There have only been four other SPIKE System titles so far. I don't recall any issues with them with the flippers.

Some of these things may not show up until they hit the street.

And I'm sure Stern is aware of it and will do something about it.

LTG : )

Do you cool dudes think you can just focus on the gameplay issues and less on how KPG isn't part of the club?

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Captive ball gets hung up when playing yesterday. Also, in lane ball guides are too short. The ball has jumped over these several time while i was playing. Also just like the Walking dead, when the ball is coming from the pop bumpers if it does not hit the wire form, it will drain every damn time.

I disagree. Slimer is right there. He's a major component, and everyone seems to be complaining that he doesn't work. So, yeah, alright, the rear-view is there, but we put warped mirrors in it and it doesn't work the way it's supposed to. It's a major component that doesn't work the way it should, and no one would think it was acceptable. You're being literal in an effort to ignore the issue.

It's ridiculous that stuff like this, and unfinished code, etc are acceptable to people. I have a lot of hobbies, and there isn't a single one where stuff like this is acceptable.

I agree 100%

Subscribed. Hopefully mine is one of the lucky ones that works 100% out of the box.

Only if you think the 5 people who have posted about it are the only games that have been delivered.

Mine has worked fine from day 1.

Wire form? Where?

I played my first games tonight at the Pinball Lounge!
What a Blast!

Brutal, fast, tons to do, and a great music score!
What a loaded pin for a Pro!

No issues with slimer, no issues with balls jumping over lanes.

Kurt and Ed installed a Post save in the middle....helps a lot!

For the low level wire out lanes...the post/rubber adjustment helps, but I am likely going to try the smallest of a clear tube to try and add to the lane guide, just to get some more bounce, and fix any possibility of the ball jumping.

For a new game, likely some of the best first release code Ive seen...
We had something happen that awarded many events and multiball, and the light show, music was over the top!

A great challenge, at the same time being Fun!

Feels like a Classic winner to me!

I know it has been said already in the "main" thread and in the review thread, but holy crap this^^^

I understand if they were trying to save on plastic I guess(?) but having them be so short is absurd. Got in around 20 games tonight and this was far and away the most frustrating part. The game is already brutally difficult as it is without getting scummed on a moderately fast ball hopping right over the guide. Really fun game aside from a few one-hoppers

What is the easiest way to mod this that doesn't look like total crap?

Indeed, I am also getting a lot of balls hopping over the ball guides. Modifying this might be tough. I don't get that they couldn't make them even 1/4" higher. That alone would make the difference I think. And yes, a lot of drains SDTM out of the pops, both from the middle and out of the right orbit if it misses the gate. A few here and there is OK, but I think there's a few too many.

I'm also getting a LOT of air balls off the left ramp targets, the ball often trickles down on the far left plastic. Haven't had an outlane drain from it yet though.

These issues are far more annoying than Slimer, as he is a very quick fix in comparison. I'd rather not have my customers donkey kick their foot through the coin door because of minor design issues that drain the ball when really, it shouldn't. Or at least not as frequent.

I should also mention that the flippers are just too low and need to be adjusted out of the box. At least mine were. Cradling and bounce passes are much too difficult in this configuration, and I have since levelled them up to the ball guides.

Perhaps this is a software related issue, but the right orbit switch doesn't always register. I've tested it 30+ times in the switch matrix, from rolling it slow to very fast. The switch registers every time. Not sure what's up there. I find the left ramp diverter to do funny things at times, as I feel it diverts the ball into the right saucer kickout when it should not. Then it awards you the saucer shot as if you shot it. I also notice it will award the left ramp shot IF you hit the right ramp so the ball rolls all the way up to the one way gate and back down. I'm sure Stern is aware of this, or perhaps was discussed in another thread.

lol....epic fail.

Omaha Nebraska, Big Johns Billiards. Pro last night played great. Although Ball guide wire on side of captive ball bent and held the captive ball just like others said. Looks like Stern needs to reinforce the wire or figure something out. That guide gets slammed.
magicchiz

So is this a shipping issue as others mentioned, or a possible design flaw? Are we going to be asked to bend this ball wire guide periodically? Another thing I'm surprised that wasn't caught during the testing process.

Kurt and Ed installed a Post save in the middle....helps a lot!

Wow.....people are funny (in an annoying way). Welcome to pinball.

Most NIB's work just fine right from the get go......many don't. First thing I do with a new game is play it If there is something wrong I fix it. If I can't fix it I visit Pinside to see if there is an easy fix. If I know Pinside can't help I call the manufacturer and so far they have always responded.

It's pinball....shit will break or be out of spec just from shipping.....fix it, play it. If it's a software issue, well I guess you get to wait (or could have waited before purchasing).

It's pinball....shit will break even if it was 100% right out of the box.....learn to fix it.

Clean precise thinking ... Forgot to add stop "the whining"

Definitely the bent ball guide locally. I think.our OP ought to put the outline posts in the "easy" position, and loosen up the tilt a bit. As is, I don't think a casual player will keep feeding cash into it. Me, I'm about to drop yet another five spot. Dammit.

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wow...

Guess Stern should look into installing thicker ball rails.

Or put a third leg on it in the middle. Haha.

I notice that two of the downvotes I received for this post were from accounts registered on the date they made the downvotes, and which have been immediately blocked / suspended. Kaneda's really blowing through those alts ...

No worries, I've embraced downvotes from the cool club here on Pinside. If you say something one guy doesn't like, and are downvoted- then everyone sees it as fair game and starts piling on. Subsequently, if some well-known guy posts and gets upvoted, then they all gang up like groupies and upvote everything that person has to say. It's all good.. its like the 6th grade over here

Shh.. don't say that, let the cool guys come in here and tell you it is a shipping problem, or since its pinball that is an acceptable flaw.

actually, the downvotes is what gets you in the cool kid club. The more you get the better.

It has not been bulletproof though, which was evident by the node 8 failures on GoT. Node 8 is lower flippers. They also should fix the GI flicker while they are at it. This isn't 1980 anymore....

Rob

Stopped by Pinball Jones, played a few games, and caught a pair of Ghost Busters playing the machine:

A few of my observations after playing some games:

The drain guard rails are way too low (balls jumped over on me a few times) and it seems the playfield automatically drains the ball dead center repeatedly - almost as if it were funneled to slip down the centerline. Average play time for each ball is probably 20 seconds.

The left and right sling shots are almost parallel to each other; this presents a major problem as far as I can see. They need to be more angled, but the PF layout doesn't allow it. This game is a shoe-in candidate for a wide-body box, which would put those sling shots in a better perspective.

I am new to pinball, much like yourself, but one thing has become clear real quick. There are those who tinker, live and breath pinball, and then there are those who do it by credit card. I prefer the tinkerers.

Awesome! Like playing an EM

We had an issue with one of the 2 we had. The left Outland switches were all wired wrong. Easy fix but caused weird ball save issues.

Perhaps another reason to consider dialing back the flipper strength a bit.

My one complaint also is the balls jumping the inlane rails and ending the ball.

Seems like if the rails were slightly higher it would help... but doubt that is going to change and it could introduce other issues...
What about something that is an aftermarket add-on using readily available screws... something like the below?
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Considering I've repaired and installed every single mod or part on my machine myself, I'm not understanding your point. I just want a 100% working machine when paying $8,000 cash, not credit card, for a new in box machine that doesn't take 3 weeks to get parts from Stern to be playable (like what happened with NIB MET) or have apparent design flaws I must find ways to compensate for.

Is that too much to ask or hard to accept?

.... You sure the wiring issues werent caused during shipping like some people suggested in this thread

The rail jumps we had seemed to come at an angle and be at the impact with the immediate front of the wire guide.
Is this how others are seeing?

How about a clear rubber dot?
or a quick dot off a glue gun?

Should be enough to stop the ball from becoming air borne.

All perfectly fine questions that should have been asked by the design and testing team at Stern.

I think GOT LE had issues with flipper strength from the dragon kickback. Fixed with an update I believe.

It's statistics. Jeez. In like ten NIB sterns I've bought, the only problem I've ever had is a Spike node board blowing somewhat prematurely, but even that was months after getting it. Do I post every day saying, "hey guys, another problem free day. Another NIB opened that works fine." ? Of course not. Nobody does. Only the problems get posted. So it may look to some like the problems are everywhere, because it's just not balanced reporting and never will be.

You appear to be confused, sir. Has to be one or the other. But I played on that table and it was guide jumps all day so I will go with the latter.

Center post is awful but it did help with the balls out of the left side of the pops when you could not nudge it into the guide. I can't imagine requesting someone drill a hole in a brand new playfield like that

That wire solution picture makes me want to cry.

No confusion. "I" had no issues.....I didnt consider one time on a bunch of games, an "issue".
"We" had jumps, refers collectively to the guys I was playing with, and then in conversation later
that evening with others who went to the open house. I was referring with "we" to mean collectively my friends. Collectively "we" had issues.

Taken out of context, with assumptions, perhaps confused you.

Good suggestion, but I would think a plastic solution might be easier.

On the left side I have (poorly) drawn out a plastic shape that could be made. This could be mounted using 2 male / female hex post that would be included with the plastics and put on the existing posts that are holding the purple and blue plastic. So just imagine that shape of clear plastic mounted 1/4" 3/8" 1/2" or more above the standard ball guide. I don't really know how high you would want it, but experimenting and swapping out hex post would be easy enough until you figured out the best height mounting posts.

The plastic being shaped this way would be narrow and extended up from the mounting area a bit, but I would think if plastic protector grade plastic were used it would be stiff and sturdy enough to stay up and also strong enough to not break. The plastic would also NOT need to only be wire width thick at the top. If it needs to be wider for durability purposes....it could always be made wider (going a bit over the outlane). It is clear plastic so it shouldn't obstruct the view even if the plastic stayed the same width all the way up.

If need be, the plastic could also extend up and mount above the outlane entrance (as the wire idea was drawn) if you could get the height of the upper mounting point (on the star post I'm guessing) to line up with the plastic mounting height. A person would probably want to look into the PRO and Premium differences, but I would think a single type plastic could be cut to accommodate both. From the pictures I have seen they look identical as far as this goes.

I'm also not sure what area folks are getting the hopping...so maybe the plastic wouldn't even need to go up to the tip of the wire guides. Maybe just a little up past the wire curve would do???

PS: If anyone makes these...I want a free set.

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Yeah I'm getting a little concerned as well. I'm not good at working under the hood of these machines and don't want to start tearing mine apart to figure out how to fix it For those that don't know how and/or are not comfortable attempting to self fix these things, what are our options? Does Stern have authorized techs in various cities, or is it up to the buyer to fix issues themselves? This will be my first new pin, I thought they just worked since they were new but it sounds like the buyer is expected to have some experience repairing pinball machines. I guess I'd be comfortable experimenting and learning on a $1000 machine, but not so much on a $7500 machine.

i pull metal wire rails like this at least 4 times a month. Usually there are spot on the underside of the playfield where you can see the wire peeking through. all you have to do, is take an AWL and a hammer and pound out the wire guides from the back. Raise them up to where you like. That's all there is to it.

Exactly

Yes wires unsolder themselves and move loocations and re solder themselves in shipping all the time.

They will most likely correct the low outlane guides in production eventually if it proves to be too big an issue. I played a few games today and the ball didn't jump the lane guide once, but they are very low and I could see it happening. Maybe they'll replace it with a Metallica style rail which is at least twice as high as the BG ones:

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