Hey All, just took delivery of my first nib POTC. I have to say, I am VERY disappointing in the Jersey Jack QC. Thankfully the machine arrived physically undamaged. But at first boot-up there were multiple switch errors. And some were not trivial. For example, two of the star map standups were so misaligned that they overlapped. It took an hour to fix this - had to add washers under the screws to change the angle, not easy given the location behind the ship motor. The wire for the Chest opto was mis-routed and was literally wrapped around of one of the star map standups - would have easily been severed after a few good shots to the target. There was an opto that was not attached because the small plastic holder cover fell off (it had been held together with a piece of tape). Another leaf switch was always closed. The Chest lift mech reported a malfunction because it would not stay in the up position. Had to significantly bend the arm on the end-of-stroke cherry switch so the solenoid could travel further and engage the lock. The right flipper solenoid strength was different than the left and could not put the ball in the chest. Oh, and there were no screws for the topper. Four hours later and the pin was playing as it should. All I can say is for a $9500 pin, WTF!!

But love the game!

Hi, I've noticed that the side rails on my potc are not sticking to the side of the cabinet. There is a small gap between the rail and the cab and if I press I can feel the double-stick tape take hold for a second but then the rail pulls away. Same on both sides. Is this normal? Have others noticed this?

Been playing our new POTC for a few days now and I've noticed that the Pirate lanes don't seem to work as expected; after completing all 6 lanes and hitting the Pirate standup, it does not award the selected choice. Maybe it's awarding one before or after the one I selected? Very annoying. Am I doing something wrong or maybe I misunderstand how this should work?

You're lucky - I've lost count on the number of issues with mine, some small and some significant. If this were a new car it would be close to lemon status.

I had thought that after the sixth lane was hit, you could change the selected reward before hitting the standup, but the sixth lane locks in the current reward. Makes it rather difficult because the you tend to change the reward accidentally when frantically hitting the button for gold.

Hey all - I've noticed on my POTC that it's almost impossible to make the skill shot into the map hole and even harder if you hit the inner loop first. As the ball rolls around toward the flipper it doesn't ride the outside rail so it tends to be about a 1/2 inch away from the flipper. The shot into the hole requires flipping very early (toward to top of the flipper) and with the gap between the ball and the flipper there's not enough strength and the ball usually lobs into the gold targets. I've tried to make that skill shot hundreds of times and it almost never works. Making the inner loop is not problem. My game is level left/right and pitched a bit steeper than the default. Anyone else notice this with the skill shot?

I'll have to check. Thanks for all the feedback.

I had a bunch of allen wrenches but nothing bellow 3/32, so I had to borrow from a friend. Would have been nice if the tool was mentioned in the website details. Honestly, I did not find the kit made the disk notably quieter.

I purchased the full set from Cliff but so far I've only installed the ball drops (super easy). I want to install the Tortuga hole next but the metal deflector needs to be removed and the two screws are obscured by the pop-bumper skirt and I can't figure out how to remove the unit? How do you remove the spinning Jack - seems like his hands are blocking the tiny screw on top. Anyone done this?

Thanks!

Now if someone could figure out how to mod the trunk to open and close like JJP had originally intended!

Exactly! I think the complexity would be the solenoids to raise/lock and unlock. Unlike Houdini where the trunk only needs to remain open for a few seconds (temporarily energized coil), this would require a locking mech, and with limited space that could be tricky.

No hinge, just a metal bracket.

I have 225 - also with noisy spinning disk and missing topper hardware! No issue with screen latch but lots of other small and not-so-small issues. JJP has since sent me the missing hardware and I've installed the Mod Couple disk silencer kit although it's hard to know how much it helped.

How many others have noticed that the side-rail double-stick tape give out and the rails don't remain tight to the box?

I've also noticed the right flipper on the Pearl has a shorter travel but I think that's by design?

Last night while playing I noticed the "X" standup on the Pearl was not registering (makes it really hard to get bonus multipliers). After investigating, I found the "Load" cannon standup was also dead. So both standups flanking the canon door aren't working and neither is showing up as a fault on the switch matrix. In fact, I can't even find the left Load Canon switch on the screen? Any suggestions on how to diagnose/fix this?

I'm assuming I'll need to remove the Pearl so I started by clipping the half dozen tie-wraps to free the Pearl wiring harness from the rest of the rat's nest, but haven't yet removed the playfield.

Thanks. I need to pull the ship anyway to install cliffy around map targets. I'll look for broken wires.

Hey all - I installed a cliffy around the Map hole/targets and now the map shot is nearly impossible. The ball jumps up just slightly (from the cliffy) and deflects off the back plate and bounces out rather than down. I would say one in ten shots goes in. Not sure what to do here. Maybe try a different back deflector plate? The one over the Tortuga hole comes up and over, maybe that would work? Anyone else install the cliffy and having issues?

I just looked at the parts list and interestingly the "Snubber" bracket for both the map and tortuga holes is the same part even though they are obviously different on my game.

There's no gap, the double-stick tape holds it flat. As suggested above I could just remove the cliffy, but before I go that route I may try a few other deflector brackets like this one https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/535-8250-01.

I use these as plastic protectors but they might work below the post also. Just not sure if 3/4" is too large? https://www.pinballlife.com/clear-petg-fender-washers.html

I was busy with other projects over the weekend but I hope to have time to remove the Pearl and see what I can do later this week. I did notice the cliffy is no longer sticking to the playfield, so the tape must have given out - but even if I push it back down, the shot is still mostly impossible. You may be right about the deflector needing adjustment. I also ordered a couple other deflector styles from Marco which should arrive in a day or two. One way or another I'm sure I can get it working.

One of the first problems I had to fix on my POTC was two of the Star Map standups were so misaligned that they were overlapping. I've also found other parts that don't seem correctly aligned. If I didn't know better I'd say the playfield had no dimple marks for the screws during assembly and the staff just eye-balled everything. I'm exaggerating, but what I'm getting at is my map hole deflector is probably not installed the same as yours - could be 1/32" closer or farther or left or right or angled slightly and that combined with just the slightest jump from the cliffy causes the ball to bounce out rather than in. Wonder if I could record with my phone and step through video to see exactly what's happening?

Thinking about this, it could even be the small map 2 cliffy that's the cause - if it's not flush against the wood it may be introducing some additional bounce.

The cliffy's come with a small alcohol swab to clean the playfield surface - I think that's what vireland is referring to.

Not an iphone user lol but my s10 has slow-mo video mode, I'll give it a try and post back.

I found with mine that the Dauntless can move about 1/4" back on its rocking mech. It tends to slide forward due to the playfield slope but you may be able to add washers to keep it in the back position.

I actually wish I could push my Dauntless back a bit because in the normal forward position the bowsprit touches the back of the Maelstrom diverter coil mech when the ship rocks to the left. Also, in the forward position the lower part of the hull does not seem to line up with the upper deck part, so it looks wrong to me. But unfortunately the canon shot misses if I push the ship back. And fyi, I googled what the pointy part of the bow (prow?) is called - the bowsprit, lol.

I finally got around to fixing the issue with the ball bouncing out rather than into the map hole. I replaced the deflector with the extended version, adjusted the deflector position, bent the cliffy slightly to keep it flush, and applied new double-stick adhesive. Not sure which of those resolved the problem but the ball drops perfectly now. Side note; when I originally installed the cliffy it was lifting slightly on the right side because as it turns out, the original factory playfield protector around the hole was not installed well and peeled up (I've since removed it).

I also added clear washers to the base of the sling posts (second pic) - not sure if this is necessary but it was an easy precaution against the narrow posts damaging the playfield over time. Also added larger clear washer below the leading corner of the plastic to protect against impacts.
20190328_184328 (resized).jpg20190328_190325 (resized).jpg

https://www.pinballlife.com/clear-petg-fender-washers.html

Ordered from JJP; Snubber Brkt, Extended LPN 10-3001-01

Yes, 3/4. But I'd suggest ordering all three sizes, never know when you'll need these

I'd add in the railings for the Dauntless.

I recently started having an issue with the post on the left orbit sticking and not retracting into the playfield. I recall reading others having this issue but no resolution. In my case it seems the post shaft is binding in the solenoid sleeve. If I rotate it slightly it moves freely. If I rotate it a bit more it will start binding/sticking again. Any thoughts or suggestions?

What exactly is the need for this? Is it that the ball bounces back from hitting the Dauntless on a canon shot and can damage the underside of the Pearl?

I've lifted mine a couple times and the screws don't seem to be an issue, but I keep a rubber pad on the top of the lift so the screws can sink into that a bit.

Wow, that's lot of issues for NIB! I stand by my statement that JJP has serious QC issues. Anyway, for #4 I had a similar problem with the star map standups. I used a couple washers under one of the two screws to angle the touching standups away from each other. For #7, mine and another POTC the disk had small bumps or divots, I'm guessing this is normal. Congrats on the new pin!

There's one thing I still can't get working on my POTC and that's the annoying sticking action button. I've tried pretty much everything - bending the angle of the switch extension, removing the rough edge on the inner button shaft, adjusting and polishing the screw on the bottom, and adding lubrication. But the button continues to stick occasionally. Unless someone has another suggestion I guess I'll have to replace the entire unit and switch.

Do you have a part# or link? Thanks!

Same here, mylar was lifting on the right side. Just remove it and add the cliffy - problem solved! On a side note, seems like your back defector is installed at a really strange angle - not perpendicular to the hole? But I guess if the ball drops down then it's fine.

I was thinking about this the other night - just how difficult it must be to keep this pin playing well on locations. Can't remember the last time I played mine without having to remove the glass for something, and that's in a home environment. I get that with any pin things go south, it's the nature of the beast, but my two Williams from the 90's are usually rock solid. Maybe it's a sign of the times and how things are manufactured these days. Regardless, I wonder if POTC doesn't get the love it deserves because when on location it's likely not playing 100 percent.

The star field really isn't necessary - when you hit the star map targets (assuming none of the movies are lit), a playfield shot will flash white for a second. That shot will be the mystery pictogram depicted on the star field.

I concur, the ship rocks more to the left than the right. Otherwise all the balls would go overboard Arrrrrr.

I never even opened the JJP balls and instead went with these from Marco. I use them in all my pins without any magnetization issues.
https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/PB116

Edit: just realized these are the same as Pinzzz recommended.

Got the same results when I ran the ship calibration, slowest motor speed = 5. The test does eventually timeout and stop.

Mine came with two half-circle mylar pieces which I placed in front of the slings.

Looks like your BP is not seated all the way forward on the supporting bracket posts although I'm not sure how that could be possible since the shoulder bolt holding the BP from sliding back does not allow for any movement and that gap is pretty large. I would hope the issue is not that the brackets are installed in the wrong place, that would suck.

Have you ever removed the BP?

If the Pearl and Dauntless are correctly lined up the shot is not difficult. Once you know the timing you should hit it almost every time.

If the Dauntless is too far to the left or right, you'll never make the shot.

I'm sure this has been mentioned in one of the six thousand eight hundred and forty three posts in this thread, but regarding cliffy protectors, along with the kit designed for POTC, I would also recommend the universal slot protectors for under the wire-form inlane drops. http://www.passionforpinball.com/switchslot.htm

Right, takes a bit of practice but basically hit the spinner orbit a couple times to light the Load targets, cradle the ball on left flipper, shoot the left Load, cradle again, and quick flip with the ship listing to the left and it should go into the cannon door. Easier said than done depending on how fast the ship is rocking

Will the video on the SD card play continuously or will it somehow be triggered by game events?

On the subject of what parts came with this pin, mine came with a spare set of sling plastics and rubbers, and also mylar playfield protectors for the slings. Was this standard?

JJP sent me a new button which worked way better than the original (so far). If the problem comes back I'll try the Stern.

I added 3/4 clear washers under the standard posts which raised up the sling rubber just slightly. That combined with Titans on the flippers makes post passing pretty much impossible

I also was able to bump the post on the right and get the ball to the end of the flipper for a back-flip into Tortuga - can't seem to do that any longer either. But a harder game is just a bigger challenge

Twice now I've had the ball fall off the right side of the BP and bounce onto the shooter rails - surprised me also the first time!

Earlier in this thread I mentioned that my left orbit ball lock post was sticking in the up position. Turned out the plastic post was not centered in the playfield hole and was rubbing slightly. The fix required removing the solenoid bracket and filing the four mounting holes so they were oblong, allowing me to shift the bracket just a bit. Not a big deal but unfortunately two of the four screws had been over tightened from the factory and stripped out the wood. Hopefully the two screws will hold for now but eventually I'll have to fix that.

Agreed. My biggest complaint about the callouts is when a chapter is completed - no callout or visual, it's like a non-event.

And while on the subject of the chapters, that code could use improvement (imo). As it stands, they seem to be nothing more than a time-suck on the way to wizard modes. I'm not saying it's not fun to shoot for all the characters, but they seem undervalued score wise. And you don't even need to complete them! It would have been so much more challenging and satisfying getting to a mini-wizard if you had to complete the 5 chapters (redoing any you missed).

Skull indicates you've qualified that movie/chapter. Each movie has a playfield shot. The chapter is selected randomly.

That's true, and it says "Times Up" when you fail. But I still feel it deserves something more.

Not sure I've ever heard that - I'll have to listen more carefully.

Definitely tricky (and a bit painful for the fingers)! I added some double-stick tape on the inner vertical surface to make sure it stays in place.

I totally agree with the consensus here that WW was underwhelming. After the controversy of DI's theme, and spinning-disc-gate and trunk-gate of POTC (not to mention production delays), I feel like JJP needed WW to be their next WOZ. Sadly I don't think they nailed it. I'm sure it will be a blast to flip (like all JJP pins), but not on par with WOZ or POTC.

One thing I'm hoping gets fixed in the next code update is the BP cannon gate logic. As it stands, the gate closes when any switch on the main playfield is triggered, and when you return to the BP you need to hit any switch (on the BP) to reopen the gate. To me this doesn't make sense, just the act of getting back on the BP should reopen the gate - the VUK or the ramp opto should be the trigger.

Yes, I would agree. I'm just suggesting that the code could reopen the gate when the ball is back on the Pearl based on the VUK (behind the Pearl) or the opto on the ramp up.

I installed the cannon shield today and just wanted to mention that it is not entirely compatible with the Mod Couple Pirate Cannon mod.
https://themodcouplepinball.com/products/jjp-pirates-of-the-caribbean-deadmen-custom-sign-mod
If the cannon mod is installed as intended with the curved plastic aligned with the curve of the metal side-wall, then the cannon shield will not fit behind it. I had to pull off the cannon mod (not easy given the thick clear double-stick adhesive), and shift it about a 1/2 inch away from the ship to make room for the shield. It looks ok this way but the cannon mod has a horizontal "wood" part that I'm assuming represents the cannon door in an open position, and shifting it to the left makes it look less attached to the side of the ship.

Here's a pic with clear washers. I'm also using a larger clear washer to protect the leading edge of the plastic.

20190328_190325 (resized).jpg

I purchased them from PinballLife but I'm sure you could get them from Marco or even a local hardware store. Takes about 5 minutes to install. I always keep a bunch on hand in various sizes, very useful.
https://www.pinballlife.com/clear-petg-fender-washers.html

I mentioned in a prior post that for those who have the Mod Couple Cannon mod and are considering installing the Cannon Shield, you'll need to remove and reinstall the Cannon mod so that it clears the shield. Honestly, I never had any problem with balls going under the ship so I'm not sure why I even installed the shield. It's rather overpriced considering it's nothing more than a flimsy piece of plastic. But whatever. Here's a pic. Notice how the "wooden" door no longer touches the side of the ship (mini playfield).

20190423_154710 (resized).jpg

I should mention that these washers are most likely punched from a sheet of PETG and therefore may have a very small lip on one side. I would suggest making sure the lip is facing up so as not to dig into the playfield. Or just file down the lip.

Imo you'll be fine without the RGB GI. As for the starfield, definitely not necessary; when you shoot the Star Map (with no skulls lit), another shot on the playfield will flash white for a second - that's all you need to look for. The starfield is also supposed to give a representation of that shot but honestly, it's not worth trying to figure it out lol! For example, if the P in the pirates lane flashes white, the starfield will kinda sort of draw the letter P.

Your solution is ideal - not only does it stop the ball from getting stuck, but it also keeps the wires from rubbing as the ship rocks. Very nice!

I considered that but decided it was just easier to reposition the cannon. The plastic is very thin and could probably be cut by scoring it multiple times with an x-acto knife.

Funny you should mention this. I'm also in the 50+ group and I find POTC is so heavy that after playing for a bit I get lazy. Watching the ball head sdtm my brain says "SLIDE!" but my arms say, "NOPE" lol.

Originally my pins were on carpet and I used furniture glides under the legs which made slides saves and shifts really easy. But now the floor has been replaced with fake wood composite vinyl and I use heavy duty felt pads under the legs which seem much harder to slide.

Ugh, slings are the worst! Vertical ball movement = good. Horizontal ball movement = bad!

I think rating something by intensity is subjective, but TNA is by far a faster game than Pirates. Everything about TNA is designed to make it intense! I'd say BM66 is also slightly faster than Pirates but only because it's a standard body vs wide body.

Here's a pretty good set of rules (including character perks)
http://tiltforums.com/t/pirates-of-the-caribbean-jjp-rulesheet-wip/4169

I checked mine yesterday and can also confirm no damage from the PETG washers. I'm using 3/4"

Here's a pic I posted a few days ago.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/jjp-pirates-of-the-caribbean-official-owners-and-fan-club/page/160#post-4957320

Mine has been so cruel I might sell it! I consider myself a decent player but this pin is just brutal. I can play 20 games in a row and not put up over 150k. The left outlane is the worst - reminds me of Firepower and every other pin with a curved side-rail for the kickback that just sucks the balls down. Not uncommon for me to have a first ball under 1500 points. That's how bad I suck at this pin!

Kidding about selling it

I know! The consensus seems to be that it's not difficult to put up mil+ games. Yet I can't seem to do it. Maybe it's the way mine is tuned or maybe I just suck lol!

Out of curiosity, for the right outlane save, do you have rubber on one or both of the posts. If only one, is it the upper or lower?

See, that's the thing, I don't want to diminish the challenge. I'd rather just complain about it

Hmmmm, I've never seen that happen.

I thought the same thing - never noticed the post going up except to lock the ball (from behind). But now that I'm looking for it, it does definitely happen. Really not necessary as you can always shoot the chest to feed the flipper, but the post is a cool feature. Amazing that after months of play I'm still learning new things about this pin!

That's good news. Just a note, you can always double-flip to release the ball from the star map. If only one chapter is available the release will work anytime (immediately). If there's more than one chapter available you have to wait until the random selection is complete. Either way, when you double-flip to release, the magnet always seems to pull the ball up and prevent SDTM from happening, at least that's the way it works on my setup.

Step away from this thread for 4 days and miss 300+ posts!

Anyway, my incline is steeper than recommended. Pretty sure I have the front legs at the minimum extension and the rear legs at close to max (with some minor horizontal adjustment for my uneven floor). Also, I rarely have a SDTM from the chapter select, and when it does happen I usually slide-save. But it's still annoying.

Correct. That's why there are so many HUO pins with descriptions like "purchased a year ago but has less than 200 plays", right!

The star map is mostly just eye candy. When you shoot the star map with no chapters enabled (no skulls), another shot somewhere on the playfield will flash white for a second - that's the shot you need to make to collect the constellation. Once you know the shot, you can kinda see the pattern in the stars. For example, if the "P" lane flashes white, the stars will vaguely draw the letter P.

Has anyone installed the Mezel Mods illuminated cannon mod? Looks really cool and I love that it flashes when the cannon fires! Anyone have pics or better yet, a video?
https://mezelmods.com/products/pirates-of-the-caribbean-pinball-black-pearl-cannon

I've never seen this happen, maybe I have an LED that's out? Always annoys me that there's no obvious indication that the chest is primed to lock.

Can you provide info on the figure? Looks really nice!

LOL

I refuse to make the game easier, I'd rather just gripe. My son (who is a really good player), makes the left and right outlane saves look easy - I've seen him do it 4 or 5 times in a game with no tilt warnings.

I totally agree! One of these days I'll have to pull the BP and see why this is happening. I'm guessing there's a bug in the code and the magnet is stopping the orbit (what else could it be).

Too bad the PinLightShield board is no longer available - could have used that to trigger video clips based on physical game events.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/always-wanted-to-build-your-own-pinball-lightmod

Jack has replaced Tortuga Tom!

20190609_173948 (resized).jpg

Yes, any of the neco 7" figures should work.

We changed the Arrrr Frenzy setting so it doesn't become available until the fifth round of Pirate lanes (by default it's available in the third).

This pin is one of the most physical I've ever played! Between the left and right outlane saves, the slide-save battle against center drains, and the fact that it weights a ton, I may be getting too old to play pinball!

The BP door behind the gold targets looks fantastic! Will this be available on your new site?

There's no reason to remove the screws on top to remove the barrel. The hole in the side leads to a small allen-head screw that locks the spinning barrel to the motor shaft. I don't recall the hex size.

It always bothered me that this mod was semi permanent, given that there's mechs below it. Your solution seems really good. Can you provide a link to the spacers and screws? Thanks!

Shannon over at JJP priced out the ramps for me - expensive!

Maelstrom Ramp (fully populated) $254.99
Mini PF Access Ramp (fully populated) $505.12

Maelstrom (ramp/decal only) $121.90
Mini PF Access (ramp/decal only) $178.77

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/jjpirates-of-the-caribbean-troubleshooting-tips-issues