The more I hear about Dialed In the more I want to see it, and I should at Joystix in Houston tomorrow night. Will be my first JJP experience.

For me it plays lot better than the other JJPs; It's a ton of fun for sure.

Not sure about you guys but I can't get enough of Dialed In. Last night, I'm not feeling well, wife calling me for dinner, dog at my feet wanting to play tug a war and I keep pushing the start button and saying to myself, just one more game.

Youll love it - it just a good, fun, great shooting game. The theme is actually pretty good if your into it, kind of like a sim city, interesting world and alot of thought was put into it.

I've played SimCity in its various forms for almost as long as I've played pinball. Got that vibe too from the pics.

"One more game" = what most Pat Lawlor tables leave me feeling, ever since first feeding Rudy a shiny silver ball.

Hit chaos in qc mode for the first time last time, cool mode! I got zero SIM cards, ugh, so my score was very low. Game has a lot going for it.

Had a mega game last night.

Got ALL 8 SIM cards and then completed Showdown.
Was only a single mode of Armageddon.

Finished a bit over 7mil.

Simply a fantastic game.

How long did that game take?

Curious, do you have "SIM Card Lit Memory" set to "YES"? ("NO" is the default)

Having SIM Card's preserved across balls is a huge win.

Either way, it's very impressive!

snaroff

That insert is clearly mislabeled. It's not SiM but rather SdtM, because every freaking time my wife or I light it, it drains within 10 seconds. And, since ours is set to the default...well our success rate in gathering SDTM cards is less than 10 percent. I have wondered how people manage to collect all the cards...not knowing that the option to preserve it is possible. I doubt we will be doing that. My wife won't even let me put that piece of foam on the Merlin hole of MM that helps prevent perfect shots from bouncing out. She says it is cheating.

I've had more luck bouncing the ball off the ticket standups and into the sim card hole vs taking a direct shot from the upper flipper. My success ratio for direct shots is probably 1 in 50.

Tweaking a game to make it more enjoyable to it's owners is goodness, not cheating. That why even tilt bobs are adjustable.

Even when SIM Card Lit Memory is "YES", it's far from an easy game (assuming you are on a traditional 3 ball game).

I think the SIM Card shot is awesome. I also love the GEM shot on TRON...and hyperdrive shot on SWLE. Tough shots are what makes us coming back for more

snaroff

I ended up removing the JJP protector for the SIM card hole and put some heavy duty mylar down. That JJP protector is so ridiculously thick it changes the game anywhere it's located. Because of it's thickness it also gets beat pretty bad and shows it....

Unlike 99% of the games out there, Dialed In requires cliffy-style protectors even for mild home use. So virtually every game in the wild will have one. Might as well play it w/o and down the road if you ever want to sell, throw a new one on there. Think about it...if the point of a cliffy is to protect the area so it remains nice looking....but you never ever actually see the area under it....what's the point really?

Anyway, with JP protector on, best I could do was 3 DIALED IN letters. One game after removing the protector, got all but one of the letters...closest I've gotten!

Interesting! Had no idea you could change settings to keep SIMs lit after draining.

I honestly have no idea how anyone collects 8 cards on default setting.

I had one of those too. What an incredible wizard mode!

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Am I missing something... I have hit 1 million once or twice, and you guys are blowing it up.

I feel like I'm decent at most games I play, but maybe I'm missing something on DI!

Collecting the SIM cards is the key to higher scores. Stick SIM memory on in your settings while you learn. It will increase your scores until you can do it without the SIM memory.

Nope ..like i said before every game is different and we don't know how others are set up. Have over 1200 games on mine and highest score is only 3 million or so. Most sims collected is 4 and most modes completed is 8. My gane is brutal as hell at 7.0 degrees, very sensitive slings and drone magnet, otber magnets set on medium, waxed regularly, kickback on difficult, extra balls more difficult and the most u can get is 3 in a game also the ball save is only 4 seconds. Most games are below 1 million and last 4 minutes on mine. Every once in a while ill get the sim shot dialed in and thsts when i have my best games.

Dialed In LE was the first flip of my 5-hour pinball freeplay smorgasbord tonight.

Good work JJP. I wish Dialed In had been located in a less high-traffic part of the room tonight because people brushing into me was the only thing keeping me from grooving much. I moved on to a MM in a relatively peaceful corner only for this reason. I want to get to know Dialed In better for sure, and I will. I logged another game before close. Will brush up on the rules and play again asap. Very flowy for a Lawlor, yet it's a Lawlor through and through.

My only disappointment was it being far too loud in the room from the other games to distinctly hear the callouts.

Knowing how to score on this game is crucial. I figured most of it out on my own which took me at least 100 or so games. Starting modes, completing them, and getting SIM cards which are the most important scoring multipliers for modes. Stacking multiballs helps A LOT.

Don't get me wrong, I was probably playing for 40 mins to get this score. It wasn't easy lol

I'm setting everything on extra difficult today to see how well I do.

I must not be very good either. I've had the game since mid October with hundreds of plays, and my best score is about 1.3 million. Maybe it's time to turn SIM memory on. I think my machine plays pretty brutal.

Guys don't do it. Don't turn SIM memory on. It will hurt the long term playability of your game. I too thought getting all the letters was impossible. Over time it gets easier as you learn the bounces and angles, etc. So glad I didn't turn the memory on.

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I'm with you. I don't get it. I think I'm having a great game if I get 1 million and I see guys getting 6 and 7 million. Either they have it on easy mode, glass off or I just suck.

The point of the protector isn't to make it look nice, it's to avoid damaging the game. Look at old games with holes like mb, afm, stuff like that. The holes on some are almost double the right size from wood being chewed out.

Sensitive slings are a must, out of the factory the switch gaps on everything are massive. Every switch need to be gapped down. Tighten your switches esp on the slings and your game will be much harder.

Good, your wife is smart, and does not want to make your games easy.

Is that a pic durring attract mode?

For sure.... i gap everything as close as possible which really speeds up the game .... that drone magnet does some neat tricks lol.

Just played several games on extra difficult. It truly does make the game EXTRA DIFFICULT! Avg scores under 500k.

Drone magnet adds an incredible amount of randomness to the game. Albeit, a fun amount...not frustrating

Anyone else having or had issues with the ball lock? Mine has been good for months and now when there is one locked ball in and a second ball is shot up there when it tries to release a ball it doesn't work. Looks like the arm isn't going up enough or maybe the back end is now lower and gets stuck on the second ball? Ball search does nothing and restarting the game will launch out one ball but not the second. Is taking the top of the station off to see the mech just the four screws on top? Also strange that after doing a ball search for a few minutes it ended the ball and went to the next but didn't put a ball in the shooter lane. Could be normal but the first game I've seen do this.

For real, you're just cheating yourself.
Turning it on is the same thing as people that play with 5 balls and then "beat the game " and then get bored with it.

Based on your description, it sounds like there is a problem with one or more switches in the lockup. Check it out in Switch Test.

The four screws on top of the Train Station will allow you to remove the building's "skin" and more easily diagnose what is happening. It might be a simple as one of the optos has come loose.

--Ted

Meh. I'm not saying to LEAVE it that way, but if someone isn't enjoying the game, why not make it enjoyable while they learn. I have a friend that set his new Sterns to 10 balls/game because at 3 balls his games were over in less than a minute and he wasn't enjoying the games. He eventually went to 5 then ended up at 3 balls/game with a much better understanding of the games and substantially more skill. It wasn't ever going to be a permanent change or a "cheat" but a TOOL to help him learn to play the games while having FUN. Everyone is not at the same level, which is why the games have options. It's YOUR machine - set it so you have fun.

Hahahaha, why the hell would someone downvote this post? All he's saying is that there are varying levels of skill in pinball, so why should we frown upon someone changing settings to increase their enjoyment or understanding. I actually considered turning my MMR up to 5 ball, as others who play my game aren't as experienced with it, and might have more fun having those extra balls to push them deeper into the game.

But to actually take the time to downvote that is pretty lame. Why don't you save your downvotes for people who actually come on here and say offensive or belittling things to others in this community. Anyhow, just my thoughts. Feel free to downvote

Because I disagree with it, what the fuck business is it of yours exactly hahaaha?

Probably a stupid question but....during lottery frenzy it says on the screen ' lock 3 balls for multiball ' or words to that effect. Is that another multiball? i.e. different to the standard multiball, monkey wrench, drone or QED? I've never achieved it and it actually seems quite unlikely during the short lottery frenzy time. Or am I completely misunderstanding it?

Amen. Pinball machines are configurable for obvious reasons that you and others have stated. Folks that insist others set their game up like theirs (or not touch the settings at all) apparently enjoy telling other people what to do for no good reason. Worrying about it or calling it out is really a waste of time...just ignore it and do what you want!

snaroff

I equate it with golf or shooting. You can be a decent golfer but can't even clear a hazard if you play from the gold championship tees. What's the point of tossing a half dozen balls in the drink? Play the white first, heck maybe even red.

Or, my wife and I are both pretty good shots, yet when we go to the range, we're shooting at 7-10yds (albeit with ~2.5" barrel length). Precision pistol is 50yds. It would be boring as hell shooting at a that distance.

I wonder if there’s room for Mantis style protectors to deal with the lip issue on Cliffy ones.

I’d rather play the game as intended by Pat, but I don’t want to damage my insanely expensive game!

Well you can always play it for years until it's blown out and then Cliffy it; the way we've been doing it for a long time

Mantis won't protect against the chipping. There really isn't a lip issue with the Cliffys unless the ball is going REALLY slow, which almost never happens. The ideal world is one where the PF is routed with cliffys in mind so once the cliffy is on at the factory, the hole is exactly the intended size and the edge is flush with the playfield (and the clear isn't extra-brittle). We can dream.

Someone had mentioned stacking multiballs is a strategy to get through some of the modes and score. Can someone explain that a bit. Sometimes I get the lock and phone rings for multiball, but I can't get the mode started first.

Would that also include starting a mode, and then looking to start something like Chaos in QC to get through that mode?

And how do you stack multiballs?

When you lock the first ball, new ball pops out and the phone is ringing for MB. Hit both flippers and it will turn the MB "off," allowing you to start a mode first and then the phone will ring to start MB with the mode running.

Or yes staring any mode and then starting any MB. Generally you'd want to do this with the harder modes with more shots. And of course sometimes you try to get any MB started if you have a couple+ SIM cards lit.

Working on it with Kerry right now. The SIM hole is much easier to protect because the edges that get nailed and chip have no bevel. The phone hole we are working on a typical Mantis in-hole protector that rises higher than normal - between the top of the hole and where the bevel ends on the right side. We have to see how high the protector needs to rise to protect that right side that gets damaged but also not affect the hole size. This one will take a bit more time. But they are coming.

Man, so happy to learn about this! I disabled locking the ball at "BOBs", but still find that UAMB can start too early.

Thanks for the tip,

snaroff

Yeah it was very confusing at first to be made to start MB after 1 ball lock

Stacking a mode w a multiball is going to help you score some extra points for sure. But, the main way to score on this pin is finishing modes & collecting the SIM cards. The easiest way to do this is to use the Big Bang target, especially for the harder to complete modes.

1) Light Big Bang
2) Start mode
3) Shoot Big Bang target(auto completes mode)
4) Collect SIM card

The key is making the SIM card shot. It's a tight shot, with a lot of pressure on making it!

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One of the most satisfying shots in pinball is to hit Big Bang to complete a mode and the ball bounces into the SIM hole.