WPC-style Widebody Virtual Pinball Cabinet - Fully Trimmed

I was looking into buying / building a Virtual Pinball cabinet.

I did some research and found plenty of diagrams, blue prints and schematics for building my own cabinet. Even though I am perfectly cable of building my own cabinet with the plans provided, I also looked into perhaps "buying" a finished cabinet from a professional pinball cabinet manufacturer.

Time was a the key factor. If I build a cabinet myself, with my work schedule and such and the actual time it would take to build a cabinet, it would take me probably 6 months to complete just the cabinet. Not to mention be fairly expensive (even though I would be building it myself) to order all the additional parts (legs, buttons, coin door, plunger, glass, trim, etc) from multiple sources.

I looked HARDER at buying a finished cabinet from a manufacturer. Not complete with monitors and computers installed, but a finished cabinet I could then wire and install the additional components myself. Plus "I" could actually learn about the required wiring and setup so I could update, add and do any maintenance required for maintaining a fully functional VP pinball. If I bought it ALL done, not only would that not be FUN, but I wouldn't know the first thing about how it worked or adding the necessary software updates, tables, roms, backlglass files, etc.

I was also working within a certain budget I was comfortable with.

There are several pinball cabinet building companies online, and all have completely different price ranges and "looks", which made the choices even harder because I wanted 3 main things, quality, authentic look, and price, and I examined best I could all the companies as to which could provide the best for my choices.

The only one I actually reached out and contacted was VirtuaPin.

I sent an email with some questions, and "Paul" the owner emailed back and suggested I call him to discuss what I was asking because he could explain it better on the phone.

After a 30 minute conversation with Paul, and him explaining the process, what I would be getting and my choice options, I was ready to pull the trigger and place my order.

This is what I ordered:

1 x WPC-style Widebody Virtual Pinball Cabinet - Fully Trimmed
Cabinet Art Packages None
Cabinet Kit Addons Playfield Glass
Cabinet Kit Addons Speaker Panel
Cabinet Kit Addons Williams/Bally Coin Door
Cabinet Kit Addons Button Package
Cabinet Kit Addons Cabinet Protectors (Steel)
1 x VirtuaPin™ Digital Plunger Kit v3 (VPC-PlngrKit)
Plunger Rods Black
1 x PinDMD v3 FULL COLOR Dot Matrix Display (PinDMD-3)
1 x Flipper Fidelity 5.25" Coaxial Speaker and Subwoofer Set (FF5inSet)

Over the next few weeks, I was updated as the status and progress to the stages of my cabinet being manufactured with a timeline and approximate delivery window so I could be ready for when the cabinet arrived I could start installing the final parts I was gathering in the meantime.

Paul and VirtuaPin was helpful about dimensions, suggestions on additional hardware, OS systems, etc so I could actually START the process BEFORE I got the cabinet and as soon as the actual cabinet arrived, I could get to work installing.

So ... The day arrived that the cabinet was going to delivered ...

The anticipation was killing me slowly. Had I made the right decision buying a cabinet? Had it been damaged during shipping? Did anything inside get broken? Did I waste my money? All these thoughts were swimming in my head until ...

The truck arrived, and the driver pallet jacks out a 6 foot tall cardboard mass that is strapped to a full sized pallet and wrapped in multiple layers of shipping freight plastic wrap. After quick inspection, there were no dings or marks on the packaging what-so-ever, so I signed and we wheeled it up the driveway and transferred the mass to a furniture mover dolly so I could get it in the house.

I wheel it in the house and start removing the packaging (which was done very very very well I might add) including labels and "DO THIS FIRST" instructions cards so I wouldn't damage anything in the process.

Once all packaging was removed ... what I was looking at was what looked like a brand new pinball cabinet with the backbox folded down and standing upright (on it's back). There was a single band around the cabinet that was holding the backbox with a note that said "DO NOT RMOVE UNTIL CABINET IT STANDING ON LEGS". I still couldn't actually see the whole thing, but what I did see looked real real real good.

I unwrapped the legs and with the supplied bolts, attached them in what felt like seconds. I still hadn't been able to SEE the whole cabinet yet in its shipped position. I attached the front legs, tilted the cabinet down onto the legs, and propped the back of the cabinet on a stool that was taller than the back legs, attached the back legs, and then removed the stool. I removed the backbox band and lifted the backbox, locking it in place in the back, and stood back to take it all in ...

What stood before me was pure beauty. A PERFECT / BRAND NEW (CNC cut / milled / assembled) pinball cabinet with not a mark on it! This thing looked like it just rolled out of the Williams pinball factory 5 minutes before!

Upon complete inspection, I could not believe the quality of the workman / craftsmanship. Every single cut, detail, part, assembling was absolutely flawless! The materials uses at all to notch from the wood to the screws. Everything is SOLID and not flimsy. This thing is built to LAST!

I couldn't believe that I got this magnificent beast for the price I did ... then I thought, did I get the wrong one? Did they ship me someone elses who paid more?

The answer is no ... this was all mine - exactly what I paid for.

Sure I could have built this (right?). Sure I would have saved a few bucks (maybe) or completely blown my budget with trial and error. Sure it would have looked exactly like this (not likely). Sure it would have took me 6 months or nights and weekends to achieve this quality ...

When I balanced out everything about the idea of building the cabinet myself with the cost, quality, trail and error, and just the amount if time it would have taken to build my own (which no one ever seems to put a price or value on) against buying one build and assembled ... I am sure damn glad I went with buying one from Paul at VirtuaPin.net because I could not be happier with my purchase and INSTANT satisfaction apposed to months of work it would have taken.

You've heard the expression: "You get what you pay for ...", well this purchase was worth every penny and more!