Joined the club last night.

Here is my only picture for now. I'm going to be digging into it later this week and will post some more pictures as things progress. Have to figure out some issues with the video and sound. If it's one of those chips they don't make anymore it could be a task of tracking down a used WPC95 AV Board. Hopefully it's something easier. I got home at about 11:45pm so I didn't have any time to troubleshoot. It was a good day though. I also snagged a project Super Chexx, which is about the perfect size to fit behind my machines.

PS: Any thoughts on it pairing with a Jurassic Park? My slight fear is that the layouts are similar, but in reverse.

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Are you dissing Hardbody?

PS: I love my Hardbody. I think it should top the "bang for your buck" list. Is there a Hardbody owners club?

Thank you. It seems to work in gameplay. I haven't looked at it at all, but I'm assuming there are just springs on the coils that brings it back to center. Perhaps they just need to be adjusted or replaced.

I'd rate my current and previous games as: Fish Tales > Jurassic Park > Hardbody > Johnny Mnemonic > PinBot > Xenon > Solar Ride. I don't have enough plays on Congo or F-14. I'd be very happy if Congo fell on either side of Fish Tales. My hunch is that F-14 will fall on either side of PinBot. I think I just like pinball...period.

For sure. That's just what I'm assuming would be the worst case.

I checked quickly on my lunch break. The two coils should both pull on the same spring. This spring then resets them to the neutral position. The "latch" that makes this connection seems to be slightly out of alignment. I don't think it's going to be a hard fix.

I do have another question though. When the coil that locks the ball around the GREY loop engages it's very loud. This is the post that pops up to hold the ball when playing the lower playfield. Is that normal? I was expecting to see something there to drop the voltage once it's up, but I don't see anything. Is that normal? If not, why would mine be so loud?

Thank you for the replies on the grey hold post. Sounds like that's normal. It's especially bad for me because my machine has no sound. As for the the lower playfield it seems to be an issue where the gorilla return arms are not making good contact with the gorilla actuator arm. There is too much space between them. I'm still confident that will be an easy fix. It was a bit of a project machine, but I've been making progress.

Congo To Do List:
* Sound does not work at all.
* Ramp Diverter stays engaged once triggered.
* Adjust the lower playfield.
* Backbox sockets seem be very brittle, many have already broken off.

I fixed the lower playfield last night. It now snaps back to center quickly.

Based on the diagram in the manual (and post #1229), I was missing parts #9, #10, and #33. I used some washers which seemed to lessen the friction while also providing better contact between the actuator and return arms.

Has anyone play around with the Matrix lighting from Comet? I know I probably shouldn't until I fix sound and diverter coil, but I couldn't help it. I placed an order yesterday. I can't wait to make that volcano glow with some red strips.

I think a blinking light does add some interest to the volcano. I often add blinking lights to my backboxes, but I've been hesitant to add them to the playfield. The inside of a volcano might be an area I'd consider. I think you just have to keep playing with things until you get them how you want them. I typically start off with an idea, but when I actually get the bulbs installed it doesn't look right. I end up swapping things around or keeping some incandescent simply because they look better then the LED in some areas. I haven't found a warm white LED that I really like.

Anyone know of a source for these in the US?

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Looking to start on the sound issue. When the machine boots I'm getting a "sound board interface error". On the A/V board LED501 is off. J606 tests come back at 5v for 4 and 5 and 12v for 6 and 7. I have also reset the cables and texted the speakers with a 9v. Any suggestions for next steps to take?

Thanks you. I have been in contact with twobits, but was wondering if there was anything else I should try before shipping it out.

A work in progress, but here is what I have so far. I still need to hide the wires. This is two red 4" LED strips and two purple LED spotlights. My goal was to accent the purple mountains in the backbox, while also creating some glowing lava. Overall, I'm pretty happy with how it's coming along. It does go dark when it "erupts" which is something I'm going to try to change.

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Quick video of the volcano with my extra LEDs installed. I like the look of mixing the red/orange and purple, but decided that having the red/orange always showing would lessen the effect of the light show. I now have the red/orange bulbs connected through the flashers and the purple connected through the GI.

Sure it's really easy and cheap. This is done using the Matrix stuff from Comet. It's two 4" LED red strips mounted on the side of the volcano. The way I'm using them, one 8" would have been just as good. I actually received the wrong connectors, but these are the frosted wedge base. They weren't what I was going to use, but they seem to add that orange effect. On the topside I added two of the wedge sockets with purple four SMD LEDs. I can't remember exactly what I used for extenders, but they are cheap so buy some extra. Total project cost was around $15.

So the backbox wiring in my Congo was a complete mess. I'm guessing 75% of the brackets were busted. Duct tape everywhere. I decided to test out some LED strips. Pictured below is three 8" LED strips. Overall I'm happy, but I might try moving the two on the sides further on the sides, so they don't create any bright spots. Although that is noticeably worse on film. In person, I didn't really notice the spots. Anyway, I also might add some of the regular bulbs back behind the diamonds and a slow blinker behind the volcano.

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Can you send me a picture of the backbox wiring. Mine was such a mess I honestly didn't know where the flashers went. I'd like to go back and supplement with flashers and a few other bulbs.

Found it. Thanks.

Is it weird to almost hope I have a display go bad so I can justifying a color display for my Congo. I guess I could always just sell my working DMD.

Yeah, the problem is I know I always want more, more, more. Perhaps for Christmas.

PS: Don't get me wrong, I'm unbelievably grateful for what I have. It just that hunt for the next game, next improvement that's part of the thrill of the hobby.

I just finished my first 100 diamond game. I finished with exactly 100 diamonds. I'm assuming for most this isn't a big deal, but for whatever reason I've been finding this game more difficult than many others make it sound.

Have you even though about swapping out the black sky for the yellow, orange, red, purple that is on the artwork behind the playfield? I also probably like it better without the figures. Just wondering.

Do you have pictures?

Just did some work on my Congo last night. The main change was adding a dimmer to the red strips under the volcano. I like it lit up, but it was a little too bright. I also added another splitter to the volcano flashers which will be used add backbox and under cabinet lighting. I'll need to place an order from Comet to finish it up. I'll try to take a video once it's done.

Some pictures after my minor tweaks. I was finding my previous volcano mod was a bit too bright so I added a dimmer into the setup. While adding the dimmer I did add an additional splitter to the flashers which will allow for lighting behind the backbox and under the cabinet. I'm pretty excited for that. I just think it will add to the ambiance of the eruption which starts multiball.

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Is there any setting to increase the frequency of video mode? I like playing it; but I just don't see it very often. In the time I've owned the machine, I've reach super multiball more often then the video mode.

Yeah, I just don't hit them all that often. Then again, I rarely specifically aim for them. I'm assuming there is not a setting to reduce the number of times you have to collect the set.

I believe so. I just rarely hit the "you" target.

The plastic piece on my shooter rod snapped. I think I'm going to try replacing it with one of these "diamond" drawer pulls. It's only $.99, so if it's a failure I'm not out much.

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I plan to drill it to size and then use some epoxy. I recently bumped the following thread: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/diy-soccer-ball-shooter-rod. They used a J-B Weld epoxy. I doubt the exact brand matters. As a general rule epoxy is a good choice for a permanent attachment. Even if I had to buy the blank rod it's likely still under $10 in parts. Having said that, this stuff does take some time. I'm not knocking anyone what charging for the service.

I ordered it from Aliexpress so it could take some time to arrive, but I'll post pictures when it's done. I had to check out the one on eBay. It's similar, but I do agree that I like the more traditional tapered diamond look to this one. I'm somewhat worried about the drill out process though. I could see the whole thing shattering. Hopefully it works out. I think it would be a mod that would add versus distract from the game.

I have no idea about the durability, but I've had very good luck with epoxy in the past. I'll report back after it's been installed and play tested. I will say that it's a bit of a pain to drill without a way of cooling down the bit. The thing was smoking hot. Then again, I'm sure with better tools it would have been a lot easier. I'm super happy with the looks, but that too might have been a trade off with some strength. I only drilled down through the metal. I tried not to disturb the actual "diamond".

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Congo doesn't need much IMHO. Plastic protector to the left of the pops and extra lights on/in the volcano would be my "must have" mods. I'm also quite happy with my diamond shooter rod, many of the inside artwork decals, and would love to eventually add a color DMD; but they are not necessary.

I'd love to have color DMDs on all of my machines; but for it comes down to cost. Everything I listed was ~$10-15 each thus my willingness to list them as "must haves".

Crap...now I'm going to need something else from Comet. I think when combined with some static bulb it will create a nice effect.

I'd love to add color LEDs to all of my keepers, but they are decently expensive. Though if they ever did go on sale, I'd be very tempted to add them to FT, Congo, and TS.

Yes, I did. Though I do prefer the LED version versus the LCD. There is a certain "artistic look" that I think is lost when they try to smooth out the image.

Thankfully, I bought mine from a guy that still seemed to have the "old" value. I did however buy it with no audio and no video so it was a little bit of a gamble. Cabinet also needed work. The base was ready to fall out and most of the green was faded. Still, I feel very lucky to have bought one just before they became near unobtainable. Can't see letting it go any time soon.

I have LED strips and flame bulbs in mine. I need to do something to keep the flame bulbs in place. They fall out easily. If you go with strips also get with a dimmer.

I used wedge bulbs (555). I may try to eventually swap out with bayonet (44). Here is a link to the dimmer from Comet: https://www.cometpinball.com/product-p/mtxbriteadj.htm

I've struggled with that area too. I've tried white, yellow, orange, red, purple, and even fire/flame. Right now I'm using orange bulbs. I thought the purple might work since it was inside of that purple colored temple, but it drowned out the orange lava. I may order some more flexes and play with that a bit. What I ultimately want is for the surrounding area to have a purple hue to match the temple on the playfield, but to still see the orange lava and grey gorilla. What I'm considering trying next is to have the GI all purple, but add white from behind the gorilla and behind the target bank.

I did some playing with the colors on my lower playfield. I ended up with all orange with an LED strip behind the gorilla. I'd still like to try to find a way to make that purple in the playfield artwork to stand out more, but so far I haven't had any luck. I may try mixing in some white flex bulbs, but I didn't have them on hand.

In a small collection, I think you eventually think about moving on from almost every machine. There is just something exciting about a new (to you) machine. Where I'll disagree, I feel like story based games get old much quicker. Once you've seen the "ending" there is less incentive to play. Sometimes the simple games are the ones I'm drawn to the most. If collecting 100 diamonds was a given, perhaps I'd change my mind, but it's still a good challenge for me. Same think like the Super Jackpot on Fish Tales. It's not super complex, but it's still a rush getting there. Having said that, I'm at the point where I'm debating about trading off either Congo or The Shadow. My fear with Congo is that they just don't come up for sale that often. Most trades you can't reverse, but I'm not sure that will be the case with Congo.

I might be leaving the club tonight. I've never been so sad to see a machine go, but I just feel like in my small(ish) collection I want to start turning games over a bit more often and I'm just ready to try something new.