If you want to have a huge song jackpot, you need to build the value of the song before you start it. You mainly do this two ways:

1. The 4 booster 2 ball multiballs (Pyro, Lights, Crowd, Amp). Think of these as the opening act of a concert. They are all stackable together so it can get crazy. If you do well in them, the song level (value) will be higher.

2. Locking as many balls as possible. You can see which band members have locked balls as their particular revolver insert between the flippers will be green. If you lock all 6 balls your song will have a high starting value.

When you start the song, you see the song level in the lower left of the big screen. 20 is low, 100 is good, 150 is amazing. You can build the song level as you play the song, but you want to start with as high a level as possible. People that don't know this will not usually get HUGE song jackpots.

chuckwurt The Power Chord Jackpots are nice, but the song jackpot is much more important. I think my max power chord is 4. That was pretty fun.

How do you get the 4 booster 2 balls multiballs you mentioned in 1.?

And locking according to 2. means the physical lock on the bass guitarre in the middle of the playfield via the upper playfield?

Because 3k is a ton of extra money to dump on one game. I assume you’re in on a CE right? Gotta get that full experience.

Each booster MB has a shot on the playfield. Lights is on the upper playfield. Amp is the outer most left inlane, Pyro is behind the spinning record, and Noise is under the upper right flipper. See the chart:

Yes you lock balls in the physical lock on the guitar next on the upper playfield on the LE/CE. I believe you need two left ramp shots to lock a ball virtually on the SE.
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Ah thanks for this. I was working more toward album modes than anything. I’ll try and build up the song values next time. Did not know the stuff before the song was what increased the value so much.

The pyro MB is cool with the jackpot collect. I did not play the others enough to know what to do in them.

Are LE models sold out yet for immediately delivery ?

Got one encore last night too. That was fun. That’s when you play an entire song then collect the jackpot at the end. Flippers die, starts encore, then immediately starts the next song on that album I think.

Might not be the best route if you only get base value for the next song though. Would be cool if the premultiball boosts you did carried over to the encore song.

I believe so. If you want one you’ll have to wait a while I’d guess hard to tell since the distributors don’t have any eta on anything it seems.

Def Micro - see the logo

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Gun’s and Roses on the line video. Interview with Eric Meneur on FoxBusiness talking about how much extra business they are getting due to COVID and how they can't keep up with demand. Interviewee even gets in an Axel Rose fat joke.

https://video.foxbusiness.com/v/6200711970001/#sp=show-clips

I played a few games on location yesterday. It is an amazing looking and sounding game. There are several lengthy reviews here and I concur with their observations. Two things stick out that I didn't care for:

The plunge: it feels like a limp wristed plastic toy. The spring is so light, and the stroke is so short that I found it difficult to find any nuance to the skill shot plunge. I haven't played a lot of JJP, maybe that is more of their plunger style.

Start song: maybe it was how the pin was set up, but when the machine launched it out of here, it was like a pitching machine throwing heaters over the plate, and you've got a Billy club instead of a bat. But since you can't move your little bat closer to the plate, instant STDM almost every time. There was another guy there, rotating on the same machines (happened to be a pinsider) who said the same thing. It took more than a nudge: he got a tilt warning more than once trying to save it. I get the idea of "dangerous shots," but this seemed like an integral part of game flow, not a specific target to wait for just the right moment to hit.

I thought they did? Also, It is super important to collect the song jackpot (I believe it is called "Applause Jackpot") near the end of the song at the scoop. Because if you don't, you will still get encore, but lose your song jackpot.

Have you played TZ or Fire! Just like that. The insert lights are the switches. If you get close to the lot one it’s a skill shot get on the center of the light without going past it and it’s a super skill shot.

Scoop needs adjusted. The one I played was towards the end of the left flipper, but a safe dead bounce every time.

Okay that is good news. I wasn’t sure if it carried over. Makes sense too or else no one would want to completely finish a song if going for score.

I guess I got lucky on my pre song mode stuff on my best game because I played a decently long paradise city and cashed in for a 7.5 million jackpot and got almost 9 million in the mode. And I don’t even think I completed the song.

If the game is not level, the scoop can feed SDTM. You can adjust scoop eject power to compensate.

Yeah they do, because I started my encore song yesterday at the (insane) level of 150.

Yeah sometimes those MB just happen. I think many folks will just shoot the scoop as soon as the song is available to start. You can see what boosters you have on the playfield and screen. The boost values can max out.

The behind the scenes video that was released last night during the virtual Pinball Expo on Twitch.

JJP games really need you to play with friends. Impossible to keep track of all the statuses on your own.

It helps for sure, but I play solo mostly and take quick peeks at the mini LCD during songs. The key is to progress to the next stage of the song mode quickly, so you need to shoot the scoop when it is white/green.

Oh I had that down to a T. I’m more talking about the boosters and seeing if power chords are set up and other minor side quest status stuff. The game does do a great job calling out what they want you to shoot though.

It’s hard to get out of the mindset of playing on the fly when you’re not in a song. Found myself being scared to trap at any point. Haha

G n R fan here. Not that worried about the LEs selling out. I'll just wait for the next JJP G n R LE. How does a 35th AFD sound?

Glad to see you had a good time Chuck, and presented a balanced review! I definitely wonder how the game will feel without the upper playfield. Looks radical, but doesn't feel smooth, and going from Pirates to this, makes me wish more bom was placed elsewhere.

5 hours is a shit ton! I'd be drained from all of that for sure!

I still don't get this either. I really didn't like R&M's plunge and plop, hate starting a game with a fizzle. The incredibly short plunge necessitates that loose spring by design, but man it's feels limp, rather than hard rocking the ball out of the gates. The varied light skillshot is neat for sure, just neutered because of the drumsticks above it.

Hi Yuri, its Kim, the masked man with the shaved head that bought you a few GnR games yesterday. Nice meeting you and I agree.

Yuri is a skilled player and I enjoyed both of us playing the game. I have some decent capabilities but I'm more of a banger and there was plenty for both of us to enjoy. I will add that the flippers felt mushy but we both were still able to make all of the shots. Once I receive my game, increasing flipper strength will be a priority. Easy to do.

I'm pretty sure Yuri won our games but neither one of us looked at our scores or even cared.

There's a lot to love in this machine and plenty to explore. Playing this game, watching it be played and scrutinizing the entire presentation tells me this is a benchmark game in the industry.

Hello Kim, it was a pleasure and thank you for the couple of games. I’m sure you will enjoy your CE immensely! Hope we can play again sometime.

I don’t get the hate on the skill shot plunge...

It’s a tried and true concept on pins for the last 40 years.

I guess so many people never shoot for thing on TAF or don’t know about the skill plunge on TZ? Or fire... or Pinbot... etc etc etc

It’s interest because it looks like you are trying to collect all the plunge spots and you have the super skill one

I just think folks are used to the tighter spring full plunge on most modern Sterns.
Very same-y skill shots until Elwin came along. EHOH back door is also a nice change.

GNR initially set me back a bit until I got it.

Not sure if I’ve missed this, but how do you collect a power chord jackpot?

It's not as much the skill shot, it's the plunge, and wet fart of a beginning of a badass rock band.

The plunge is your very first physical impression of the game playing it, and it's a limp noodle of a thing. So much so that we all assumed the first night the spring was super weak. Then we realized it was designed this way, and oh...the shooter lane is cut short by the drumsticks.

Different design approaches are great, but for a rock pin, this is a weird way to start.

Conversely, I love the three very different approaches to Pirates skillshot.

And TAF at least, along with Wonka, allows you to shoot the ball fully into play if you wish.

Watched the stream as well(Thanks!) and thought the same thing about the keyboard. Cant wait to play it!

During a song, you need to lock all balls in play in the guitar neck lock. If you do you get a Power Chord Jackpot - value depends on how many balls (2-6). You only have a certain amount of time to do it if you don’t the balls will release back into play.

I’ve found the keyboard jingle less annoying than Axls wailing vocal from Don’t Cry of “ieeeeeieee” over and over when he is qualified.
Nitpicking obviously, but this could be a bit more randomized in code.
“Microphone qualified” callout is MUCH better.

I saw the timer. Does the countdown start once all the balls in play are locked except 1. Does it matter how many balls you locked prior to the song?
Loving the streams and trying to learn the rules

I believe the countdown starts when the first ball is locked. It’s just based on how many balls in play at the time. Not based on how many you locked before the song.

I didn't like the plunge on TZ either until I accepted it was part of the nuance of the game, and after a while I grew to appreciate it....Its nice to have something a little different.

Did you manage to do this after the stream ended or are you doing this for the tourney? After playing again today, the flippers definitely needed some additional oomph it seemed, but I didn't really notice a difference between playing on the stream last night and today. Just curious.

I’ll do it Monday when I go back to get the games adjusted for the tournament.

I went back and watched some tutorials om TZ. My time with it over the decades has never been really consistent...or rewarding. It's a funkyass pin with so many interesting things about it.

That's the thing though, TZ is about...the Twilight Zone, which is all about peculiarity. And that game also gives you a straight shot to avoid the skillshot, and shoot out via the scoop.

I hope it grows on me, the game in general too, but that sproingy nature of it still just chafes me. Oh well.

Hey, and flynnibus , thanks for the downvote, but not bothering to express why you feel differently, when specifically stating you didn't understand why others felt the way they did, and then yanno, someone did. Good on ya for the....discussion.

I think they wanted to show off the new switches. It does a great job of doing that especially with how they coded the skill/super skill recognition. It’s a good plunge. I welcome it. Also hearing people cry about how hard it is to control the plunge is hilarious.

Sounds like you need a GnR in the lineup.Once you go Jersey Jack you can’t go back!

Yeah and just feeds down to the flippers for doing so.. kinda like GNR

Hey wesman - that's exactly what the button is for.. expressing disgreement without having to make a post to do so.

But if you want a longer discussion of why I disagree with your justification... I think pointing to spring strengths as some tell or feel about the game (when the spring is a perfect fit for the application) is stupid. There you go...

Yes. The springs needs to be super soft to be able to hit all the different skill shots next to each other.

Does this end Springate?

Pin looks amazing, cannot wait to play..

I need a plunger that goes to 11...

TZ is a amazing game and it’s the only one I play consistently that never gets old. There is so much to do that even after owning it for years it is still fun

Here's my suggestion if you don't like the wimpy feel of the skillshot. Instead of plunging the ball, hit the shooter knob with the palm of your hand and develop that technique. Or use both methods and change it up on occasion.

Just for fun I'll name the options, Opioid Axl vs the Slash Bash.

Nice!

Well, it kinda floats over the sling, and blimps over to the flippers.

Like I said, initially we thought it was the softness. With 6 or 7 hardcore pinnerds around, including myself, it's tough to take everything in.

Coincidentally I did need to up the spring strength for POTC, from standard to I think purple.

Yes!!!! Unless I find a loose spring in my mattresses tonight!

This guy said very much the same! Played it 20 times a day for six months, still astounded!