Forgive me goronic and indypinhead, but this post was my version of an April Fool's joke--perhaps too subtle. So I'll end it before it goes any further. Please chalk it up to my being poisoned by all the rumors on pinside about this machine and to my anxiousness to get my LE, which still has not arrived. Sorry!

Sure - I was not talking about CGC figuring out their own issues. I think the delay is due to Alien right? Right? ; )

Wow....that playfield looks pretty bad for 12 games played. Thanks for the information and pics. I will spend some time looking for issues like that before playing it when mine arrives and getting a good couple layers of the old time wax on it. I always clean new balls with laquer thinner before I play them. There is quite a bit of oil on the balls when they are new.

I have a feeling this was a april fools joke.

This is no joke we did it on my friends SE model and it does work. I haven't tried it yet on my LE model. It does work.

I heard it was due to the last two guys on the planet that can screen playfields had been worked so hard they had worn their fingers to bloody nubs hand squeegeeing 17 screens and 11 spot colors 50 hours a week making 40 to 50 playfields a day of which 40% are rejected. Or so goes the legend that I am being told. But that reject rate may be an overall reject rate for all levels, not just LE grade playfields. If this is anywhere near reality that puts total machine production rate at 27 machines a day, and who knows what the mix of CE/SE/LE ratio is. These are all numbers given to me by CGC, and the 40 to 50 pf’s a day is the number I question.

Same here. The only reason I wouldn't do business with Joe again is that there is a dealer closer to me, so if I wanted to pick the game up myself and save on shipping costs I'd go through them instead.

Yikes! As much as I hate to see dimpling on a PF I understand that they are inevitable, but what the heck are these circled in red? They can't be cracks in the clear or paint? Although they don't show up in your first picture...

MBPF1_LI (resized).jpg

MBPF2_LI (resized).jpg

those do tend to worry me the most - as dimples will even out - but smearing the PF is odd to me.

His original post is an Aprils fools joke, and better than I originally thought as people are taking it seriously. There is an Easter egg for Lyman's Lament, but I don't believe this is what JOESCHALL was referring too as it has been mentioned numerous times before.

My MBrLE was delivered today.

Uh, check out the date, my friend

My Mmrle doesnt Look even close like that, did they change the Wood or clearcoat ?

Indeed, it was an April Fool's joke--apparently too subtle. I never even thought of Lyman's Lament, which was in the original.

Ok, let me qualify that statement, I got confirmation of intent to ship by my distributor... The original was an April fools joke, but then my phone went off... what are the chances?!?

Are you sure it ISN'T an April Fools joke?! Can't be, that's too cruel ....

We interupt this broadcast to bring you a special bulletin... Joe at PinballSTAR just texted me and my game ships tomorrow... We now return you to your regularly scheduled program, already in progress.

Yay for Bublehead. The fact that yours is shipping means that at least one machine has rolled off the assembly line again!

Actually it means two, the president of my pinball league is getting one shipped at the same time.

Too funny. You got yourself. Best April Fools joke today.

Congratulations on your game, you've waited long enough.

LTG : )

Mine is shipping this week as well! F Yes!!

Is it normal for this game to have left ramp shots that don't make it all the way up the ramp to then roll back and drain out the right outlane every single time?

1 - I know there have been a lot of posts/suggestions around the STDM shots out of the scoop - Was there a general consensus on what seems to work? I've seen a variety of suggestions from adding a washer to the solenoid, putting some duct tape in the scoop, changing power settings, etc. I'm still having the issue, but before I decided to try something, I was hoping to hear what seems to work most consistently allowing it to fire it to the left flipper as it should.

2 - Same question regarding STDM rolls from the upper playfield that are hitting dracs feet on the way down. Seems to be happening a fair amount on my game. Just hoping to get an updated solution from those that have fixed this as well?

Otherwise I love my game - I have an LE and after a hundred or so games, I'm seeing some dimpling, but frankly (pun intended), it doesn't bother me. Sure it was a lot of money to spend, but I bought the game to play it and expect it to show some battle scars over time. I think the quality of this game is OUTSTANDING, and despite the long delay, I'd buy another game from them.

PS - The game even looks cool when it's turned off in my game room that has black lights

20190328_010039 (resized).jpg

Yeah. Sucks doesn’t it?, so do failed right ramps coming back SDTM, or failed Frank shots heading for STDM or catch the back of a phantom flip target and head toward right outlane, or failed left ramps coming SDTM or just catching the sling and then SDTM... or... all the shots in MB are risky. Not a single one is a gaurantee except the scoop, but hard in and outs do dumb things too. The orbits are safer, but not off Drac’s feet. Reason I love MB... hit it or shit it. There is no try.

Maybe that means mine is on its way as well?? I only deposited in December.....

Try getting your game level, then raising both right legs a few turns, then raise the front right a few turns more. No more drac soccer.

That seems like it would be way out of level. With this setup, if the ball is rolling straight up the playfield does it come straight down on the same path? Seems like it would roll to the left.

That will be funny when Bublehead gets a text tomorrow stating it was an April fools joke and he is back to waiting. I miss his laments!

You maybe one of the only ones who will...

No doubt I was prepared to see the PF dimple on this game, MB seems to be prone to more airballs than a lot of pins. Almost any solid shot to Franks boots goes airborne. I am of the opinion that a reduction of flipper strength is a must on this game, and my setting of -3 did improve the situation somewhat. What I did find most notable regarding the dimples was the severity as compared to other games in my experience. Specifically the depth, sharpness, and what appears to be an actual fracturing of the clear or wear layer. I am thinking that the problem I am having may be somewhat isolated to a few games that are out there as I have not seen a lot of posts concerning anything other than normal dimpling.

Maybe wood or CC, wish I knew. The bigger concern for me than dimpling was the scarring of the pinballs. You are able to feel the nicks with your fingernail and I would expect this would become a more common occurrence on this game due to the design of the scoop.

Thank God! (edited)
Hope you enjoy it. It is an awesome machine as all have discovered. Those with dimples and balls with nicks should put the machine back in the box and put it on your shelf with the Star Wars toys you wouldn't play with as a kid because Luke's arm got loose.
ALL - Play your machine. Enjoy it. It will have some parts wear out and balls will need changing and switches may not work perfectly over time and it will get dimples and OMG sometimes people leave fingerprints on the glass and by the flipper buttons and I once had a bulb burn out. Approaching 40 years of pinball ownership including many NIB and many warm turds that I restored and I am amazed by the amount of whining by this community

Mine did that till I increased the pf angle.

At what angle did you set your playfield and the flipper strength settings?

Metal hitting metal - metal hitting wood. Dings, scratches, dimples, fingerprints, dust, cooties - it's gonna happen. Either replace the damn balls and play the game or cut the cord off and just look at the pretty art. Downvote away, but I'm with gambit3113 on this....... *sigh*

If it’s noticeable, you did it too much. Also, it’s direct from an old ops guide I have somewhere

1- my scoop STDM is going on 2 1/2 months and still not fixed. Guess Bublehead will get his MBr before my scoop is working!

2- I bent the ball guide out slightly and now even slow orbits miss Drac's feet. I first tried raising the right levelers, perhaps too much, but noticed it affected the ball path coming down the playfield.

As far as number 1: I don’t like fixing things with duct tape and I hesitated doing it, but I placed small strips of duct tape just off center in the scoop and it works about 95% of the time. I looked at adding the the washer at the coil/coil but I didn’t know exactly where it went. I also was afraid of the washer coming in contact with the 2 wires attached to the coil and shorting something out.

Was having just a few too many sdtm shots Frome the scoop so added a piece of 1/4" foam to the inside right of the scoop. Shoots to the left flipper every time now.

Also added a couple of drops of dry lube to the woman's metal post (her name escapes me) and it's now a lot more active.

IMG_20190401_195836 (resized).jpg

Also there is a little bit of play in the scoop - a tiny move makes a huge difference. Have you tried looking at that?

The flippers are at the factory settings. The bubble is just about touching the middle line. I do not know the angle.

Download a level app like “Bubble Level” to your phone. It works pretty good to level your machine and set the pitch to whatever angle you want. (Within reason, of course)

Pin guy app best app!

Yep, tried that second after playing with coil strength first. There was very little play on mine and I couldn't notice any difference after the adjustment.

Weird. I wonder if the CGC ones attempted to “fix” the scoop by making the holes more tight. There’s always the Mantis super-reinforced one, which does allow adjustment

Yes, but you’d lose the scoop LEDs if you went to the mantis. I think an idea is to enlarge the scoop mounting holes to give it more torsion adjustability.

I guess so, but that’s like a $4 fix to replace them

Yeah, and defeating the SDTM would be more important to me than the light. My game is behaving now, but I get the frustration factor for anyone with cheap scoop drains.

That's been on my list to try, but waiting for CGCs solution first. My problem is that I'm not only getting misaligned scoop ejects SDTM, but also experiencing misshits out of the scoop that come out much slower and at times hit the right flipper. Something is off more than scoop alignment it seems.