I think they all work but you have to use the shorter spring. Personally I like the custom one from The Mod Father (theme correct) or the one Tonycip makes custom in pirate gold which looks Awesome!!

Listened to it on my drive home tonight. Great job of representing the fan base though it was obvious that Kaneda was not swayed. I don't understand how he can call this a polarizing pin since he is the only one I have heard ripping it. I hope he has you on again.

Thanks! My goal wasn’t to change his mind per se, but to give a balanced opinion. I really think the main problem is that he played a poorly configured machine and had a really bad experience. From the description of the setup I think even I would have come to the same assessment.

These games are hard to come by in the wild so you have to take what you can get. I hope he finds a good one to experience just so he can see how it is supposed to play. If he still doesn’t like it, who cares? That’s pinball and not every game is for everyone.

Great podcast zaphX , I think you spoke very well and clearly. Your simple description of the 5 multiballs was great.

I really enjoyed the episode. I’m like you, New to the hobby in the last few years. I think that if kaneda spent a little more time on the pin in a home environment, he’d have a different opinion. A loud bar with a poorly setup pin is not a good representation of the pin. Hope to hear from you again. I’m getting excited and looking forward to getting my POTC

Thanks for the positive comments folks! I’d definitely cast with Kaneda again.

I have said this for years. I don’t care if a game is set up well on location or not. You truly can only get to know a game once you get it home and set it up for your way of playing. I can get a basic feel for gameplay and definitely can figure out if a game doesn’t work for me but to truly embrace a game it needs to be home.

Nice job Derek!

I enjoy Kaneda's podcast, but he does drive me crazy sometimes with his game judgements based on obviously limited research. For example, I was surprised to hear in his interview with you that he didn't realize that POTC multiballs can be stacked! Really?! Do your homework and at least watch a few minutes of a quality player's gameplay video if you're not able and/or willing to learn features firsthand!

Couldn't agree more. Add to that, at least in the places I have visited (bars, bowling alleys, etc) these games in my opinion are not set up for you to win a long 20 minute marathon of fun play. They are setup to make Money. The faster your dollar is in and you are gone the better and less wear and tear on the machine. lol. Sadly seems like most I have played in the wild (other then specific pinball houses) like casinos were not setup for me to stay long...

You did good!

Here’s Kaneda’s look when you told him you bought Star Wars and love it.

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And of course, Derecks peace out when the interview was over:

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Thanks, Lloyd. I have pretty much had it disconnected in the past (everything but not disconnecting stuff under the playfield) when a few of the switches weren't working, but didn't want to fully remove it. In doing that I suspect I jostled the green and brown wire enough to "reattach" to the switches. It's now disconnected again, and I'm sure just needs some good soldering. I want to wait until I have my Cliffy protectors, though. Thanks again.

Thanks! I really didn’t feel like that though. It seemed to me a perfectly friendly conversation.

Haha i know. I just thought it was a funny gif. But it was a great interview on both sides.

I’m a bit sleep deprived so my sense of humor is a little warped atm

Thank you! Tortuga Scoop it is!!

I'm surprised that there has been so much air time given to this Kaneda, within this thread in the last couple of days.

I know nothing of him but read that he's only played a poorly setup/operated instance of this pin in a loud bar environment, having done zero homework on the title, knowing nothing of the rules and is firm on his position that it's a 'MEH' pin.

When I read that he said that there were no toys and didn't know that the MBs were stackable, I realized that I couldn't read anymore as he simply sounds ignorant.

The questions that come to mind are;
'Why do so many of you care what he thinks?' and
'Why is there interest in trying to convince him otherwise?'

Like an ignorant journalist, what's the point? Just change the channel. And with JJP' POTC sounding like it's a one and done title, this can just be our 'little' gem.

I decided to email him and be on show because honestly, I felt bad. When I heard all these crazy negative opinions on the game I just couldn’t believe we were playing the same game. I felt like he was not given the same experience we’re having with our games, and (with the info Serge posted about how badly the game was configured) it now makes sense.

Thanks zaphX for doing the interview with Kaneda. I thought you did an excellent job! I also must say that Kaneda did a very good job with the interview as well. His whole approach to it was very fair, in my opinion. It was entertaining to listen to you guys talk. Thanks to both of you!

Good on you, I mean it. You certainly have the interest and drive to try to make a difference and you will, even if it is one person at a time.

You're a little obsessed with Chris.
Got a man-crush on him?

The new tortuga scoop bracket is higher so it will sort that out .

@screaminr

Is it the longer one I have? Should I still have it where I put it?

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Thanks for all the instructions!

I finally got mine today and installed it straight away! LOOKS AWESOME!

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If you've had your game for more than a few weeks I would assume it's the shorter one ( check with your dealer ) and as far as I know that's where you meant to put that bump

Looks just like mine which I’ve been told is the newer one. Clear bump looks right also!

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I’m surprised he even reviewed that game if his friend who owned the game told him how poorly it was set up/played. I haven’t listened to the review but this is the guy that spent 25k on a magic girl and just likes to stir the pot/insert himself into news/drama/whatever so who cares what he thinks? Anyways enough time and posts on this dork.

What is everyone’s game set up as? 6.5? All feet flat?

Actually, you missed the mark on that one. My Man crush is on @zaphx - that dude’s a stud! And I’m not talking about his interview with Kris, that’s just dust in the wind. What he does for you Pirate owners is gold! I’d feel a lot more comfortable buying this pin if i were in the market knowing guys like him and LTG are around.

So don’t be too be too concerned, you can keep your boy toy.

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That's great to hear JJP is reading and implementing fixes listed in this thread from the factory. I just recieved word from my distributor that my LE build date is 2/11/19 so it sounds like it will have some or all the latest fixes listed here? I'm thinking of going forward with this one versus waiting any longer.

Auto launcher question: does yours hit the mounting bracket with every ball launch from the shooter lane, i.e. does the purple part with the green par? Makes a clank sound with every launch that doesn't sound right. It's not hitting the playfield though.......

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So you HAVE heard of me...

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Thinking of picking up an LE.Is there any build dates or code to be concerened about.Thanks

PinballSTAR still has some POTC LEs left available to sell.

We know factory is sold out and hearing many other distributors are as well. We have LEs and a small number of SEs still left.

Contact Joe at [email protected]. TY

Is plundering enabled at Pinballstar, Joe?

Congrats on the new game! Do you know which fixes are being implemented from the factory and which ones still need to be done at home? The build date of the game I'm set to have delivered soon is 2/11.

There is no known “cutoff date” for certain problems/issues.
If you have a choice, get the newest build they have but I wouldn’t worry about it too much.

As a community I think we’ve got a handle on things that can need fixing at this point. Plus your distro and JJP support (who are excellent) will help should the need arise.

If the production of pirates is coming to an end soon, what does that mean for spare parts? Are you guys worried about that at all?

I’m considering buying a spare playfield so I have one on ice for a rainy day in the future. This is a long term keeper for me and I expect it to see a lot of play and wear. I do worry about waiting too long and missing my chance. Spare playfield decals and such also.

Thanks!! The fix that stuck out immediately was the subway fix as I pictured. Most of the other issues/fixes I've seen mentioned on here I haven't really been looking for, except for that tight 12" CAT5 cable, which is still an issue on mine. Got a replacement coming for it. Others I will look for as a an issue occurs, but mine is playing fine.

I will be posting my "fix" in term of a monitor support sometime this weekend after I put it together......

Good Luck with your purchase, it's an awesome game!

It would be nice that if they ever do another run, that they only do SE's. Would be a nice reward/appreciate for us LE folks. But based on WOZ and Hobbit history, I doubt it.

I would think that parts would be available for at least a year from the time the last unit rolls off the line for warranty purposes.

Why is JJP cutting off production on such a successful pin?

Ok. So I'm thinking. If the license is running out by the end of march, what would that mean? Does it mean that JJP is not allowed to produce anymore playfields or does it mean that they're not allowed to sell them? Or both? Same goes for plastics and decals.

And when it comes to parts. Imagine the spinning disc breaks in 4 years time and there's no more replacement parts. That'd suck.

I guess I need to order a set of plastics and pf decals. Just in case.

Are there any other parts you think are prone to breaking sooner or later that are not generic and replacable?

Couple of things to keep in mind:

- They are stopping production, but have neither confirmed or denied a possible later run

- I believe this was always the production end time they had in mind to get ready for the next model(s), however the production start time was severely delayed due to the ring & chest issues. The ring issue alone must have cut weeks/months into their production cycle scrapping the original playfields and making new ones.

I'm not sure why folks are getting nervous about parts. It's not like JJP is going away. Just stopping production on Pirates (for the time being). I can still get parts for my F-14 Tomcat. Plus, with home use only care, things should be okay. My parents still have their HUO 2003 Stern Monopoly and all parts on that are good.

Production sounds to be stopping for good. Hearing rumors that JJP didn't renew the license and others have said that Pirates has simply been too expensive to build.

As JJP starts to make more and more pins they likely can only spend X amount at a time on licensing and parts which is why I think Pirates production is stopping so future titles can be made.

Only JJP knows for sure.

If they want the next game on the line soon, and another new game around Expo. To do two games a year. You can't build Pirates all year.

We'll know more as the year goes by.

It sure is going to be a great year for pinball !

LTG : )

If the ~200 or so Alien owners out there are capable of producing boards/parts ect to support the now defunct HW games, I'm positively confident that the ~1k JJP POTC owners can manage as well, especially since the producing company is not going anywhere.

I feel trapped! I want an LE, I’m ready to buy but I would like to play it first before pulling the trigger. Production is drying up, hoping to make it to the TPF to play a few games

I felt the same way as you George. I finally decided to pull the trigger and get one, since their stopping production soon.

I was lucky enough to play a few games on one though.

Nice! Good for you Do you think buying this pin without actually playing it first would be a mistake? I’m tempted to just pull the trigger now since TPF would be a last minute decision

Looking for a pin that has lots of stuff to do, sorta like IJ

Your concerns are valid. I always advise people to go find the game on location, drop $20 in it and see what it is like. If you want to push that start button again after 20 games then it is probably a good choice for you, if you want to walk away after 6 games, then you just saved yourself a lot of money. looking at the map though. it looks like the closest one to you is in Houston.