Advice needed. CFTBL was my first game, built March 1993 and purchased used by me December 1994. The original holo is a bluish-green now. Should I stay with the original holo and change the projector bulb to a brighter LED bulb that should generate less heat? Or should I install the OEM WMS hologram that has been stored since I ordered it by part number from the manual in 1994? Or should I install PinballMikeD's kit and the flatscreen color TV under the lagoon plastic in the playfield and continue to save the OEM holo? The game says "in 3-D" and only a hologram achieves that. But the MikeD kit has nice graphics displayed in the lagoon for all the various game modes. My buddy likes the lagoon being dark until you light the holo. He says it makes it special when it lights up if it isn't on all the time. Which would you run in the game?

NOTE: I already have the LED projector bulb, stored OEM hologram, PinballMikeD kit plus TV and several spare lagoon plastics, so I can install any of the three options I choose.

Don't you hate it when you hit "reply" (like I just did) when you meant to hit "edit" and end up with a second post instead of fixing your first post?

His kit is terrific. It allows you to store additional video clips of your choosing to the ram and select which videos to show during which modes through his control software. If I install his kit and the color TV I would want images displayed during all the various modes (I am not as enamored of the lagoon being dark most of the time as my buddy is). But the images would still only be 2-D on a flatscreen TV (but below the surface of the lagoon plastic, so does that make them technically 3-D?). Only the hologram is real 3-D, hence my dilemma.

If it needs a new DMD then upgrading to a ColorDMD is a no-brainer.

The stress comes back when you're totally out of space in your game room and find another pin you just have to get.

Remeber, if "a new car" ever does get selected from the snack bar menu, you'll be getting a 1993 Dodge Neon (back from when the game came out).

My CFTBL (with ColorDMD, lit taillights speaker panel, snackbar EL-wire, green undercab lighting, Pinball MikeD TV-mod under lagoon plastic, and proto 3-D translite) plus Creature movie poster to the left.Creature with mods.jpgNote the originally intended placement of plastic piece over left outlane, which makes a 3-D image with the left slingshot plastic under it.my first three games.jpg

Thanks in part to your fine EL-wire snackbar mod. I know my Creature has several mods on it, but I am actually selective about adding them to my games. For instance, I only have a few mods on my TZ and they make dozens of them for that game.

Degradation of the hologram itself. Nothing to do with the bulb. Some original holograms still look good, so it isn't just turning blue (or black) due to age alone. My Creature was built in March 1993 and I bought it in late 1994 when it was less than two years old. My original holo still looks good and I have a brand new OEM hologram (not for sale) that I ordered from Williams through my distributor many years ago as a backup (because I intend to keep the game until I die).

It was my first pin (manufactured in March 1993 and purchased by me in December 1994) and has always been a keeper. They say TZ has the most mods available for it, but CFTBL has several of the very best mods:
lit taillights speaker panel
ColorDMD
deluxe mirror-bumpers speaker panel plastic
EL-wire snackbar mod
MikeD lagoon TV mod

The lit taillights speaker panel is one of the best mods made for any pinball game. But the pricey one listed on that website isn't the same one some of us have (that's not currently available). I watched the video of that panel and it doesn't light up as nice as the "good" one (for one thing the S-T-A-R-L-I-T-E" sign doesn't seem to light in as many ways). And the panel pictured on that website isn't like the later run of the other panel, where the circuitry is recessed into the back side of the panel so it doesn't interfere with mounting a ColorDMD.

People talk about the myriad of mods available for TZ (and I have a few of them myself), but some TZ mods just clutter up the playfield and obstruct your view of the ball paths. Some of the very best mods ever were made for CFTBL, including the lit taillights panel, ColorDMD, Pinball MikeD lagoon TV/video mod, and Swinks EL-wire snackbar. I have all of those mods plus bulbs changed to all LEDs and a prototype 3-D translite on my Creature.

I think he means the lit taillight speaker panel mod as mentioned in some posts above on this page.

Yeah. The best way to go was to buy a new deluxe speaker panel plastic with the bumpers on the cars done in mirror finish.

I got mine from Bay Area Amusements, but it currently shows as out of stock. Ministry of Pinball also used to offer it.
chrome bumpers (resized).png

That's the worst alternate translite ever for CFTBL.

My CFTBL came with a stainless lockdown bar and painted black legs. I kept the stainless and upgraded the legs and leg bolts to black nickel (from Chris) and added black levelers. It is subtle but very classy. I'm sure it's too dark for you, Alex, and going gloss black powdercoat instead would look similar and would have been much cheaper. But my Creature deserved it and I really like it.

I'm interested, but I'd rather pay the $500+ for your original idea of three displays replacing the three plastic placards.

Sorry, but I would just walk away from this one.

Your life will be much easier if you stick to that one-game-only mentality.

I have a feeling that the version under development will run into the same trigger timing issues.

I also prefer drive-in themed sideblades for CFTBL. I don't like bringing the orange hues from the back panel up both sides because the orange doesn't go well with the colors on the main playfield area. At last year's Pinball Expo I asked the Pingraffix guys to please make PowerBladez for CFTBL similar to their sideblades but with the tailights turning on and off. Maybe if we started a thread and got enough Creature owners on Pinsider to request PowerBladez?

The listing says it has ten different sequences (1 factory + 9 custom) but it doesn't cycle through them. You have to use the selector switch to choose the one you want to run. I might be interested if it cycled through all the variations during a game, but not interested in paying that much money just to change to a single light sequence different than stock.

Always start multiball by sending one ball up the left ramp to the whirlpool and keep sending it back up the left ramp every time it feeds down from the whirlpool to the right flipper. This "parks" one ball out of the way (while whirlpool revolutions advance the jackpot bonus multiplier) letting you use the remaining ball to find the creature and then save the girl. And once you've saved the girl if you don't go for jackpot right away you can continue to send one ball up the left ramp and shoot the other ball up to the jet bumpers to increase the jackpot value. And after collecting the jackpot use the same strategy to activate super jackpot (one of the coolest jackpots in all pinball).

Creature was my first pin. Mine was assembled in March 1993 and I bought it used in 1994. It was my only pin until I added IJ and TZ over a year later. I loved playing it using that strategy to build up jackpots and jackpot bonus multipliers while the hologram was lit up in the lagoon. After more than twenty years I changed over to the MikeD mod to see images in the lagoon throughout the game, and now I kinda miss seeing the hologram.

Thanks for the recommendation - just ordered one.

Looks cool, but I don't think that velvet rope is strong enough to hold back the Creature and keep him contained.

And I agree: you can't claim it has every Creature mod if you don't have the lit taillight speaker panel (or MikeD mod).

This is Pinside, which means that price is too high if you're looking to buy and too low if you're looking to sell.

CFTBL was the first pin I ever purchased. Built in March of '93 I got it in late '94 and it was in pretty good shape. Being a noob back then I did not realize that the snackbar hole was already worn. 25 years later the game still plays great and still is in great shape - except for the snackbar hole. I see that Mirco has just reproduced CFTBL playfields and I contemplate dropping a grand on one just because of that hole wear. But the game already looks and plays great, so I probably wouldn't actually take the time to install the new playfield. So why should I buy a playfield for it? Just so I can say I have it if someone criticizes the worn hole? Am I that concerned with impressing others with my possessions? I'm not just being rhetorical; I'm actually asking these questions. I'm still considering spending the thousand dollars while CFTBL playfields are still available (just to have it) and am looking for opinions.

I thought every guy knew to keep their balls away from anything with a sharp edge?

That new mirrored backglass looks amazing!

(It also looks startling and shocking.)

Your ground short was obviously caused by having an artblade on one side only and none on the other side.

Replacing the green hologram of the creature with b&w 2-D clips from the movie may be a decent alternative for a bad hologram.

But two previous video kits have replaced the hologram with color 2-D animations of the creature AND added color animations for other modes, so something is always playing on the screen. Those kits can be an upgrade even for a machine with a good hologram.

If you ever did get awarded a new car, you'd just be yelled at to move it.