At Expo, I was able to play over 20 games on various 3lvira games. These played all rather different compared with each other. I also noticed various mechanical problems. One game let the ball already roll out from the house while the haunt mode start animation was still playing. On another game not all gargoil targets would register hits. Overall, the game didn't have the impact that SS had on me when I played that for the first time.

I spoke with all three team members on this title at expo, they were very positive and liked the idea of Gary Stern as one of the deadheads. The call outs would be epic and humorous. Whether or not it comes to fruition will have too be seen.

I spoke with mr. freres on friday morning (expressing a few constructive comments) about the deadheads and was told the same thing, so I'm guessing they've received quite a bit of feedback and are looking to address those areas

Hey guys, Elvira brought me back in. I’m really loving the game. It’s actually much better than I thought it would be by the videos uploaded early on. The modes are fun and the stacking can be insane. Multiball easy to start and they’re many of them. I’ve had zero issues at all and have been playing the crap out of her. Just in time for meet and greet at expo. She signed my apron and the certificate
Cool way to ease back into pin owning.

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I played one on location yesterday and really enjoyed it. The game shoots really well, multiballs are plentiful, and the modes are great! I was not expecting to love this game but I was very pleasantly surprised.

I got mine signed too.

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Happened to be walking past at the right time......

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Got to play this game last night and I was very impressed by it; tons of pure fun

I have a Prem on order, but played the LE today. It is fun, but I thought extremely easy. Quick and Dirty review:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/elvira-s-house-of-horrors-the-owner-s-club/page/8#post-5273950

Man you're way better than me, I'm over 100 games in and my best is still around 110 million!

Def following will own one some day. I dont know how I missed Elvira as a TV host. I'm in my 50s and guessing I somehow did not find the right channel. In MD it was Count Gor de vol who hosted movies. I love B sci fi and horror movies. Ill have to start watching some of her movies. Best place to find them all?

Ill be on the market for HUO down the road.

I'm decent, but nothing to write home about. Could have been a fluke game, but I only played it twice...and this was the second game. So many ways to keep multiball going and the outside drains are forgiving. Had 214 mil on the first ball. This machine was going out on route, so set pretty hard I think (no EB's or maybe EB's aren't in the code yet?). Not bashing it at all as can't wait to add it to my lineup, but I can see where it will suffer the same criticism as SS....IE, easy.

Hows the latest code on Elvira? We are potentially putting the game in an IFPA tournament tomorrow and need to figure out of there are any known issues that would cause a scoring imbalance between players in a 4 player game.

In the one long game I played today, had to intervene 3 times....Twice the ball sits behind the upright target and ball search doesn't release it. I think it was triggering the lock switch which raises the target, but the ball was falling out and sitting behind the target. The other time, the ball coming back down the left ramp, somehow ended up on top of the ramp where it curves back into the inlane.

But scoring seemed to be fairly well balanced.

I've got a premium ordered and paid for. Only my second NIB game out of ~130 some odd machines. I'm pretty excited for it! I really enjoyed the few plays on an LE I've had and the theme, integration with 40 some odd classic B horror films, light show and Lyman on code make me feel pretty confident in the purchase.

I've played quit a bit and though I have not ever had my ball stuck behind the drop target I have it it stuck under the left ramp on the plastic above the left orbit wall. When shot into the house fast this happens kinda often. Glass needs to come off and reach in to get it.

A bit late for your tourney but I’d avoid it. If you get to Director’s Cut the game basically breaks under current code. Skip to 1:23:00 to see it:

Wow so this is it. No more code updates right now?

Yeah. Game is pretty much a mess for current code and some pretty big design flaws. Two major things I have found. One is the opto under the main ramp that goes to cellar VUK is poorly designed and easily gets out of alignment. Once out of alignment that means you have to disassemble the whole house to get to topside opto. Just a really poor design.

The second appears to be a fatal Design flaw likely the result of sticking to BOM limits rather than caring about design. The drop target is not a controlled drop. And it acts as a pretty big stuck ball spot. The lock shot has a turn around ball guide that Has a flat spot which along with the one way gate causes slow rolling balls to get stuck. Then ball search kicks in and brings the drop target up which cause the ball to roll down behind it and become permanently stuck.

Lyman, if you are reading this please remove the drop target coil from ball search. There is no reason to ever bring it back up in ball search. Without a control coil to take it back down it becomes a permenant ball stuck spot.

Got all 3 of mine signed. Had a stainless plate made for the apron signed with game #160

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The fatal flaw you mentioned is a simple tweak to the tension spring on the wire gate under the left ramp. This is the gate before the opto lock in the garage. It was set to firm from the factory and traps the ball. Once corrected you'll never have an issue again. Yes, the gate has a spring on it. It is mounted on the left side of the gate. You can get to it if you remove the long left plastic ramp. Takes about 5 mins to correct.

These two backglass are far better than the new one, Elvira hands and body and design off in new one

yeah, I adjusted the tension steel spring on the one way gate to essentially make the spring a non-factor. There is still a good chance for stuck balls at the flat spot in the turn around and gate combo, esp w a slow moving ball.

Sadly, no adjustment is going to correct the lack of control coil on the drop target. That spot is still a poorly designed stuck ball situation.
A single controlled drop would be all that is needed to remove that ball stick. Then a ball search would always free a ball trapped behind the drop target.

Honestly, this is a really poor design and pretty frustrating on any game, let alone a game this expensive.

There is a bunch of pretty janky stuff on this game that is prone to failure. Turret motor already confused/broken/ stripped gears. Guessing the up/down ramp and the diverter in the back will also be failure points to look out for.

I really like how the game shoots and lots of cool features. Just frustrated with the really poorly design of "how" for these features and kind of amateur hour for some of the decisions for how to engineer certain things.

The lack of controlled drop and weird opto through the bottom of the mech with no real way to hold things in place are 2 things that even a junior engineer would red flag on day one.

That's disappointing to learn the drop isnt controlled....makes sense now why it isnt part of the ball search, but man, that's a ball trap waiting to happen. Only way I see out of it, is to launch a new ball and hopefully the player can knock the drop down to clear the jam. But that's just a stupid design as is.

We were running the latest code (.85) for this video. Hard to say when the next will be out.

I have never had my ball stuck behind the drop after the gate issue was corrected (now at 200 plus games). Run the game at slightly more pitch. That should take care of the flat spot issue. I’m not sure why you are bashing the turret motor at all. It hasn’t been programmed to do anything yet. I know it’s aggravating to buy a game that has incomplete code but that will change soon. It is cost of being an early buyer. Just give it some time. These issues you’re having will all be worked out.

I guess I’m unclear as to what gate issue you reference. Can you detail what the problem/fix is if it’s different than adjusting the spring tension?

that is good to know. I had assume it was programmed and was supposed to move in a specific way.

Saw it twice and watched as it happened. I'm not sure this is the exact problem but eventually the down target became an up target and the stuck ball rolled down the ramp to rest on back of the target. Funny, I thought to myself ... that's a bad design (good instincts whysnow).

First time I tried to wait it out. Ball search went on forever and eventually I tilted the machine and recycled power switch to free ball and start my next game. The second time I took the initiative, I shot the up target hard enough to pop the ball on the back side, up and around the tight loop. Problem solved! Just consider the up target to be a newton ball and you can continue with your life. For someone that doesn't notice the ball stuck there, it is a problem.

For the price of this game and the fact that stern has prob built over 500 machines this is ridiculous. Don't they test games before mass producing? test locations? Ive wondered if there is a forum to let stern know about issues constructively or if they read Pinside

Would one of those clear dots work there, ball would have no where to sit then.

That is incorrect. The turret rotates during house party. I just played it this weekend. It turns, stops, turns, stops, etc.

I didn’t realize it did anything yet. It is going to do a lot more as is the “shaker” once things get sorted out. The only time I’ve seen it move is during a ball check on .83 code. Haven’t had a ball stuck since then.

Love the photo. Can’t believe you removed the house. Didn’t realize the “wild women” graphic was even there. The flat spot isn’t hosing me up a bit. A simple mod of a shaped piece of lexan will fix you up if the pitch change doesn’t. The drop target will stay down unless a ball check starts up. The slightest bump should free the ball. I do agree with you that the drop target raise should be taken out of ball search. It is half the solution by itself.

This game is on route. So unfortunately I have been to the location pretty much daily to deal with these issues. Casual players dont know to power cycle the game to restart (nor should they need to: bad business to have a paying customer feel robbed by a game when it does this).

Game is honestly a mess for route play and has needed constant attention and many tweaks.

Here is the other problem area

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This sucks. My rule for routed games is always pro models and not to spend over 4500. Sorry you are having a nightmare. This truly sucks.

I was going to mine on route today, but I haven’t ironed out any of the easy tweaks yet. The optics are giving me a hard time.

The ball has been stuck in that last picture, but a nudge has allowed it to drop. But it’s not advisable to ask the customer to nudge it out. I can see now the issues I may have putting it on location, thanks to
Your posts. I may try it anyways for a few weeks.

wrong photo uploaded.

Here is the "celler opto" issue.
When the top receiver moves, then the beam is broken. When the beam is broken, then the game thinks there is a ball in the vuk. The vuk shoots non-stop trying to clear the imaginary ball. This also results in constant points being scored.

Worst part is that this opto misalignment issue combined with the other real stuck balls means constant point scoring = no ball search to free a real stuck ball or send a chase ball.

I cant believe that that engineered this opto switch without ensuring proper alignment at all times.

This issue means you have to take apart the house to reallign the top opto reciever. Since nothing is holding it in exact position, you only have the single nut. It is only a mater of time before it rotates out of alignment and you have to repeat the fix. A little 3-d printer bracket to helkp keep the exact position should be issued by Stern ASAP. I am pretty sure many games are going to have issues with this.

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hopefully these picture posts help other to diagnose when they have issues.

The opto issue is likely a cause for many problems (lost balls, confused game state, etc...) combined with the early code and general buggy nature of the code.

yeah, if anyone has the ability to get to Lyman, PLEASE let him know this ASAP.

Would be a big help to just have that addressed in code.

Ok....so we met and got to chat.... (what a cute couple)!

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Whysnow My old eyes can’t read the text at the bottom of the pic. Can you post the text? Thanks.

What is the right pitch for this game?

just points out that the design of this opto has one side below the Vuk Mech and the beam shoots though a very small hole up to the top receiver portion.

The top reciever is only held in place with the single nut. Since a single point of placement, the opto can move left to right. Once the top portion of the opto moves out of alignment, then the beam is broken. This fouls up the whole game, confuses it, and the game thinks a ball is constantly in the VUK.

Are you getting a game spfxted ?

Not until I play it....

Very nice. She really is holding up quite well. Did she have anything interesting to say?

All these signed LE’s has me thinking the autographs on the SLE’s aren’t worth much...