The game is called Urban Flipper and it was designed by Carol Martin and Thibaut Berbezier of CT Light. They can project the game onto any surface, in this case, the Celestins theater in Lyon. Using 3D projection mapping technology, they to turned the details of the building’s facade into bumpers and obstacles, and allowed visitors to actually play a game using a few buttons located near the projection booth. It even has the appropriate accompanying pinball sounds.

Let the giant pinball wars begin. He who controls the high score on the Empire State building is king.

[UFUNK (FR) via Ubergizmo]

To play Gumball Pinball, you simply turn the crank to release three 1-inch gumballs into the field of play. Woo-hoo! Multi-ball on the first try! As the gumballs start to head South, you bat away at them using a pair of flippers. The field has a total of seven holes on it, four which will win you the gumball, and three which result in no prize at all. Gumballs you get in the right holes drop into the candy collection area, while those you miss are returned to a storage bin for later reloading.

Ok, so it doesn’t sound like it will have much replay value after you collect your gumballs, but it still looks like fun for at least a few seconds. And kids will should a blast with this thing. All told, the Gumball Pinball Machine can hold up to 1,700 gumballs (it comes with 850), and the whole machine only weighs 97 lbs, so it shouldn’t be that difficult to transport and set up. It’s available over at Hamamcher Schlemmer for $1,000 (USD).

Made over in the UK by Steven C. Gauntley of Retro Heart, these miniature machines are each handcrafted from wood with custom vinyl graphics, and sheets of acetate for the “glass” tops of the pinball tables and fronts for some of the video games. In all, he’s made over 100 different machines, and continues to add to the collection. Check out a bunch of my favorites in the gallery below:

I was always a pushover for Paperboy and Burgertime, but I have to say that the pinball tables are really great too – gotta love The Simpsons. Each machine is built in a limited-edition, at 1/12th scale. To put that in perspective, both the pinball machines and arcade cabinets stand about 6 inches tall. It’s just too bad you can’t actually play any of these. But then again, my fingers aren’t that small.

The arcade cabinets sell for £14.99 to £19.99 (~$24 to $32 USD) each, and the pinball machines go for £24.99 (~$40 USD) a piece, while the extremely special Star Wars cockpit sells for £39.99 (~$65 USD). Steven also offers a substantial discount for orders of 10 arcade cabinets or 5 pinball machines. Plus, if you’re looking for that special machine you just couldn’t get enough of, Steve will do custom orders too. Ready to build out your miniature dream arcade? Just head on over to Retro Heart and get started.

TBarklay’s digital pinball machine uses a pair of LCDs, a PC, and some emulator software – along with an MDF wood cabinet, some buttons and a plenty of elbow grease. The back glass and playing fields are made from computer displays with a 19-inch LCD for the back glass and a 24-inch widescreen LCD for the tabletop (of course you could go with a larger monitor if you want – 37″ is closer to a normal pinball machine). The whole works runs on a PC – ideally using a dual-core processor and 2GB of RAM or better. To do this yourself, you’ll also need a keyboard encoder and some wiring stuff to get your buttons to work as flippers.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The software that actually makes the digital pinball table is Visual Pinball, and the front-end to make it playable on the table is called HyperPin.  The end result is really cool, and you can check out the full build docs over at Instructables.

[via Ubergizmo]

The company makes a full range of pinball machines that can be purchased in versions for home collectors, or in the versions that are actually put into arcades today.

The Iron Man classic machine has some cool sound effects and the one in the video below is the home version.

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Apparently, the thing is very similar play wise to the arcade version with differences including things like stickers for graphics rather than screen-printed graphics. The Iron Man Classic machine can be pre-ordered for $3,799 and will ship on November 1.

Dock your iPhone inside New Potato’s Pinball Magic, and it turns your smartphone into the world’s tiniest pinball machine. The weensy little pinball machine has a pair of flipper switches, a plunger for launching balls, and an LED backlit backboard display which shows animations when you play. And the accompanying game uses the iPhone’s motion sensors to support tilt detection, so jostling the machine works just like the real deal.

You can order Pinball Magic here for $39.99 (USD), and while you’re waiting, you can download the free Pinball Magic app here (opens iTunes). Keep in mind that the game cannot be played without the table, so don’t bother trying to figure it out until you get one.

[via Chip Chick via SlipperyBrick]

At the heart of O’Horo’s machine is an Intel Atom motherboard and an NVIDIA graphics card, with Windows XP as its OS. The pinball’s playing field is digitally rendered on a 19″ 16:9 LCD display that’s been installed sideways.  O’Horo also installed lots of analog touches, including a shooter, flipper buttons (with solenoid feedback), and even a coin acceptor.  The graphics and the LED marquee also add to the authentic look. But I think the most important part of the Hot Touch Arcade is the emulator itself – the fantastic looking free software, Future Pinball.

Now that I think about it, this is actually the Ben Heckish way of making a pinball machine. Check out Ryan O’Horo’s Crave DIY page for more pics and info.

[via Make:]

Nanotech’s Multipin is a digital pinball simulator, mashed-up with the physical look of a classic pinballer. The game is a full-sized pinball machine that provides electronic renditions of 17 pinball machines in a single cabinet. The system comes loaded with a number of original pinball games, as well as several modern remakes of classic Gottlieb pinball titles from the 1970s and 80s. And if 17 games aren’t enough Nanotech plans on offering upgrade packs with additional tables you can load in later.

Games are played on a large 32-inch 720p high-def LCD monitor that’s set into the playing surface under glass. Multipin not only looks like a pinball cabinet, the game is controlled with all of the classic trappings, a mechanical plunger, clicky flipper buttons, and a realistic audio experience which includes all of the sounds you’d expect to hear coming from a mechanical pinball machine. There are even digital motion sensors in the cabinet that let you nudge and shake the ball around (and eventually tilt the machine if you go too far). There’s also a second LCD screen under the machines backglass that’s used for displaying scores, game graphics, and the occasional mini-game.

Here’s some video from a recent episode of NBC’s TechNow showing off the Multipin in action:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The best thing about the Multipin? You can buy one for yourself – now. This isn’t vaporware, it’s a real thing. The $6000 (USD) machine is available now over at Hammacher Schlemmer. Sure, you’ll need some seriously deep pockets to buy one, but if you’re a serious pinball addict, you might want to put Multipin on your Christmas list this year.

Pax-man’s got a huge forehead. Anyway as you can see Ben Heck’s put various Bill Paxton references on the machine – Bill Paxton the car dealer from True Lies, the moon to signify Apollo 13, and of course the Big Love wives. The game’s mechanics will also be Paxtonized: “…in “True Lies” mode, you’ll need to shoot combos and multipliers to I guess get into Jamie Lee Curtis’ pants.” Other modes will be based on Titanic, Aliens and Twister.

In the end, Ben Heck says that this pet project is all about “building something very complicated from scratch, so the engineering is the real star.” That, and getting into Jamie Lee Curtis’ pants. Check out the full story at Ben Heck’s blog.

The system offers up the familiar top-down view and flipper controllers you’d find on a traditional pinball machine, but that’s about where the similarities end. Austria’s TAB has created the “Virtual Pinball” platform to offer arcades a cost-effective way to offer multiple games in a single cabinet. At the core of the system is a 42-inch touchscreen surface, along with a proprietary gaming platform which allows new tables to be easily downloaded.

Unlike some of the other pinball-specific systems out there, this one can also be used to play other action arcade games, so maybe it’ll be more popular. In addition to flipper inputs, the machine incorporates realistic tilt sensors which can be programmed to affect game play. Since the system offers IP connectivity, there’s even an online tournament play capability.

Personally, I’m not a big fan of digital pinball simulation, and would much rather play on an old mechanical machine any day of the week. But with the old pinball industry pretty much a fading memory, digital is about the only game in town.

[via acquire]

The UltraPin is a digital pinball machine where the play field has been replaced with a 32-inch flat-panel monitor, and feedback system that lets you bump and tilt the machine like a traditional mechanical pinball machine, directly affecting gameplay in the digital realm. The cool part is that they’ve loaded the machine with emulations of classic pinball games including Attack from Mars, Sorcerer, Strikes & Spares, F-14 Tomcat, Medieval Madness and Xenon. They’re also selling six-packs of additional machines (including my some of my all time favorites, Black Knight 2000 and Firepower) which can be loaded onto the machine. The UltraPin runs about $6500.

More pictures can be seen here.

[via Retrothing]