I agree, they don’t really compare in my opinion. I am mildly entertained by Solar Opposites. But Rick and Morty is the shiiiiiiit!

GnR was the 2020 game of the year…no need to knock it in the R&M club thread. Though GnR didn’t clean up the 2020 awards the same way Godzilla did for 2021, GnR was a heck of an achievement for JJP and has a lot of great things going for it and well deserved the accolades it received in 2020 on release.

Personally, I think R&M is the better home environment game and my GnR would certainly leave before my R&M leaves, but guests do prefer to play GnR than R&M. It draws them in. Heck, my GnR drew one of my non-pinheads in so deep he bought his first machine. R&M is enjoyed by my pinhead friends - as it is a fabulous game - but it is simply too hard to be attractive to new players.

I've found that people who are not familiar with R&M don't even want to play it. It doesn't have the bling of the toys of the 90's or fancier newer games, and the content means nothing to them. They may play a game or two and move on. I suppose it doesn't help that it plays differently than most games (in terms of how you shoot the modes) and the game itself is on the difficult side.

Basically..all the things I love about it.

Yes R&M is definitely the Inside Baseball of, er... *ahem* oops let's just call it Insider's Pinball It's a fantastic masterpiece to those who've been around a while, or who appreciate its specific nuances. But objectively it is far too difficult, too plain, and too weird: definitely a niche package.

Of all our guests, the only ones who bother to try it more than a couple times are the ones who know and like the show. If they don't know it they pass on by; some who do know it have an unfavorable opinion and skip for that reason. But even the ones who like the show tend to give up after only a few more rounds because almost any other game is far more approachable. I have other fast-tuned asskicking games too, but they don't cheat, rob, and mock you like R&M does.

This is sad because R&M is such an amazing riot of theme integration, hilarity, and challenge that deserves to be seen. And no other game has made me laugh the way R&M does! Of course you have to grind and/or be warped enough to experience the humor, so I understand why an average, casual, or newbie pinballer (especially one with no affection for R&M-the-show) is neither compelled to be drawn in, nor sees an incentive to keep at it. I mean if you put this game next to GnR or Godzilla, it's no contest: the other two are just as, if not more familiar in terms of licensing; far more colorful and dynamic in sound, art, and mechanics; and ultimately far easier to play and feel rewarded for doing so.

Personally I think GnR is abysmal: after giving it a fair shake I've no desire to play it ever again, but I realize I'm in the minority. Godzilla roars for itself with near universal acclaim, and even has some humor going for it - not gonna lie, I almost wish I got that instead. Can you imagine if R&M integration was applied to a more polished layout like GZ??

I have found it kind of amusing that even after all this time there seems to be a R&M put up for sale on a weekly basis; they seem to trade hands quite a bit. I wonder when they will finally find their forever homes like TNA eventually did. That title cycled around a lot at first too but now rarely comes up for sale.

Thank you sir!

I may have to do a log dump for use here also.

I will rarely but here and there still get an "attract lighting" spill during gameplay. It will go away if I start a mode/multiball or something new.

This isn't something logs would catch. If you can figure out how to trigger it reliably and document the steps, then I could try to re-create it. Meanwhile I'll just keep an eye out for it.

My game reset itself twice last night. Both instances were at the end of game match sequence. I probably played about 8 games total in the night and everything else worked like normal.

Has anyone else ran into this? I thought maybe the hard drive had fallen off the backbox wall again but when I checked, it was still attached.

I have to agree with everyone, R&M is a player’s game. At parties people mostly play AFM and Dialed In, poor R&M is just too hard for casuals.

However, it’s surprisingly popular with the ladies because of the swearing and abuse. They seem to like getting told off.

My Rick and Morty can't get a rest when there are people here. Always someone on it.

Mine too...except I'm the one who is always on it.

Do you have a real knocker installed?

Yes, real knocker and shaker motor.

Maybe it's a power thing or something with the knocker itself. It goes off, draws a little too much power and then the reset happens.

I just put one on my S-turn shot, the ball was getting stuck on the wire of the factory switch. Now, the ball gets stuck to the magnet on the MRS.
Guess I will try to shim it to sit a touch further away from the ball, but a bit of a letdown.
I’ll post how shimming works, also need to change the broken “car” mount.

I have this issue as well on the outer orbit with a slow shot...and was told I was crazy. It is what it is. A shim should help. Magnet just needs to be backed off a bit from the top of the pf. I've meant to do it but haven't got to it yet.

Weird. Never had this happen here. What is your PF set at? Too shallow?

Hells yes

Same here, and here are a few reasons why from my perspective:

Quick ball times. Aside from a few skilled players, most ball times comparative to other pins in my lineup (I have a TZ, which isnt exactly friendly....) the ball times on RAM are super short. This leads to multiple games per player.

Fun: as a shooter goes, RAM is clunky and particular (aka hard and unforgiving). Its why I also like it. However, what often gets left out of the conversation here is its also an incredible interactive and fun game. It never feels dull or wood choppy.

Interactivity: world under glass applies to RAM. Spooky's use of IP here is top level and much like another amazing pin TNA the lights, sounds and vibrations are insane. One of the best light shows in pin prior to GNR (and right up there with the criminally underrated Ghostbuster light show).

IP: Its hard to argue with how engaging the use of IP is in RAM. It literally feels like Rick and Morty stand over your shoulder. Adds to the 'drawn in' aspect of the machine.

Summation: RAM is a unique pinball experience with solid pinball moments. While it has weaknesses in geometry and design those are largely offset by fun and interactivity. It is a top ten pin, imho, and is I think a 'throwback', as much as TNA was as well, to what might have been a 'future' design if the basic layouts of the 80's pins continued into the modern era.

No, I usually jack the back legs up almost all the way. My games are known for playing pretty steep.

“Just some fixes” translated in pig latin reads “ewnay dventuresay ddeday”

Spooky has nailed the theme integration with R&M, TNA, and ACNC…those three games have absolutely elite world’s under glass and those three successive releases are the core reason Spooky is so respected today.

I deeply hope that Spooky does more games in the future with both Scott and Eric. Those two guys are simply flat out amazing talents.

I had the same with one of my MRS. Just needed to loosen it up a bit so it wasn’t pressed so tight to the playfield and zero issues since.

If anyone is interested in some added fun with this machine, take a q-tip and put a drop or two of 3 in 1 oil on it and gently lubricate the two points on the spinner where it makes contact with the metal arch.

The spinner will go for what seems like forever and if you have a shaker, the machine feels like it's going to launch into space. I noticed my spinner had slowed a bit and after doing this the spinning time more than doubled. It was like hitting a jackpot on a slot machine the first time with the new speed!

I spray a small amount of white lithium grease on a cardboard and use a toothpick to pick up a dot and place it where the metal meets on the spinners. Spin long time.
I did it on my Deadpool and can pickup the Disco multiball easily! ha

Yep, I shimmed it with a washer and it works fine now.

OK, IT just happened to me.

Started fresh game with a double super skill shot and then right into Scoop for a adventure start. The attract mode lights started right away. It was the parasite adventure, the adventure started and the attract mode stayed on during the mode.

monitorpop steered you correctly - we designed the MRS' to sensitive enough and such that you can shim the mounting tab to lower it if needed (although I believe this is the first I've heard of such a thing on a R&M) - a washer is suitable but we typically suggest something thin like a business card...you only need to shim in .5mm increments really....it shouldn't take much....

Matt
M&M Creations

You sure you weren’t in a dimension with a light show? Loop to garage is an instant portal charge/dimension change.

You got a bad connection somewhere. I had the same thing happening.. lights wouldn't update and would keep old colors... eventually it just started getting all F'd up, lamps lighting randomly all different colors. I raised the PF and pushed hard on every LED-related ribbon and connector I could find, reseated a couple and haven't had a problem since.

Well, dang. Seemed exactly like attract mode. I'd have to see if it was a lightshow dimension was different.

naw, this isn't it I don't think. The bulbs do that here and there because of the poor connections they used, they wiggle loose slowly.

It's not the bulbs, it's the data. Somewhere there's an intermittent connection on a data cable, bits are getting dropped and the color data for lamps gets changed. Last summer for a while I'd start a game, everything was fine, then a few inserts would get stuck on old color, not update.. others would turn random colors, then it'd fix itself for a while. Eventually got so bad all the LEDs were wrong, like an acid trip. Messing with every connector I could find stopped it immediately and permanently (or at least thru Pincinnati and 2022).

Just installed Joe’s speaker acrylics, holy cow do they look awesome, wow! I ditched the flimsy mesh pieces while I installed the plastics. This mod is worth every penny. Here are some beauty shots of my BSE.

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I noticed the topper isn't lit on this game, it only flashes when the disc spins. Does anyone make a topper LED enhancement kit for the factory R&M topper? I'd like the front plastic to be lit constant like other toppers on my pins. Any ideas or what have others done?

Agreed. I also think ram was the best spooky. I think spooky is great but would like to see them score this team and or some decent designers for future releases.

Looks great. What does it look like when the speaker light isn’t green?

My feelings exactly.

R&M is such a unique and demanding package compared to almost everything else out there, to the point it seems to intimidate those entrenched in conventional pinball design and gameplay. Unless you're a high level player, adore the show, have lots of patience, or just a glutton for punishment, R&M just may not be for you. This is a huge shame as it really is a magical pin.

I've Had this machine from new and finally got to potion #9 yesterday ! (I decided from day one to start at 0 card stamp and i'm not that good so it took a while lol)
It's ridiculous !! It's been about a year since I had a pinball game this exciting and I play pinball multiple times a week.
I agree its a difficult game and shots are clunky when not perfectly aimed; but when you nail 8-9 shots in combo it goes so fast and is so satisfying.

Even my wife starts to like it and she usually don't like hard games. She never listened to the show, but she likes the humor !

Even when you drain (often ) it's always a funny callout or insult

I've done the same thing a couple of times (setting the card to zero and making it to Potion #9), and when you do that, Potion #9 truly feels like a wizard mode IMO. Of course, the two times that I made it there, I drained much too fast prematurely ending the Potion #9 fun.

I must admit that when I set the card to zero, I turned on the extra ball award for hitting the replay. I figured I could use that extra help.

I bought this RM specific topper light from Pinballmods.co
Looks awesome and even the slight color changer fade mode looks good on it.
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I was getting tired on the pounding the game often hands out, so I decided to sell mine.

Literally, the next day, I started having regrets, and one not too far away got posted up for sale. I bought it right away!

Glutton for punishment I suppose! But as much as I sometimes hate the feeling of the flippers, and all the issues I've had to iron out, the code and the theme integration on this game make it a keeper for me.

Last game I felt this way about is Walking Dead, and that game is in my personal top 10.

Ya 100%. As far as pinball fun/experiences go, TNA and ram are something unique. That’s not to say they are above say any stern, where design and engineering are vastly superior, but Spooky’s niche is unique design, immersion and “sensation” if that’s a thing in pinball.

I can’t imagine selling my ram. The only thing close to the experience of it in pinball I’ve found is TNA, and I view ram as an upgraded polished TNA (they are different games of course but there is enough that’s similar to make me go back to this comparison. Ram feels like an evolution to TNA).

I think ultimately because ram is so immersive, fun and engaging it’s easy to ignore the clunky shots and the difficulty level. The only modern game I have an equal affinity for is sterns Iron Maiden. Iron Maiden may be the greatest game of all time ( or one of them). I go back and forth on where ram should sit comparative to maiden, and while I still think maiden is a superior game from a design and engineering standpoint, where stern remains king, it’s hard to say that ram isn’t equally engaging for its own unique merits.

Spooky’s magic is the immersion and world under glass factor and ram imho is their masterpiece to date.

One other thing I’ll add is i find it also interesting that, comparative to the modern trap heavy designs from stern, where technical brilliance is emphasized in design and encouraged in gameplay, to me, and I don’t know if this was intentional, TNA and ram seem to encorisge frantic play and discourage trap. It’s not that you can’t trap on either machine ( TNA far more rewards this than ram does) but to me both pins feel like they were design for flow play. And again that is somewhat of a throwback to 90’s Williams/earlier Ritchie design.

IM is a wierd one for me. I love the theme, big IM fan, but I just cannot get into the gameplay on it. Maybe I haven't got deep enough into it, but nothing has drawn me in to want to try.

Polar opposite here. The flow, shots, scoring and depth alongside a moderately hard game with enough variation, theme and experience puts Maiden extremely high for me. Try it again! FYI the learning curve is 7/10, it has a somewhat steep wall from casual to punching into the depth. It took me about a year to consistently start hitting 150 mil ish and breaking deeper into the modes.

Does that green speaker cover take away from the RGB color changing of the speakerlights? Doesn't look like an ideal idea.

Doesn't look like it negatively affects it much on the other colors, based on the pics. I am installing mine next week
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/aw-jeez-official-rick-and-morty-club/page/348#post-6875108

Could have cut them in clear, no? It would still 'edge light' but it would be whatever color the LEDs are.