No idea where this came from. Operatable without it?

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VUK in right rear of the black pearl, keeps balls from rolling off and going back in, instead it diverts them to the main playfield.

Operatable without it?

Yes.

LTG : )

Page C-47 in the manual. You can download from jerseyjackpinball.com - Support - Downloads - Pirates, if you need it. POTC VUK Chute & Gate Assembly Item 2

LTG : )

Yep, all very good points. At this point if JJP wants to demonstrate they're consistent in supporting all their games then the next POTC code update needs to get done soon. Otherwise buyers would have to start considering it a crapshoot as to how much code support any new title from JJP gets. Will their next new machine be supported and get code updates quickly or will it be pushed to the side for the next release (or for a game a few years older)? It's happening to Pirates so why wouldn't it happen to another new title from them? Wonka has had a lot of updates in a matter of a few months. Pirates has had 3 updates in a year.

Sure, the final wizard mode is crazy difficult to get to, but that's not an acceptable reason for it to not be in the game yet. In addition to the character trait updates posted 4 months ago, there are a lot of polishing items that should also be included in an update. We're now at or very close to 1 year since the first games shipped so at a minimum getting the game feature complete is definitely past due. I realize there have been health issues and that's unfortunate, but if JJP is too reliant on any one person to get something done on a game then that's a weakness within their organizational structure.

In my experience with JJP over the past year, communication definitely hasn't been a strength of theirs. The following is from This Week in Pinball on October 30, 2017:

"Pirates of the Caribbean New Info
As mentioned previously, Jersey Jack Pinball announced their newest game Pirates of the Caribbean at Expo. The game is packed with features and the response from the pinball community has been overwhelmingly positive. (Check out TWIP’s Deep Dive into the game here.) We reached out to Jersey Jack Pinball to find out some additional details:

The game will ship with the code at “Rules Complete” with all features included in the game (it was at around 20-30% at Expo)"

https://www.thisweekinpinball.com/twip-guardians-galaxy-rumor-round-jjp-pirates-new-info/

I agree in spirit I guess, but it doesn’t sound like you’ve owned a recent Stern ... they have taken forever on many of the recent games

Whether that's true or not about Stern games really shouldn't have anything to do with this. The question isn't "Who does code updates more frequently?" it's "Should POTC be further along in it's code at this point and is it getting the same attention in code support as other JJP games?"

Even if that's true about Stern would it be a good reason for JJP to slack off on it too? "Hey, the other company isn't doing a very good job at it so why should we work to do much better than them?" That wouldn't be a very good way to earn customers and run a business. This isn't about making a comparison to anyone else, it's about what should the company that made this machine be doing to build the trust of its customers.

I suppose I meant “this is the current state of affairs with prices as they are, and the limited resources the companies are working with.” JJP (or any well-Run company) does JUST enough to stay ahead of the competition, so as not to over-spend and cut into potential profit. We know the margin was razor-thin on this game, after all the R&D money was spent on the mechs, and particularly the 3-disc spinner which was entirely scrapped.

Anyway. I’m not disagreeing that it would be great to get an update, just that it’s beyond reasonable expectations to see one for this particular game so soon after the last one, when we know they are on game 5, and given Keith’s health situation. But I’m hopeful, Pinball isn’t always reasonable !

I don't know why it's not entirely reasonable to expect a game to ship with all of the features it's sold as. Or at least not unreasonable to expect that those features be added quickly thereafter.

I guess we'll agree to disagree on that. POTC has had 3 updates in a year and next Saturday the last update will have been 5 months ago. I don't see that as being so recent that the next update shouldn't reasonably be expected yet, especially when the number of updates on Wonka says otherwise and when all features are not currently in the game (regardless of how attainable the features are) even though they had said the game would ship with all features included (and they put that bit of information out there almost two years ago).

The whole thing could be made much smoother with even a little effort at communication, but again that's just not something they seem to be interested in and to me it's another indication of how they really feel about their customers. Actions speak louder than words when it comes to how a company feels about its customers.

That's what it all comes back to. With the playfield, with code updates, other issues. JJP is silent except for announcing on social media when they have a code update or when someone sends them a picture of their machines out in the wild. I don't know what goes on in the Google group, can't get in, but that should not be the only place they relay info to customers. They have a huge email database, they should use it. Nothing makes people happier than being informed about updates, timing, etc. Keeps customers engaged, knowledgable and off your back.

Or, the other route is to shroud everything in mystery, make the customers wonder and work hard to get the information and support they need, etc. I mean how many people really know about the several replacement parts or kit fixes that are out of the POTC? The lest JJP could do is have a single public location they put all of this information. A minimum effort of email sending would go a long way, not to mention I bet they would see a substantial uptick in product sales if they threw up some JJP merch and offered it through the newsletters, maybe a discount code now and then for parts, etc.

Ah but what do I know. Then they would have to expose the ugly underbelly of the whole thing and the wizard behind the curtain might be disappointing.

A lot of this is our fault though - they used to be fairly accessible through
The google groups, and here on Pinside. Then the complaining started. My god, you can read only a few pages back about someone bitching about an ENTIRE play field JJP was going to ship them -for free- as a replacement after the play field clear debacle. Now I can’t excuse Jjp for that - I think they should sue whomever cleared the play fields for their losses, or hit up their insurance company. Anyway, but my point is the complaining is out of control

Got my encyclopedia today

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It's like everyone looking for a new code because it's been 5 months (or whatever) since the last - has no idea that Keith had a Heart Attack after the last update.

Chicken or egg, though? I mean, is it mischaracterizing the situation to suggest that JJP has had continued issues and poor customer interaction since the original WOZ playfield issues? Did they bring the complaining on themselves? Because they sure do it now. I don't think it's impossible for a company to have customer interaction in online spaces and be able to fend off and deal with complaints. Because if you are doing a good job, people want to sing your praises. I would loved to have helped JJP take a lead in the PR of the playfield swap they eventually seem to be offering (I haven't gotten a refund) and make it known far and wide that they were stepping up. But it's almost like some sort of masquerade that no one can know what is going on and everything is 2nd or 3rd hand knowledge that someone heard from someone. Maybe Jack dropped a note in this podcast or someone from JJP told this one guy who called them this other thing. I feel like they created the mess they are in by the way they showed their customers to treat them. If you stand up, take stock and handle your shit you dont have to worry about being overwhelmed by complaints. If you, however, hide in your own private forum and don't have any real contact publicly with your customers then you've drawn a line in the sand.

How far would a god damn monthly email newsletter with little important pieces of information go? Like "Hey, if you have this old snubber bracket on your POTC fill out this form and we'll get you the fix" .... you know? Not really that hard to do and then you have an atmosphere of inclusion and upfront behavior. Instead there are upset people because they aren't being treated how you would expect to be treated by a company that takes so much of your disposable income for a game/hobby. This isn't a need, no one HAS to buy a pinball machine... but surely those who save up, drop what amounts to almost a new car cost on a wooden box with some flippers, they want to be treated as if they matter to the company.

Me too!

I read most of it. Looks like there is a battery that needs to be replaced every 3 years.

Not only that... you just have to do it with the game on. No biggie. LOL

I read the method.. I have done a lot of legit stupid things but this sounds like a pucker moment. Less so on the vertical motherboards, but I have to do it on my WOZ which is horizontal. I'm trying to remember if, back in the day when we worked on PCs, replacing a BIOS battery always cleared the BIOS. I know we never did it with the machine on, so it must have. Seems like there should be a way to get around that with a clip on battery or something, you know, just temporary while changing the battery, versus the game being on. Seems logical enough, is there no where else to wire up a coin cell to for a temporary supply?

Yeah, I will be hiring a pro for all that. I only work on minor and obvious easy stuff myself.

There is, but you have to end the 31 missions and kill Smaug then you have finally arkenston wizzard mode!

Wait, what? So you have to get There And Back Again -and- kill Smaug? Ok that is nigh impossible

Generally BIOS setting were saved to small amount of nvram so didn't require the battery to remember, just the clock.

If you swapped the battery you used to get a time reset and a bios prompt to go fix it and say what the current day was.

In JJP machines they have password locked bios so this is an issue and likely why they'd say to do it with the power on.

Leaving this club, its been a good crowd, great game, had my fair share of plays now time to move on to someone else to enjoy !

Bye, maybe CE you soon !

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Sad to see but I thank you for all you contributed to the owners and pinball. Best to you.

I hope that your "CE" quip is a not so subtle hint that you will be in the WONKA CE owners thread once the game is released. You have been a valuable asset to the hobby and much appreciated.

It's coming. Keith said it was, and the new attract mode screen that lists number of balls per play that he confirmed was added to the upcoming system code made it out on WoZ 7.02 first instead.

I'm sure it is! I only meant that I was skeptical there was any actual news or statement, since JJP seems so close-lipped about updates. (although Jack has been pretty clear that they do not have immediate plans to do another run, but they have another 2-something years on the license)

What's the balls in play update do?

Just to be clear you dont have to kill Smaug to get to there and back again.

All you have to do is Start all 32 modes i believe. You just have to start them as well not complete them. Still very difficult, but doable.

Well, koops went way out of his way to improve upon his BP ramp support and alignment piece. He was kind enough to take my plethora of input and changes to make something that should work for everyone. I printed out a test today and am going to be testing it out later tonight to see how it all fits and works. If everything goes well then I should have some ready to ship this week.
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Pic is missing one piece I was still printing. Uses set screws to adjust the saddles to level and support the left and right side of the ramp.

Right, understood -

It just puts on the screen how many balls you get per game. On the jjPotC here we've (successfully) used an extra ball perk to bridge the gap to $1.50/play (or 4 for $5) so players don't feel it's too expensive. They get 4 balls per game instead of 3. It's worked out really well. jjPotC has earned 2x the next closest pin (which is usually Deadpool Premium) the whole time we've had it out - about 9 months. That's a REALLY good record.

Given the spiraling costs of Prem and LE machines, it's ALL going to $1.50/play sooner rather than later, and this is just one tool to help with that transition. Worked out really well in this case.

Got it. Interesting! I think 4 balls for $1.50 is totally reasonable. glad to hear there's still progress being made on WOZ!

Just curious. How did the pin holdup when it was out on route? What were some of the things that didn't hold up?

Any how many plays?

Mine was on route before I got it, nothing unique compared to whatever everyone else posted but only 2500 plays.

It's done great on route. It's off right now only because the location it was at changed ownership and went pinball-free, but it'll be out again soon. No issues of note. The post next to the Tortuga saucer kept coming loose so I put some blue loc-tite on it, and that took care of the issue. It has the trunk lid mod, and the Mod Couple Kraken and that's about it for mods (well, except for the filter plate I made that makes the stars on the star map look more like stars and less like blobs).

I only waxed it every month or so and that was about it.

what does it do?

Also, would be great to someone, even Stern, to make the gate on BP Ramp (left side) angled higher on left side so the ball doesn't get stuck. Now I've also tighten the screw on right side of the ramp to angle it down, but the ball still gets stuck sometimes on the gate.

Wait, Stern?

I just bent the stop down a bit so it sits a little higher. 2 minute fix.

So, I tried another approach since my BP ramp was rubbing on the bolt underneath it (which was messing up the decal). Let me know if the following does not make sense:
There are two posts supporting a sling under the BP ramp. They are attached at the top with a flat metal piece. With the bolts going through the metal piece and the plastic posts (for the sling), the bolts were just too tall and rubbing on the ramp. I wondered if they were forcing the ramp to be too high on the left as I could not lower the ramp further. In essence, the bolt closest to the BP ramp entrance was providing a ramp support. My solution was to take about an eighth of an inch off the plastic post (closest to the BP ramp entrance) to provide the BP ramp more space to move down and not hit these bolts.
I also took out the rubber piece on the ramp support on the right to give me more latitude to move the ramp down to its lowest position. (I am talking about the ramp support that you screw tighter to lower the ramp.) This allowed the ramp to be at its lowest setting. I have no more ramp rubbing against the bolt (which I understand is causing some ramps to distort) and my BP ramp is as smooth as silk. Even though I have about a 1/4" gap between the ramp and the BP, I no longer get balls stuck on there and the gate at the top of the ramp also does not catch balls. I ordered a Cliffy for the BP entrance, but I do not see significant contact of the ball with the BP edge. Regardless, the BP is not always level, so the ball could contact the edge anyway so it needed protecting in my opinion.

I do not know if this will work for others, but it did wonders for me. The main thing is to check your BP ramp and its contact with the bolts under it. That will be a long term problem if it is not addressed ... and an expensive one if ramps need to be fabricated because of lack of inventory.

Nice! Thanks for posting this. I’m going to check it out on mine.

Okay,,,,just caught the incorrection...thx....Meant JJP

So getting rid of that rubber piece helped lower the ramp that much to prevent balls getting hung up on the gate? If so, that's great to know.

I wasn't having a major problem with that as much as balls getting hung on the gap between the BP and the ramp. Either way, the whole flow is much smoother. Again, "mileage may vary", but it worked wonders on my machine.

What rubber piece?

Same for me. I took the rubber piece out and tightened down the right side. No more hang ups at all.

There is a small, black rubber ring that the screw goes through before attaching to the ramp post.

I'm always hesitant to remove something from the original design unless there is no other solution. Some other problem usually shows up for me. This isn't something that should vary so much game-to-game even with POTC quality issues. The ball was hanging up on the one-way gate on my game, but I was able to fix by tweaking the screws at the bottom of the ramp and post screw. It's the only game I've seen where the flap screws don't seem designed to be fully tightened.

Curious: How did lowering the ramp help in the one-way gate area though? I’m amazed how that didn’t make the ball get trapped there even more....

I didn't really lower the ramp, just tilted it slightly more toward the right by tightening the post screw down a little on the rubber, and tweaking the flap screws so that the one on the right was a little tighter than the other one.

Cool! Thanks!

This is what I initially did ( https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/jjpirates-of-the-caribbean-troubleshooting-tips-issues/page/40#post-5168721 ).

This caused the secondary issue of dropping my left side of the ramp and hence the entire reason for me making the support in the first place.

I clearly need to ask Santa for a potc for Christmas