Hot Wheels
American Pinball, 2020Quoted from RikV:I’d love to get the pops really hopping, what’s the simple fix? Change the spring? move the cup further away?
On most games make sure the switch is extra close, and add a tiny bit of lithium grease to a qtip and apply it to the spoon.
Quoted from chuckwurt:On most games make sure the switch is extra close, and add a tiny bit of lithium grease to a qtip and apply it to the spoon.
Perfect, I’ll try it, thanks!
Quoted from chuckwurt:re the flippers just pretty weak stock like JJP likes to do? If you crank them up do they get more snappy?
I have zero issues with the flippers on my machine. It's at 6 degrees and factory settings, and they have power to spare. Not as snappy as Stern but close. The ball flies through the loops and ramps. Have never thought for a second that they were under powered after probably 50 games. My pops are also as sensitive as any other machine. They may be spaced a little further than some, but create plenty of action to light supers in loop crash multi-ball and turbo boost. The ball never just passes through. If you liked the machine you played, you'll probably love one that is set-up/operating properly.
Quoted from RikV:I’d love to get the pops really hopping, what’s the simple fix? Change the spring? move the cup further away?
I posted this already in the Oktoberfest thread.
My suggestion is to leave the pop bumper coil settings at factory. If you want more action out of them; here's what I do to all my games:
Use a switch adjustment tool on each pop bumper switch to decrease the gap so the contacts are almost touching.
Also, the "spoon" where the pop bumper skirt point touches: Make sure that leaf of the switch only has enough tension just to touch the point. Too much tension between the point of the skirt and the spoon causes drag and less action.
Once you have them all adjusted, put the playfield back down and start a game. Now with a soft part of a fist, pound a few times in the middle of the playfield. The objective here is to see if that gap is too close where vibrations will set off the pops.
You can also manually touch each pop skirt and see if the vibration causes the other pops to fire. They should not.
Hope that helps.
Quoted from RikV:I’d love to get the pops really hopping, what’s the simple fix? Change the spring? move the cup further away?
I spent a lot of time getting them as active as I'd like on Houdini and the biggest thing was just cleaning the hell out of those switches then adjusting them even when brand new. I feels like the centering spring in these are just really, really strong but I didn't want to take the whole thing apart to cut a section out or anything like that yet, they do break in after a while.
You can increase both flipper coils it improves the game dramatically. It also makes it a bit harder as well as the game plays a lot quicker. It was the first adjustment I made on the game you just have to watch out as you get a few more airballs but nothing too crazy. I have not experienced the Intermittent power issues like on previous AP games, they really did a good job with this one.
Quoted from chuckwurt:Played one game on Hot Wheels tonight. Love the shots. By far the best shooting AP game yet. Only shot I didn’t find right away was the turbo boost shot. Loved the lighting, art, animations. Sound was a bit low though so can’t really comment on that.
The pops weren’t lively so the ball liked to simply just pass through without any action. Simple fix though.
Here’s my main question to AP and AP owners as it’s really the main thing holding me back from getting one of these.
Are the flippers just pretty weak stock like JJP likes to do? If you crank them up do they get more snappy?
On stock power when I would try to hit the turbo boost I’d hit the right orbit. Haha. Just felt like they were underpowered.
I’ve seen this consistent on all JJP and AP games.
No intermittent flippers dying when chaotic gameplay was going on like I’ve seen with Houdini, so looks like that’s been solved. That’s great.
Can’t wait to play more!
Increasing the power of the flipper coils may have other undesirable side effects, like potentially damaging plastics or targets. Running the coils too strong will also heat them up more/faster, which will degrade their performance during longer play sessions.
We think Hot Wheels plays great in most environments with the recommended playfield slope (all levelers in; adjust to ensure 0 degrees left-to-right at both top and bottom of playfield) and the recommended coil settings (software default). If you do decide to bump up flipper strength, suggest doing so by no more than 1 or 2 units at a time, so you can find a flipper strength setting that's just enough to meet your needs, but no stronger than that.
Have fun!
i turned my flippers up a couple levels and ended up turning them back down- they were too powerful and the ball was flying off the ramps and hits to the standups were acting like slingshots sending the ball airborne. I do feel the flippers get a bit "tired" during intense multiballs. it would be innovative if the machine upped the flipper power a smidge when ever you went into multiball (similar to the way Oktoberfest did when the ramp went down).
I like your thinking, Chuckwebster ... but maybe the real answer is to have the software turn DOWN the flipper power during multiballs, to prevent them from overheating when they're being fired much more often than usual?
Quoted from RikV:I’d love to get the pops really hopping, what’s the simple fix? Change the spring? move the cup further away?
Ya I would like to know also,I looked at making them pop like stern bumpers that Would be great,my switches are as close as can be and that helped but the skirt is stiff,must be the spring
Quoted from pins4life33:It also makes it a bit harder as well as the game plays a lot quicker.
Good news. Thanks! Power issues seemed to only occur in Houdini. I don’t remember it ever happening with OF. I think that new power supply did the trick.
Putting fans on the flipper coils helps immensely with flipper fade for those that play long games/sessions.
Quoted from luckymoey:I have zero issues with the flippers on my machine. It's at 6 degrees and factory settings, and they have power to spare. Not as snappy as Stern but close. The ball flies through the loops and ramps. Have never thought for a second that they were under powered after probably 50 games. My pops are also as sensitive as any other machine. They may be spaced a little further than some, but create plenty of action to light supers in loop crash multi-ball and turbo boost. The ball never just passes through. If you liked the machine you played, you'll probably love one that is set-up/operating properly.
My experience too. It's important that the game is set up stock at 6 degrees, leg levelers all screwed in and level the game left to right at the top and bottom. It should play very well as designed. Have fun.
Quoted from rockrand:When I am trying to get a race completed as fast as possible I wish I could see my current time on the screen somewhere,
Am I in a minority,is there to much on screen already?
I would like to see something like that too, it’s been brought up a few times before. What should be done about Race Advance Position from a case award? Tack on 10” or do nothing? What does it do now?
I was thinking it would be cool to see your current time and a split with the record. Your time counts up and the record counts down with a minus in front, once that timer reaches zero it goes plus (record plus xxx time).
Yea there are a few instances I'd like to see info on the display like current race time and possibly a visual countdown for turbo boost.
You could get the impression reading some recent posts that HW is a relatively easy machine with underpowered flippers and pops. It’s NOT.
The game is fast with numerous ways designed to drain: RPM and Battle targets that put the ball out of control and are crucial to progress and score; feeds from the pops and some shots that are variable and often require the right bump to set up a controlled shot; difficulty trapping up forcing on-the-fly play to some relatively narrow shots and/or defensive play, AND a very tough turbo boost shot that is key to blowing up the game (may be fastest kickback in pinball history). I think it actually has great balance - some games are IM quick with an occasional longer, great game creating a just one more game feel.
I’m not a great or tournament player, but can hold my own and certainly know the difference between easy and hard. Like most games, it would need to be set up difficult for higher level tournament play, but lightening flippers would FU the design and be ridiculous IMO. Just watch the Deadflip stream and judge for yourself.
And the flippers and pops are standard fare. Probably closer to B/W then Stern.
New owner here and my flippers and pop bumper adjustments were perfect, right out of the box. Lots of pop bumper action and never a ball that rolls straight through the pops.
Whoever said this is a 'must have one more game' machine, wasn't kidding and I don't even know the rules yet!
Well done AP. Hot Wheels is an absolute winner!
Quoted from Chuckwebster:i turned my flippers up a couple levels and ended up turning them back down- they were too powerful and the ball was flying off the ramps and hits to the standups were acting like slingshots sending the ball airborne. I do feel the flippers get a bit "tired" during intense multiballs. it would be innovative if the machine upped the flipper power a smidge when ever you went into multiball (similar to the way Oktoberfest did when the ramp went down).
Quoted from Ferret:I like your thinking, chuckwebster ... but maybe the real answer is to have the software turn DOWN the flipper power during multiballs, to prevent them from overheating when they're being fired much more often than usual?
We did that on okto so that the right flipper was not kept so strong all the time, when the ramp was only down part of the time. Having it stronger results in it heating up faster and also makes the near shots a lot deadlier or harder to make it.
Keeping Flippers being overly strong all the time can certainly lead to pre-mature over heating. Increasing the power in MB would probably not help matters, and could actually make it worse, given the far more rapid firing of flippers during MB, which makes Ferret's idea interesting, as it could help keep the strength up in a long multiball, but not sure the upside would be worth the downside..
You want your flippers to be strong enough to make the ramps, to feel solid when you make those shots, but no more than that, since at that point you are just making them work harder and heat up faster, and likely get more airballs, for no real benefit.
Quoted from rockrand:When I am trying to get a race completed as fast as possible I wish I could see my current time on the screen somewhere,
Am I in a minority,is there to much on screen already?
Quoted from Palmer:Yea there are a few instances I'd like to see info on the display like current race time and possibly a visual countdown for turbo boost.
Not sure during Turbo you have any time to, or even want to be, looking up at the screen 
There is a lot on screen now, so we do want to be careful about putting more on it. But we will talk about.
We are discussing some ideas around the race, and we will be doing something, but you won't be seeing anything in that regard in the next release. Speaking of which, we are just about ready for the next phase of testing on it and we are looking for a few volunteers who would like to test out the latest code.
Thank you to all who are interested, but we now have enough beta testers
Quoted from rosh:Not sure during Turbo you have any time to, or even want to be, looking up at the screen There is a lot on screen now, so we do want to be careful about putting more on it. But we will talk about.
Maybe not specifically on the display but even a sound cue that lets the player know they only have 3 more seconds before it is exhausted? Also, I hearing electronic beeping sometimes when I am playing. What is that audio cue for?
Quoted from Palmer:Maybe not specifically on the display but even a sound cue that lets the player know they only have 3 more seconds before it is exhausted? Also, I hearing electronic beeping sometimes when I am playing. What is that audio cue for?
We will talk about it, and see what might make sense. Just not sure how much that helps you in this case -- do you really need even more pressure to execute during Turbo Boost?
There is a 'beep' when you are low on fuel, we have changed that, since the original one sounded too much like an old tilt sound and was confusing people. However, I don't recall which version is in the current released code.
Quoted from rosh:If you are interested, you can email me at [email protected].
email sent
Quoted from rosh:we are looking for a few volunteers who would like to test out the latest code.
I volunteer.
Just kidding. See this -
Quoted from rosh:If you are interested, you can email me at [email protected].
Contact him now. Don't wait a few weeks and wonder how you could get in.
LTG : )
Quoted from luckymoey:You could get the impression reading some recent posts that HW is a relatively easy machine with underpowered flippers and pops. It’s NOT.
The game is fast with numerous ways designed to drain: RPM and Battle targets that put the ball out of control and are crucial to progress and score; feeds from the pops and some shots that are variable and often require the right bump to set up a controlled shot; difficulty trapping up forcing on-the-fly play to some relatively narrow shots and/or defensive play, AND a very tough turbo boost shot that is key to blowing up the game (may be fastest kickback in pinball history). I think it actually has great balance - some games are IM quick with an occasional longer, great game creating a just one more game feel.
I’m not a great or tournament player, but can hold my own and certainly know the difference between easy and hard. Like most games, it would need to be set up difficult for higher level tournament play, but lightening flippers would FU the design and be ridiculous IMO. Just watch the Deadflip stream and judge for yourself.
And the flippers and pops are standard fare. Probably closer to B/W then Stern.
I'd give you about 10 up votes on this if I could.
Quoted from rogerdodger:New owner here and my flippers and pop bumper adjustments were perfect, right out of the box. Lots of pop bumper action and never a ball that rolls straight through the pops.
Whoever said this is a 'must have one more game' machine, wasn't kidding and I don't even know the rules yet!
Well done AP. Hot Wheels is an absolute winner!
Ditto !
Re: Boost scoring time expiration alert... there IS a somewhat subtle warning about this, right near the flippers where you should be paying attention like a hawk while Boost is active. 
The light in the center of the Tach inserts flashes while Boost is active, and flashes rapidly when less than 5 seconds of Boost time remain... same idea as how the Shoot Again light works on most games to indicate that your ball saver is about to expire.
Quoted from Ferret:Re: Boost scoring time expiration alert... there IS a somewhat subtle warning about this, right near the flippers where you should be paying attention like a hawk while Boost is active. The light in the center of the Tach inserts flashes while Boost is active, and flashes rapidly when less than 5 seconds of Boost time remain... same idea as how the Shoot Again light works on most games to indicate that your ball saver is about to expire.
I never noticed that. Now I will look for it while I am panicking...trying to hit a meaningful shot after I have activated turbo boost! 
Quoted from tatman9999:Picked mine up today.
Nice! Welcome to the club! AP does a great job with packing the game.
Quoted from rosh:Not sure during Turbo you have any time to, or even want to be, looking up at the screen There is a lot on screen now, so we do want to be careful about putting more on it. But we will talk about.
We are discussing some ideas around the race, and we will be doing something, but you won't be seeing anything in that regard in the next release. Speaking of which, we are just about ready for the next phase of testing on it and we are looking for a few volunteers who would like to test out the latest code.
If you are interested, you can email me at [email protected].
Email sent as well
Quoted from Palmer:AP does a great job with packing the game.
save the head-protecting cardboard for future use!
IMG_0256 (resized).jpgIMG_1089 (resized).JPG@JOSH. If it has not already been covered, are we able to get a separate adjustment for the speech vs the other sounds?
With the noise from the pops and other solenoids, I am often unable to hear the speech clearly.
I know I can turn up the volume but, if I do, then the tires screeching and engine revving are far too loud!
Thanks.
Roger
Installed the knocker kit last night. Definitely a must add on. The Knock at the start and with jackpots for loop crash multiball is so satisfying. 1000x better than the sound cue. Super easy install. Holes are already pre-drilled and connector is laying in the back ready. Everything is in the cabinet, don't need to open the head. No soldering needed, just a single 1/4 nut driver and 5 minutes is all it took.
Hey there Hot Wheels family. DeathSaveArcade here. I finally got my Hot Wheels in yesterday after a terrible experience with freight shipping. UGH, I hate freight. Anyway, I absolutely love this game American Pinball. I am a pretty good player skill wise, been to a few wizard modes on JJPs and sterns etc throughout my time with games I’ve owned and obviously streamed at one point as well. I must say, the game is addicting, fun, exciting and the variety of gameplay objectives is fantastic. Nothing feels linear and you are always making progress which feels great. So far my best game has been 1.7 billion with gear 3, all epics running at once, look crash with boost, a mode or two done and the various MB’s.
What a thrill.
Out of the box I set up the game as recommended both on here and from the instructions. I placed legs all the way in and leveled left to right. I personally don’t know how anyone can play with the game setup like that. It feels like an old EM. So so floaty and slow. After adjustment I made about 5 full turns on each back leg and now the game plays like a fast paced monster of a machine. I have kept the flippers at normal strength and slings+ 1 which has really woken up the game.
Out of the box, with the leg adjustments I have no issues out of the pops 90% of the time, when it does come down the center a little nudge can save your ball. I do have rejects frequently from the right flipper to the left saucer and my ball goes through the right saucer frequently even with the legs up making it a tad slower to reach the saucer on normal flipper power. I would love to see a fix for both that doesn’t involve a floppy disc spring.
Not sure if anyone else experienced this but out of the box my upper right speaker had terrible feedback. Unfortunately due to the design I couldn’t get at the speaker to check it, but I did turn most of the amp levels down, and it removed a lot of the static and feedback I was getting from the speaker and the game is still plenty loud. The bass and treble were nearly maxed and the others were near max too. With the volume on the game up but the gains on the amp much much lower any unwanted sound effects from the speakers were removed.
Regarding the flippers, they feel great with the exception of after a MB, and for my personal machine, it’s only been affecting the left flipper. Randomly after a MB I will get weak flips but it usually goes away. After reading through this forum I would love to know why the issue of “overheating” is such a problem with this build as the ball times, even on my 1.7 bill game were fairly short. I own a WoZ, hobbit, lotr, wonka, Deadpool, etc and those games can literally go on an hour or more straight and I never have any weakness or overheating issue. Why would coils overheat in a 15 minute game? Seems like a poor choice of parts if that is truly a concern, but it seems like something else to me, but not sure what.
After going back through this forum and catching up. I just wanted to say, With the previous things aside this is my favor American pinball games and I loved Houdini as a player that enjoys a hard game, this one is addictive. I can’t wait to see the progression of the code and the fixes of the mild issues on the saucers and ramps.
Here are some things I saw and personal ideas for the future:
I sent a few bugs I found to Josh and Michael, as well as a few tweaks.
I’d love to see a “race only game mode.” Hold both flipper down before hitting the start button, select race only, and then begin a game. Allow it to be Rpm and shifting for additional points and then only the race positions and a timer. If you shift gears it obviously increases the score but also removed 10 seconds from your race time.
Another thing I’d like to see is the increase in scoring if you finish a race and move on to race 2 in a single game. Make it worth double for each rank you improve on your second race.
The redline mania soundtrack is way too low during that mode and general sound equalization throughout the code would be beneficial.
I’m not sure if it’s just my game or what, but I’ve hit 50 cars collected and didn’t get car crash multiball. Not sure what number of cars I need I’d like to eventually see that mode.
After getting a super jackpot in redline mania 2 with all the epics running beforehand, my car collection froze and stuck at 1 car remaining for the entire game. Just an fyi.
I know this has been a long post, but overall I am super happy with my purchase and I look forward to seeing all of you guys continue to enjoy yourselves and this title. Way to go American Pinball!
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BB9A484B-D7B8-4609-B2C5-EE0B2BBBC8E0 (resized).jpeg
598048E1-08AC-4631-83B0-0C71015B99B0 (resized).jpegD5366DBD-218B-4E3E-B7A5-415DFA1421C7 (resized).jpeg0225B16C-F08F-4266-A7D6-158BD15A7DB2 (resized).jpeg87B5AD4D-A8D9-4F5B-9BFC-A12A15450C19 (resized).jpegI get SDTM drains when the ball comes off the left orbit every single time. I jacked up the back legs a bit, I have it at 6.7; but I guess my level is off left to right.
Where does the ball feed from the left orbit on your machines? To the Left Flipper??
Quoted from dsmoke1986:I get SDTM drains when the ball comes off the left orbit every single time. I jacked up the back legs a bit, I have it at 6.7; but I guess my level is off left to right.
Where does the ball feed from the left orbit on your machines? To the Left Flipper??
Left flipper.
Quoted from VividPsychosis:Left flipper.
So I need to raise the game on the back right. Make it faster and not get that drain
Just got my game yesterday, everyone is really enjoying it so far. Definitely different from anything that we have played, in a very good way!
Only thing that seemed odd so far was the GI lighting level during game play. During attract mode, it is very bright, but when game play starts, the playfield seems a bit dark. My wife even turned the lights on in the room, LOL. Is there any way to adjust this? I noted settings for "light show", which was default to 10/10, but didn't see any other settings that could be changed.
Quoted from Hold_Fast:Only thing that seemed odd so far was the GI lighting level during game play. During attract mode, it is very bright, but when game play starts, the playfield seems a bit dark. My wife even turned the lights on in the room, LOL. Is there any way to adjust this? I noted settings for "light show", which was default to 10/10, but didn't see any other settings that could be changed.
Seems like it could use some spot lights focused on the cars, but I haven’t been able to figure out a good place to mount them that would look factory.
Quoted from ifpapinball:5th gear is where it's at! [quoted image]
Awesome!!
Quoted from ifpapinball:5th gear is where it's at!
FYI, this is on beta code where bonus is bigger in general AND gear is now a multiplier on bonus! Oh and fifth gear is just a tiny bit easier to get to it and redline.
Quoted from ifpapinball:5th gear is where it's at! [quoted image]
Jesus stop showing off! 
Quoted from dsmoke1986:I get SDTM drains when the ball comes off the left orbit every single time. I jacked up the back legs a bit, I have it at 6.7; but I guess my level is off left to right.
Where does the ball feed from the left orbit on your machines? To the Left Flipper??
Please check that the 'E' target is not deflecting the ball. There's a chance that it may need a slight adjustment.
I have Hot Wheels and TMNT LE right next to each other...Hot Wheels has more satisfying shots and the play style is more immediately engaging to me. Obviously that is 100% opinion, so take it with a grain of salt.
The only negative I've had so far is that my PSU wasn't working correctly. AP jumped right in to help and I'm back up and running. I have a few more minor issues I am working out with them then I can really get into the game.
Overall it is well built and very well designed.
Quoted from VividPsychosis:I’m not sure if it’s just my game or what, but I’ve hit 50 cars collected and didn’t get car crash multiball. Not sure what number of cars I need I’d like to eventually see that mode.
On default / Medium, it's 40 cars to qualify Car Chaos. It's a Car Collecting Case award. One subtlety of the rules that needs tweaking is that if you qualify Car Chaos but then get your Collecting Case award at a time when you can't start Car Chaos (e.g. during a multiball), you need to light the next Collecting Case before you can get Car Chaos... that's kinda harsh, and will be improved.
Quoted from VividPsychosis:After getting a super jackpot in redline mania 2 with all the epics running beforehand, my car collection froze and stuck at 1 car remaining for the entire game.
I believe this is fixed in the upcoming code release.
Quoted from VividPsychosis:I know this has been a long post, but overall I am super happy with my purchase and I look forward to seeing all of you guys continue to enjoy yourselves and this title. Way to go American Pinball!
Thanks for your comments, and so happy to hear that you love the game!
Quoted from Hold_Fast:Only thing that seemed odd so far was the GI lighting level during game play. During attract mode, it is very bright, but when game play starts, the playfield seems a bit dark. My wife even turned the lights on in the room, LOL. Is there any way to adjust this? I noted settings for "light show", which was default to 10/10, but didn't see any other settings that could be changed.
Settings > Standard > Feature Insert Brightness affects both inserts and GI in the last production code... in the upcoming code, this has been broken out to have separate GI and insert brightness adjustments. But for now, just increase Feature Insert Brightness, and you should be good.
Thanks!
Quoted from Aniraf:I have Hot Wheels and TMNT LE right next to each other...Hot Wheels has more satisfying shots and the play style is more immediately engaging to me. Obviously that is 100% opinion, so take it with a grain of salt.
The only negative I've had so far is that my PSU wasn't working correctly. AP jumped right in to help and I'm back up and running. I have a few more minor issues I am working out with them then I can really get into the game.
Overall it is well built and very well designed.
Is this at the barcade?
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