Yes. Try this first. If it is still hitting the auto plunger, then loosen the bottom more, place a washer (or two) between the cabinet and the shooter rod assembly and tighten. This will cause the tip of the shooter rod to be at a slight downward angle.

This is what I had to do. Worked well.

Man, wish I was! Seems there's so many good haunts for eats and gaming down there. Though I read how you felt the POTC at that one arcade was a bit ratty.... Hopefully next year, and maybe Chicago too! Is this your first time at TPF? What are you looking forward to most at the show?

Thanks for the invite Derek. You seem like a pretty stand-up dude, and your enthusiasm and helpfulness on this forum is truly appreciated!

Washer idea worked but boy does it suck having to got with that to correct the issue. Really dumb

On a side note my wheel has become incredibly noisy so putting in mod couples wheel fix. Just an FYI on this fix you need a 1/16” Allen wrench and white lithium grease. Neither item is included with the kit and I didn’t know I needed them so I got stuck part way through and cannot finish til I get them. Yeah I know who doesn’t have an Allen wrench. Well I have one but can’t find the one I need but I definitely don’t have any grease

Just positing this so others wont end up like me ie game apart and unplayable due to being unprepared

Curious, what did you use the 5/16" allen wrench for? Sorry you had issues.

Sorry its 1/16" (phone typo) Allen to remove screws to remove the gear then reuse them to attach the new gear.

Man after feeling like POTC has been kicking my arse solidly since I got in December and knowing the ridiculous STDM off launch or round the top orbit had to be the main culprit, I finally found a post from a little while back talking about the upper flipper position. Sure enough 5 mins to correct it and second game after, I'm up over 550K finally, for the first time. Now I can start having some real games instead of <2m . Next step the subway post fix which then finally became noticeable now that I actually can get to a few multballs finally!

Did you crank the flipper from underneath to tighten it? Nice work!

Ahh yeah, why would I not follow standard pinball flipper adjustment procedure? Cheers

Well, I lived in Frisco TX up until 2016, and established another house there in 2018. I’ve been to TPF a couple of times to check out the classic arcade cabinets (which was my former hobby.)

I did go last year - very briefly - with the sole purpose of checking out POTC which I had a deposit on. I wasn’t able to get much of a read on the game in the noisy environment with people waiting in line at the time. Also, I was moving my house from Los Gatos -> Frisco that weekend so it was really just popping my head in to see Pirates.

This will be my first TPF as a full bore pinball geek. I’m excited to meet personalities in the hobby, check out the new offerings, and attend the talks.

The food is most definitely excellent in Texas. I’ve lost nearly 100lbs since relocating to Los Gatos.

I’ll add this to the troubleshooting page, thanks for pointing it out!

Yeah great idea. It's a major issue if improperly aligned from the factory as I learned (the long) and hard way. Also one that's a head scratcher till you find out as on other machines the position would be correct.

So which cliffys are people installing? Ramp ball drop ones? Even though ball drops on the end?

LE is a better value than the SE, for sure. But if you're already stretching your spend on pins this year (me), the extra $1,000 is non-trivial. Also, obtaining an SE is much easier, now, than getting your hands on an LE. Resale not a big issue for me as I generally hold on to my pins for a VERY long time, but even there I'm not sure it'd make a large difference. Unlike Sterns, JJP standards have the same gameplay. You're missing some aesthetic features and doohickeys like the shaker motor and spinning bumper (which I really like and may mod back in at some point), but it's the same game. Not like Stern pro/premium differences.

All that being said, the LE is the superior value over both the SE and the CE, IMHO. Doesn't mean the latter two won't sell, though .

One other minor fix I had to attend to, and which might help somebody.

Sometimes, when the ball drained, the trough opto boards failed to recognize it, causing a ball search loop. When I went into the switch menu, the ball 5 opto was going crazy. Constant on/off. This occurred AFTER I installed Ninja Pinballs. Working theory: the Ninjas were slightly more reflective, and there was some leakage as a result. Either way, I pulled the ball trough boards and reseated them, just pushing it a little closer to the center of the pinballs in the trough. Just a hair.

That worked. Crazy on/off thing stopped. Ball 5 opto working properly now. This didn't happen with the original balls - so I can't really blame JJP for that. They tested with what they had, not the aftermarket stuff.

I'm really sad to hear that Cidercade has gone down hill so far. 6 months ago I went there and was so blown away by how well their machines were loved that I came home and went off on my local arcade managers for everything being broken and told them to go see what pinball love is at Cidercade. Seems I can't use that anymore....

I was similarly bummed. They were clearly keeping things up a few months ago.

I really don’t love playing games on location in general. Usually they are dirty, worn, and the environment is too loud to hear and appreciate the game.

One notable exception is The Flipper Room in Concord CA. The owner has a true passion for pinball and he keeps the games up immaculately.

Second innings.. fork worked itself loose again.
Loctite failed this time but hoping that added lock-nuts will do the trick for the long haul.
Derek, Maybe you can add it to your allready comprehensive problem/fix list , good work!

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Good suggestion! I feel like I should recheck mine now.

Is this why the chest lock tends to get harder over time? I.e. the ball appears to have enough momentum to get up the forks, but doesn't?

Or do I just suck (lol)?

Most commonly yeah, the screws get loose and there is too much play in the fork which robs momentum.

No you are correct , it slowly gets worse until it no longer gets any balls locked .
5 minute fix

What size lock nuts are you guys using?

Might as well do this while I have the hood up upgrading my wheel tonight. I have had some bounce offs fork wise just assumed my weak a$$ play caused me not to get it but if the fork is loose that would explain things.

I've yet to get my game or do any, but the map seems essential, and challenging.

I'll have my hood up putting on game blades tomorrow, I'll check mine too.

On that note, this is the first set of blades I've had that want me to remove the head bolts on the side cabinet to install the blades. If the head is bolted down, there's nothing that can fall off from this is there? Seems silly, but I've never done it and want all the info I can get.

Do you guys think JJP could retheme pirates into toy story? I don’t think it’s far fetched especially if the license is botched. The whole FGY/Shrek concept was jacks to begin with. Plus, I think people, for the most part, would relate to picking a toy story character at game’s start vs a POTC character.

They would obviously have to redesign some of the toys. But, all the characters and rules structure could stay in place. Now I believe there is only 4 toy story movies, but there was a mini film special they did a few years back called toy story of terror; they could use that as the 5th movie filler.

I dunno; I could be way off base, but the glove could fit.

That would be really interesting! I love the layout. It would be great to see it live on.

Let me give you another way to think SE versus LE. How many games do you buy and put 1000 dollars worth of mods in? The real difference SE to LE IS mods. Invi glass, shaker, topper, starlight panel, and powder coat. Any other game that you load this type of stuff in ,every buyer, provides minimal value at resale. I have owned a bunch of games , never bought invi glass, bought a total of one topper ( at resale it was a nice throw in, added little value) have bought a few shakers (but no value for them at resale), never powder coated the trim of a game (I think the brushed stainless is much nicer then the powder anyway ) . I like the starlight panel. Maybe I would buy that if priced right. So bottom line, as after market on this game if the SE was the only offering from Jjp, would I pay an extra 1K for a discounted mod package of the 5 items. Nah!

I might buy a shaker and if I could a starlight panel. So after thinking it over. The real value is the SE .

Ok. Ive got my order in on an LE and I’ve sent my distributor the money! Now comes the fun part- waiting for my pin to arrive.

I sure hope not and that each title has it's own unique design. Part of the $8.5k -$12k cost for these games is design and for those prices each game should be unique.

Just a heads up Warning doing this procedure. JJP uses a flared end pivot bolt so getting it out is a Complete pain in the butt! The end of the pivot tube is flared out on the outside of the cabinet so you need to hammer it out without splintering the crap out of the hole. Wish I still had a picture but Trust me its not as easy as it should be. I had to do this when installing mirror blades. If installing blade Art do yourself a favor and just cut the decal hole Larger and avoid taking that bolt out. Good Luck!

There are two other differences. LE provides RBG GI - SE only has white GI. I don't mind that, because the white provides better visibility IMHO. But that is not easily added as a mod; I did look into it out of curiosity. JJP uses tiny printed circuit boards with LEDs for the GI, and for the RGB ones, there are 4 wires (power + RGB signal) from the node boards, per LED. For the white, only two (power only). To add RGB GI you would need the PCBs for them - JJP doesn't sell them presently, AFAIK - and you would need to wire the extra two wires per light to the node boards. No interest in doing that.

The other, of course, is the motorized spinning bumper. This is the one feature from the LE that I want on my SE, and I am currently investigating how to do this. I ordered a Jack Sparrow series 1 figure ($20 ebay score) and a pop bumper cap ($20) from The Mod Couple (picked up the monkey and a second cap too), which I will make into the barrel cover top. I machined a small bracket to hold the figure on the barrel cover. But I need to find a cheap hobby motor I can piggyback off the pop bumper - since JJP doesn't sell this motor either. It will take some time to find, but if I do it I will document it for other SE owners. If I can do it for less than $75 altogether, it will be worth it.

Agree that the topper for the LE is "meh" (CE topper is great, but waaaaay too pricey). Don't care about invisiglass - some will disagree with me on this. Black powder coat vs. brushed stainless - I really don't care. Either is fine. My Sterns have all been powder coat, my Williams all stainless - don't care. Shaker motor is nice, but can do without. Starfield is "meh".

When I say LE is better value, I mean that you can tally up all the stuff JJP gives LE owners and it really adds up to that price difference - and then some. This is very different from Stern, where sometimes it's hard to see where the money for the Premium/LEs went. If you don't want that stuff, then SE is for you.

Of ANY game I have seen with Pirates the RGB in my opinion is actually the Biggest value and requirement. Most games that is just for pretty color change fluff but on Pirates the use of RGB changing the GI to match the current mode and shot requirement is spot on perfect. Wish every game used the GI like this was coded. I have said it before but I'll say it again, the code team Really used Every toy, part, asset of this game to it's fullest. Brilliant these guys!!

Well that is good to know as I will be attempting side art soon (already have it just haven't taken the leap yet) and I for sure would have been frustrated trying to get the nut out of the way to do the install.

Thanks.

I went with LE for the GI and the front volume control/headphone jack. Shaker is nice but easy to add aftermarket. LED starfield I thought would be worth it but just meh. Topper I almost wish was just excluded from LE, it's just so lame and the lighting effects suck. But I've never been one for toppers anyhow, so no skin off my nose.

I think the volume control is the feature we use the most, so handy to switch between daytime and "whoops someone is sleeping" play.

Lame. That's an argument against any TiltGraphics orders in the future. PinGraffix has the hole pre cut and makes an easy guide for install.

I installed these Kraken art blades today, finally.
I have installed art blades on 6 of my machines and mirrors on 2 others. This POTC was hands-down 100% the most difficult to install them on. This playfield is SO TIGHT in the cabinet. It's crazy. I bought those pinball universe side art plastic protectors to use and they were actually difficult to slide in even BEFORE installing the blades. It's gonna be a pain in the ass every time I have to lift up the playfield now but I think they look awesome.
Oh, and I had to cut the holes out myself. Tilt didn't pre cut them.
I know that every machine is different and there will be some that have more room than others. If your pirates is tight like mine I highly suggest you use those plastic protectors.

Junky

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Looks great. I have the same to install and am dreading it as my PF clearance looks tight as well. I have held off for now as I have been "under the hood" more than I have been playing the game dealing with nagging issues. Hoping to get things ironed out soon and get back to playing and then later put the decals on once I am not under it every 5 mins.

New issues? Or known stuff?

Known basically.

Wiring issue first - bundled wires from head to cab were so tight that moving the PF disconnected the connectors in the head. Seems to be fixed now by clipping some of the wire ties and getting those connectors loose/extra slack then wire tying them together at the base of the head (on the bottom) so they don't move when the PF is moved.

Plunger issue - washer did the trick just hate that I had to go that route

Lost ball in the game somewhere - truthfully never found it added a ball back and game plays correctly

Game stuck on tilt all the time - seems a wire came loose next to the tilt bob, snagged it and jammed the hanger up against the ring. Dumb thing but took me some time to find it

Super loud wheel - didn't start that way but it sounds terrible now so started working on mod couples replacement - didn't realize I needed grease so game is sitting apart til I can get some at the store

Ball hanging up on the right side apron near shooter lane (metal guide attached to apron) - screw had come loose and thus the metal frame was resting on the PF stopping the ball when it drained there

Monitor - right side lock is super tight and almost impossible to get unlocked due to monitor slightly out of alignment. Fiddled with everything and is better but lock is still a little difficult to deal with at times

Essentially nothing more than NIB issues, some QC related IMHO but nothing earth shattering. Mostly just things that pop up as you play, then you fix and then something else pops up, so you fix then the same issue from before comes back so you fix again but better ... rinse and repeat. At some point it tame down I'm sure. It's all good, annoying but good.

Perhaps so. However, the inserts and flashers are still all RGB on the SE, and given how bright they are... you still get a nice effect from that. Though this is the reason I did not order your dog holding the keys mod. Did not want to reduce brightness from the flashers even a little, since SE doesn't have colored GI, the flashers give you a lot of the effect. If I had an LE, I probably would've picked that one up too.

I'll have to document recreating the spinning bumper in part with one of your barrel tops. Other SE owners may find it interesting.

Every NIB I've bought (I enjoy pimping my games out).

Thus, the LE was a no brainer for me as well.

Having both a new Stern and a new JJP -at the same time-, I can say that there are definitely differences in the build quality and quality control.

JJP has superior build quality but inferior QC. Better, heavier components. Plywood cabinet bottoms. Solid electronics - faster, better platform (PC vs custom ARM). Everything is a notch or two more robust on a JJP. HOWEVER, the JJP has a lot more minor/smallish issues. Little things. More adjustments needed. Little quirks that need to be fixed/addressed/etc... Been under the hood a lot more often with my Pirates than my Deadpool. But never anything I'd call a big deal.

Stern has inferior build quality but superior QC. I feel like the components in the Sterns I've had are less robust. The MDF cabinet bottoms - I don't like that. Things like the Deadpool bobble head being two pieces instead of one - prone to breakage. Even the playfield acquires ball dimples MUCH faster than my JJP. The quality of everything is a notch lower... but everything worked basically 100% out of the box. No small adjustments/quirks/fixes needed (except for one errant screw).

Spitballing it, I'd say Stern just has a long history and institutional checks in place to catch small crap, but suffers a little from cost-cutting mentality (they've gotten a little better lately). JJP is the opposite. Haven't worked out all the QC and testing bugs... but they are building solid, high quality stuff that will last... once you get everything dialed in and worked out, anyway.

The LE I ordered was only $700 more over the standard, so I think it was well worth the extra. I do like the stainless better, I wish that was an option for LE

It's worth noting that my local distributor only had SEs and a CE (sold out of LEs) - and I got the last SE. Nobody else local even had a Pirates at all. So cost difference to me would have been greater than $1000, because would have had to have it shipped freight/delivered/whatever. Local distributor also arranged a good trade for my Avatar Pro - obviating the need for me to sell it on Pinside or Ebay/CL/whatever. Gave fair value for that. So LE would have been more like an extra $1200-$1400 AND I would've had to deal with shipping my Avatar to somebody. No thanks.

The rapid sell-out on this machine makes JJP's decision to end production a real head-scratcher. This thing is flying off the shelves.

I think you nailed it and I would agree. I feel way more confident about the quality of this JJP POTC but damn a lot if not all of my issues (not just the ones above) should have been caught at the facility and would have been if they had taken 5 mins longer checking over the game. All minor complaints but complaints none the less (don't want Stern fanboys saying I am just trying to protect my purchase blah blah blah).

Did you pay less than $9500?

Yes much less, with no shipping or tax either. I’m sure the tax/shipping is built into his price and maybe he’s just making a little less to make a sale. I’m definitely looking forward to it

You got a great deal, then.