Got my Metallica PRO last week. NIB. This is my first pin. Loving it! I updated to 1.22 software (just to go through the process). Getting my feet wet with maintenance. Fixed a couple 555 bulbs that were not working. I moved the outlane posts to the closer position. I hope the software keeps getting updated frequently. Loving owning my first pin.

Anybody have issues with the bottom mounted speaker cutting out sporadically during gameplay. Happened once to me and i thought it was a fluke, but just happened again tonight. I turned the game off and then opened coin door and reached in to speaker. Doesnt appear to be loose wiring. But after i started it back up it was fine again.

Has this happened to any other Met Pro owners?

Here are the leds i used in my pro fuel gauge. I really like it. Part numbers are from cointaker.

Red, orange, yellow, yellow, green.
R44N, O555N, Y555N, Y555N, G44N

Notice on the pro the far left and far right are 44/47 bulbs, others are 555

I also recommend the eyeball coffin decal. Like it was made to be there.
I have metal cliffy protectors for
The drain side of trough
The up kicker side of trough/shooter lane
Shooter lane side wall protector
Mystery hole

Looks better than my current snakes 1 tooth smile, but is there a way for the "bracket" to be black and the teeth white so that the snake doesnt look like he has a full row of teeth in the front? I was thinking that the black would make the mount disappear and only the fangs would be visible?

Rick

Ive seen it scroll by a few times, but never been awarded it. I thought it was a placeholder...

I have a parts list for my pro and some pics ill send ya if you pm me. I posted them here on pinside at some point in one of the 400 met threads. Hehe

Found my post at the end of this thread...
http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/general-illumination-question

No problem anything to help a fellow pinsider and met pro owner (soon). Hope you enjoy it as much as i do.

Looks cool! Is that printed at one step? Or is the black part glued attached after printing. I dont know much about 3d printing so forgive me if that is a dumb question.

I like the "texture" look on thr cross. Is that just an effect of the printing, or did u design that in? I wondered if they could have the weathered look of the big cross.

Id suggest getting some cliffy protectors for the mystery hole, trough exit, and right siderail shooter lane protector.

Inlane protectors? Do you have a link?

Do you mean the metal rollover switch slot protectors? Or something to protect the pf where the ramp returns drop the ball. Or one in the same?

I have a met pro i bought nib with manufacture date of 4/2013. And just recently the last grave marker has started falling down on its own. Most of the time right after the game resets them, like at the start of a game or after grave MB.

I havent yet looked under the pf, but ive never messed with these before and from what ive read they seem to be a bit finicky. I dont wann mess stuff up.

Any pointers and things to look for when i dig in there to diagnose and fix the problem? Typical drop target adjustments?

The game always recognizes the target drops and gives me credit so i dont think its a switch issue. Im figuring its a physical thing. So spring tension adjustment?

Thanks for the link.

I didnt end up calling about my drops. The las tweak i did to the spring and the mech itself has it working pretty reliably. I guess it doesnt bother me too much for them to stay up when you hit them vs falling down on their own. Hehe.

Installed a shaker motor today from cointaker. I have to give stern credit that was a simple install.

Holes in bottom of cab already there and T-nuts installed
Place on inside left for he board to install was already marked with "divots" for where the screws go.
The harness in the kit had 2 molex connectors that exactly matched the wire color my game had in it
The games wiring already had the connectors right where they neede to be to plug right in.
Turned on the game, went to the coil test and the shaker motor test worked like a charm.

Fantastic. And simple!

New head replace original

Yes there is a setting to turn off the language. It just beeps over the words. It does not edit the song lyrics just the call outs. So in Fuel when james says "F--- 'em man, white knuckle tight", that is still in the game. Etc.

My kids are 11 and 3. The 11 year old is mature enough to hear and not repeat. The 3yr old is oblivious. But i do usually turn the language off unless im playing without the kiddos around.

My wife is pretty cool about the theme and language around the kids(with the adult filter on). So No probs there... But my sister-in-law raised an eyebrow and i could tell shes not that excited about it for her kids. So to each their own. I am usually alone playing and so it doesn't matter in my house.

I noticed that the factory "cliffy" that goes in front of the snake on my 1yr old NIB met pro is starting to curl up a bit directly in front of the snake. Does anyone else have this?

Honestly... I havent kept very good count. I dont write down stuff like that when i update the code. And i could be wrong but that gets wiped away each code update right?

But i will say that it is well loved and cared for/babied. Shes my first pin. If theres a burnt out bulb, i fix it immediately. Etc. it has never left my basement (hopefully never will). Its not like i have big parties and peeps play it...

If i had to guess id say max of 30 games per week * 52 weeks... So maybe 1500 games? But that is a a SWAG.

Also the GI light that is under the right ramp and near the bottom right pop bumper was out. What a giant pita to replace. From the bottom u have to remove the pop switch/spoon so u can get a nut driver on the lamp socket. From the top you have to remove the metal right ramp and then a plastic. I guess its not horrible, but it was definitely more work than i expected.

It was just the factory 555 bulb in there. I tried a CT warm white retro LED. Color wise it was ok, but from spcertain angles you can see that bulb while playing... So i ended up using a CT warm white frosted led.

I think the cliffy trough eject protector and the right side rail protector are good. I have them on both my games. I started to see some eject trough wear where the ball hits the shooter lane pretty quickly on my met pro.

1 and 2)
One of the shots will have the spider arrow lit. On my pro its always red, sounds like premium that is blue...
Shooting a different shot will change which shot is lit.
Hit to sparky will light the sparky insert on the lit shot.
Hit to snake will light the snake insert on the lit shot (and the snake inserts to the left and right shots).
Hit to cross will light the cross insert on the lit shot AND move the lot shot to the cross shot.

Completing all the inserts in a particular lane will make it strobe, hit the shot again to start the hurry up, then shoot the captive ball/block to cash in on the hurry up.

My imdarras snake head with red leds has developed a short in the wiring after 10 months or so. Its not the connection under the playfield, i redid that so it uses stock like wiring with z connectors. It is somewhere in the wires leading up to or inside the head.
If i hold the wiring connection to the game stable, and jiggle the wire leading up to the snake, the snakes right eye blinks on and off. I need to take the head off and find the loose connection and solder it. I may play around and go with yellow led eyes if i end up having to redo the wiring.

Not bashing the mod. I love it. So much better than my one tooth snake with dead painted eyes.

Ive heard "Jack F'n Pot!" Callout, not the "Holy F'n Shit". Adlibbing, or are there two different callouts?

Welcome to the Met club! The honeymoon seems to never end!

Looks like thr ball guide on the left of the ball in that spot may be a bit tight. Maybe loosen it some and see if you can scooch it over some? Ill take some pics of mine in that area if you want for comparison. Just lemme know

I dunno how well these came out... but basically the whole way up I have about 1/16 inch extra space between the rails and the ball. I used a rag to keep the ball in the tightest spots to get a pic.

20140818_183319.jpg

20140818_183209.jpg

Anyone had to change the flasher inside the cross on a pro? Mines out and just looking for some pointers before i dig in and fix it. Seems like removing the cross assemble from bottom and then working on it is the plan of attack. But if you all have pointers or gotchas to look for, id appreciate a heads up.

Thanks

Thanks i may tackle that later today. Ill try a led flasher, but may not look good or fit. I had an led flasher in my TFLE allspark and it was just too much hitting u in the face, so i put the bulb back in. Figure the cross may be a similar situation.

Wow what bad luck. At least everything seems to be replaced with little hassle. Still sucks. But metallica will make you forget as soon as you finally get one thats right.

I took the cross out. The led flasher was one just like the ones for sparky. It was rattling around in there. Plugged the bulb in the socket and it worked fine.

On my cross its basically just a spotlight base shoved up in the cross. But there is a metal post at the bottom that goes through the screw hole of the spot base. That prevented me from pulling the bulb out.

Quick and easy.

Fixed my imdarras snake that had a short in its right eye. Took snake apart, and the wires were crimped and had worn through at the back of the head near where they were hot glued. I thing they were pinched between the snake head and the scoop. So after months of play they wore through.

I soldered them back together and put two layers of shrink wrap tube around it. I also took a small sanding drum hooked to my dads drill press and ground down the side of the snakes head some so that maybe it wouldnt pinch the wires.

That fix was a more involved fix. Soldering iron, heat gun, hot glue gun. But its all back in business now.

Sometimes working on pins is as fun as playing.

Before fix with wire broken/worn where it rubs snake head:
20140819_123007.jpg

After fix soldered wires and double layer of shrink wrap:
20140819_142509.jpg

I bought the CT set for my Pro. The documentation they provide for which bulb type goes where is handy. It helped me make a follow up order to tweak the color choices they had. For ex i moved two of the slow color changing flex head leds over to the mystery hole. They change at different rates and it gives a nice mix of colors fading in and out when its lit.

I like my guitar pics both out near the ramps and near the flippers to be the same color. I went with green CT premium. Love it.

Does anyone know for sure which leds brand type and color stern is putting in the GI for the new led pros?

Ive tried a few different leds in GI and im not found one that im completely that happy with. I think the best ive got for under plastics is a premium frosted warm white. Tried a retro and it was ok but maybe too in your face for in use in slings etc. i just picked up a couple of thier double leds. Ill expiriment some.

No thats not normal. Sounds like your switch inside the scoop isnt giving a steady closed signal to the game. Ive had the same thing. Some discussion in various met threads. Basic idea is the switch tells game ball is there, but its "flakey". So the game kicks the ball out (kinda like the ball finder) without awarding the shot.

I adjusted the metal arm of the switch very slightly up towards the middle of the space where the ball would be when in the scoop. Havent had the prob since.

SnD is a mode that starts when you complete the inserts (sparky switch, snake, cross) for all the main shots and collect the hurry up for each.

The seek shot is to hit the strobing shot (all inserts flash at same time)
Then the destroy shot is to hit the captive ball.
Then another lane will begin strobing
Repeat until timeout or ball drain.

Lanes will strobe in the same order that you completed them to get to SnD.

Blackened mode starts by completing all of the pic inserts with band members names on them near flippers. To light each pic insert you have to complete a set of the four pic targets near the ramps. The number of pic sets increases for each band member earned.

Once you get all four pics on the lower playfield lit, blackened starts. I dont have the rules for playing the blackened mode ironed out in my head yet. But you can wrap up some sweet jackpots.

Enjoy

The flasher behind the captive ball flashes/lights after either rollover/inlane. If you hit the ball then it counts as 2 hits on the coffin towards crank it up progression.

Not sure. Probably. Id have to take glass off and check.

I think you need to change the setting that says something like features continue from ball to ball. Otherwise you arent likely to get S&D. Well at least im not.
I think there is a similar setting for band members resetting after each ball.

Jeff the inserts on the main shots in the game reset/clear by default with factory settings. So to get S&D. You would have to do it in one ball. Same with blackened mode and the band member guitar pics.

There are settings to allow the status to continue from ball to ball that you would have to change from no to yes. I can look for the setting numbers sometime if you want. Its one of the first things indo when i up date my machines code

5 ball cause is suck and i want to see EOL someday
2 settings to allow s&d and guitar pics to go from ball to ball
Make the snake hold the ball in its mouth during snake add a ball multiplier (assume prem le does this by default)
Free play
Etc.

I think you guys are right, my bad. I was over simplifying how much clears.

I have a spreadsheet that i made that maps out each insert led with what type base it is and what color and type led i used. If you want it pm me your email and ill send it to you. Last time i tried pinside wouldnt allow xls attachments to posts or to pinside mail.

Look out lars! Shes coming for ya!

Id put a cliffy eject hole protector down asap (there is a specific one for met). The shooter lane where the ball comes out of the trough will start to show wear and/or discolor quickly. I also put a cliffy on the side rail in the shooter lane, but i didnt see damage there before hand.

I hate that inlane divider too. That stupid dull klink sound it makes right before the ball bounces right out the left outlane... Makes me so mad!

Say it aint so gecko!

I have never seen air balls off the pro captive ball. Does the replacement parts have the metal hoop around the top of the ball? What about the metal plate under the ball?

I cant tell in the video if those are there. Maybe they help keep air balls down?

image.jpg

image-968.jpg

Yep i will make a sparky airball plastic for anyone that wants one for $5 (paypal as a gift) shipped to ya. Just need to have a USPS address (international is way to expensive). Pm me for paypal info.

I cant decide if i like the new pro decal on the speaker panel. Matches the cabinet artwork, and im not sure what else would work. Just not sure if i like it. Maybe im just used to black speaker panel. Idk. Maybe Aurich can work something up..... Hint hint...

Im not sure. Haven't seen it in person. It probably looks awesome. Just seems like it should tie in with the lightning theme of the back drop on the playfield or something.

It may just be that im used to the black of the old style.

Ive thought of trying to make a decal for the old style, but when i was thinking about that, i was thinking of how to make the old look like the new.

This may be a dumb question, but im not a premium/le owner so...

Is there a subway over to the mystery hole to let the balls out of the coffin? If so How fast do they shoot out for coffin mb?

Seems like that could be drain city if your mystery hole scoop was adjusted wrong.

Just never played a prem before and i dont recall seeing coffin mb startup in any videos.

Thanks man!

I had one customer from this past weekends batch that didnt fit and had to have another hole drilled in it. So if any of you that ordered from me in the last week have that problem, lemme know. Hopefully its a 1 time issue... I make each one by hand so it is possible for them to be a bit off i guess.

Thanks for posting the install pics!

Looks like you have both the stock and the new airball plastic in there. Im surprised there was enough threads on the posts to allow that. Seems pretty tight on mine. (Just room for one piece).

Sorry you had to basically remove the left ramp. Yikes! . I've never had to bother with the left ramp to install/test fit in my machine. There is a funky shaped plastic that surrounds the left ramp on the back side that is a giant PITA. I remove the 4 screws holding it in and let it just fall back into the orbit lane. Once its out of the way you should be able to loosen the hex post right beside sparkys right hand and the lock nut over by the pops and lift the old plastic out. Then just repeat to put it back.

The spotlight on the funky left ramp plastic is a PITA as well. Easy to over tighten and crack the funky piece or spin the hex post too tight against the grave marker plastic below it. I use an adjustable wrench to hold the hex post and tighten the screw on the spot light. Snug. Not over tight.

Rick

Just glad the plastic are helping everyone out.

I ended up cracking my gravemarker plastic (under the hex post near sparkys right hand) yesterday when test fitting some plastics. So I'm kinda annoyed with myself. I think that area is a bit under engineered as the graveyard plastic seems like its under some pressure (its kinda bent from the factory).

Oh well. Love my Metallica! I can definitely tell when I haven't played enough cause I suck badly. After practicing I'll get my game back and just suck at a normal level. hehe

Rick

That is the count down for seek and destroy mode. You are supposed to either hit
The strobing lane/shot for the "seek"
Or
The captive ball for the "destroy"
This alternates back and forth until you either time out or drain.

With the CT sale, i picked up some led flashers for the backboard of my met pro. I got flex head flat 8 flashers. There are 6 89 flasher sockets back there.

I went with

Blue. White. Blue. Blue. White. Blue.

I tilted the heads of the blues so that they aimed away from the center lightning generators in the artwork and the whites i directes right at the center. I think it came out really well.

Inexpensive way to make a big visual impact.

I glad you like it!

Ive had the eject hole cliffy on my met for a year now and habent had any issues. I do think mine was mounted a bit further back. I can take a picture if you think that would help.

Thanks for the kind words folks.

I have started asking for $7 for sparky plastic shipped to a USPS address. The padded cushion envelope I use costs $1.19 + tax and the first class postage is ~$2.30. So I raised the price to compensate.

Also to help with the minor fitment issues that have some folks have had, I have started test fitting each and every plastic I send out in my Met pro. So that should keep you all from having any issues (I hope).

I made 6 up over the weekend last weekend and 4 of them are spoken for so 2 more and then I'll have to make a new batch. I only have time to work on these on the weekends so if I'm out then I'll make anther batch the following weekend or so.

Rick
Thanks

Id love to figure out a way to replicate the gi from a prem or even to set the color based on modes in general. Lots of peeps doing things like that to other titles so doesnt seem that far fetched. Just above my skillz at the moment.

Good questions. I can't wait to hear the answers.

here is what I think I know:

-the 3 icons under the arrow correspond to the pop bumpers. I think they light after a certain number of hits to each pop.
-each time you spell fuel and light another spot on the fuel meter (center playfield), I think it lights the red arrow on the piston target for a 30 second "Yeah double score" timer.

Purple super bands and stock yellow bats.

On the ones i make i trace the existing plastic, then slide the plastic up so the bottom middle (flat part right between sparkys knees over the target) lines up with the line i drew for the current opening. That sounds a lot more complicated than it is. Basically i make the width of the plastic 2x what it is from the factory as measured from sparkys chair back towards the flippers.

Hope that helps.

Heres a pic of some sparky plasitcs i made a few weeks ago. Hopefully u can see the original outline of the plastic and then where i made the new cut.

20141116_133802.jpg

Rock on!

Hello everyone. Just wanted to put the word out that ive had some sickness in the family and therefore have had a week or two delay in making sparky plastics. Im a bit backlogged. But should be shipping out Monday or Tuesday this week. I apologize for the delay and appreciate your patience. I will get to everyone in the orde that you contacted me. Thank you!

everyone is back in pretty much 100% now. All four of us passed a nasty cold around and really knocked us for a loop. Wife even progressed into an infection in her chest and ears. So she was under the weather for the longest. So while the wife is under the weather things like pinball go to the back burner.

My snake started being sketchy with registering hits again. Snake lit, get ball in scoop, spits it back out. Still lit. Lifted up the playfield and adjusted the arm on the switch some. Its better, but need to do it again. Switch test shows everything is fine. Just not making solod enough connection for game to score it. Frustrating for sure. I think ive had this before, but maybe it was the mystery scoop... Just need to fiddle with it

Its frustrating that it easily recognizes that the ball is in there and spits it back out every time. but doesn't score it.

I'm guessing its a lower level/ base software thing that exists in the "don't get ball hang up" level of the code that is kicking it out, but not a long/consistent closing of the switch to make it score as a snake hit.

Rick

Just wanted to let you guys know that I will no longer be making any Sparky airball plastics.

If you have already contacted me about getting one, but haven't paid, and decide you still want one, I will complete that transaction and send you out one

If you have issues with sparky plastics that I have sent out over the last few months and need a replacement, I will support that and get you a replacement.

But I'm not going to be accepting any new requests.

Sorry for any inconvenience, but its time for me to focus more on family and not spend my weekends in the garage making plastics. Also the endless trips to the post office to get supplies is getting old too.

Thanks for all who have purchased a plastic from me and the kind words/feedback. I have been glad to have been able to help peeps out.

Thanks,

Rick

So ive been messing around with the GI on my met pro and wanted to go led, but keep it pretty much the same look. So i understand that the led stern met pros are using the warm white CT 2 led bulbs for GI. So i picked enough up for my machine. Mostly happy with it except for a few places.

There is a GI socket right above the left outlane that is blinding when its got the CT 2led in it. The plastic above it doesnt cover the bulb so its "staring you right in the face". I ended up putting a frosted CT warm white led in there.

Similar situation, although not as bad is the bulb under the right ramp near the bottom pop bumper and the end of the shooter lane. Normally its covered by the ramp, but if you lean over from center to the right it has direct line of sight for me (im 6 ft even). Did the same frosted trick on that socket too.

The sockets in the slings are also a tricky spot for me. The 2 leds seemed to wash out or make bright spots on the plastics. So tried warm white retro leds from CT. They work better, but have a slight green tinge to them that i dont really like. The frosteds just look funny and dont out out enough light in this position.

Any suggestions?

Ive never seen this. But inhave done what you are saying and about shit my pants when james or sparky yelled out behind me. Im usually doing work in the middle of the night alone in the basement... Its kinda funny if you think about it.

Having the rules would be cool.

Getting that callout is so rewarding!

Sorry to see that. PM sent

Save money get original met pro. If the snake has teeth, they may break off or they may not. Only one tooth broke on mine, and it broke the first night... i got the led lit snake head from imdarras and kept the 1 tooth original. I added the mezel teeth and it has been awesome ever since.

Rick

My first pin and first nib as well. Im spoiled now. Awesome game that is never leaving the (small) collection!

Im ok with anyone making sparky plastics. I never wanted to have a mod side business. Just trying to help out fellow pinsiders.

So definitely cool with me if you wanna make some!

I can take some under playfield shots of my met pro that i out service rails on if anyone is interested. I attached the bottom/trough side and then just kinda eyeballed it for where to out the middle playfield ones. It was very nerve wreking to drill the bottom of the playfield for sure. Thick wraps of tape on the drill bit so it was damn sure not gonna poke through. I dont thnk mine had dimples for where to drill

Id never heard this before. Watched the first couple songs before i realized the drums, both guitars and the bass are all the same dude. Wow!

I always thought the audio from the live rehersals video that camewith st. Anger was beter than the studio track. I loaded it on my ipod and thats what i listen to when i want my st. Anger fix.

Is st. Anger as good as Master of Puppets... No. But i enjoy it every now and again. Some song layouts could be trimed (st anger, frantic). But i like the disc. Like the detuned guitars and the while disc not being the same tuning.

I think there are just 4 44/47 bulb sockets. The four in the slings. Rest is all 555. I think there is around 25 or so GI. 555s

Still would like blackend mode to be the four horseman mode as it was obviously intended to be. Dont wanna get rid of blackened in the song rotation though. I dont know how tight they are in memory available with the current code. Maybe thats not possible.

I think the consensus is that if you can afford/find/obtain a Prem/LE then go for it. but if you cant the Pro is a awesome pin as well.

I like the etching on the slings and sparky. Did u specify the color of plastic or did they come that way?

85vett, have you tried reseating J10 connector in the upper center/right of the backbox? My sound would cut out and be very tinny/scratchy at times and then fix itself. Seemed vibrations made it worse.

Someone here on pinside suggested reseating J10 and my sound issues went away. Might be worth a try if you havent.

I have another small batch of 10 sparky airball protectors, if anyone is interested. $7 shipped. I have to limit this to US orders only. Please pm me for details of you are interested.

Thanks.

Thanks man! My magnet was taking a beating cause it would pull airballs down out of the air and slam them on top of the magnet. The protector keeps that to a minimum/or not at all. Also things like the spots near sparky dont get knocked around.

Hudson, I see where you had to drill a new hole in your plastic. You said you had to do that shortly after you got it. I'd be happy to send you a new one (free). If you change your mind, lemme know. Yours was from a batch before I started test fitting each one in my machine before I ship them out.

Rick

It has been a while, but im pretty sure there is just 2 screws to get the top of the snake off.
1 the big hex screw Down through the top of his head
2 there is a small screw in the roof of his mouth up into his head.

For the inside the mouth screw i used a tiny ratchet screw driver.
http://www.sears.com/craftsman-5-pc-ratchet-wrench-set/p-00947478000P

Hope that helps.

Last batch of 10 (make it 9 cause i jacked one up) sparky protectors are gone. Had a couple more people interested, so i have another batch ready to go if anyone out there (US only, sorry) wants one.

Broke my first mezel tooth/fang today. Well i noticed it today. I didnt see it happen. This is the original set i bought way back when they were first made. Luckily i bought 2 sets!

Awesome read!

That GI led drives me crazy too. Direct line of sight. I like your solution. I put a frosted led in mine and that helps. But you are still staring at the bulb...

Lemme know how the sparky airball protector goes for ya when you get your game.

I have an excel spreadsheet with the inserts and the led type and color i used if you are interested. Pinside wont let ya attach xls files, but i can email it to you.

Edit: I had your email from your sparky plastic order. So I sent it to ya.

Maybe they will do a premium run too. Thats about the only thing that would get me to sell my met pro.

Jeff, can you send some pics. I dont know how the refinery light board attaches, but i would be surprised if it didnt have some connectors so it could be removed from the backbox entirely. Id be happy to help ya out.

Basically you just need to go slow and take lots of pictures. Maybe even write on the connectors with a sharpie or put masking tape around them and label them as you take them off. Just disconnect each connection and label where it goes. Snap a pic or two. Move on to next connector. All of this with the game off of course. Then unscrew the screws holding the cpu board on. Remove. Then work the steps backwards to put it back.

Then once you double and triple check stuff is the same as it was, i would turn it on and do a lamp, switch, coil test. Id leave the refinery backbox stuff off untill you make sure its working better.

Band member picks advance you toward blackened mode which i honestly dont know the rules for very well, but its kindof a wizard mode and you can rack up points big time. You light a band member pic target insert on the playfield after completing the 4 sets of pick targets a certain number of times.

Completing the pick targets during muktiball and then getting a ball in the snake will add a ball to your Multiball.

The green led on the snake shows when he is lit for adding a leter to SNAKE. To start snake multiball. I think you have to make a shot that isnt lit with a snake insert to light the snake. Or maybe i have that backwards.

Maybe the snake has to be lit for you to light the insert on the red arrow shot? Or maybe the switch that detects the ball inside the snakes mouth needs adjustment. Ive had to tweak mine a few times so it will make good contact and register the ball 100% of the time. If the switch is out of adjustment the snake spits out the ball without giving you credit for the shot.

The game will reset them when it is sure the ball cant get stuck behind them. If the game would somehow reset them while the ball was behind them, that is a glass off event to fix. So when the ball is up the ramp and they need reset it will reset them. Otherwise leaves them down till you drain.

I got the M star inserts as a special order from dugfreez at speakerlightkits.com with my speaker lights and they are awesome.