You can play pinball on everything from your phone and your laptop to your tablet and whatever console you’ve got plugged to the TV. Of course, the best way to enjoy the classic ball-flipping arcade game is still the good, old analog cabinet. Problem is, traditional pinball machines are not only expensive, they also come with just one game – not the best thing in a time when you can keep several dozen games just on your phone alone. The Skillshot FX Digital Pinball offers a potential compromise by putting digital pinball games in the traditional arcade form factor.
We know, it’s not the first time someone made a pinball video game in a cabinet resembling traditional pinball machines. Except, this one comes with a 55-inch full HD screen as its playfield, giving it a size and proportion that actually resemble those of traditional pinball machines (actually, it’s even slightly bigger), allowing them to recreate any pinball game in its full original scale.
The Skillshot FX Digital Pinball looks like a traditional pinball machine with a large themed lightbox on top showing the game score and a sloping lower cabinet housing the playfield. The lightbox actually integrates a 32-inch full HD screen in the back glass, allowing it to change the theme graphics depending on what game you’re currently playing, while the lower cabinet houses the 55-inch display. Because of its size, the playfield should be able to replicate any traditional pinball game without having to shrink any of the elements, as it can easily recreate the proportions of any standard pinball playfield from existing machines, whether it be Stern’s 45 x 20.25 inches, Bally’s 42 x 20.25 inches, or even those from newer companies.
The 55-inch display has 1080p resolution, which is nice as HD does make for crystal clear graphics. However, the existence of 4K panels makes us wish they opted for one of those instead, as they can definitely take the playfield’s realism to the next level.
The Skillshot FX Digital Pinball comes with 96 pinball tablets from Zen Studios’ Pinball FX3. Yes, it’s that same pinball game you can get for PCs and consoles. Except… you know… this lets you play it in an actual cabinet that feels like a real pinball machine, making the experience a lot closer to traditional arcades. It’s runs the game on Steam in Windows 10, by the way, so you can purchase additional tables easily, as well as run all sorts of games on this machine if you want.
It comes with authentic launcher and flipper buttons, complete with mechanical flipper feedback to really dial in that analog gaming feel. They even threw in haptic feedback to make the machine feel like its grooving. Other features include an arcade-quality in-cabinet sound system, LED glow lighting all around, and Wi-Fi connectivity with full access to multiplayer match modes. The whole thing, by the way, measures 30.5 x 62 x 79 inches (width x depth x height) and weighs 270 pounds.
The Skillshot FX Digital Pinball is available now, priced at $8,999.
