My game seems about average. CM ramp got better after a good cleaning and waxing. I get a lot of side drains - have ordered some oversized posts to try to see if that make it a bit more forgiving.

The outlanes are definitely hungry! PinMonk has excellent advice as it's usually a small tweak to reduce the occurrence of most of your issues.
Keeping the playfield and ramp very clean will help with Captain Marvel success, but adding the lexan or 3D printed piece will improve it substantially which helps the flow and enjoyment of the game in my opinion.

No lies here. Keith, I believe, designed this game for himself. Like, just him. It's a drain monster with no ability to adjust the outlanes and incredibly depressing. And if you do have a hot game, Thanos now shows up after 3 gems or so and takes one away (in most cases, let's be honest you all aren't beating this consistently). It's brutal to the point where it's not fun no matter how well you do.

Yesterday I alternated between Avengers and Iron Maiden for several games and it's just astonishing how proper the geometry and shots are set up in Maiden. He made the ramps hard but the outlanes are fair, there are no BS traps where the ball always goes out, a non-flipped ball off the mini flipper rolls down to safety rather than draining like on Avengers....and it lacks the idiotic idea where the game takes away accomplishments you already made. An absolute masterpiece of a game. Avengers has amazing shots and some unique 'toys' but the need to make the game a drain monster leaves it lacking compared to IMDN or JP. But 2 out of 3 sure isn't bad. Better than many other designers.

Unfortunately I do not. I'm certain it's more than the 2A on CN11 (and I only know that CN11 is at least 2A because the ticket dispensers it's designed for pull 2A). That's why I recommended using CN11 for a couple things like the flipper lights and fans and pulling the rest from the power distribution board (which becomes problematic since the amp rating is unknown if you have a topper that uses it, too).

I'm not a good player by any stretch of the imagination, but I don't think the game is that bad. Defending the gems doesn't seem too bad - my only complaint is having to hit the gem to start the defense. I was successful defending 3 gems the first time, and 2 the second time. It's harder for me to get the Soul Gem, tbh.

I dont have any routine SDTM shots though - the previous owner put a rubber on the post by the Captain America pops so most (80%) Hulk shots get in the pops before coming out. I like that, especially with so many talking about SDTM there. Yeah, the outlanes are tough but don't seem any worse to me than TWD.

That said, I've only been to Black Order multiball twice... but I still think it's a lot of fun.

Yeah, I didn't have problems with SDTM drains from the pops or the other things on AIQ. Outlanes were a danger zone, but not game-killing for me. Thats why I recommended the 1/4 turn tweaks until it stops the SDTMs to the other pinsider. The left to right has to be just a tiny bit off. Seems fussy like Star Wars in that regard.

It must be a set up issue, I play a lot of AIQ and IMDN and JP seem to kick my ass more.

Yeah...I'll be honest...it sounds like he has a set-up issue or a problem with his game. It's tough, but it isn't that order of magnitude harder than IMDN or JP. I would put it pretty much on par with JP actually. I don't have enough experience with IMDN to say for sure, but that struck me as about the same difficulty too. The TMNT I bought at about the same time is significantly meaner, as are a few others in my collection. I would say AIQ's playfield and code depth are pretty perfectly matched. It's a deep challenging game, but a good player will see Thanos Battle eventually, and an average player should be able to get to Thanos Attack and Black Order Multiball without too much trouble. It's not a gimme, but not impossible, KME only level either. If you can get to the Visitor Center on JP, you can get to Thanos. Escape Nublar is harder to get to in my opinion.

Didn’t you already say this a few days ago?
JP gets me rageing more then any other game in my collection. So many brick shots for me on that game, not nearly as smooth as AIQ, still love it though!

I'm going to try to raise the pitch on mine to see if it affects the outlanes any - although I'm pretty sure its up there already. I own 10 modern games and this one has easily the worst outlanes, and I can't even name a 2nd place. On one hand, I want to believe the outlanes are supposed to be more fair than they are on mine, but on the other hand the slings ARE placed higher than on all my other games (including Maiden) so there certainly was intent here to make them harder.

Nah that was some other bro with a Dr. Dude avatar.

You are funny. I actually went back to make sure it was you. I’m known for my gullibility!

I swear I’ve made the final shot at the sanctum during IM mb, but I’ll pay attention now.

I hope it helps you! I hate seeing someone struggle so much to enjoy this game. The outlanes are very hungry for sure, but I guess I do not find it terribly hard to keep them away from the area. Once it gets in the danger zone, it's a fight for sure. But it shouldn't be unfair, like say ST:TNG. Good luck!

2nd run shipping Tuesday

20210214_180955 (resized).jpg

My right hand flipper seems to have lost some power. Checked the settings, and both sides are 255. I'm aware of the flipper fade issue, but I am noticing this straight away during a new game. Is there another issue which causes flippers to degrade? Got my machine in October last year, so it's got plenty of play but nothing too crazy.

Check the coils stops and coil sleeves. Both are very inexpensive and I had to replace on my AIQ and Deadpool at around 300 - 500 games played.

Later on the flipper link may also need to be replaced.

What would I be looking for which would reveal a problem?

gold dust in cabinet.

It’ pretty easy to swap them out. 2 screws per stop. Both Lower flipper coil stops and sleeves for around $10 total at pinball life. (Before shipping)

On my DP the coil stop nipple was almost torn off the base and about to fall off on both sides around 300 games. AIQ wasn’t as bad, but both nipples were loose and could spin when I replaced them.

Listening to the AIQ DJ mixer while I gave it a cleaning.

Not any really upbeat faster tempo songs in the entire game. Maybe the Mind Gem song (Gangsta Paradise maybe?), but that’s the fastest tempo song.

Deadpool on the other hand I think draws you into the game a little more with all of the uptempo songs.

I wouldn’t mind getting a new song or 2 added to AIQ that’s more upbeat and faster paced.

As others said, check the coil stops, but first make sure that the flipper bat isn't tight against the bushing. There should be a tiny bit of up and down play between the flipper and the playfield bushing. If too tight, it could be dragging against the bushing. If so, easy fix. Just lossen the flipper bat, give it a tiny bit of clearance (about the thickness of a credit card) and tighten back down. I've seen this straight from the factory, and I have also seen them creep down against the bushing if not tightened down properly.

Sweet, thanks!

So that's kinda funny - I thought maybe you were f'ing with me with the "gold dust in the cabinet" clue. Not sure if this pic shows it, but sure enough...

IMG_0276 (resized).JPG

The Sanctum shot is tough for me and I'm not fully convinced it is registering properly. Maybe it's just that glancing blows dont trigger it, or maybe the disk isnt completely level which makes it harder to hit. Something I need to look into and test.

Glancing hits don’t register every time on my sanctum target either.

If you miss the CM shot, does it go right to a center drain? Mine is a 99% drain if you don't hit it, and you can nudge all you want, it's gone!

For me, it's coming from all angles. A missed Hawkeye shots, rolls out of the loop and heads right into the left outlane. CM shots rejects and is 99% gone. Captain America doesn't allow you much control to nudge (like TWD pops did) so that is also a huge source of drains. You put all this together, and it's nearly impossible tp progress in the game.

I'm not a pro pinball player, nor do I ever care to be. But I think I'm average or so. My highlight would probably be reaching LMS in TWD on ball one. So I think I'm fine with games that are difficult, but with AIQ, I just can't get a single thing going.

It's weird because a couple of months ago, on earlier code, I collected all the gems at least 2 or 3 times. Now, I haven't seen even BO MB in like a month!

So either the game has changed, or somehow, I just started getting way worse at pinball. I'm like the Benjamin Button of pinball.

Funnily enough, I was adding Cliffy's protectors to my machine the other day and noticed gold dust on the cabinet floor (my 1st Stern pin). It triggered my memory of seeing someone post about Stern coil stops being shit and gold dust being the clue, and sure enough, it was the 3rd flipper coil stop...luckily I had ordered a few from PBL as a precaution just on the back of people posting about it in this thread. Quick 5min swap out and good to go.

So guys, I'm confused. This game looks amazing. But it doesn't seem to be ranking as high with people. I've seen people say this is Keith's worst game. It looks like his best, without playing it yet. What gives? I'm about to be in the market for my 6th machine, and I am debating a few pins. This is one of them.

Is it because if how "hard" it is, like these last few posts have complained about? What is it?

Maybe I'm still in the honeymoon phase (had mine since November I think?), but I love it. I think it's better than IMDN, and I have them both. I still play IMDN on occasion, but I keep getting drawn into the AIQ battles. For me, the rules are harder to understand - especially around how the gems work and how powering up Avengers helpsn the gems, but I'm starting to figure some of them out.

Regardless, it's just a lot of fun for me.

A lot of people haven't taken the time to understand what a masterpiece this game is. The code/ruleset is the best I've ever played, hands down. Casuals will not like this game, younger kids don't seem to care for it either. This is a players pin. If you're looking for a challenging game that will keep you interested for years to come, then this is it. The ruleset is deep, which to me is a plus since this is for home use. I don't need a munsters at my house where you can get to the final wizard mode every other game. I like challenging games that force to me to play better. This is Keiths best layout, hands down. It takes a little tweaking to dial in the shots like almost all games do. I feel like its the sweet spot between IMDN and JP in terms of toughness, its just perfect.

People have complained about the callouts/annimations. Its true, this game leaves much to be desired when it comes to these components. If callouts and animations are your top qualifiers when buying a game, then this pin not for you. If ruleset/code and game layout are most important for you then you'll love this game. Just my opinion since having one of the first premiums since October 2020.

Those people are dumb. Unfollow them immediately.

JP is clearly his worst (if you have to rank them). AIQ is complicated, but it's probably his best or second best, depending on how you feel about Iron Maiden's music.

Those people need to be forced to play XMEN repeatedly until they understand what qualifies as a bad set of callouts/animations. Shitty Beast, FTW.

The game is void of emotion and is the best shooting pin ever made. That’s why there is a great divide.

Checked my pf. Not warped at all. I levelled it at perfect 0 left to right, and bottom to top, I averaged it out to 6.5 (6.4 between slings).

It was higher before, so thought I'd try to do the standard 6.5.

Still loads of rejections and unanswerable drains.

PXL_20210215_053824615.MP (resized).jpg

You can't rely in your meter once you're down to this small of a difference in the level left to right to stop the SDTMs most other setups aren't getting in excess. There's no way to do it outside of the 1/4 turn, test, repeat. You can *maybe* do 1/2 turn, test, repeat but you risk overshooting. It sucks, but anything else is wasting time. The fussiness of Star Wars taught me this lesson.

This.

I have EHOH right next to AIQ, and I find EHOH boring. I play 10 games AIQ to 1 game EHOH. But EHOH is ranked in the top 10 and AIQ isn’t.

I think most people value emotive theme integration over layout and good rule sets.

Edit: just noticed EHOH is 8 and AIQ is 10. Tbh, anything top 10 is an impressive score. Personally I’d have AIQ a bit higher, but all top 10 games are candidates for no.1 depending on your preferences.

Ehoh has great theme integration, is very easy to understand and has that bw charm. Aiq has none of that so anyone who just walks up to one and tries to play a few games probably won’t like it and certainly won’t understand the rules. Doesn’t help the call outs and animations are just plain bad. Casual players will generally prefer Ehoh over aiq.

I’ve had aiq for a while now and still don’t understand all the rules and placement of the gems. However, it shoots well, I like the complexity and I like finding new things on it. So in categories like game play, last ability and rules set, it shines, but in other categories it fall short. Surprised it ranks in the top 10 because I don’t see how call outs, sound and animations could be rated very high.

The audio package in Avengers is garbage. Easily the part of the game dragging it down. I can deal with the chessy overly repetitive callouts but the music might as well nit even be there. Not at all memorable. I sold my Shadow two weeks ago and i still catch myself humming the tune.

Anyone have specific part numbers for the coil stops and sleeves? Looks like this the correct coil stop:

Product ID: 515-6308-01
Flipper Coil Stop For Stern/Sega

I'm not real sure what I am looking at under here...

IMG_0278 (resized).JPG

https://www.pinballlife.com/flipper-coil-stop-for-sternsega.html

Thanks. I am trying to figure out where the gold dust is coming from / what is wearing down...

I have a question for you owners,I've been reading your posts about game play and strategies so I can learn about play when my pin arrives!! I've not read anything about team-ups to defeat Thanos?? Is it possible to team up Avengers to defeat Thanos?? Thanks!!

These are the sleeves, as far as what is wearing down I’m not exactly sure, my friends who get quite a few NIBs always just replace them before game 1.

https://www.pinballlife.com/2-316-coil-sleeve.html

Thanks!

I purchased some items and received and was charged for duplicate items. I have an extra Stern Avengers Game Blade I paid $80. If anyone in the Purcellville, VA area needs one, you can get it locally. Otherwise, I will deal with returning it. Thanks.

Hi everyone, Greg here. I've commented a few times about the difficulty and unfairness of the outlanes.

When I first got my Avengers, I set it up with the back leg castors raised to about the midway point. After that I usually play several games to feel if it's off, too slow, etc. This game felt OK so I left it as is. I think I was more concerned with the leveling left to right and that was spot on, but it didn't feel floaty.

I've played probably 200 games so far, have gotten all the gems (on the old code) and have had several billion point games, but the game always felt lame because of the cheap outlanes. On a tip from Jediturtle I checked the legs and noticed - sheesh, the back leg castors are much lower than my Deadpool and LOTR next to it....so I raised the legs to their level.

Annnnnnd the cheapo outlanes are now a thing of the past. Gone. Raising the pitch (I don't know what it's actually at in numbers) significantly removed the random side to side action the slings create and sharply reduced outlane drains. It does create an issue where the Black Panther shot is a bit tougher to make now (now I can related to those that said it was hard to make after lengthy play - mine used to always make it no problem), but overall it makes the game feel less random and a bit more enjoyable. If you have a similar gripe, try it.