Yea that's the worry, Alien is still a machine in production for however long they can sell it. Halloween/UM were one and done games that sold out, so the pressure is not the same, but we have to hope that reputation to provide a quality product remains on the fore front.

Same for me. I was so excited for Spooky games going forward but no way I am buying another one until Halloween is fixed.

I really like that game but mine is definitely not dialed in. I think? the targets work correctly but there appear to be a lot of reed switches being used - which is nice ,but man do they miss a lot. And the fact that I can have a fast ball in the right inlane go through what is supposed to be a one-way gate and DRAIN pisses me off to no end. It's fixable, I just haven't done it yet. Can't figure that decision out. Great immersion though, shots and layout are decent.

That's the killer. They know EXACTLY how much money they made on this game and where the profit margin starts to dip. Not like say JJP who can crank out another version of WOZ and mint themselves another million bucks, along with updates because people are still buying the game. Anyway, we KNOW there's at least one more update out there, and unless Keith Johnson started working at Spooky recently, it should actually be released. (yes that is a joke)

Has anyone here been a beta tester for any pinball machines? In the 80s I was an official beta tester for Microsoft and Apple. I was working in electronic pre-press and the integration of scanners, printers, RAID and high end output devices made my Agfa, etc. I would NOT be a good candidate as a beta tester for pins but I know a lot of you would. I believe it would be an extreme service for the pinball manufacturers since you would be coming into a project with 'fresh eyes'. Just curious.

I can't disagree with that statement but when Scooby-Doo was announced my wife said buy it. We discussed on buying Scooby-Doo and I said let's not buy it because Halloween code was not finished. By 2pm on the day you could order Scooby-Doo my wife was so worried we would never own one I purchased it. I kinda regret buying Scooby-Doo because there will be post after post about the code for Scooby-Doo is not completed. I understand Spooky needs to sell games in order to have cash flow but man please focus on getting some people in that can code games...

Scooby looks like its getting lots of love and the code looks far more along than what Halloween was within its first year of release. I have a feeling Scooby is going to turn out very well really. It's got hype, they still got machines unsold and to produce, and they are showing a lot of speed in code releases so far.

I'm going to stop reading post in this thread. If and when the new code comes out my wife will find out on Bookface. I'm going on vacation this month in Gatlinburg Tnn for some time away from this frozen state we live in.

Truth! That said, I am avoiding Scooby until the secondary market. I said before and still think that we will get complete code, but, they have definitely screwed the pooch on buyer confidence, and in turn, the secondary market values. Keeping Halloween, but aware of their choices and affect on values. Fool me once...

Same story for me as well.

you should stop getting excited like that.
So far, spooky has never missed a pin.

The economic reality of this small business means that they certainly cannot hire a team of 5 people for this, so you have to wait a bit.
My big lebowski released in 2016 only had its final code last year! nothing is lost !

the impatient folds just have to go to Stern,
but it doesn't have the same flavor...

FOMO is no longer a concern of mine, here.

It's been a week since Spooky has last made any posts in this thread.

I wonder if new code release is soon.

Licensor has been an issue the entire time for this game - wondering if thats the true hold up right now.

Don't think we will ever know. Just hope that the code support lasts to finish the game before the license runs out.

Just managed to get mine to crash, was having a great game too. Never happened before and was quite pleased really
Sent off to Matt.

I've only crashed my Ultraman once in over 1000 games. I had stacked the upper playfield multiballs with the roaming shot quick battle. Sent Matt the log and he said this was a know bug and that a fix was in the works. This was shortly after the last update. Matt was quick to respond, next day if I remember correctly. I was impressed since he is in New Zealand and there's such a big time difference.

Yes he is pretty quick, reported other stuff as well. Had quite a few things going on before it crashed, can’t remember what though but was enjoying it and doing well. It’s probably something they know about but best to report anyway.

Have been really getting into my game lately now I have fixed a few things that were annoying me.

Cant wait to see what’s coming in the next code release.

Any advice on how to dial in the pumpkin scoop?

I already have Vitoman's scoop mod which helped a little but still get lots of rejects from the left flipper.
Since day one only about 20% of direct hits go in.

I have tried changing angles on bending the scoop deflector with plyers before.

Any way to measure the right angle it is supposed to be at?

Removing the deflector looks to be a big job because of the upper playfield over it.

Easiest way to really dial in that shot is just to back hand it every time. I was about 90% on that shot backhand.

Or shoot the sanitarium and let it fall in

Another week of waiting....

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Matt reading this thread

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I was afraid that is the way. lol

He knows his shit, I bet he's totally done with the release

Finally, after long delay, I am able to offer new ball deflector shields for all Halloween and Ultraman machines.

Replace that flimsy, cracked, or broken ball deflector shield with this newly-designed version. These new deflector shields are cut from 3/16-inch thick polycarbonate. They will not vibrate, bounce, or break due to ball impacts. Included are detailed instructions and new posts to replace the existing posts under the left side of the shield.

Link to Pinside Ad: https://pinside.com/pinball/market/classifieds/ad/158666

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Yep, he goes above and beyond with helping from my experience with him. His last update was a big step in the right direction and can’t wait for the next one.

Ultraman new code was just released, apparently Halloween will get released next week

Let's hope it pans out!

So from the Ultraman video on new code, the new expert mode they added is quite in depth. I have a feeling Halloween's version is going to play differently possibly as the Ultraman mode seems very thematic and tailored to the show, so possibly another new mode that sets the games apart? That's always nice.

But as typically the changes mirror each other, they did talk about score changes/balancing was done, making some stuff worth more points and such

Also sound balancing was done in Ultraman, and that new volume options added to allow the tweaking of music, sfx, and voice separate now too. So imagine we are seeing that in the next update as well.

The changes Ultraman is getting is here: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/ultraman-kaiju-rumble-owners/page/82#post-7618094

Again as before typically the changes to either game get mirrored so we are almost surely seeing these changes happening in Halloween also next week.

Code next weekend!

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So my wife and I are eating dinner and says to me I just saw on Bookface new code for Halloween next week......I'm still going on Vacation soon. Its been a chilly week here and we have bad weather from the fires from Canada. Hope everyone is OK. On a side note we were playing Dale jr and she was having a few bad games and she yelled at the game and cut it off. I asked her can we sell Dale jr and she said I'm going to sell you old man....

The sound balancing will be very welcome addition - the mix is a bit all over the place at the moment.

I feel like the lights need some attention. They seem very random

Have all 3 and would agree. The first 2 are in the top tier of best pins.

Halloween has a ways to go.

Will be interesting to see what the new balance is, but now that we can control each option ourselves too it will help I think.

Also Ultraman got a volume setting just for the MB, so that will please some folks. Interested to see if the polish updates on videos and such that Ultra got will be part of Halloween too. More polish the better

Most interested in is the new score balancing, cause really the old jackpots in the original game MB modes was pretty weak compared to the new modes that have been added.

For me, Halloween is still a better game than Alien in terms of shots and layout. Alien is the GOAT for its audio/video package though

Hey all. Having an audio issue. I don’t have a lot of experience with these amps but every time my shaker goes off I loose power to the amp. The power cord is loose. It seems like the connection to the amp is bad because when I wiggle the cable to the amp the audio cuts in and out. Has anyone experience this ? Thank you

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Interested in Halloween, I was wondering if the standard edition has been released yet. I see on Spookys website its sold out but dont seem to be any around. Will they be making a big run of standards? Is the demand there for them?

They are out there, but Spooky didn't make very many SE's or BSE's. The run of Halloween was almost all CE's.

They have made all the HW games, standard editions are the rarest because most people ordered the CE. Out of 1250 games, the standards may be 100-150 of that total number. You can get a CE slightly used right now for what a standard went for new.

Ford makes a ton more XLT trucks over XL. Doesn't make the XL worth more.

But that is some people's train of thought in pinball.

Only thing that makes the standard suck is it’s not Shaker or Knocker ready and I don’t even know all you have to do for it to be.

Make a wire harness to connect the game to the knocker/shaker board, buy the knocker/shaker board, knocker and a shaker.

Delete

Personally my issue with the standard is that there is no decals at all on the targets, it's very bare bones and looks too plain.

Love my BSE model.

Agreed Doug....love the butter cabinet and alot of gameplay aspects/ vibe of Halloween, but sort of garbled ( for me) as a complete package...will hang on and hope for code like many here...

27" BB screen, PF screen, combined with the killer audio in OG Alien just pales the rest in that area...still the most immersive experience in pinball, imho....

And your awesome Alien mod Mark. Most immersive experience in pinball I agree!

For me, if you like GNR, same big concert screen, the blow out rock concert for fun is right up there too.

Hopefully they can take Halloween to the next level. It’s a fun unique layout perfect for the theme. Like you said, not the close to the complete package

Right now, it’s a $6k pin that nobody seems to want