Restored original playfield.... it was beautiful.

But how much more glorious would it be if the clear coat was actually done better? I own both remakes and I absolutely love playing both of them. But there is something disheartening about knowing how quickly the chipping is happening. It almost makes me feel that these will not stand the test of time.

For me it creates a sense of doubt that may hold me back from buying the next remake. Maybe I will look for a restored original that I know will hold up for years to come.

And certainly as a second owner where the CGC warranty is completely worthless.

My buddy has an original AFM that had spent years on location. The SOL hole is blown out; chipped down to the wood. It doesn’t look as good as my AFMr. But it plays like a perfect AFM. His game is no better than “players” condition; but it plays perfectly.

Chipping cc doesn’t make the game less fun to play. I don’t buy to collect and resell, I but to play and have fun. Certainly to each their own.

Marc

Isn't CGC also the Churchhill Cabinet Company that makes all of the cabs and playfields for other manufacturers? It's shocking that people are having cabinet and playfield issues.

https://www.pinballnews.com/site/2016/11/04/churchill-cabinet-company-tour/

Yeah, but at these prices the manufacturers have no excuse for shoddy quality.

And your the style of customer that is going to be the one that continues to buy these games. These remakes are just not for the die hard meticulous collectors. The AFMrLE is close because of all of the added features that are limited. But when I look at my playfield and see all the vertical lines in it, It just isn't collector quality to me. And I don't think it was intended to be. There is a very large market for this type game. It will be interesting to see if it continues to grow or stagnate and retract.

Time will tell.

It is interesting. I'm fairly new to the hobby and jumped in strictly as a player, but my fascination with the hobby has me in a collector's state of mind.

I have a goal to get a few of my favorite original games in restored condition one day, hopefully starting with MM.

I'm not knocking the remakes. I think it's an incredible opportunity for people new to the hobby, or those who missed out, to own one of these classic games. I play my MMR almost daily, and will probably never let it go, even if I get my hands on an original!

But the chipping that I see on both of my games, very early into playing them, is beyond disappointing. I have a friend with 3000+ games on his Ghostbusters, and nothing even close to this kind of visible wear and tear. Needless to say, I've also seen loads of B/W with more years and mileage that do not have this.

After buying my MMR, and even after having to put Cliffys over every exposed edge of the game, I still jumped at AFMR because I enjoyed my game so much. I was also blown away by the awesome customers service from CGC.

To me the chipping is like going out on a date with a girl that is drop dead gorgeous, dressed to kill, and yet, she did not brush her teeth.

So yea... Chipping is like bad breath on a perfect date.

Sorry to hear. Your friend is fortunate with his GB, as was I.
A quick forum search will reveal Ghostbusters of all games has not always been held as the best example of pf quality.

Churchill is Chicago Gaming sister company in same building. The Ghostbuster playfeild issues were theirs and stern was stuck with them.

I thought that whole mess happened when Stern tried to take PF manufacture in-house to save a few more dimes, then realized they were in over their head and went back.

collectors; sadly; are a minority. Folks post about the originals being perfect are usually those that weren't that close to that reality. Williams machines coming of the line had as many if not more issues than today and would have had many things that wouldn't make it collectible.

Something meticulously restored by hand is always going to look better for some; that is not_ a williams machine that came of the line or a CGC machine that came of the line, or a Stern machine that came of the line. Unless they make 5 or something super low, then maybe.

If you want a truly bullet proof collectible remake, get one of the line, give it to the HEP type people and you'll get what you want.

Neil.

Had my PIC 2.0 installed for over a week now and played over a 100 games no issues. set flipper strength to -6 plays great no airballs and plenty of power to get up all the ramps. Really happy how the game plays now. Machine was out of action for a few weeks as the left flipper stopped working after about 20 games. In that time I installed a 7 piece Cliffy protector set as I have seen what the original 95 playfields end up looking like. I think its a good investment.

fantastic!

This is true. There is no perfection. But everyone has their idea of good quality in a game. The play field is a sensitive area for the avid collector. I am both a collector and a player. My theory with the pf lines is the dimpling from normal play over time will tone down your ability to see the lines in the pf. It will even things out and it all will become less noticeable. I have been known to use play field protectors and this is the reason why I did not use one here. In fairness when comparing these remakes to the originals, the originals had serious problems of their own. The AFM design had major wear issues with the SOL and mother ship holes. Monster Bash had Drac Trac wear issues and Mosh Pit hole wear issues as well. Not to mention the decal issues on the cabinet. The remakes will solve these problems making it attractive to buy the remake instead of an original that needs major attention for them to look and play properly.

Whilst B/W games had their fair share of issues, they certainly didn't chip this early.

I remember seeing a BSD with 40000 plays on it and the outhole was virtually unmarked!

Yes, but in all fairness, it is not happening on every game. That doesn't make it right for the owner's of the games that did chip. None of us want to see chipping on our play fields.

On MB and CC the decal were a problem until they freed them. However there is zero improvements on the SOL and mother ship holes on the remakes. They are exactly the same. The fix is Mylar, cliffy and mantis adjusted correctly. What is the fix for drac Trac besides the metal that changes the play? The lines won’t go away from dimpling look at the remakes on location.

The question is not happening yet. Just like my GB LE I have zero issues but when are they going to pop their head? I never know and I hope for the best. One wrong ball and the chip comes. I have learned different styles of play can bring the chips instantly.

Nope that turned out not be not true rumor. Read articles on Churchill and you can see the ghost buster playfeilds in the pictures.

https://www.pinballnews.com/site/2016/11/04/churchill-cabinet-company-tour/

Read article and look at picture captions as mentions ghost buster playfeilds they are making.

That article is dated Oct 2016. Most of the ghosting issues were resolved by September 2016, so it appears that the Churchill playfields solved the issue. I followed this pretty closely since I bought a nib GB Premium in 2016. It was built in Dec 2016 and I never had any ghosting issues with it.

Stern apparently used a different playfield vendor initially because CGC was going to start building their own games and were therefore a direct competitor. At least that's my understanding of what happened, but I could be wrong.

This has been my number one pick for my next purchase. But I started having second thoughts.

It was because everyone is so good on this game it's starting to tire me.

But it's is still my number one pick. If I don't like owning it I will just sell it later. It's a great game. I wish I could afford more.

I still Hate that everyone is so good on it. It's a little rediculous. I guess I just need to get better, myself.

For every good score I put in on it(and I'm sure I'm not alone in this)I get totally wrecked by the game 10-15 times, even with my outlanes lowered. It's a brutal game, but that makes it immensely satisfying to have a great game.

Get the game; you’re going to love it!

Got an email from Adam at P1, and the PIC 2.0 have arrived.

No stern used Churchill from day one on GB. I have a GB LE and have had no issues but on my Stars Wars LE I got chipping in shooter lane.

Overwhelmed by the Titan page, want to order the flipper rubbers...how do I know which size to get? Are you guys only swapping out your flipper rubbers or are there any others I should swap out? I'm in the camp that feels like the stock rubbers result in almost no ball control with a really awkward feel so I want to give the Titans a shot. I assume the "Flipper Rubber" is the standard one that I should be getting for the flippers but I wanted to make sure.
https://www.titanpinball.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=52
That's the page I'm on right now.

Get a kit - https://www.titanpinball.com/kits/ AFM or AFMR - same same.

Then as you gain in knowledge and experience, order what you want.

LTG : )

PIC 2.0 chips arrived today. All labeled and will be mailed out to my customers tomorrow morning.

[email protected]

So here I am again with another problem with my AFMR LE machine. When I play and get into attack mode when I get 2nd or 3rd hit on saucer it puts me into lock ball or if I need the 3rd ball at the time into multiball. What is could be causing this? Anybody else having this problem. Seems like this machine is giving me more problems then enjoyment lately. Please help. I want to play a real damn game on this machine.

Those look great!

Hi,

Attack mode is when the shield is down? So, you’re saying that when you hit the drop target that the game thinks that the ball is locked?

Sounds like there’s a switch adjustment issue down there. I would look at the area around the underside near the saucer and see if anything looks out of place. Make sure connectors are snug, etc.

I'd put it into switch test mode then bang on the playfield with the palm of your hand in various places close to that area to see if vibration is causing the lock to the left of the saucer target area to trigger. Then knock down the saucer target while in switch mode and see if the VUK switch that activates the lock activates, too. If it does, you may have a switch matrix issue.

But I really think it sounds more like vibration on a too-sensitive switch.

Yeah that’s exactly what’s happening. I’ll look but this is my first ever machine and I’m sure I won’t know what I’m looking at. Let’s see how this goes....

We will help you. And this is pinball. Stuff like this will happen. Be zen. Be zen. Be zen. It will get fixed

Ok how to get in switch test mode. I found switch edges, switch levels, single switch etc. but nothing that runs a whole test

Switch levels should show you the whole matrix and let you know what switches are being hit.

Looking under play field and don’t see anything loose or out of the ordinary for at least what I know.

I have had a few instances were a saucer kill registered as a lock shock instead.

Who cares what others score on it? I suck at this game. Can't even get the default initials off but that doesn't stop me from absolutely loving this game. Plus, I'm getting better...

I had this exact same issue. Look under the playfield by the mother ship. There is a switch that has two tiny screws. On mine they were very lose and the switch was not making contact. Tighten them but not too tight. In this pic, the screws are in the center, tighten from underneath.
Here is a pic:

afmr switch (resized).JPG

Thanks will do that today. Hopefully it fixes the problem.

Both of my screws are snug not at all loose. Still having same problem. So frustrating

If you’re frustrated, I would open a support ticket with Chicago Gaming on their website and work with Lloyd on the issue. It’s most certainly a switch issue.

Snug screws doesn't rule out adjusting the switch.

LTG : )