Good question - I'm wondering owners take's also. All aspects - pro's, cons. Mame and the Pinball.

Tangent: I don't own one, but I played some virtual pinball on a vertigo at an expo. After being very interested in the small footprint, I absolutely hated it. The vertical nature felt too weird and it's kinda hard to keep everything in sight compared to the traditional layout. Probably great for video games though.

I like the Vertigo, sort of. To me, I find myself too close to the screen when playing pinball on it. I am of average height (5'10"). Perhaps because the screen orientation is fixed and cannot be changed? If you're shorter, it will definitely work better, as far as proper view angle.

Also, I don't find the trim comfortable when playing pinball. Doesn't feel nice. It's like the trim digs into your hands, in funny places?

If not for these issues, I think it's well-built, and the finish is nice. But I ended up building my own for fun, in 2 pieces so that I can move away from the screen. Picture attached. PS: Mine is made of cardboard and hot glue. lol.

pinball rig (resized).jpg

I have one on the way and I bought it mostly to have the excellent library of Pinball FX games on a platform that plays them ideally, IMO. Plus it has a good number of classic arcade games that people want to play but I just don't have the room for and time to maintain. The screen and buttons would make it less than desirable for most games on MAME, however. If you want to have someone build you an awesome MAME machine I recommend checking out Arcades R Fun. For just a bit more than a Vertigo you'll have a 4-player system that plays every arcade game and is plug and play. I have one and it's awesome.

I played a vertigo this weekend at the York show. I played some pinball on it and didn't find it uncomfortable but I would prefer a larger traditional cabinet to play virtual pin. However playing mame on it was fun and I like the small foot print as an addition to the gameroom for mame. If I was you, I'd try it out myself. You may love it or not, but only you can decide.

Had one for about a year; it's okay for Mame...Decent for Vertical one player games like PacMan or DK; but not good at all for horizontal games, or two player horizontal games...The control panel is really shallow as well, so it's not super comfortable...If you are mainly buying for Mame purposes, there are better options out there.

Mame is super easy to set up. I've built Mame cabinets out of an old video game cabinet that you can get for a few hundred bucks and I've also bought pre-fab kits to build the cabinet (X-Arcade). Throw in an X-Arcade Tankstick and you are golden! Plus, with just a wimpy PC or even a raspberry pi, you can not only have MAME, but emulators for NES, super NES, Sega, etc. Plus you can also add VPX, Future pinball, and FX3. Tankstick has buttons for flippers on the side. I own a VPCab because I wanted a full force feedback virtual pin table. But for arcade games, I would go with DIY. I'm not computer savvy and I've built 3 so far.

I have one. And honestly use it sole for mame primarily just because it works and there are no headaches. And I am an IT guy by trade. I want to spend my time playing. Not making sure stuff is working.

I would love to have at least one full size virtual pinball machine with the force feedback stuff. I think that is a great “thing” to have to go along with the physical machines.

If you are thinking vertigo for virtual pinball, I would say pass. It’s a nice to have alongside MAME but not the full real deal.

But for mame I thinks it’s a great add along side other real “dedicated” classic machines.

The company has been great re: issues and support.

I bought mine from brad prior to “the shark tank” at the Ohio show!