I find the challenge of these home pins is that I've never been able to play one! "On location" isn't likely to happen, and I haven't seen one at a show yet.

I'm curious why you would get a Home Pin if you planned to upgrade bits to the commercial version. Are you just a lover of commercial lock down bars and rails, or? I have no problem with it, just curious.

Check your right outlane switch. It may be dead/stuck.

Alright, after my first twenty games I have some questions/issues:
-On a right orbit shot or super skill shot plunge, the ball hits and activates the left sling 100% of the time making it impossible to make the skill shot. I watched some of the Jack Danger video and see that their launches send the ball to the left flipper and misses the sling by 1/4". Any suggestions?
-I've activated the "both flippers to launch ball" in the menu, but it does not work. Nor does the "right flipper to launch" option.
-There's a funny little sticker on the far left of the machine and was wondering if anyone has seen it before? I'm sure it's easy to remove but I haven't tried yet.
-The left and center drop targets do not like to go down, especially on hard hits. I know of a few generic solutions for this, but figured I'd ask to see if anyone has had any luck adjusting these yet.

And as a bonus: If you or anyone you know is interested in a NIB, Mad Pinball has some -very- good pricing on them right now. It's not advertised, but if you contact them they'll share the price.

Sorry I forgot to attach the pic. Upon feeling it, it's definitely covering up a hole. It's weird to print anything on it to draw attention.

The game is level, and the pitch is about 6.6. Now that I've had the glass off, I can't see any sort of cam/adjustment for that left orbit exit. I can open up the leaf switch a bit and make it less senstive, but on that stream the ball didn't appear to be touching the sling at all as it came down. If anyone wants to chime in if theirs touches or not, it'd be helpful.

Anyone know why the playfield needs to be BOLTED down? My only guess is that it's lighter than a standard playfield. Even then, though, I can't imagine it popping up on its own. But then again, it is kinda funky to settle down when you're dropping it into place.

And yeah, the game is pretty fun. I think the comparison to a super-tight 90's Williams is spot on. If someone feels like they need commercial grade coin acceptors, etc, that's fine, but if every hater did a little soul-searching I think many would find their hatred to be born of stubbornness. "I had it before, therefore I need it now" is a tough mentality to overcome.

PXL_20230130_204557642~2.jpg

So last night I bent the left orbit exit rail a tiny bit and that has made all the difference. I immediately had my best game ever (9M) and it feels much, much better. I feel kinda silly saying this, but this game almost feels brutal. And I've owned a BKSOR, haha! The ball rarely stops for long, and the ball always seems close to the flippers. It's still a ton of fun, but I can't imagine someone suggesting the flow isn't challenging. I also was resisting bringing in the outlane posts from the the factory wide open position. Then I watched a Jack Danger video, and his were at the tightest position. That made me a feel good enough to bring them in one hole

Is there a walkthrough/rulesheet somewhere that I'm missing? Because I've looked several times and haven't found anything. With the glass off, it's not too hard to figure most of it out but it'd still be nice to have one source with all the info. I'd also settle for a video. Anyone?

For anyone who has upgraded the speakers: How is the sound quality of the music files? If you start a game and just listen (with the stock speaker), I can hear some underwater/warbling sound that is usually caused from high compression. I don't notice it any other time, just when the machine is quiet. I'd be interested in adding the other two speakers, but not if it's just going to exasperate the compression artifacts.

I appreciate the info you'd posted earlier, but this didn't really answer my question. If you play highly compressed sound files through even better speakers, it will be even more noticeable. Like I said,

A crappy MP3 played through crappy speakers sounds ok, but will sound horrible when played through a really good system. I don't want to emphasize the compression if that's indeed what I'm hearing. So I'm looking to hear about everyone's possible observation of what I think is compression. And if no one is noticing it, that's helpful to know too.

And that's where I would disagree. I'm 90% sure I'm hearing compression, like if you encode an MP3 at a low bitrate like 128k. It's a warbly underwater type sound. If you listen to XM Radio you'll hear it. Some people (like my wife) never hear it. If you're not hearing it, cool, no problem. But I'm pretty sure I am. And if that's what it is, (like the static on a record) better speakers would exaggerate that sound, not improve it. I'm very familiar with the sound differences between crappy and great speakers, and I know better speakers normally means better sound. And it -should- be the case with a modern pin. But if it exaggerates the compression that I think I'm hearing, I'm out.

Haha, yes! I plan to install a spare woofer there just to (hopefully) dampen that a bit. I'll eventually actually hook it up. At first the loud clacking sounds were aggravating, but I'm starting to get used to them.

People can gripe all they want, but Stern gave us something we didn't have before - the option to buy a very solid and fun new pin for $4-5k. I like options. It doesn't take away from my other options. If others don't want to buy it, cool. However, if someone doesn't like having options they're just a dumbdumb.

I just played a JP Premium tonight. Fun game. So is The Home JP. I'm glad they both exist. Hooray for whatever people choose.

I wonder if this sort of cabinet damage will be a more common thing (vs traditional pins) as they start to get resold and moved more and more. Typical pins can take a beating, but this might be an Achilles heel for these. Time will tell I suppose.

This may sound obvious but make sure you get ALL the glass off the playfield. I drove to buy a Bad Cats once that was in pristine condition...except the sanded playfield. The casual owner didn't realize there was some glass left after a breakage and it ruined it.

Two recommendations: First, keep in mind the rule set for this Home Pin is much simpler than the others you've had. It doesn't make it bad, but it's something to keep in mind. For a family casual pin, it might be perfect!

Second, contact Mad Pinball directly about pricing. It's much better than their advertised price.

Care to share how much the "mystery" pin set you back in the end?