Pirates was my first JJP game as well. REALLY glad I decided to buy it after initially going back and forth on pulling the trigger! Just acquired a Hobbit Smaug and am loving it too!

Good to hear - thanks for this info! I've typically added external Polk subs to my games, but I've been considering trying a PinWoofer system on my Hobbit instead. If it sounds that much better, I'll likely install it on my Pirates as well.

Next time back up your high scores/audits before performing the update, and restore them into the new version after the update. I haven’t actually done it yet, but it’s an awesome feature.

I have a hobbit and an external 10” sub. I hooked it up to the black and red terminal on the sub under the playfield. Piece of cake 3 minute install. Sounds amazing. I plan to do the same with pirates.

I actually already have an external sub hooked up to my Pirates and agree that the installation is fairly simple. While the overall sound is decent, I'm open to potentially improving (replacing) it with PinWoofer. A trial Hobbit install should tell the tale regarding audio potential.

Nice story! Glad the update went well. I still havne't upgraded to 0.99 myself.

What Play field pitch do you guys have your POTC at?

Still enjoying this game, but I can't pretend I'm not incredibly disappointed by the "one last update" talk. I was really hoping they'd support this game longer... now its time to wait for the actual update...

Considering the game is not finished saying “one last update” is shit. Hopefully they don’t forget to put the basic features in this time. Wonder what bugs we will find in 1.0

I have mine at the second bubble. That’s what they recommend and I like that pitch.

My spinning disc is quite noisy. Is this just normal or can you adjust it?

thanks ... I looked in the manual and it said 6.5 degrees...I was having problems with the upper right VUK at 7.2 degrees....problem seems to have gone away at 6.5

Normal. The Mod Couple makes a disc silencer. I have it and it helps a lot.

In hindsight, they also said DI had “one last update” coming (and TH too), and both games ended up with 2 additional bug fix releases

Please, people stop worry !
The game will be finished with the final update and some bug fixes later on if there are any.
Like mention before Keith had a heart attack so it went on a delay, give the man some time!

Pirates code has likely been delayed due to code work for Wonka, future titles, and items discussed at Expo including Bluetooth headphone and wireless update support. I don't think that's right considering how long Pirates has been out. The resources put into Bluetooth headphone and wireless update support could have gone to completing Pirates. Would anyone really care if those two items got delayed a few months? No. I'm glad to hear a final update is coming but when I hear that I can't help to think waiting 33 months for Ghostbusters code.

I think "one last update" is in reference to one last substantial update which will include the games super wizard mode, Break the Curse. I'm sure JJP will still release updates for any bug fixes, they always have.

The 'ol "double bubble" slope.

I'm partial to 1.85 bubbles myself.

Agee the game needs to be finished/polished and an update is overdue, but saying it is lacking “basic features” is a big stretch. You could argue that the finial wizard mode is basic but doubt that’s how most would take your comment. The code is already broader and deeper than 90% of games.

It's just more Pinside pitchfork brigading to act "ripped off" by the fact the final wizard isn't in yet.

Go into your settings and change the game to easy. Or use the fancy menu and tell the game to be 5 ball without going into the sub menu and manually changing it. Is this not a basic feature? My 30 year old pin has this

Oh and I just recorded my best gam. 3 wiz modes. 4th qualified and only 2 chapters left for 5th. Would love it if when I hit the magical combo and get all 5 done there will be something to do. As it stands now the only objective after the 5 wiz modes is to keep your endless multiball rolling. New high score 4.1m norrington. 500 gold collected with a nice 666 multiball in the middle

Saying it’s missing basic features makes it sound like there are significant gaps in regular game play / factory settings. I’m all for highlighting issues but reading the “fan club” thread it’s easy to see why people would be scared off the game. I agree the lack of timely code support is an issue but they’ve said an update is coming and Keith has a stellar record. I’d be very surprised if they didn’t follow a final major update with additional bug fixes if needed. (And congrats on the great game - why worry about Easy and 5 ball setting if you’re knocking on the door of a final wizard mode.)

It would be nice if I could even the playing field. I play on hard. Mom and sister play on easy 5 ball. Maybe I would not have like 27 high scores.

There's a perfect perk for Keith's upcoming 1.00 code release. A single crappy character that has all negative perks. 25% scoring, lower mode times, zero plundering, etc. Would even the playing field in a head to head game with less capable players.

There are definitely more clear rules outlined in that spreadsheet Keith posted a while back. Several (most?) of the characters have some downside or another. It's not exactly what you're suggesting, but it does seem to even out the game rules a bit.

Follow-up on that - is there such a thing as a handicap setting on a game? Is this done in tournaments ever?

I know about the existing balancing negative perks of characters, but having just one of the characters you can choose be ALL negative as essentially a handicap choice so a much better player can play with casual or even bad players and have them all be more equal would be pretty cool. I don't think a handicapping option in pinball has even been done. Another JJP first if implemented.

I usually fake drain my ball if I’m playing too well against novices. I’m no pro though lol. And I never have to do that with my son he’s just as good at kicking my ass in pinball as he is at Xbox.

I am not that good but I will never just hand a win over. My gf gets pissed when at the last minute I am able to beat her grandson, but the way I see it is I am old school, and not into the participation trophies and all that mess that goes on today.

When I get beat is when I could never make my shots the whole game, and that is frequent enough that anyone even a novice can easily beat me 25% of the time or more anyway.

If I was really good, then yes I would let someone else win. But I can be beat easily enough anyway, so game on.

I am not great at pinball, but I enjoy the hell out of it.

Me too. My favorite hobby ever. Just pure fun. I have some weak-minded friends lol and if they are doing too badly they quit mid-game. I hate throwing a game but will do so if I have to.

That is messed up. They must do not get how damn fun pinball is. Even on my worst games when all I get is SDTM every ball I still enjoy the feel of the game even though what happened totally sucked. Then next game maybe a new high score!

As far as my friends, some are afraid to shake the game a little, I tell them shake the damn thing! Then one moves it 2 feet and I am like...not that much, shake a little easier.

Some friends are afraid to touch the games much I think.

Everyone is different and all is cool and life with pinball machines is awesome!

I know right! LOL. People just don’t want to nudge the machine. They seem afraid. I tell them it was made for that it’s part of pinball go ahead shake away ever heard of tilt lol? Yeah they’re not into it as much as me it’s really one of my best friends that’s like that but he’s got a short attention span for anything. Probably why he’s been single his virtual entire adult life...

Lol I’ve learned to nudge well over the past 6 months. I need to hit a pinball place to get the feel for what tilt is supposed to feel like.

Who did the art on POTC?

hey there whats up..
Just got my LE and I noticed the two pop bumbers do not spin anymore.. I did a quick search and I didnt find anthing about others with same issue or fix.. any help would be great..

-possible setting in menu??
-Wire issue, location. etc..

Thanks in advance

First thing I'd check is if the hex locks came loose, where the motor is spinning and it's not grabbing the bumper heads.

So I thought I’d post a game I had tonight. Just tried to see if the main super wizard mode is a reality for me. So I played as Elizabeth swan. Basically I just mode start and timed out. Shot mode start again and timed out. In regaining control of the ball each time, I managed to get all the multiballs played at one point or another.

Bottom line, I got all chapters played. All Five wizard modes lit and three played. Drained my last ball playing one of the wizard modes.

Seems like cheating somewhat, but I have standard outline posts and set to four balls. Everything else is standard, I think.

Do you think the main wizard mode will be qualified just by playing all five minis or will there be more?

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I wondered this myself. I've had all 5 lit and played 4 of them. Drained out playing the 4th one when I told myself I should just time it out and play the next one. This was a while ago, so I didn't know at the time that Break The Curse wasn't in the game yet so that makes me feel better about draining. In this case I think it will be lit after playing the 5 mini wizard modes, unless Keith is really feeling cruel and makes it so that you have to complete all 5 mini wizards which would be damn near impossible.

Word on the street is that you'll need to complete all 5 wizard modes AND then win the right to play Break the Curse via a game of Liar's Dice.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

I recently discovered what a huge difference fresh coil sleeves can make in a game.

I did them at around 4200 plays on Wonka and the flippers became as snappy as new. I did it on POTC (around 3400 plays) and I'm also happy with the result, I can make the chest shot consistently from the left flipper now!

I did all 3 flippers, the Depths VUK and the Tortuga VUK. However, Depths is still somewhat inconsistent. Around 5-10% of the time, it seems to shoot out with too little force, and drain in the I lane.

This is really disappointing when it happens, because it's not a skill thing...you just plain got screwed out of a ball.

I keep the game clean and waxed and the one way gate is not binding in any way.

Has anyone found a cause/fix for these occasional I lane dribble drains?

Oh gosh, I always loose in Liars Dice. Please no

lose

Lol, I just happened to see this video this morning:

I'm just not a fan of Liars dice. Just not fun. I almost always change the Pirates lanes when it is lit. But odds of me completing all mini wizard modes is small. And I just cant make myself time out a mode.

My Depths has also always been very inconsistent and I finally looked at it last weekend. I think the issue is the amount of play/wiggle of the plunger within the coil sleeve, and that’s causing the plunger to line up just a very slight bit off center when it’s at rest, but it’s enough that the ball is kicked at a different angle and so comes through at a different speed.

I’ve had similar issues with a cannon VUK on my STTNG and with the Tortuga scoop on POTC. They were all super inconsistent in kicking the ball out. My Tortuga scoop would very lightly kick the ball out one shot and then the next could come out like a rocket. I changed coil power up and down but always got the same inconsistency. Then I finally realized that on the ones coming out weak, the ball seemed to hit the deflector differently than on the strong kicks.

So a few weeks ago I checked the Tortuga scoop and realized when base of the plunger came back down to rest, the base was often just a bit off center resting on the bracket - meaning the plunger was just very very slightly not lined up not the same way for its next kick as it has been for the one before. It was only off by the slightest amount of wiggle, but I think it was enough to cause an inconsistent ball exit angle from one kick to the next. That then would lead to the ball hitting the deflector differently and having a different speed on each shot.

So I snipped just a very small amount of foam weather stripping and duct taped it to the base of the Tortuga VUK coil bracket, so the plunger base would have a softer resting spot just a bit higher up and it would line up more consistently each time. The weather stripping had to be snipped just thin enough so the tip of the plunger wouldn’t trip the opto when there wasn’t a ball there. The kick out became INSTANTLY more consistent and has now had every kick out at the same speed for three weeks after having been inconsistent since I got the machine last December.

When I checked the Depths this weekend I found its plunger has A LOT more wiggle than Tortuga, and the plunger is horizontal instead of vertical. So I think the same thing is happening. I think the plunger is resting at just a very slightly different angle for each shot, causing the exit path of the ball to be only just a bit different, but different enough to dramatically alter the ball’s speed coming out. I was going to do the weather stripping to see if it would work but I didn’t have a lot of time to monkey with it and I forget why, but I remember thinking at the time it might not work as well due to the plunger being horizontal instead of vertical like Tortuga. I’m going to try to get to it this weekend.

So, ridiculously long story short, I think I have a plausible theory as to what’s causing the inconsistent exit speed, but I haven’t tried the solution yet. Hope this helps.

Hope that’s not true. Seems like that would be an unnecessarily big hurdle.

Very good detective work!! I'll investigate this on my end as well.

Anyone ever measured the pitch of the playfield both near the flippers and up by the chest? Last weekend I was playing with the PinGuy app on my iPhone and it was showing 6.5 by the flippers but over 7 (I think 7.2 or 7.3) up by the chest. So I did the same check on my Jurassic Park and the readings by the flippers and farther up the playfield were much more consistent with each other on that game. I thought it was odd to have such a different reading in two spots on #JJPOTC. I recalibrated the app and measured both games again and got the same results though.

John Youssi did art for Dial In & Wonka,what other artist work for JJP.I’m hoping Franchi can do some for us

Yep ...just did it on my POTC....6.6 at the flippers, 6.9 just above the disc, 7.1 at the chest.....

Interesting. Thanks for checking. For the record, I’m not trying to say there might be a defect or anything wrong with it. I just didn’t expect that result and I’m just curious if it’s typical.

I’m not sure of the reasons for it, but there’s lots of reports of this on other games. I imagine the playfield slightly bows due to all the inconsistent distribution of weight on certain games.