#154 checking in! Can't wait to play the game, but also happy to see constant code updates and whatnot happening as the games roll out.

Is that pics of the bottom of Halloween? Did they, yet again, not put a sub box or a port hole in the cab? That's seriously the only thing i'm not stoked about on this game if that's the case. Can anyone else with one in hand confirm/deny this?

I mean, I certainly don't expect as much bassy type stuff as R&M and TNA, so I'm not seeing it being as major of an issue as it is on R&M, but it's ALWAYS needed. That's just basic acoustics. That air gets displaced and has to move somewhere and if it's not directed it's going to move things you don't want it to move.

and if there was a channel leading only to that hole I'd be all for it. Some of us have standards for holes!

They already have the parts and tooling for it, I want what was on TNA. This isn't a big ticket item. There is no reason Spooky shouldn't be installing these on every single game. Everyone who hears TNA comments on how good it sounds, and that is the exact reason why. R&M sounds like junk compared to TNA, even with all the fiddling with the amp and inserts to make the glass ridiculously tight. You can't put a sub in something with no enclosure and vent and think it's not going to make everything sound like junk.

I swear, am I the only one on pinside with ears?

Yes, this is exactly my point. Even if it was offered as an upgrade/option (though, they don't do that anymore), I would be fine with that. If the issue is cost, I'll happily pay more for a proven product that is better.

Yes...Spooky. TNA.

20160603_191819[1] (resized).jpg

Granted that is scotts prototype, so i don't know if they changed anything, but I highly doubt it.

I think the main reason anyone would be bailing, outside of people flipping them (because they don't count, we all hate them), is because of garbage streams. With more people like Karl (iepinball) streaming it, showing how the game is good and what potential it has instead of highlighting what isn't finished, that should help a bit. The reality is that ~75 games in the wild is nothing, and most people have not played it. I think more people have played Godzilla than have played Halloween tbh. So the only thing these people who bought in have to go off of is crappy streams. Spooky shares barely anything with regards to streaming or video. They don't need to, the games are already sold. They just need to make it a good game so people buy the next one. If spooky keeps their heads down and keeps updating the game, fixing bugs and making it better, as well as getting games out the door, then the good streamers will do the rest.

Just my weekly gripe reminder that the only reason this "fix" needs to exist is because the game does not have a ported sub box. I know, I 'm a broken record, but this is a ridiculously stupid problem that they already fixed on TNA and then removed after that game.

I'll be honest, most people don't want deep rules. They say they want deep rules but what they really want are wide rules with lots of different things to do at any given time (maiden is a good example of this, being able to work on true modes, mummy stuff, super stuff, etc and each having it's own unique things to do). As dave said, most people just simply will not get to those final modes. The other thing is, if you're getting to those modes no problem each time, the game does have difficulty settings...but most people, even good players, just don't want to make the game harder. They just want to have more things to do.

154 Options/butternobutter email came today!

10 ahead of mine, nice, should be seeing mine on the line soon as well!

#154 invoice paid today, butter cab. Getting closer!

Finally doing the 1.08a code update, followed the instructions for doing a full re-image on the old style(non-computer) board...I booted the machine up with the usb installed directly into the usb port on the board and the game has only had the backglass, speaker lights and topper lights rotating for ~3 hours with no changes. Did I do something wrong or is this correct?

The install instructions say "When the machine finishes imaging it will give you 3 options, at this point it is ok to power off the machine and take out the usb drive." but the screen has been blank the whole time.

Well, it's been ~6 hours and it's still in the same place. I'm guessing I must have messed something up :/ would be nice if the screen told me literally anything at all...

EDIT: Update, I decided to take the gamble and turn it off, unplug the usb and turn it on and it looks like it successfully updated to 1.08a. Would have been nice if the screen told me so, but at least it worked.

Just Spooky things *shrug*. This code update was just the cherry on top of the dead game i've had for months while waiting for parts from spooky. Everything is working now, but I went through a power supply, 5 boards, half a dozen coils and 2 leds before it was fully functional again. I took delivery, it worked for a few months, and when it finally got some wear and tear at our local show it was unplayable. Support team was great in helping me deal with it, but the whole concept that a burned out coil completely kills a main driver board is one of the most baffling things i've ever seen in pinball. Why even bother fusing the board at that point?

Anyways, it's working now so that's all that matters.

I mean no offense to anyone, and I say this as someone who has owned multiple spooky pins and has been a long time supporter: there is a staggering amount of Copium in this thread. I get it, they are small and boutique, but there are some completely unacceptable things happening with HARDWARE. Software is one thing, every pinball company sucks at software, but from the time my game bricked to the time I got it back up and running (like 5 months), there were still changes happening to the boards. I know, because I have 5 fucked up ones sitting next to each other. That's to be expected, because the pinataur board is a piece of junk, but where does that leave early supporters? What about the upgraded pc vs the old style board I have in mine? I have an outdated halloween pin because I was early in line to support the game. That leaves me with a sour taste in my mouth. Say what you want about all the other companies, but when you buy a pin you're getting the same one everyone else got. There has been QC issues with every pin company regarding clearcoat over the years, but when powder coating is failing on a brand new pin when my CSI from 2007 that got beat to hell on route has held up better? Unacceptable. Stop defending mediocrity and hold them accountable for these failings, because it's honestly ridiculous.

Spooky should be embarrassed about this. Except AJ, dude has the patience of a saint and helped me get my game sorted out, kudos to him. Spooky, fix your games and give AJ a raise, because he's the one who has to deal with your half-assed work.

Yep that's correct. They don't even take code the same way.

I'm 154, took delivery december 2021. As far as what is considered an early Halloween, based on the problems people are having I would guess anything built from #1 up until now would be considered early. lol

Test individual LED's, they are like an old school christmas light string, figure out which is burned out and replace it.

Harley Davidson (stern moderns first) came out in 1999, so I would say a game from 2009 is actually a perfect comparison, given Spooky's 10 year. So that's 24 NBA and #lord-of-the-rings-(le). Rule out LOTRLE because that was already popular with a big run and was the first LE. No hard numbers from either game, but we do have serial numbers to go off and those would indicate 24 had a max run of 600-750 and NBA had a max run of 1200-1400. I think that just gives a good comparison as to where stern was after 10 years vs spooky.

I think if people are unsatisfied they need to stop pre-ordering games from spooky until they prove they can actually put out quality hardware (as I said, every company struggles with software) AT LAUNCH. You can't tell me it takes 1000 games to figure out what doesn't work with hardware.

You know what's a great way to ensure you don't have to make board revisions during the production run? Sticking with the same platform for more than one game. You know, like how the major pinball companies do it? But, ah yes, this is a "boutique" company, so lets just give them a pass. Stern is no "golden child" as you say, and sure, I've had plenty of issues with NIB sterns...but they have all been relatively minor fixes (comparable, at worst, to fixing the orbit on R&M). The support at spooky IS great, but my machine was completely unplayable for 5 months. I'm not a lone case either, and that's not even to mention things like powdercoating issues. Beyond that, there is cost cutting. The only spooky game with great sound is TNA and they went ahead and for R&M and Halloween removed the ported sub box in the cabinet which made that game sound so good. R&M from the factory with no "user corrections" sounded like a rattly piece of shit. Also, 3d printing is for mod makers and prototyping, why is my 10k+ game full of 3d printed crap that is just NOT durable compared to things like injection molding? I get it, it can be cheaper, but it shows and it will not hold up over time. Hell, they are not even finished nice for 3d prints. Just zero care put into that. No diffusers put on the led strips around halloween, low led count on the strips themselves, etc etc. This game is full of cost cutting and it shows in every single place.

But the art looks good and the theme is nice, so who cares right?

I'm not new to pinball, I fix my machines when they break. I've done full playfield swaps. But when something that should be a simple replacing of a coil and a fuse becomes "replace the entire board, after waiting for a week and paying UPS out the ass", and not just once but multiple times, that is absurd. Why design something in pinball that can't be fixed but has to be replaced? The problem is when you switch to a new platform (and then mid-production run, change it further) that is unproven and untested, you are making your early supporters beta testers which is unacceptable. But, beyond that, thinking long term? How long is Spooky going to have stock in boards that are clearly inferior to any other board made in pinball history? I've gone through 5 of the garbage Pinataur board in less than a year. What's that going to look like over 5-10 years? Is this a freak series of events that nobody else has or will experience?

I don't like to piss and moan about pinball companies often, but this whole experience has really soured Spooky for me.

EDIT: I will acknowledge that supply chain issues with electronics components do exist, and I understand that plays a part in things, but that isn't the part that bothers me, and that should be clear.

That's true, and it's part of why I don't hate the game, despite my complaints.

That's a valid point, and I can't argue that. Counterpoint: I've never even heard of a single person having a spike 2 board fail. I'm sure it happens, but it's a proven platform. Node boards, lighting boards, etc, 100% those fail, but the main platform? Not often.

WRT 3d printed parts, am I unaware of spooky making all those stl files available? Does Spooky do that? Will Spooky ever do that?

I get that hardware goes through revisions, but again, my point isn't about the revisions themselves, but i'm just gonna let this hardware discussion die. There's two sides to everything, pros and cons and i'm not going to sit here and try and paint spooky with one big broad brush. I bought the game, I'm unhappy with the quality of parts and hardware, unhappy that I and many others are beta testers for an unfinished cost-cutting product that did not and has not met my desires for a john carpenter pin and unhappy that the code still has a really long way to go to make it feel even close to 1.0.

My point is, stop giving Spooky a pass for poor decisions. And give AJ a raise.

For real though!

So when are the people who have old style boards going to get the update? The "restore instructions" link still goes to the writeup for 1.08a (and as such doesn't have a link for the zip file for old boards).

Fair enough, would recommend the update documentation not saying anything like this then:

****PLEASE READ****
THESE INSTRUCTIONS ARE FOR MACHINES WITH THE ORIGINAL UP BOARD
IF YOU HAVE A NEWER MACHINE WITH A COMPUTER THAT HAS A CASE DO NOT USE THESE INSTRUCTIONS.
NEW IMAGES FOR THOSE COMPUTERS SEE END OF INSTRUCTIONS FOR MORE DETAILS
*******************

The main update link goes to a .pkg file. The update documentation says if you're using an old board to use the extracted contents of a separate .zip file (which includes a bunch of files and folders) and to not use the .pkg file. I'm hung up on the board thing because they have made it convoluted for me to just update this game. If I'm okay with just using the .pkg file, why does the documentation say something different?

Thank you for the clarification sans snarky remarks. Would be cool if spooky would clarify that on the webpage, though.