Virtual pinball,
explained.

The 40 words you meet when you download a VPX table, from ROM and NVRAM to PuP packs, FlexDMD and nFozzy physics. Each one in a sentence or two.

Tables and files

VPX: Visual Pinball X, the open-source pinball simulator most community tables are built for. Its tables are .vpx files, and it runs on Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS and Android.
.vpx file: A Visual Pinball X table in one file: the playfield, its 3D models, lights and sounds, and the script that runs the rules.
.vpxz file: A table and its extras zipped into one file, which the official Visual Pinball mobile apps import and share.
Original: A table designed from scratch rather than recreating a real machine. Originals need no ROM, and nearly half the machines in the Virtual Pinball Spreadsheet are originals.
Recreation: A table that rebuilds a real pinball machine. Most solid-state recreations run the real machine's program through PinMAME, so they need its ROM.
Mod: A changed version of someone else's table, such as new physics, lighting or a VR room.
Retheme: A table that keeps another table's layout but gives it a new theme, artwork and sound.
Hybrid: A single table file that plays in desktop, cabinet and VR modes.
VR: A table with a virtual room around it, for playing in a VR headset.
FSS: Full Single Screen: a layout that fits the playfield, backglass and score display on one screen.
Standalone: The cross-platform build of VPX, without the Windows table editor. It is what lets VPX run on Linux, macOS, iOS and Android.

ROM: The program from a real machine's circuit board, kept as a .zip. PinMAME runs it so a recreation plays by the real rules. Keep it zipped, with its exact file name. Pocket Pinball does not provide ROM files.
PinMAME: The emulator that runs a solid-state machine's ROM, driving its score display, lights, sounds and rules. A VPX table calls it from its script.
NVRAM: A machine's saved memory, kept in a .nv file: settings, credits and high scores. Some tables, often Gottlieb System 3, will not start a game without one.
Electromechanical (EM): Machines from before microprocessors, scoring with relays, motors and score reels, made from the late 1940s to the late 1970s. EM recreations need no ROM.
Solid state (SS): Machines run by a microprocessor, from the late 1970s on. Their recreations usually need a ROM.
Pure mechanical: The earliest pin games, from before electric scoring, with no power at all.
Service menu: The buttons inside a real machine's coin door that operators use for tests, free play and volume. Pocket Pinball's in-game Service screen recreates them.
Nudge and tilt: A nudge is a shove of the cabinet to steer the ball. Nudge too hard and the machine tilts, ending your ball.

DMD: Dot matrix display: the orange dot score screen of machines from the early 1990s on. Tables draw it on screen, or send it to a real external DMD.
Alphanumeric display: The segmented score displays of solid-state machines before the DMD, from the late 1970s to the early 1990s.
Score reels: The rolling number wheels that show the score on electromechanical machines.
Colour DMD: Files that recolour a DMD's single-colour frames. Serum is the current format. Older colourisations use VNI and PAL files.
Backglass: The lit art panel above the playfield. On many machines it also shows the scores.
B2S: Backglass 2nd Screen: the .directb2s file format for an animated backglass, shown on a second screen or beside the table.
PuP pack: PinUP Player video packs, which add full-motion video to a table's backglass or score display. They are often large.
FlexDMD: A library that lets a table, usually an original, draw its own animated score display. It replaced the older UltraDMD.
AltSound: Replacement sound packs a ROM can play instead of its original audio.
External DMD: A real LED dot matrix panel connected to the player, such as a ZeDMD. Pocket Pinball supports ZeDMD and the DMDServer protocol over Wi-Fi.
LUT: A colour and brightness preset a table offers, picked while you play.

nFozzy physics: Scripts, named after their author, that make flippers, rubbers and bounces behave like a real machine. A table listed with nFozzy plays closer to the real thing.
Fleep sounds: A package of recorded mechanical sounds, named after its author: flippers, ball rolls, solenoids and more.
SSF: Surround sound feedback: mechanical sounds placed where they happen on the playfield, for speakers or headphones.
FastFlips: A PinMAME option that lets the flippers respond straight away instead of waiting on the emulated machine, cutting flipper lag.
POV: Point of view: the camera angle on the table. Pocket Pinball saves a view for each table.
DOF: Direct Output Framework: drives real feedback in a home cabinet, such as solenoids, shakers and lights.

VPS: The Virtual Pinball Spreadsheet: the community index of every known virtual pinball table, backglass, ROM and extra, with links to where each is shared. The Pocket Pinball catalogue is built from it.
VPW: Virtual Pinball Workshop: a volunteer team known for detailed remasters of classic machines.
VPUniverse and VPForums: The two main community sites where creators share tables and extras.
IPDB: The Internet Pinball Database: the reference for real machines, with their makers, years and production numbers.