I'm still not very good with AIQ yet, but after watching this video about a month or so ago, my game has started to change.

Looking forward to getting mine for the house off this next run so I can have more time to practice.

So a weird thing. I tried this with another table and I performed as well with 5/6 balls as I did with 3. Turtles I couldn't do more than 2 modes, I then boosted the ball count to 5/6 and STILL couldn't get past 2 modes. Notoriously my output is the same regardless of ball count. Previously with Mandalorian I also had a 2 mission limit.

Out of curiosity Avengers I can't start more than two modes and when i bumped the ball count to 5/6 I STILL can't get past 2 modes

Concentrate on the basics and a repeatable strategy.

Pick whatever your easiest 2 shots are that count towards combos and keep trying to repeat those. Probably Black Widow and Captain Marvel or Gauntlet ramp.

Just work on those shots until you get 4 combos to earn a portal lock. After you get at least one portal lock either hit Thor once or twice to get that multiball ready or go ahead and start a gem quest.

Pick whichever gem you are most comfortable going for. Reality is probably the easiest... spin the disc, shoot your best ramp/combo shot(s). Rinse and repeat.

If you bring in the Thor multiball, chances are good you will finish Reality gem and have over 100 Million points. Iron Man multiball is also good to bring in to a gem quest, but can be harder to start than Thor multiball.

Once you can do that fairly consistently, add additional shots or gem quests as you improve.

Maybe try this: start out by earning a portal lock by hitting a few combos. Then spin the disc and select Reality Gem. That will give you a two-ball start to the mode. While ball save is going start bashing Thor to start MB. Then spin the disc to light all shots and go to town hitting any and all shots while spinning the disc once in awhile. That alone can get you 40M.

Edit: hadn’t read the post above from awesome1 before replying. Great minds think alike!

Great suggestion here's where it gets weird. I'm getting better at completing modes but before I start the next one I'll drain. The tips above are great with beating them but usually right after I get the final blow I drain

That still happens to me all the time. I’d say a decent percentage of my drains come while collecting or trying to place a gem after a battle. I think I often take a breath and relax a bit after the battle and then drain as a result.

Either that or its only at that moment does the disk just NOT want to move and your ball just bounces off of it multiple times.

Assuming there is nothing wrong with your disc and your game is level, it's just bad luck or poor shot execution. If the disc is giving you problems with thuds and drains, don't shoot for it. There's a lot of other shots to combo and only go for the disc when you want to enter a gem quest.

The opposite is also true - play games where you just work on shots that are uncomfortable for you or inconsistent. When the disc is in the 6 o'clock position, try going for a tower shot and then spin the disc off the ball drop instead of hitting it from the lower flipper.

It took me a while to get the Hawkeye loop shot down. It wasn't until I started concentrating on it and really going for that shot over and over that I finally got good at the timing of it and now I expect to make that shot every time I go for it. Of course I don't, but the percentage and confidence is much higher.

For me, focus can be a big part of having a good game or not as well.

How far are you getting? 40 million is fairly normal for finishing one or two gem quests and a modest Iron Man or Thor multiball.

To crack 100 million, you need to do several gem quests well (with a portal lock, and hit the more valuable shots like the critical hit for Power, first drop target for Mind, spin up the disc for Reality), or else get several tens of millions from something else like multiple Binary hurryups or Super timed modes, or by reaching Black Order Multiball.

To play with the big boys up over 300 or 500 million, you've got to start really diving into the deep end. The big scores come from stacking and comboing everything together: get a gem quest with two portal locks for 3x scoring, add Iron Man multiball on top of that to keep it going, hit some add-a-ball shots too, finish the quest early, rack up victory laps, and then re-collect it all over again with a Soul Gem Jackpot placed on a max-leveled Avenger.

My best game is ~550 million and I've been unable to recreate it. 350 Mil is my "good game".
The biggest improvements over time have come from flipper/ball control and shot accuracy.

I don't really plan anything. Getting a Multiball going in a quest is the highest level strategy I've really gone for. Reading some of these strategy posts has been really encouraging though. Would love to reach a billion... Some day

Premium. Mind gem quest. You only want to hit the fast lit avenger, so you don’t have to hit that MF sanctum shot at the end. What’s the best way to go from left flipper to right without using Black Panther? Or right flipper to left without using Black Widow?

Left to right without using BP: 1) Hit Marvel shot or 2) hit fat ramp to Hawkeye loop combo and ski pass from left flipper to right flipper, 3) shoot into Antman hole, or 4) try a post pass.

Right to left without using BW: 1) Shoot tower to Hawkeye loop combo, 2) Backhand the fat ramp to a Hawkeye loop combo, or 3) Try a post pass. Option 4 could be a Cap shot through the pops and then catch it out of the orbit but that's a bit tough to get control coming out of Hulk.

The beauty of this game is so many connected pathways for the ball to take. So much flow in this game!!!

You don't have to avoid the non fast flashing shots in Mind gem to avoid having to hit Sanctum shot... just have to get the fast flashing shot before spinning the disc each time. You can also hit the other shots during that time. Your score will be higher because of it.

Thanks, didn’t know that!

Thanks. I have trouble backhanding the banana ramp on a Premium, but found it pretty easy on the Pro

Yup, same here. I usually shoot the black widow ramp then shoot the banana ramp or do a post transfer to get it on the left flipper to safely shoot the right ramp.

I made a quick mod for AIQ pro owners like myself. I found it was sometimes a little hard to see the portal lock light indicator because of how the led is on a stand off behind the screened lexan insert. I designed (*ehem* drew 2 circles) a shade / light shield to help focus the light and make it easier to see. The whole print takes 20 minutes. With assembly it’s maybe a 30 minute mod. Enjoy.

Link to STL: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5339626

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Any STLs you can share?

Updated the original post with a link to Thingiverse.

Anyone have a pro and regret not getting a premium or feel the premium isn’t worth the upgrade? Have a pro on pre order and now doubting myself for not getting the premium.

Imo...the subway and Ant-Man scoop are neat, but think you can go without just fine. That captain marvel loop is fun a heck, and a satisfying feel, but it's so much harder than the pro spinner shot. Think that would be the more important feature you want to take into account if you want to make the upgrade.

I hold many league nights and tournaments at my house. Usually 36-40 people at a time and majority always comment how they prefer my premium over pro. To each there own. I prefer the premium far more than the pro. I have a JP premium and Godzilla premium and wish I would have just gotten the pros on those.

The captain marvel ramp is fantastic and rewarding. Gameplay wise my wife and I prefer the portal shot as a unique shot below the spinnner rather than assigning it to the gauntlet ramp. It makes the modes easier to start and it's nice to have a shot that feels different from the rest of the game.
We play the the pro version on location sometimes and it always reaffirms our decision to get a premium.
This is all opinion.... and to be fair I love spinners and wish the premium had one more somewhere to make up for losing the captain marvel spinner.

- Hum

I've had Pro, sold it for Premium thinking it would flow better, but it didn't really (for me anyhow). I went back to the Pro, and much prefer it. I miss the marvel ramp (kind of, but I like spinners), but really not bothered by the subway or scoop.

For me, the Pro is the best on AIQ. Just my opinion... please don't shoot me down haha!

My friend has the Pro and I liked it so much I bought the premium.

The Portal lock is awesome and almost worth it alone, but not quite.
The ant man VUK is alright but nothing crazy.
The subway is loud and you can’t see the ball and it breaks and I had to get a replacement.
The art is worse IMO and more repetitive.
The Marvel ramp is nice when it works but much harder to hit and rejects a lot even with the fix.
The yellow gauntlet is ugly (though I’m having mine painted by Alex Campbell so it will look great but that’s extra $).

They both hold about the same relative value on resale so it really only matters how much you want invested in it.

In hindsight I should’ve gotten the Pro.

From playing both on location, I feel the Premium flows quite a lot better. Portal locking in the actual portal feels so much better than just bumping the disc yet again. And Marvel and Ant-man both feeding the flipper also feels much better than just dumping the ball back on the playfield, particularly during multiballs. The spinner on Pro for CM is a poor substitute, since nothing works with just one shot there (particularly Soul Gem), you have to make multiple shots for a lot of spins. I put up the cash for my Premium on order since I knew I'd always regret it if I didn't.

The flippers going dead and the ball draining is normal. It will normally kick a new ball out from the trough after the end of mode video.

I've had what happened to you happen to me 2 or 3 times. I don't fully recall, but it's almost like a late ball drain... your last shot to win Battle Royale takes a while to actually drain. This or the ball just doesn't end up closing the trough switch. In my case I never have trough issues, though.

Quite disappointing and frustrating when it happens, but it has been a low percentage of the time for me luckily.

This is true. But you might still want to avoid the secondary shots, so that the disc isn't enabled yet to accidentally spin too early, before you succeed in shooting the primary shot.

There also might be strategic reasons to avoid a certain shot. Maybe you want to keep Black Widow at level 1 for putting the Mind Gem on instead of level 2, for example. Or I'm sure there could be more reasons among the many gem effects. Or even avoid Black Panther just so you don't miss and hit Thor accidentally to start him when you don't want to. So yeah, there are reasons to use any kind of side-to-side transfer.

I have had AIQ Premium since last August. I finally caved and changed the settings to 5-ball.....Soooo much more fun. Long game to play through. Still love it.

Yup, this is me as well. I also tweaked Soul Gem penalty until I get better. My average game is still 500M, I figure once I can get 1B, I'll return to factory defaults.

I've had my AIQ Premium about a month. I've just about finished putting the normal mods on it (speaker lights, subwoofer, pinstadiums, etc). Suddenly a new behavior has happened and it's very troubling... after a few minutes of play, the flippers will all go dead for about a half second... meaning that you can push the buttons and nothing happens. It is literally about a half second interval that this happens, and then they are fine again for a few minutes, until it happens again. Most of the time it happens when there is a multiball going on but it has happened with just a single ball in play also. I haven't been able to relate it to a specific other coil firing at the same time or anything. Just to make sure it wasn't the pinstadiums (those were the last mod I installed), I unplugged those and electrically removed them from the game (they are still physically installed). Unfortunately, it is still happening even after they are not present.

Any ideas? The game played flawlessly for several weeks and this started happening suddenly.

My pinstadiums did the same thing to my game. I turned the game on before connecting the app to my pinstadiums. I think there is a firmware process that takes place when the app connects to the pinstadiums. Try connecting them to the app and restarting the pin. Worked for me.

I did connect the pinstadium app to them after they were installed.

However, the problem has persisted even after I totally removed the pinstadiums from the game (electrically). It's hard to see how there could be any remaining interaction from the pinstadiums. I want to be able to blame them, not because I have something against them, but because they were the last thing I added to the game before this problem started happening, but the problem is still happening even after they were removed.

Have you checked your flipper coil stops? Known issue and my new Sterns have all lasted less than 500 games played before I had to change them out. This is generally more of a 'sticky' or weak flipper issue, not necessarily a delay, but worth checking/replacing as they are only $5 each from Pinball Life or other suppliers.

I do have sleeves and stops and ready to replace them, but I don't think this is what is going on here. This is like the coils lose power for a half second or so... all 3 of them stop working at the same time. They come right back after this half second of being dead and are just as strong as ever... until it happens again a few minutes later.

When you say uninstalled do you mean took the wires out too? maybe check the GI connection. Also I connected my diffuser connection to the Vision light.

Yes I disconnected all the wires... just left the light bars in place but not connected at the moment. I might as well reconnect them since the problem occurs with or without them there.

Changing to 5 balls sometimes makes all the difference between enjoying a pin and being frustrated to the point of giving up with it while you are learning the shots and improving.

I always make the analogy to the 30 lives "Konami code" for Contra. It didn't make the game any less fun by allowing you to get further into it.

Added another quick print. Small bracket to make the extra ball indicator easier to see by moving the half globe up and back slightly.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5341351

11 minute print. Used 2 M3*5 screws to secure the plastic to the printed bracket.
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Reseat all the connections on your Node 8 board and see if it improves.

Nice!
I'll be printing one

Nice! I forgot to add a profile shot. It’s not very noticeable that something was added if you glance at the machine, and that was kinda the idea.

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I used 1/2" standoffs to raise the upper plastic/light. Similar effect, but I don't have a 3D printer.

Keep those simple effective solutions to yourself, i need to justify my 3D printer every once in a while.

Really, the stand offs are a good idea as well.

Lol. Same here. I'm 6'5", so the moving it back by 1/2" helps me see it a little better.

Props to SirSnarf for the killer gauntlet mod!

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Well, my score wasn’t at the level of awesome1 but I finally got through everything in one game. Got all 6 gems for 1B, played computer frenzy & trophy mania, and made all the shots through Marksman on Hawkeye Challenge. AIQ is such a great game!

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Can I purchase that mod

PM him