Here’s is what I learned in today’s play time. On sw test, manually triggering switches, the one under the traugh for the skull triggered once says not used, triggered twice it says slam tilt. I also found the sw on the right side of the skull, actually all 3 read something different than they should. On first trigger they say one thing, on second they say, token dispenser, 4th coin, and the back one says tilt. So I found the bad switches there too. It’s got a Rottendog mpu/driver board and whatever the one to the right of that is (pn DP5005)
I’ll try to add pics, your going to have to complete the sentence on some of the display pics.

The first pic is the 3 targets that are wired wrong it seems. The first or right one will start a game, the middle adds credits, and third is plumb tilt. The sw in the middle of the skull traugh is the slam tilt, and the one at the kick out hole of the traugh is the ticket dispenser.
Now I watched a video of this game being played, and I could swear it was all normal, right through the game. But It does have newer boards, and there (pictured) is a random grn blue wire from the mpu run all by itself to a wad of zip tied wires near the traugh. Any ideas of where to start corrections?

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The second picture, on the bottom of the mpu, has a connector with all white with colored strips on them. It looks like someone did a job on that because it is all torn apart. I would check the wiring order on that connector and the green wired connector to the right of it. Those are switch rows and columns. Do you have a manual?

I’ve been using the ipd one online. Is it pretty clear in the manual how it should go?

@troostr I have the same RD MPU the green-blue column 6 wire is in the loom with the rest, see pic below - seems suspect yours is not as that daisy chains to the upper stand up targets (Eggs and Bees), the under pf trough at skull and the power scoop.

An easy place to see the wiring order for these connectors in the Switch Matrix chart (manual pg 24 and a few posts above) I suspect yours are correct.

You could totally rule out an MPU problem (unlikely) following the "Testing the switch columns" and "Testing the switch rows" sections here;
http://techniek.flipperwinkel.nl/desega/index3.htm#switch

This is a good resource too describing how the switch matrix works, maybe your Column 6 wire is someway shorted to Column 1 (tilts, coins, tickets etc)
http://homepinballrepair.com/index.php/pinball-switch-lamp-matrix-troubleshooting/#column-short

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Bgresto are making Hook backglasses, proper printed onto glass not translite - something else to add to the ultimate Hook shopping list. I'm really liking the Retro Refurbs alt translite with the movie actors on mine.
http://bgresto.com/?p=2775

Hello everyone - my Hook machine plays fine but has no sound at all anymore. It used to cut in and out, and seemed to "reset" itself at the end of a ball, but now it's completely silent. If I try to adjust the volume I get brief static through the speakers but that's it.

I am interested in a new Pinsound board anyway, but I'm wondering if that would solve the problem on its own or if there's anything else I need to check first.

Thanks in advance.

It could be your volume pot is broken. Mine is very staticy, and very touchy if I adjust it its really loud to nothing at all. You won't regret the pinsound board. Best thing for Hook next to Chad's updated code.

I find chad's code shouting bangerang a bit to much

Lol, because you're getting high scores all the time? which bangarang call out are you hearing? Have you tried using Pinsound?

This is terrific, thank you... I'm not good at electrical stuff at all but my son is, so I'll go through this with him and see what we can figure out.

I definitely want to go with the Pinsound board at some point, but it'd be good if we can figure out a way to keep this one working for now.

Once you go pinsound you'll never look back

I don't have a pinsound board (nor the desire to get one). I think it says Bangarang when the whirlpool ramp hits the max value, since the value increases with drop target hits it goes up fast

Once you max the Windcoaster ramp at 15 mil, which I think is 15 pirate town drop target hits!, you do hear a lot of Bangerangs whilst 15 mil is maintained, hitting the ramp, hitting more drops, even when the left ramp status is displayed. Getting to this is a feat though (well for me), I most often hear it at multiball skillshot start and award.

Are there any recordings of the pinsound online? I do like the standard music and callouts but the pinsound shaker integration really appeals to me.

You hear "BANGARANG" a lot more often in the original code since it's much easier to get there with spamming the Ramp over and over.

Watch this PAPA video on the old code... he's just shooting the Ramp constantly. BANGARANG, BANGARANG, BANGARANG, BANGARANG!

Move a pinball 200 miles the thing is fine, move it to feet in the basement and it starts acting up...

Does anyone remember what the issue was when Hook would show "ball 1" when you are actually on ball #2 and then correct itself for the next ball and say "ball 3?" Its happened to me twice.

Also, on the pirate ships drop targets it shows "special" "extra ball" and "10 million". I'm guessing special and extra ball only pops up if you aren't on tournament mode? Does that swap out at random with the 10 million being awarded after the switch count threshold has been met?

Is there a setting in Chads code to make earning and extra ball something to shoot for? I know the skull shot will randomly be worth an extra ball a small percentage of the time. We have our 1st extra ball awarded at 80 million. It would be fun the have something to shoot for too, like, complete the pirate ship drop targets 3x and skull extra light will pop up or hit ramp x times and extra ball shot will light up. I know the DE star wars original code had a light extra ball option based off ramp shots... i know all the players on here can spam the ramp shot, but some of us are sucky players and like those "easy" wins (because they're hard for us!). Hoping there's a setting Im over looking.

If I recall correctly, there is a 20% chance that Extra Ball will be offered (assuming one hasn't already been offered/collected previously). Then it checks to see if it will offer Special but I think this is a very low % (but still greater than original code was). If those two fail then it will offer 10M.

Yes! If it is your last ball (Ball 3 in a 3 ball game, Ball 4 in a 4 ball game, or Ball 5 in a 5 ball game) and you haven't collected an Extra Ball yet, then shooting the Right Scoop when it is UNLIT (when Mystery Award normally is active) will lite Extra Ball at the Skull.

My original DMD used to reset mid game and behave similar, if so, another symptom was in a multiplayer game the other player scores would reset to 0 until the start of the next ball, also Freeplay would reset to Credits 0. In my case the "fix" was a Pin2DMD.

I remember mine doing the same as well. Dont recall that issue occuring after the new pin2dmd.

Thanks ChadH ! Gives the Mrs. & I something new to shoot for. For some reason that right scoop shot by Hook's arm is really hard for us to hit!

Did the scientifically proven method of wiggling ribbons and pressing all the connectors and the weird hiccup of ball 1 showing up for ball 2 and showing a zero credit on freeplay seems to have gone away.

Would it make sense that changing my batteries would fix this? I finally got the backboard open today and one of the batteries had kind of burst, although fortunately it didn’t make a mess. I changed them and the sound worked again. I haven’t tested any voltages yet but I may not need to at the moment.

Maybe a ribbon got bumped/moved when you opened the door and thats what solved it.

You know how the right ramp is used for croc time n' stuff, but the plastic sign for the ramp says Baseball Jackpot. Is it ever referred to in the game as Baseball Jackpot other than the instructions card? Seems it would make more sense if it said Croc Time Jackpot or something right?

Yeah, i can however hit drop targets better then hit the windcoaster ramp

It is highly unlikely/impossible that the batteries had anything to do with the sound. All they do is help the game "remember" it's settings (i.e. free play, high scores. . . Etc). If the sounds resets and you hear "hook, hook, hook!" During game play you might have a power issue getting to the sound board. Reseating the connections on the board and the other end of the harness may help. Also with the game OFF. Check to see if the fuse clips are holding the fuses tightly on the power supply board (upper left). Data Easts are notorious for the fuse clips . One last thing you should post a picture of where the batteries are located on the circuit board. If any of that alkine leaked on the board it should be remedied asap as it can render a board usless. Good luck.

I was just thinking this the other day. It’s very confusing especially considering the shot immediately to the right is the baseball lane that gives strikes and finally hits a home run. When I explained the rules to my dad the first time he said why isn’t it called the croc jackpot?

While we are talking about confusing, how come you can start croc time on the right ramp and it is it’s own mode awarding points for each right ramp shot and clock lane VUK shot, but one of the awards in the scoop is also croc time but is a hurry up just at the ramp? Really seems like one of them should have been named croc time and the other croc clocks or clock time or pretty much anything other than the exact same name.

In the animations they're "Croc Time" and "Shoot Clocks", but I do agree the shot targets have varying/confusing names, insert there an insert near the outlane "return to clock shop" or similar? Earlier in this thread Mikonos worked on a Rules apron card to better reflect the new code, I'm not sure they were ever right for the old code!

bobwiley are you exercising the Combo Shot? That's one of my favourites.

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Yeah, I love going for that one. My favorite thing to do is keep hitting all the pirate ship drop targets and jacking up the ramp value to something crazy, like 8 million and then draining the ball before I even get a loop on the windcoaster ramp! =p I think the skill shot is great, my favorite of all the games I've played. Shame the extra ball one (3rd hole) is set by a percentage code, would be nice if that popped up. Our machine never offeres it. We also rarely get the multiball one to light up either as we tend to earn that by our 2nd ball.

Honestly, I'm super excited about lighting the Extra Ball shot from Hook's scoop and then collecting it at the skull. Wish it could happen before the 3rd ball, but at least that puts some more extra pressure on trying to get the shot!

Just took the high score at 257 million last night. We have it set at:
3 balls
Tournament mode off
Extra ball at 80 million
Weapons factory

We're not ones to stop the ball on the flipper and aim, we aim on the fly for this game for the most part. Data East Star wars we would hold the ball to aim for shots, but Hook just is fun letting the ball roll, although now I'm probably going to start doing that to hit the skull more consistently. =D We also don't nugde the game.

Never got Bangarang on the Hook scoop, so excited for the day that happens, I'm hoping it does something crazy cool (which I know it probably won't...thinking the call out Looky Looky, I got hooky would be cool, although that wouldn't fit the perspective of the player since Rufio said it, plus he dies after that #spoiler).

I have some ideas for the Hook playfield, I might try to re-do the baseball sign so it makes more sense.

Wow those colored DMD shots look good. Is this hook getting the DMD colorized soon?

Yes, vbobrusev has made a full Pin2DMD colouring available. Those shots are from my own playing about with the editor.

The Pin2DMD version has been out for a long time, I dont know if/when the ColorDMD brand is going to release a hook version of their own.

I had similar problems and i replaced the auxiliary board for the chase lights and had no more issues.

Just received my Freeplay40 Ruffio replacement ramp (tm) What a difference to the original, the thickness of the plastic alone will make it outlast anything in the machine. A++ job on the packaging aswel, did get hurt a bit by customs on the VAT/import duties, but that was a calculated risk

on another note; is there any way to limit the sound output a bit more? Even with the pot all the way down it's quite loud (as it's in my living room)

Hi all

Got a mate in the middle of re rubbering a Hook.

He's found this wireform.

Can someone tell me where is it supposed to go???

Thanks heaps

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It goes on top of the yellow lane guides that are nest to the slingshots

Hey everyone. I’m having trouble with the skill shot kicker on my Hook. The kicker arm broke and I’m pretty sure the parts that were used were already not originals someone had made due with before. I’m trying to get it to work again and have tried ordering original parts for it but (A) can’t seem to find the correct numbers for this assembly in the manual and (B) nobody seems to have the parts I think will work in stock. I ordered a kicker arm for DE from PBR and used a different playfield mount from a different game and got it installed to where I think it should be and it moves freely as it should. However it still doesn’t kick the ball out nicely. It hammers the ball and it gets air and hits things making it very rare to actually exit that area. I’m thinking a slingshot kicker arm would work with the plastic piece but am wondering if anyone would be so kind as to take a picture of the original setup so I know how to set it up properly? Thanks in advance

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Bay78 I've worked on this mech on mine too, coincidentally I had a similar small bracket which didn't align with the holes and I corrected using a part found in the bottom of the cab! The top side doesn't look right either, it looks off centre and mine has a curved rubber tip v similar to a the slingshot kicker arm.

Perhaps better photos in crash shop out gallery in the Hook game area. https://pinside.com/pinball/machine/hook/gallery

Before
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After - bottom
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Top kicker tip
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This pic from crash gallery, perhaps mine is wrong!
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Bay78 I've been trawling some more on this as mine is suspect too. Based on coil wire colours this mech is referred in the manual (Pg 29) as "Big Kick" which has a parts breakdown of "Power Scoop / Kick Big Assy" (Pg 41). I think the mounting bracket shown in this breakdown is for the power scoop only as the tip would mount below the playfield. Here are some parts I've found though;

Kicker arm (like yours and crash pic) https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/515-5044-00
Kicker arm bracket (like mine) https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/515-5048-00 I think this matches your earlier mounting holes and would move the kicker tip back over.

Also, what coil do you have I note mine is a 23-800 but the schematic shows a 22-600

Hopefully somebody can post us a decent pic of this mech on an unmolested machine to clear this up

Im seeing a 23-800 coil on mine with same exact black beast labeling.

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Hello pirates, I've joined the Hook club! I had one week to read through this whole thread while waiting for my Hook to be shipped from the other side of Germany to me. It replaces my previous machine and is the sole pinball game in the home, so I was hoping it would keep me busy for a while -- apparently, with Chad's code that won't be a problem! The new ROMs are already being made and on the way to me by the end of the week. Good thing too, since my Hook is still running code 1.00!

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The great thing about my Hook is that it came with a Pin2DMD already colorized, and it looks sharp! The "original" DMD was also shipped with it, but it's in fact a PinLED display. That made the deal all the sweeter. Seemingly new legs too on the machine.

I lucked out with the Rufio ramp though as someone had the foresight to install a metal protector in the curve where the ramp commonly breaks. Thank god!

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BUT it's not all sunshine and roses as there are a few problems with it too. While the playfield is actually looking very nice, the kickback target is broken and the skull has a big crack in it. I will try to glue it as that seems possible, but those transparent targets might be hard to find?

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Also, the electronics... the GI is wobbly as the upper playfield will turn off after a while and wiggling the clearly hacked GI connector a bit will make it come back on. The pins on the board also don't look fresh. There's also a weird hack on the power board where apparently the HV section has been soldered together? What could the purpose of that be?

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But the biggest issue I have right now is this: the sound only comes out of the two pins that lead to the cabinet speaker. It's clear and loud and the volume pot works too, but the panel speakers stay silent. Well, they hum and if I plug the speaker connector into the sound board at an offset, I can get the right speaker to play sound instead of the cabinet speaker. The voltages on the board seem fine if a bit low (only +10 volts where +12 should be). I wonder if the amps for the panel speakers are dead? Does anyone have any pointers how to test for this?

And finally, the left flipper coil is of the wrong type and should be weaker than the right one; yet I can usually make the Rufio ramp shot. I guess replacing that is in order.

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While looking at the playfield I wondered why DE put pins under the slingshot plastics. I guess they are supposed to keep the plastics from sinking and bending, but the pins have damaged the art where they touch the plastic... that doesn't seem very elegant.

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(Also, who are the people pictured on the Rufio ramp and under the habitrails? They don't look like pirates... maybe the game designers? )

Anyway, more on my Hook later; I've got an embarrassing story to tell already after one day of being the new owner! I'm looking forward to reading more Hook posts here. Take care!

Interesting, the manual refers Big Kick as a 22-600 in a couple of places, I think I swapped it on mine for the 23-800 which is common, less powerful but does the job.

Ok guys, believe it or not I am trying to build a Hook from scratch and I am getting stuck on a few parts. I am wondering if you guys can help me. The main things I am looking for(and the toughest to find)are the skill shot ramp, the skull, speaker grills, and a few plastics. I have mostly everything else. Just wondering if any of you guys have some spare parts that you are willing to sell to a fellow Hook enthusiast. Please let me know. Oh and if anyone happens to have a playfield harness, that would save me a lot of time rather than building one. Any parts are considered, I still need a bunch of standard DE parts like pop bumpers, slingshot, etc. thanks guys

Welcome to the club. Your flipper coils look correct to me per Pg 28 in the manual.

Thanks @astyy. I looked at the manual today and found that it says 090-5030-00, which is one of the coils I have installed, but the other one is 090-5020-30, which is stronger (but just strong enough to make it up the Windcoaster). I've seen at least one photo here with two different coils installed as well, although not the same way mine are installed. The Pinrepair documentation about Data East has a table of flipper coils per game and it says 090-5020-30 needs to be installed on both sides; however another table further up in the same documentation says 520-5033-00, which is an entirely different number.

Can anyone check under their Hook playfield and report which coils are installed for the flippers? I can play my machine fine but I wonder if one of the coils should be swapped for a correct one.

As for my sound problem, I looked at the sound board last night and except for a .1 mfd cap that bridges two pins of the BSDM2000 chip, everything seems to be original, so the board wasn't touched up. I then put the board back in today and tested for voltages. I found all voltages correct at all the points I tested, including at the legs of the three amp chips. Then, when performing sound tests, I noticed that the right panel speaker started emitting sound, but only in certain higher frequency bands. For example, the intro/outro music would come in and out of the right speaker as the melody changed, whereas the cab speaker worked flawlessly. The left panel speaker was still dead except for some slight buzzing when high midrange was played. I wonder what's causing this (caps on the sound board would be my guess but the voltages behind them look fine; maybe it's the amp chips?)

Any insights by your Hook experts is appreciated.

EDIT: "BSDM2000" should read "BSMT2000"

Alright, an update on my sound issue: when I booted up the machine today and started a game, I had speech but no music. I immediately opened the backbox and reseated the ribbon cable on the sound board, which made it reboot and play the hurry-up track. After that sound was back to normal. During the course of play I noticed that the sound was louder than before (I had adjusted the volume multiple times with the pot) so I got close to the left panel speaker and surprise, there was sound! It was a bit brittle at times but it definitely came out of the speaker. This speaker was basically dead for three days.

I now suspect the volume pot is the case of the issue. I didn't think that was possible since the pot feeds the sound board and not the speakers directly, but it is a stereo pot with three wires, so maybe the stereo channeling got messed up by one wire dropping out and that made the sound board play mono only, and maybe that only feeds the cabinet speaker? I have no idea how this sound system works in detail.

Another interesting thing (not sound-related) is that even though my machine has *the gate*, I observed a ball falling under the shooter lane twice in the same game. Not sure how it got there since the gate seems to be low enough to stop balls from incoming...

I thought the pins under the slingshots are to stop balls from getting stuck.

New LED DMD from Boston Pinball. Looks awesome!

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