Custom Pinball Controller for the iPad

While the iPad has opened up numerous gaming possibilities, one thing that is notably lacking is physical buttons. Though some games work extremely well this way, others would benefit from an interface that physically moves when tapped. One such game type is virtual pinball, where even normal aftermarket button-based controllers don’t really stack up to the real thing.

On the other hand, some of the games themselves can be quite excellent, including Adafruit hacker John Park’s favorite, Pinball Arcade. In order to take this iPad gaming setup to the next level, he decided to integrate physical controls based around a modded Duo Pinball controller. Since the controller isn’t compatible with Pinball Arcade, he ripped the guts out of this now-discounted device and replaced it with a Teensy 3.2 board.

His new setup takes input from the Duo Pinball controller, and translates them into keyboard presses acting an an HMI device. Since Pinball Arcade can be controlled by the iCade arcade button/enclosure setup, he simply had to setup the Teensy to output the corresponding key presses when the button or plunger switch is activated. Though this is an excellent guide if you want to do exactly what Park outlines here, it’s also a great reference as to how to set up your own custom iPad controller, whatever form that may take.