newest whirlwind theme being circulated about for spooky.

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This is indeed quite true, and it reminds me... I posted a list of out of the box tweaks that I did to my R&M a couple of weeks or so ago. I was just excited to finally have the game and to be perfecting it to my liking. I didn't mean to insinuate anything was necessarily wrong with the way Spooky built it. I'm honestly just a pinball play perfectionist/tinkerer, and I do this with all my machines, whether they're new Sterns or vintage Williams/Bally machines from the 90's. I felt kinda bad when Luke from Spooky posted here a few days ago about a novice pinball enthusiast contacting him about his soon to be received R&M, concerned that he/she would have to make all these changes (some of which I'm sure I noted). So, to any novice future R&M owner (or any owner) reading this, I'm sure you'll enjoy your R&M right out of the box. You don't have to go down my rabbit hole of pinball perfection, unless you're really into that kinda thing.

Where's that coming from?
There was a Phantasm easter egg in Vat of Acid

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I'm trying not to be dense, but everything I've scared up online says you need a magnet to activate a reed switch.

I guess these are special reed switches with their own built in magnet, not quite strong enough to close the contacts, and the ball disrupts the field, or intensifies it, to close them. Or else it's a NC switch that the built in magnet keeps open until the ball comes along and tickles the field. Pretty neat! (Hope I haven't outed any trade secrets!)

I don't have anything against them, I just see them as overkill. I'll take spending $0 over $35 every time!

I've said before, never seen a game benefit from tweaking the way R&M does! With everything I've done it's like night & day, and I haven't even addressed the bushings yet!

Someone unwilling to tackle the issues simply won't have as much fun, bottom line. Unless they enjoy being frustrated! It's SO worth the effort!

(Makes me wonder, though, if GnR is as, I dunno, needy as it sounds, how it shot to #1 so fast!)

#543 (Butter) has arrived!

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I bought two,First reply gets it!

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So true...my experience as well. The sum of all the tweaks make a huge difference.

Ya know what I don't get about the ST flipper fade is this:

ST is based on the same platform as IMDN/JP2/AIQ (Spike 2). They both have the same single wound coils and flipper mechs. You'd think that Stern would also have flipper code shared across games. The only explanation for why ST has more fade than IMDN/JP2/AIQ is the flipper code is somehow unique (not part of the Spike 2 platform). Would be interesting to speak with Keith about it. I've owned all 3 of his games and had no flipper fade under "normal" home use (of 2-3 hours continuous play).

Ill take it!

I own both IMDN and AIQ and I can say that I have had significant flipper fade on both games, especially after 2 hours of play.

I now have Pin Monk fan kits in both machines and the flipper fade is nonexistent.

This is so perfectly disgusting! How hard was it to install? Sounds like you need to drill some things?

I don't think ST has worse fade. Instead, it has two shots that absolutely require consistent flipper performance - the TK lock and the demogorgon mouth. TK needs strong shots all the time to work right, once the flippers fade a little it's no good. Demo needs the shot to come in at a certain angle and strength (not too hard, not too soft), and fade messes up those variables over time

All the PWM games fade, but certain playfield features suffer more from it. The steep left ramp is basically R&M's TK lock in this case.

In Elwin's games, Maiden's center ramp seems to be the only feature that suffers from fade, and it generally remains makeable. Maybe AIW BW, but I'm finding I can make it even with hot flippers, just need to be accurate and not attempt at all from a left-inlane feed.

All this flipper talk about fade and PWM timings and software voodoo and extra fans and other hardware to compensate for duty cycles and overheating seems to ignore the apparent elephant in the room: that dual-wound coils historically were mostly immune to the incidence and complexity of all these new variables and had more stable performance over time...

All of the above aggravation to save a few bucks with single-wound coils seems like a false economy to me.

Is it feasible to convert these games to dual-wound and be done with it all?

Pretty easy if you methodically take it step by step, but yeah, I had to drill two holes. One hole had to be drilled through the plastic, centrally in between the three existing mounting holes for the stock megaseed tree trunk. Once I had that hole, I used it to transfer a small hole in between the LED light and existing plastic post below to start a wood screw from a metal post that has a wood screw. Once those two holes are done, you start assembly. On my game the plastic sleeve post that goes over the included metal post was going to rub hard on the plastic post and the LED, so I simply ground a flat on each side to provide clearance. Each individual assembly may be different.

It's actually not a bad install and really solidly anchors the end of the ramp, while looking great (or perfectly disgusting, LOL).

P-roc supports it, but we have a lot of custom boards in the industry.

Dual wound coils weren't "immune" - in the B/W days the games were simpler, generally shorter, and home ownership was a tiny fraction of sales. Despite that, MANY classic B/W games STILL had fade in tournaments. Karl DeAngelo was just talking about how Black Knight 2000 (a machine released in 1989 that has FL-11630 dual wound coils) had severe fade in a recent pre-pandemic tournament. It was not the only title that did this. Fade did happen and DOES happen on some B/W pins. But again, depends on the machine - they don't ALL have it, and it's not unique to new pins only.

JJP uses the largest, baddest Bally/Williams dual wound coils available, and they have the hottest uncooled temps of all (jjPotC hit 249F/GnR has hit 219F). The coil itself is only part of the heat management solution, and more isn't always better. Software and hardware design are a major component, too. And even if everything is perfect, heat will always be an issue on long play sessions, especially with trap play.

Time for water cooling

Here ya go - this might even beat snaroff 's giant fan solution:

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Even better - the mother of all watercooled fan solutions. Eat your heart out PinMonk - going on sale next week. BYO river and insurance.
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Same as adjustments I made to switches. Make them more sensitive so that your shots register. This done in the first week or two after unboxing, as suggested in the thread.

The switchback and orbit Always register on my game once I adjusted them. It's a choice though I guess, each to their own, some are adjusting switches some are replacing them.

I definately didn't need the eddy switches to make the shots register 100%, though.

I thought the flipper discussion jumped into a different dimension...

Yep it switched

Im a fan of fans...

Haha, there's a R&M reference in the new season of Paradise P.D. ....ftr, if you aren't familiar, it makes R&M seem like care bears so don't watch it with the kiddos.

P.S. this should be Spooky's next pin

I added spring washers in front of the coil stops which Im assuming is pretty standard, but spooky didnt use them. My stern spring washers worked perfectly

It’s not a contest. You are generally really dismissive and rude, and the quantity of messages is less important than the quality.

His 272 posts got us improved flipper code; which is a hell of a lot more than your posts have gotten us

If you don't own an R&M, why are you here complaining about people trying to improve the game?

I think this is a bit strong of a statement.

I would just call it bluntness. Sometimes you just gotta be blunt to make your point.

No sugar-coating, just the facts.

You didn't pass that Logic course, Freshman year, did you?

I'll take out of context posts for $500 please.

How are people's flippers when they start a multiball? Mine kind of freak when I'm in an adventure and start a multiball. More so than before. (And no I'm not in a dimension, I've been to the dimension where the left flipper controls your upper right that's not what's happening)

any word on the new flipper bushings from Spooky?

Thanks for your troll pushback, fellow Morty's. I have no problems taking arrows from R&M owners, but having non-owner trolls bust my balls is unfortunate.

A humble reminder for the arrow shooters. I'll also take some credit for identifying the flipper bushing problem (https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/aw-jeez-official-rick-and-morty-club/page/181#post-6016980) and pushing for a community wide resolution (some of it, behind the scenes). Before my push, some folks were quietly shaving their flipper bushings without regard for their fellow Morty's I felt strongly that the bushings should be fixed for the community and picked up the phone. Fortunately, Spooky and it's parts supplier were quick to agree (https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/aw-jeez-official-rick-and-morty-club/page/182#post-6017299). Hats off to Spooky/Charlie!

The vibe that identifying data/issues is sacrilege is counterproductive (no matter how forthcoming someone is). I've invested 10x more time/energy in this game than most games. All of our time is being donated in the spirit of helping Spooky. My post volume in this thread is really out of character. Why? (1) When you love something, you want it to play great. (2) When you know you have the manufacturers ear and can have an impact, it's more motivating.

Just received an email that Spooky is sending me a package to solve some issues I've identified to them privately. Luke has given me great/timely support!

Sad that some folks want to mock/shoot the messenger! We should be celebrating the openness in this thread. Much better than working with Stern, where there is NO OPEN FORUM they participate in. One of the benefits of working with a smaller, more progressive company...

Another Medal.

Pin it on him.

Flippers here work fine. R&M multiball start is brutal though, releasing the two locked balls to slowly roll to the flippers, then firing the last one down just as they arrive to completely mess up whatever catches or flips you had planned.

This game is amazing. Keep the improvements coming and it will most likely rank in the top ten. Once dialed in the game has some of the fastest and cleanest flow with the most brutal gameplay since Ironman.

Apparently I explained incorrectly...when multiballs start, and I'm not touching the flipper buttons. The flippers go up and down on their own. They flip by themselves. Hope that makes sense

You need a young priest and an old priest...

Haha yea that's definitely not normal; I've never seen the flippers operate on their own on my game. Might have a switch issue going on...

Maybe your flipper switches are gapped too close? I had my upper flipper go randomly on scoop and launcher fires until I bent it out just a tiny bit.

"Well played THING. You're really on the ball"

Fricken beer out my nose... Awesome job!

Priest and boy, boy and priest Season 2?

(RM thread is too quiet)

DAMN!

I finally see why Morty is hot for Jessica....

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A couple of questions.

What include should the play field be at? right now its at 6.9 deg.
Is the glass the comes with the machine standard or some type of non reflective. I cant seem to tell with this playfield (i guess my eyes are going)
What does the second yellow flipper button do?

Recently Charlie Emery mentioned he was testing a machine and had it set at 6.5 incline but (I think) most people are at around 6.7 to 6.9 incline.

The glass is a regular glass (bummer I know).

Second flipper button triggers your magnet to save the ball from draining to the right out lane. Works like a magna save (kinda) but button is not meant to be held though. just get used to tapping it when the ball gets in that out lane area and you'll figure it out.

Is there a trick to safely remove the backglass? I'm not new to pinball, and I did remove the glass to update the software, but I also almost lost it, holding it to the top of the backbox while the speaker panel was moved down. I was not able to lift it up and out, as in my other games.

Thanks!

Should only need to drop the speaker panel. I’m not even close to needing the backglass to be out when I’m upgrading. It’s not in the way

Hmm. No trick on mine. Very similar to the Stern Spike games...only difference is the Spooky backglass is heavier (it's not a translite...it's an old school "real" backglass On some games, I've had backglasses stick to foam insulation, but I don't believe that would be the case on R&M.

I think the video on the Spooky site is for pre R&M games. I was confused too. The USB port on R&M is on the bottom right and accessible if you flip down the speaker panel. Unlike the video, you actually insert the Memory stick from the bottom, not the top.