Makes doing some things easier like getting the ball on the upper flipper, makes some things harder like completing the top lanes and getting super pops and power plant points. I really do belive that the gate will raise on more modes once the code matures. Until then, if you like flow, raise the gate and if you like stop and go in the pops and sometimes no way to feed the upper flipper (FRWL shot, the gate stops it on many occations, bird 1 lock active and blocks it, and if some drops are down so it likely won't make it out of the bird 1 area to the upper) and if a mode requires either the Bond women loop or henchmen ramp then I guess you are out of luck.

So, code update or bust on that one.

Could someone help a new operator out I decided to change my bond pricing from $1 a game to $2 a game ; not trying to debate price but would love what you think it should be $1 or $2…

I found the custom pricing section but it literally wouldn’t change when I set it to $2 for 1 credit it stays at 1/.25 and 2/2.00 which is weird here’s a screen shot I was literally in that menu for 30 mins trying to figure it out

86361CC0-7500-4D0A-A976-6C24C15462B2 (resized).jpeg

Yup... Such a cheap way to drain... I really expect them to add a short ball save of some sort. You literally have no control once that ball shoots out of the Shire AKA the underwater scoop.

The custom pricing system is not easy to use as all. You need to go back to the 0.25 price and set credits to zero.

Tech question. My game's LOWER VOLUME button stopped functioning.

The INCREASE VOLUME button works fine. Stern sent me a replacement volume module, which I installed. Regrettably, the problem persists. The plug appears to be seated and intact.

This is the stock volume control. There is no external volume mod. It's inconvenient controlling the master volume via the flippers and menu selection.

Any suggestions before I contact my distributor?

Looks like Avengers. Bond is not an Avenger.

Are you talking Bond Pro or Prem/LE?

My high stakes eject hits the pops 99% of the time. Premium, if that makes any difference, but it shouldn’t.

Should be going into the pops all the time. I was able to adjust mine slightly enough by loosening the post and screw that hold the reverse scoop down and give it a slight turn. (it won't turn much)

Can you take a photo to explain exactly which post and screw you loosened?

Mine mostly gets a pop or two from the bottom pop bumper. Infrequently hits the post.
You can change the pitch back to front a tad. I keep mine steep and fast. Although front to back is a preference. You could possibly lift one side. Obviously you want it even side to side, but if it's off just enough to miss the post and stop your frustrations it might be worth it to you. Also, you might try changing the power of the eject. Finally don't forget to nudge. I'm not too crazy about nudging, but there is a time and a place. For instance, when the ball slowly comes out from between the villain and henchman ramps, nudge just enough using the top of the villain ramp right before it comes out of there to not go SDTM. Good luck and let us know if any of this helps.

Ugh, I certainly hope not. (Mine goes off the tank target too most of the time.)

The pops are my absolute LEAST favorite part of the (Prem/LE) game, with their clunky simultaneous/dual-pop function. I cringe (and/or yawn) every time the ball goes in there--
clunk ...clunk...clunk clunk... clunk ...clunk

...instead of pop-poppop-pop-poppoppop that you get on the Pro (and practically every other game since 1960something) with independent bumpers.

Curious, does anyone know how the scuba eject is officially supposed to be designed? Is it designed to go into the pops or hit the tank?
Has GG said it in an interview or pod?

I don't believe it has been officially stated, but on the stream from Stern at the gameplay reveal, it was hitting the tank target:

Haven't checked this thread in awhile. Is the game awesome since the last code update?

Looking for passable about May-ish. No chance for awesome before late summer/early Fall. LONG way to go.

I hope so. Too much potential on this game. It will be a bummer if Stern scraps the Bond updates in order to have "all hands on deck" for upcoming cornerstones...but I could see them doing that.

Open the coin door and press the menu button 6 times to enter switch test. Once here, you can verify the following;

Pressing the
_Menu button displays on screen as input 4
_Volume + displays input 3
_Volume - does nothing (should display input 2)
_Service credit displays input 1 very briefly and exits this test

Press menu one more time to enter the test again.

Now unplug the connector on the board inside the coin-door (shown in picture) labeled "menu buttons".
Now, with a jumper-wire or a paper-clip, you can connect the top pin (where that connector was on that board) and the next pin down after the space (simulating Black wire to Green/grey wire connection)
Then the top one again and the third one down (simulating Black to Green/Violet).
Again for the forth one down (simulating Black to Green/Blue).
Now finally the fifth pin (simulating Black to Green/Black).

When you do this, at the board with the jumper, you should get the same result as if you were hitting the buttons on the coin door ~If your board is bad~.
If not, then the only difference will be that when you connect the top pin and the second pin from the bottom you will see input 2 displaying on the screen ~If you harnessing from the board to the coin-door buttons is bad~. Please reach back if you have any further questions.
If your harness is bad, then it's probably just a bad connection at the pin on one end or the other.

Coin-door buttons (resized).jpg

Menu wire colors (resized).jpg

menu connection (resized).jpg

I thought when new coder talent Tim Sexton and then Raymond Davidson were hired by Stern, some of the oldest, slowest and repeative programmers, i.e Lonnie, would be moving on to greener pastures. This was even mentioned directly by a former (then current) Stern employee a couple of years ago.

Guess not. Maybe when Ray is at the point where he can be lead programmer on a cornerstone....

Lonnie and team will eventually get it done. Best case scenario, they call in Dwight or one of the newer guys to lend a hand and get this thing ramped up quicker.

Watch video stream with Jack Danger and Gomez - the ball is going into the pops. That’s why I adjusted mine that way. It was hitting the target all the time and draining often enough where it was getting frustrating. I would rather randomize the henchmen, villains, and affect women and Q. Once I watched the stream, I made the adjustment.

.

I agree with this approach, the games set up at Expo last fall mostly fed into the pops (some were quite unlevel) so I presume that is the preferred result. Of my two pros and one premium, one of the pros did not make the pops easily so I adjusted the scoop angle angle / power until it did. Make sure you have the game level and pitch where you want it before you start messing with this type of an adjustment. Getting the upper flipper to make the ramp consistently (i.e. not too steep) is critical to this game shooting well.

Mine will hit the tank, the pops switch, the pops or the post when it ejects. It adds some defensive gameplay sometimes but not all the time.

If mine shot into the pops -- intentional or not -- I would absolutely readjust so they DIDN'T. The ball ends up in the scuba scoop a lot, and if it went into the pop every time it would slow the game down sooooo much, especially on the frustratingly clunky dual-firing Prem/LE pops.

So my buddies Pro model, the left speaker seems to crackle on higher outputting sound bites, and they don't have their volume super high. Some things sound find but then in certain modes or sounding moments, it's very tingy sounding (word?) and crackles. Also the pop bumpers really create a crackling sound and almost sounds like the pops are rattling something in the cabinet that feels/sounds like it's near the flippers even. It's really weird sounding machine

The scoring got tweaked so much from the original release that I can't even remotely touch my scores from the old code. I seem to have monster games(or think I am) on current code and my score is like half of what I have on the leaderboards right now.
I'm ready for some new code and get this game rolling!

Don't worry once those playfield multipliers are in the game the old and current scores are all gonna look silly.

Swap out the speakers, super easy and made a big difference for me over the junky stock Sterns. I found the thread below to be one of the best guides:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/improving-sound-quality-the-diy-route

Yea sounds like a similar issue to what we are hearing. Any good recommendations of good cheap speakers to replace the stock sterns?

I used Kicker 46CSC44. Theyre actually on sale right now $56/pair.

I like the 5.25 Kickers.

KICKER 46CSC54 CS-Series CSC5 5.25-Inch (130mm) Coaxial Speakers, 4-Ohm (Pair) https://a.co/d/6yts4yp

Those are almost certainly an improvement from the 4" but would require an adapter bracket, new speaker plate or just cutting the existing screw posts and adding new ones in the existing speaker plate. I went with the 4" as a reasonable plug and play upgrade. James Bond isn't a rockin music pin after all.

It’s for a bond pro .. sorry I was off location and that’s why it’s avengers screen shot..

Figured it out I think

What do you guys think $1 per play or $2

;

Thanks pin monk you are very helpful we appreciate you greatly

Who is going to pay $2 per game? I've never seen a game that high. Maybe Bond 60th will be but that's a $20k game.

What are the other games set to at that location?

agree, I feel like most (if not all?!) locations I've been to are $1 for 1 or $2 for 3 for modern pins and older machines tend to be lower.

So games cost 2/3rds more to purchase and we have to keep the play prices the same?
Add in all the Free Play places that keep popping up which devalues the play experience and creates a negative perception of value for coin drop.
Pinball makes little to no commercial business sense any longer.
They have become vanity possessions for the rich and monetary detached.

There is a place in Nashville that charges 2.00 for their LE's
in which Im happy to pay

I'm not saying whats right / fair / economic, just my (limited) experience, that's all!

Have pinball machines made commercial sense in the past 40 years? Arcade (video) games almost completely replaced them in the late 70s/early 80s because they took up less space and require almost no maintenance.

I spoke to someone at Ground Kontrol in Portland about 10 years ago. They said that the games basically pay for themselves but they really only make money at the bar. I think this is how most locations operate. The games are an attraction but not how they make profit for the business.

I'm not sure why someone would put LE games, which cost thousands more but have the same gameplay, on location. I mean it's nice when you see them, but from a business perspective doesn't make sense (unless the operator is going to sell them after a year for the same or more than what they bought them for, which was probably possible for the past few years).

If I'm wrong, please share your experiences, operators.

Edit: sorry, this is completely off topic so feel free to ignore it.

Charge $2 a game if you want. But you'd best make sure everything works perfectly on the machine, and you might want to set the outlanes a bit easier or something.

I personally wouldn't pay $2 for a game of Bond unless you put the extra right-side post in and closed the left outlane at least a notch. Maybe Godzilla or Rush I would.

For a Pro $1 or $5/6 is about all I think you're gonna do well with. We've done $1.50 or $5/4 on JJP LEs with 4 balls and did very well, but those were LEs. On a pro $1 is about it. But if you have a bill acceptor that will do $5s and you set it up for that with a free game (essentially) for a fiver, you'll be surprised how many you get.

I was hoping that was just mylar but looks like clear is lifting near the rocket and the back edge of the drop target

IMG_5565 (resized).jpg

How many plays?

Great explanation, many thanks! Much appreciated.

Anytime, I hope I helped.

Whenever I think about how long it’s been since the last code update…

B23BF502-52AF-440A-AA2F-4E7B75C1C28B.jpeg

I really hope they come up with a code update soon. The Pinball world has never been so bright when it comes to the choice of new pins. Cool times, expensive but cool. All that Foo Fighters, Godfather and all the others make me want to play pinball even more.

Now get me my Q gadgets modes

Thats a rip off but its a free country I guess? Maybe its different for people who don't own games or go to shows?

Stern has raised the price of their machines 20-50% (depending on version) over the last three years. I think operators should be raising their prices, but everyone goes wild when it costs more than $1 per play.