Just replaced all the bulbs on left side. Still no change.

Flickering on/off almost sounds like a flakey connection. According to the manual node board 8 connector CN15 controls "playfield GI-lower", "playfield GI-shooter", and "playfield GI-gadget". If all of those GI locations are dark on your game I would double check that connector.

If the wiring and connector looks good you could also try swapping node boards with node board 9 which is the same part number as node board 8. You would just need to change the dip switches on the node boards if you swap them. The switch settings are in the manual.

I think you might be able to swap Node 8 and Node 9 to see if the problem follows the node board or not.

Rob

I think you might be able to swap Node 8 and Node 9 to see if the problem follows the node board or not. You might need to change the dip settings on the board, I'm not sure.

Rob

Chaz said to check for 5 volts on the cn15 pins on the node board.
I am not sure what setting to use on my multimeter to do this.
I tried different settings on the multimeter but was unable to get any voltage.
I would think if it is not getting 5 volts from node then all th GI would be out. Mine is only the left side.

I don't know if that's necessarily a problem because the Stern Pro Circuit game appeared to be setup fairly hard (hard ball locks, sensitive tilt, fast pitch). Like you say, completing minor villains is a lot of work and is way more risk than the small safety net that a 2 ball Shame multiball has. Take what you can and see how the other players do.

In regards to balance, I have quite a few thoughts on that. I could be (and probably am) wrong on some things..

Major Villains:

Take a mode like Joker's Surf's Up. It's way too easy to complete and there's no hurry up jackpot shot like there is in the other Joker mode. It's a great mode for theme, but not points. I might be inclined to always take the Villain modes with the most shots (especially with any multiball) because they would have the best scoring potential.

Minor Villains:

Mad Hatter could maybe use an additional power. If you don't have a problem completing the modes most of the time, there's just no reason to take this.

King Tut first power is not very useful for decent players. It's the main channel multipliers you want of course, but you won't go for those until after BookWorm and Freeze. Novice players are going to have a hard time beating first tut, then using Mad Hatter to replay something they failed and at an easier point to finish. So it's maybe not ideal for novices as well.

Set your multi to DC voltage. Black on the ground pin and red on the 5v pin(s). You may have to set the range to single digits volts.

You may want to check your process on another point to verify you are using your multi meter correctly.

One advantage to surfs up joker is that the second stage has unlimited shot potential, (like the final stage of almost every other villain) while in any multiball the sjp is disabled and all shots except the last one hit will be a jp. So that is a way to build up a huge surfin joker sjp. Funny enough though, the first and last stage of the regular joker mission has the same qualities. The points can be there in surfing joker but my use for it is to reach the extra ball quicker.

Mad Hatter is interesting IF you beat both of them, he then let's you play any minor tv mode even if you've completed it.

I've had the King Tut power be useful but it was after playing all 3 1st season MVs, (this makes them playable again even without Mad Hatter) I had failed bookworm with one shot left and was able to pick up where I left off.

Personally I still mainly go for BW-Freeze-Tut, but to mix it up a bit I sometimes go for 3 Tuts for the first wizard mode and then the usual BW-Freeze-Tut.

No egghead?

It's interesting that the second stage may have unlimited shot potential, but the first stage does not(?). If you start a multiball on Surf's Up stage 1, you would quickly run out of Joker shots to make until the multiball is over.

If I need an extra ball I will collect any villain instead of continuing. I spend so much time on those minor Villains that my major Villain progress is slow..

Rob

What Jakhub writes is correct.

A shorter major path (like joker surfin') to the last stage with unlimited shots is sometimes interesting! Especially combined in multiball. So these are valuable too.
And the first king tut completion is worth a lot (the keep progress remains for rest of game even without bookworm).
So if you fail at completing freeze and/or bookworm, you can play a mad hatter and continue where you ended the minor modes if you had a king tut completed already.

But I repeat.. tut/bw/freeze for home games and blowing up scores, shame for competition.
Eggheads scores more in the last update it seems, so they become more interesting. But don't contribute to a total strategy. (except playing minor wizard modes)

I would really like to see this:
- wizard mode for all majors/minors started. So you have a reason to play them all
- a minimum of 10M jackpot value for the first egghead minor before you can use the gadget to cash in your jackpot (so it doesn't become a quick minor completion)
- egghead completion gives you a better award next to points: for example, double gadgets
- mr freeze gives you slower timers instead of never ending timers

Then I think it will be balanced more

Joining the club soon and looking to pick up a few accessories. Can anyone tell me if the premium has service rails under the playfield? Or is it just the posts?

Bat Rails..... (service rails)...

Rob

Man, every single time I play BM66 I feel like a kid in a candy store. It just never gets old, it is always so fun!

Best game purchase ever!

Rob

An amazing, fun, and gorgeous machine...Deep as hell, and so many ways to play it..love the freakin' thing!!

I'm a couple of hundred games into my new Batman and I have a couple of observations / questions - and yes, we are enjoying it immensely.

1) I'm getting serious air balls off of the rotisserie standups - Bat Computer/Analyzer, Joker, Batphone. The ball is shooting back into the side of the left ramp with quite a bit of velocity - it's a bit violent. Is that something that others have seen?

2) I'm also getting the occasional air ball from the slings, really the left one, sometimes with enough air to re-enter the shooter lane. Is this normal or should I lower the power of the slings?

3) The screws holding the bat mobile top of the spinning target seem to be coming loose and require periodic tightening. I'm considering adding a lock washer - has anyone else had to do this?

4) We (son and I ) totally suck at Villain Escape. Nothing worse than getting to a wizard mode and wondering why we even tried.

5) Haven't even sniffed any TV wizard modes.

Not as violent as you describe.

Yes, often. I keep my slings at 15ish to avoid airballs.

There's a service pack for this. They'll ship you a batmobile that is secured with rivets instead of screws. You'll need to do something or it will perpetually fall off.

You'll get better. Keep at it! Playing Villain Escape isn't a great reward, so I'd recommend focusing on other goals.

Check the level of the small playfield with the main playfield using a ruler. You can even just lay the ruler flat. If the mini playfield is even slightly higher than the main playfield it will cause airballs at the targets. There are 3 adjustment points for the mini playfield under the playfield. Check the level across all positions of the mini playfield by moving it around with the game diagnostics for the unit. It can be a bit of work to get it just right and it may not level the same across all 3 positions. Also remember to check the back where the balls enter the lock. A fraction lower is better than anything higher than level.

Rob

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If this is a new Batman, shouldn’t it ship with the riveted fix?

Speaking of new, anyone hear when the next run will be started?

Sometime this month.... one of them is mine!

I was a little ambiguous, I didn't mean the bat mobile itself - yes that is riveted - I mean the disc it's mounted to. It secures to the 2 down posts via screws and washers. Those are loosing up on a regular basis.

Simple fix, add a drop of Blue loctite to the screws and done. Beats tightening them every few hundred plays.

Does anyone know if these would work on keeping my joker target from getting stuck? It is always the right target and i haven't been able to fix the problem.

https://mezelmods.com/collections/acdc-pinball-mods/products/stern-target-splints?variant=923513721

“Playing Villain Escape isn't a great reward, so I'd recommend focusing on other goals”

Does this bother anyone? I enjoy locking up villians and edging closer to the wizard mode, but the scoring doesn’t seem to match this goal. Dream theme for me hands-down, but how many days until I finally tire of freeze/BW I truly cannot say. One day it might drive me as mad as the Joker, but not today.

I don't mind that the wizard modes aren't necessarily the ideal path to points. It gives the game another playability factor in a home environment. What do I want to do, progress deep into the game or focus specifically on points? That's OK with me.

I’m a little lost as what the next goal is concerning four major villains, after completing Villian Escape? Just recapture them again? Is there another wizard mode after second time capturing four major villains?

I’m excited to get this pin but think I might be way over my head!

There is no final wizard mode yet. There should be though imho.
Something that connects minors and majors together.

My idea: a final wizard mode to have played all majors and minors, but jackpot value multiplied with the nr of phases you played in the majors, and the nr of minors you captured..

Don't forget to gap those sling switches too. The default gap usually leaves the slings not very sensitive and I find this can really affect ball times. Any time the ball hits a sling, it should be kicked.

Rob

Have you gone after the minor villains as well?

I think the root of the problem is Bookworm making powers carry over for the whole game. It has way too much potential impact on the rest of the game and derives so much initial focus to that it kind of takes away from almost everything else. Even if it made powers carry over to just the next ball, it would still be the focal point of a starting strategy. Freeze is probably fine as a 1 ball power I think, but not more than that. You can decide to take it whenever you want and it doesn't have to be ball 1. Since there is only 1 Bookworm, it has to be something of great significance, but perhaps not something you necessarily want to always take first either.

Another thing that could be looked at is the time extension being too much additional time for Minor Villain timers. Make the extension a lower amount and perhaps an egghead power can also be increasing time extensions values. Instead of 20 seconds, the extension starts at 10 seconds and gains 5 seconds for each completed Egghead.

Those are just my thoughts. There's different ways things could change or maybe they won't change at all. Would players be pissed if the Worm/Freeze super strategy was nerfed? If Bookworm's power was changed, what could it be?

Rob

Yes, gone after them and have played all three awesome MB’s for the minor villains. Just wondering if anyone knew if there was something after majors and minors? Hoping that Lyman still does something with a final wizard mode if there isn’t one.

Nice idea.

So if you re-catch major villains a second time, it will just repeat a third time and so forth?

Yes, it repeats (or should at this time). It just alters between seasons for the majors (different rules/soundclips) but I think wizard mode is the same.

I finally got around to ordering the rest of my mods and I'm looking forward to tearing this thing down.

The Mod Couple
Batcave Spinner Upgrade Kit Complete with mounting disk!
https://themodcouplepinball.com/collections/stern-batman-66-custom-mods-collection/products/batman-66-batcave-spinner-upgrade-kit-complete-with-mounting-disk

Custom Atomic Pile Mod Kit Lighted!
https://themodcouplepinball.com/collections/stern-batman-66-custom-mods-collection/products/batman-66-custom-atomic-pile-mod-kit-lighted

Bat-Computers Upgrade kit!
https://themodcouplepinball.com/products/batman-66-bat-computers-upgrade-kit

DocQuest Mini Bat-signal Interactive Game playfield mounted
https://themodcouplepinball.com/collections/stern-batman-66-custom-mods-collection/products/docquest-mini-bat-signal-interactive-game-playfield-mounted-batman-66

MezelMods
Pinball Crane Upgrade Kit
https://mezelmods.com/collections/batman-66-pinball/products/batman-66-pinball-crane-upgrade

Pinball Backboard Building
https://mezelmods.com/collections/batman-66-pinball/products/batman-66-pinball-backboard-building

VUK and Kickback Illumination
https://mezelmods.com/products/batman-66-pinball-vuk-and-kickback-illumination?variant=30351044680

Pinball Life
Stern Factory Authorized Shaker Motor Kit for Stern SPIKE & SPIKE 2 System Games
https://www.pinballlife.com/stern-factory-authorized-shaker-motor-kit-for-stern-spike-spike-2-system-games.html

on the first page of the instant info screen there is a jackpot value below the combo count. How is the combo jackpot(?) collected, or how does it factor into scoring?

Rob

I think it's related to the lit spinner jackpot(s), but I can't check atm as I'm at TPF.

I found this in the rulesheet:

Spinner
Spinner can be lit and the value increased by completions of the inlanes/outlanes.
When the spinner is lit, each revolution increases the “Jackpot Value” by 50,000, this is a little mini-jackpot awarded after reaching the required ‘spinner level’.

I never noticed this jackpot before and if I ever collected it, it's not something I remember either. Perhaps it should be called 'Spinner Jackpot' in the info screen otherwise you think it's combo related.

Rob

I very likely wrote that section of the rules, it's collected when you see a point amount pop up in the bottom center of the LCD after hitting the lit spinner. Hopefully it'll be labeled better one day.

A Bat-Tastic day at TPF we met Many wonderful BM66 fans including the amazing Franchi. Even picked up this beautiful Adam/Burt Autographed treasure to cap the week. So many amazing people in this group, it was a Sincere pleasure for us to meet many of you in person.

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Very cool find. I have the elite version of that car, but without the signatures. Fun item to have!

Whoa...very nice!!!!

Has anyone used the Colored Plastic set from Playfield-Protectors?

https://playfield-protectors.com/Home/Details/wF-aKc6BEk-Bs2UAqAVuOA?categoryid=32&category=Colored%20Plastic%20Sets&name=Batman%2066%20(Premium)%20%7C%202016

Thoughts?

Coil stop is shot on my left flipper. Noticed that when the flipper was up and a fast ball hit it, the flipper would dip and pulse back causing a big bounce of the ball up the playfield.

Anyone have a set of batwing armor they would like to sell? Seems it is out of stock everywhere...

I've designed a cut a set of my own. I think the fluorescent orange and green really pop and match the art and theme perfectly. I've only done my slings and lower lanes. If anyone is interested I could cut to order a set (slings/lower lanes) for about $25. Message me if it's something you're interested in.

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There was one BM66 at TPF with bad flipper alignment. I was trying to explain to my playing partners how to play the game and nothing I said was happening. I found out that the code was .70. Holy Bat Crap. Do these people live in a bubble???

I was waiting in line to play it for a few minutes and saw all sorts of new to me animations during Penguin and thought for a second I had missed a code drop. As I started checking on my phone the player hit the minor villain select screen and I noticed most of them were grayed out.... Oh boy that was old code. I wish I had brought my custom sound rom on a stick and called up the exhibitor to see if they wanted to update it.