Pinball Labs wants to bring the pool hall experience to VR

Early adopters of the soon-to-arrive Oculus Rift and HTC Vive virtual reality headsets are going to need games, and what better way to waste time than a few rounds of pinball? Thomas Kadlec, the developer of the Star Trek Voyager Bridge VR experience is trying to round up Kickstarter funds for Pinball Labs, a pinball simulator that will let you design and play your own games. Built with Unreal Engine 4, games will have realistic physics, a built-in table editor and custom user settings. They'll be playable in VR on Vive and Oculus Rift, in desktop mode for PCs and on virtual, multi-monitor cabinets.

With a large homebrew pinball community that builds physical tables, Pinball Labs will also work with real world hardware. Kadlec says enthusiasts can "hook up real-world buttons, lights, solenoids and other physical feedback devices directly to Pinball Labs' simulation." That will help developers test new games troubleshoot any problems before spending cash on the real deal. (There's no word on whether existing Visual Pinball virtual games will work on the system.)

The developer has created a proof-of-concept alpha demo that runs on the Oculus Rift DK2, and funds will be used to develop the editor UI, physics refinements and more. Stretch goals include a device workshop, multiplayer support and voice chat, built-in head tracking and stereoscopic support for 3D TVs and monitors. So far, the project is at around $5,000 toward the $18,500 goal, so if you can't get enough Pinball FX2, you can back it here.