Agree that GZ is not the greatest game for novices.

I draw the line there haha. I said “pinside maligned games that actually rule” Thunderbirds ain’t that unfortunately. Waste of a great theme.

Looks sunny tho. You in Alaska!

Congrats!

Yeah, I asked in advance explaining the situation. It was $120 I think.

Im not particularly an Alien or Halloween movie buff, and I havent even see an Alien PB , much less play one(I know there are some in AZ, let me play!!)

I would have been worried about the reliability of the Alien pinball machines old school and new school. When Halloween was released I feel like I found another pin that's gonna provide that same type of atmosphere, so I jumped.
Ive played it less than 20 times and just know its going to kick my sensory overload ass with lights off and movie cranked!!!

It sure has enough Ball Saves for them!

Really overrated, imo.

Someone, somewhere has to like Thunderbirds. When the last one I saw sell used was going for $2700, I ALMOST bought it just so I could actually lay hands on one and play it to see if the hype was deserved.

Hey get the anti rattle tape. Between the sub and the shaker it's too intense. I still have to get some cause that glass rattle drives me crazy, although it adds to the anxiety of the atmosphere.

Just finished installing my Rocket City Pinball mod 'Halloween Start Button' Easy and looks fantastic.

Thanks! Balls & Knobs for life!

The rest of your topper should be in the coin box.

Yea completely opposite for me. GZ is pretty complex, but again every shot pretty much does something. Even if they have no idea what is going on, the game is exploding with points being tossed out for anything you do, callouts triggering non stop, lights blasting, sounds going off, movie clips constantly changing, it's a frantic and constant game of something happening.

While with Halloween I'll see players over and over again trigger Sanitarium mode and just be locked in that for long periods of time and not being able to do much as they are locked out of other things. Same thing with house mode, where they flail around trying to get the ball to do something and instead or just hitting a bunch of targets that now give zero points. At a recent party a friend in house mode was just sitting there with the ball smacking around in the sanitarium level hitting the targets and plunging into the hole which just spits it right back out, he was there for a long time and looks at me and goes wtf, no points for this?

Do folks stumble into modes? Of course, but the game is far more strict on how your supposed to play when games like GZ and many others anyone can just sit there slapping the balls around and watch points rack up without needing to know whats going on. Halloween while I like it, doesn't feel well designed for newbie play or those not informed on the rules.

Yeah…um, people who slap around without reading the rules will do just that. Slap around and go…huh? Rules objectives and strategies are the building blocks of games. Pinball is a game. No rules, no strategy…no game. I could care less what people who don’t know what they are doing think about these pins honestly. They simply don’t have the knowledge to critique it. How lame to just expect to be rewarded without making an effort.

Actually I agree with you, because I'm pretty sure we're talking about different people. I'm describing very new players: they know how to flip the ball back into play without double-flipping but are mostly going to stumble into any significant features. I watch them play GZ and they just can't stay alive long enough for anything besides maybe Jets to get going. More experienced players who know basic aiming, trapping and getting the ball to the flashing lights will get a lot more action out of GZ. I got a buddy like that, only plays pinball when he visits my house, knows just the basics and he got 200M on his first GZ game.

Ok well if we are gonna compare Halloween to Godzilla we seem to be leaving out one very important thing… Godzilla launched in a fun playable state last October with just enough modes and most that casual players will ever see. While Halloween launched HALL-O at a similar time, it was a very ruff in vanilla code.
Now they are both in like the top 5 games of the past 10 years. I hope the new update cements that and people will give it another chance.

What a post. Yes, exactly.
Remember how EHOH launched. Now everyone is desperate for one at $20K. I am a huge advocate of Cassandra too, but $20K?!?!

Turns out code matures a game…

How is everyone's self applied Max 2K clear coat holding up? Mine looks great.

I own both gz and halloween, they are both great games.

Sure thing ….

You should be able to track it down on line. It’s streaming free here on TVNZ (one of our TV networks)

rd

He gets it.

rd

Picked up 903 (CE, butter), driving back now.

Curious how others are dealing with flipper fade? I get into a game play about 20 minutes, and then the flippers get so weak they will not make it up to center ramp. The first 10 to 15 shots will go up with no problem after that barely make it.

I have not had any fade so far.

I have not experienced this at all, even after playing for over an hour. Have you checked the coil soldering? Maybe it's backwards or something

Checked everything on mine and it is fine. Problem didn’t start until after I got to about 500 or so games. And it is both of the bottom flippers.

The coils do get really hot though, seems like we really need an adjustment for the coil strength.

Thanks. Watched it online. Now I wanna go watch videos on slot machine audio design...

Also re hot flippers, it seems like that is a very short amount of time before fade sinks in. Perhaps the flipper mechs are binding a bit, making the coil work harder and heat up quicker.

That’s pretty weird. I’m not sure how many games I’m at, I’ve only had mine a couple weeks.

Could something have happened to the coils that reduces their efficacy? Usually on an older game I’d check the coil and see if it’s expanded and/or melted the sleeve. At least we know it’s not the Stern coil stops

Probably going to try changing the coil sleeves. I have had similar issues with auto launch on my Stearns were new coil sleeves fixed it.

Never said it was bad. The original discussion was centered around folks not understanding the game, rating it low, calling it bad. Halloween is a game that you really need to learn to the rules for it to really click. I love the game, and not saying one is better than the other. But just pointing out that it feels like it's a game that many will judge harshly from the get go without really investing time to learn it, while other games give you the instant whiz bang gratification.

I consider myself a pretty novice player overall. I can “light up” a few machines at my local pin locations, but I’m rarely (if ever) hitting the high score board.

Anyway, owner of 6 days, got my first Fear the Reaper to play, and a new high score.

I think the game is great.

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Make sure the flipper bats move up/down (vertically) around 2mm. If they’re too tight on the bushing, you’ll see what you’re seeing.

rd

Halloween is definitely a hard game for newbies/casual players. Godzilla and many others are probably better suited to a broader audience. Nothing wrong w that, we want pins like Halloween that is both challenging and deep, with more things to reach for. Imagine if all pins were as easy to play as Cactus Canyon!

Nice synth dude!!

Fun fact: some of the sound effects you hear in HWN were made on my synth:

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OK, for anyone who has had the issue where a ball hit has damaged the RBG LED strip on the edge of the middle playfield, here is my attempt at a ball shield.

I just made it so testing begins today.

.093 Lexan
8" x 1/2"
Heat bent

Preheated my toaster oven to 325F, laid the lexan strip on a sheet of aluminum foil on a tray, and waited 2-3 minutes until it started to sag.

The first time I tried, waited too long and the lexan bubbled on me (ruined)

I had on leather gloves and bent the soft hot lexan over the corner of my wooden cutting board; not a perfect match to the curve, but close enough.

I was worried my heat gun would heat it too much too fast.

Since I was replacing the broken led strip anyway, I used the zip ties to hold the shield in place.

RM

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Is that foam at the hole backplate factory or aftermarket?

Nice - I bend this stuff all the time. A heat gun is the way to go.

Aftermarket. It's "drop dead foam", supposed to absorb kinetic energy.

It help reduce ball rejects, but only a little.

I want to try a different shaped scoop altogether, but that's another day.

RM

OK, next time Ill try a heat gun.

They scare me around plastics.

RM

Old Milwalkee, black bow, synth, long blue rope? - interesting stuff going on here. Cool floors

The ball save effect needs to be changed. It's abrasive on my brain!

Thanks! If you ever wanna collab on some SFX, drop me a line!

Very impressive! Modular stuff is pretty amazing. I don’t have the patience to deal with it but you can make some AMAZING sounds!

I did the same thing but it didn’t seem to help. I’m going to replace my scoop eventually. It’s not horrible but I’d score a hell of a lot better if the ball would go to it’s damn home.

One of many assembly issues on my Halloween. This is where the center ramp drops the ball at the upper playfield. Check out the gap between the ramp post and the ball guide. It's almost half an inch. Ball trap 50% of the time. Only way to free ball is to pull glass and lift up the playfield. This issue alone makes my Halloween unplayable. I can't believe theyshipped it out like this. 20220927_152824 (resized).jpg

Another issue. All 3 of my hedge guys have extended seizures during boot up, and every time after they swing out and return to the set position. Guessing the servos are not adjusted correctly. Anyone know the fix for this? Having difficulty reaching Spooky tech support.

For people experiencing Scoop Rejects:

Have any of you tried swapping out the underperforming one with one of the 3 other scoop deflectors from the left side?

Pretty sure they are all the same part and if your main scoop is rejecting, couldn't hurt to swap it out for another one on the machine.

Thank you for sharing that. Mine appears to be a gap issue and not a height transition issue. But I will try that and see.