Whaaaaaaaaaaaat?? wow that sounds cool lol. Okay, so in the picture that I have attached, how do I advance these lights if I want to and how do I collect whichever one that I am going for?

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Those are collected after "x" hits on the beer can. The first one is at 5 on default settings. You have to get more hits for each successive one. The one flashing is the one collected. The pop bumpers move the flashing mode.

Have you been playing the TV modes? Shoot the Lois Spinner until the TV insert lights up, shoot the scoop. Try to score well on those modes, as it will pay off if you get to TV Wizard Mode.

DEFINTELY go for that Stewie Multiball...that's the whole point of the mini-pinball. You have to get alternating Jackpots to build toward Super Jackpot. Example, get Peter on the mini, then Peter on the main.

All hell breaks loose in IMO the best 2 PF MB ever. It's not just playing 2 PF's... it's playing 2 pinball machines

Also the rules for Stewie MB are quite legit. What you do on the upper PF affects the lower PF then finishing the lower PF collects the "reward" & then opens the upper PF again to continue the cycle of madness.

SMB tip: focus on getting each family member(jackpot) on the upper playfield for the first 10-15seconds- there's a ball save on the lower playfield so you aren't risking anything.

Once those are collected, focus on hitting each family member(jackpot) on the lower playfield. Except for stewie- hitting stewie will only reactivate his playfield incase you missed a member on upper playfield.

After collecting all members on both playfields shoot for the evil monkey jackpot for a super jackpot.. Then repeat for increased jackpots and super jackpots...

Death tip: if you have him enabled, use him to your advantage.
With death raised and ball resting on left flipper- you should hit Lois99% of the time and with ball resting on right flipper with death raised should hit Chris99% of the time.

You'll start scoring better in no time.

Quick rules question, since they're being discussed.

One thing I've never been able to put my finger on is that sometimes, seemingly randomly, the game will award something for each beer collected, and then play a sound bite, 'Here's your freakin' jackpot!'. What causes that? (Because honestly, I freakin' love that soundbite.)

That's for the "Collect beers" on the beer can options in the pic on post 151.

Ah!
OKAY! Thanks!

Beer can tip: try to save collect beers as one of the last beer can modes you collect. It's about 25K per hit which is added throughout the game until you collect that award.

Is it just me or does that sound bite remind anyone else of "Where in the world is Carmen San Diego"? Man, I loved that show!

Now, usually when I've ben playing, there's been SO MUCH ELSE going on that I haven't been able to pay attention to details.
However, I think I noticed, at one point, that I had enough beer can hits to 'light' a mode - but that mode didn't start until a while afterwards. Is there a shot that specifically starts it, or was I just doing something else in the game that delayed the start?

The beer can only does what's in the inserts for it. Collect beers, Giggity Giggity (super pops), Happy Hour (double scoring), Remember when (a one shot hurry-up), and Lard MB.

The Drunken Clam mystery scoop has a random award that will light the TV allowing you to start a mode without hitting the spinner.

5 hits to beer can starts first mode. Pretty sure it's +1 hit for every mode after. So it'll take 6 hits to start next and 7 for the one after and so on.

Okay, thanks. That makes sense then.

Is there a rulesheet somewhere? I have more stupid questions that I feel would be explained in the rulesheet... but IPDB doesn't have one listed, and there's not one linked here.

Edit: Nevermind, found one. Jeez, sometimes my google-fu is off.

Is version 8.00 the most current and up to date code?

I believe it's v12.

I put the update into a thumb drive off of the stern site and cant seem to get it to work

Did you unzip the file and put the .bin on the thumb drive? Did you follow the steps? Did you flip dip switch #8, turn on the game, then chose update?

Yes to all Of those. It is completely up to date now. Unfortunately the update still didn't not fix the save issue that I have been having.

Well this is awesome!!! Let me tell ya, I haven't really enjoyed ownership of this thing for what has been less than a month, and the issues just keep getting worse. I updated to 12.0 and now I have random reset issues. Also my display reads 255 credits, WTF!!?? On top of that it will make the coin up sound when you hit the credit button, but no credits are being added. I cannot start a game, Period!! Who can I send all three of my boards to have them checked out and repaired if needed and how do I revert back to the previous update before 12.0??

It actually sounds like you may have a switch issue.

I believe (though I could be wrong) that the internal counter in the game is 255 for credits, so you can't add anymore credits. Try going into the service menu, and reset EVERYTHING back to factory defaults. Also, check the switch test, and verify that hitting the start button isn't activating any other switches.

I'm In. Great game. The yellow really makes it pop.

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Resetting does nothing because none of the settings are being saved no matter what the setting is. I have already tried to set it back to factory numerous times. I'm just going to wash my hands of it and send the boards out. I have already wasted enough time on it.

Ah, apologies. Sorry for bringing it up!

No apologies needed. I really do appreciate the advice that you gave though. Hopefully I'll be up and running again soon.

Is okay - I was under the impression that the 'Factory Reset' also cleared all audits and such. I hope you get it running as well - my railroad is right up there, and that will give me an excuse to leave early / come in early. You know.. to raid your gameroom.

Excellent color choice Gary! It looks great. Glenn

In the house! From the original HUO owner, looks like it just came out of the factory. Less than 400 plays, still had the code it shipped with.

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Hey guys -
Two more 'stupid' rules questions that I can't seem to figure out..

First, randomly, Peter will call out "5"... "4" ... "3" ... "2"... I *think* it has something to do with Lard Multiball, but I can't figure out what is counting down. What is being counted down?

Second, there a green 'MULTIBALL' light aimed at the TV scoop. When does it light? (Not during Fart Multiball, as knocking down the targets starts that. Not for Lard, as that is started after hitting the beer can. Not for Stewie Pinball Multiball, as that's started as soon as all the characters are completed.)

In Lard MB, there are different jackpots lit up. I believe that you have a limited amount of time to get all the jackpots to light up the super jackpot, that's what the countdown is for. I think.

It's for TV wizard mode. After you've started all the TV modes and then get the required amount of spinner hits, this insert will light. It could light for Sperm MB too, but I've never been there.

http://www.pinball.org/rules/familyguy.txt

Ah! That makes sense then. I don't remember seeing anything on the screen mentioning it, and there have been times where the game has lagged - i.e. I've drained all but one ball, but the display is still showing animations from awards gotten during the multiball, and he still counts down. So I never connected the two, thinking that some other mode was running..

Ah, okay! Haven't gotten either of those, so that's why then I've never seen it light.

Unfortunately I don't have access to modify the file. So I can't add the stuff about Peter's countdown. Thanks though.

It's an audio bug...the countdown will keep playing even if you're out of Multiball. Stern fixed this but never publicly released the code. PM me if you want the unofficial "home rom."

Hah. Funny you say that. I **JUST** noticed this again earlier today. Was trying to pay attention to the callouts this time, because I was sure that I had heard them after multiball was over. And sure enough, I drained all save one ball after I heard the '5', and sure enough, he just kept going. I was actually wondering (since I can never make that shot) if the Jackpot was still 'active' as kind of a grace-timer thing.

Ok...looking to join the club. Anybody know of someone selling a HUO in the Midwest?

Enjoying my recently arrived Family Guy . I don't theres any pinball experience quite like playing ipecac contest and fart multiball at the same time...

Who wants chowder?!

Good! Good!! Play it some more so that you fall completely in love with it and sell me your TSPP. lol

Stay away from my TSPP sohchx!

I just joined the club. Picked up a dirty FG, and it cleaned it up real nice. Did my first Time Lapse shop job

My FG is still dead..... It's been a hard month without it.

Alright guys I need some help if you could please. Sent my SAM board out for repair over a month ago and he can't fix it apparently, so he sent it to Stern without my knowledge, which probably means I won't see it again until Christmas. It would have been nice had I gotten a phone call or email telling me that the board was sent elsewhere, instead I find out after I called to see what the repair status was. With that being said I think I will just buy a brand new SAM in the mean time. I can no longer take staring at a pin that I paid allot for and cannot play. Now, this is the first time that I have ever needed to purchase a SAM board, so I don't know exactly what else it is that I need to get this running in my game as far as chips etc. nor do I know where to obtain them. Could anyone help please??

What I plan to purchase...

ebay.com link: itm

Uh yeah... the link you posted... isn't that the MAD Amusements scammer guy?

I'm no pinball doctor but looking at the link it SEEMS to be what you need. Hope everything works out for your machine. Couldn't even think of having a non functional pinball machine to stare at.

Indeed it is him, but at this point he is the only one that has these boards and I have Paypal on my side if something does indeed happen. I took a chance on him twice this year already, but only because the items were on Ebay and surprisingly the transactions went well and he shipped fast. Everything came as described. Maybe I'm one of the lucky ones? I still wouldn't consider him to be an upstanding seller by no means seeing everything that he has done to people in the past. Heck, I wouldn't buy from him at all if it were something that I could get elsewhere.

Just got a new Family guy and it has this opto switch fully exposed in the upper playfield. Unfortunately this was not disclosed in the for sale ad. Can somebody please post pics of what is supposed to be covering this opto? Thanks! Craig

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Nothing covers that opto. There's nothing covering mine and if you do a Google search for pics you'll find no pics of it being covered.

Thanks for confirming that. Looks like sh** but oh well. Appreciate the reply.

Stewie made the mini pinball. He's not as professional as a real pinball maker!

He can build a freakin' *time machine*. He can make a pinball without issue. Now, howver, making it *pretty*.. that's a different story.

You can also get it from Marco:
http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/520-5246-00

However, this board (and the one you were looking at) does not ship with the boot ROM installed, as you would swap that from your original board. So you may be out of luck unless you also want to buy a new boot ROM.
http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/965-BOOT-SAM