I think the code is a masterpiece but that said it would be great to give the user a bit more options in preferences, as there are many players that don't love the "everything can stack" rules and would want them separated so that modes and multiballs can be appreciated more fully. What do you all think of the following?

1. allow options in user settings to change stackability of modes and multiballs:
Can modes be started during a multiball?
- Yes (default)
- No

Can a movie multiball be started during an already playing movie multiball?
- Yes (default)
- No

2. allow option in user settings to change chapter rules of qualifying a wizard mode:
Wizard mode requires 5 chapters to be:
- Played (default)
- Completed

Just bought my LE (first pin!) and am excited to join the group! Crossing fingers I won’t have some of the issues posted here, but I appreciate everyone here that offers so much help to each other to make sure everything works smoothly.

I am blown away by how great this game is and can’t wait for it to arrive.

Re: a question asked above about play field protectors etc, I have a similar question. If there is anything you all think I should do to the game to maintain it in great condition before I start playing, please let me know!

Just wanted to say a few things about my new POTC:
- everything worked 100% right out the box. I’d reiterate what others have said: this is a great and needed thread for problem shooting, but it’s likely the case the majority of owners have had no problems.
- imo, the game is one of the best of all time. It’s got amazing code, really deep in a good way for home use. Layout is fantastic, with opportunity for flow but also stop and shoot for those thinking through a strategy. Mechs that bring the magic to pinball like it should be. It’s been a hit for multiplayer, but also great playing alone. Incredible replay value. I couldn’t give a higher recommendation for it.

I had a similar problem where the load cannon gate would not open at all and the coil wasn’t firing. Turned out the problem was purely mechanical: the metal gate was stuck inside the tunnel for the shot, and simply had to be pried back out. Then the tunnel was bent slightly so this wouldn’t happen again.

Separate rules related question (possible bug?): I was in movie 4 wizard mode. Once I started wizard mode I noticed Tortuga Multiball was lit. So I figured I’d go for it and it would get me a ton of points with the wizard mode. When I started Tortuga though, the Wizard mode ended and when I was out of multiball it was gone. Anyone else noticed this?

- I think POTC is the greatest pinball of all time
- I do not like the Hobbit.
- I am only lukewarm on WOZ - I wish it shot better and also I’ve never understood the rules despite somehow learning all the rules on POTC. But I never owned WOZ and only played it in arcades.

Yup I’ve made it to the wizard modes separately and have noticed bugs with them like you describe. I think it’s just early code at this point.

I had a similar problem. It turned out not to be electrical at all. The metal door just got smushed in the canon shot lane, and had to be pried out of there physically. The coil wouldn’t fire either.

- if you lose a ball during a mode, when you next plunge there will be nothing qualified
- if you lose a ball between modes, the skulls you’ve already lit should remain lit on the next plunge, and if there were any lit then Chapter Start should be ready as well

- the 5 movie wizard modes are single ball wizard modes. Though they are still early code, they are awesome wizard modes that work the playfield in different ways. I like the balance of single ball wizard modes, given the numerous Multiballs already in the game
- some have multiple stages but aren’t fully coded yet (I think movie 4 wizard mode, for example)
- no set piece moment as you describe that I have seen
- Multiballs cannot be ‘beat’. Though the value in getting as many super jackpots as you can is that it makes the wizard mode associated with that same Multiball pathway more valuable if you can get to it.

I hear Deeproot is making Citizen Kane the pinball. Rosebud is the wizard mode where you have to go back in time to save your sled.

I can’t figure this one out yet either but I am curious

What I did was every time I hit a constellation by accident (I listened for the chime to come on) I then looked up at the animation. The animation displayed the pattern more clearly, and then in the future I noted what the constellation looked like on the star field and eventually after repeating this a lot I figured it out. I suppose a nice thing for one of us to do would be to create a gallery of pics corresponding the constellations to the shots. But it’s also fun to figure them all out on my own.

Hey all,

I'd like to give some context to Kaneda and POTC... I was the one that went with him to Sunshine Laundromat to play it on location and show him why in my opinion it is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, pinball machines out there. I have a perfectly set up game at home. I was visiting NYC for work and figured I could seamlessly transition to playing with him at this location game. I was dead wrong.

The game was so poorly set up and was such a different experience than I am used to at home. Here are a list of the issues it had on location:
- flippers were ridiculously weak so shots just could not be made. Almost all ramp shots would go halfway up the ramp and come back STDM.
- set up as steep as possible, with the bubble on the highest mark, so that the balls could not make it up either ramp
- 90% of shots to the chest were rejected, partly due to the weak flippers and also due to a problem with the fork mechanism
- could not hear any music/call outs, and the external volume button was turned off on the settings.
- multiballs were two balls instead of three (I couldn't figure this out because I don't even think this is a setting)
- when the ball rolled down the left orbit over the left flipper, it did not roll along the guide and instead was already off the wall. Whereas I can normally loop 5 shots at home through the Fountain of Youth shot, here we could barely make one loop. It also meant it was hard to hit the MAP hole, and so there was only a single time we were able to plunder.
- the action button did not work, such that I could not change the Pirate inlane awards nor collect gold. Big part of the game was missed here. No arrr frenzy. No strategy on setting up playfield multipliers etc. No tortuga multiball.
- at home, when the ball comes out of the depths scoop, I usually hold up the left flipper and it hops to the right flipper, which has a great visceral feel to it. Here that didn't work either and would instead go into the right sling.
- plunger was offset, and maximal plunge would make it at most to the ship skill shot, rather than to the left upper flipper. Literally not one plunge would get there.
- cannon shot rejected, I believe because the target ship was stuck against the left side of the game and possible due to the steep angle of the game
- spinning disk did not much change the ball trajectory, not sure why. At home it is a fun randomizer. Here it really did feel just ornamental.
- no ball saver, so the combination of all the above problems led to many quick ball drains

I'm a pretty decent player and regularly score a million points at home, start most of the multiballs, and make it to at least one mini-wizard mode every 5-6 games, but on this POTC neither of us could get above 70,000. Friends come over my house and love the game. It just wasn't possible to make the shots and progress through the game at Sunshine. We played about 20 times, and only could start a multiball twice: once as a mystery award and the other because of repeated skill shots to the ship. I know these rules inside and out at this point but could only talk about them rather than demonstrate them in action, let alone work through the dynamic layers of strategy that come alive when you progress through the game normally.

To Kaneda's credit, he tried to come in with an open mind and give the game a chance. If I was being intellectually honest I would say that if my main experience with POTC was that particularly machine I would also think 'this is no fun'. It was honestly an eye opening lesson for me that to most pinball fans, our impression of a game is inevitably dependent on how well the particular machine is set up, particularly our view of the shots and code and mechs. I've honestly never seen such a poorly set up new game on location, and I must admit that the other Stern games there were working pretty darn well. I'm not sure if that is unfortunate coincidence, or just the reality of Stern building their games to play well on location. It is possible that POTC is just a difficult game to have on location, and is best appreciated in the home setting.

I’d say about 5 of their games (a minority) don’t play well: Beatles has a broken drop target, medieval madness has weak flippers that can’t make ramps plus a few lights are out, I forget the others. Otherwise the other games play well.

Ship has one main task and two side tasks as I see it...

Fire cannon
Step 1: hit certain number of spinners
Step 2: hit either green LOAD or CANNON target
Step 3: hit the cannon door

Two side tasks
- hit BONUS and X targets to light a stand up on main playfield for your bonus X (first one 2x, then goes up)
- hit SPOT and GOLD targets to light the GOLD targets on main playfield so that more gold can be collected the next time you hit that main playfield shot

My go to character is Norrington, because I blaze through the chapters that way and that gets me to the wizard modes every few games. Plus it increases your scoring potential during those wizard modes because you collect a bunch of characters. I honestly assumed everyone was using Norrington too!

I also find that the easiest way to qualify modes is hit through the chest lane, then make the loop through fountain of youth, then let bounce off right flipper to the left and shoot the chapter start. So movie 3 and 4 wizard modes are the most often qualified for me.

I was underwhelmed by the stream too, and that made me debate getting Wonka vs AC/DC as my second pin, but your post leans me back to Wonka.

I have a two game collection with exactly those two games! Pirates and Dinosaurs, love them both!