Oh sure. I agree. I'm just disappointed at how few modes are integrated at release, and given how few there are, it magnifies at this point how most of that GUI is just clips plopped down and repeating, no elegance like in POTC or Wonka, design wise. It's incredibly crude aesthetically.

Yeah. JJP is easily doing the best choreography in pinball today in my opinion. Its take a lot of extra time and work to create light shows / effects, animations, music / sounds, and then sync them all together in a meaningful way. A majority of pins just don't do that or at least not as well.

Exactly!

And for having the largest screen size by far, they utilize it not by swamping it with fulk size clips incessantly. They're tactfully pieced in, and largely quadrants or sectors give static information that transitions with smaller animations so well. JP Dewinn feels like he's been the most significant distancer in pinball since JJP launched. His GUI design starting with WoZ has been professional, creative, groundbreaking and peerless.

He never gets enough DAILY praise in this industry, as far as I'm concerned. And when you look at other GUI's, if you do, you'll always recognize the vast differences in design excellence.

I get that a lot too - still using the original sling rubber though. Does it only happen during the Tortuga multiball? It seems to only happen during that for me. I'm wondering if the slings get too extreme as a bug somehow.

I was wondering the same as my slings are set as low as the go and very randomly they will go haywire and fire one off the glass and up over to the drain or shooter lane.

Curious, as a Houdini owner is your assessment of R&M animation above or below that? Won't even ask about Octoberfest I know that answer. lol I think Eric made it very clear in the release video they are no where near complete with the modes or animations. I personally love what they have done so far and appreciate that they are very honest up front to say this has a lot more to come. I don't think it will ever be POTC but in using animation clips it Could be close to Hobbit content. They passed AP animation with just the match sequence....

I mentioned it to the beta testers because I thought it might just be in the new beta code, but no one spoke up. Must only be some people's pins and not others, but so far 3 people see that.

Will be interesting to see if anyone else experiences this. Doesn’t happen often but when it does, gets your attention for sure!

As someone who SHOULD REALLY own a Houdini but can't convince myself to give up a slot to put it in my room I can say the two reasons I don't are because the shots are rediculously hard which makes it less than fun and the animation/graphics are a slap in the face to the great Erich Weiss and Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin. No but really, they suck horribly. A "chiller" font fluorescent turd.

There is definitely a momentum that gets going when they bounce off each other. I am going to bend my switches back and see if that helps. I would assume they aren't increasing in power through software but maybe it's just a mechanical frequency type thing of a ball getting shot back and forth between the two.

Report back after adjusting

Momentum = force times distance. The first time ball hits slingshot the force is lower than after it has been slung 2-3 times. After a couple times back and forth the force/momentum is maxed. More often than not this is where you will get air time. Turning power down will help but at the end of day if it makes it back and forth enough momentum will build and you will have the chance for airtime.

This rang a bell with me when I read it earlier today. I vaguely remembered having a lot of air balls and dialing the slings down a bit. Just got home and checked my settings. I'm at 20 on both slings (down from the default 22) with original type rubber. Still plenty powerful enough to send the ball places I don't want it to go, but I haven't had any air balls in a pretty long time though.

Doesn't happen on my game and mine are set to factory.

On another note, I'm not an aftermarket topper guy...unless harry comes up with something because I know it will look like it belongs in the game in the first place...but I picked this up at Goodwill for $5. It's brand new and I am going to put it together and see what it looks like. It looks really detailed for what it is. Also, looking it up online, apparently there is a version of it that comes with LED lighting you can put in it and it looks great lit up.

IMG_20200217_130539 (resized).jpg

Damn. That is pretty cool!!

It is pretty crazy looking. Dimensions show it as 2ft tall, so it may be a little big, but I was going to put it together anyway for fun so we'll see if it would look decent on the game when I'm done.

https://www.amazon.com/CubicFun-Puzzles-Revenge-Sailboat-Children/dp/B07W7Z74LV/ref=sr_1_2

IMG_20200217_1305391 (resized).JPG

Crap, I have been half-ass looking for this type of thing for a while. Well done! My ceiling height won’t support a 2 foot topper (!!) but I’d love to see the results

Well, as fugly as most of that Houdini LCD action is............at least they created all of it. Fugly, is the keyword though. God bless them at AP. I do like Houdini's cab and playfield art though!

Problem for me is, from what I'm seeing, most of R&M is clip usage, which at this stage feels very rudimentary, implementation wise. It's just....there.

They could shrink some clips, integrate clips into a larger GUI like JP DeWinn does. They could also freeze images, and do some of their own extended animation work starting from what they get via Cartoon Network. Obviously that would have to be approved.

But so far, I see some nice electricity animations on the MB start, and maybe one more text animation. Other than that, it's very rough with no panel animation, no drop shadows on most text, static text, etc.

I've stated in that initial thread, I love the work they did on ACNC, really impressive! But so far this license feels squandered on the backglass. Static text and repetitious clips don't engage me. Conversely, Wonka took a few clips, could have used more for sure, and built an entire framework on that screen. It's highly imaginative, builds on the IP, and compliments the IP very well.

The static garage shot, with one item pulsing, on R&M, had me jawdropped every time I'd see it. It felt incredibly drab, lifeless, and basic. I expect more, even on day one release, from every manufacturer.

That said, I am excited to shoot the shots, just not watch and hear that backglass. I've got till October till mine hits for arrival, give or take.

Can someone please explain to me the 'Shot X'.

I get it that you light the pirates lanes with shot x chosen, then you then hit one of the 'times x' standups.

From there can you shot any shot or does it show you 1, 2 or a few shots available? i.e. how do you know which shot to shoot? - what colour does it flash and what is it worth?

Any and all shots on the play field. Light via pirate lanes. Hit stand up to the left of chest. Then hit your 2x-6x target To activate it. You next thing you hit will be multiplied. Best I have ever done is a shot x during a chapter for some not so impressive points. IMO shot x is one of the hardest “tools” to use on potc. Hard to get everything to line up but when you do amazing things can happen. Like a 21 million point shot

Yeah, that's above my level.

As a Houdini owner who enjoys the game, I strongly disagree. FWIW.

So how does everyone think the super wizard mode, Break the Curse, should or will work? Will you have to at least attempt all 5 wizard modes? That seems like the likely scenario in my opinion and then scoring is based on how well you scored in each wizard mode. I don't see having to complete all 5 wizard modes as the requirement to unlock Break the Curse as that seems like an even more impossible task compared to reaching Valinor in LOTR or Somewhere over the Rainbow in WOZ.

New Topper...?

https://www.classicfm.com/composers/badelt/toothbrushes-play-pirates-of-the-caribbean-theme/

Does anyone have the disc silencer from the mod couple? I was wondering if it worked well and if it is easy to install. Thanks in advance

It’s not terribly hard, but it isn’t like just sticking a plastic toy on the playfield, if you know what I mean. You do have to remove the mech

It works ok, but calling it a “silencer” is a bit much. The disc still makes noise, but it’s certainly an improvement

Thank you

A key word search of this thread will turn up past posts reflecting mixed results. It didn't have any noticeable effect with my game's noisy disk, but other POTC owners have found it to be effective.

I would have skipped it had I known how little (if any) it helped. At least that was my experience. Others have said it helps.

I've just recently installed the silencer a couple weeks ago. Its intimidating, but very doable once you get into it and realize what is going on with it. I find it to works extremely well and has quieted mine down a lot. Compared to my Wonka gobstopper hole noise, it is much quieter.

Thanks guys! Really appreciate the feedback

I am working on a belt drive to see if that will quiet it down.

I found this little guy like a white plastic tube below my playfield, quite at the far left end lying on the bottom close to the black ‘square’.

Did not see where it belongs to, does anyone know where I need to put it back? Thanks!!!!

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A spacer for something. I know I saw Eric post the other day, I think on Facebook, about there being two white spacers around the Maelstrom ramp.

Check the fork mech that rises up below the trunk. Two plastic sleeves each side on the moving mech below the playfield. Missing one there ?

I'd check that first, though in the picture your piece looks too big for that mech.

LTG : )

Yep too big for the fork mech. ; )
been there... done that.

Check the bottom of the target ship assembly (the one you shoot at with the cannon shot). At the bottom of the long metal arm behind the playfield backpanel, there's a screw with a spacer that looks like that. The fact that it was directly below where that part is on the playfield makes me think it's that.

Thank you everyone for the fast replies.
Fork mesh is fine, vireland is the winner! I looked at drawing C-58 and found the spacer being number 12. All good now, picture attached if someone experiences the same thing.

However, while searching in the area I found the 2 screws (picture below). They were at the bottom far left in the same area where I found the plastic spacer but within the electrical cables on the left side and not lying on the bottom directly. I had to gently shake the cables and these 2 screws dropped from there.
I tried to find their home but did not find it.
Any idea where these 2 screws belong to?

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Hold coin mechs in place.

LTG : )

See picture. Red arrows point to them.

LTG : )

DSC00089 (resized).JPG

They go on the coin door here:

coin-mech-screws (resized).jpg

EDIT:Beaten

correct! LTG wins this time!
Thank you!
These 2 screws must have been stuck there during the shipping. I don’t how they can end up there while playing! Fixed now!!!

LOL, PinMonk and LTG should go head to head in a "where does this part go" showdown.

So what's the strategy I need to take now that I'm finally able to hit most of the shots? I generally try to get all 5 multiballs lit, hit BP one first so I can try to get that jackpot and then just go nuts hitting every other possible thing I can hit for multiball/jackpot. Should I try to rack up some multipliers first?

Does it makes sense to have tortuga MB going on at the same time? I also try to toss a chapter in there so I might accidentally finish it while slinging the balls around.

Oh, and how does everyone have the right outlane rubbers setup for the "save"? I moved my donut from the right upper post to the lower left post and of course this saves the ball plenty easy. My wife is having a hard time with the game so I moved all the inlane posts to the easy position to give her a bit of a fighting chance. I have all of the high scores on all of the games in my house (not a big accomplishment) and the natives are getting angry.

vireland won. Better picture, more arrows.

LTG : )

When I played the prototype with Eric (and that you will see in his streams), the rubber donut was removed from both. I asked him about it and said that this was the design intent. The extra donut would be provided to either make it harder or easier - owners choice. Mine was removed.

Sure, maybe this one time, but I think you probably win with quantity and in a showdown probably edge him out in overall knowledge!

Anyone do the black lock mod? Lol... way too much money and time was spent installing those. Apparently the backbox lock is hard to find in black, at least it was for me. I should have just painted them.

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Ah that's good to know. Having the donut on the upper one made it quite the feat to save it but you felt so good when you did. I'll take it off and see how it goes.

Well, I kind of cheated. This question comes up SO often I have a picture I made saved and ready to go whenever it comes up.

Maybe the pinball companies should include a drawing of the screw and where it goes in the unpacking instructions since it's a very common thing to have them rolling around the cabinet.

Are you talking about the lock for the backglass?

https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/LKA58BK

Did you do it or are you just suggesting the lock? Because the issue is with the tang fitting on the new one.

Pm sent