I just got my Alien today from CT and so far so good. The head was fairly simple to install, but it didn't boot up the first power on. The screen froze on text saying is was booting the kernal or something like that. I turned it on and off and then it booted up fine. It's needed a few adjustments. The air lock scoop was taking several tries to kick the ball out. A quick adjustment to metal flap fixed that. Also adjusted the slingshot switch, some stand ups, and a switch in the xenomorph head that checks the extents of the tongue. The right 180 ramp sits below the playfield level significantly. A weak shot that doesn't make it can get stuck up against the edge of the playfield. It took tilting out to get the ball loose. I'll have to investigate that to see what can be done. All the lighting appears to be working correctly.

Overall I'm pretty happy with it and my only real concern is future issues and support.

My backbox and side art light up fine. Played a half dozen games or so tonight. Almost got the hypersleep multiball once, but missed the third lock shot and drained on ball three. I wasn't having any issues making it up that lock ramp with clean shots. How did you hook up the subwoofer?

No beacons or shaker. Here is a pic. The game is now covered in plastic as I’m in the middle of a basement remodel.

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I'm pretty I heard this noise when I had the glass off and was adjusting switches. I'll have to check again to confirm.

I didn't notice that, but I wasn't looking for it while I was playing either. That's another thing I will have to check for tonight when I get home from work. In the video you posted I saw that the magnet didn't hold the ball for the xenomorph to eat it. Does that happen a lot for you? It happened twice so far on mine.

Mine does the same.

delt31 Do your start and launch buttons light up? I've never seen my light up.

I didn't notice a bag with fuses on mine. Luckily I didn't throw away any of the packaging yet.

I'll check for the fuses tonight. I guess I also need to see if there is something disconnected for my button lights.

I had the same issue. I removed the xeno head and adjusted the normally closed switch that opens at both extents of the tongue rod. The switch arm on mine was bent and wouldnt open up properly. There is a screw on the back end of the tongue rod that was in too far. The gap it made was too small and I think that’s what screwed up the switch. Now it works great every time.

Lower left flipper shoots the ball to the far left saucer. The ball kicks out to feed to upper left flipper. Nail that shot up through the chestburster lane right into the lit chestburster target towards another lifecycle completion. The ball rolls back down the chestburster lane to feed the upper right flipper. Then hit a clean shot up the hypersleep ramp for a ball lock. IMO, one of the most satisfying combos in pinball. It's not easy, but I've done it on several occasions. I've only started hypersleep multiball a few times, but that's a good thing. It has some amazing sounds when it begins and the rarity of starting it is what gives the pin a "just one more game" feel.

I've only completed three life cycles once so far. I agree, ambush and sentry gun multiballs are fairly common so it's nice having a few others that are more difficult to reach. Do you know the rules to the rescue mode? I've started it a few times, but don't really understand the rules associated with it. Actually, is there a decent rulesheet out there somewhere? I've seen green and yellow shots lit during ambush and I don't know what they mean.

I recall hitting some shots during rescue and I believe it called out crew members names. Not to be confused with crew member name call outs during Combat Drop. I think you start rescue by dropping the APC targets a number of times. Not exactly sure on that either. All this Alien talk...I might need to go home sick from work...cough cough.

Great explanation. I've noticed that sometimes the drop targets light up gold and now I know why. Looking forward to getting back into Rescue with this knowledge.

I’m following the heighway instructions but I can’t get the update to load. Any trick to this not mentioned in the instructions? I have he newer computer and it’s currently on 1.02.

Still have the same issue after buying two new usb Sandisk drives. Still reboots as 1.02 after attempting update.

I have the tar file now. how do i go about getting the upd file out?

I just downloaded the new upd file from Heighway and success! V1.1 installed and working great! What a frustrating day though.

Heighway fixed the file. You should be all set of you download it now. It’s a great update too.

That is fixed according to the readme file. I haven't personally tested it out yet.

That was my game that streamed recently and that flicker has greatly improved with the new code, which came a few weeks after the stream. It's too bad the timing didn't work out better.

Mine had this issue with the kick out from the scoop. I noticed it pretty early on and adjusted the scoop hood to correct it. I also added mylar and eventually a cliffy protector.

Check to see if the balls have become magnetized. I had some serious issues with that until I found some pinballs that worked. The game would spit out too many balls and/or end early during regular play or end early during MB. If that isn't the issue perhaps there is a loose connector on the trough opto boards. It would be worth checking the switch test for those.

The Xeno tongue sticking out is an issue with the 1.1 code. When that happens I would turn off the game and manually push the tongue back in place until the switch was triggered. That issue is corrected in the next code update, which hopefully is released soon. In the meantime you can disable the tongue in the menus.

Did you take out the balls to see if they are magnetized?

Sounds like you have the old airlock scoop design. You should request the new one.