What is this fan cooling kit you're speaking of? Would love to know! Thanks!

He’s finishing up development on his Spooky cooling kit. He already has one out for Stranger Things. I was doing some testing for him in the kit.

By your description, it sounds awesome.
Hope it becomes available!

Thanks for posting. A couple of questions - Do the fans run all the time as soon as the game powers on, just when a game is started, or only when the coils start getting warm? Can you hear the fans? Does the upper flipper need a fan as well?

Fans on all the time. You can’t hear them. No need to use on the upper flipper.

What Chuck said lol

The Spike2 version of the cooling kit looks like this:
https://pinside.com/pinball/market/shops/1170-pin-monk/04203-tibetan-breeze-flipper-coil-cooling-kit-spike2

It keeps the coil temps around 100F for as long as you play. Some games (all Spooky, many Spike) have coil temps that are in the 140F-150F+ range which negatively affects your flipper performance and, therefore, shot and accuracy with them. The cooling kit stops that problem completely.

I just got word that the Spooky-specific wiring harnesses are on their way from the factory, so the Spooky version of these kits should be available very soon. It will be a bit more expensive than the Spike kit because there is added hardware necessary (steel 10-32 hex standoffs aint cheap, and I include Loctite for this one due to coil stop vibration) to mount it due to the orientation of Spooky coils (over the end from the coil stop instead of on the side like Spike), but everything you need to do a finished installation will be in the box.

I own two Spooky games. One was at my house (ACNC) the other in a public place (R&M, free play).

I can't hear the fan on R&M because of it's location. Even when nobody is playing, it's just hard to hear with every other game on. However, when I have ACNC on at my house, it was super loud. It took over the white noise in the room.

I got the fan from @vireland, which was very easy to install, and it made a world of difference. When I bring R&M home, I'll probably do the same thing.

Awesome. Thanks for the support. I say the Spooky pin fans sound like someone is vacuuming in the next room. Drives me nuts, especially since they don't have a thermal switch so they run all the time.

I know from the Hobbit thread that good players that have long games have a problem with coils over heating as well. I don't because I set it steep and I'm not that good. But there is a market for you there too.

Yeah, all JJP have the issue on long games as well. Spooky's almost done, and JJP is next on the list to make a kit for, but I need my jjGnR to get here so I can start on it...

Yeah that worked, thank y'all. Happy for it to be a very small and easily fixable issue

GnR? Awesome!!! I'd love another JJPLE, but not in the budget.

Did a full rubber swap for titans... game plays a bit faster now but no major difference. I was hoping it'd cut down on the amount of side to side bouncing you get on the four upper rubbers (2 per side above the slings), since I feel like I spend a lot of my games watching the ball bounce between those four and the two slings without ever getting a ball to a flipper. Eventually I had an idea, and just removed the outer two posts on the lower rubbers completely:pasted_image (resized).pngpasted_image (resized).png

I think it really improves the play. You still get a lot of side to side action, but it's not *upward* side to side so the ball tends to get to the flippers/slings/lanes quicker. Plus it makes the scoop and bonus x shots a bit easier since there's not a rubber right below them. The outlanes are a bit hungrier, but not much, and I don't mind that since the game can play pretty long anyways.

While I had the upper playfield out, I also tried to tweak the orbits a bit. I feel like they go way slower than they should, when compared to many other games, and the secret passage tends to reject a lot. I found that my secret passage had a really weird shape, with the end of the left guide just smashing into the middle guide at a hard angle.
pasted_image (resized).png I took that left secret passage guide out, and found that it was actually even straighter, only being forced into this shape by being pressed against the other guide, so I re-bent it to aim more parallel to the guide, which smoothed out the secret passage a ton. No more rejects from right flipper shots now.pasted_image (resized).png

Not sure if it was always like this, or if it's flexed over time.... The guide it was pressing against is also leaning back a ton; again not sure if it was like that from the factory or if it bent over time since balls only ever hit it on one side.

The metal used on these guides is super flimsy, making them quite flexible, so I wonder if that contributes to the slowness of the orbits as well? Maybe it's sorta deadening the ball....

I also found that the outer orbit guide isn't a single piece of metal, but rather two pieces that meet in the back left corner, and they don't quite line up properly, so I'm sure that bump is probably slowing the ball down a bit too. Would have been much better as a single long strip of metal.

Anyone played with their guides and found similar issues, or gotten them to go any faster?

I was hanging in a friends warehouse and he had at least thirty games. I spent almost all of my time on his Alice cooper.

I know it’s going in his house, too. My point.

Its a solid pin. All the way. Someday in my house too.

Is it weird I read all your posts in your Slam Tilt podcast voice?

rd

Better than Bruce's....

Probably right ...

rd

Better taste in games too. Just sayin'.

Good info - thanks! I haven't noticed this degree of issues with my game's orbits or Secret Passage lane, but I'll keep this post in mind and report back if I do.

Question about the multiplier,
Not sure how and/or in what order to roll over the X's (on the upper or lower playfield) to increase the multiplier, 1x>2x>4x, etc. Now that I'm getting more comfortable with the game, tonight I tried rolling over both of the X's on the upper playfield, thinking that that would increase the multiplier, but it didn't. I'm sure I'm missing something...
Can anyone provide an explanation on how to increase the multiplier during the game.
Thanks!!

Each time you complete both rollovers (in any order) on the upper playfield and then hit the multiplier target on the lower right, the bonus multiplier is increased to the next increment (2X, 4X, and then 8X). Not sure whether upper rollover completions can be stacked or not.

Ah, gotcha. It was hitting the X target on the lower right after completing both upper pf X's that I was missing.
Thank you!

Also, you have to roll over each 'X' on upper playfield when it's not lit to qualify the lower right X target.
And, I believe the multipliers work like this... 2x then 4x which equals 6x and then 8x, which then equals 14x. I got it a few times.

Get it sooner than later. Only 500 were made, and the more people realize how awesome it is the harder it'll be to find.

No, I don’t think so.

rd

Cannot be stacked.

Haven’t seen Fawzma post in here in awhile, does anyone know if there is new code coming soon? I thought someone said they thought it was going to be released right after Halloween. Average player that I am, I’d like to see them go back to the adjustable difficulty setting in the next release.

In the last Spooky Pinball Podcast, Charlie said ACNC code coming soon. I'm thinking it will come out around Dec 1st so they can stream the new code like they did with Rob Zombie code last month.

Yeah, good question. Was thinking of putting pinstadiums on my ACNC, but reading through this thread on the subject it sounds a bit tricky, unless you just plug into a service outlet (which I don't remember this game having?) or run a plug out of the bottom of the cab. If anyone who put Pinstadiums on this game wants to comment, it's appreciated.

Move came with Pinstadiums already attached. The power cable runs out from the back/bottom of the cabinet through a mesh speaker grate. The GI and flashers attachments connect via splicing wires that are provided by Scott/Pinstadium. Personally, I think they are great on this game, esp the UV/flasher function. I keep the lights low, but adds just enough extra light so I can see everything, or else this is a really dark game in a dark room.

There is no service outlet so my pinstadiums are plugged into a dollar store extension cord that pops out the mesh in the back of the pin. My UV flashers are hooked to the shaker motor, and my lights are maybe 50% bright and focus on the dim green colors. The result is a color that absolutely pops.

Some people have their pinstadium GI hooked to the coin door quarter slot so they stay lit. I have mine hooked to a GI bulb on the upper playfield so they go on and off during some modes.

IMG_0001 (resized).JPG

Totally agree. I purchased pinstadiums about 3 years ago when they were going for maybe $160 a unit. Now they are around 250-300, and I just can't justify that price anymore. All I really wanna do is make the game easier to see.

If a product came along with something that enhances GI and nothing more (white lights) for like $40 each, I'd buy one for every game I own. I don't need the UV, I don't need the bluetooth adaptor, I don't need the color changing LEDs... just light.

Regular Pinstadiums will work as you described, Fusions will not work well without a lot of hacking in a Spooky machine. I took my Fusions out of ACNC and will never buy again.

Yes, the driver board will be able to handle the added current, since they're controlled by a high-power (coil) driver, and not a lamp driver.

FWIW:

I was not a big fan of Pin Stadiums for the longest time - primarily due to the zebra effect that they produced on chrome wireforms, ramps, etc. Additionally, I honestly felt that most of my games simply didn't need them enough to justify the cost and associated hassle of having to remove and reinstall them every time you raise the playfield.

HOWEVER, that said, I reconsidered them for installation in my ACNC and Houdini (both of which are somewhat dark) once Pin Stadium released their NEO version that utilizes a lens to eliminate the zebra effect.

I have now installed the NEO version in both games and I can honestly say that I am VERY happy with the results. Not only is the additional (color controllable) lighting a plus, but what is really cool is the additional lighting effect that is triggered when the shaker motor goes off. In ACNC, the shaker is often accompanied by the sound of thunder and the effect similar to LIGHTNING created by the Pin Stadiums is fabulous! This is something that really needs to be seen to be appreciated and I will try to post a gameplay video to YouTube and share the link in this club thread in the near future.

Just to be clear, Pin Stadiums are still admittedly expensive and the removal/re-install is still a nuisance, but for the right games - such as ACNC (as well as Houdini in my case) - the positive lighting effects more than outweigh the negatives for me!

There are a lot of "how to build LED strips" videos out there, for pinball and otherwise. I just noticed last night this guy has a lengthy video on how to build them:

And how to install them:

I only skimmed through so can't really vouch for the videos, but they seem well done.

This is how it went for me, too. Didn't really care about Pinstadiums, I'd just use a tap light or something mounted above my super dark games (WoZ and ACNC), but the used AIQ I bought recently came with a set of Omegas, and damn, what a difference. I played some Wonka directly after Avengers last night, and was like "what is that greyish lump moving around the playfield? Is that the ball?" They're overpriced, IMO, but their effect is dramatic at least.

Since spooky basically uses a computer power supply isn't there a 12vdc connection there? I haven't looked at mine yet an wa about to build my own pinstadium like lights for my machine.

It is, 12 and 5 Volt. Look to the right hand side beside the big power unit, there is a small splitter box. Same where you need to connect the incredible Mods from Medisinyl, handmade by Greg. V2 / Com has 12 V whereas V1 / Com has 5 V

0514D03F-587B-444E-B9CB-3DC1789F4B9A (resized).jpeg

1ABE8B50-76E3-460D-B0F5-40CC23D2370E (resized).jpeg

31C6550E-A410-4648-8060-2FF95B7259B6 (resized).jpeg

40088FCA-3C1D-4CB3-A380-CCFEBCE75103 (resized).jpeg

773B7A22-585A-4FE7-8D93-0801DD011D66 (resized).jpeg

C6F72FBA-FDDB-49F4-8ADC-0E89DC8EC996 (resized).jpeg

Medisinyls mods are awesome. Im anxiously awaiting his volcano mod for this game.

In the meantime, Ive been working on my game and adding and changing a few things and while I know adding/modding isn't everyones taste, I personally really enjoy it and wanted to share for those who might be interested is seeing.

I painted/textured/toned to all of the castle plastics as well as the skull mountain (also adding some creepy moss here and there), colored and textured the graveyard (and added a couple more gravestones along with some creepy old graveyard fence extending from the graveyard along the right side of the shooter lane). Found and painted a girl zombie figure to look like/represent Cold Ethyl (who partially hides behind the right ramp arch in front of a painted/textured crypt I thought fit well). Added some small gargoyles that sit on the castle plastics in the back right and left and added a small painted Vampire coffin in front of the right ramp exit by the Vampire target. Added a fun little "Zombie Survival Guide" book on the left and just past that a small pile of skulls sitting in between the plastics tower. Added a larger pile of skulls sitting below the left castle tower as if they were spilling out from that tower. Added some small glow in the dark candles here and there (in the left castle tower window, in front of the crypt and along the left castle pillar on the upper playfield, and they really pop visually with the UV/flasher on the Pinstadiums). Added an out of the way, somewhat hidden for its size Warewolf in the back left straddling the left orbit and then, to give that "inside the castle" feeling, a cool small framed picture of a howling werewolf.

haha, anyway, seems like a lot...and guess it is! ...but, all of these items/changes/add-ons are all diffusely placed, create no visual obstructions, add to the flavor of the theme and are all, for the most part, reversible. Funny thing is, now that these items are in place and i'm used to playing with this set up, it seems normal to me and i couldn't imagine it any different
PXL_20201124_112352362 (resized).jpgPXL_20201124_112422999 (resized).jpgPXL_20201124_112517536 (resized).jpgPXL_20201124_112705623 (resized).jpgPXL_20201124_112844488 (resized).jpgPXL_20201124_113123130 (resized).jpgPXL_20201124_113452352 (resized).jpgPXL_20201124_113521161 (resized).jpg

I've never had a ball stick there. It must be a particular issue with the level of you ramp.

I’ve had this a couple times. Either was a soft shot, or I think the gate sometimes doesn’t open right. It’s so infrequent, that I’ve never had the drive to look at the gate and make sure it’s not sticking on something.

Anyone have any tips on tweaking the upper playfield so that a ball shot up one of the ramps goes to the flipper more? Mine is tending to drain down one of the x lanes every time you shoot the ramp without giving you a chance to flip, but it used to usually drop the ball nicely to the upper flipper

This was happening early on for me and I (and others) changed the rubber just after the gate that it bangs into with a regular black rubber and give a little bend (tweak) to the gate to make sure it opens smoothly but just enough to go through and not be able to bounce back through after hitting that rubber.
I know this is addressed by a few of us way early in this thread. It has not happened on my game ever again.
Good luck.

Also check the screw heads and the gap where the clear ramp is attached to the wood. Make sure screw heads are flush or at least not hitting the ball and that there is no height difference between the ramp end and where it goes onto wood pf.

Make sure to solder the wires for the volcano mod before trying to insert them into the power source terminals. It will be much easier and more durable.

Can someone please tell me which flipper the left ramp should feed to when ball comes down from Frank multi ball? Thanks

Left flipper if you’re lucky. Haha