Thank you. I plan on getting new Titan rubbers this week and will look at your setup!

The post rubbers are incorrect on Titans website when I ordered them. I asked Titan to correct it.

Is there a way to get 3 balls on sanatorium?
I’m not talking about Judith with it. I had 3 balls last night and definitely not with Judith. That shot on sanatorium after it kicks it out?

Lol had this typed out SpookyBug then watched the beginning of the video

How does Stalker mode determine where you are physically located if you release the locked ball after starting Stalker and start playing with 2? Maybe you should disable the drop down from allowing locked ball drop when Stalker starts

Shenanigans? Ok. Guess Stern does shenanigans when it takes them time to release code. Don’t buy from Spooky again if you feel ripped off. Simple as that.

I don’t think there is a way to prevent the release of the ball trapped in the Judith tombstone lock. The drop target is just held in place by spring tension. It will drop when hit regardless.

It could drain the trapped ball at stalker mode start, keep track that a ball should be in there, then launch a ball if you hit the target after stalker ends.

That kinda works but would give you two balls for stalker mode. Most people wouldn’t just let the trapped ball drain.

Kill the flippers and force the drain while the stalker intro is playing.

That’s beginning to sound Spooky hard. Probably just best to leave it as is.

You're location is always determined by your last shot completion. Essentially, hitting two quick shots with an add-a-ball, behaves the same as hitting two quick shots in single ball play. Stacking an add-a-ball with stalker would be a high risk, high reward situation. Those positive shots are quite valuable, but you also have to avoid Michael's location.

lpeters82. I just watched bugs newest 1.09 vid. I noticed once he selected death in the drivers seat all the lights were out during the scene video. Then kicked back on for the mode. Mine doesn’t do that…. Normal? Or did you change it before release.

For what it’s worth I used Stern style slim post rubbers for almost all my posts except for the pumpkin scoop and the back upper PF entrance.

I finally got around to reviewing this - its a very positive one.

Just finished watching the latest Buffalo Pinball podcast and wow they really do hate this game. I guess I could always see it being divisive and not everyone is gonna love it like I do, but one thing I can totally agree with is that thank god there are companies like Spooky out there taking chances and going a bit left field on games like this (and their others). For me at least, getting hold of Halloween, ACNC and R&M has given a whole new lease of life on my game collection.

Nick is a tournament player and his Hot Takes on pins are generally quite lame.

Most folks I've met in the local scene all seem to go "ew" at Halloween cause it's not your normal fast shooter, they see it as a "slow" game cause of how objective mode focused it is. They typically like the constant scoring ball hitting games where you are just always scoring cause the targets are always active everywhere. They really took a unique direction with Halloween, which I like but it's also a bit too much in that direction I think, which is why I would love for more gameplay and scoring to be opened up all around as some modes really shut off too much of the game playfield where the shots are totally worthless unless really focused in select areas. You can bat around the ball for long periods of time in Halloween and not drain, yet you barely will score if your not getting the objective targets hit, whereas many games that the tourny community likes, just are always pouring points at you for every little thing so the longer your playing the more points in general you are scoring.

I'm fine with Halloween being different, and the two upper level fields alone immediately sets some folks off as upper playfields can be kryptonite for some pin players. I think they got a good basis and ideas, they just could open up some aspects more to allow more gameplay variety, and getting that code more fine tuned. But just the way the game is setup will never please some players

Halloween is a thematic game that took lot of design risks, and is much more of a fan theme, it's not trying to be the next tourny game, and never will

That’s a good tournament game IMO.

Players with better skill will generally win.

No, I don’t think that’s correct (being a former top 100 player)

I think that’s what *the general public* like. They like the pin to be “doing stuff” all the time. Like Godzilla. There’s always something happening. All Stern games, the scoreboard is always moving. Spooky games, not so much.

In saying that, Matt asked me how we make these games better for a tournament. Play shorter. Etc.

My answer - not every game needs to be a tournament game.

rd

Lost another servo in my game. I sure hope the metal gear ones last longer because the crappie oem ones suck. I am not surprised the oem plastic ones are failing with as much jumping around the Michael(s)do now. They don’t need to be that active in my opinion. Sometimes less is more.

I thought this was needed due to Michael creep And it was intended to reset all the Michaels to perpendicular to the playfield. Why are there so many revisions of the pinataur?

I had the same problem... I sent AJ a message and he sent me new cables... One will switch out easy the other is best cut off and wires soldered to new with correct connector... For what it is worth I am now on my third board......... Good luck!

3rd board? Cut off and rewire to new connectors? Is this official guidance from Spooky support?

Yes guidance from AJ directly..... I just got my third board last week not installed yet..... The game is on location and on at least 8 hours a day. Spooky customer service has been great but the board issues I am having with this game are frustrating.. I have a game from the 80s that is on every day for the last 10 years with zero problems ever (besides basic maintenance).... Not sure what the solution is for my situation but so far Spooky's solution is to keep swapping boards.

Code can offer so much more than just scoring points. Pinball has evolved far beyond what your Granddaddy used to play. Video games did away with 'playing for a high score' decades ago. Why? Because the video game industry is full of fresh, young talent, each bringing in new ideas and innovations. And thank Christ, otherwise we'd still be chasing high scores in God of War!

To be frank, I don't play pinball for points... never have, never will. I play for the excitement of the game, making progress and enjoying the audio/visual experience.

So what can modern code do? First, you need young and gifted coders with creative imagination. Not just coders... anyone can code, it's actually very easy. No, you need creative coders. Think of a pinball coder like a film director, they are in charge of everything... the lights, the sets, the actors, the audio... it's all theirs to manipulate into an enjoyable and unique gameplay experience.

For example, Lonnie D. Loop coded Apollo 13 into a standard and very familiar pinball experience - shoot stuff score points. But my code adds much more creativity, including 3 new game modes: Classic (the original game), Movie (13-minute mission to beat the game in film order), and Music Odyssey (the original game but with emotive songs of the era added).

Here's the movie mode in action, which I think would be great for Spooky's HWN; giving the player an option to play the game in movie scene order with a time limit (when the time is up, Michael kills you).

In a single game of pinball, you can provide code that caters for everyone - young, old, amateur, pro... whatever. Don't be fooled into thinking pinball is just a physical game of hitting stuff to score points. That was decades ago.

The game shipped without the michaels moving so often,but then the 'michael creep' issue crept up, so you're right - Spooky updated the code to reset them and they started being a lot more active. I'm sure there's a middle ground. They do seem to flop out a LOT in the game. It's kind of like the Medisinyl mod on my EHOH where the coffin lid 'flap' when a ball comes down the ramp. But in that case, that's purely kinetic force (possibly not a terrible mod down the road. They only move when a ball travels behind them, after all)

I don’t know if the replay (not ball saved) animation is new or old but I just seen it for the first time ,scary well done

Anyone have there pin reboot when going into the sanitarium scoop as mine just did. Had never done that before.

played a few more times and tested it and it works great no further reboots... may be just a small glitch?

I believe there’s an option to turn off Michael Wave in the settings. That’ll stop them from coming out every time you hit the left ramp. I turned it off a long time ago. I like how it forces them to only pop out when you need to hit that particular scoop.

General pinball question: Anybody use a drill buffer kit to clean and polish their game? I’m getting a lot of ball trails and marks on my playfield and novus 2 by hand isn’t really cutting it. I’m experienced in polishing car paint. The playfield is just automotive clear coat right? In theory I should be able to use a drill attachment and foam pad to clean up the playfield as needed?

Damn, I am going to turn that off right now!

Yes that's been in since prior update.

That was always there.

reply fail.

Ive just been reading up on these servo’s and the cheap copy’s have shaft drift up to 90 degrees but the original Tower Pro’s don’t, most are copy’s.

https://vorpalrobotics.com/wiki/index.php/Tower_Pro_MG90S_Vs._Clones

A lot of us used these as replacements and they work great. amazon.com link »

Works pretty good..." tilt" sort of throws them all out of whack however....surely a bug fix at some point

In theory yes you can buff out the clear on a playfield but it is completely unnecessary, just use a little novus 1 for maintenance. I use blitz pure carnauba wax maybe once a year but for the most part even that is unnecessary.

Novus 1 and 2 by hand don’t seem to get the trail makes out. Something to just live with?

One of mine is wigging out, so I'm gonna go ahead and do all 3 with these. I'm guessing based on what I see under the pf, that I just need to cut some zips to give me some slack to remove the wireform. Then just replace all three and neaten up the wiring and then remove the slack and then zip tie again. Any pointers for a smooth replacement? Am I missing anything?

You can but it's overkill. We usually reserve this for much older games that have been treated poor for years.

It's never gonna be perfect if you play it; so just don't worry aboot it too much.

Ha. Thanks. I’m super crazy about the paint on my cars and that has apparently crossed over to my new pinball infatuation. Sounds like I should just let it go and maybe plan on a real polish job in about ten years!

Keep it waxed will help. You don't want to be cleaning out buffing compound from every inch of your machine every 6 months!

I’m ordering the originals, will see how those go.
https://servoshop.co.uk/index.php?pid=MG90S&area=Servo

Try some Simple green concentrate mixed about 40% SG to 60% water. Spray it on the trails, wipe off with soft rag.

Save the buffer for full strip downs.

rd

Exactly, super simple swap

Makeup Removing Pad + Warm Carnuba Wax = No more trails.

Wipe off immediately. Don't let the dirty wax dry.

If they are really well established, I use an exfoliating pad and warm wax. Same deal. Wipe clean before the dirty wax dries.

I feel your pain. Went through 5 boards before tracing it back to shoddy crimping at the 48v power line on the power distribution board located in the bottom right corner. My molex at the solenoid power on the pinatour was getting extremely hot and causing issues with the board as well and required re-crimping with a nicer quality trifurcom. Went through similar issues with crimping on my TNA. Also, the new board that I got was not compatible with the new rgb connectors provided. One will fit and the other requires a splice. No need for soldering. I just did this about 3 weeks ago and haven’t had any issues so far. Hope this helps. If your going to own a spooky pin I highly suggest buying a fancy crimp tool and some high quality trifurcom terminals.

https://www.pinballlife.com/156-trifurcon-crimp-terminals.html
https://www.pinballlife.com/molex-crimp-tool-for-0156-terminals.html

Also the new RGB cables will not match color wise with your old ones. To save you the headache of calling spooky here is the correct configuration and spliced wires. This will be for the upper playfield RGB section.

3F31216E-8E77-4A94-8DB6-3A7F0B7D64FE (resized).jpeg

So weird this would come out today, I was getting the ball trails out of my inlanes today.

I thought they were being stubborn to.

I was using maguire polishing paste #9 and #7 to get them out but looking closely I feel I can still see them slightly.

Depends on where the light is hitting. I have a canned light right above my machine so if it reflects from a certain angle I can still see it. In low light it’s hard to see.