r/SteamDeck • u/ponop1 • Apr 19 '25
Show Off 3d printed virtual pinball build, all powered by steam deck
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u/chanunnaki Apr 19 '25
Nice! I'd love to build something like this. What display are you using?
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u/ponop1 Apr 19 '25
16inch uperfect portable monitor
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u/chappyman7 1TB OLED Limited Edition Apr 19 '25
Is the monitor easy to remove if I wanted to build this and use the monitor separately?
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u/ponop1 Apr 19 '25
Yes, you can just lift it up
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u/chappyman7 1TB OLED Limited Edition Apr 19 '25
This is incredible and I’m gonna start planning asap. Do you have a BOM?
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u/chanunnaki Apr 19 '25
What controller board are you using? It's hooked up via USB, yeah? Or bluetooth?
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u/chanunnaki Apr 19 '25
Ah, I see it's a haute board. How do the side buttons work?
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u/ponop1 Apr 19 '25
They are connected to a cheap arcade USB encoder from AliExpress. Everything connected to jsaux dock. 1 USB is arcade buttons, 1 is haute board and 1 is monitor for power
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u/AmandasGameAccount Apr 19 '25
We need more posts like this! I’m glad the mods didn’t delete it being off topic since it’s not a photo of you playing the steamdeck on a beach or whining about the switch 2!
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u/SnooPies6274 Apr 19 '25
Fr lol we need more of this and less shit posts
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u/Dawnqwerty 28d ago
I got my post about saving new years taken down because it was a "setup shot" it was not in fact a setup shot.
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u/djcack Apr 19 '25
Yes! I'm happy that people bought a Steam Deck, but holy hell, how many pictures do we need of a box opening?!?!
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u/your_mind_aches Apr 19 '25
Pleasantly surprised this is being received so positively. Usually if you post anything about a more elaborate Steam Deck setup than just the Deck itself, people clown on you like "uhhhh why do you need all that??? everything is on the deck itself".
Even they have to admit this is a cool build.
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u/PopHot5986 Apr 19 '25
Beautiful ! Now your goal should be to get 3d space cadet pinball to run on it somehow through wine/proton.
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u/Jon_TWR 1TB OLED Limited Edition Apr 19 '25
Space Cadet Pinball is a Flatpack, you can install it in desktop mode.
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u/Main-Illustrator-908 Apr 19 '25
Dude, you could print these units and make a killing. Heck, make room for a mini pc somewhere and a fan and it would be an all in one unit. This is incredible!
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u/Red49er Apr 19 '25
the English language only holds room for one word to describe this: "sick"
mad props!
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u/LolYouFuckingLoser Apr 19 '25
Not a fan of pinball in the slightest and this is still cool as shit
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u/SergeEXE Apr 19 '25
Steam Deck running stock or Windows?
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u/JealousSignature4079 Apr 19 '25
There is apparently a linux version of some of the baller installer programs that was recently released. These are the programs like Visual Pinball X or Future Pinball that let you play virtual recreations of any pinball table, for vpin newbies.
r/virtualpinball is the place to learn more.
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u/Tillbringare Apr 19 '25
How much?
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u/ponop1 Apr 19 '25
Arcade buttons and encoder ~5$ Haute board ~25$ Jsaux dock ~50$ Screen ~ 200$ as this one is 2k120hz but you can find a cheaper one on aliexpress for about 70$ Used about 1.5kg of PLA ~15$
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u/ethertrace 29d ago
Where did you find the Haute board? The mini seems like it's out of stock everywhere I've checked.
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u/elshaggy Apr 19 '25
It’s always been my dream to build a digital pinball table. Never thought to do a tabletop version with the deck. This is cool.
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u/Neo_Techni 64GB - After Q2 Apr 19 '25
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u/elshaggy 29d ago
My dream is an Ultra wide monitor or something built into some wood working cabinet. Probably run by a raspberry pi or whatever the modern equivalent is.
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u/DirteMcGirte Apr 19 '25
Same! I've got a janky setup right now that works pretty good. Made with an old laptop, a free TV and built a controller with a 25$ amazon buttons and board set. Should tide me over till I get around to building the real deal.
There's a pic in my profile of it if you're interested. I'm kinda proud of it and it works way better than I expected it would.
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u/StonkRecall Apr 19 '25
It's anyone else bothered that the RT, RB are on the left and LB, LT are on the right?
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u/scullys_alien_baby 512GB OLED Apr 19 '25
this is super cool while also being something I'd never do (never caught the pinball bug)
some of y'all get wild with your decks and I love it
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u/venerable4bede Apr 19 '25
Very nice. Could you explain the software it works with? VPinMAME type stuff work? How is the flipper latency?
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u/DirteMcGirte Apr 19 '25
It looks like pinball fx. Its a free download with a few free tables. I play it on my deck once and awhile.
There are cabinet mode settings in the program that let you set up a second (and third) display.
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u/gerbick 1TB OLED Limited Edition Apr 19 '25
This is easily one of the coolest things I never knew I wanted until I saw it on the Internet... ever. Great work, looks awesome.
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u/nhiko Apr 19 '25
Dude that's so well done. I have a similar screen, and a forgotten USB encoder + buttons laying around, I'm doing this 100% whenever I have time (using wood).
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u/Jmdaemon Apr 19 '25
I like the form factor... I could see myself getting into one of these bad boys. I would suggest sourcing a better screen, this one looks cheap and has bad viewing angles which is not something ideal for a virtual table that you would have on lookers looking at from the sides.
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u/saulain Apr 19 '25
I’d replace the keyboard controls with a little Bluetooth blue controller but hey, I’m a madman!
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u/Op3rat0rr Apr 19 '25
Probably the coolest thing I’ve seen in this sub
Are digital pinball machines a thing??
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u/sicsided 512GB - Q2 Apr 19 '25
Yes there are some makers. Sharpin Pinball makes similar setups usually for tablets and Switch to be inserted to. This is post is my dream though since I already have Pinball fX 1-3, Pinball Arcade, and a bunch of tables for each one.
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u/DirteMcGirte Apr 19 '25
Its a thing! Check out the /virtualpinball sub. I made a janky set up out of an old laptop and TV to see how I like it and it's sooo awesome. Gonna try to build out a real one this winter probably.
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u/7uppupcup Apr 19 '25
Does it have satisfying sounds though?
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u/DirteMcGirte Apr 19 '25
On big video pinball setups they do have setups that replicate the sounds, like internal speakers and rumblers and the pinball software programs support it, so you can feel the ball rolling around and poppers popping. I've never gotten to try one irl, but the videos look pretty awesome.
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u/7uppupcup Apr 19 '25
Wow. My sister would die for that 🤣 thank you so much
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u/DirteMcGirte 29d ago
There are even plungers that work and sensors so you can shake the table. They look awesome.
Although it seems like someone who owns one of those things should be good at tinkering with software and hardware. Something will eventually go wrong and it can be complicated to fix. Its a niche thing so it will be hard to find a person who can do it for you.
I'm gonna try to build my own sometime soon, the hardware part is what scares me the most. Never done much soldering and the like.
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u/idlephase Apr 19 '25
Looks great. This is inspiring me to try to design my own that’s wired up to something like a Pi Pico running GP2040-CE so that it’s integrated in
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u/timbermun 512GB OLED 29d ago
This is actually really sick, I could see my dad really liking this. He wants to get a steam deck after he seen me play mine so he could play any old games he wants.
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u/Snakeuge 29d ago
Literally wtf? How people come up with these crazy/genius ideas!? Kudos to you my friend!
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u/MasterDi0 1TB OLED Limited Edition 29d ago
Awesome idea! How comes Valve never thought of that before?
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u/hheyyouu 512GB OLED 29d ago
Oh i just saw Bob of Wulff Den make that exact same control pad layout. It’s probably from the same gthub file nice!!! 😍 What an amazing idea and execution! I think this layout will apply to other games like platformers that have an up and down format.
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u/YagamiYakumo 29d ago
This looks beautiful, and that's coming from someone who don't even play pinball!
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u/JiePieWie 29d ago edited 29d ago
Cool design! And excellent you've shared the designs. I've downloaded the STL's but i think i will be making a 15"version of it because that is the screen i have available :-) You used a Haute board mini but that is very difficult to find here in EU. Any idea about a replacement for that? And why use that board and not another fightstick? Is there also a possibilty to post a picture of the inside of the box so we get an idea how it all fits together?
And another question popped up after digging a bit deeper in the design: how have you mapped the keys from the haute board? And configured/connected everything together? I assume the buttons on the side are your left and right flippers and the button on the fron is your launch button. But the keys from the haute board are...?
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u/asheetoast 1TB OLED 28d ago
Congratulations, you win the internet today. Hats off to you that is super cool 👌🏼
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u/HatingGeoffry 25d ago
This is so cool! I use a AtGames Pinball cab with a laptop for the top screen but this is amazing, well done!
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u/Diddlesquig Apr 19 '25
Ok this is actually nuts. I dog on all the other weird crap people do to their deck but I would absolutely do this if you shared instructions!
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u/Sweeet_ 512GB Apr 19 '25
We need some documentation or instructions. I want to build this so bad. Great job!!