I was curious since I hadn't checked in a while.

I've had AIQ for just over 2 years... almost all games on it have been played by me. At most 50 - 100 by others. I do occasionally start a game over after a bad Ball 1.

Admittedly I have slowed way down on number of games I play on AIQ lately since once I "Got Good" at it, the game times are quite long. Still love the game though!

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I don’t think my wife is ever gonna come around on AIQ. It’s been a good test of “does this game hook the casual player but also have enough for the seasoned player”. She’s pretty far down the casual side, but just doesn’t like the ramp shots…which is a bit odd because she gravitates towards center shots. That said I guess I rarely make BW from an inlane vs a catch.

My pin buddy & I like it quite a bit. Need to dial in BP orbit - hell sometimes the ball seems like it just catches air entering the orbit - but unfortunately it behaves better from a catch which is the only way I can slo-mo test it without getting someone else to help. Arrived at the right time for me as I just recently finally got to Valinor on LOTR after owning for 10 years.

POINTS

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Here's how. The setup for this is Reality Gem on the left orbit with Hulk leveled up, Black Panther at level 2 (easy way is to have the Power Gem on him), and the Soul Gem on the Captain Marvel ramp with the Binary multiplier at 5x. In the Space Gem quest, for each of the three parry shots, do a combo of Widow-Gauntlet-Hawkeye (can use level-1 Mind Gem for the Hawkeye hit) to light the attack at 4x on the left orbit. Multipliers for portal locks (x3) and the Reality Gem (up to x4 though I had it at x3 here) apply also. This all multiplies the base values for the attack shots of 1M/2M/3M to as high as 48M/96M/144M.

Then the final blow is lit which scores 40% of the quest value so far at Widow or 60% at Panther. Now drain out of the multiball intentionally, and hit Change Gems to move the Reality Gem to Black Panther for x4 scoring, while still in the middle of the quest. Now that final blow scores 240% of the quest value (I got 611M for this shot here.) Then collect the Soul Gem Jackpot on the Captain Marvel ramp for 250% of *that*.

There you go awesome1 if you need a challenge

Well done @vikingerik! Very impressive rules knowledge and in-game execution!

Intentionally draining down to 1 ball (and losing out on victory laps) and then having to get change gems and pull off two more shots to collect everything you worked so hard to setup must have been nerve wracking and then exhilarating when you pulled it off!

Wish we weren't on opposite sides of the country as I would love to play some games with you!

I actually wasn't that nervous. I figured if I missed it, I'd try again tomorrow. I've pulled it off a few times before, just didn't have the numbers quite that high - the biggest problem tends to be an accidental Flank Attack stealing a shot during the quest (doesn't enable the 4x, or doesn't use the Reality Gem if it collects the attack), and once I got everything except that I only had Binary at 4x. The intentional multiball drain was with the remaining ball already caught on the left flipper to aim at Change Gems. Really the hardest part was gaining control from the Ant-man feed without shooting Black Widow, since that would be the wrong final blow. I actually had Iron Man Multiball ready to start right then (the quest had been stacked with Thor) and hit it, so I had plenty of time during that to get the final blow, and then the only stressful shot was the SG jackpot itself.

Still have the topper?

I have a NIB AIQ Stern topper. Was planning on picking up the game but then got Godzilla and Alien and am out of space. If anyone is looking for the topper, let me know. Would be cost plus shipping.

Ed

Pm sent

Posted my topper if anyone is interested

https://pinside.com/pinball/market/classifieds/ad/147529

Almost assembled!

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ASSEMBLED!

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Awesome!

My girlfriend has an AIQ Premium she got ~9 months ago NIB.

It looks like the Dr. Strange spinner disc lock nut came off, so the whole thing fell below the playfield by a little bit. I opened it up last night, and was able to put the lock nut back on and adjust the spinner to be level with the playfield.

However, it looks like the post rubbed against the sensor (I can see the rubber covering on it is ripped a little), and it's not recognizing when the disc spins now. When doing the "Strange Disc Test", I'm getting nothing at all, even with the sensor right next to the post.

I'm guessing this sensor board is toast? There's nothing I can do to repair it myself, right?

There's someplace to order these from Stern? I can only imagine this would not be covered by warranty, this long after purchase.

Stern will help out sometimes outside of strict warranty period, esp given that this doesn’t seem like the operator’s fault (when I got my pro, it was latest build / very low plays and the locking nut was just hanging loose / the tip of the shaft was rubbing a bit against the sensor). Probably the bigger pain will be it might take them a while to get anything out to you.

Stern didn’t even care that I was the second owner. Stern just needed a distro to place the order for me. It was free. Fortunately I have two distros that I worked with in the past. All it took was an email with the details to a distributed and they made it happen.

Here is an earlier post of mine:

Joining on with our new pin!

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Welcome to the club!

Forgive me as I am sure it's been asked before. As a new owner...

Can you get\mount\use the Fist from the Premium and use it in the pro?

I have had that happen to me three times. I re-tightened it snugly the first time, came loose again, ruined the board. Ordered another board and this time tightened the nut with pliers, Very snugly, came loose ruined the board again. Ordered Another board and asked Stern if I could use Loctite. They said no ,it would eat into the vinyl nut. So this time I tightened the nut snugly again and the put a dab of model car paint across the nut and onto the metal shaft. It's been about 400 games now and has not come loose again. Finally found the fix. Stern knows there is a problem and have probably sent out hundreds of new boards because of it.
Shouldn't take a genius to figure out how to stop it from happening but it seems they don't care about a permanent fix or cannot figure it out. I suggested to them about maybe double nutting it but they did not respond. The sucky part is you cannot play the game without the disc registering so your dead in the water until they get another one out to you. Glad I'm not trying to make money on the pin because I wouldn't be with all the failures.

Looking at the Thanos lighted eye mod from Lermods....is it worth the money? Too many times I've bought a mod for $30 just to find out that it's just a couple of Matrix pieces from Comet worth $5. Thanks

I’m really enjoying this game. Have had it for a month now. I wanted a game that was an easier shooter with flow and a deep rule set. This game easily fits the bill. I’ve already got games that are fast, long playing, tight shots, and quirky. So having a flow fest mainstream game adds a nice choice in my game room. Although, that left out lane sometimes drives me a bit crazy!

I like the mod

I love making my own mods with leds but I also like to support the mod makers it’s been a while but the effect on the plastic is very noticeable and looks great!

Do you remember what the components of the mod are?

Hey there. Our thanos eye mod does not utilize other manufacturers products. We use connectors that match what stern uses for their flashers and customized leds to light the eyes. It is a plug and play mod.

For the new to us game put in/on some mods I printed. Put in a Hulk Arm, extra ball tower ext, made my own speaker rings and added new speakers, speaker emblems.

Could not afford the topper yet so printing one , coming soon.

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This topper is on Thingiverse. It was easier than I thought to make. The files have links to YouTube video on how to hook up LEDs.

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what was the total print time for yours? Any lessons learned before I start

Can you send the link, I could not find the video links.

Thanks

I think it's pretty cool, bought a couple of mods and this one is one of my fav...

One Kids beach towel is another Man's pinball machine dust cover.

Less than $15.00,
Jay Franco Marvel Avengers Air Striker Kids Bath/Pool/Beach Towel - Super Soft & Absorbent Fade Resistant Cotton Towel, Measures 28 x 58 inches (Official Marvel Product)

https://a.co/d/4kK7esE

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My boy plays 1 game and says this is straight fire, better than ijpa. He’s out of the family, poor guy.

Took a long time. I had to shrink to 80% to fit my Ender 3. Probably took a week to print. Then glued it together. I bought a 12 volt Spike 2 cord from pinball life and crimped a Molex connector to the LED strip to power it.

This is link to video that the guy used. Shows how to make create the signs in general but also how to assemble.

Some observations after 10 months of AIQ premium ownership.

I did not play this game for almost 3 months and did a temporary swap with a pinball buddy.

I had chronic opto issues on the black panther orbit shot and the Dr. Strange disc had problems completely lowering. My buddy and I worked on these quite a bit. Like a lot.

Capt. Marvel ramp was like high school- too many rejections- I tried all kinds of flipper angles and settings including the Capt Marvel mod.

So I got my game back and put some precision flippers on it (not the upper one though). Now i can backhand Capt. Marvel.
Black panther opto and Dr. Strange all working. Now I can confidently know that if I line up and shoot correctly the shot will work-what a concept!

So now…I am exploring the great code and it feels like a new game. Yeah the animations aren’t awesome, but they definitely grow on you. This game is fun and there is so much more for me to discover.

I'm a believer in the Precision flippers as I have a standard set on Godzilla and a set of Halos on Deadpool. In both cases I turned down the flipper power so they more closely mimic the stock flipper power. I also run DIY flipper coil fans.

I don't have Precision flippers on AIQ (do have flipper coil fans), but I do have a DIY Lexan fix on Captain Marvel ramp and I generally don't have problems with that shot.

AIQ does play better keeping it waxed, so I can see more powerful flippers helping you make shots.

I don't understand how the Precision flippers could impact your Black Panther opto or the functionality of the Dr. Strange disc though.

It's all about having fun, so glad you are able to enjoy and explore the depth of AIQ!

I didn't know it was possible by anyone to backhand the Capitan Marvel ramp !

Yeah, even with a ton of power, I would think the angle is all wrong to pull this off.

Let's see a video of it! GranpaDave

Did you use black for the letters and white for the inserts?

I've been able to do it a few times myself, but not from a cradle or from a ball rolling down the flipper... essentially a ball coming towards the right flipper from the right and you get a solid backhand shot on it at just the right angle. More luck than anything I would say.

Well crap I don’t get off work for an hour. I want to go home now and spend the next few hours trying to backhand the Captains Marvel ramp.

My lady friend, “Did you feed the dogs?”

SirMachismo, “Not yet, I am working on hitting this ramp!”
{SirMachismo’s internal monologue}
Maybe, it’s not level left to right…is my angle too steep. Do I suck at this? I may not eat tonight either, I need another drink.

I don’t have precision flippers, but I do backhand the Thor shot during Soul Gem. You just cradle, release for a second, and then jam it. So, it is possible, but would def need fresh wax

yep.

You convinced me. Had it saved on Thingiverse forever. Just started printing it this morning.

Good luck. Wasn’t as tough as I thought. Tip is when you thread the LED strips, make sure you go all the way from A to S then double back to the beginning. So much easier.

Thanks. I have begun the printing!

Thor for sure, that's a repeatable backhand shot from a cradle. I don't have Precision flippers on AIQ either and use that shot quite a bit.

Thor is an obvious backhand. We're talking about backhanding the Capt. Marvel ramp with the precision flipper kit installed.

I know - read my previous responses above.

Whoops, sorry I think I meant to quote the comment before you!

I’ve mentioned it before on other threads but if your on the fence about the precision flippers start with the bushing and keep the regular flippers. If you can always upgrade the shafts and bats later but I think the bushing make a big difference by themselves.

Full disclosure I haven’t tried the halos, people say they are more controllable but I found the full solid flippers too bouncy for my liking. I’m did not have on low bounce rubbers though so YMMV.

I think AIQ would be a perfect game for this upgrade.