Nice. What size roll did you use? Wonder how difficult doing the legs would be.

Joining the club today. I'm reading through the thread to catch up but I've noticed the dates on these are still 2020. Was curious if the current state of the code is more or less the same base structure re: the ruleset?

Also, is the Spider soundmod the main custom code alternative? Sounds like it is on 1.03 until/unless pinball browser can get working on the newer versions of the Stern code? I guess at a glance at least it seems like you can go back to 1.03 without problems re: any firmware updates, I might give Stern's v1.07 a shot since 1) I'm coming in new and 2) really not an Avengers/Marvel movies fan so not a big deal if it's still comics-themed

My run of Sean Astin-themed pins has hit a disruption (unless we can count voice acting in a The Mighty Thor cartoon it appears), but I've at least kept the streak of machines that could / should use flipper coil fans alive.

pinballs (resized).JPG

I've got sliders on the front legs of the other two machines, just have to grab another pair for this new-to-me arrival.

My Ace Hardware had pretty crappy sliders. It's been on my backburner list to find sliders that fit exactly to the feet circle diameters on all my pins as I'd seen them before on pinside, so maybe I'll try ordering the magic sliders.

Still making my way through the thread, just cracked into the 100 page mark out of 218 re: my number of posts per page. Got to the timeframe where evidently Stern was releasing some machines with washers under the suspect ball guides - mine is an Apr 2022 build and did not have any washers. Added one under antman rail last night while doing rubbers, probably look into Thor as well.

One question I did have - does the audio hardware vary much between recent Stern spike 2 games? My Dec 2021 build STh Pro sounds quite a bit better than this Avengers Pro. The main woofer is crackle city on this even at like volume 14. I'd assume the pros would pretty much have the same amplification and speakers.

edit: today I messed around while someone else was playing and seemed to be able to minimize what I thought was speaker crackling by pushing up against the outside edges of the speaker grate, so I'll play around more with securing the woofer and some foam/quiet tape.

Thanks - I'll check that thread out. I just ran into your posts in this thread re: the pyle 4"s and the other aftermarket woofer for the cabinet a little bit after posting this.

A set of precision flippers could make for a nice under the tree gift (in no way affiliated with the seller, just a customer).

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/review-precision-pinball-products-cnc-flipper-system/page/21#post-7189652

And the same seller also sells the metal Dr. Strange disc, if yours happens to have any wobble. Fair warning - I’m still catching up on this thread and just got to the point where he was announcing that disc, so there may be other solutions for wobble, etc.

I think the problems were mainly if you didn't have IC hardware installed. Would probably recommend either way I suppose.

The below is in the thread pinned topics & probably the route I’m gonna go. My manual plunge made it around sometimes when I got it - I noticed it was quite a bit off-center so I adjusted it thinking that would make it better. With it centered it is…worse. I noticed on slo-mo it seems to roll right and hit the right rail. I have to slo-mo an auto-launch too, might raise the right side of the metal fork a bit with a washer.

My auto-plunge is mostly successful but does seem to lose effectiveness as the game goes on.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/official-avengers-infinity-quest-owners-thread-pinsiders-assemble/page/145#post-6332227

One thing I noticed today - the groove in my shooter lane isn’t centered. Is that a thing on AIQ?

Maybe it’s an optical illusion…

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I told this guy to kick rocks today. Had battled once (and failed) not long after adding the game to my lineup but lately haven't even gotten to BOM. Had been trying to rack up portal locks and get multiballs ready before any gem modes for a bit, and recently simplified my game plan back to “if you start a gem mode quick, make it reality and work into Thor”. Paid off fairly quickly.

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I don't think there's any one-size-fits-all for AIQ. I'd say take a slow-mo video and try to make some adjustments from there.

Not sure if your issues are primarily with the manual plunger, auto launcher, or both. Stern auto launchers are no stranger to consistency issues. You could try the auto launcher coil suggested by awesome1 in the thread stickies. I think it is fairly common for folks to replace the spring on the manual plunger for a more powerful spring as well (which I think is mentioned in the same sticky post).

Do those stay pretty snug inside the rubber? Might have a 3d printer friend make me one to try out, the stock shooter rod seems like it sits awfully far back.

Am I left to reaching out to distributor or Stern for getting a pre-IC Pro apron decal? I moved the IC QR reader to the coin door. Plan on printing custom apron cards below but curious about the decal itself.

7BA6F6F5-ABD0-43C5-8932-53925343CFC1 (resized).jpeg

Ultra mega super secret skill shot

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What’s everyone’s top Strange disc RPM? I feel like this is a more fun value to universally compare vs. scores which can be more dependent on settings, etc.

I set a new one at 1471 tonight. All that talk of even playing field aside, I did recently install John’s precision pinball disc.

I think Stern said 1/16” gap? I gapped mine close to that, eyeballed vs. used a feeler gauge, and in the test menu was getting low #s. I moved it as close as I could w/o touching and if I continuously rotate and hit Start in test there’s some positions that read as low as the 20s still. Most read in the 500s. Seems to work fine in the game.

I assume there's probably no way to stop Gem Mania from killing flippers & draining upon completion? Just curious as I finished the mode in a game where I had high-scoring victory laps going + thor multiball stacked with it so my "reward" for completing it didn't feel great.

To describe my relationship with Thanos Attacks, I’ll sum it up with a bad forced AIQ pun: Dr. Strange & The Glove: or How I Learned To Stop Worrying About Losing a Gem and Love Thanos Attacks.

I think I saw the other day that my best Thanos Attacks score (a little over 200m) is about twice as high as my best Battle Thanos score…

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.

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.

Plus John has the keyed shafts out now, so good time to buy a set with the whole package. Can crank that down to your heart’s content!

These cling-on vinyl cabinet protectors from Titan almost seem like they were made for AIQ

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Page 43 here: https://sternpinball.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/AvengersInfinity_LE_Pre_web.pdf

Could travel dirt a bit more if premium due to subway, depending on cleaning regiment? Not sure what Mando and TMNT have in that respect.

I would think you would tire of STh, as you are a better player than I & at just over 200 plays, I wouldn’t mind seeing it get traded out for something with more going on. But at least it should be pretty easy to sell if you give it a try.

STh I’d say my average games are longer than AIQ. AIQ also takes more mental concentration.

Yeah, it seems like value return on AIQ is currently low along with Rush and Mando. We’ll see how that goes as it eventually moves out of production. Which was good news for me! (and still may be if I look to upgrade to a premium).

Not sure if it’s layout or rules where some people find it difficult. It seems casual players have a harder time winning a mode vs. other games, and at that point, they have to deal with placing a gem & don’t understand that. Then if they play well enough & reach Thanos Attacks, it feels punishing.

Some of that probably carries over to people that understand the game and just aren’t Keith Elwins. That same variability and challenge is a plus for a home game for me. The shots are fun and it will take me a long time to score where I want (probably main goal right now = Battle Thanos holding all the gems).

I've seen a fair share of premiums anywhere from $7800-8500 in the last few months. Good value on the used market if you can find one nearby. Pros probably $6000-6400. I wish I would have gotten the premium but the captain marvel vertical ramp and the subway can be finicky from what I've seen.

It is a challenging game and it hasn't been a big hit shots-wise nor progression-wise for beginners in my basement. Theme-wise it could be a miss if people are expecting the movie vs. the comic books (though there is movie code out there).

You miss out on some interesting score multiplication hijinx potentials with pro CM, along with the satisfaction of the shot. But those are some pretty advanced level tactics re: blowing the score up. My main gripe is sometimes it takes two rips to complete a “shot” to CM on pro (soul gem) and it generally returns to right flipper.

I would like the Antman VUK too vs having to hit Antman & then hit the right ramp. These things are very minor though.

That’d be nice. I’m a big fan of Widow - right ramp - upper loop - Hulk. Very satisfying.

There’s also Thanos Attacks that technically gets in the way of endgame progression. I generally don’t even see the few casual players that come over to my place get there, but I know personally if I choose hard mode & blow the SG (and don’t get a BOM super), I tend to make it to Battle Thanos more often.

I’m still cool with it since Thanos Attacks is progressively lucrative enough that it’s a good risk / reward choice. You can opt to try to play through quicker, but to me the lasting appeal of pinball is chasing that “one great game” and this adds to that challenge (if you want it to).

To me IC is nice to have but I don’t know that I’d add it if I had a machine that could upgrade into it.

I’d say go ahead and do coil stops immediately, even on a brand new Stern. But yeah verify flipper power and/or reset all settings to factory.

My AIQ also had a bind in the right flipper, noticed it when I checked vertical play of the bat off the bushing. It had play but didn’t make a nice clean “thonk” when it raised, action was more mushy. Ended up being the angle of the EOS arm thingy was off, probably when the clamp screw was cranked down (from factory). Noticeably easier to make the widow shot after tweaking it (and also more fun airballs off the sanctum target).

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

Might as well buy a handful, and anything else you think you could need, to get the most out of paying for shipping.

One thing I noticed is when watching a video of someone else playing, they were able to hit the widow ramp from an inlane return to the right flipper. I was not able to do that before tweaking my mech. It really opens up some combos if you can’t do that currently.

And it was here where I had my issue on AIQ - it had the appropriate gap but when testing from the topside by grabbing the base of the flipper and pulling up, my left flipper “snapped” with a clear audible thunk as I am used to, whereas my right flipper still pulled up but felt…mushy and didn’t audibly thunk / clack. Using very technical terms here.

You can see Lloyd both set and at the end test the vertical play/gap off the playfield here. The Sterns are a bit different because they have the hex screw to crank down on vs a nut:

Can use a credit card or a feeler gauge, and if you look from the underside of the playfield as you grab the flipper from the topside & initiate any vertical play, you can also measure the gap from the underside.

I’ve been 2/2 on newer Stern games that had sticky flipper action, loose stops & gold dust in the first 100 plays and it’s obviously a very common issue across the forum. Anyone can feel free to evaluate and only replace when necessary - or you can spend a few bucks and work with 4 or 6 easily accessible screws and pretty much forget about it for a long time.

For a pro I think you probably still want a washer under the far right rail by Antman if not other rails (I think the antman one was the most common culprit for digging into the playfield). There's some info in the thread about it.

It’s just leveling legs, it’s not going to ruin anything.

I generally leave the fronts all the way low and raise the back legs until desired pitch. Usually only raising the fronts if I need to make a small side-to-side correction.

I usually measure down by the flippers / slings. Can put a ruler across the top of the slings to make sure you have a consistent point of reference for your level device.

I go to Ace Hardware - they generally have a ton of screws/washers/nuts/etc loose in bulk where you can shuffle thru the endless bins to match up what you need and just buy anywhere from 1 to however many you need. Home Depot and Lowes where I'm at, everything is enclosed in bags and in some minimal quantity.

If you grab each lower flipper around the base and pull up, do they both feel the same / "clunk" the same? The right flipper on my pro did not / felt mushy vs. a clean clunk and when I addressed that (adjusted angle of the EOS actuator arm thinger when tightening down the crank arm screw) I definitely had more snap on the right flipper. Was not able to hit the widow ramp from an inlane feed before - only from a trap, but I could afterwards.

(This also started more fun airballs from my sanctum target when hit with the right flipper, including randomly hopping up onto the return rail)

If you’re doing videos you could do one of pulling up on both flippers for me. The issue I had wasn’t super obvious & I could see someone overlooking it. (At the same rate it might be difficult to capture on video but maybe worth a shot - probably more the sound it would make than anything)

The sanctum is definitely more difficult to hit - I tend to try to get a weird bounce off a shallow upper flipper shot more than anything. It also generally means the first Hawkeye challenge can't be won simply by holding the left flipper out. But it is cool just how freely it spins otherwise.

The shooter lane bubble on one of my machines is way off - don’t use that as Bible.

Use a reference spot on the playfield with a ruler for measurement sake. Adjust the back legs to different levels and play test the game. Note the reference spot + your digital level to record your optimal pitch.

Recently I had gotten pulled away by the other two (currently working) games in my collection where I focused on each for a little bit and beat them both for the first time. So I've come back to AIQ.

I feel like the opposite is happening here. I'm getting worse! Here's my typical session now:

- alright, power up this machine. I'm ready to make some progress! Hit the start button...that PoMC intro and music are pumping me up! F yeah, let's get it! Let me try for that portal lock skill shot!

- ok, skill shot missed. But no worries! Some warm-up shots here...oh shit yeah Widow to gauntlet to upper loop! Combo time! Man, this game shoots great! So much fun! Awesome, combo portal lock! OK, let's start a mode. Spin the disc, get my portal lock, and...

- oh, the ball caromed off the disc post into danger and got anywhere NEAR the outlane and drained. Well, that sucks. Ah well, we'll get 'em back on the next ball!

- launch ball, start a gem mode. Ok, let's go for power, I wanna get that on Panther as quick as possible. With two balls this should be easy! While it's early why don't I go ahead and try to get Thor started for some insurance....ok, I get it, NOW I hit the Panther orbit cuz I'm aiming for Thor. Wait, AGAIN? Ok, finally a Thor hit

- oh, one ball drained? That's ok, probably within the ball save window. No? Crap. Well let's make some progress on the mode I guess and still try to hit Thor.
- well, didn't start Thor, but finished the mode! Nice! Now surely it can't be hard to get this to the flippers to get at least ONE shot at the hard-to-make Panther to place it....

- oh it hit the pops / targets on the way to the flipper? Well that's not optimal but I can move the gem later I guess. Let's spin the disc to start another mo....wait, how did it graze the captive ball on its own?? Great now useless unstacked Thor mb starts. Let's play that to at least enjoy some Zeppelin tunes for a few minutes....ok. Now hit the disc again and....crap, outlane AGAIN??

- ball 3 and I've gotten nowhere! Well let's try, I dunno, the Mind Gem I guess, who cares, I'm gonna lose this game soon.

- Mind Gem completed! OK! Some momentum maybe! Let's put it on Widow so we can build it up for soul gem FUCK IT HIT THE POPS / TARGETS HOW

- ah well, let's spin the wheel and start Soul Gem. Not really in the mood for hard mode, just get me the gem

- ok, that wasn't so bad! Ehh since I have a Pro and can't do 5894x multiplier shenanigans on Marvel let's plop it wherever I guess

- alright, maybe we can make some progress in the game! Oh, Thanos Attacks. Well I guess I don't care too much about the time gem let me see if I can defend that oh flank attack and it picked the power gem, ok. Great. I'll just defend that th....oh, it saw an outlane from 10ft away and had to jump in. Game over!

Mostly just being funny....MOSTLY. But also venting a bit. I've blown up STh and DP over 4.5bil, and I know what I want_ to do on AIQ, but the execution just isn't there nearly as consistently as some other games. Which is a plus, as it gives me something to work towards.

If you google "Stern avengers infinity quest manual" you can get there pretty quick, and the newer PDFs are text-searchable so you can CTRL+F for "coil sleeve". The flippers should all be 545-5388-00

I have a deposit on a 2nd run Foo.
My wife is a big fan of the band and I think I’m the same as you - they’re ok for me - but the pin looked great so I threw my $ in.

Played 6 games on a pro and had a 400m and 600m game without really knowing what I was doing. Which was basically 3 cities and thru the first mini-wizard mode.

I think it will be like DP, which is the easiest game in my basement. But 1) that’s a plus for the wife & friends that are casual players as they can see more of the game and 2) it still seems awfully fun theme-wise like DP to where I’ll still play it. The upper PF adds some to the challenge re: premium / LE.

That said you are 2-3x the player as me so take that with a few grains of salt.

I see Pros for $6k or a little less and some Premiums in the mid $7ks. I have to think that's pretty much going to be the floor for AIQ pricing, and that it will take a while (years) to have a slow potential rise, and at least for the next couple years, if you are looking to sell, it might take a little bit of time.

Off = "just about to be re-taken by Thanos in Thanos Attacks"

Yeah, seemed to work just fine.

Going back to my order, it says SlapDrain @ RavSpec.

I beat Thanos in the first week without really knowing what I was doing / much about the ruleset. Of course one of the cool things about AIQ is how you beat it / how you play thru the modes will greatly change your scoring (esp if you have a premium/LE). I've had mine for about a year with a goal of getting all of the gems and beating Thanos for that immediate 1bil. Alas I haven't gotten there and it looks like I'll be swapping the game out this weekend.

"Is it a keeper??" is as subjective as "should I get it? / should I get pro vs. other models?". I can say for me my wife more or less has avoided AIQ since the first couple weeks and in general it's not as casual friendly. Personally I like the game, especially with one of the non-stock code options, but even I've found myself going to my other two games more often recently for a better fun-factor of trying to beat them (not for the first time) and getting on the high score board along the way vs. the punishing grind of AIQ.

It would help to me if any/all of the following were true:
- the right orbit BP shot wasn't clunky. I tried to analyze in slow-mo and see if I could adjust anything but didn't make much headway. Sometimes it goes, sometimes it clunks.
- the sanctum target was easier to hit - my Dr. Strange disc post is almost always in the way and so it's more trying to slop something from the upper flipper vs. a shot I feel rewarded with hitting, which is important since it's the EB shot, etc.
- Antman was easier to hit - on my pro it pretty much has to slop in there from slings, etc. Would be useful to add a ball or change gems when I want to, esp with my main goal being getting the power gem on BP early.

In the end it's not worth worrying much if a game is gonna be a keeper or not. It either will or you can trade it out for something else.

Venom & Bond as well, and Foo seemingly has more coming in code with the combotron / specific combos. Seems to be more commonplace in recent games.

I was a pro owner and to me the only minus was not being able to do absolutely ridiculous point blow up stuff with gem strategies & the Marvel ramp. But I struggled enough with trying to achieve optimal gem strategies for normal game progression as it was.

The design of the top of the sling post being (that much) higher than the top of the outlane post = a perfect path for a ball being pulled down by gravity to find a cozy home / make it more difficult to late nudge to any success.

If you search autolaunch in here there are a number of attempts at a fix. It’s never going to be 100%, there’s a fair amount of slop in the Stern autolaunch mech + other variables (guides, pitch, level, etc). I think awesome1 went as far as a stronger coil on the mech, probably in the stickies.

You’re gonna find autolaunch issue posts in any Stern owners thread where the autolaunch has any length of travel / actually has to do more work than spit a ball haphazardly onto the field of play.

Honestly everything in playing a game, pinball included, is repetitive by definition. It's not like you're seeing new instances of the comic art when you play - you're watching the same ...well I can't really say "clips" in terms of what AIQ displays on the LCD. Watching the same largely static images over and over. Hearing the same callouts over and over. Playing the same modes over and over. That can't be avoided, but whether or not the repetition becomes grating to you over time on any particular game is subjective.

To that note you're not going to find many people rushing to the aid of AIQ in terms of theme integration. Pretty widely regarded as one of the big minuses of the game. The custom code options can help it a little depending on if you prefer movie or comic themes, but the meat here is still largely the shots/layout and the rules.

There's a lot in here (and really in other Stern owners threads) about shooter lane adjustments and tweaks and theories. Probably best summed up in this key'd post: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/official-avengers-infinity-quest-owners-thread-pinsiders-assemble/page/145#post-6332227

My conclusions have generally been given the slop in the Stern auto-launch mech and the slight variances in games in terms of pitch / level / construction, the Stern launcher is never going to be perfect & the games that have a longer launch travel path are going to be the ones where this will be more noticeable. The red spring did make my old Pro pretty reliable on manual launches at least. Auto-launches depended on very minute differences in playfield cleanliness/wax, the general mood of Thanos and the game at the time, and the current picture of sunspot activity in the solar system.

Spinning the disc is how a portal lock is collected on a pro.