Spooky crips are really bad. Re-crip anything not working. Several of mine pulled apart with minimal effort.

Sounds like a crazy problem and I understand your frustration. It's got to be a pinched wire that's shorting or one small thing that's so hidden you can't see it. Sucks for sure! It's unfortunate as it's such a great game. Hope you get to the bottom of it. If you lived closer I'd be the first one to help track the problem down.

Fact that spooky chose to use surface mount transistors and parts instead of through hole has made this entire experience way more of a pain in the ass. I can change a through hole part in my sleep. Surface mount requires me to send the board in for exchange.

Id rather not solder components to a board, nor do I expect that Spooky would run these boards if they are poorly engineered and dont handle failures well.

By what you're describing, sure sounds like something else is shortling intermittently, frying the board..( definitely can be a PITA to find).

I'd go thru all the connectors and wiring carefully at the power distro board first....having it mounted to the bottom of the cab makes it a bit vulnerable to vibration....then work out from there....

Best guess Ive got....good luck

( SMT here to stay, and in some of your other games as well)

Does pinball have a lemon law type of deal. 4 boards blown? Spooky should replace this pin IMO.

Same here . Coil fried . Had to swap boards . Doing that endless shorts and searching for wires not in place . Finally working ok but all hedge servos gone

I have 1 hedge servo down as well. Think I finally fixed my 3 drop target bank this week at least. All 3 targets would consistently get stuck up. Either the coil stop or sheet metal was out of spec Causing the fingers of the mechanism to have enough play for them to work inside the slits on the targets. Bent the coil stop enough to remove any play.

I would have been first in line for TNA 2.0 if it wasn’t for my Halloween.

Would be awesome, and Spooky really does a great job on the support side. Hope they get it sorted soon as the game is a blast.

( hard to believe there would be 4 consecutive " bad" boards, but suppose it could happen)

Only the last board was bad. Something (either code of mechanical) caused the other 3 to blow a mosfet. 2 of those boards were months between events

Ugh...

That makes sense....definitely sorry to hear you're getting thrashed on this machine.....spent what seemed like forever on my NIB WOZECLE sorting through all sorts of things. Was tempted to set it on fire a few times....eventually got through it and now love the crazy thing....

Is there a recommended fix for the pumpkin scoop shot?

It’s reject city all day on my game and I read others were having the same issue. Just wondering what adjustments people are using to lower the number of rejected shots on this scoop.

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If you have the same chip blowing on every board then you have to figure what that chip is for, what it controls and investigate that coil or whatever for a short, unless it's just bad electrical design then we will need official word from the company on a POA (plan of action).

Someone said there was an adjustment guide somewhere in this thread. I cannot find it. I also would love to know the problems and the fixes because mine has been excellent until recently where they occasionally bounce out, hit the knife and drain. Super odd, and it's happened a few times this week. It seems like such a large, open hole that any shot would just drop in.

A couple people have swapped out the back stop to have the shot bounce down instead of forward. There are some aftermarket options. I get the occasional reject back I wouldn’t call it reject city on my game. I can back hand it from the right flipper pretty consistently. I bought a different one but I’m pretty lazy and haven’t installed it yet. I think most people just most people fire it into the second playfield and let it fall in that way.

I think what happens over time the back board bends back. Some people have bent it back down. But this will just keep happening. A different shaped scoop might not bend as easily. Like I just replied, I picked one up but am too lazy to install it. Someone on this thread took some pics of a swapped out version.

Check the end of the ultraman thread

Anyone try foam impact deadening tape for pumpkin rejects?

Changed mine out early on...shared pics and some intall tips, now a very reliable shot...up in this thread somewhere..

I've tried backhanding and other angles off the flippers, I would say out of 50 tries, I can hit it maybe 3 times and most of those 3 times are from ricochets.

I usually go through the house to access it however, I should be able to hit it directly without the ball just bouncing into the outlanes. There are some modes/features that require a direct hit.

If there is a fix, we should add it to the forum topics with any other fixes or concerns.

BTW, any rumors on a code update before this Halloween?

Moderators, please key post the scoop adjustment and alternative part #. Thanks!

After some tweaking, I've got the ball going into the hole on successful shots most of the time. What's happening on mine is that the ball seems to be hitting the bottom of the plastic subway and bouncing straight back up and out again. I'm thinking of putting some foam there or something, but the ball still needs to be able to roll cleanly through the subway...

This reminds me - the mode hole shot on the Williams IJ has a very similar issue. The ultimate fix for mine was to remove the scoop shroud entirely and add the PinBits deadening foam. That stuff was magic. I’m not sure removing the shroud is an option here, but I sure as heck think it worth trying with the foam.

All that said, I dont have too many issues with scoop rejects - my issue is much more consistently with the center ramp shots bouncing off the diverter (I think that’s what is happening) and then immediately SDTM. That and when I get a slightly weaker shot up the ramp and the ball just stops on the upper playfield. I usually have to tilt to shake it free. I need to figure that out.

I know a few people had their diverter break from this issue. Amazingly, my center ramp shoots smooth as glass and it's the left ramp that rattles frequently, particularly when backhanding the shot. I haven't figured out the fix for that just yet.

Drop dead foam is amazing ( still have a couple strips hoarded in my stash) . Hard to find anymore..( believe Pinbits is gone or something) there were similiar products listed in here some time back as well.

Doesn't really work for this application ( I tried) due to the spot where the ball hits the scoop, along with its shape.

Bending the original back down after its been smacked up definitely helped. The permanent fix is replacing the "scoop" to a "deflector", acting simply like a backboard...sends the ball into the hole.

Also have to pay attention to the mylar strip around the protector. Can act as a ramp if it's on the metal, instead of just around it.....the little things...

I ended up bending the coil stop on my triple bank drop target as well. Hoping this does the trick though there is still some play but a bit less than before.

I have very few scoop rejects on my HWN and UM and have not done any tinkering. Both are somewhat later builds--don't know if Spooky made an adjustment?

I’ve had zero issues with my Halloween…..
In the middle of a good game it froze.
First ball, started sanitarium mode then started Laurie strikes back. I completed Laurie strikes back and at the end it locked up. I had to reboot twice to clear it. Is this a known bug?

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Same thing happened to me last night!!

Had a decent game bricking shots in my scoop (lol), then suddenly, the screen went black and there was no sound and some of the lights dimmed. Strangely there was still power to the flippers.

First time it ever happened. (Guess I'll check the cables it see if they are seated correctly).

I wonder if it's a software issue though.

I'm 504, what number are you?

Great. Hasn’t happened yet, but I can absolutely see this being an issue - when I get a good shot the ball rockets up the ramp, and explodes against the diverter, then like I said, SDTM.

I’ll have to work on backhanding the left ramp - I’ve not been able to do it with a ball in motion, but it’s still an easier shot than backhanding the Houdini inner right loop, which I got damn good at.

There have been a number of posts on this. Sounds like just undoing the screw and repositioning the diverter left or right (depending on your issue) as needed fixes it. Good luck!

I have had numerous what I thought were clean shots up the middle ramp get rejected and sent rocketing back SDTFM.

Are we all sure it's hitting the diverter and then rebounding? Because it has to get past the spring steel tongue that is supposed to prevent exactly this type of rebound.

I have had a close look at this area on my UM, and I suspect that sometimes the spring steel tongue is hitting something and not letting the ball get past and rebounding it.

I have shaved back one side of the cutout in the plastic, which is clearly off-center.

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I must have missed those - thanks!

706

Thank you! I posted on Facebook and people saw your house mod and they ended up ordering from you. Glad to been able to send some people over to you who are not on pinside. The mod you did is one of the best.

How many other mods has someone gone to the trouble of actually filming and acting in their own mod? Let alone designing and building the actual mod to put in position? I have his Crate mod for TWD which is amazing but this looks to be another amazing Vimtoman mod and not just another flashing light mod!
So yeah definitely one of the best
Wish I had my Halloween to fit one in, but that maybe very soon now.

Got my spare metal gear servos… and a new T-shirt.

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Just joined the club after having Halloween standard #1209 transferred to me. Can't wait to bring it home!

A few shots w Orange EL pumpkin ( I landed on orange vacuum chromed flipper buttons)...color blend a bit more red during the day for some reason, but done screwing w this one. Armor absolutely kills w the EL...

I'll start a thread in a few days gauging interest to purchase the EL kit.

Enjoy a badass version of this great game...

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Looks great!!

I second that

Oh, helllllll yes! I'm in!

I've got a trio of spare metal gear servos coming on Tuesday.

I also clear-coated my rails and lockdown bar yesterday. It's a "preventative maintenance" sort of weekend over here.

So any tips on prep before I spray the rails/lockdown parts with clear ?

Nothing from me! It couldn't have been easier or more straightforward. I just took them off and did like 3-4 coats, with each coat a little heavier than the previous one. I sprayed mine outdoors in AZ, so it didn't take long for each coat to dry.