Who mentioned carpet

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Worse think about pinside the pro ve premium debate.

Who mentioned stealing IP and profiting from it?

Nice translite

Personally, I would make a decent effort to return it. However, my time is definitely worth a lot (I could be playing pinball instead). After a certain amount of effort, I'd likely sell it, trade it or give it as a gift to a friend. Wanna be friends?

Legally, it's mine free and clear. The FTC clearly states that unordered merchandise sent to a consumer is considered a gift and there's no obligation required on the recipient's part - https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/what-do-if-youre-billed-things-you-never-got-or-you-get-unordered-products#unordered

As a fan of pinball and recognizing that although Stern may be the big name in the industry, they're still effectively a small company, I've made multiple attempts through their officially published contact methods. At this point, I'm feeling less sympathetic towards the company and the person who made an honest mistake and more frustrated that maybe the reason why we're dealing with $2k toppers and other overpriced merch is that Stern is horribly inefficient and wasteful.

The whole thing started with bad QC resulting in a failed unit going out. I got a response in reasonable time to the support/warranty request, but after being told to expect an RMA and return label soon, I had to reach out again after waiting a full business day.

The shipping label was for overnight delivery. Stern didn't receive it because the address they put on their own damn label was wrong. FedEx attempted to deliver the next day but noted the office was closed. The next delivery day attempt noted that it was not the correct address. Finally, it was delivered on the 3rd day.

Two days later (a full week after I returned the item), I sent a request for another update. I didnt receive one, but I did receive the first topper the next day without having seen any tracking or shipment info prior.

Another topper arrived a week later.

I've put in two requests to try to give them their $2000 product back. I'm getting frustrated wasting my time trying to help a company that doesn't want to be helped.

Cool. Whatever works for you. You do you buddy.

Hey I stole a $2K topper!

Also why does Stern keep raising prices on toppers?

I think you've sent 1 more request than I would have. Try once then after that (and before) it's on them for the mistake.

I see your point but eventually someone will get back to you and want it returned .

The day after you sell it

When does this flasher go off? Mine doesnt go off even in flasher test. Trying to see if it is a socket problem, I did change bulbs to test that and none of them lit up.
221 Kick Target Flash 8 c CN3 12 ORG-RED 1/2/3 RED Playfield Flash White 8-LP-79 113-5045-08

My target paddle behind the drops isn't registering hits on my FF Pro. I just wanted to check with everyone in here and make sure everyone else's was working before I deep dive into this. Thanks in advance.

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never had issues with mine wish i could help you troubleshoot but im new to pinball; good luck.

If you actually read what I wrote, you'd realize that is exactly why I'm amplifying the signal of this issue. I'm literally complaining that attempting to be an honest customer through official contact links and published email addresses is getting nowhere, and if mismanaging product inventory and ignoring attempts by honest people to return items in those situations is going ignored, it's no wonder they keep raising prices on us.

That doesn't even account for those who would have taken that mistake on Stern's part and gone straight to the market for a 4 digit payday, and legally, they would be in their right to do so.

Using official channels to do the right thing was failing, so I brought the discussion to an unofficial one that may have the attention of those not officially responsible for managing those communications but could raise some awareness of them internally. Coincidence or not, I did get a response via email this evening, and I'm hoping on getting that return shipping label soon so that I can close the book on this one and hope it was a freak series of unfortunate events and not a sign of consistently poor operations.

go into the switch test and then push the target and if it isn't registering it must be the switch or a linking wire.

Finnnnaly joined the 1B club. Thanks for the various tips! The one about holding onto a yellow boom to get more booms more easily was so obvious, yet I missed it for so long.

(Right ramp rejects, you will be the death of me… but not today.)

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Try going into switch test (with the white post pulled out inside the coin door) then try a known good switch to make sure the test is working. Then press the paddle. If nothing, grab the back of the paddle and lift it toward you. If that registers, the paddle is too close to the switch blades and they just need to be bent back a little so they're not always stuck closed.

Yeah, I did the switch test with the white post pulled. Every other switch in the machine works but this one, and the paddle switches aren't stuck closed, in fact, I thought they were simply gapped too wide, but I can watch myself physically close the switch gap by pushing on the paddle and I get nothing in the switch test. Must be a wiring issue I suppose.

yeah, at that point probably broken wire or broken diode leg.

I have a love hate relationship with this upper PF. It is the toughest of any game i've owned (haven't played Jaws yet). If you miss the shot you're almost guaranteed to drain out of it, particularly if it comes down the RHS. Is this what everyone else is experiencing and has anyone tweaked anything up there to make it easier? I was thinking I could put a thicker rubber on the RHS so that I can nudge the ball out to the flipper when it's rolling done there but I dont really want to "cheat".

finally saw foobot voltron assembly style multiball and got 650M, played one game after the bar. LOL My wrists hurt like I watched career opportunities again.

A lot of times you can slow it down and gain more control simply by holding the flipper and having it bounce back off the right side.

Jaws’ upper PF is much more one shot and done to me, not as engaging.

Can someone please put their Foo into switch test and take a pic of the screen when the target paddle behind the drops is activated so I can see the wires and other info reported on the screen after a successful switch activation? Thanks in advance.

I consider not enough momentum to make it around the area 51 building as a "missed shot". You do still get credit for the ramp and first area 51 mb progress. But that's it. Is your left flipper power maxed? That would make it easier to get it up there with some momentum

But I'm with you. I have a hard time getting it up the ramp at all, and when it does this (25% of the time?) it feels bad. The other 75% of the time I still have a hard time keeping it up there. I've never started a second area 51. I've only got the SJP in area 51 (far left stand up) once or twice maybe in 600 plays!(91m average 861m high for reference)

Anyone interested in custom stools for your pins? Like this one?
I'm just working out some things, its different printing than the glass protectors and material as well.

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Droop your left flipper down slightly. I can hit the ramp much more consistently now after doing so.

Mine doesn’t drain when the ball doesn't make it all the way up - it’s takes a path to the flippers (can’t remember if left or right). I wonder why yours would have a different path than mine.

Thank you for the pic mjs2!

I think he meant draining out of the upper playfield if you don’t manage to get a clean loop shot up there. The ball has a tendency to roll back down on the right hand side and dribble out rather than get to the mini flipper for another try.

Yep. I can never manage to nudge it off that rubber back to the flipper. So essentially you’ve got one shot. If you make it you get another one, if not it’s more than likely to drain.

I tried bending the metal sidewall ever so slightly to the right (over the edge) so there’s a slight bump as the ball transitions from the wall to the rubber ring. That little bump makes it more likely you can get a piece of it with the flipper. Not always though, especially if it’s a very low or slow rollback.

Does it change backhandability of left ramp?

It's still pretty easily backhand-able / the easier way to make the left ramp shot. Very early backhand.

Is there an easy to explain rules to the combotron MB lol. Reading the description of it and I'm just confused.

Help me out guys,
How are Foo-bot body parts obtained ?

How do you get any big points out of combotron?
I always seem to get about 2mil.

Really the longer the strings of the combos you can shoot before collecting them, the better your scoring will be in combotron. If all you have is combos of 3 shots each, even if you hammer all of the combo shots a bunch in combotron MB, it doesn't seem like it gets that lucrative.

My best combos (and thus combotron MBs) have had long combos from I believe being in the upper PF for a while.

As for Foobot parts...

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Ok , thanks. With it being a multi ball how on earth am I supposed string shots together , lol . I'm just trying to keep balls in play .

It's more stringing the combos together before collecting them at the Overlord that qualifies the MB, is what I was referring to. So instead of seeing the overlord lit after a simpler combo, try to keep hitting other shots instead of collecting the combo at the overlord. A risk/reward mechanism - do you want to simply get to combotron MB more often / quicker, or do you want it to try to be worth more points?

The highest combotron MB I've had was 40-something mil, so it's not really worth trying to string it for scoring for me vs. using it to help me clear a mode more easily, build van upgrades, hit radio shots, etc. So I tend to just collect the small combos.

I am trying to get more points out of it . I get there plenty . It is always a multi ball mode , right ? At least everytime I start Combotron it's a mb .

Yes. But you need X combos to qualify combotron MB. Of those X combos, it takes the best (longest/most shots) combos.

So if you want more points, those top three combos have to be pretty long/strung together. If you want more points out of it, you'd better be prepared to rack up 5+ shot combos.

Maybe somebody else can do a better job of explaining it than I'm trying to.

Got it , thanks Blizz

The way I approach combotron is this:

Try to start it when you can, and bank combos. Don’t push luck too much.
This way better chance at getting 2 maybe even 3 combotron MB in a game.
And getting points IN The actual MB, having a successful MB I think results in better combotron score Than trying to bank the most intricate combotron combos possible.

250 plays in...but with that said every single autolaunch that fails pretty much hits that post, so probably 1000 balls have hit that already just from that lol

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I justed listed my like new topper for 1850.00/free US shipping is anyone is interested; https://pinside.com/pinball/market/classifieds/ad/176858

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Mine was off 20 plays in - funny thing is I saw it come off, finished the ball, removed the glass and then lost it... 500 plays later, still have yet to find it.

lol, mine is stuck to the coin box

Yea it's the what to do in the actual MB that is confusing. Just hit any random lit shots over and over to increase there value? Am I remaking the same combos that is registered ahead of time? How am I increasing their color to get jackpots?