The back box balls is probably stuck from being moved....happened to me. Not sure on second question.

After party multiball ends (back to one ball play), you work towards earning marvels to join the cirqus again.

when you put the head down the ball will roll towards the top and sometimes get stuck on the outside of the track. So you have to work the ball around back into the chamber.

After you join the circus, it starts over and if you do the 4 ending levels again, they change on what you get.

Add another ball in the backbox, then go into adjustments and shorten the solenoid firing time for the backbox to its lowest setting.

It makes Fire the Cannon mode far more interesting.

#1 the other problem can be the BB housing plastic could be destroyed where the coil for the ball attaches, and may have been removed all together. Only wpc95 machine that doesn't still have a replacement for this.

#2 if you are playing home roms, dumb down all the stuff that makes it too easy, especially the skill shot. The home roms skill shot makes it hard to not make it to the cirqus every time.

Keep going though, as the 4 stages for the second time to the cirqus changes. I has just on the doorstep to getting there a third time last month, with a whopping 533m score.

While the home roms correct a few things, they make it way too easy, but at least they are adjustable (other than allowing you to change how much you see one of the coolest things in pinball - Neon MB!).

What else do you suggest changing?

I can't recall actually, as this was about 3 years ago when I got the machine, the skill shot is the biggest... as you advanced everything way too fast. I know I changed something else too...

my skill shot was always set to points only. Home roms are great, but Neon Multiball will be far and few between. There is a specific sequence you have to do to bring your chances up to actually see it. I think in the 6 years I owned mine, I saw Neon multiball 9 times.

I'm about 7-8 in 3 years of ownership.

lol...I don't know what rom rev. he is running, but at a local collector's tournament on saturday, someone got it in qualifying..

There's also Ringmaster Battle - which I almost never see...because Join the Cirqus usually starts before it and kinda overrides it.

I haven't played it nearly enough...how does that one start? Now you got me wondering if I missed something lol... I got to Join the Cirqus that night and got to the second phase. = P

get to ringmaster battle, you have to defeat him 5 times. Then it's a battle where he heals himself if you don't hit him fast enough.

NEVER miss battle. Do no do any acrobats until after battle. Battle hands out 10m and an extra ball. I did battle three times in the big game I mentioned previously, the second time through every hit to the RM had the famous ccow "moooooooooooooooo".

I think you just have to destroy the 4 Ringmasters before you complete all the other objectives & it will light...but if you've done all the other stuff, finishing the final Ringmaster will light Join the Cirqus instead.

Ah crap, I was RIGHT THERE then. I had him down 4 times, then started shooting acrobats, as it was the last thing left. DRAT.

Neon MB is very shy and that stinks.

Try a glass off test by defeating the Ringmaster twice without scoring any marvels and then make the sideshow.

That should give you neon,it might take a second attempt.

if you start any multiball before hitting sideshow, it should bring out Neon as well.

Yes, very very common.

Wrong. I bought one not too long ago, though I haven't installed it yet:
http://www.planetarypinball.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=PP&Product_Code=PPS-03-96961&Category_Code=GS-4059
The decal can be a problem, you have to freeze and 3M it (or buy a new one from Marco for $75), and the luck switch has to be re-riveted.

Hmm when did this come out? When Rick did all the others, this was the only one not included, and I heard there was still a patent on it or something. Good news.

I also have one that I have not installed yet. I bit the bullet and bought the overlay from Marco. Has anyone had any luck with the rivets on the switch mount? It looks like it will be impossible with a standard press or third hand rivet as it has to be mounted in the center of the tub. I also wonder if the new tub has addressed the coil attachment issues. I have seen various ways people have addressed this on the old one (including my own), mostly by attaching a piece of plexiglass to the back of the tub to stiffen it up. Any thoughts or experiences on these issues with the new tub?

Wow, that is great news. This was not available as long as I can remember. I hope they made it out of thicker material than the original. Reason everyones is messed up, is that the coil vibration, cracks right out of the frame.

Just a thought, but why go with rivits at all? What about small screws, washers and locking nuts? That way it's removable.

That was the direction I was headed in but I wondered what others might be doing. Seems like CV has crap riveted to everything. The new repro plastic ramps came with the switch mounts already riveted in. It would have been nice to see this on the tub as well.

Best I can tell, it is around the same thickness. The new one does not seem as brittle as the old one though. That could just be due to the age of the old one.

By the look of it, I'm going to augment it with a thin sheet of acrylic for the coil. Without it, it looks like it will hold up for a good while, it is way less brittle, but I'd still probably count the longevity in dog years.

That's one of the strategy twists that makes CV such a great pin to me: If you do things in the wrong order you will miss scoring opportunities and you won't have a chance to go back.

I love everything about CV, but the cool music during the ringmaster battle is especially well done. You should NOT defeat the ringmaster during the battle. If you're close to beating him let him recover a bit before hitting again. Goal is to keep the battle alive as long as possible and restart it over and over after you lost - the bonus for beating him is not especially high and you can only beat him once, after that he's deactivated!

I've had CV 4 months before giving it away for restauration, it's 13 months in the making now... ...during those 4 months my girlfriend managed to start neon multiball 15-20 times (oppsed to the 3-5 times i got it). When i get the CV back i have to pay attention on what her preferred order of shots is, maybe there's some system to it. I noticed that she hardly ever shoots for the sideshow, so that might be the key.

If you join the cirqus for a second time during one game you will get a different finale than first time through.

And you can stack 5 (!!!) multiballs - give that a try!

I don't get this, you are saying the points for hitting him over and over outways the 10m for beatng him? I'm not sure about that, I'll have to check, but I don't think it gives much during that time, plus you risk losing the MB, and then draining when trying to start again, as opposed to going on to the cirqus.

Also, he is available again, after beating all the RMs again.

Kind of. Every hit is worth 1Million. So yes, if you feel safe shooting the ringmaster (from the right flipper) you can pile up huge scores. In theory you can go on with that forever. Second time through, you even get additional 5 or 6 Million (can't remember) for each time raising him. If you're aiming mainly for cirqus you don't need to battle him at all.

As mentioned - lot's of strategy and risk-reward involved in CV.

Sorry, wasn't clear enough on that, of course he's only locked until you've played the wizard mode.

On the home rom there's a setting for the RM Battle. It can be set for lesser points, so the game is more balanced for scoring. Personally I think the RM battle is kind of a bug: monsterscores just by hitting a RM and letting the ball drain.
The lesser scoring of RM Battle balances things out so it is no longer so appealing for the "better" players.

Thanks, didn't realize you could set it to lesser points, that's a very good idea!

Good thread! I've owned CV for a couple of years and never even seen Ringmaster Battle. If I'm doing well, I usually get to Join the Circus before that happens. So I went in there last night with the sole objective of getting to RM Battle. Took a few tries but I got it. So cool to see animations that I've never seen before on a game I've played 100's of times. Thanks to this thread!

I used to have a CV and still love the game, but the unlimited scoring with the ringmaster battle made any high scores on the machine a moot point. Lots of great players frequent my collection and they had no problem with sitting there for an hour or more leeching points off of the battle to get a high score (regardless of points settings). Copy cat also got very old and, as others mentioned, neon multiball hardly ever comes up in the home rom. I wish these types of issues could be corrected someday as the game has great flow and an otherwise solid ruleset.

would be easy to fix too. Put Neon in the random shuffle. Change it so you can turn copy cat off, and have Ringmaster battle be timed, if you don't defeat him after a certain time, you lose and he takes points away from you. In fact, have it so he takes all the points you've earned killing ringmasters up to that point. that would throw peoples asses in gear.

I think it's funny that people dislike copy cat so much, and say nothing about the worst vid mode in history - roonie. I don't mind CC, and it awards an extra ball as well, and isn't a cake walk (I do well on it, but most that play mine can't get to the extra ball).

It's not the most creative, but man, roonie is so f'ing annoying.

Couldn't agree more. I think the copycat mode is maybe not creative in general but an innovative idea for a pin. Especially guests love it.
Roonie drives me crazy, too! I hate the looks, the sounds, just everything about it. The only thing that's even worse is that f'in' clown at the end of a game.

Off to the pudding

That's what I hear anyway

"Bonza mate, now I'm off to the footy"

Translation, "Well done my friend, now I shall go and watch a game of Australian Rules Football at the nearest sporting venue"

Incidentally, no Australian ever uses the term 'bonza' in general conversation.

A bit of Aussie flavour to a pinball never hurt anybody.

Cameron Silver flying the flag (even if it is slightly ocker.)

It's not that at all, it's just such a lame vid mode. The most obnoxious noises and sounds (not the accent, when he falls and the other sounds).

I wish there were more vid/pinball interactive vid modes such as with JD and Popeye.

no more interactive than the video modes in Dr.Who. Same damn thing. I think it's the squeeky wheel sound that gets to you. I'll take Roony over copy cat any day. Copy cat slows things down way to much. Doesn't even feel like a game anymore. Go from an action game, to a thinking mind game.

it's like if you would be playing halo, then have to stop, play a couple hands of Scrabble, then continue on shooting monsters.

umm no...

Interactive meaning pinball play that drives the vid mode. Only Popeye and JD have this from what I know.

JD you have to hit the left or right ramp depending on which lane the car on the screen is that you are trying to fire missles at.

Popeye is by far the best, and most complicated. You have to get to the upper PF (keeping the ball there longer than 3 seconds is hard enough), and with the three lanes in the upper ramp, hit the left, center, or right, depending on which door you want to move through, and watch the screen to view where you have to go to get to the end of the maze to find sweet pea.

Constant and hard pinball play vid mode, the best one out there in my opinion, and it picks up from the same spot each addition time you get up there.

I only got to play popeye a couple of times. didn't mind it at all. has some really neat features about it. Had a chance to get one for $600 HUO, but passed because I didn't have the space.

Ouch, should have taken it. It has some decent rules for what it is, if you can get passed the horrid theme. Should have just been Popeye at the least.