That is fair; I know mine took way longer to sort out than I had expected, but I made a few dumb (in hindsight) moves that made things worse. Since then it has been rock solid (knock on wood).

OK, I've been playing and fixing.

The trap door seems to stay up most of the time. Every once in a while it gives the "3 thump" and remains closed.

I ran the trap door test. It functioned as planned. When I opened the door there was a transparent rectangle behind the beige rectangle, which I believe is normal. However, when closed, I did NOT see a blue rectangle as specified in the manual. I did not see a second rectangle at all. So not certain if that is normal. I'm running V1.60 right now if that means anything regarding the test.

I'm thinking it is time to adjust the "catch" a little? Unless you folks think I should play around with washers a little more. I've tried 2 and 3. I'm on 3 washers now.

Yeah, I'm holding out for this. I have been asking for it for a long time, and mentioned it in the google group ages ago. If they do a final update and it's not in there, I'll sell my game. I know it sounds a little extreme, but the BOB problem actually ruins the game for me at this point. Without being able to strategically manage kickback, like Pinball Magic or STTNG (all targets can be hit), it loses its appeal in a home environment. Without the software fix, the targets are a design flaw. There's no other way to see it.

Failing a software fix, why not wire two or even all three of the targets together? I know that's "lame" but it seems doable...

But then you would be lighting it too often. I really think a software solution is in order. I don't see any reason for them not to do it.

JJP used FL15411 coils in the game and I think no amount of coil strength setting makes the right flipper strong enough to reliably shoot the Bob targets (from extreme angle). You can add some droop to the bottom flippers to at least make the ramp and left orbit easier to shoot, but not too much or you make the Theater shot more difficult. The flippers are the most annoying thing I find about the game, otherwise I really enjoy it.

Rob

How do people find the mantis protector over the cliffy for the phone scoop?

I like it. Though the bigger difference for me was physically moving the scoop back half an inch.

You’re saying stronger flippers makes it easier to hit extreme angles? Granted, I frequently hit the left sling when I’m going for the Bob targets, but I figure my timing was off. I’ve never really felt, though, that the flippers are too weak. The ramps are not steep, you don’t really need super strong flippers. Maybe with strong flippers I could backhand the left ramp.

I agree that Dialed in has a special feeling on flippers. I did not get this with willy Wonka or woz, really related to this model.
I was wondering is it's not a spring issue. For me, the flipper has not as reactive as I expect to come back in place, and I found also that some shots are weaker than expected on cradled balls. But that's mainly in contrast to other machine I own, bally and stern are also different each others

Hey all,
So I would like to get this game at some point, but there just isn't anywhere local that has one so I can put more time on it first.
It looks like you need to hit the SIM card shot to finish a mode and progress on to the next which is fine - but how much truth is there to the fact it's near impossible to hit skillfully (more like luck) resulting in a design flaw.

I would hate to have a game where you couldnt progress due to a flaky shot design resulting in more frustration than fun.

Appreciate the insight.

You do not have to hit the SIM shot to continue to the next mode.

The SIM card hole has an unusual angle - when you’re shooting from the upper flipper it’s very tight - it’s also hard to see from the players perspective- these two factors make it difficult to hit. But because of the unusual angle if the ball is rolling downwards from say the theatre then the hole is rather large - this leads to the impression that it rolls in often randomly. So you’re forced to create new strategies to hit the hole taking advantage of these angles. It’s brilliant and innovative - calling it a design flaw I simply cannot agree with. And it’s such a rush to hit for the SIM card.

This sounds interesting. Is this process listed anywhere?

The sim card is also a VERY important part of the game, both in scoring, and in advancing to the final wizard mode. Some people are turned off by the difficulty of it, but because of the fact that it is so impactful in doing well in this game, I say the difficulty is appropriate.

Side note, I'm not a great player, but I've been able to hit the SIM card hole intentionally probably about 30% of the time. It's not impossible.

Yeah...here in the thread.

Here is where I did it ->

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/dialed-in-owners-and-fans-club/page/183#post-5223687

and the post I quoted ->

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/dialed-in-owners-and-fans-club/page/121#post-4670653

Thank you!

and without the cliffy/protector, its like butter

I just have mylar on mine. Still looks great! And yes, there is a very satisfying "thunk" when you nail it perfectly. I'm not sure if that's due to lack of a Cliffy or not, but it feels very good.

There are other strategies such as rebounding it off the Big Bang or Tic target. My favorite shot in Pinball is rebounding off the Lit Big Bang into the Sim Hole for instant Sim Card satisfaction.....

When the shaker goes heavy say in multiball i get some crazy flipper shaking. Is that supposed to happen?

There are "attacks" that happen in multiball….where if the attack hits your flipper (like...from qed, or theater, mechanic), then the flipper yes...goes crazy and shakes. Its an awesome gameplay feature.

Man I checked and all my linkage and flipper parts look great mechanically so it must be electrical. Then j got to thinking maybe it's a feature, but wanted to ask to make sure. Thanks

To avoid them being crazy, you need to do specific shots. Like qed guy or between bumpers.. The rails of leds on the playfield is showing the time remaining before the attack happens, when moving lights touch your flippers, that's a really well thought design. Love it

To be more specific: Yellow line: Hit QED to stop the attack, blue line: hit the theater, red line: hit the target in the back of the bumper area (wrench standup). That's by far the hardest one. Stopping the attack will also award a super jackpot.

Man, that's helpful !
I was justing listening to the voice mentioning who was attacking to know where to shoot ^^
Yellow : QED
Blue : Theater
Red : bumpers, agree that's a tricky shot

need to keep that in mind !

Excellent - I did not know that with the colors - they’re in order right - first QED, then theatre, then bumpers?

This game is ridiculously planned out! Bravo Jack/Pat!

Thanks for all the info folks! I had no idea about most of the features everyone has been describing.

I’m able to backhand left ramp as long as the ball is at dead stop.

I thought the exact same thing when I got mine. I was like oh man my flippers are all screwed up. Then I was told about the attack mode and it's so awesome.

Really enjoy this game. I had to add the cliffy for the phone hole, the shot is alot tighter now but I had to as the hole was wearing badly on the right side.

I pulled the factory protector and installed the mantis one from below. Put mylar around the entrance so the wood is protected.

I used to be able to make a great goofy face when I enter my initials but it seems the latest update takes a shot earlier and not when the camera clicks when you enter your initials. Now I have live with an even goofier picture of me taken while i am playing ;-P

I will give that a try. Thanks. The factory one definitely tightens the shot in a bad way.

For me, the biggest obstacle to getting SIM cards is not completing the mode.

These are tricky. The camera has face recognition software, so if you make too big of a goofy picture when you hit "end" on the initials screen it won't register, and it will just use one that was taken during gameplay.

I have small kids, and when I get to take my picture and they notice, they want to be in the picture too. So if we are trying to take a picture with two of us, it rarely works. The face recognition software will zoom in and crop on usually the bigger face (mine) instead of taking a picture of both of us. If I want the picture to be just of the kid, I have to make sure and hold them up at the normal player position and duck my head down.

Interestingly....I have a friend that owns a JJPOTC, and he says the high score picture can be taken by the pin at any time during the high score entering, so he has to hold a funny face the entire time he enters his initials. Sounds like a big pain. I wonder why JJP changed the software for that.

I think the short answer is they didn't. I have both and both seem to work similarly at least with the code versions I am running.

Ok...I'll have to try that out on his machine...maybe he is misunderstanding how the picture taking works on the initials screen.

I apologize if this has been covered before, i tried searching but wasn't able to find anything.

I noticed today that the GI lights are not changing colors even when in the LED test screen. I first realized the GI Spider light was much brighter than the rest and then saw it wasn't changing colors.

Can anyone confirm the GI lights colors should match the rest of the lights and test out with W,R,G,B colors? If so, any recommendations on what to check to fix this?

Thanks,
todd

GI-spider (resized).jpg

GI-test (resized).jpg

White gi on this game... inserts and all other controlled lights are rgb..

As an aside...I really don't like that spider GI light. Its the only GI that is completely exposed and shining in your eye. I just disconnected it under the PF.

I complained before about how bright that one particular GI light was (and shining in your eyes). If I remember right, Ted said that he dimmed that light a bit (through code) in one of the latest software updates. Make sure you are on the newest software releases and see if it makes a difference. Mine seems dimmer than what it use to be (could just be my imagination).

I like that idea. I'm going to try it out.

About flipper reactivity, I made a test today.
I've installed stern flipper springs instead of the original one.
Feeling is better for me, snappier, don't know if there is a link but made my GC score 2 plays after, with a nice 4.5M, 2 quantum theater, 1 chaos and 4 letters..

Interesting.

I just chose to gap my flipper switches (the ones for the flipper buttons on the cabinet) more closely together. That decreased the lag between button pressing and flipper activation.

Previously I had to press the buttons pretty far in to activate the switch.

Just wondering I’ve got the game setup steep (7.2deg I think) and the left loop shot is a little difficult to hit. The ball goes most of the way but doesn’t quite get over the jump and rolls back down the loop. The left ramp is easy enough to hit. Should I increase the flipper strength, decrease the pitch or is the ball catching somewhere on the left loop and slowing it down enough to not make the loop?

I would try both first and see if that helps. That shot is a tough one, and the ball can slow down a bit on the trap door. The ball, however, shouldn't come back down the loop, and you need to be able to make that shot. I believe there are other suggestions somewhere in this thread if this doesn't work.

That's interesting. I usually make a tons of goofy faces during selfie overload but timing the end it tricky. I have done it a few times, didn't know it had facial recognition. I guess that's now another challenge mode ;-P