Joined the JM club a few weeks back. My wife and I have always wanted to get into pinball more than just casual arcade visits, and this is our first purchase. We already have plans to get a 2nd pinball machine, and I can already tell that this hobby is going to be addictive! Need more space and cash!!

Being a casual, occasional arcade player, I never realized how deep the rules are on some of these games, and I love the rules and strategy on this one. Practicing the shots, learning the rules, and developing a game strategy combine into an experience that I never really knew existed in pinball, and the discovery of this is a very unexpected fun aspect of this hobby! Thankful for this place and this thread to help figure it all out.

I couldn't be happier with the JM machine as my first purchase! I found one in really good shape, beautifully maintained, upgraded with LEDs, and ready to play right away. A great way to start off this new hobby! We are building out a game room / entertainment area in the basement, and I put it right next to the MAME arcade I built earlier this year. Absolutely love the nostalgia of having these two machines in the game room, as someone who grew up in the age of arcades!

I had never seen the movie, so I joined that club too and bought it. The movie is so bad that that makes it entertaining in its own right. It was pretty cool to see many of the themes in the game and where they came from in the movie, like the glove, what NAS is, what 320 GB refers to, etc. I'm afraid that phrase "What are you doing? I am making a long distance phone call." is now forever burned into my brain and brains of my family. LOL.

JM (resized).jpg

In case you guys missed it: George shared a funny origin story about JM in the FNO Stream. It's just a minute or so, but I enjoyed hearing it:

My hand will not drop a ball in the 3 spots closest to the back of the machine from the glove. It won’t move that far back. Has anyone encountered this problem?

I didn't get any answer on my post just a few before yours--mine won't drop in the 3 left slots. I think it has to do with the auto run calibration in test mode. That test likely tells it where each position is, but I would imagine there's going to be more help asking about this in the tech section since club threads are more "check out my mods and LED's".

does it pass the hand calibration test? if not it may be the encoder or the X and Y nuts are binding. does it grind? does the hand droop?

As long as the switch leafs aren't broken, I'd say fix it. It's there to improve the life of the game. Takes about 10-15 minutes to take it apart (2 screws attaching the magnet to the assembly, 1 screw to remove the hand plastic cover and 1 screw to remove the switch from the magnet), bend the leafs with a switch adjustment tool, test and reassemble.

Tips:

1. Make sure when you put it back together that the square piece is perfectly centered with the round metal stop in the middle so it doesn't get hung up on it when a ball enters the hand. Bend the leaf with the square metal piece if needed so the ball hits that before it hits the stop.
2. While it's still apart, go into single switch test and test the ball in hand switch. Just hold the magnet upside down when you are doing this. Switch should report open until you drop a ball in it. Swirl the ball around in the magnet and make sure the switch reports closed the entire time and then goes back to open when you take the ball back out. If it jumps between open and closed while you swirl the ball around inside it, further adjustments are needed.

For those that have LEDed JM: I just added a GI OCD Board to mine and let me tell you.....right out of the box, that thing is an absolute MUST for JM. So nice to actually be able to watch dimming effects again and not have to turn them off due to flicker.

Haven't, and probably won't install an LED OCD....I'm really happy with the plain Comet SMDs in the inserts as-is.

Agreed! I put one in the GI OCD couple weeks ago and am happy I did! I also do not think the LED OCD is necessary.

When are the dimming effects happening? On a regular basis during a game or only during power down?

Powerdown is just one time the dimming occurs. It also happens during the video game mode, when locking a ball with the glove, and when collecting bonuses between balls....there maybe other subtle ways as well - I'm just going by memory.

End of game light cycle as well

What are the various preferences for playfield angle? Read online 6.5-7 is the normal range but curious of preferences for this game and how you like it for game play.

I had mine setup for a few weeks before I even thought about level (newbie). It was crazy wicked fast and very hard. Too hard and too fast I think. Not sure exactly where it was, but it must have been way above 7.

Lowered it down a bit and found 6.5 to be a bit pedestrian. Seem to like 6.7-6.8, so planning on trying it there for a while.

Thoughts out there?

Make it as steep as tolerable. After you play for a while and get comfortable, make it a little steeper. That will keep you on your toes.

It’s all preference... there’s no rule you must follow.

Nice. I like the idea of steepening it up over time. As a new comer owning a pin, it’s fun to be able to learn the rules and shots with it a little flatter. Then I can see how it would get fun later to have it steeper for a faster game play. And wow does it get fast!

I'd go with whatever the designer suggests, usually 6.5. Making it steeper doesn't necessarily make it harder. It can have the opposite effect by reducing side-to-side motion. Your JM should be plenty fast at 6.5. Have you cleaned and waxed it lately?

I just got it, and the previous owner kept it in meticulously great shape and cleaned and waxed it to prep it for sale. I did find in the manual where the recommended pitch angle is 6.5 degrees, so I think I will put it there for a while. I was reading online about steeper possibly making things easier too, so it makes a lot of sense to set it where the designer recommended, at least to start.

Also, the manual was helpful for understanding the lines on the bubble level for this pinball noob! LOL

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If you have it at 7 or slightly more, you won’t lose side to side...

You can also open up the outlane posts

The bubble levels that come with the games are often wrong. I'd use a seperate inclinometer (or phone app) to set-up.

Get the PinGuy app it levels front/back and side/side with voice instructions

You mean like he yells at me while I lie under the machine cursing?

Excellent. Great app! Thanks for the tip!

It seems to pass the test with no error, position numbers change regularly but I have no idea what that means

Hey all, just picked up a JM today. Glove was not working. I'm putting together a parts order immediately. Already ordered a new X nut and a spare opto, are there any other cheap 'go to' parts I should just grab to have on hand?

2: can anyone explain where the X home switch is? I can't seem to find it, and it's hard to see behind.

3: can anyone explain when the Y home switch should open and close? It looks like it'll open when the glove is at its furthest back point on mine, and stay closed the rest of the time; is that correct?

4: can anyone explain (or have a video) of what the self test should do when functioning properly? the manual is very useless here... mine just moves back and forth a bit on the X axis and then says error, even though all the switches are toggling properly

I am in the club !

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You really need to remove the entire back panel, mechanism and all, to work on the glove. Once you do, you can see everything and makes the process infinitely easier

Thats not going to answer any question besides #2. Useless to take the whole thing out if I don't understand how it works and don't have any parts on hand

There are 2 switches, one by the glove under the flat bracket, the other on the left side of the assembly by the left side of the cabinet...you need to list your problem if you want help..get specific. The adjustments can be done by tweaking the switch with bracket or by lifting or dropping bracket itself...but please take note mark their current position with a sharpie or scribe, just in case you throw it out of whack, also take pics before taking the assy apart. You will need the pics to reassemble it.

My problem is I don't know what the switches *should* be doing. When should they be open, when should they close. I can't adjust them properly if I don't know how they should work.

The bracket that holds the glove on (and closes/opens the Y home switch) vibrated loose during transport, one screw fell out completely. I'm trying to reassemble everything now.. I put everything together in a 'best guess' on how it would work, and read every post I could find on glove issues, but couldn't find the answers to these questions. Want to make sure everything is as it should be before I bother asking for any specific troubleshooting help.

They are limit switches. There are also opto switches to. When the x,y rods spin they turn a plastic wheel with cutouts for the opto switches to sense where the hand is. Since your hand stops right away I would think you are having troubles with the optos.

They are limit switches yes, but what position is considered the 'limit'? Is it one corner? Somewhere in the middle? I can't ensure they're working right if I don't know where they should close/open.

All the optos are functioning fine in switch test.

The switch on the left of the whole assy gets closed when the carriage goes all the way to the left. This is home. The 2nd switch, the one on the glove assy under bracket is used to stop the hand over the VUK to capture ball .

Ha e you tried looking at glove assembly diagram in the manual?

https://www.arcade-museum.com/manuals-pinball/J/Johnny_Mnemonic_OPS.pdf

So the Y home switch should... open when the glove is over the vuk? Close? From the construction it seems like it'll be open for half the Y range and closed for the other half, which seems weird to me

Yes, but it doesn't show how things should align, just how they connect together

The Y switch should be open when the glove is far from you. When travelling towards you, it should close approximately half way (ball capture point) and stay closed all the way to the front.

Thanks!

My Mnemonic Recovery stopped working. Can anyone help me out on what to do? Where can I buy a replacement mech?

Do you mean the Lite Mnemonic Recovery target, or the left outlane switch

the left outlane switch

https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/5647-12693-19
https://www.pinballlife.com/williamsbally-rollover-sub-microswitch-5647-12693-19.html

My LED flasher in the hand VUK works in test mode, but not in game.
Is the game even coded for it? Perhaps because it's an LED and I should replace with incandescent?

There is a flasher down there?!? I have never noticed - can anyone comment if theirs works during game play?

Iirc it fires right before the ball is shot into the hand, but I don't have the machine here to check.
But the flasher is placed below the slit in metal guide to the vuk and you usually don't see it since there is nothing it could flash on except for the hand - which is too far away to be even noticeable..
I put a huge led block in there, which was sold as a 12V car reversing light replacement, and it's still not apparent during gameplay..

Yes, it fires when the ball flies up into the hand and during the end of game light sequence.

Probably a long shot but does anyone have a spare one of these guides, or know where one is available? Mine seems to be missing and balls in the left column end up going down the left ramp instead of into the pops.

A-20481 "Ball Guide #4"

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https://mezelmods.com/collections/johnny-mnemonic-pinball-mods/products/jm-diverter

http://www.planetarypinball.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=PPS-JM-DIVERTER

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/jm-johnny-mnemonic-clear-matrix-ramp-diverter

Thanks! the 3D printed one looks a bit tacky, but didn't see the one on PPS. Sadly they seem to be out of stock

I messaged about the clear one a few days ago but no response

No response from PPS? SHOCKING!

That’s not who he was referring to.

Spray paint the 3D one gray.

It's the blocky shape, not the color, that annoys me. I've got my own printer anyway though, it wouldn't be a big deal to print one in the worst case, but I would prefer a more professional looking replacement or an original before I resort to that