Just got a phone call that our Premium is at @MusicCityPinball. The Mrs will be picking it up tomorrow. It was her birthday present after all...

She is looking forward to the Uncle Gilbert Easter Egg now as he is Gill-man/Creature is one of her all time favorite monsters.

We were contacted Monday night by our distributor MusicCityPinball that the pin had just arrived and was being unloaded off the truck. Unfortunately for us, by the time that the truck had gottten there and unloaded, it was too late for us to run up and get it.

So, yesterday, the Mrs (it was her birthday present) set off to Nashville to pick up our Munsters Premium. They told us to be sure that we called out a little ahead to make sure that someone was there when we got there as they would be off making deliveries most of the day. She called about 30 minutes out and when she arrived, one of their techs was waiting with the pin already loaded on a hand truck. Five or so minutes later, with the pin now securely loaded in the back of her 2006 Jeep Liberty, she headed off for the house.

Freshly home from work, I met her in the driveway as she pulled up. Our son helped me off-load the pin and move it into BelleHall.

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Just cutting one side off the box, we were amazed at how beautiful the cabinet art was.

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But we continued with the usual process of getting the pin on all fours and pulling the glass.

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According to the tag, the machine was "born" 28 March. Must have been that the paint on the cab was still wet when they put it in the box as we had a little paint stick to the cardboard protectors around the band that we'll need to go back and touch up.

The instructions for installing the balls in the lower playfield were well laid out, however we ignored them completly and chose to remove the lower playfield and give it a coat of wax. There are 4 nuts and 3 cable connections to remove and the lower playfield was free. A quick wax and we inserted the balls into the lower playfield and reattached the lower playfield.

I was a little nearvous cutting the zip tie that held Herman down. It was real tight and not a lot of room to get in there, but we got that taken care of and started to wax the main playfield, clean the glass, and lock down the back box.

Setting it into its new home, we leveled the playfield and set the pitch to 6.8 degrees. Then updated to the latest code.

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I normally do a switch test, even on a new machine, before buttoning it all back up, but I was probably distracted by how awesome this thing looks, and the Mrs itching for that first game. We went and put in the balls, buttoned it up, and we were finally ready to start playing.

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We played a pro before we decided to purchase the machine around Valentine's Day, so we knew what the basic game play was like. But with the addition of the lower playfield , we found ouselves looking to hit Grandpa's basement as our main objective to see what we could do with it.

I only got a couple of games in as the machine was being heavily played by the rest of the family, but my initial thought was that, while I like the cut scenes, some of them are a bit long and slow down the pace of play. I didn't recall the cut scenes being that long when we played the pro version back in February, but then again, they may have been and I just don't remember. I also thought that they could stand to cut the cut scene when the ball drains and move on. As it stands now, you could be in the middle of a cut scene, drain, and the scene keeps playing for several seconds while you just wait.

I like the ramp shots and the lane that goes off the back of the playfield and comes back around. The bronze wire is also a nice touch.

We have blades on order and will add them once they arrive.

Kind of disappointed at the lack of promo plastic, but do like the slingshot cover plastic that was added to the premium. Also disappointed by the poor quality of balls that these things ship with. Starting to look for replacements - any thoughts?

We are still trying to remember to Zap when we need to, however I found that bending at the waist and hitting it with my stomach was a good approach to ensure that my hands stay where they are supposed to. Also tring to figure out the best way to play all four flippers at once.

Did I mention how nice this thing looks?

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So, who are the boyfriend and the mailman pictured in the out lanes? I am sure that it has to be someone at Stern...

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The ball drains on both sides of the Munsters only have two positions. We did move ours in yesterday.

We did not touch the ball save, however.

Even without the save, we all seem to be having better than average ball times with this game.

I have never had the urge to buy one of the real knockers for any of my Stern machines. I can live with the occasional match knock or free game knock.

This Munsters machine is making me rethink that.

It knocks at everything!

Anyone noticing the clock on grandpa's lab on premium starting before the animation intro finishes? It doesn't happen all the time, but when it does, you only have around 10 seconds left on the clock or so...

I've noticed a couple timing issues with Grandpa.

Won a Herman mystery and the clock kept ticking as the ball was held in mystery until clock hit 0.

Model Ts had an electric starter beginning in 1919. They tried to improve and add features over time until the last one rolled off the line in 1927.

But I digress.

Finished with the topper today.

It was a homemade deal.

Sheet of acrylic was about $30. I hand engraved it as I do not have access to a CNC or laser engraver. My wife especially likes the bats.

Strip of 36 LED lights run by an Arduino programmed to color change with random color lighting effect. Every minute or so, a random bright lightning flash effect hits to draw more attention.

Munsters house kit, coach diecast, and HO scale trees all sourced and put together.

Not the Stern key fob, but Google Munsters keychain. Lot of stuff out there

ebay.com link: i

This is what a 1/64 coach looks like as a topper

Is there a way to turn down the magnet power on Herman? There are times where he is throwing the ball and it has enough force to jump over the wire guide on the right out lane, throwing the ball back into the shooter lane.

My premium has a vertical post there to prevent that.

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