Mind Gem is tough, since you lose control shooting the disc so much. And you can't have the Mind Gem placed anywhere to help!

The best tip is to pay attention to the stud and don't force a shot that's likely to thud. Don't shoot it near the 11-12 or 5-6 o'clock positions - don't assume you can hit it off-axis from its center to get it moving, only shoot at angles where any contact will make it move. If the stud isn't nearly perpendicular to the angle from the lower flipper, shoot the Gauntlet ramp instead and use the upper flipper for the disc.

Also practice basic skills to gain control for rebounds from the disc area - dead pass, slap save, drop or live catches. Also tweaking the machine setup can help you catch - steeper slope, low-bounce flipper rubbers, and increasing the slingshot power for them to kick the ball higher instead of towards the outlanes.

I think you hit the nail on the head already with the flashing lane and multiball if needed.

If you're playing Mind Gem single ball and going for the flashing shots then I'd suggest that when you shoot at the disc think about the shot. If it seems like it's a head on shot that will thud then get the ball into position to take the shot from the other flipper instead to avoid a possible thud. Of course there's still a chance the ball will flail out of control from the bounce off the post but at least the odds seem to be a bit better that way than taking on the post with a head on shot. If you feel like you've made good progress in Mind Gem during single ball play and want to try to seal the victory then bring Thor into it for the last shot or two and take advantage of multiball play to go after the Sanctum target to finish it.

Anytime I'm in multiball in Mind Gem I don't focus on going for the flashing shots. I just try to shoot any shot & then spin the disc, and then after the third time spinning it I send every ball I can toward the Sanctum target. If the multiball is started from a portal lock I'll usually play until the ball save is ended and then try to bring Thor in with it if I haven't already used that MB for the first time.

Also, you can hit the Sanctum target from the upper flipper if you take the shot when the ball is really high up on the flipper so that's another option for finishing the mode on the Sanctum target when the post is blocking the shot from the right flipper.

Finally, if you go after Mind Gem early and lose it but then get Soul Gem, you'll get to Battle Thanos and if you win that mode you'll get a gem back. So that's another way to possibly get Mind Gem even if you lose the quest. Keep going for it and you'll have it down pretty well soon enough. AIQ isn't an easy game. Having to hit that post sends the ball out of control and makes the game pretty challenging.

Aside from “play better,” the thing that has most helped half ramp rejects for me was waxing the ramp entrance as you would the playfield. I did that after hearing Karl DeAngelo talk about it on his stream, and it made a significant difference.

It’s a tight shot, but it is awesome to hit; the coolest ramp in pinball, imo.

It works for the theme too - that ramp also conveys the feeling of Captain Marvel blasting off at full power!

Waxing the ramp entrance is an interesting suggestion, I'll try it too. Sounds like the problems (for both Widow and CM) are that the ball gets knocked off its straight line somehow around the ramp entrance, so waxing it for less friction might minimize that. Also I saw a post upthread that suggested adjusting how the ramp flap is attached -- mine looks like the bolts are in tight enough to crease the flap slightly (again both Widow and CM), maybe I can space that upwards a millimeter or two.

I'm new to the club! Just got my AIQ in yesterday and we've been playing the hell out of it - what a great game! I did notice a lot of required tweaking to get it dialed in.

Auto plunge was wild - ball was getting jammed under Thanos' glove or stuck in the upper right corner resulting in a glass pull every few games. Turning the coil power down helped but not enough. I observed the autoplunger wasn't making perfect two-point contact with the ball in the shooter lane (the left "finger" of the plunge mechanism made contact with the ball but the right didn't). That was adding spin to the ball during auto-launch. Bending the mechanism together so both fingers contact the ball as it sits in the shooter lane and setting the coil strength to 230 pretty much fixed that problem.

Another problem was the ball often careening off the wireform as it crossed the platfield from left to right. I found that fix here in the forum; slightly bending the trailing edge of the wireform top rail fixed it.

The biggest annoyance we found was the ball dropping off the magnet out of the tower for the Hawkeye Challenge (or any time) wan't riding the guiderail consistently to feed the upper flipper. It was bumping something and sometimes kicking out away from the flipper making the challenge way more difficult than is should be.

There is a small one-way gate at the tower entrance. The ball often glances off that gate on the way down from the tower changing the trajectory of the ball so as to not feed the upper flipper smoothly. I couldn't think of a reason that gate needs to be there, so I removed it.

Best thing I ever did. That upper flipper is fed super consistently now making the Hawkeye challenge much more fair. Has anyone else removed that gate? I couldn't see any reference to it in this thread. So far, i don't see any disadvantage or issue caused by it's removal.

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I’ve contemplated this many times while playing, but always forgot the next time took glass off. Maybe now I’ll remember…

Yeah, I think that gate is meant just to be annoying . I mean, it doesn’t affect the ball going up, only coming down. My guess is it’s purpose is to help keep the ball in place when the up post activates. But I haven’t had an issue holding the ball with the gate removed.

Yes, this gate is supposed to be there. It helps keep the ball on the post like you have mentioned. On my game, it also allows for a smooth feed to the upper left flipper. Have you checked to make sure your game is level from left to right? That will make a huge difference.

Thanks for your feedback - I am just really curious how that gate affects other AIQs.

Yup - i am very particular on leveling left to right. I'm spot on with that and a 6.5 degree table angle. The gate has the complete opposite effect on my pin - it disrupts the smooth feed to the upper flipper.

Strange - Dr. Strange even I did try adjusting the gate a bit to try and fix the issue but nothing seemed to work with the exception of just completely removing it. Guess I'll just see how it plays out - on my particular machine it seems that gate is just a no go.

Ok so we are loving our Premium, but i am having a issue with the through opto. I get a Tech alert that opto 4 or 5, or 2 or 3 has an issue. When I manually push the ball into the shooter lane the alert will go away. Same for when I do a switch test, and feed the balls in one at a time. The board has the 4 leds lit on it. I have pulled and reset all the connectors, and still get the tech alert every time I check it. I feel like the machine plays right, but just don't know why the machine would give the tech alert for those optos.

Pretty sure that gate helps feed the ball to the flipper more consistently.

Never had an issue with my gate and I'm at ~3500 plays.

Not entirely following how the testing went when you put a ball in the trough one at a time.
Does each switch register in correct order?
Does the shooter lane switch register correctly?
Do multiballs work properly?

Once the shooter rod is centered and in proper position, if still having issues, going with a Red spring will most likely fix all short plunge problems. Same with larger coil on auto plunge. Check the keypost for more info on both.

Yeah, Captain Marvel is smoother with the DIY Lexan Fix or 3D printed piece. Adjusting the wireform mount to left/front of the CM ramp can have an impact as well and make sure both prongs of the wireform are inserted down inside the Antman VUK, not resting on top.

I still had occasional balls get stuck under the gauntlet and ended up adding a rubber ring below the gauntlet between standoffs and also others to the side. (I didn't drill any extra holes in the plastic, just used existing). Probably way overkill - but never get balls under or behind anymore.

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Yes when I pull all the balls, and start the switch test the trough registers each switch as I drop in each ball, the shooter lane switch also registers. As far as I can tell the multiballs play properly. I am really new to this machine. I only played the Pro a few times on location. I have noticed that on a couple games I got a random multi ball, "not Iron Man, Portal, or Thor" so not sure what happened. Is it normal for the Portal to only stay up a few seconds? I thought it was staying up until I put a ball in it, but recently it only stays up a couple seconds and goes down even if I didn't get a ball in.

The random multiball means the game is losing track of a ball.

Portal should stay open until a ball is in it. Sometimes will continue to stay open if you have a second lock to capture.

Check the portal opto switches in switch test. There have been some that reported small alignment issues or switches connected out of order, both of which can cause some odd issues.

I did the portal test and both switches seemed to register on open and closed. I'll lift the playfield and check the optos also.

Just random input as well if it helps any, since I had an issue with my IMDN registering weird things and giving me balls or events that I did not complete...If you're getting successful triggers, check the labeling of the switches in the test. That they correspond to the right one. My IMDN all my switches tested correctly, as far as i would pass a ball or finger on the sensor and I would get a proper reply. But, two of my optos ended up being swapped underneath in cabling.

I'll give that a look also. After some testing I think my portal opto is intermittent, my through boards seem to not be fully working. The one board has the 1 red led on but the other does not have any of the leds on. Now if switch the red and black wire connector the other board will light all the leds and the other one will not have its led on. When I do this I get NO though switch registering at all, so to be able to play I put the cable back. On my Mando premium both through boards have their leds all lit. So I'm not sure where to go from here. I think I'll need to contact my distro for a new opto, and maybe a cable.
Edit, just checked the through optos and both boards have the leds on. I dont get it.

Recently picked up AIQ but I just can’t get into it.

Gem quests: am I supposed to be doing something other than hitting the lit arrows? Cuz damn, I’ll hit like 10 lit shots look up and I’m like 1/3 of the way to collecting that gem?!

I’m 30 games in and have lost every gem quest. I really am not that bad!

Let me phrase this a different way: someone polars AIq for the first time…what do you tell them do to?

Depends which Quest you play. If you play Reality every yellow shot works towards winning the mode, Mind Gem required shooting 1 to 4 blue shots then spinning the disc, you need to do that 3 times and then hit the sanctum target to win that one. Space Gem is tough because you can hit the center ramp a bunch without realising you actually need to be shooting the right orbit or Hawkeye loop to be making progress.

Id recommend focusing on 1 or 2 specific Gem Quests and learning the rules for them. Power Gem is a good one: Shoot the red shot, flashing red does more damage. Do enough damage and the left orbit will be the only shot remaining, shoot it to win the Quest.

So depending on the gem, some you can keep hitting lit shots but never progress b/c they'll have a requirement to deal damage. Check the rules for each gem and see what it requires. If I'd tell someone whos playing for the first time or so, and want to to complete an easy objective, the most straightforward gems are Reality and Power, in my opinion.

Reality you just spin the disc once, then just go for yellow shots. Forgot the amount, but after 5 or so shots you deal enough damage. Power same thing. You get an option of three shots (red) that alternates between the left and right half of the playfield. Go back and forth and when you deal enough damage, Hulk shot finishes the mode.

The others can require more work. Space for me is the hardest. You can keep hitting the three main purple shots and never really do much, all it does is amplify the damage when you finally do a hulk shot. But if you keep hitting those over and over, they just reset if you cant combo within time. Time isnt too bad, but relies on some of the risk of hitting the drop targets. That one is go for the two ramp shots, then a moving drop target. Doing that does about 1/3rd damage, so repeat that a couple more times. Each time you get to the drop targets, it moves faster and harder to aim for. Mind same thing. Straightforward but riskier going for the spinning disk. You can just keep it simple, do one blue lit shot, spin the disc, wait for it to stop spinning THEN it deals the damage. You do that a few times then you finalize it with hitting the sanctum shot.

yeah , sounds like you're playing the one gem mode which requires you to combo two shots to progress at all.

New players should never choose space or time gem as they are the hardest and arguably the hardest to use effectively. Reality, power are what new players should focus on. Once you get those down start going for mind gem first to get the shot completion perk. Makes soul gem a lot easier if you have it on an avenger at level 1.

The game sounds really complex but pick a gem and work on completing it. I think reality is the easiest, then power, then mind. Once you are good at completing them work on completing with Thor or iron man and your scores will start going up.

Thank you for the quick insights. Next time I play I’ll go for reality next time I hit the start button and just play that one to begin with.

It can take a while to get all of the nuances down with AIQ. Each gem quest is different from the others and what "power up" that gem provides is also different. I recommend just concentrating on one gem at a time to learn exactly what needs to be done to win them. Reality and Power are good ones to get started with. Try to lock one or two balls before starting the quest to help complete it and so you score more as well. You can also bring in a Thor or Iron Man multiball to help out.

Stern has rules on their site and Tilt Forums has a good one as well.

http://tiltforums.com/t/avengers-infinity-quest-rulesheet/6740

So I was in contact with my Distro. They are going to send out a new subway entrance opto set, and a new through board set. Hopefully that fixes my issues, if not we will have to contact Stern. Also is the Spinners atrack position the up position?

5-6 oclock is the worst position for me as I find it in perfect "thud" position while also being too far up to hit with the upper flipper. Can you actually hit it from the upper flipper

Alright, all the insight was helpful. The prior owner also suggested starting by assembling the avengers as well. First game after these insights I went for the assembling and when the portal was open I played reality as well. Was able to collect both the reality and power gems and get through two assemble modes and a few multi balls. Netted $250M

This was a way better strategy and just more fun gameplay than what I was doing:
Ball 1: Open portal, play whatever gem mode was on screen, lose via drain. Ball 2; Open portal, play whatever gem mode was on screen, lose via drain. ball 3: Open portal, play whatever gem mode was on screen, lose via drain.

As you can imagine - I was almost ready to dump this game quickly with the old strategy! But it appears we have a few more options!

Thank you to all who provided input to my question!

Anyone else have a problem with cat prints!?!?
lol

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"Options" are what gives this game longevity, in my opinion. Sometimes it's fun to not worry about high scores and just do interesting Gem Combos.

Get Mind Gem and have it placed on a level 2 Avenger, start Time Gem Quest. Then you go Center Ramp, Gauntlet Ramp, Action Button, repeat that two more times and you've beaten the mode in like 8 seconds.

Another one is to get Power Gem, place it on Captain Marvel, then get Reality Gem and place it on Black Widow and then rip the spinner/Captain Marvel ramp and go for Binary Hurry-Ups. The Power Gem lights the Binary Hurry Up twice as quickly and the Reality Gem doubles/increases the collect value.

Space Gem combined with Power Gem can potentially be used to efficiently Assemble Avengers.

Good summary. One small edit. I think Mind Gem should say Level 1 Avenger. Level 2 only gives you one press for a big boom. Level 1 gives 3 presses for one shot spot each time.

Yes, but if you place the kind gem on a lvl 2 avenger, then do the reality gem quest next. Spin the disk to light all shots and hit the action button which will then spot ALL shots on the playfield. It becomes a two shot gem quest for an easy collect!

Love this game, so many ways to approach it.

Yep, can use Level 1 mind gem to get Time gem 3 shots to drops and then power it up and use Level 2 power to get reality like you described. Lots of fun in this game!

Found this last night on the Marvel/Newton ball guide. Removed the acrylic to work on the Thor lights. Digging into the playfield. It wasn't visible from the outside due to the shape of the guide and angle. Going to add a washer.

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I got the Gem Shooter knob for bday this week and was totally surprised by the additional weight. It seems to make full orbit with very little effort. Loving it.

Yes, you are correct. Level 1 all day! I hate accidentally moving onto Level 2 before I get to use my 3 Level 1 Mind Booms. I wish Level 2 worked the way Deadpool's Big Boom does.

New guy here to owning my own machine (first one).

I don't think I have experienced too many of the issue on here (yet) short of the manual plunge doesn't have enough power to go all way up the back orbit ramp so I have always had to auto plunge (50+ games and the ball has only gotten stuck once as noted by some other folks above). What is the replacement plunger spring(s) that folks are referring to (as I think the color matters too)?

Per some other posts, I have replacement coil stops and sleeves already from Pinball Life, just not sure how/when to replace the OEM ones. Only shot issues I seem to have had is a few short ones on the Marvel ramp from the right flipper and a couple long ones up the back ramp(s). Suggestions are welcome.

I'll take a look at the wireform piece that travels left/right and follow guidance on here for making the small bend next time I play.

Any tricks to leveling the machine? I think I have it pretty close (going to buy a new digital level today to confirm left/right)

Trying to play catch up on this however there is a lot for the novice guys being me so please pardon my repeat questions if the have already been addressed.

Thanks again for any help/guidance/assistance!

-AJB

1) For the manual plunge a different spring could be the answer for you but before making the change it's worth it to take slow motion video of a plunge first to make sure the ball is going straight down the shooter lane ramp and entering the orbit without rattling against the side ball guide rails. If the ball is entering the orbit cleanly then the spring will likely be the answer, but if it's not entering the orbit cleanly you may need to slightly adjust the shooter lane ramp and/or the positioning of the plunger tip. If you do need a spring, here's a post that has the color information in order from lowest tension to strongest along with part numbers:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/jurassic-park-stern-2019-owners-club-welcome-to-jurassic-park/page/270#post-6829098

2) I wouldn't replace coil stops until you have a problem with the current ones. No need to replace a part that isn't broken. If one of the current ones gives out you'll notice weakness in a flipper and/or that a flipper has some give to it when the ball hits it. You'll know a coil stop is bad if the rivet at the bottom of it is loose or has gone missing. Replacement is really easy and only takes about 5 minutes. Just two screws to undo in order to take the old one off.

For the coil sleeves, I like to replace those every 400-500 games or so. The inside of the sleeves get very dirty and over time that can cause a slight reduction in flipper power due to the additional friction for the coil plunger inside the dirty sleeve. To replace them you just need to take the coil stop off, slide the old sleeve out, and put the new sleeve in.

3) For the wireform, there's no need to fix anything if the ball is travelling across your wire without falling off. If the ball is sometimes falling off the wire then you'll want to make that slight bend at the very end of the guide to fix it. Otherwise no need to do it.

4) You should be all set with the digital level. The PinGuy app on iPhones works well also. It's best to measure side to side level both near the flippers and also further up the playfield to make sure both the bottom and top of the playfield are level side to side.

Also, since you mention owning a machine is new to you, here's a good intro video that discusses what tools are good to have on hand. It was pretty helpful to me a few years ago.

Is there a setting to get the portal disk to stay open longer?

Trying to decide between mirror blades and side art. Anyone here install mirror blades and have pics they can share?
Thanks!

I like the way the mirrors look, especially with Pinstadiums!

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I think it should be staying open until a ball goes in unless some mode (like Iron Man multiball or Thor multiball) starts before you shoot into it.

Yes---mirror blades are absolutely the way to go on AIQ--due to the lighting and amount of wire forms.

My subway entrance opto is sketchy so it closes on its own. I have a new opto on the way. I was wondering if in settings I could adjust the stay open time for a chance to put a ball in, but with a bad opto even with an adjustment it still might not work.

You can just turn off the subway feature altogether till you replace the opto to get rid of the bad triggers. There wouldnt be a time delay since its based on opto registration. Ball locks and mode starts will be based off the peg pop up after the ramps hot like the Pro version

I'll give this a try. Since the opto went bad I really done have a chance to actually pick what gem to go for

my lighted shooter wouldn't make it all the way around the orbit even switching the spring and everything from the stock so I put a piece of foam from a pool noodle inside the rubber tip to just set it out a tiny bit and that fixed my issue.

I think I am sold! Mirror blades look fantastic with AIQ!! thanks for taking the time to post pics and respond folks. Much appreciated!