Alright, SWMBO has very hesitantly sort of agreed to let me make my next pin purchase: JJPPOTC LE!! Zach ZMeny at FlipNOut is already taking care of me, and looking forward to it joining the collection in a couple of weeks. Keefer pinball_keefer really wet my appetite on this pin with his panel at LAX last year, and I've finally got the resources to be able to pull the trigger...stoked!!! An apparently just in time, based upon JJP's announcement. This will be my first JJP, so looking forward to learning the Ins & Outs of this system as well!

In the mean time I will be slowly re-reading this thread in detail as well as others here on Pinside to prepare. Cliffy's are already ordered, and now I'm looking for other must have mods such as plastic protectors or flipper cabinet protectors, which I haven't been able to find any so far form the normal sources.

Besides the awesome mods from the Mod Couple Yelobird that will also be ordered sooner or later (just as I did with BM66) what are the other must have mods/items I will need to get for my soon to be arriving pin??

As I wait to pick up my JJPOTC from Zach in Louisville next week, couple of quick questions for the collective:

1) What color flipper bats are they shipping with?

2) Saw in the manual that some of the rings, especially posts and Black Pearl, are made of rubber and not silicone....is that correct?

3) Trying to decide on art blades versus mirror blades. Are JJP cabinets/playfields too tight to fit mirror blades??

4) Can't believe no one is making plastic protectors in clear, only found colored plastics so far....anyone had any luck finding clear ones??

TIA!!!!

Thanks guys, appreciate the quick responses. Just placed a Titan order to replace the rubber rings, don't like them in the machine for dirt/balltrail reasons alone, pin stays cleaner longer with silicone. I'll wait on the blades, leaning art on this one anyway......

Now I need to start saving my pennies for all of Yelobird Mod Couple mods out there. I thought you went crazy on BM66, but you've gone hogwild on JJPOTC!!!

Another quick question: does anyone make lollipop side rails for JJPOTC??

Geez, March 2nd & LAX can't get here quick enough, dying to pick up my JJPOTC LE from @zmeny......

Meanwhile living vicariously through y'all and your pins!!

Assuming an HDMI input to the LCD, I'm wondering if hooking up my BluRay Player with a calibration DVD will be worthwhile.....Hmmm.....

Those treasure outlines I've seen since the first POTC preview on SDTM 12-15 months ago.

FYI: Mezelmods now has clear plastic protectors available on their website. I know Yelobird and others were looking for these!

Just ordered mine. I've ordered $200 plus in mods already.......and I won't have the pin for another 8 days!!

I’m guessing he means the one-way gate on the left flipper inlane that sometimes stays up and lets the ball get thru in the wrong direction...

if the gate is operating smoothly without kinks or hanging up then yes, a small drop of lightweight machine oil on each hinge will definitely help.

Check further back in this thread, there is an adjustment on the linkage that can be done behind the playfield backboard.

This post shows the bar that needs adjusting:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/jjp-pirates-of-the-caribbean-official-owners-and-fan-club/page/66#post-4816972

Thanks for the heads-up! When I get my JJPOTC this weekend I'll be sure to put a temporary piece of mylar in this area until my Cliffys come in.....

Pinballlife, Marco, Titan, and others all carry mylar. Pinballlife & Titan have precut 1" square mylar pieces that are perfect for spot protection placement.

LE #78 (Build date 2/4/19) is now setup in my house, picked it up yesterday from ZMeny from Flip N Out Pinball, even got Hollywoodbone to help us load it:

IMG_6598 (resized).JPG

IMG_6599 (resized).JPG

Went thru everything with a fine tooth comb, some fixes were already installed from the factory, which shows they do listen to Pinside:

IMG_6600 (resized).JPG

Also added Titan Silicone rings on the Black Pearl and Flippers, @tonycip's Medallion Shooter, as well as MezelMods clear plastic protectors. Hopefully the ordered Cliffys will come in sometime soon.....

I've only problems with two issues, one is the Black Pearl wasn't quite centered in its rocking action, which was easily addressed adjusting the screws on back.

The other issue is a PITA that I've yet to been able to fix: Upon setting up the pin I discovered that the display itself not latched in place correctly during shipping on the right side. Luckily it did not damage the backglass. Once I moved the wooden shipping blocks and latched the display into place the right is sagging almost 3/8-1/2" too low. I tried everyday possible to adjustment to the display and mounting arm possible short of total disassembly of the mount with no improvement, the silver frame of the display is still visible and showing on the left. My temporary solution for now is inserting a wooden block as wedge to push up the right side, it's not visible while the backglass is on but its not right. I'm contacting Zach & JJP tomorrow to see if they have any suggestions. I tried most tricks in this thread with no avail.

Besides that she is a best to play. Be looking for an order in the next couple of days Yelobird ! Hoping to keep her in the lineup for a long time:

IMG_6603 (resized).JPG

Check with Pinsider tonycip , he's been making custom ones for JJPOTC owners. I got one on mine, it's nice!

Auto launcher question: does yours hit the mounting bracket with every ball launch from the shooter lane, i.e. does the purple part with the green par? Makes a clank sound with every launch that doesn't sound right. It's not hitting the playfield though.......

JJP Auto launch (resized).jpg

Thanks!! The fix that stuck out immediately was the subway fix as I pictured. Most of the other issues/fixes I've seen mentioned on here I haven't really been looking for, except for that tight 12" CAT5 cable, which is still an issue on mine. Got a replacement coming for it. Others I will look for as a an issue occurs, but mine is playing fine.

I will be posting my "fix" in term of a monitor support sometime this weekend after I put it together......

Good Luck with your purchase, it's an awesome game!

Couple of things to keep in mind:

- They are stopping production, but have neither confirmed or denied a possible later run

- I believe this was always the production end time they had in mind to get ready for the next model(s), however the production start time was severely delayed due to the ring & chest issues. The ring issue alone must have cut weeks/months into their production cycle scrapping the original playfields and making new ones.

The second section of the PDF manual for the pin has a GREAT write up with illustrations of all the basics of gameplay. JJP did a great job with it.

Main playfield is already done in Titan(?) translucent silicone that seems to act consistently with other Titanized pins I have, so those aren't needed. However, the flipper rubbers (red main, black upper) and the Black Pearl upper playfield is still done in black rubber rings. I immediately swapped the flipper rubbers and upper playfield black rings with Titan equivalents of the same color.

No, Pinbits never responded to my emails (again) and showed none on their website, and laseriffic didn’t show any either. I went with MezelMod clears and they work & fit fine.

They can be had for less, got mine for less than $50 on ebay last week. Just have to be patient for a reasonable seller. Others on here are using other figures from the series instead which are still selling around original retail. DJ is the most expensive one on the secondary market......

Here is my 2/4/19 build date LE with the fix factory installed:

IMG_6600 (resized).JPG

Bump.....never got any response on this from the collective.....

Only so much you can do with 29 minutes worth of video from 5 films.....

....but agreed, looking forward to all the black bonus countdown screens being replaced!

Keefer at Louisville last year mentioned that they were limited to getting video snippets from the 5 films that didn’t have any character’s faces in them to avoid license issues. Came down to 29 minutes or so of video.....

Nope, not a bit. Gameplay and shots are friggin' unbelievable. Mine needed a few minor tweaks, but then again so has every NIB (or even used pin) I've ever bought. Get you one before they are gone!

Got a chance to work on the final solution for the sagging monitor issue on my LE by making some wedges. I took a 1x2 and cut it to the appropriate lengths of 1-13/16". I also cut a 22.5deg bevel on the top front edge. I then screwed and glued a 2-1/2" piece of masonite to the back to act as a stop. I then used my pocket-hole jig and drilled the mounting holes. After some gloss black spray paint they look like this:

IMG_6614 (resized).JPG

After the paint dried I took the wedges to the pin and placed them in place, clamping them lightly to the monitor, and then mounted them with the pocket screws. The final result looks like this:

IMG_6616 (resized).JPG

IMG_6615 (resized).JPG

Monitor is now perfectly centered in the frame and backglass window.

The character arrows on the playfield will be lit as well as a listing at the top of the display will also show the characters needed.

Agreed.....I still think that having to eat all those 3 ring playfields when the original design changed had to hurt JJP's bottom line more than we will ever know.

Thanks for the tip, will be this myself tonight! First time lifting the Pearl, but it looks straightforward.

No, not a bad idea, I’d still do a little more checking first:

1) pin is leveled and pitched correctly

2) verify that the chest mounting screws are tight

3) is the hinge at the chest entrance working correctly

4) is the blue bumper plug mounted correctly

If you can confirm those, then yes, a little trimming may due the trick.

The foam piece in question is item 18 on the diagram:

POTC Chest (resized).jpg

Your issue sounds like the 3rd opto switch in the chest isn't registering....

My 2/4/19 LE had the subway fix....

If you've moved the wooden shipping blacks out of the way and have tried adjusting the right latch without success you may be forced to do something like I had to do with mine:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/jjp-pirates-of-the-caribbean-official-owners-and-fan-club/page/108#post-4876871

Sounds like the classic broken wire/solder joint under the Pearl. Several write ups and pics of what to look for here in the thread.

"drop targets"??? I think you meant stand-up targets.....

Yep, that’s where I was with mine, nothing that could be done to stop the monitor from sagging. That’s why I made those wooden spacers to hold the monitor in place.

Following....got the exact same issue, all my cannon shots hit the back of the Dauntless....

Okay, POTC manual shows those two rear Dauntless spacers to be #8-32 5/16” x 1-1/2” m-f. Marco has a #8-32 1/4” x 1-1/4” m-f but no 5/16”. Looking for a 5/16” version of that Marco spacer now so that it is sturdy enough to support the ship and brings the Dauntless 1/4” closer to the backboard....

Yelobird as I referenced in my post just before yours the JJPOTC factory standoffs are male-female spacers, whereas the ones you reference are female-female. The closest McMaster standoff needed is this one:

https://www.mcmaster.com/91075a457

note that it is a 1/4" diameter standoff instead of 5/16" that is standard from the factory. It should be strong enough as I have yet to find a 8-32 m-f 1-1/4"x5/16" spacer, but I'm still looking.....

Yep, thought of that as i was trying to figure it out. Unfortunately there is little to no adjustment there as that bracket butts right up to the computer case hardware in the backbox.

I spent several hours going thru every component, it finally got to the point that I knew the blocks would work best. So I went ahead and made them the most functional and painted them black, so they wouldn't look too out of place when the backglass is removed. Ideally something like them should be used in all JJP backbones IMO.....

Just as with anything, sometimes things don't work the way they are supposed to, even if they do work correctly for the majority. In some cases (including mine) the only solution that worked to solve the monitor sag was the wooden blocks.

From your pics you are missing 2 2" pieces of rubber padding one on each vertical stop (circled in red where it should go on your pic below):

JJPOTC Lockbar (resized).jpg

I can’t imagine that JJP would not make anymore of them as they are a wear & tear item.....

Correct, it's called blind character select:

Blind Character Select: specify whether to allow the player to select their character or have
the software randomly select the player's character (at the beginning of a game).
YES: randomly select player's character Default: NO
NO: allow player to select character

zaphX has already started an issues doc that he linked to in this thread, check in the key posts index above......

Double check the back linkage of the Pearl to make sure the screws haven't backed out of the linkage. Check the Topic Image Gallery above, there are several pics of that rear linkage, and all have links back to post on different things to check if the Pearl isn't rocking correctly.

There is no magnet at the chest, however the Star Map to the right of it has a magnet. Either way, I'd definitely use only carbon case pinballs in JJPOTC

KevInBuffalo can you give us a time index of when he does this??

Never mind, found it. He starts at about 6 minutes in as he has the common broken wire solder join under the Pearl........

Actually looks like the whole video will be around R&R'ing the Pearl. Couldn't tell that from the beginning from the video, thought it was just another gameplay video at first.....my bad!

The other thing that adds to this is that some of the shots you cannot get to from a normal cradle hold with the main flippers without having to serve the ball to another flipper (Pearl flippers or upper left Bayou flipper), very similar to TZ, IMDN, TRON. Serving the ball to the Bayou Flipper is especially tough, as the only direct serve to it is thru the pops or thru an unlit chest, otherwise it's a lucky bounce shot. That is something you cannot get from a "normal" 2 flipper fan layout (MM, AFM, Deadpool, Munsters, GotG) that most games are nowadays.

Add that complexity to the multitude of modes........it's ARRGGGHHH time!! It will take one HECK of a game to even reach the Final "Beat the Curse" wizard mode once Keefer codes it!

Shooter drop area is mylar. Man overboard area is a sticker on top of metal over the wood rail, so ball falls onto a metal area.

I would definitely replace all the flipper rubbers and Black Pearl Rubbers with Titans. Best rings on the market and will help keep the dirt down on the pin.

C-131 of the manual.......

I keep neoprene gloves I bought at Harbor Freight nearby, helps with not having the clean fingerprints from the glass all the time.....

Seriously, this is for all POTC owners or other JJP pin owners: if you have not looked thru the manual (CD, PDF, or print), you owe it to yourself to take a good look thru it. It is the standard all other pin manuals should be judged by, there is a HUGE wealth of information in it, down to the smallest details with some awesome diagrams and pictures.

Those are them, pick the color of your choice. I wouldn't recommend black on the lower due to the flipper bats already being black making the flipper harder to see.

Just did this swap this morning, using the Hex Standoffs from McMaster the Yelobird referenced, some 1/2" 8-32 screws, lock washers, and some blue locktite. The firing alignment is 100% perfect now, if you miss you either miss high or low, no longer missing to the back of the Dauntless.

Couple other items of note while back there:

- I would not use 1/4" diameter standoffs (which are easier to find) than the 5/16" diameter standoffs. I do not think they are thick enough to keep the ship straight, as the weight of the lower dauntless totally are on the standoffs.

- I added some additional felt tape behind the backboard on both of the aluminum channels behind the Dauntless. The wire from the Dauntless switch can rub against both of them back there and fray.

Here is a pic of the pieces of metal behind the Dauntless I put felt on showing the wires that can rub:
IMG_6686 (resized).JPG

...and now that I look at the pic the hole thru the shaft for the wire could use a grommet as well!

Correct, kinda wrapped the felt tape onto both sides.

The pdf manual is formatted for standard 8-1/2" by 11" size.

Installed Kraken Tiltgraphics side art blades today. I've installed art blades in numerous machines so can speak with some experience. JJPOTC is challenging and very tight between the playfield and cabinet. Highly recommend using the wet method for installing them. Also, one of the inner backbox hinge nuts was flared out along the edge and did not want to come out. Finally got it out, but as it came out it damage the inside formica on the wood. Luckily the side art and the hinge nut itself will hide the damage, but still very frustrating. Ended up having to dremel off the flared edge of the nut when I reinstalled it. I also recommend that one does not install art blades on JJPOTC without the Pinball Universe sideart protectors sold by PinballLife. Any movement up/down of the playfield will rub and damage the sideart without the protectors.

IMG_6684 (resized).JPG

IMG_6685 (resized).JPG

Interesting part is only one nut was flared and very difficult to remove. The other one was straight and slid in/out nicely......doesn't make sense.

In your situation, it's not an issue. The nut can stay in place, as you use the allen wrench to turn the nut the bolt will back out of the hinge for removal, allowing you to keep the nut in place. Once the bolt is out the hinge is no longer attached to the cabinet

I've run into the same issue. Usually giving the pin a slight nudge just about the time it's due to be released makes it easier for the magnet in the Star Map to prevent it from going SDTM, especially doing a double flipper button press at the same time which will start the mode.

Same here, mine is on it's way as well and I have the cannon mod. While the zaphX's wire loom serves a purpose to stop the ball from getting stuck there, preventing the switch wiring from getting hit by cannon rebounds is desirable as well.

FYI: My JJPOTC LE is back up for sale, as the original buyer has decided to back out after the playfield glass mishap. Here is the ad:

https://pinside.com/pinball/market/classifieds/ad/78542

If you are looking for a extremely nice HUO LE with all the right mods, fully sorted, many extras, then let's talk. PM me here on Pinside if interested....

I actually also have 2 sets of apron stickers as well in the set of playfield decals included in the sale.....

Good eye......the aluminum stuck out to compared to the rest of the pin's look. Took it off and repainted with some hammered black to blend in, but still be readable. If the next owner doesn't like it it can easily be removed with a sanding pad.

I made it from a Neca Series 2 Jack Sparrow Action figure I bought off of eBay. There are several others who have done the same and posted some guides here earlier in this thread.

High Score to Date

...or even better: make it like a HSTD to track, so everyone can later see the biggest bonus loser!!

Common issues, solutions are threefold and have all been covered in this thread (shown in order to be attempted in):

1) adjust the mounting bolts and verify that the monitor is snapping in to place correctly into the mounting brackets

2) monitor mount is defective and a replacement is needed from JJP

3) make your own support wedges like I did and let the monitor rest level on those (https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/jjp-pirates-of-the-caribbean-official-owners-and-fan-club/page/108#post-4876871)

Well, it's not like the JJPOTC's Lead Developer came on here and announced the update......oh....wait....nevermind.....

It's there to stop a missed cannon shot from bouncing into the Star Map and qualifying it by accident.