So through my trial and error testing, what I've noticed is the shield won't fire until it's been raised for the first time. This could be part of the three shield raises he does at the start of the game, or triggering the lock for example if you plunge the ball before he does that.

Per tilt forums if I'm reading correctly, the shield also won't fire during modes. "Shield - The Black Knight’s right hand carries a shield that lifts up when the ball hits it to block shots. Similarly to the Flail, the Shield isn’t active during main modes or other times during play."

After ~750 games, on one side of my flail, the flail ball is extending slightly farther outward than it was when I got it NIB. This is causing the flail ball to hit the ramp. (The ramp is well screwed down; the ramp isn’t causing the problem.) Any thoughts or suggestions on how to fix? Was thinking maybe some type of glue. Possibly solder, but I’ve never soldered anything before. TIA

Ok, so the exciting and dramatic conclusion: The issue seemed really weird, but was inconsistent. You would hear the Knight shouting / talking trash like you were hitting the shield even though I wasn't breaking the opto. Then, as the game would go on, the shield coil itself, would just start firing like crazy... So, I thought "This is a short, or the opto is VIBRATING itself to being out of alignment - Like RIGHT at the ragged edge."

I tore the machine down so I could get to the screws holding the optos, and sure enough, they were fairly loose. Weirdest thing, they couldn't be tightened. Self-tapping plastic screw into the plastic opto. The Screws had worn the plastic out ENOUGH so that they were fairly loose. In my line of work we would call this a fatigue / fretting failure. Anyhoo, I wrapped some yarn around the screws (just to give the screws something to bite into), and tightened them all up REALLY tight, I have played probably 20 games since, with NO issues whatsoever.

Weird.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk

Nice, thanks for sharing.. intermittent pinball issues are the worst

Just installed a Stern Insider Connected Kit in my BKSOR - and the game freezes up randomly, and re-initializes itself if I’m playing while logged into my profile. If I don’t login, it plays fine. Anyone else run into this? I opened a support request with Stern, still pretty strange behavior. My other IC game works fine.

Are you running the latest code (v1.12) ?

There was a dot point in the release notes about a fix for the machine crashing on Insider connected games.

- Fixed occassional crash in attract mode on connected games.

Thanks for the response! I do have that installed - did a fresh full install w/validation. I wish there were some logs or something I could see. Nothing shows up under technician alerts and there’s no diagnostic options in the IC setup menu.

If anything another reason after seeing it in my GZLE, that I have no desire to roll the kit out in my BKSOR or JP. In all seriousness, hopefully it's addressed for you.

Brand new club member here, so I’m just getting to know the game.

Im getting a lot of airballs directly off the flippers. If the ball is coming down the playfield at a good speed and I flip without catching the ball first, the ball is often catching air right from the flipper. Don’t think I’ve seen this before.

I thought it maybe had to do with the flipper rubber being too low, but each flipper rubber is at a different height as a test, and I get airballs off each.

Are you running an aggressive pitch? That can def cause airballs. Otherwise the game is fast.. Once in a while it happens but should not be that frequent.

Just posting an update to this - after working with Stern, we figured out that the little USB Wi-Fi adapter included in one of my kits was faulty. By trying one from either of my other kits, it worked fine. They are going to send me a replacement and have me send the other one back to try to re-create the system crash/freeze. I made sure to mention that if you were playing a game, and the Internet connection was lost, you should be able to keep playing - otherwise no one would risk logging into IC if the game just restarts mid-ball.

Yeah - If I am really playing hard and fast - I can send balls into the air. The funniest one that i have seen, is a flip, and the Ball goes flying all the way back to the REAR left of the cabinet. Over the two plastics, and into the VUK Saucer back there. It doesn't happen all the time. I have seen it twice, ever. But Still makes me laugh when it happens.

Also, this is by far my fastest game. Moving from this, to any of my other machines... they feel downright slow & sleepy. That is why it fits so great into the collection. This is my bang bang bang game. Love it for that reason.

This game plays so fast, sometimes, that I literally lose sight of the ball...

And one more conclusion for everyone I ended up replacing the optos at the shield, and the screws bit in HARD; nice and tight joint. The old optos, the holes were basically stripped out.... cost me like $30 with shipping.

Since the change, no issues since. So, if your shield ever starts going nuts, I would recommend changing the Optos...

#endtransmission

I can't remember the exact verbiage, but if you read the manual it states that "Anything less or more than the recommended pitch is considered cheating." Uses the word "cheating" which I found humorous. BKSOR was very specifically tuned for the recommended pitch.

Has anyone had this happen? Only 675 games on it.

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I know you aren't the only one. I've seen few photos and reports of chipping at that exact same spot.

I think the culprit is that darn screw slightly above it. I checked mine in the past (installed a protector) and it was ridiculously cranked.

I have ordered a protector from Cliffy's. Wish I did it long ago.

Yeah sadly, I had it occur in the same spot on my Pro. I've had it happen in another area of the playfield too (mostly hidden by a plastic piece thankfully), along with pooling around the posts in front of the Black Knight. I put in a warranty claim with my distro and got a replacement playfield.

Checked with Stern, mine is out of warranty.

Too bad.. when I bought my LE, the original owner had not noticed this... thankfully it was not completely toast, but the clear had a small crack, and there was some pooling. They had an expert do some touch-up and refill the clear for me, and he flattened the pooling as well. They would not do the playfield thing, but that sure would have been nice... particularly since it was an LE.. but it was not noticed for some time.

I was informed by the expert that the issue was due to the digital print process, and this run was kind of akin to Deadpool in this regard, where the art goes too close, so the clear does not have enough bare wood to adhere well to. With this area getting hammered by 6-ball multiballs and so forth, it will not last long once the issue has begun.

I believe Cliffy will sell the same deadpool protector for this.. the shape is not optimal, but it works to cover and presumably will help with the impact from the post.
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All that said, I'm wondering if this gets any worse? I have found that the metal protector, even with the adhesive will gradually slide over from the impacts on this post. Wondering if now that the clear has fully cured and if this has already been sealed and mylared, if maybe it will be stable without a cliffy...

Mine started to gum up a bit in the same spot, maybe pooling is the term but it was like ‘bunching’ up - so I pulled up the ball guide, took a small mylar square and pushed that down onto the area - then added one of those squishy silicon washers under the ball guide. Hoping that will hold strong and prevent it from chipping away. I wish I would’ve noticed it earlier.

Does anyone have the old 1.01 game code for a Pro they could send me? Or know where I can download it? Or know how to pull it off of the SD card I have?
I searched Stern's website and can't find any archived codes.
Thank you.
Mark

I looked on my PC and I have Pro Version 1.02 only. LMK if you want the zip. Its a little over to 2gigs in size.

A while ago we heard rumors of stern making more toppers. Was BK one of those? I may be buying an LE

It was not in the list.

Darn. This will
Be my second time owning bk. Last time i had a premium with topper. Hard not to have it!

I'm still waiting to see if Stern makes more

Why is this game not well thought of?

I know licensed themes vs not, but most of what I see suggests this game is one of the lesser Sterns in recent years.

I had sort of written it off, but played a Prem at a friends a couple months ago and liked it. I found a really nice Prem for a good deal and took a flyer. Holy Shit this game is fun.

It’s hard and kicking my ass, but damn it is such a rush. Playing it way more than everything else recently.

It's well thought of by players from what I know .. But that doesn't translate into big sales volume apparently...

The game lacks depth and, probably more importantly, the Pro lacks an upper playfield which is a signature of the previous two machines in the series so I think that plays into it heavily. Personally, I was excited for the rumoured Stern BK game and thought it would be my first NIB game but when it was revealed, I was disappointed by the lack of upper playfield.

With that being said, it's a great game and I love playing it on location but I have no desire to make it part of my home collection. I also really like it in tournaments because it's pretty drainy and relatively simple for all players to understand.

an email I received from Stern support said no build date in 2022 for the topper. Not sure where the rumor for more rerun come from

I had another Pinside member just send it to me so I think I'm good now but thanks!

Question on mods. The Premium I had in the past had a flaming led mod under the inlanes I believe. Does anyone know wwhat thats called and who makes it?

Agreed, it’s a guest favourite.
They’re not on location any longer and a great multi-player pin

http://www.cometpinball.com/product-p/fire.htm

I want to find and play a Pro just out of curiosity, but having a new Prem, I can't imagine the game without the upper playfield. Sure the upper playfield lacks some inspiration, but it's funner than I thought it would be, and the ability to use the upper light lock target in the beast battles is a welcome benefit. I would think the Pro is considerably harder, both because you don't get the respite of the upper playfield time, and you can only damage the beasts on the dangerous lower playfield.

I get that the game lacks depth, but that's part of what I like about it. I have enough deep games; this is a welcome change. I love all of Elwin's games, but BK is just pure adrenalin, and I walk away from it every time saying to myself how freaking fun it is. Games are fast-paced and short. I usually find super drainy games frustrating, but for some reason this one doesn't get under my skin. Just makes me hit the start button again.

The BK music was always cool, but the metal version is awesome! I love the callouts too - EXCEPT for the stupid Butcher line after a skill shot. God I hate that callout. It makes me want to avoid the skillshot. Everything else in the game is either serious or menacing, why throw some dopey line like that in the middle? Stupid. I wish I could get rid of that one.

Anyway, obviously there are *better* games. I own many games that I would say are technically better than this. But the only other game that I have this much outright FUN with is Deadpool. So glad a took a flyer on this game.

The Pro plays great, ball flows right back to you, more focus on defeating the monsters than getting distracted with the upper playfield and catapult locks. It was a Pro on location that made me decide to get one, and it was a Pro specifically that I sought out. Still play mine a ton!

Agreed. It's the only game I can think of where I prefer the Pro over the Premium and it has everything to do with the speed and flow of the game.

IDK, I would argue every modern (recent) Stern, the Pro is the faster shooter with more flow... that becomes a given, just related to the fancy locks and what-not of the Premiums.

Would be curious to be a fly on the wall for the design decisions. I've never played, GOT Prem, but I get the feeling it's a similar sort of deal.

Definitely aspects of each that I like... just day-dreaming,.. but man, just imagining if instead of the drop on the left, the prem had a player controlled diverter for the left lane and flail ramp.... hmm.. maybe one day.

Added powder coat to my Premium. Bold blue but seems to match well.

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I just picked up a Premium over the weekend. Anyone have a working link for the Rammstein sound mod?

Looking for a BK topper if anyone wants to sell one. Could also trade a nib ehoh topper if someones looking

guess you should have bought mine lol

anybody interested in a godzilla pro in exchange for a bksor?

Stop taunting me about it!

Our BKSOR Premium is a much more popular game than I had expected it to be, but all of us really hate the "big ball Butcher" callout.

All day. Big ball Butcherrrrrrr.

Grrrrr.

Rule #1 of pinball design: The more often the sound is heard, the more pleasing it must be to the ear.

I like it, but also agree that for some actions such as the skill shot the game could use more variation for sure.

Glad to hear it is doing well. Still one of my favourite modern machines.

"Hey! Who threw big ball at Butcher?"

You mean that one?