Despite dozens of requests, there are currently no plans to offer the prototype backglass.

I didn't use to take that (Engler Pale Ale) early either, but my opinion has been changing... now I'm leaning toward taking it earlier and playing some easier-to-win tents to quickly boost my duck count, which of course makes all the other tents more valuable. If I'm successful at that, especially on a single ball, I may switch gears and take a Reclab Redrum Stout to help with Bonus X... Tent Win Bonus can be huge. Of course, if multiball is imminent, break out the Freakshow Rooster or Frosty Ferret...

Murder Balcer!

Ok, quick update. First of all, thank you @rosh and @ferret for all of the support and ideas. I just got off the phone with Barry at tech support and I am happy to say that I should be at 100% now.

-trough kicker coil adjustment to lower power worked perfectly.
-pop bumps were not all firing at the same time, the weight of the cars makes them look like that.
-coaster lock I fixed as described above.
-drop target was fixed by powering up the coil as suggested here.
-VUK wire ramp jump issue was fixed with a lot of bending in the spots suggested by Barry.

Overall the game is playing well at this point. I’ll be putting a lot of cycles on it to make sure it is ready for the bar, so I may come back with some new discoveries.

Thank you AP for helping me out!

Oh, here are two slo-no videos of that wire form failing if anyone would like to see.

Great news, @aniraf! Thanks for the update, and please don't hesitate to ping us again if you have further problems or questions.

Have fun!

The one at Helicon did that to me several times too, I forgot to mention that to them. Very frustrating and I think a ball save should be added to code until they can come up with a physical fix for this.

I'm not averse to having such a ball saver. I didn't realize this was such a common problem. On my game it happens like 1% of the time, basically in the "that's pinball" category.

Thanks for the videos, @aniraf ... but ermigerd, the backboard illumination PWM in the slow-mo video, ouch...

It was an easy fix once I started bending the wire form. I would imagine they could add this to the checklist before sending them out the door. I could imagine an operator simply deploying an untested game. To your point, if that happens then software might be the better fix.

Right! That flashing is murder on your eyes! That said, I cannot tell you how many pinball issues I have resolved with the slo-mo feature. If you watch it closely, you can see how the ball actually rides the edge of the wire all the way down, on my Cirqus Voltaire I had to analyze that from every angle so that I could get the minor tweaks in the wire to ensure it plays perfectly.

If you ever do another such video, presumably setting the Backglass Brightness and Backpanel Brightness both to 10 (i.e. full brightness) will alleviate the flashing...

But that's a really good point with the slo-mo... definitely a trick I should remember to make use of. So easy nowadays with highly capable phones in everyone's pocket...

BTW, one gotcha with the software/ball saver solution is that it wouldn't be applicable during multiball... so the physical solution is still preferred.

Gotta love that they take care of you on a weekend so you can enjoy your game. Sign of a great company.

LTG : )

I would love to have one. I understand not making them. It would reflect bad on American Pinball, again. They are sticking to making great games as their first priority.

LTG : )

Has never happened in my game (after almost 200 plays). Playfield pitch around 6 degrees.

Well, it is official. It is now Oktober(fest) in Oregon. I just took delivery of game number 117 (I assume it is 117 because it has a serial number of 1117 but who knows? Maybe AP has made over 1100 already). And, my distributor even carried it upstairs for me. What a guy! Anyway, what a great game! Very fast, very challenging, very colorful, and I really like the art work AND the sound package. And, the much demeaned animations are fine by me. I loaded in the latest code and it is obvious that a lot of work has been done to improve the game from what I played at TPF. It is just pure, crazy fun. Beyond that, it is very well built. We did had one minor problem initially with the upper right flipper that stopped working. My wife, God bless her, found that the pin that attaches the coil to the flipper linkage was not fully seated. A quick fix and all is good again. We do have a problem with balls occasionally leaving the wireform from the scoop VUK but I am guessing an adjustment to its' coil power will solve that. A few other comments. The game came exceptionally well packed; my distributor told me that AP does the best job of anyone in shipping preparations. The game's goodies bag contained some spare plastics and a very nice guage/template for setting the lower flipper positions; a nice package. The manual is adequate but very cheaply done. Looks like a photocopy and not what I'd expect for a $7500+ machine; JJP continues to be the best at producing high quality, user friendly manuals. In the final analysis I expect this game will remain in our collection for a long, long time. And, all you OKTOBERFEST naysayers (yes, especially you Chris K.), need to take a fresh look at it. I think you would be pleasantly surprised at how well the game is developing.

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Probably a preliminary manual that they are still working on. It isn't on the website yet to download.

When it is on the website, download it and print it out. The Houdini one is well done.

LTG : )

Now that I have about 3-4 hours on the game, I can comment about many of the points brought up by others…obviously all my opinion, and perhaps nothing AP would care about but they seem to follow the thread closely.

I agree the animations and font style and colors are just not great. They are completely passable and super minor in the scheme of things, but I do feel they drag down an otherwise amazing game. As stupid as it is, it tricks my brain into thinking the game is not complete or of good quality. I cannot wait to see how regular (non-pinhead) people react. This might be moot.

I don’t think the heavy metal fits. The rest of the music is actually pretty good. The metal chords and guitar squeals seem really misplaced to me.

I love all of the modes and stacking steins, but I am curious if less experienced people will get it. That said, there is so much fun stuff to shoot for! It kind of reminds me of Grand Theft Auto where there is a great story mode and missions but you end up just going wild and seeing how much chaos you can cause.

The machine hardware and its parts are phenomenal. The flipper guide (mentioned in @arcadem’s post) is brilliant! The little gravity triggered metal door that keeps the balls from falling out when you raise the play field…genius! It has excellent padding on the back box to ensure you don’t get scratched when you put the play field up and a very nice back box locking mechanism. Wiring is very clean and easy to navigate. The flat pressure switches with the ribbon cables are cool as hell! They even managed to leverage some Velcro to attach the keg spout. They installed tons of factory Mylar (mine is a little bubbly in places). Overall, the hardware is very well done.

I would absolutely recommend this machine to anyone interested in something creative. This is different from anything you have ever played and has a base that allows for extremely creative software changes over time.

Perhaps not, just as I expect that novice/casual players don't get many subtleties of modern pinball. I hope the steins might actually be reasonably comfortable for players who are familiar with collecting power-ups in video games. But even if players don't understand what's being presented, the suggested (default) choices for both tents and steins should be reasonable.

Thanks for the feedback!

After the code update having issues. After locking a ball the ball ends happening pretty consistently as well as balls getting hung up on the entrance to the barrel (bartender). For the latter issue I tried raising the back legs a bit but doesn’t seem to be helping it. Had to remove it from Tournament play yesterday. Rosh or Ferret any insight on the first issue. Didn’t have it prior to code update?

Anybody know if there is a code issue with Loopers mode. I am not getting any registers on the corkscrew ramp when I hit the shot. I put the game into test mode and it is registering the optos. I did just update the code to the latest.

Another question, should the switch test menu have green and tan highlights going or all tan? Trying to figure out how to read this screen. I have a few green ones highlighted.

Thanks!

No problems with Looper here. When you make the shot, the ball should stop at the Corkscrew lock... then it (or a ball ahead of it) is released and you hear people scream. How about your Coaster Lock switches? Are those OK in Switch test?

Yea, I am not getting that at all. I will take a look and report back. Thanks for the info...

Here is what I am seeing so far...

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Yes, are having issues with the magnab. No matter the amount of nabs showing or the color of the LED, the button is very inconsistent. I hit the button over and over then eventually the nab activates but the ball is somewhere else on the field. The auto nab usually works all the time, either from left flipper or through the bumpers. Makes the beer keg an easier shot.

I think I've narrowed it down a little. It seems that if the dome LEDs are yellow and the spinner is spinning, the magnab button is unresponsive. Once the spinner stops spinning, the button works. Perhaps it's a bug.

I think autograb is really cool when I know it's going to happen, like when you roll over an inlane switch and a dome LED starts flashing green. I don't like autograb at all when it happens without warning (i.e. when the dome LEDs are off or yellow). Because of that behavior, you can't trust the visual cues that the dome LEDs provide. What's worse is when a surprise autograb spoils what you're trying to do. And, of course, too many autograbs makes your earned magnabs less precious.

If you ever have an Oktoberfest party, let me know

I figures out my issue, the metal nub and screw were laying in the bottom of the cabinet, hence not stopping the balls in the rollercoaster. BTW...anyone not having a set of Pinstadiums on this game, your doing yourself a dis-service IMO...here is the difference.
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Hi Joe... I heard about these issues from a player who was at your tournament. Very sorry to hear you had trouble.

Re: locking a ball ending your turn... that's pretty wacky. I really can't think of what might cause this. Since you say you're able to reproduce this pretty much at will, please do so, then immediately pop into service mode and capture a log file (simply inserting an empty USB thumb drive should do this), and then send it to [email protected] and [email protected] so we can try to figure out what's going on. ("We" probably meaning "Josh" for this particular case, as I'll be away for the next couple days...)

Meanwhile, if you haven't already, I'd suggest popping into switch test and using balls to verify that each of the lock switches, as well as each of the trough switches, is responding as expected.

As for balls getting hung up on the bar entrance... try submitting a trouble ticket at <https://www.american-pinball.com/support/service/>... I'm sure Barry can help you get this worked out.

Thanks for the additional detail, Paul! That's very helpful to let us try to replicate and fix it, if it is indeed a software issue.

Thanks for posting a pinstadium picture finally. I thought this all along but hadn't seen any examples. Yes this game has some dark areas without it. Its a must when I get mine.

Absolutely! If you are in the Phoenix area it is going to go on location at a bar in Chandler called Hop Central. I am planning on doing a free play night with all 4 of my games on free play for customers of the bar. I am just making sure the machine is ready for customers.

Hitting the left orbit should send the ball all the way around correct? I assume it should only stop at the pop bumps if you use the magnet.

On my game, the ball seems to hit something and stop around the pop bumps most of the time. I haven’t been able to catch it on a recording yet, but I was curious to see if anyone else is having that issue.

A right inlane -> left orbit combo will also automatically catch the ball at the top magnet. And of course weak/off-center orbit shots will often not have enough "oomph" to make it fully around the orbit.

We're planning one here at the factory later this month
I'll have more details this afternoon

(Btw I'm Dan The sales monkey...er manager here at API)

Welcome to pinside Dan.

Sounds good, thanks!!

I was fortunate to meet you at one of the shows. Great guy. Like all the AP crew. Loves what he is doing. And it shows.

LTG : )

Thanks man!
we're rather fond of you as well!

Hi DanDanDan. I too have met you. We talked at TPF and I asked you why AP was not showing Magic Glass as an option for OKT. I told you that it was offered with Houdini. You told me that it should be and you would make that happen. And, my just delivered OKT, thanks to your efforts, has Magic Glass.
I'm sharing this experience on Pinside so that others can know that you have the same excellent customer focus and follow through as the rest of the AP team that I have dealt with. You folks are doing a great job. Thanks.

Thanks for the kind words!
We really have an amazing bunch of people here that always try to bring their best I am honored to be among them.

rosh , @dandandan, @ferret:

I want to say how much I am enjoying this pin. You guys have so much going on in this game it is unreal. I have been critical on the animations in the past but after playing the game at shows and now owning one thanks to @zmeny, the latest code of improvements really shows the direction of where the game is going. I have one request, on the back panel multipliers, it is very hard to see what you have lit with the strip light right above it. Tap lights show well with the red outlines of the lettering, could you possibly change the LED light color of the insert (maybe to red or blue) so it show better when flashing? Keep up the great work,,,,I look forward to your next titles.

BRICKSHOT! OH YEA!

Agreed. I partially covered that LED strip in my game (so that the Corkscrew queue is still well lit but the Playfield X inserts aren’t washed out).

Oddly my VUK ramp issue has come back and the ball is once again firing off into the outlane. I guess my wireform bends didn’t stick. I am going to go back to tweaking it. I’ll let everyone know if I discover some secrets .

Aside from that, I wanted to call out how good all of music variation is. I know I was critical of the metal but the rest of the music is really great and fits the various modes.

I haven’t quite figured out all of the music triggers yet. A lot of times I go to shoot the ball and the default track (which sounds little Irish to me) is playing, then the ball bounces near Otto and the music flips to something more oom-pah. That one is a little strange, but completely tolerable.

Oktoberfest in June!
Come join us celebrating Oktoberfest in June
Play Oktoberfest
Meet the American Pinball team
Enjoy Oktoberfest themed food and beverages
Get cool swag (while supplies last)
Where:
American Pinball facilities 1448 Yorkshire dr Streamwood IL 60107
When:
June 22nd noon until 5:00pm

I had the same problem with both the VUK and the scoop until I adjusted the coils for both. If you have not already done so, try tweaking them a bit at a time until you find the setting that works best for you. Mine are working smoothly now and I did not do anything to the wire forms.

How is the new main theme music after update ? Could someone post a video where I can hear it ? My main complain was about the music and poor video animations. So if it's fixed I could think about it

Attend if you can. You'll have a great time meeting the team, you get to play Oktoberfest, and maybe get cool swag. Best time you'll have all year !
LTG : )

Not that you meant to put any pressure on us!

There will be four 'main themes' when not in a mode or multiball, only 2 are on the game currently. Suspect the other two will be in the next release, as well as some updated animations.

nice to read, and as we say in french : bonne nouvelle !