A blue cabinet is a faded cabinet.

Thanks Toyotaboy, I’ll keep an eye out for the above mentioned. I hope to find one that works well.

In the club since yesterday. Just going over it today and figuring out what needs to be done. It was HUO for the last 20 years, but the owner wasn't much of a pinhead. So far mainly bulbs and cleaning.

Cabinet decals look pretty sharp. I don't see much fade, but I've never really seen a minty Congo in the wild. Can any owners let me know how they look to an experienced eye?

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Another thing, I assume you should be able to easily make the mine shaft/super score shot from the upper flipper? On mine, I can make the volcano lock from the upper flipper no problem, but I can't make the mine-shaft loop. That shot is so far up the flipper that there doesn't seem to be enough "oompf" to actually get a strong flip in.

Is the flipper maybe getting a little weak? Or do I need to do some flipper-angle adjusting?

Looks perfect

I had this issue too. No matter how I adjusted it you just couldn't make that shot. I stuck on a shorter coil stop (gives more travel) and now it's hard but makable

Alright, good to know. It sucks b/c even though the cabinet decals are in great shape, the head's got a few scrapes and gouges. Not terrible, but dang I wish the backbox was as nice as the cab.

You wouldn't happen to be able to point me to which coil-stop that you used? I think sys11 coil stops are shorter than the fliptronic ones, so maybe I'll give that a try? I also thought about just angling the flipper out a tiny bit, so that it'd travel out a little farther than it is now. That should make the shots higher.

All the coil stop options are listed here: http://www.pbresource.com/KT-WFLIP05.html. Congo by default has the 'tall' one. Not sure if the one I used was a medium or short but

I posted a thread about this, but haven't gotten any response yet. So I'll ask here. Can anyone tell me how the left/right speaker balance is on this game? On my Congo the left speaker is distinctly louder than the right. It's not hugely noticeable, but I can tell if I listen closely.

So is everyone else's Congo like this? I know the game is in mono and the speakers are linked together. Since the left speaker is bigger than the right, I might expect their relative volumes to be different, but I've never noticed a discernible difference on my other wpc games. But I haven't owned many wms pins as new as Congo.

Also, I did check all the connections and reflowed the solder at the speaker wires going into the cones. And everything seems solid. So maybe the right speaker is the problem?

Hoping other owners can chime in.

Ive never noticed any variable

Hello everyone. Wondering if someone can help me. I am just doing a playfield swap on my Congo. My mini playfield has really badly worn side decals.

Does anyone have a file of the decals that I could print out?

Found one in the club thread.

thinking about joining the club, how does this title hold up in larger collections? thx guys. always wanted one of these.

I’ve owned mine for going on 8 years!
But considering listing it.

We love ours, I moved it to our lake house so we could single it out for more focused play. I’m afraid I’d miss it if we let it go, plus I’m certain I’d not find another to replace it

The rules aren't that deep but it is just plain FUN! Isn't that what its supposed to be about ?!?!?

Had a CaptainNeo cleared playfield under my bed for that past 5 or 6 years. Decided to swap out the playfield. Went reasonably well.

Still undecided on a green pop bumpers. Added the hippo. Lit up the volcano with a white strip and a red pop bumper ring. Had 2 white strips, but I could see one through the top of the volcano and had to unplug it.

The worst part, after the swap and cleaning my right ramp diverter was buzzing like crazy. I read it was common. I had never noticed it before. Swapped out every part mech, one by one, nothing worked until I swapped the coil. Now all is quiet.

I still need a Mantis volcano weldment and I want to do the crystal knob shooter rod.

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Nice job, looks great!
I like your creativity on using the pop bumper ring around the volcano weldment. Never thought of using a pop bump ring like that before, I will have to keep this in mind when I am modding my next pin out.
Going to give you a little of a bad time on the pop bumpers color (green). I too got some flack back from other Congo owners on my color choice, which was purple! I was trying to match the same color as the inserts that are purple. I didn't even think about the pop bumper caps that are hippo's in water! So, I changed mine out to blue which is what everyone was saying. It was a pain in the ass to change them as I color match the skirts usually to the cap color and/or color of the pop bumper LED I am using. I did look at cool white first, but ended up with blue. Anyhow I would recommend changing the pop bumpers color to blue with some green in other areas. Have attached some pictures of mine so you can see. Also note: Amy is purple in these pictures, but has also been changed out to warm white as when was the last time you saw a grape ape?

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Ya that blue is perfect. I’ll be changing it out.

I guess I'm the newest member of the elusive Congo Club. It's my first machine and I'm in love with the game being its owner just over a week now. Got a slight obsession with the film adaptation as well. I'll post some pictures in the coming days.

Anyone out there have an old Congo playfield that could be given on loan so I can make a drill and dimple template for a NOS playfield?

Welcome! Excellent choice for game #1.

Thanks! I've got a weird magnetic interference going on with the lower playfield, whenever a ball rolls over it and a flipper is pressed the ball gets hung up seemingly by a magnetic field. Now I was just tightening some nuts under the playfield and removed a magnetic pointer that seemed to just be sitting somewhere. the problem started after I removed the pointer, so I'm guessing that was in place to offset this interference but being the genius that I am I didn't pay any attention to where I pulled that pointer from. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

I don’t know what a pointer is. Maybe post a picture of it.

exhibit a:

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That magnetic pickup tool should not be used anywhere in the machine. Pretty sure a someone just left it there by accident.

Where exactly is the ball getting hung up?

right around the area circled and it seems to happen when the left flipper is pressed.

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Nevermind, I'm an idiot. I overtightened the nut on the lower playfield making a little curb for the ball, not magnetic interference. But thank you for clearing that up about the tool and how it should definitely be removed.

they got them somewhere, i just seen em. let me do some research. maybe pinball inc. im thinking?

Ya the ball was definitely getting caught on the window and the magentic tool was left in the machine by accident. Glad you got it all figured out. If you need any other help feel free to reach out.

<----- Ryans brother in law.

everyone go watch solar opposites season 2.. first episode features a congo pinball machine

Nice! Figured that was you!

Just picked up a Congo and have a few plastics/plastic protectors that are mismatching or broken.

Are these made anymore?

The two circles are green plastics/protectors. Arrow is a broken plastic.

Thanks!

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Not sure if you can find them individual, but I did find them in a complete set from Marco or Planetary Pinball.
Marco: https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/31-2532
Planetary: http://www.planetarypinball.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=PPS-31-2532&Category_Code=GS-3780

The middle one is usually broken as it gets hit hard from the left upper flipper. Mine was broken when I got my machine and I had to purchase a complete set when I did a restoration on it.

By the way, congratulations its a very fun machine to play and one of my friends favorites due to you don't see them in the wild very often and playing well.

https://www.ministryofpinball.com/en/congo-plastic-2.html

Here is one of the plastics.

Got the circles in my picture sorted out, still after that arrow piece. If anyone has an older one or any leads, lmk! I hate to buy a whole set for one plastic.

Well, now I’m in the club too!

Just brought home DakotaMike’s Congo. Couple things I’ll want to do I order to tweak toward my taste, but it’s a pretty solid starting point. Essentially an unmolested machine, no mods I can find. A great canvas to work with.

I think the speaker thing he discussed is something different. I’m not hearing any sound from the cabinet speaker, which throws the whole tone off. I’ll dig into that another time, have a few other priorities first outside this machine.

Anybody know if there is a setting to control the amount of video modes? Seems to really love starting that mode.

Huh, I never even considered that the cabinet speaker might not be working. I could easily see that throwing sound balance off. Also, I stopped noticing a left/right imbalance after a while. Not sure why, maybe I got used to it?

The guy I bought Congo from was NOT a techy guy at all. And I've never owned a Congo before, so there could easily be things that he/I never caught.

I did get the upper flipper tuned pretty good. Could fairly easily make both shots. All it took was rotating the flipper out a couple mm, essentially making it parallel to the guide. When I bought it, the flipper was pushed all the way back. Adjusting the level helped too.

There will always be some imbalance by design, due to the caps that act as frequency filters on the back box speakers and the different speaker sizes. Will be more obvious depending on the audio frequencies.

In this case it looks to be a bad amp IC, so easy fix. I’ll get one in my next parts order. Thankfully the LM series alternate is still available.

Going to start having fun with this tomorrow, first box of parts rolling in from Pinball Life. LED's and rings next week. Still debating on the colorDMD right now, or maybe later. Let me get the normal tweaks done first.

Found my audio problem. Shorted speaker, which also blew one of the audio amp channels. Amp is fixed but haven't acquired a replacemetn speaker yet. The way things looked when I tore the speaker apart, I think it's been bad since the factory. The coil looked mis-wound and had a knot in it. Very minor stuff in the scheme of things.

I'm trying to decide on this if I should go with an upgraded speaker set such as Pinball Pro or Flipper Fidelity, or if just a stock replacement speaker would be sufficient.

Anybody put in an fancy speaker set, and did it end up being worth the cost/effort?

Can't speak for anyone else, but I don't find upgraded speakers worth it. Unless it's a rock pin and you're blasting the volume really loud. I put LE-style 5" kenwood speakers in my Elvira's HoH, and it probably wasn't worth it. Now if I had an AC-DC or something, then maybe...

But everyone's different. Plus, I didn't even notice that the sub wasn't working in Congo, so maybe I'm not a good judge!

I put in a Pinball Pro set with the upgraded sub about a month ago. Id say go for it if you're planning on keeping it in your collection. Im not sure a casual player would notice the improved sound from the backbox speakers but the sub definitely gives it a little kick. Its no shaker but it'll rattle the glass if you want it to.

Took the idea from Mikespinball and changed my pop bumpers from green to blue. Also added a yellow light strip across the back of the playfield. Added star post lights to all the posts from the Volcano on down. All the ones in the pops, right side and slings.

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Looks amazing! Nice job.

I really want to add a light under the plastic above the upper flipper. Looks terrible being dark. Prob a small 3 led strip.

Also would like to get a new playfield window.

Agreed, added lighting in that area would help as it does appear darker. Might also add lighting behind Amy, I did. Note: This is an old picture as I have since changed her from purple to warm white as I was told who has seen a grape ape.

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anyone else mount a plane over the volcano?

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I’m desperate to find a replacement 2-way deflector for my Congo. Anyone know where this might be sourced? I sent a message to Mantis to see if they would be willing to make one.

This part was already replaced in the game I purchased, and although it’s functional, it just annoys me that it’s not original quality.

Thanks

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