Given it's position near the Bird, it should hold and be called a Ninja lock. (since they were Ninja's in the movie)

Final version really to launch of Bird One Tower for the PRO, should have a pre-sale in the shop by Monday
In Action video can be seen here

Will you be making something for the Premium/LE? May take some doing to incorporate it with the ball lock but it looks amazing.

I have had my Bond LE for a little over one week now and even with the relatively immature code it is a lot of fun. The shots are not the normal cookie cutter shots that are contained in many pinball layouts which is a nice change of pace. I am a little confused about the whole 'Insider Connect' feature.

I updated the game code to 0.87 via a USB thumb drive and this is how I have been updating all of my newer Stern games. I noticed in the menus that I can connect to my local network via Ethernet cable or wifi. I scanned for wifi networks and successfully connected to my local wifi network.

When I go into the software update selection it says I have to register my game. I did create an 'Insider Connect' account. I am trying to figure out how to download/install software updates via wifi and I don't want to pay an annual 'Insider Connect' fee. Is it possible to download/install updates for my Bond LE via wifi without having to purchase an 'Insider Connect' subscription?

I don't mind updating via a USB thumb drive, but I wanted to see if I can also do it via wifi.

Gord

Yes it is free. Enjoy

"Tell me Mr. Bond, Are you a man who enjoys playing games?"

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Yeah it's a fun and interesting layout, which is different (which everybody always says they want).

That and the theme are the reason I got one.

Premium on location, anyone seen this ball jam? Luckily it was after our tournament and I was just goofing around checking out the new code.

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Yes, you can do it with the free account. To register you’ll use the qr reader to scan your IC code then in your IC account go to your games, find bond and click “complete registration”. On your machine you can go to software update and it should check your version, if you hit select there are some options for how to handle future updates like “install automatically “. The next thing to do is enable home team and add yourself and other frequent users to it so you can log into IC by holding the left flipper instead of needing a code.

No, but should be an easy fix for the op. Loosen the two bolts and slide wire form to the left a bit.

Yes this suddenly started happening, a lot. A simple adjustment as stated above fixed it.

Also, in an unrelated note, upon setting up my Stern Playboy I realized it has the same VUK to the right flipper thing in it.

Yes, started happening on mine and I just loosened the nuts, and rotated it clockwise a very tiny amount until it was impossible for a ball to rest between the wire form and the car, and then retightened.

New limited edition James Bond sign for your game room. Measures 28 x 18 inches. Made from real wood and hand painted by a local artist. These will be limited to a total of 10 being made. Comes with an limited edition plate.

PM for details. Thanks.

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Can anyone else confirm if the screw and washer pictured on my 2 way ramp are missing on mine or this is intended to be blank. It doesn't show as having a screw in the manual but it looks like it should? Sorry in advance for the newbie question!

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Mine doesn’t have a screw there either.

I think it's intended to be flexible there without the screw because it's on the up-side of the ramp, so if a ball gets air, the cover will absorb the energy by flexing up a bit instead of being rigid (with a screw holding it down to that standoff) and slamming the ball back down to the ramp, potentially causing a dribble-back. The hex standoff on that side is just to provide support so it doesn't sag down.

Need some guidance. Turned on my premium and got this message. Walked away and it seemed to clear but then game would not start - got a message it was attempting to locate balls. All balls are in the machine/in the trough

Thanks in advance.

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Mine is the same and I saw a couple of more users saying the same about their pinballs. Perhaps it's something from Stern that would be placed there eventually? Don't know
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I'd start with checking all connectors going to and from the node boards.

Survey says, no screw on my LE either.

My personal machine is the same. Also 4 out on the route that I fix are this way, 3 LE and one premium (5 total in my experience). Don't think it's supposed to be there. If you are a newbie, I'll just say most plastics on top of ramps get broken. They are there to prevent air balls. This may be loose to free up some movement to prevent a break. I'd almost suggest to use a rubber washer/bushing above and below a plastic on top of a ramp to lessen the blow from air balls. I'm no engineer so, I'll leave that stuff up to the manufacturer. I usually just replace broken plastic with a thicker piece of lexan from my local home repair supply store..

How do you cut that into shape? Never worked with that so I have no idea how that material behaves.

Anyone developing any specific scoring strategies with stacking? What scores are you reaching? Was at 400m pre stacking and seeing far less EB now so haven’t come close to that yet but haven’t got too deep yet.

I'm lucky to work with a great shop that has lots of options.
If it's a square piece (which on pinball plastics it's usually not) you can just score it with a razor and snap it, similar to drywall. I use a bandsaw for lexan. I Imagine a Dremel or maybe a jigsaw could work too. I always finish by sanding the edges by hand. I take the broken piece that I'm replacing and put it under the lexan and trace around it. Then use the bandsaw to cut the shape. If you had a grinder, you could probably shape lexan close to what you need with that. I'd be worried as your taking off a lot of material it may get hot and you would have melted edges and not good clean cuts. A grinder would be my last choice, unless that's all you have. I have also cut a piece too big and taken off edges with the only thing available at the time..a pair of tin snips. Once there was a butane soldering iron at one of my locations that has removal tips, one of which was for soldering, one for hot air, and one was a blade. Again I warn you using heat on lexan gives you ugly edges that you will have to chip away with wire cutters, razor, or whatever and sand the edges smooth when you are done.

Coin-door closed?

yeah Mike.....coin door is closed!

Since the boards are the same, you can swap node 8 and node 9 (changing the dip switches on each to tell the board its new number) and see if the problem moves to node 9. If it does, you have a bad node 8 board. If it doesn't your problem is elsewhere.

Just a heads up, owners: I was under the playfield today and noticed a bunch of wire bundle/connector labels near the right side of the pf... the adhesive is failing on almost all of the stickers, so they're likely to fall off if you bump them (or maybe vibrate off on their own). I'd imagine most folks wouldn't have a need to disconnect any of these, but just in case, you've been warned....

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I noticed the sound and music on mine sounds a bit scratchy at times and not very crisp. My machine was outfitted professionally with the kenwood speaker upgrade. Do the EQ tweeks help it out?

Thanks much, this all worked very well. I am now added to the 'Home Team' on my Bond LE. How do I add another household member to the home team? I have poked around and cannot see how to add my wife to the 'Home Team'.

Thanks.

Gord

My Bondis the same way.....all those are falling off

Yep I can also confirm mine doesn’t have a screw there. I can’t remember which one right now, but I have another Stern also that has a design hole but no screw in a plastic like that over a ramp so it seems they do do that from time to time. Perhaps it was a change in design after they fabricated the parts and they just left it?

You have to go back to home team setting and add her, just like you did with yours. She also needs to have a insider account. you also can watch a video on Sterns site.

Yeah, Stern's opto flags have had terrible adhesive going back to the LotR days. They just never fixed it. I think part of the problem is the material they're using is too stiff, so the tension to pull back apart is pretty high, and then machine heat weakens the adhesive, so they open like clams in a pot before long.

Joined the Club Yesterday Time to start moding

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Put a set of the Wizard art blades in yesterday. I think they look great! They pick up on the playfield regions nicely. I really prefer mirrors in my GZ, but these look great in Bond.

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It really depends. Called in to Stern Technical Support about to inquire about the scratchy, crackly, buzzy audio in my Pro. The support rep told me they are aware of the situation, mentioned the crackly pop bumper sound. Said there will be a software update to address it.

Assuming everyone is having this issue?

The audio on my LE is pretty terrible. I usually throw in a Pinwoofer immediately but didn't want to mod this machine. If a software update could help that would be great.

Love that bowling lane cornhole board!!

Upgrading your speaker probably won't help with this issue. I put in a new beefy cabinet speaker and the Kenwood LE update in my Pro, didn't make too much of a difference for this specific problem.

That's a really great design, pulling in the themes from the nearby areas of the PF.

I can confirm that cutting down the springs for the targets about 20% stops the bricking I was experiencing on the Pro completely.

It sounds like the amp is clipping from a bad mix of music/fx/callout overdriving it. It's crazy that Stern still has no consistent standard for audio from machine to machine. Each game is it's own kingdom for default audio levels and mix. They could have a reusable pre-processor software module every pin's code could have that makes sure the sound/music/effects mix isn't over 100% combined before sending it to the amp. Do they? Nope.

I put pinwoofer in puts day 1, and it's incredible. The sound effects are stellar, no regrets. I did play it a few before I installed, don't recall it sounding worse than any stock Stern.

So when the ball goes into the pops, you hear no crackling at all, the sound is perfect?

I put in pinwoofer Diy amp with stock speakers so far.Sounds great may upgrade speakers but no crackling for me.

I’ve got an LE with no sound issues at all. Maybe it’s the speakers you upgraded too. My buddy has an LE as well. Same…no issues.

Was the same with stock speakers. I appreciate the responses

Mine is an LE as well

I've noticed with sound its a funny thing, some people notice every detail and others don't. A lot of people don't notice crap audio, or hot (high) distorted levels during certain parts. The pops do sound a bit distorted, along with other sound clips. Things need to get balanced and cleaned up for sure.