Good question. I don’t recall if it has an audible queue, but one made shot (green?) puts them back to normal.

I think they need to add an audible cue when they go back to normal. Some of these shots don't register 100% of the time, especially the right orbit. I shouldn't have to guess if I made the right shot or if it registered correctly.

when i hear that alarm, i simply double flip when a ball is there, and check each time i can when there's no more danger...

i think blue insert put back to normal

Just flip both flippers until they return to normal.

Pretty hard to result to chimp flipping when that's the first bad habit you get rid of learning how to play pinball.

It works for me. My brain can’t swap flippers on the fly and it’s too short a time span to swap hands. If you can swap back and forth mentally, it will swap flippers back to normal as soon as you make a successful hit. That’s the trigger.

I have a question.
I guess Stern released a fix kit for ramp and airball issues?
They told me my distributor should have sent me one, but I did not get one.
How long have these been available? Did anyone get one from Cointaker?

just call Cointaker they might not mail out automatically.

Is there a way to play it traditionally with unlocked host as you described?

Only way I know is don't used saved progression which doesn't have anything you've earned i.e. other host.

I believe if you reset speed timer, this allows you to play with unlocked characters, but might be you have to reset the time every game. I haven't played in a while so maybe it's easier than that.

What color rubber is everyone using just black?

My game came with glow in the dark green which I don’t care for so I am definitely changing it. I tossed some translucent titans on the slings (all I had) and I am not digging the look. I normally don’t like using black rubber at all but I almost think this game demands it.

Black is best IMO. There aren’t many rubbers in the game. It doesn’t get dirty too quick because of that, and is one of the easiest games to clean.

I think you are right. Went ahead and ordered black but tossed some blue in there as extras to try if I don't like the blue they can just go in the parts bin for another use.

Thanks

BTW anyone done the Pinmonk multiplier bracket and ? lane bracket mods? If so how do you like them?

I like red

does anyone know if stern are still using the same crappy coil stops on Jaws? wondering whether I should replace them all before they fall apart....

Try asking In Jaws thread?

why dont they ? i mean, not only they should have a big stock of these parts, and anyway customers are changing them by themself...

Ha - just trying to work out why my post wasn’t showing over there (had both forums open) oops!

In the meantime I’ve hopefully fixed my problem with the top post mechanism on venom. It was exactly as CitizenDrain said - where the plunger component attached to the u shaped arm was totally stripped. Tried tightening it and it didn’t last one game. With the help of the fella at my local parts store we replaced the plunger, used a better screw and a large washer to give it more stability. Feels a lot more sturdy than the original (really badly designed). with a bit of luck all sorted but I can’t play a test game till later.

In case it helps anyone else the basic problem is shown here -

another difficult point (to stay concentrate) playing Venom, because of the "lock racks" kicking the ball(s) :

when in multiballs, not always easy to follow where you are (i mean in number of balls in play), last example here :

started mayhem > puted carnage in > than later... in my head i was sure to be with 2 balls, but but but ... > 1 goes in the scoop (extra ball was ready, didnt see it) > remained with only 1 ball in play !? while the code waited than played the EB animation... of course i did push the button (sleeper) to relaunch my multiball... which was not ended : conclusion > i than get my second ball back, added a third one with the A-A-B, and of course... lose my sleeper !!! :/

lol

I had some more time with Venom this week and focused on this a bit more. I like Flash -> Gwen -> Peter -> Eddie. The first two are the ones you want to get out of the way soonest, since they have the worst positions for the moving shot elements - in multiballs and bosses, you really want that U-turn ramp feeding the left flipper.

Flash before Gwen because of this: go for blue and white first, and if I get those before yellow then drain, I'll just move on to Gwen with the next ball and leave the web combo box unfinished, that's okay.

Mayhem will ideally happen when you get to Eddie, though it's also okay if it happens on Peter (and I'll do it asap if on ball 3), where you can stack Carnage and use his web combos power for scoring. If you do get to Eddie, avoid the yellow dot (don't do the bonus shot for it) and finish blue and white, so you can have a practically full grid for Mayhem (missing only the Extra Time box which doesn't matter for Mayhem.) After Mayhem and Eddie's yellow dot, if I have a host change available, I'll flip back to Peter for the web combos power for scoring on the bosses, and to do Carnage separately if I didn't get it stacked.

The more I play, the more I feel you really want to always push the Mayhem setup to its max - ideally the entire grid (minus Eddie yellow) and all six locks. The rewards really compound with all of that together. Of course on ball 3 I'll just take whatever I can get asap. Although I can also see an alternate path: go for a quicker Mayhem with just 3 locks on one side, knock out both of those hosts with that, then later do it again for the other side, with the payoff being to qualify Hybrid.

I haven't thought much yet about the later modes like Toxin, or avoiding any particular setup for Mayhem, but I'll dig into that eventually.

Which of the main characters do you want to fight Grendel and Knull with? (Hulk is obviously superior, but we're talking non saved progression.) I'm not sure any of the abilities really matter; Peter seems best if you want to get scoring out of his web combos power.

nice
and yes Venom is how explained, you can have 2 "poor" (in term of pts) balls building your game, and than blow it at ball 3

just had a battle with my son : i was P1 with 1B final score, my son P2 started ball 3 at +/- 20M (!!!) and... beat me with 2.8B
its really a 1 ball game is you're playing like this

Nice! Here’s another strat I’ve been playing with this weekend. More intended towards building level to 50 for the Knull battle, but also exploring a lot of the code - disclaimer, this is way easier said than done:

Setup: Gwen > Dopple Skillshot > 3 grid lights > switch hosts to Spider-Man > Mystery Skilshot > get white & blue grid for the 2x XP box (Edit: leave yellow open - unclaimed).

Progress (Using Peter’s Bonuses): Play Carnage multiball > Play Carnage hurryup (sometimes with Mayhem, sometimes without) > Play blood lust > Play Rampage > Play Toxin Teamup > either do Spider-Man’s Host combo/hurryup or/and Close Grid and battle Lasher > You should easily be level 30+ > Switch Hosts > Gwenom > Battle Phage (choose to play dopple multiball or switch hosts

Moving Forward: If you have Agony defeated from Mayhem, you may want to play Brock > Finish his grid > Defeat Riot > switch to Flash > Get the flamethrower if you haven’t already from Mystery (Leave yellow grid open) > play and stack Mayhem, Carnage, Million Pops using Hybrid or Sleeper > Play Toxin Teamup

Final Push: Defeat Grendel > Battle Knull

If you can beat Knull (I haven’t yet using this strat, keep dying on phase 3 & 4), you should either have Klyntarr ready to go, or you may still need to finish host hurryup.

Good luck!

With Stern's crazy pricing on accessories these days what do you guys think prices will be for Venom topper and shooter rod? Not interested in the art blades as I went with the ones from wizard mod.

Hope it won't be FF level pricing

Also gotta wonder if they go with something like this for Venom but with the symbiote inside vs your standard "head" shooter.

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I'm wondering, given bad sales, of they're going to skip the accessories since there won't be many to sell to....

Was thinking the same, would suck for the grail theme owners though.

Thought I had read on here that the topper was coming as Dwight had been talking it up on stream or somewhere else - I could be wrong though.

I would think they would make the accessories but not as many of course as they will still sell. I mean the insanely priced Foo accessories are selling as far as I know. Probably not to the level they want and certainly not to GZ level or the level that Jaws will but still selling.

Sadly I am betting the topper will $1500 and the shooter $180 (and lit up most likely). Don't think they can ask for 2k topper and $225 shooter like Foo. Guess we will find out over the summer maybe.

Stern won't skip on the accessories, they'll just need to charge more to make up for the lack luster sales

Yeah no way they skip the accessories, their markup on them is massive, they will likely run a smaller batch, I just hope Dwight and team have come up with something cool, using the screen from Mando would be cool as they could animate symbiotes inside the topper.

That would be cool. Not big Mando pin fan but its topper is pretty sick. Expensive as heck though and would sadly price me out of getting it I think.

NEW CODE! Stern Pinball has posted new Venom v1.01.0 for the Pro, Premium, and Limited Edition models. This code contains:

Added Separate Insider Connected Progress for players that use IMPOSSIBLE or MONSTER GAME PLAY MODEs. Visit your Insider Connected Venom Progress tab to see your stats.
To play IMPOSSIBLE or MONSTER GAME PLAY MODES just hit the orange button between games. Then navigate to the GAME PLAY MODE of your choice.
SCREAM VIDEO MODE now honors the SHOT MULTIPLIER from which it was started, either directly or from MYSTERY. This multiplier is applied to each INFECTED collected.
The first shot of the HOST COMBO sequence will be lit solid in the HOST color if not used by another rule or mode.
Changes to ADJUSTMENTS for COMPETITION MODE and GAME PLAY MENU options.
The ADJUSTMENT for COMPETITION MODE has moved to the STANDARD ADJUSTMENT menu. This adjustment is enabled when using INSTALL COMPETITION.
To enable/disable PLAYER selectable game play modes, moved to the STANDARD ADJUSTMENTS for PLAYER COMPETITION MODE, PLAYER CHALLENGE MODE and PLAYER COOPERATION MODE.
The FEATURE ADJUSTMENT for DEFAULT GAME MODE will now be used as the first displayed option when displaying the GAME PLAY MENU.
When the STANDARD ADJUSTMENT for COMPETITION MODE is enabled, the GAME PLAY MENU will replace the "NORMAL PLAY" option with "COMPETITION".
This code adds additional polish, game adjustments, and bug fixes

Was not expecting this. Really like these changes/adds!

LE/PREMIUM V1.01 - APRIL 30, 2024
=================================
** FIXED:
- HYBRID was indicating the incorrect multiplier when selecting a TEAM UP
character.
- Achievements Instant Info Pages enabled.
- During MILLION POINT POPS it wasn't possible to collect THE VAULT (right
orbit) shots.
- If the USE SAVED PROGRESS dialog box was on the screen while CHOOSE YOUR
HOST was running, a center button press was also choosing the HOST.
- The AGONY BATTLE ending scenes were sometimes showing an incorrect HOST.
- Sometimes the CHOOSE TEAM UP user interface cursor wasn't positioned
correctly at the beginning.
- After KNULL was defeated, the SPEED RUN timer was reset, but was allowing a
few seconds to elapse before the next ball was served.
- The SPEED RUN timer was still running while a game was TILTED but before
the balls had drained.

** NEW:
- Added Separate Insider Connected Progress for players that use IMPOSSIBLE
or MONSTER GAME PLAY MODEs. Visit your Insider Connected Venom Progress tab
to see your stats.

To play IMPOSSIBLE or MONSTER GAME PLAY MODES just hit the orange button
between games. Then navigate to the GAME PLAY MODE of your choice.

- SCREAM VIDEO MODE now honors the SHOT MULTIPLIER from which it was started,
either directly or from MYSTERY. This multiplier is applied to each
INFECTED collected.

- The first shot of the HOST COMBO sequence will be lit solid in the HOST
color if not used by another rule or mode.

- Changes to ADJUSTMENTS for COMPETITION MODE and GAME PLAY MENU options.

- The ADJUSTMENT for COMPETITION MODE has moved to the STANDARD ADJUSTMENT
menu. This adjustment is enabled when using INSTALL COMPETITION.

- To enable/disable PLAYER selectable game play modes, moved to the
STANDARD ADJUSTMENTS for PLAYER COMPETITION MODE, PLAYER CHALLENGE MODE
and PLAYER COOPERATION MODE.

- The FEATURE ADJUSTMENT for DEFAULT GAME MODE will now be used as
the first displayed option when displaying the GAME PLAY MENU.

- When the STANDARD ADJUSTMENT for COMPETITION MODE is enabled,
the GAME PLAY MENU will replace the "NORMAL PLAY" option with
"COMPETITION".

** TWEAKED:
- MILLION PLUS POPS no longer adds time to its timer on POP BUMPER hits. Pop
bumpers already pause timers.
- MILLION POINT POP display effect text is larger.
- Extended the background tune for SCREAM thru its TOTAL display.
- Tweaked the ATTRACT MODE game play instructional videos.

*** MOVED TO SYSTEM 3.66 ***
Added Indonesia Country Code

Updated Pricing Table:
Indonesia 1 - 1/20000 Rp, 3/50000 Rp, 8/100000 Rp
Indonesia 2 - 1/20000 Rp, 4/50000 Rp, 10/100000 Rp
Indonesia 3 - 2/20000 Rp, 6/50000 Rp, 13/100000 Rp

Add support for WiFi SSID containing non-printable and unicode characters.

Updated Pricing Table:
Euro 10 - 1/EUR 2.00, 2/EUR 3.00, 3/EUR 4.00.
Euro 11 - 1/EUR 2.00, 2/EUR 4.00, 3/EUR 5.00.
Euro 12 - 1/EUR 2.00, 3/EUR 4.00, 7/EUR 6.00.

Various behind the scenes improvements for correctness and performance.

I am afraid if I do this, Steve will yell at me for adding another Multiball.

Hahahahaha classic!!!

Just call it HyperSteve Multiball.

Its easier to ask for forgiveness then permission so go ahead sneak it in there!

On a serious note and for what it’s worth Dwight, Venom is creeping into a top 3 all time pin for me. It’s not the theme; much like Deadpool, it’s how you and the team integrated the theme that made it special. And yes, the way multiballs are integrated which are not overkill rewards really is a huge plus. Oh, and not giving out a hundred extra balls is another big positive in my opinion.

I'm loving Venom. Got my new premium setup finally. Downloading new code now. Also the pinwoofer/light kit is phenomenal on this.

Some highlights of the new code worth mentioning:

- Added Separate Insider Connected Progress for players that use IMPOSSIBLE
or MONSTER GAME PLAY MODEs. Visit your Insider Connected Venom Progress tab
to see your stats.

- SCREAM VIDEO MODE now honors the SHOT MULTIPLIER from which it was started,
either directly or from MYSTERY. This multiplier is applied to each
INFECTED collected.

- The first shot of the HOST COMBO sequence will be lit solid in the HOST
color if not used by another rule or mode.

- MILLION PLUS POPS no longer adds time to its timer on POP BUMPER hits. Pop
bumpers already pause timers.

- MILLION POINT POP display effect text is larger.

Xaqery One thing to add to the good ‘ol to do list would be to leave the ball in the shooter lane after defeating Grendel. Not a fan of it auto plunging into play before the Grendel end sequence is over. Otherwise, keep it coming - love it!

- The SPEED RUN timer was still running while a game was TILTED but before the balls had drained.

I'm highly amused by that one. Like, if you really want to seriously hardcore optimize your speed run, it's going to be correct to tilt if something lengthy is going on at a time when you can't otherwise make progress.

I can't put it in my top 3 (currently GZ, MM, STTNG in that order) but damn if I don't just love this game. I want to keep playing it (sure its new) but for us it is just a fun game. The fast locks really change the game and I can see someone implementing this on other games in the feature (maybe not the same way but same idea).

The changing ramp in the middle is also brilliant IMHO.

For us we like the theme, we LOVE the art, the sound rocks - and this will seem silly but we love the funky music at the end of each game. Wife just smiles a and dances a little each time.

I have said it before and will say it again I just don't get why so many people bag on this game. I get the hate for the price (can say that about any game tbh) but the game itself no way. I do get people not liking the them though and for sure get the comments about on being burned out on Marvel and comic book stuff in general especially since the quality has gone downhill (movie and show wise) ever since End Game. I just have to wonder had this been some other theme would this game have gone over better than it did - slap Jaws on this and bet is sells like crazy.

COMPETITION MODE should of been in the STANDARD ADJUSTMENT menu from day 1.
now the mandalorian also needs the same fix.

Spot on where there is dislike, the theme seems to be the #1 turn off for most people. Because of that they won't give it a chance.

I've been a fan of venom since the 90's so I didn't have that barrier, but I can see how the aesthetic, story and characters could be a turn off for people not dialed into the universe (probably the least approachable in the Marvel universe if you compare to other tables).

You could retheme it like Spooky + other companies do and probably sell that much more.

Ii just keeps getting better!! Yahhh

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Dwight, you strike me as the kind of guy who would do something like this just to make Steve yell. Come on, let’s piss off Steve, it’ll be fun!

Since Captain America’s real name is Steve Rogers, call it Captain America multiball!

Can someone confirm this is the correct screw for the flipper pawl assembly please i.e. the one you have to tighten to clamp down on the flipper shaft.

Was putting in precisions last night and one of my screws is very stripped and was impossible to tighten so I need to replace it and get a few extra to keep on hand.

https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/4010-01086-12

TIA

Venom earned ok until Jaws showed up...

Let Steve know the Dwight army have got your back

Because it's both hard and confusing. People don't like hard games - see TMNT or BKSOR, or Bond's layout. And people don't like confusing - see AIQ, or even those who can't handle pressing one button on Star Wars to control a multiplier. Most pinball players barely understand anything beyond starting one mode and some locks for a multiball. Venom demands you understand the whole grid and boss structure to make any progress at all, and on top of that you need to understand the scoring multipliers to get any points out of it. Once you get into it, Venom is a great game, but people just can't be bothered with the learning curve. Particularly for an ice-cold franchise that nobody cares about, and with the saddeningly terrible Pro model as well.

Counterpoint... everygame feels exactly the same. It was my main gripe with AIQ, but it is 10x with Venom. I like the theme, the art, the layout, and the music (the callouts suck) but everything feels irrelevant except defeating the bosses.