Demo IPAD pinball machine

[pinballresearch]

Alpha demo of our upcoming mini pinball machine playing Zen Williams pinball. You can slide in your own Ipad. Plunger and button support. Works with all existing pinball software.



https://youtu.be/JrLKPFvh99w

 

[francis247uk]

Looks good, wonder how much it will cost

 

[Pete]

ill give you a can of beans and a roll of toilet paper

 

[pinballresearch]

We're aiming at a much lower pricepoint

 

[Kolchak357]

Very cool. Love the small tabletop size.

 

[pinballresearch]

Thanks for the comment. We'll send a new video. In the meantime here is some background information. It's not a sell. We're asking for your tip's and opinions so we may improve the machine.

We really like digital pinball and especially TPA and Zen Williams. Truly great pinball games. We bought all the tables before FarSight lost the licence. We don't care for the whole grinding thing on Ipad and bought all the Zen Williams tables. And as great as the software nowadays is, playing it on the Ipad touchscreen or on a desktop with a keyboard still feels limited. Of course you can build or buy a digital pinball machine but a full sized cabinet simply takes a lot of room. And we were far from thrilled by some of the design choices of the commercial machines. Not enough bang for your buck. We already played TPA on our Ipad. Hardly takes room at all. Starts up with the push of a button. It has a beautiful highres glossy screen. But using touchcontrols for playing pinball is mediocre at best. After much more research than we care to admit we found a solution and built our mini digital pinball machine. With a real plunger and button and nudging support. And unique vibration feedback. A small machine that looks nice and makes playing TPA and Zen so much more fun. That was the whole idea. Great for a few quick games during lunchbreak, beat your friends or compete online. And to be honest, I think we really succeeded. A prototype stands in the corner of our software room and we play it on a daily basis. (We're not doing too bad on the online ranking. I think the cabinet gives us an edge . Shouting, slamming it and having a great time.
After months of playing and with Zen acquiring the Williams licence we realised the potential and decided to turn it into a full project. All we needed was a name.

The MiniPin works with your own Ipad. You can easily open the MiniPin and slide it in or out. Only takes a minute. The plunger and buttons have custom solution and are fully functional with all Ipad pinball games. Also the ones with no true bluetooth controller support like Zen Williams!!!
Use the plunger as a normal plunger for skillshots. Very accurate and responsive. In addition, instead of pulling, if you push it it functions as if pushing the launch button on a pinball machines. It also does extra's like shifting gears in The Getaway or shooting the ball in Terminator 2.
The MiniPin had stainless steel siderails and a stainless steel lockbar. Gives a bit an authentic feeling when putting your hands down. The Minpin is powered by a standard 5v powerbank with usb connector. This means it is fully portable and easy to store or take with you to friends. The research has finished and we are making final design decisions. And do al lot of testing. Building this for private use is one thing, designing something commercially is something else.
And here we are looking for your comments and opinion. These will influence our final design. Later this year we will be doing a Kickstarter.

Thanks!

Ben from PinballResearch

 

[Jay]

Good luck with your project! If it works over Bluetooth, it could be worth it. I had other iDevice cabinets that required plugging in to the device's connector. When the connectors changed, the cabinets were useless. My only concern with Bluetooth would be latency when hitting the flippers. I'm glad you're including a USB connector to keep the device charged.

What are you considering doing for the backlglass? I can't quite make it out in your video. I wish there was some way to take the virtual DMD in the game and map it to a small screen on the backglass.

 

[Kolchak357]

Again, this sounds like a very cool project. Please let us know when the Kickstarter begins. Can’t wait to see more.

 

[Scared Stiff]

Looks fantastic! I would definitely be interested!

 

[pinballresearch]

Hello everybody. We have a new name and started! Check out https://youtu.be/mcqNtLr3RDA and gibsonspinball.com.