Sharpin is a DIY bartop pinball cabinet that runs on Android and won’t break the bank

Pinball machines – even virtual ones – can cost thousands. But pinball on a tablet or computer lacks the physicality of the real thing. Sharpin (from €149) aims to plug the gap. This virtual pinball cabinet won’t take over your house or break the bank, and yet it gives you something that resembles old-school pinball action. Depending on your budget and needs, you can grab a ‘BASE’ kit that works with a phone, or the all-in-one ‘ULTRA’ with its own computing unit. Either way, you get a 24in HD display, speaker and buttons, all in a CNC-cut cabinet that takes about ten minutes to construct. And when you’re not spanging metal balls about, you can connect up a controller and partake in some portrait-format Android retrogaming larks like Pac-Man – or even flip Sparpin on its side for an adorably weird and chunky media player.

Craig Grannell Contributor

About

I’m a regular contributor to Stuff magazine and Stuff.tv, covering apps, games, Apple kit, Android, Lego, retro gaming and other interesting oddities. I also pen opinion pieces when the editor lets me, getting all serious about accessibility and predicting when sentient AI smart cookware will take over the world, in a terrifying mix of Bake Off and Terminator.

Areas of expertise

Mobile apps and games, Macs, iOS and tvOS devices, Android, retro games, crowdfunding, design, how to fight off an enraged smart saucepan with a massive stick.