Dude, I understand the frustration. My Halloween buying experience with Spooky sucked. It came missing parts, the CPU had to be swapped, they had to update code to fix an issue my game was having. I had to 3D print parts to house them correctly. My paint came off the lock bar and had to be re-clear coated.

You don’t have to tell me these machines are not arriving in the shape they should. I’m sorry it’s happening, genuinely.

The fact remains, if you’re going to own a pinball machine - you will have to learn this stuff eventually. I think you’d be smart to take advantage of Spooky’s service team who will walk you through the basics.

It's more like getting into vending. You probably can't find a tech to fix your rare type of coin box or your food vending machine carousel motor. You should know that going in.

These are commercial vending machines. If you want to collect them as a little side hobby, you're in for a deserved suprise.

Now, compared to other manufacturers, is spooky's qc off the mark? Hell yes.

Completely agree - and I am glad I know how to work on my games. As you said - it has been a necessity. It is also why I am excited for mine to arrive - I do not care if I have to work on it. Id just like to expect to not have to.

I gotta agree with MP on this. My last Stern game had several issues coming out of the box, some QC, some probably happened in shipping, and some who knows. I was unable to get anyone from Stern on the phone or Email (Saturday) so I had to figure it out myself. I was luckily able to figure everything out except 1 item which I was unable to get a reply until Wednesday and got my replacement item the following Tuesday. Not bashing Stern or defending Spooky, just saying it happens.

If I had any complaint about Spooky is I've had a couple of things fail on this game that I wish I could get parts for and have spares on hand. I typically buy switches and other "consumable" items for all my games when I get them but really can't for this game. They have been magnificent getting me the parts I need but I wish I could order and have parts on hand instead of waiting for them to arrive to fix my machine.

Hard to argue with this. It’s in Spooky’s best interest to take care of this stuff WAY before something is boxed and shipped - obviously to make the customer happy, but it costs FAR more to have to spend time troubleshooting, shipping parts (multiple times!), not to mention the perception of the company. I’m sure they’re on top of it now - but whatever batch already got boxed and shipped.. hopefully it’s not too many units. I can’t imagine it’s that many in terms of sheer volume, but still.. yeah let’s get them fixed up! Lol

I am wondering how long Spooky is going to be referred to like they are a fledgling pinball company. I don't think that card can be played any longer. For example, most people consider JJP to be a major pinball manufacturer and hold their feet firmly to the fire with production issues. Yet JJP is only about 1 year older than Spooky and Spooky has actually shipped more titles than JJP at this point. JJP also had several titles that sold less units than HWN/UM (and TS4 may end up included in that!). HWN/UM was also priced comparably to the launch price of GnR.

imo, it's time they start making games with the same expected level of polish, engineering, and design as the big boys. No more exposed electronics and lamp sockets, missing LE/CE plaques, rampant code bugs, over-reliance on servos, thin playfields, failing powdercoat, misplaced lane guides, misplaced assemblies, NO MANUALS, etc. (hey, I can dream). I have been a big Spooky supporter in the past, but I expect more from them now than I did when they were just starting out.

Folks need to understand the difference of being able to fix machines, and faulty hardware going bad on new machines.

"oh you should know how to fix it" doesn't excuse the company who just sold you a new machine and parts breaking down or not working within few days of taking it in.

Problems need to be brought up, they need to be yelled out from the mountains as this is how you get visibility and how stuff gets fixed. The mentality that "it's pinball, suck it up" just lets the problems go untouched. Then folks go on boards and wonder why company X keeps doing Y.

No one has asked that spooky or any of these companies personally send one of their techs over, they just are asking for some damn support. Even a location operator is not gonna buy a new machine and go "oh well" when stuff breaks down right away on their new expensive purchase.

You expect people to keep paying a premium for your product, don't try to say "boutique" lets them get away with things.

I've had only good experience with spooky at least, but let's not trash other people problems and burdens as some kind of user error or waving away continued problems some might have

Literally no one is saying Spooky shouldn’t make this right, or that they shouldn’t do a hell of a lot better. I love Halloween, but they are flat out failing on quality.

The things I went through getting my machine up and running are not things you should be asked to do.

My only statement is, “This situation is unfair. It’s unreasonable for Spooky to put the burden on you. But the best available BAD course of action is to work with them on the phone to check the basics.”

I wasn't disagreeing with you. But there are others who are acting like "oh whatever" on folks issues as if they should be able to fix everything themselves. You sometimes simply can't, if stuff is defective, it's defective.

I have CE 603 wrapped snugly in her butter blankets in my garage and I'm on the fence about whether I'm going to unwrap her or not. It's 100% my grail theme but I've got two left hands, the thought of me lifting a play field sounds like a disaster waiting to happen, etc. I've read enough comments on pinside to know that I'm probably just not the right person to be owning a pinball machine. But, I really want this game ha! I am ahead on the deposit so I figure I have at least $500 to throw at a local tech should I have issues. However, if I have multiple issues, that 500 would get burnt up pretty quickly. I don't have any pinball owner friends so I'm out of luck there. Honestly not sure what I'm going to do.

Open it up. It’ll be likely be fine. Do you have pinhead friends around that are knowledgeable? Keep in mind we are discussing the nightmare issues of ONE owner. These issues are not across the board. It’s your dream theme.

Watch some videos on YouTube on how to set up a machine and open it up. You may have some issues or you may not but if you can change a light bulb you can fix most things with people/Spooky's help. If, on the off chance, you have a catastrophic problem give Spooky a chance and also ask around here, there are alot of guys in different areas of the country that can and will help.

A bunch of Pinsiders live by you. Make friends with them. Most of us are pretty helpful.

Wish I could swing butter but I’m gonna have to go regular. Also through spooky.

Oh wait let me check my for sale ad

Seriously was a dream theme and for the price of a pro the standard seemed great. I’m not into bling on games, I prefer the black of the rails and no side blades for this game. Wish I could have gotten the topper but my basement might not be tall enough.

So Mr. Donnelly, are you going to go fix his game if it doesn't work? Your flip-flops here are amazing. A lot of people have had a lot of problems with this game, not "just one owner."

I received mine 3 weeks ago. Played about 75 games so far. I have yet to lift the playfield or have one problem. Nothing ventured, nothing gained!

Don't have to imagine. JJP's warranty IS this.

5059CFBD-2535-442B-8EA4-CB3ED83B5228 (resized).jpeg

The standard rails will be silver vein powder, not black, unless something has changed.

That’s quite amazing eh!

Yes, again amazing when you think about it.

Yes and no …. HW and UM was available at $6999. The same layout as the two more expensive “upspeced” models.

Nobody was more surprised than Spooky when almost everyone (like, 90%) decided to plonk down more money than that to buy fancier versions.

Except kiwis - we’re all tight asses so most of ours are standards.

rd

I thought it’s just standard black, hell I’d take standard stainless.

FCE44B3A-E32C-441F-BC47-15BA6AE949F4 (resized).png

Interesting. I thought they said it would be the same powder as Rick and Morty standard and Alice Cooper standard. Matte black will look slick, though.

If I lived near him I would absolutely go over the game WITH him and show them around the game, show them my method for diagnosing issues etc. I do this for my new pinhead friends and so should you. You have to begin to learn and people like myself can help. I also have people that know far more than myself help me with head scratchers. THIS is the nature of pinball ownership. Any more questions?

But you don't live near him, and neither do I, so what's he supposed to do if it doesn't work?

I'm not saying he should sell it, but saying "It'll be fine..." is rather disingenuous.

I’d be fine with that, my buddy has a standard R&M and I think it looks great.

I didnt think those 2 pins had a standard model. You could upgrade any part of the game you wanted. The HW/UM was the first 3 model pin for Spooky

Did I NOT ask him if he had friends in the hobby? Man…go back and read all my comments. I’m done here.

Rely on the support of Spooky and people in this forum, all it takes is following directions and some faith that it will get straightened out. Worst case scenario is they got a true lemon and multiple parts keep failing, would think Spooky would happily give a refund at that point since they let a person return a game for a missing coin door latch.

I think that was more down to Charlie making a call on the dude.

Sometimes when you’re a retailer, you get a customer who you just KNOW is gonna be a huge pain in the ass, and you have to cut them loose and cut your losses.

Even selling used games, sometimes you’ll get messages and you can just tell, this guy is gonna be a PITA - and move on to the next one.

rd

When I was bringing up issues not to long ago my post got deleted and I was told I was a broken record, so it doesn't always work there either just get deleted like there is no problem.

I've got #833 sitting in my living room with the 2 front legs on. I tried lifting the back and DAMN it's heavy so I'm waiting on my hydraulic cart so I can finish setting up the game properly. A couple of days more ain't gonna matter after waiting for about a year. That butter sure looks nice! I don't have the Name Plaque either so I'll hit up Spooky after I've got it up and running. See how positive I am!

I reach out to Spooky today about not receiving my plaque and here is there response:
Thank you for letting us know, we are running into an issue with having them. We will ship it to you as soon as possible, as we didn't think it was worth holding the game up over. Thank you for your understanding!

No worries from me. I received a quick response back and I’m 100% confident that Spooky will deliver.

Well that's a good decision from them, not to hold the game - and a good response! Sounds like how they dealt with the shooter rod initially.

That said, it's PROBABLY not a bad idea to throw a little note in there about the missing part. And how the process will work to get one (e.g. "we will post on the site when the plaques are in; contact Spooky support afterwards to claim your plaque.." )

Dude, I’m a pilot for a major airline, but I don’t know sh1+ about fixing an airplane. Your argument has no validity. I guess I should take my Tesla back since I don’t know how to work on an EV, and I don’t plan on learning how to. ‍

Teslas are specifically manufactured so you can't work on them or buy parts. Though, RichRebuilds here in Massachusetts sure has made some great content trying!

Simply not true. Some things yes, but not all.
My point is just because you don’t have the knowledge to be able to fix something doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t own it.

Gotta say, dude. I restore Porsches in my workshop. I do know my stuff. It's true that it's nearly impossible to get parts for a Tesla and that documentation and support is nearly nonexistent compared to any other manufacturer. Door cards? Windshields? Batteries? No, no, and no.

This is just simply true. And that's before you even get into the shenanigans with software.

Onto the point, I suppose you could have no maintenance skills and own a pinball machine. If you're willing to pay someone $150 an hour to come to your house and wax your table because you're lazy, haha.

Fair enough, and yes I’m lazy. I’ve never paid a tech $150 an hour. Now for a massage, sure. Lol!

I mean this genuinely as a question, but I was at the Warbirds museum this weekend - and got to talk to the pilot of a freaking F-4 Phantom on display (Vietnam era fighter-bomber.) That dude talked my ear off about the maintenance of his aircraft.

Do most pilots not take an interest in that stuff? Or are commercial aircraft such a specialized product that the pilot doesn't have a meaningful role to play like in the Vietnam era?

I think with anything nowadays it's all just computers and it's hard for hobbies to really get into it. I used to love working on cars when they were simple but now, forget about it.

That’s awesome! I love talking to folks like that. Real heroes and so many great stories. I can’t speak on a time before me, but as an Air Force veteran I can tell you there are mechanics who hold certifications to fix and maintain the airplanes. My role is to safely operate it, follow procedures, respond to emergencies, etc. I understand the systems and how they operate but I do not maintain them or work on them in any way, and have no desire to do so. Some pilots are A&P mechanics but most are not.

A good salesman will spot them in under a minute.

Wheres mah new code

I guess I'm lucky. I've had a fascination for pinball since I was 6. Played on location my whole life until about 2006 when I bought a beat up firepower and nightmare on elm street for a package deal of $950. Didn't know shit about fixing pins, but thanks to RGP I got them up and running and never looked back.

25 or so pins later, I know these things need help at one point or another. But I have the confidence that if I can't figure it out, I have a whole community willing to help until I do.

Often lost in the stupid squabbles and arguments between us on this site is that we all have a common goal. It's pinball. And we will all stop and try to help anyone at the drop off a dime.

Hopefully, Spooky will be there to help. But know we will try to help in any way possible as well.

It's a great game and I hope everyone eventually sees the potential this game has.

Yeah, so I was specifically referring to aviation enthusiasts who own and operate small planes as a hobby…as an example to my point about hobbies that require a more in-depth relationship with the subject. Not Air Force or professional airline pilots…thought that may have been obvious. Guess not. Next time, perhaps make an attempt to step outside of your very personal experiences before speaking to people like they are infants.

I guess from where I sit, these aren't "set it and forget it" machines and if you aren't willing to work on them and fix them then perhaps this isn't the hobby for you. As I tell people who ask me about it, you're flinging around a steel ball at high speeds into things that break and they will break. Switches will need adjusting requiring basic electronics skills. Someone pointed out that these are essentially vending machines and aren't really designed for the novice person to own and maintain them and I couldn't agree more. Also, there is this expectation that comes with NIB that really shouldn't be there. Now that's not to say every game shouldn't be checked before it goes out the door, they absolutely should be, but shipping things like this can (and often does) cause issues. To be clear, I'm not saying it's okay to knowingly ship a defective machine because it's not. What I am saying though is shit breaks in transit, that's just reality so coming into this expecting a NIB machine to be perfect is just naive. The real question is, when you have a problem does the manufacturer stand behind their product? Speaking specifically of Spooky my experience has been an overwhelming yes. Same goes for Stern and Dutch Pinball, but my experience has been different with JJP... Either way, it is what it is and YMMV.

Not sure where this idea of NIB = Perfect came from but then again, I also don't understand where the "I spent X amount of money so I demand perfect" idea comes from either... I have certainly had issues with every game I own at some point and yes some have frustrated me more than others for sure. I've also said a few choice words about being NIB and all of that so I'm just as guilty of the logic I just questioned from time to time... But I've learned. How I view NIB today versus how I viewed it when I got my first are completely different in every way.

Jeff

I rebuild pins but I draw the line at ‘happy endings.’ Dudes gotta have his standards…

In this case, you are incorrect. We have league play at three different houses. There are over 30 people involved, several who own a dozen or more machines. They have all tried helping Jason with his Halloween. It just continues to have problem after problem. It has been above and beyond basic issues. This truly is one of those cases that the problems are unacceptable for the price you pay.

Keep us posted. It’s not how you are when things go well but how you handle a crisis. This one pinball machine seems terrible.

I rebuilt a lot of pins so issues will happen. Nib ain’t close to trouble free but not playable? That’s next level shit show. Spooky has a great track record dealing with issues. Here’s hoping they get things playable.

Fair enough, maybe he could start a donation pot at the next league night for return shipping. Or post a gofundme in here. It’s definitely a drag that his game is so wonky.