Good lord we have a winner.

Dude you are a madman! Your SG jackpots come close to my GM scores. I love these posts—they make me realize that I’m going to be pushing the limits of this game for years to come, as I get better and better at pinball.

It's a long shot but you could be right. Maybe just replace that coil and hope for the best.

But in all seriousness, I do wonder why that one melted itself.

Your posts are rekindling my excitement for AIQ! Keep 'em coming!

Luckily I've been enjoying this great game for a little over a year and a half and have put 3500+ games on it... essentially accomplishing pretty much everything I can.

I tend to fully concentrate on my latest game and that's been Godzilla premium for the last 2 months and my AIQ plays have gone from ~300 a month to just a handful. My other pinball machine plays are way down as well.

Your excitement, skills and in-depth breakdown of your strategies and accomplishments on AIQ are fun to see! Hopefully Insider connected will expand and we can setup some group challenges or something in the near future for all of us.

In the meantime, here's a few pics of a few of my "best" accomplishments on AIQ so far!

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How'd you get the 830m Soul Gem jackpot? I assume on a 5x Marvel ramp of course, but which gem quest was it, and how did you build up the quest scoring, was it mostly victory laps?

My GC so far is 5.4 billion, in a game where everything went right except I biffed both Computer Frenzy and Trophy Mania for very low scores. I'm definitely gunning for your 6.3 billion

That happened to mine about 3 months in and took the node board with it. Hopefully you can get the part, it took awhile for stern to send it.

Soul Gem was on Hulk Level 2. I had a ridiculous Mind gem of over 500 Million after having both portal locks and Iron Man multiball with it and went big with Victory Laps.

Too bad the quest high scores don't seem to count when you get victory laps, because 500M is about twice what I show as my best Mind gem quest. It did show 500M on screen for the Mind gem total, but I've had similar happen many times now where it doesn't beat the quest high score.

I knew the Soul gem jackpot was going to be big and I was sweating it until I hit the shot and then I was like, "Oh Yeah"

I've emailed Stern about it, but I've run into a code issue a few times where you don't get Computer Frenzy awarded, even though it is qualified. It seems to jump over awarding it. Not sure of the exact circumstances that cause it, but think it happened in my high score game unfortunately and maybe in game video below (I have to re-watch).

Good luck on beating my 6.3B! That will probably make me play more AIQ! You must be playing a lot and having good games, because you weren't quite at 5B not long ago. I've actually come very close to my high score a few times, one time falling only 46 million short! I got that game on video:

Correct, Victory Laps don't count towards the quest high scores. They do count for the in-game displayed total and for the Soul Gem Jackpot, of course.

This is the deal with Computer Frenzy. It changed in one of the code updates. Old behavior was that Computer Frenzy could not be started until you had played all 6 Super modes. This changed, so now that is not a requirement, new behavior is that you can light and start Computer Frenzy as soon as it comes up on the grid. It was never a bug, just unintuitive behavior that the game didn't explain.

The requirement to *reset* the grid sequence is to play all 6 Super modes and Computer Frenzy. As long as there is still any super mode waiting on the grid, all future bingo slots will be filled with "Light Computer Frenzy" until you play that, and then "5 Million" until you play all 6 Supers. I very clearly saw this happen in one game: played Computer Frenzy, saw the grid full of "5 million" awards, played the last remaining Super mode, and then the grid reset to the beginning.

The purpose of both versions of the rule is so you can't miss out on the opportunity to get any of the trophies for the super modes. Originally the grid reset after Computer Frenzy, but it was unintuitive to make Computer Frenzy wait for all 6 super modes, so that was changed, and now the grid resets after Computer Frenzy plus all 6 super modes, with the "5 million" awards as placeholders until that happens.

Had a low scoring, but great game today. I whiffed ball one before opening the portal, but snagged the mind, then power, then soul, on ball two. Which was very exciting because my mind kept saying, time to triple portal lock the reality gem and then pop a gigantic soul gem jackpot (at least I think that would work…I’m still learning).

It didn’t pan out, but damn was it exciting. I’m going to beat Thanos one of these days!

Thank you for the thorough explanation, but this seems different than what I 'think' I have experienced on at least 4 or 5 different occasions which is a low percentage of the times I have gotten to that point in a game, so hard to fully understand what happened.

Basically "Start Computer Frenzy" becomes available and starts filling in on the grid like normal, but something happens and then Start Computer frenzy is gone from the grid without ever having played it.

Not sure if there is a sequence of completing multiple lines on the grid at once that causes this or something else entirely.

I've heard of at least one other person run into this as well. You seem to be getting to Computer Frenzy often, so stay on the lookout for this happening and maybe we can figure out what is going on!

As I understand it, this only happened in older code: when Light Computer Frenzy goes gone from the grid, it's because you collected that grid line, but you didn't play all 6 Super modes, and so Computer Frenzy will wait until you do, it will light at the portal when the 6th Super mode finishes. I vaguely remember Rayday saying this in a video or stream.

I believe that never happens in current code. (Not sure of the exact versions; I think likely post 1.00; mine shipped with 1.03 from the factory.) I've never seen Computer Frenzy fail to light at the portal upon completing its grid line, in maybe 15 or so instances total.

Yeah, I'm on latest code since each version came out and this has definitely happened in 1.02 and 1.03 unfortunately.

It's a rare glitch which makes it tricky to nail down.

Sounds similar to what you are describing for older code, but it actually never lights at the portal... it just disappears from the grid without ever collecting it and never comes back or lights the portal as far as I know.

I would follow the wires from the magnet to find what node board is fried 99 percent postive that if you throw another coil in. it will fry i just went down this road on a fried pop bumper coil once you find what node board runs that coil take the node board out inspect it on both sides youlk probably find a burnt trace or something burnt

Are you saying that you don't need to play all 6 super modes to play computer frenzy? Doesn't playing all 6 super modes make it an available computer grid award?

Thanks for the tip

You don't need to play all 6. You did in older code. Currently, you just need to advance the grid far enough for Light Computer Frenzy to come up as an award for one of the lines.

Currently, if you play Computer Frenzy but haven't played all 6 Super modes, the unplayed ones will stay on the grid until you do get them, and any otherwise vacant grid lines will fill up with "5 million".

Once you've played all 6 super modes AND Computer Frenzy, in either order, then the grid resets to the beginning.

So it's not automatically next up if you do play all 6 Super Modes? I've had some trouble when aiming to light, maybe that would explain it.

It's not automatically up next after all 6 Super modes. You have to complete enough grid lines (9 total since game start) to get Light Computer Frenzy to move on to the grid, and then complete its line too.

Hey group. I’ll be replacing my plunger coil tonight. Thinking ahead, if I understand it correctly, I just snip the Diode off, remove old coil, solder new one on. Easy as that?

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Yes, that's all you need to do!

You may want to tweak the auto launch power setting afterwards for what works best on your machine.

So it seems Stern in not including the apron plastic that was replacing the QR reader in newer games.

Anyone here whould have a spare AIQ premium/LE plastic or one that they don't need anymore? Send me a PM, Thanks.

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Put these on last night. They are really quite nice! Are they an advantage? Sure. But so are the post genies that I have installed on my out-lanes.

I’d say that they definitely increase the ball velocity, so if you are looking for a solution to flipper fade, this may actually alleviate the symptoms a bit.

I’ve beaten my GM score twice today. It is pretty interesting being able to change flipper angle without raising the playfield. I like them a lot so far.

@greben0ts, thanks for posting your comments about my flipper mod, appriciate it.

I might add that I just finished testing part two of my flipper mod kit. I now have replacement flipper shaft bushings that completes the package so to speak. My bushings replace the plastic ones and increase the flipper response even more. I've attached the link below for those who are interested, and a photo of the plastic bushing next to my precision machined replacement. What I found during testing was that there was no doubt that the flipper response was improved. They both get the job done, mine just does it a whole lot better. Learn more at:

https://pinside.com/pinball/market/shops/1341-precision-pinball-prod/06993-precision-flipper-shaft-bushing

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I thought the plastic bushing acted as a way to decrease friction around the metal shaft. After a while the plastic degrades and needs to be replaced. Is there not a problem with metal rubbing against metal? Sorry for being ignorant just asking for clarification. Thanks.

Edit: I mean isn’t this why we use nylon bushings around metal shafts in other parts of pinball?

gumnut01 Yes, plastic does work as a friction reducer, but IMO its more about manufacturing costs in this specific application. Let's face it, plastic is very low cost, two or three bushings per game multiplied by thousands of games the cost adds up quickly. Metal against metal in aplications where you have high rotational loads, heat or friction then grease or gear oil is your friend. In the flipper application the rotational speed isn't high enough (or sustained constantly for long durations) to generate suffucient heat to cause the metal parts to expand (coefficient of thermal expansion) and work against each other. When installing the shaft through the aluminum bushing a small amount of fine oil (like sewing machine oil) works just fine in this application.

There are other parts where plastic has its place for other mechanisms too, and they work fine. The aluminum bushings are all about having options for those looking to refine that part of their game, just as my Dr. Strange Disc mod did, and now with my flipper mod as well.

If you want to find out how much free play is in those plastic flipper bushings grab hold of your flipper (even in a game with low play) and move it around its axis, its a little surprising. I've been on a quest to improve the performance of the flipper mechanism and I think these bushings serve that purpose.

Thanks for commenting, hope this helps you and others that were perhaps thinking the same. All Good!

On the Computer Frenzy topic, I captured in a game what happens (with a potato quality dirty camera lens):

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This is the grid after getting Light Computer Frenzy and playing it. Notice that Super Arc Reactor is still on the grid, and that "5M Points" replaced all the vacant squares that previously had Light Computer Frenzy.

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This is the grid while Super Arc Reactor is running. 5M Points has also replaced that.

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This is the reset grid after Super Arc Reactor finished. All the 5M Points awards have been replaced by fresh awards, but other awards (portal lock, collect bonus, trophy) are still there. (Wow I played that whole game without ever getting that portal lock.)

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And this is the new list of upcoming awards - notice that the first three of those are on the grid at game start, so resetting the grid is the only way to get those into the upcoming list.

With the Stern Insider Connected issues some were experiencing the other day - I'm still getting some games played that didn't show up on Insider Connected last night, though it does look like they got the Godzilla leaderboard fixed.

I hadn't played AIQ in a few weeks and decided to hit at least 1B before moving on to Godzilla... took me 4 games, to do it, but then got to the 'end', but didn't have my full Mojo, so my score wasn't as high as I would like at that point.

A game on AIQ and Godzilla both never showed up on my IC page. Games before and after (on Godzilla) do. Both machines clearly showed me signed in and were left "idle" for several minutes after each game. I'm not sure when the game uploads the score, right after completion? I haven't noticed any IC wifi connection issues previously in over a thousand games played across the 3 machines I have connected, so I would be surprised if it's that.

Anyone else having similar?

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I don’t have IC on my AIQ, but I had the same issue Thursday night on my Rush. New personal best at 2.3B, nothing on IC, but the High score initials acted like IC, and I earned several achievements during the game.

Makes sense, thanks!

I had a couple more games last night not show up. It can be frustrating, especially if you are setting some personal bests!

Curious - Why does beating Black Order Battle Royale make the flippers shut down and ball drain if there are more modes after that? I had collected all the avengers 3 times and beat Black Order, and had played all the gem quests only losing the Soul Gem, and so with the flippers shutting off and draining, I thought I beat the game. Didn't realize I still had to Battle Thanos. I had like 3 balls left too! But since I lost Soul Gem I never did Thanos attacks and ended up draining my last ball in Thanos Attacks and never got to Battle Thanos.

I have a slanted ceiling where my pinballs are and was wondering if someone could tell me the height of the avengers pinball topper. I wanted to see if I have enough room to possibly add it.

Battle Royale shuts down so it can display the victory animations and score awards for finishing. It doesn't have a final shot that can hold the ball like Soul Gem or Thanos Attacks (at the gauntlet ramp), since any shot could be the last one to deal damage. Also the second ball from Wasp could be in play and that should get cleared out too.

You don't lose a ball for winning Battle Royale. You get a new ball in the shooter lane but it didn't count as a drain, and it gets autoplunged with no skill shot, like any other ball save.

Hi everyone, new AIQ owner here. I just picked mine up a few days ago. At the PNW pinball show, the two demo premiums broke, something about a nut from the factory that wasn’t tightened causing something wrong with the ball lock. I asked when I picked mine up what happened and that’s what I found out. Also was told there is info here on pinside. But I haven’t been able to find it.
Here is my spinner after about 20 games. I’m guessing the angle and how it currently is, Is not normal. How do you adjust it, and does anyone know what the issue was with the recent build so I can correct it before it becomes an issue?

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See above for how to level the disc -can also be found in the topic index (key posts) on the top of the thread. not sure about the nut issue.

M

Thank you!

I have emailed Stern Tech support about the Insider Connected not showing all games played issues and they are looking into it...

I ended up installing some small flat washers between the playfield and the sheet metal housing that supports the entire disc mechanism to align the disc with the playfield and cutout. I chose this approach because the disc housing (Item #1 in the parts list) is what screws to the playfield underneath, and Item #2 attaches to #1. Item #2 is what supports the leveling bushing (Item #4) that the disc shaft runs through. The leveling bushing only adjusts the height (not the perpendicularity with respect to the playfield). It takes a little time, but well worth it. Sure, you can futz with Item #2 (to correct the perpendicularity) by hand filing the plastic tabs, but I think in the end the method I used seemed to be the easier option to pursue. Not sure if the Disc isn't perpindicular, but it kinda looks that way from the photo. To get it right you need to make sure its both level and perpindicular to avoid air balls.

I've been messing with this disc for some time, you might say it was an obession of mine. Ever since I made this adjustment (almost right out of the box on day one) I've never had an issue with it going out of alignment. Hope this helps you.

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This is really helpful, thank you. Is the tape touching the backbox in this picture? Or do we need to add additional clearance. Seems like 8" would work.

It's resting on the topper not the backbox. So you'll have to add another 1/8-1/4 for the space between. At 8" it should be good.

My daughter (whom I’ve mentioned in this thread before), just came up to me with a glint in her eye, and said “dad, you know how you tell me to trudge the machine a bit? Well guess what, I just got a warning!” And then just started giggling. I think I might be creating a few little pinball addicts in my house.

Side note, I’m still learning myself, and have been creeping really close to a billion on 5-ball. So this week I made a deal with the kids—I’m turning the machine back to 3 ball, and if they hit 500M before I hit 1B, I owe them $20. They are all wearing out the coils now, trying to earn those summertime $$’s.

It’s good times seeing them play pinball instead of video games and Netflix (even though I’m a huge gamer and work in the gaming industry).

check out these mods for Avengers

Gross.

Just placed my order for a premium. Any consensus on must have mods?

Cool video. I'm interested in changing out my coils like you have. Has this worked okay long term and how much difference has it made? Any idea why Stern used weaker coils in a game with quite a few long shots? Also, what power did you lower your flippers to in the settings? I notice Godzilla has one coil that matches Avengers on the left (090-5032-ND) and one (090-5020-20-ND) on the right. Did you switch both?

Anyone else? I'm potentially interested in switching out the coils but could do with hearing others experiences

Haha love it. My daughter weighs 50lbs and throws her whole
Body into it to get the tiniest nudge. So cute

For me, it’s the shaker motor and Stern gem shooter knob. I think they add the most to the game…

Awesome mods! I have used this video on YT! Thanks! Only question is, where did you get the Avenger coin door??

Is the gem shooter knob $200 worth of cool (+tax +shipping).