Is there a downside to adding an extra ball to the area to prevent the guide rail bending (and avoiding playfield modification)? Would the extra ball affect hits registering there?

The Mezel Mods website shows the car only available for the pro. Did you get a different pre/le version or is there no difference?

Congrats! I'm also really enjoying mine, but there is definitely some dialing-in to do in the beginning. I had the same switch issue on the right orbit and am experimenting with bending the metal. My right ramp switch also doesn't register 100%. Any ideas there besides bending the switch? Could some of these issues be software related?

Would the FF speakers (maybe the smaller ones) pair well with a subwoofer or would that be overkill?

The exact same thing happened to me at around the same time. It's a common problem. Stern needs to use a stronger part. Chas sent me a new one. Not too bad to replace. Marco also sells them for a few bucks.

JJ is at Game Exchange of Colorado. I didn't buy my GB from him, but wish I had. I had to wait 7 months for mine while JJ seemed to get his orders out within days/weeks according to posts.

How do the code questions affect development of a GB color dmd? Is it on the horizon or would the color dmd guys wait to see if the code will be updated again before making much progress?

Try lowering the trough eject power, which will also save your shooter lane from getting chewed up.

I could be wrong, but I had two balls getting kicked out right after I first set it up. After lowering the eject power, it never happened again.

The mylar seems to be causing some lift before the orbit switch on hard shots and the switch sometimes does not register as a result. Removing the mylar seems to have corrected the problem for everyone who wrote in--including for me. Mine easily pulled up and left just a bit of residue. Goo gone got it off easily.

Nah. Just get it started with a fingernail and pull up with needle nose pliers. Piece of cake.

You could try adjusting the switch, but that has not corrected the issue for many on here. It sounds like the rectangular sticker is the factory mylar. It should come up easily, and you could use something like Goo Gone to get rid of any residue (though I had almost none).

Ah...I thought I was just missing something. The bug should definitely be fixed. I didn't notice mention of it in the V1.13 bug thread. Has anyone notified Stern? I could assume they know but have learned to assume nothing.

I agree it looks cool, but can be a bit of a pain with all the airballs. They have an annoying tendency to get stuck in the middle. The flying balls also broke off some of the plastic edges on mine. Even though I have the ramp airball plastic and added foam to the standup targets to reduce airballs, I removed the mod.

The airballs are mostly under control in my game. Your plastic is great. Scoleris seem fine. Maybe from Cliffy's off the upper part of the right ramp? The game is so fast, sometimes it's hard to tell where the airballs come from. GB is my only game, so I play the hell out of it. Maybe one out of 15 games gets a crazy airball. Having to pull the glass a couple of times a week to free the ball from the mod was enough for me to ditch it.

After the imminent release of Star Wars, maybe Dwight will be able to give some more love to GB?

Yeah, that would be nice I'm not familiar with the state of GOT code, but GB definitely needs some bug squashing and the "Are You a God?" wizard mode added at the very least.

I have a pair of these in pink. They seem like they would work well, but I moved my outlane posts in before I got them so never installed. I paid about $30 shipped from France, but would sell them for $20 shipped if anyone is interested.

Same here. Once the mylar is gone, maybe a tweak to the switch would solve any remaining issues.

I think the code is pretty good, but Stern can't really call it finished when "Are You a God?" is not programmed though has menu options implying it is coming. There are also a number of bugs that have been discussed at length in the threads, and I agree more game callouts would be nice. Maybe Dwight will be able to turn back to GB for a bit when the Star Wars hype calms down? Fingers crossed...

Bummer! I was hoping to install mine tonight. Please post Mezelmods' response.

The Mezel folks told me they are posting a new instructional video on the website with the missing segment. Hopefully will get Mr. Puft walking soon!

Dude, do the loop spring trick! I hated the Scoleris until I fixed the springs. Now they drop perfectly and I actually like them for the challenge. It's a 5-10 min. fix. No need to cut. Just pull the spring a bit and loop it around 10-12 rings down so it's a bit tighter.

I was able to put the notch through the loop on the spring fairly easily. You shouldn't need an open loop. I'll try to get a pic sometime soon, but give it a shot.

I'm not sure if you still need it, but here are a couple of pics.

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To me, a "bonus" would be something like additional call-outs or animations. Correcting the numerous, well-documented bugs in the code, and adding the final wizard mode referenced in the instructions and menu options should be a no-brainer. I'm hoping this update will come fairly soon regardless of John Trudeau's legal problems.

As far as I know, the link below contains the most up-to-date list of remaining GB bugs.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/ghostbusters-v113-bugs-and-features

I don't think we're disagreeing here. I really like the game as is and am not going to lose any sleep (or sell GB anytime soon) if no update comes along. I do think the game would be better with some final code polish and would find it kind of annoying if Stern left it permanently unfinished.

Can anyone confirm that the Stern Arcade version is identical (warts and all) to the physical version?

Moving in the outlane posts, installing the slightly longer flippers, and switching out the spacer under the right ramp (premium) for a slightly shorter one worked wonders for me. Most people playing mine are not great players, so these changes made the game more fun. As you get better, you can easily switch it back to stock if you want.

Location players obviously can’t customize the difficulty in this way, so many get really frustrated. Tweaked to your liking, I think it is a great game.

Mine also does this, but tweaking the level and pitch has made it much better.

That’s the plan, as per the “Stern of the Union” aka (hint, hint) the “State of the Stern.” Not sure when Star Wars will be considered finished, though...1.0?

On mine it still has plenty of power, though is only a marginal improvement overall. Because the part is so cheap and is easy to switch out, it’s definitely worth a try the next time you place a parts order.

Has anyone tried the Pinstadium kit on Ghostbusters? How does it look?

Excellent. That sure beats bending the metal with brute force and potentially f—ing it up. Thanks!

Thanks, Who-Dey! This worked great for me.

Yep. Definitely agree on switching the sling rubbers. I’m not a great player, and the game kicks my ass consistently, but I love it. I also love Metallica and thought of swapping one for GB, but just can’t do it. GB is kind of like my 12-year-old son—usually I love him, sometimes I hate him for being a PITA, but he’s family.

It is more rounded than the stock one, though had a flat front. It feels fine, but honestly is a bit cheap considering the price tag. I’d probably either leave the stock one or go for one of the Modfather (or similar) ones if I had it to do over.

I’ve been morbidly curious to see what happens with the Trudeau situation—mainly to see if I need to bury my signed translite after all (also signed by Zombie Yeti and Dwight Sullivan so would be a shame!) and what impact it may have on perceptions of GB long term. It’s been quiet for a while, but public DuPage County court records online shows the next court date is scheduled for Jan. 18 at 9am. The purpose is “plea or setting.” I’m guessing this means Trudeau will either plead guilty to something or a trial date will be set. Anyone familiar with how this process works know more?

This also happened to mine. They need to improve the quality of that part. Someone in another thread mentioned Stern cheaped out on this 2 cent item starting with Game of Thrones and these things now break regularly.

I got the Polk 10” subwoofer early on and it is a big improvement. Flipper Fidelity just added a Spike backbox kit (no woofer) that works great with an external sub. I wasn’t expecting much of an improvement, but I just installed and it blew me away. Definitely worth it, IMO. I think the kit is $59, but you can save a few bucks by ordering just the speakers (4 ohm) and solder yourself using the existing wiring.

Pinbits sells it, but I just used felt tape and it works fine once you adjust the scoop eject power a bit.

I had the same issue and finally just had to remove it. It’s annoying as hell to get those ball hangups!

I took the mod out, so a picture wouldn’t show much. Basically, the mod covers the opening in the middle of the cityscape above the pops. If an airball falls in, it gets stuck on top of the plastic rather that just falling through the opening and back onto the playfield. If you can stop the airballs, you wouldn’t have issues, but that’s pretty hard to do on this game—even though you can minimize the airballs.

That sounds right to me. Mine was made in Nov 2016 and the playfield showed some minor ghosting after a few months. Stern replaced it. I don’t recall people posting about playfield issues for games made after Dec 2016.

The code is only delayed because they are not sufficiently committed to it. Let’s hope it is something special after this ridiculously long wait. A great update could breathe new life into this game.

If these guys have to work on their own time to polish the games, Stern needs to rethink how they do coding.

Latest Stern of the Union just released: https://sternpinball.com/2019/03/05/stern-of-the-union-address-march-2019/

“Ghostbusters code update remains in our schedule.” I wonder if I’ll have any hair left when this thing is finally released.

I had the same issue with the Cliffys on the drop targets. Replaced with Mylar strips and all is good. On a location game with tons of plays per week, maybe the Cliffy issues would be worth the extra protection.

A certain TWIPy award winning podcaster just shared a rumor on the show that Stern soon will be announcing a vault edition of a popular title. He would not say what it is—just that it’s not Tron or LOTR. Could it be Ghostbusters? Might make sense to coincide a vault edition with a code update to inject new life into the game.

A vault could suggest a robust code update, but would kind of suck for existing owners if some of the design issues are corrected. Thoughts?

True, but Star Trek was only out of production a short time before the “vault” was released. Maybe it would be more like an additional run.

Do you have inside info or are you just speculating? I know his track record has been spotty, but K specifically said it would not be LOTR.

The longer flippers just make the game slightly less brutal for us non-pinball gods. It is a subtle change. For me, this modification has made GB more enjoyable.

First, make sure the machine is perfectly leveled and the pitch is correct. If the subway still doesn’t work, lift up the playfield and find where the subway goes
underneath. You will see a thin metal bracket around the clear plastic subway area held with a nut. Loosen the nut, make sure the bracket and ramp are perfectly centered and nothing is obstructing the ball’s path, and tighten the nut. You may need to experiment a bit until you find the position that works best.

Good luck! Hope this helps.

True dat. Though that’s why I love it!

I fully agree except for the “A.” Was it ever great? It can be, though!

Agreed. I installed one and soon switched back to stock. Anyone want the mirror version?

Mine was on a Premium. It’s a bit of a pain to install but works fine.

I damaged the plastic sitting on top of the ecto goggles during a modding mishap. Stern sent me a new one, but I’m not sure how to install it properly. Does anyone know what type of riveting tool would work best and what type of rivets these things use? Is taking apart the ecto goggles for this job (just cosmetic) more trouble than it’s worth?

As we all wait for awesome (hopefully) new code to drop, I thought I'd mention my great experience with adding a PinWoofer sub and amp to the cabinet. The bass is clean and deep and really makes the game pop. I had an external sub for a while, but the sound is really improved with the PinWoofer kit. Installation is pretty straightforward, and Dan ("PinWoofer" on Pinside) is fantastic to deal with. Dan also offers a backbox speaker/amp kit, which has been incredible on my Metallica. If you have the stock backbox speakers, that kit will make an enormous difference. I already had Flipper Fidelity speakers on GB which sound pretty good (though not as good as the PinWoofer kit), so I left those as is.

I was concerned about drawing too much power from the Spike boards, but Dan includes a converter for the 48v power supply in the backbox which works perfectly and avoids drawing power from the boards. The only issue I had was annoying vibrations in the cab from the increased bass, but anti-vibration tape on the glass pretty much resolved that. Happy flipping!

And the world is a better place for it.

Thanks for that explanation. On the second option, would you angle the carrots to the center of the playfield holes or higher (as with option 1) to match the inlane rails?

Just flip the position of the rubber rings around the slings. Move the lower ring to the top position. Move the upper ring to the lower position.

Check the coil stop. These seem to be failing a lot lately on newer Stern machines.

I loosened the nuts a bit on the plastic above the newton balls and pulled/bent the gate up slightly. It works perfectly now.

You might want to replace this part:
https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/545-6163-01
This small part often breaks (it did on mine) and is necessary for the drop target to stay up.

Terry from Pinball Life told me the issues with their Spike system shaker motors have long been resolved.

I thought the scream was kind of funny the first 3 or 4 times it happened. Now, it’s like nails on a chalkboard. That thing is set to “off” on mine permanently.

https://www.hookedonpinball.com/store/p102/Ghostbusters-Ecto-Goggle-Protector-Pinball-Mod.html

The bracket on my hooked protector didn’t line up either. I used some hot glue to keep it place. Not ideal, but it works.

It’s worth experimenting with the flipper position. I moved mine higher to match the inlane position and think it plays better. I remember way-back-when some folks said Stern admitted they messed up with the flipper guide hole placement on GB, but I’m not sure if that’s true.

Check out post #3147 in the Ghostbuster Issue Thread and the discussion thereafter. There was some debate a few years ago about the proper flipper alignment.

Right. I said it was only a claim that was made, I didn’t know if it was true, and there was a debate about it a few years ago. I’d also be interested in the answer. My point was mainly that it is worth some experimentation with the flipper alignment since it is pretty easy to do and could result in preferred game play. If you’re happy with it as is, forget it and just enjoy it.

Hi all. I've been getting stuck balls on the plastic just to the right of the library in the corner. The game is leveled and the pitch seems right. Any ideas of the best way to deal with it--maybe adding a post or spacer where the existing screw is in that area? Thanks.

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Excellent. Please keep us "posted." Ha ha. Will you be making it available for sale?

Thanks, Swinks! I just got mine. It works perfectly and looks nice. Great design.

Yeah, it looks kind of unfinished, but it’s just there to prevent stuck balls (pinballs, that is).

Wow! Those are beautiful. Nice work.

Anyone interested in a GP Pro PinCup, in like-new condition, hand painted by Modfather? I have mine on a Premium and it looks great. See pics. Unfortunately, I moved my game to a tight spot next to my stationary bike and need to free up some space.

Modfather sells these for $48 + tax and $9-$10 shipping. I’d sell it for $45 including domestic shipping, or $40 for local pickup.

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Memorial Day discount! $35 shipped, $30 local pickup.

Build it and they will come.

I have a regular Pinstadium set with the Mezel firehouse. It fits, though barely. The bulbs give off a weird prism effect off the firehouse, but some electrical tape over those few bulbs largely fixes the problem.

I like the lighting with the Pinstadiums, but the brackets are a bit ugly over the Yeti art blades, and it is a slight PIA to remove them when you lift the playfield. Trade offs, I guess…

I thought that fugly topper was overpriced at $500.

The Stern Zombie Yeti blades are the best. He is such a talented artist, and the design fits perfectly with the playfield and backbox art.

Sure, but who cares? If it’s your game and it makes it more fun for you, mission accomplished.

GB premium was my first game a few years ago when I got into pinball. I still love it. When dialed in it is awesome, though it does have some design flaws which make it polarizing. I can’t see ever selling it unless I have to for financial reasons.

Which setting do you have it on? I think dots XL looks the best but could be persuaded otherwise.

Just curious: do buyers nowadays tend to scrutinize GB playfields for ghosted inserts? It was such a huge issue a few years ago but now no one seems to mention it. Maybe the new buyers aren’t aware of it…or just don’t care.

Buy some extras. Those things are cheaply made and break all the time—on all their games with drops. Stern should make them from a stronger material.

I think it’s for the internal clock to keep time for midnight madness, etc.

Ugh. That’s terrible luck. Sounds like keeping a spare node board 8/9 is a good idea. Does anyone have a link for a good place to buy one?

Stern drop targets are notorious for not dropping after hard direct hits. You could try to adjust the tension of the spring (pull a few loops to make it tighter) but it could just be how they are.

I’m guessing to prevent stuck balls.

You could hit up TaylorVA. Maybe he’d do another run if there’s enough interest.

I still think the Stern topper looks like crap, but what do I know? I also said the Internet would never catch on back in 1994.

I had the Cointaker one and removed it. To me it just blocked part of the art on the backboard for not much added functionality.