcade controls on top to use with the retro video games. It works fantastically. Not quite real pinball but the closest thing you'll get currently in VR.

IMG_0534 (resized).JPG
IMG_0537 (resized).JPG

Thanks.

No it wasn't difficult. I used a Zero Delay Arcade USB Encoder board I bought on eBay. I Plugged in the joystick, two mercury switches and all the buttons into the board. Then I installed a program called x360ce. It is a free open source software that takes the USB joystick you just made and tricks windows into thinking it is an Xbox controller. You just need to copy x360ce program (very tiny program) into the folder with with the Pinball FX executable launch file. Then you just configure the buttons in the program (x360ce) to correspond to the various buttons on you pinball controller and voila...Oculus doesn't know the difference.

The most expensive part of this project was the pinball legs. The coin door and lockdown bar are fake...just made of MDF. It was a great fun project and definitely worth it for pinball in VR. Now I'm just waiting for Pinball Arcade to be released for Rift. Then I can play all the classics I can't afford to buy.

I love the nod to Funhouse with the 'visit bobs when flashing sign'. I look at that sign and I immediately think of Funhouse which has a similar light up board. Love it.