not going to work for me, ceiling is too low - Thanks for checking!

I installed the Plasma Disk mod there. Easy to do and it looks great.

If you don't like that, maybe you can use the plasma port to power some other light / mod.

No problem glad to help. Too bad it won’t work for you.

i still offer the stainless steel speaker bats for MB and MB with the xl display

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I was helping a friend with his Monster Bash and I am totally unfamiliar with these. The game boots and starts a game, but there is no power to the coils (the ball won't kick out to the shooter lane, no slings, no flippers, etc.). I checked the fuses on the main board in the back box and all are good.

Thoughts?

How much for the SE? They look great?

Check fuse for solenoids on board in the backbox. And be sure the high power interlock on the coin door is held in by the flap on the coin door that pushes it.

LTG : )

F103 - lower right corner of the driver board.

LTG : )

The fuse checked ok and the coin door interlock works. I also pulled out the interlock service button. Nothing.

How about fuse F108 ?

Are the wires on the high power interlock on tight ?

LTG : )

Has anyone replaced the scoop protector, and, if so, what steps are needed? I made an attempt this weekend. I thought I just had to remove that one post, pop off the old one, and then put in the cliffy, but it seemed like it was much more involved than that. To get access to the post and the old protector, I had loosened the right ramp to get it out of the way and removed the orange light attached to the lower bumper just above the scoop. The protector wouldn't budge though. Does the scoop itself need to be removed from under the playfield, too?

Had(have) the same problem and was advised by CGC to bend the top wire down so it narrows the gap between the top and middle wires. Only happens occasionally, since the tweak and when it does usually comes out after one ball search shake.

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I have to say, I am pretty bummed out by how dimpled my PF is after 1500 plays. I have turned down the flippers, but it looks like garbage.

Before I reach out to Chicago Gaming, does anyone know if this would be a warrantied or replaceable part by them?

same here

There is no way this will be covered. It is pinball.

it is laughable that they are even suggesting it be replaced. My MBr has a gorgeous playfield and smokes Stern and JJP quality.

I have owned close to thirty machines, of all eras. I have never seen a PF that looks like this with so few plays. My original MB was in far better shape than this one with 1300 plays. Same for my MM which was routed.

This is not normal by any means. I have never seen a PF that dinged so easily.

Have pics? You've piqued my interest. I don't mean to sound rude, but I simply cannot see them replacing the playfield for this. I did cry to stern recently for a new playfield which I got and replaced myself because it was HEAVILY warped. But unless the dimples are affecting ball travel, I doubt they'd be sympathetic.

My MBr has noticeable dimpling, but not nearly bad enough to affect ball travel. It's not a problem for me, but I do wish it was better.

Comparably, both my WH20 and EBD (both of which I have owned for a LONG time - and were originally routed for a while) have virtually no dimpling with many more plays. I just think the "old" machines had harder/better wood in them. "They just don't make 'em like they used to."

OTOH, my WH20 does have noticeable planking - but that's a different issue.

You have to also think those older bally/williams game have had 20,000 plus possible games played on them. The dimpling is just worn down at this point. Hard to compare a 30 year old playfield to a brand new with 400 plays. There are tons of threads on this.

All my NIB sterns looked like the moon after a couple hundred plays.

I will take dimpling over chipping any day of the week and twice on Sundays.

And those threads are wrong. There is no way that somehow the dimples have magically distributed themselves to be perfectly smooth, no matter how many plays are on the machine.

Not only that, but both of my other machines I have owned since they were only a couple of years old. They didn't have dimples and then got smoother over time. They just never got dimples to begin with.

Not correct, I have seen older games with dimples. The first shadow I had was covered in dimples. I saw a NIB roadshow that got unboxed not long ago and it had dimples after a few plays. Is the dimpling worse now? possibly, but it has been around. I have talked to lots of the old school guys and they said dimples have been around for years.

My MBr has a couple hundred plays and still looks amazing with no dimpling.

LOLZ, are you legit serious? Have you ever planed wood or done any woodworking at all? This is such a ridiculous theory.

Well, we're not talking chipping, we're talking dimpling. Chipping can be repaired. Dimpling impacts game play.

No it was an honest question. I have heard of distributors replacing PF's for different reasons. This seems to be an issue on this title so I figured I would ask. I'll snap some pics tonight when it's a bit easier to see.

It's just cheap lumber.

Was making a reference to the various other playfield threads, as well as my mmr vs MBr.

Your dimpling is so bad it impacts gameplay? As others have said, I would like to see a pic of that.

Maybe you are skilled enough to repair the chipping that others are experiencing on other manufacturers games...but I am not.

Guess it is my personal preference, but I am much more saddened by bare plywood showing than I am by a dimpled surface.

If I had to pick a poison, I know which I would choose is what I am saying.

I will say I am not impressed by most of the new stuff coming out. It sucks to buy a new PF only to have to send it out to have it properly done. My friend has an AFr and MMr and his PF's look nothing like this.

I'll take some pics tonight when it gets dark and easier to see.

I've got ~600 plays on mine, and while yes it is dimpled, it isn't that bad, and only noticeable at certain angles (usually from the side).

I had dimples like this pic i took after around 100 plays on my MBLE - not killer, but in comparison to my MMRE at the same # of plays and even still today has NO dimples at all. Mind you the ball doesn't bounce around as much as it does on MB

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I have never seen dimpling so bad it effected gameplay. Do a dimpling search on the forum and you will see every manufacturer pop up. Here is one guy with a spooky game "Yeah mine is getting some dimpling but 100% expected, all games will dimple they just even out after awhile. The big issue is playfield chips which I am so dang thankful that i dont have to worry about on this pin going by Stern/JJP threads." Also, go back in the forums like 5 years and search about dimpling. This has been hashed out by the entire industry for years. It is a damn steel ball bouncing around at high speeds. Stuff is going to get dinged and bumped. I can say this, I have owned a game from every manufacturer and CGC has the best playfields in current times.

So it's hard to get a good pic, but the main area under Frank and down to the center looks like the surface of the moon. I bought this second hand and in the daylight could not see the dimples. I didn't think to run my hand over the PF because it was basically new. That is on me.

Those blurs are dimples.

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I hear ya on the difficulty taking pictures. The dimples I circled below are similar to those that litter my playfield and have no affect on gameplay. The first dozen or so caused me some anguish but now I forget they are even there after the first game or two.

FYI I have had turned down flippers since ball 1. It’s just that between frank and drac you get a lot of hard balls pounding soft wood.

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It’s hard to imagine wood of such quality that a metal ball bouncing at high speed does not dimple it or worse. If pins from pre-2000 didn’t dimple, I can only assume that the wood was either cured for an extensively longer period of time or it was allowed to slow grow which made it stronger. You would think the coatings we have today would be superior to then. Either way, it is metal hitting wood at pace. I’m not a fan of dimpling, but prefer it to cracking. I’m also not a fan of playfield protectors. So, it’s not a museum piece, I choose to play it and enjoy it.

I disagree. MBrLE is a museum piece!

Had dimpling pretty damn quick unfortunately. But still love it. MBr SE was my first NIB purchase. It’s pinball so what can you do.

I agree with you. I have a place around the corner from me with 30 pins ranging from the 70’s to a lot of the recent titles, it’s Totally awesome place by the way. But I have looked at every single playfield and guess what every one of those pins has dimples. MBr is one of the worst, which this place has that game and the other two from CGC. Because you are constantly bashing Frank and Drac the ball goes all over. Now some of the other machines have hardly any but they are there but you see one thing common with those in that the shots don’t bounce all over the place, or the flippers are too weak to do so..The idea that plywood was harder back in the day I don’t buy. Not to mention some of the old machines were so dark you could not see the playfield. I played an original MB and that pin was so dark due to the old lights I thought it sucked then played a remake and I was hooked. Now my JP has hardly any dimples, but there is no bash toy sending the ball in crazy directions, and luckily I do not seem to own one that had the pooling issue, which was a “real problem” that I am assuming the clear was not mixed properly. Hardened metal ball verses wood, ball wins every time.

...said everyone whose machine isn't dimpling as bad. I'd like to see a low play original MB and compare playfields, because I think it'd be equally dimpled.

"Frank angry, Frank make dimples!"

As someone that grew up in a woodshop, it is most definitely the quality of the wood used. Anyone that's done construction or any kind of work with wood will tell you there are vast differences between the quality of the wood/lumber over the decades. Try driving a screw in a new 2x4 stud, versus a 30 year old one. Tell me how it feels. Drop a pinball on your hardwood floor, did it dimple? That's the point.

Yes, seasoning, hardness, etc all come into play. This isn't my first rodeo. I have owned many pins, played many pins. This machine has 1500 plays, 1300 when I bought it. My original MB and MM have at least ten times more and not one dimple. Dimpling happens, as you stated Vid's very popular line steel ball and wood, but the wood they used for these PF's is trash. It's soft as hell and not really great for this application.

Hi all
I am making spinner decals for Monster Bash. Price is $2.50 shipped in the US for the pair. Let me know if interested.

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Anyone have superbands on their sling here? What size?

I hear you on the 30 year old stud analogy. But, that piece of wood has had 30 years to dry out and become harder. Would that same piece of wood have been that hard 30 years ago? Or, would it have been as soft as wood today?

I’m in for a couple sets.

i use same size as what's in the manual. 2.5" i think. i assume you're asking cause they're so damn tight?

Dimples- I got 'em, and lots of them. I have over 1500 plays on mine, and yes, Margaret, PF's do dimple, but the big difference between OG MB and MBr playfields is hardness and type of the wood. They used to use old growth marine grade plywood which had a thicker top and bottom hard veneer. This meant after final sanding and leveling of inserts, the top layer was about as thick as the layers beneath. Nowadays, the top and bottom veneers start out only as thick as the layers between, so after sanding and leveling, the top veneer is thinner than the layers beneath it. Its this factor, IMO, where the top veneer being hard but thin makes it dimple worse than the original where the top veneer thickness was as thick (or thicker) than the inner layers of the ply.

Its real easy to tell that the clear coat is not the issue here, besides it not being very thick, if you look at the reflection of the surface of any insert in the "dimple zone" you can see it is still smooth as glass, meaning the plastic of the inserts is way harder than the soft wood around them, and there is no dimpling on top of an insert.

Now from extended talks with Ryan on pf quality issues, the reason MBr production was so slow was they were having issues with the 11 trapped colors and the number of screens used to get the artwork details right, and they were doing it like they did it for pf's in the 90's. So the only real difference between OG and remake is wood quality. And they (pf manufactures) all say the wood quality has gone down. A lot of the wood they used back in the day was old growth and was way harder, and if they really wanted to, they could source a better plywood but it would add a significant hit to the BOM.

So, yeah, I got dimples but then again, to quote Rudy- "Hey, it's only pinball!"

I just went back through a bunch of original MB for sale post and many of them had dimpling in front of Frank and Drac. Dimpling has been around folks. Steel ball flying around on wood table.

Sure it's been around, but to what extent? That's the point. This is excessive. Compare and contrast the number of dimples to a 30 year old MB PF versus a modern one. They are nowhere near the same.

I have never in my life seen a PF this dimpled. Bublehead is spot on with his analysis. This is a quality of wood issue and yes it is pinball, but the PF is the single most important piece in the game and when the ball is rolling over a cratered mess it impacts play.

This started out as a pretty simple question re warranty. I am shocked at the mental gymnastics folks will pull to defend a clearly inferior product.

The dimples (and arguments) have been going on for years... I have heard many a designer comment that playfield wood quality has definitely changed, i.e. got worse, but they only address it in terms of keeping the BOM reasonable, so cost of the blank wood went up and up as quality of available wood went down and down. The cheap (but good) marine grade they were using back then dried up, they were basically on a single source (specific lumber yard), and that source could no longer get it at reasonable rates and so stopped carrying it all together. So now they use a thinner plywood and a lower number of plys. One of the things Pat Lawlor has said was that the way they were building the machines in the 90's, they were their own worst competitors... as in the operators were not buying new machines because the old ones were so serviceable and reliable. Its the reason the manufacturers didn't fully embrace "Diamondplate" and other hardcoats because worn out playfields was one of the best ways to kill a machine, the time and money required for a playfield swap usually meant the old machines were cannibalized for usable parts and trashed. So it doesn't surprise me when playfield quality issues crop up that the manufacturers try and bury the problem, because to them, it's not a problem. Only the collectors are really screaming about this, because as long as a machine takes in money and works within reason, operators don't care that much that there is chipping of the artwork under the sling posts, or that the playfield looks so cratered that you have to wave off lunar landings by Neil Armstrong's ghost.