Hey there. Lowering the bushing made a big difference on my game (before lowering them, the left ramp was much harder to make).

Hopefully, out-of-the-box yours will work fine. If not, you can get help here. No set prescription on how to dial them in...depends on your specific build.

Yeah, everyone should be putting some hours in on their game before they go tweaking everything. What each game needs is a bit different.

Well folks, I solved the Rick and Morty scoop rejects (I think - still piloting). It's easy, DIY and costs just over $10.

Basically, I realized that the scoop was rejecting because the metal rails were almost acting as a slingshot... transferring any momentum into a bounce. I wanted to deaden the bounce.

Here's what I did.

I bought rubber tubing, slit it vertically, and cut it about 90 mm in length. I then fed it over each of the metal rails. And now the scoop gets the ball 99% for any shots. Now, I haven't tried it over time, so it may pop off, if so, I'll likely use clear fishline to bind the open slit at the front.

I went with 3mm (2mm may work too, it anyone wants to test, please let us know):

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PQX5LXM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00

IMG_3982 (resized).JPG

Tube (resized).jpg

Just ran into a bug where the voices vanished. Continued between games. Needed to reboot. First time I recall this ever happening.

Installed right MRs, garage protector (is this even made for this game?) And set flippers to default. While i was testing this happened during meseeks. I took a pic because i thought it was an issue.....after about 30 seconds a ball search happened (i was holding the 3rd ball) but the balls stayed in the lock.

Then i forced multiball as it was lit..and they came out. Was not expecting it to know 2 balls were stuck on the same side.

0429211957_HDR (resized).jpg

100% disagree. I have not had the same experience. Flipper flutter and flipper knock down from the beginning. I'm in the camp where I've had the glass off more than any other game I've owned. Tried to dial in the flippers according to the advice here. If I use the standard tool to adjust the bushing gap & it ends up too tight and binds. Need almost to double the space of the bushing gap. EOS adjusted from ~1mm to ~3mm. Ran through multiple settings to try to dial in flippers. Almost to the point that it's consistent except still get a double flip and shot up the playfield on a hard hit from a sling, pop or center scoop eject.

Almost had it working before the April code drop and then it was back to square one.

I'm envious of everyone who's gotten to enjoy a playable game from unboxing.

@zene10, interesting because I got mine and I had no problems out of the gate. The game played fine, but of course like every other game I've bought, I had it cracked apart 30 minutes after first power on and I was tweaking and optimizing (My wife: "Are you taking it apart already??? You haven't even had it for an hour yet!!!). I think what people are not realizing here is that you're dealing with a complex piece of machinery. Spooky isn't "dialing in" these games when they leave the factory. If that was the case, they wouldn't be able to get 15 of them out to customers every week. They're putting them together and making sure they work out the door...and that's it.

I've spent a few hours tweaking things like leaf switch and pop adjustments for greater sensitivity, adding mylar to places like the flipper buttons to curtail premature wear, adding the hole protector for the house and other small adjustments, small adjustments to rollover switches to get rid of ball hangups...stuff like that. My game went from a loose feeling 7/10 to a super tight 9/10 player.

I've only been in this hobby for a couple of years and part of the reason I did is because I enjoy tinkering on things. I do the same with the cars I buy. Sure, they'll get me from A to B no problem, but I can *DO THINGS* to them to make them bettter than how they came from the factory. I view pinball the same way. There's always room for improvement. I think pinball owners SHOULD be willing to "get their hands dirty" to tweak their game to the best it can possibly get. And...if they don't have the skill set, they should invest in finding someone who does and pay that person to maintain their machine for them or reconsider dropping the kind of coin needed to own these machines.

Not to disparage you or anyone that pursues a hobby in pinball, but I think there's a lot of unrealistic expectations that some people have about owning these games. I just find it fascinating, but maybe it's the enginerd in me that draws me to a hobby like this. Then again, I'm also a ham, so I'm kind of a special brand of crazy.

Thanks for the comments. I understand people might have unreasonable expectations. This is my 3rd NIB. I’ve been through 2 SMVE playfield swaps because of issues, which was my first NIB. I’ve owned and restored multiple games including EMs. Check out the stuff I’ve designed WH20 & MET. I’m fully capable of getting my hands dirty.

I’m not being bombastic. I’m sincerely jealous of those owners that have had great experiences out of the box. I’ve reached out to spooky and they’ve helped as much as they could remotely- great support. However, I’m as frustrated as Eric, who’s programming, because it simply doesn’t flip as it should. I hope owners like me are in the minority.

I too, hope that the people having loads of issues are in the minority. I also tend to regard Internet forums with a huge grain of salt, in that you often hear many of the people that are having issues, but rarely from the people who's games work just fine. I know of two people that also own this game. One is a NIB owner who had much the same experience as I did, where subtle tweaks and adjustments took a good game to a great game. I know another who is a second owner who has had a couple bumps in the road but seems overall happy with his game.

I think you took the right approach contacting Spooky. A lot of people forget that these games do have a one year warranty for HUO users (90 days for operators) and if they're having problems, they absolutely should take advantage of the superior support that Spooky offers for their games. These are people who will 100% stand behind their product and do everything that is reasonable to make things right and make owners whole. I have never owned a NIB Stern, but from some of the threads I've seen here, I think you would be hard pressed to get the same level of support for one of their games.

Anyway, I hope that you can get your game sorted, because when it works well, it is a complete ass-kicker of a game.

Just play it. You'll find your way as you go and the things your pin needs will become obvious as you attune to the game.

Well I've been in this hobby quite a bit longer (~20 years). I've owned ~70 games over the years. I've restored games and commissioned game restoration (with High End Pins). This is my first Spooky game.

With that really brief introduction, zene10's comment that "I've had the glass off more than any other game I've owned." has been my experience as well. Most of my "build issues" have been discussed in this thread and I'm not going to rehash them, but my game (#175) needed a lot of attention to play properly. Sure, maybe my standards are high, but I definitely don't have "unrealistic expectations". My expectations are based on 20 years and ~70 games. Since you've only been at this a couple years, I'm not sure if you're in the best position to judge my expectations! Fortunately, I'm retired and have plenty of time to give #175 the love it needed to play great. For folks not in my position with issues, it's a shame.

Once the game is dialed-in, it's stunning. For me, the pain was worth the gain. Scott/Eric/Bowen have done insanely great work. Pinball manufacturing is definitely tough...I get it. From my perspective, too many games shipped with common/significant problems.

My first NEW PIN! I just took delivery of Rick and Morty (Blood Sucker Edition) 629 today. It was a real whirly direly solving the puzzle of 33 inch pallet into 34 inch doorway with 3 other guys we found ourselves wedged in just right, a pivot and shift and then we were ready to set it up.

My curiosity grew as I could not find a user service manual, or even more than the keys, screws, balls, and the half sheet of PCLOADLETTERWTFDOESTHATMEAN printed directions I got to work.

>---I guess self important entitled me expected like a poster or some stickers or something extra in the box with the BSE... What do I know? ----<when will I learn that is for Fang Club members... who wait I am... meh.

***Out of the box it was 12.08.2020 code. ***Everything seemed to work, except the Numeric Display betwixt flippers was only half lighting up. The ribbon cable connectors don't appear to be tight, yet are glued in that position. I reseated them. It worked. They are lose 5 rounds later... Perhaps there is a solution for a retaining clip or is this another zip tie tape situation?

All happy times, until PDXMKY bless his heart, asked me if the flippers were having issues, or if i had updated the code yet. It was rumored to fix the flipper issue... (hadn't noticed) Excited to update the code to have more adventures I loaded it up on a USB 3 flash that apparently had some rand EFI partition on it in addition to the .pkg file. It soft bricked my machine during reboot after the code update executed. Devastated at my $8,000 paperweight I freaked out a tad, smoked a bowl and reimaged the code update on a very old spare 4 gb usb2 drive.

Installed and now the flippers were hesitating... What? Never had they before on the 12.8.2020 code I was content with until i MKYd with it. Well turns out it says to reinstall a second time because, just you have to. Interesting shit. I like the ease of USB flash, however it would be nice to either have a power / reset (power cycle button) near the Asrock ITX motherboard in the head. Or a Service manual explaining where such included luxuries are hidden.

At this point the game is now updated to 4.5.2021 ========Now the flippers SUCK! ===Not equal, not even resetting properly, mostly the right flipper. Weird its sounds like it would have not been affected by a code update if it was just 'wonky' EOS springs etc but frankly, I expected more than half a photocopied page as my holy tome of understanding...

This machine is light years beyond my friends' old Americas Most Haunted table i wasn't really able to play in 2015 because of the balls ALWAYs getting stuck in the same GD4saken spot.

Eagerly awaiting MKY to visit and help me 'stern spring' mod my flippers.. guess it is supposed 'to make the game playable.' Great mostly, but, would have loved tiny bit of swag, a service manual or perhaps something to help dim the hypnotizing and yet almost seizure educing green toper flashes. Grateful I was able to find the setting myself in the menu without a service manual. R T F M...? Please let me.

Love the new PIN smell, the playfield looks amazing compared to stern garbage pocking and orange peel on the clear. DRUM n BASS music is pretty much all it takes to get me to buy a pin and CELTS in the mail by Haggis has DNB BagPipe music... Shut up and take my money.

Rick and Morty and Celts will be the sexiest pins next to each other. Now about that Service Manual?

Glad to be a blood sucker.

And awwwwwaaaaay we go!

Thanks thx to Rob, MKY and Spooky for finally bringing me the joy I earned by hiding those mega seeds for TRAIN...

Helixthree the Pinabler

Go into settings and change the "Flipper Hold Pulse Pattern" to "Original", reboot (new setting won't take effect until after reboot), and see if that helps.

Spooky has not yet released an official service manual most likely because the code is still under development. However there is a temporary manual in this thread post #11966.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/aw-jeez-official-rick-and-morty-club/page/240#post-6194984

Pickle Rick looks like he's having fun on Twitch

I totally understand if you're aggravated that you have to lift the pf ONE MORE TIME to adjust your EOS switches. That was me.

EOS adjusted and on new default. Very happy.

Bug

Not sure where else to report potential bug

In competition mode entering a new dimension causes reset. All good again after turning comp off.

For those that are monitoring the temperature of your coils, what product are you using?

I don't have cameras set up, so is there something that can gauge the coil, and maybe have a display outside of the pin that I can see as I play?

My right coil is burning hot after a game that last more than 10 minutes.

Thanks

For realtime temps you can watch while you play, something like this works well, but you probably want to find the Fahrenheit version, this one is only Celsius. The farenheit one is the one I send out to testing volunteers for the fan kits when I need new baseline and cooled temps.

https://www.amazon.com/DROK-Thermometer-Accuracy-Temperature-Waterproof/dp/B06XC9T6HB

This is not plug and play. You still need to modify it to take 12v from your little power supply to power it. I have used better and worse ones than the Fahrenheit version of this, but this one is the one I come back to most. Sorry I don't have a link to anything except the Celsius one. I get mine straight from China, and don't know if anyone is selling them here now with the correct temp probes.

This works if you are just interested in occasional probe (requires opening the coin door and is only practical for the lower flippers).

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B089Y3PL7R/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00

I have checked EOS, tried the new code settings, changed coil stops. No other game that i own that uses P-ROC with williams flipper mechs has this issue. Both ACNC and RnM have flutter/buzz when giving the flippers a push. This is either a code or wiring/hardware problem.

Is everything tight? On Sterns a barely loose flipper plate will cause buzz.

I have 5 spike 2 games several with 5-10K plays and never seen this issue. I cannot budge the flippers with any force

IMG_5184 (resized).JPG

I also have 3 JJ games and they are all rock solid and had a hotwheels and never saw this issue

Power on or power off when you're trying to do this? Are you saying the flipper is stuck up?

No i am saying that RnM has issues with flipper hold. I have changed coil stops, messed with settings. ETC the flipper hold is crap on RnM. This isnt a P-Roc issue as only my two spooky games show similar issues. ACNC has the buzz when i pull down but they dont give but RnM will randomly be solid once and the next time drop with any decent force.

ACNC will sometimes mistime the frank lock on left causing the ball the drop under the playfield which is fun but thats for another discussion

I originally thought this might be a gap issue even though spooky is using the pre pin2K williams coil stops. I swapped them for the longer ones and that didnt solve anything. They werent loose but i thought id try anyways

IMG_5185 (resized).JPG

Ah, I can't help you there, except to say that for R&M, Spooky changed to a single wound coil after using dual wound for all their other releases (not sure about their contract Dominos and Jetsons). ACNC has a dual wound coil with dedicated hold. Pretty sure Spooky is still trying to dial that performance in after this change.

Are they compatible? The flipper flutter issue everyone speaks about is related to the hold issue

No. The dual wound requires an additional line for the hold power on the coil. So you can't go back to the dual wound all the other spooky have without hardware work (running a line) and software work to support the hold.

I don't know if you saw, but recently it was discovered there is a bug in the code that when you change the flipper settings you have to reboot the machine for the new settings to take effect.. Many of us saw the same problems (that no matter what setting still had issues). If you haven't yet, you may need to adjust your EoS switches as well.

I set mine to default and 'high' for lower flippers and seems to be fine.

That helped. I spoke to my tech/business partner. Stern also uses single winding coils and this isn’t an issue. I’ll have to check my other p-roc based games to see what they use.

IMO, Stern is the gold standard for single wound coil control on their Spike 2 system, but it's completely different from P-ROC, and Stern has a LOT more experience, so you get different results.

I will gladly take a house call Dr! PinMonk!

Has anyone just tried a different size coil for R&M?
Perhaps there is just a stronger coil that could be used, that wouldn’t heat up either.
Something like what was used for LOTR back in the day?
Just a thought...

All coils heat up if you use them. The longer you play them, the hotter they get without intervention. It's a feedback loop of sorts due to the laws of thermodynamics. Stronger coil will take longer to fade but is overpowered before it starts to lose power and can break plastics/targets early in a new session due to being overpowered. Running a larger coil hotter longer can discolor the ink/paint on the top side of the wood over time.

The 11629 Spooky was using before Rick and Morty was the largest B/W coil anyway.

So should spooky just go back to dual winding since it works better? I dont see any reason for them sticking to this. Flippers should not be a question when spending $8K or $12K

Well, they *could* (and probably should on their next game for now), but as long as they keep developing the single winding timing code, there's no reason they can't eventually figure it out and get similar performance. It will just take some time and patience, but I have no idea how much of either.

I mean, look at Stern. They've been doing pins for how long and just FINALLY got the hold right with Spike. Impressively right. You can trap up a Spike flipper for a half hour or more with almost no change in temp. Do that on a Whitestar or SAM and you'll blow a transistor or coil - or both. WhiteStar and SAM spanned two DECADES before Stern hit it right on Spike.

You just repeated what my business partner said. I agree they should persue it its just hard to sell customers when they are selling a premium game. Also more rare is to see spooky games on location. We are the only place in texas with one and I also think within a one state radius. I love their designs I just dont know how well they will hold up in our environment. We took a 17K guess lol.

We did reach out to their support about the lack of ramp supports on that right ramp. it does move when a ball hits it and over time it can break. 1 support and the tab on the back is too little when stern usually uses 3 to 5 supports for a u turn ramp like that. Hopefully we can provide them with high traffic data.

Is this STh tech support for the melted solid flipper coil there?

Playfield even looks charred!?

Yes, this! . The DE version is Much stronger at full extension of crank. It has a Much higher "Rate" (of tension increase).

This is one of the contributors to those DE games having their inherent knockdown and recovery "punches". They also have a heavy billet crank arm, which makes it heavier regarding rotation and momentum. Behavior.

Not sure what you're referring to...

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/aw-jeez-official-rick-and-morty-club/page/261#post-6256282

Is that charring below where the flipper normally rests?

Other news, got the 50 seed bug on more than one game last night. Was recording all games in case the scoop lockup occurred. EP I'll upload them later.

I can't tell, but it does look strange. I wonder what the wood looks like on the other side.

I had a game going to a little over 20 minutes tonight, and on my last ball it was absolutely impossible to hit the right ramp.

It was the first and only game I played, so the coils weren't running prior to this game.

Is that sort of fade normal for this game?

So I’d like to ask all the Mortys who have scored 100 mil plus , where are you raking all these points? Is it megaseeds? I can’t break the 40-50 mil plateau and since I’m playing alone and the second I look up at the screen while playing I drain, I can’t figure out how to break the 100 mil mark. And please don’t start talking about your flippers because I’m not sure I can handle any more.

Depending on your play style this is not uncommon. I have fade showing between 20 and 30 minutes in with the code before the current one. I don't know what the flipper changes have done, but I don't think it's revolutionary, more revolutionary.

You might want to make sure your flipper isn't too tight to the bushing. If there's not about a credit card's worth of clearance it can bind.

I'm not quite there, but I did log a game in the 70s. Most of it came on one ball and was rather quick. I finished with 23 mega seeds, visited 7 dimensions, fondled 9 balls, used 9 meeseeks. My bonus on that ball was 22 million. The main factor was that I grew the jackpots, hit the meeseeks multiball, followed by the regular multiball, and just kept changing dimensions and collecting seeds while keeping the multiball going. Once it turned into 5 balls, things got a bit nuts but I managed to keep it going for a bit.