Check out post#492
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/oktoberfest-owners-10-/page/10#post-5793483

Have the same issue. Waiting for a fix.

Thanks I'll try those suggestions.

I actually bent the metal outwards even more than in that picture and haven't had any issues with that since then. Another thing you can try is to reduce the upper flipper power slightly. Try reducing the power by one and the ball could glide on those rails a bit nicer without compromising your ability to make the ramp shot. Widening the barrel entrance slightly should do the job.

My game rebooted when trying to start one handed play

Anyone else?

I know, and thanks to everyone who made it happen!

Nothing says Oktoberfest like Hofbrau Bier...or Spaten, Augustiner, Paulaner, Hacker-Pschorr...and of course Lowenbrau...but I only had a Hofbrau sticker. Yep, it's the little things...BTW, I am still loving this game!

20200925_135744 (resized).jpg

Has anyone had an issue with balls continually being shot into the shooter lane. System checks out ok. Maybe a software issue? I have the latest release but had no issues until yesterday. Thanks.

The issue was that the ninja balls became magnetized. Put the stock ones back in and no issue.

Oktoberfest does use its 4 magnets a lot, so balls -- especially "shiny" ones -- are prone to becoming magnetized and doing weird things in the trough. Certainly checking for magnetized balls should be one of the first things to try if you encounter any weird trough feeds or lock behaviors.

The magnet by the upper flipper hasn't been catching the ball. It just flings the ball. Any ideas?

I heard something pretty cool last night while playing...I made a left orbit shot and used the upper flipper to send the ball into the beer barrel...to which I heard Otto say something to the effect "WOW, the Picard Maneuver, congratulations"...that may not be exact but hearing Otto call out the Picard Maneuver made me laugh and I thought was a great play by API. In fact, when I rated Oktoberfest in the "Top 100" I actually likened the Beer Barrel ramp shot to STTNG...ironic. I am sure many of you were already aware of this callout but it was a first for me...I am still discovering many cool things with this machine.

When going in which direction?

Pitch of your game?

It seems to do it in both directions. More often when I press the Mag Nab button as apposed to auto nab. It seems like it pulses, I've had it "juggle" the ball (catch and release upward then catch again)
Pitch is at factory recomend, leg levelers all the way in. I think that makes it at 6°

manual magnab is a bit of timing thing, given how it grabs and then holds. If the timing is off, the ball is getting there after the grab, but during 'hold' which is a patter, and can sometimes just fling the ball or slow it down.

I'll do some testing around it to see if we can make some adjustments.

It does it way more than it used to. It's become really hard to ever catch a ball at all. A few times, the ball is coming down the orbit, I hit Mag Nab button, and it stopped the ball then flung it up the lane and caught it on the other magnet above the TAP lanes

I actually catch the ball on the magnet about 1 in 10 attempts

So, I guess the question now is, what else has changed?

Nothing else has changed that I can think of. Maybe I just don't know how it's supposed to work. Does it come on and stay on for x seconds? Does it grab then drop to a hold power (like a flipper)? Does it pulse?
If it's a player timing issue, I've not noticed it before

I'm also seeing this alot more than before the update if that helps? I'm assuming something in the code changed to protect the magnets from burning out but the pulse now flings the ball instead of the solid grab from before...

I have had mine almost 8 months and still catch something new I haven't heard or caught. 1st time I heard Otto refer to the Picard maneuver I was so surprised a lost my ball LOL. Loved what API did paying homage to what came before.

Keep an eye out for this rubber breaking. I took it all apart today and replaced it with 3 rubbers to beef it up. I’m not going to lie it was buried but took my time and was like a 1hr job.

155C505F-BDC3-4D59-9FE7-BBBAE6D612EA (resized).jpeg

I’ve had my for 3 weeks and it was about to break. I replaced with red tital rubber. Do you have a pick on what yours looks like now? Thanks.

Here you go.

93E3832F-E6C7-4E7D-9154-7AA83BAA19A3 (resized).jpeg

Thanks. I went with red there as well.

What size are they? going to preemptively order some. Good catch!

I've noticed it has been flinging and juggling the ball in auto nab.

Hmmm. I played several games a couple days ago and did not notice anything unusual with the magnets. Of course an occasional fling can happen, as well as bad timing for manual MagNabs (since it IS a skill feature) but the auto should be successful easily 90+% of the time... is this not your experience?

Not anymore. It used to be super strong and grab and hold tight. Now it seems weak and seems to grab and release. Last night auto nab was grabbing the ball weak and flinging it up then weakly grabbing again before just losing it.
Same behavior with manual mag nab

Curious where this came from? Would love to have one!

Here you go:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/747288289/oktoberfest-girl-dirndl-statue-sculpture

see any good spots on the game where this figure could go? Having a hard time figuring where I could put it!

And you believe this coincides with installing the latest game software? There were no changes to how we pulse the magnets in the recent code release, so that would be quite unexpected... but stranger things have happened...

I don't know if the new code has anything to do with it. I was wondering if anyone else noticed this behavior, and how to correct it

Hop-Pac ... are you seeing this on both player-controllable magnets, or just one of them?

I saw it on on my game after installation of 20.09.23. Only on the upper magnet. I haven't played enough times to know how frequently it happens. I hit magnab, the magnet sorta grabbed the ball, but it jerked around wildy and was flung away. I hadn't seen that behavior before the code update. Truth be told, I don't use magnab to drop a ball into the bumpers very often.

Just played a few games and focused on using the upper magnet. Didn't see the problem at all. Magnab button grabbed the ball successfully 8 times, auto-grab successfully grabbed it one time. Had one fast ball zoom past the active magnet. All normal I think, same behavior as before the code update. On a side note, I'm pretty sure the upper magnet pulses just a bit when it releases the ball (to make sure the ball comes off the magnet?).

we did not want it to just be a gimme on getting the TAP letter, so we give it a bit of pulse so it bounces around a bit and makes you work those flippers to get an unlit lane in the right spot.

The main issue is with the magnet by the spinner. (I use this one more often)
I'll play some games tonight and see how the top magnet behaves

OK, please let us know. It could theoretically be something as simple as the connector for that magnet being a little wiggly and needing to be reseated. If you're bored, you could potentially try downgrading to the previous software release and see if things improve, then reinstall the latest and see if it gets worse again. I really have no idea why that would be, since as I mentioned, our belief is that we didn't change anything about how the magnets are driven... but more data about a problem is always interesting.

I don't own an Oktoberfest yet, but I was thinking she might go well on top of the plastic over the PROST targets.

I Had an issue with my O'Fest last night...during rollercoaster lock, when I got the third ball locked and started multi-ball only the first ball was released down the wire-form, the other two remained up in the lock. When my 1st ball drained, the other 2 still stayed up in the lock...the game remains playing as though there are still 2 remaining balls in play, I have to tune the game off to get out of the mode, when I turn it back on the balls are released...this continues this way, not a one off. Any thoughts?

AP what brand of balls are used in Oktoberfest? I really like how these have played and need to get new ones! Thanks

Check the lock switches in switch test. Do all three register?
Did you put super shiny balls in the game? If so change to standard.

Standard pinballs are best for games with magnets.
https://www.pinballlife.com/1-116-pinball-standard-size.html

I played a few more games. The top magnet seems to be ok, it grabs the ball pretty hard (but the ball is usually moving slower across that magnet)

The side magnet still seems weak. A slower ball will get caught most of the time. A faster ball will mostly get flung from the magnet. Like a Hot Wheels car on a track, the ball never stops, it gets accelerated across the magnet

I reseated the connector and there was no change, still weak or flings the ball

When I get some extra time, I'll reinstall the last code to see if it changes

It happened to me but the release lock was working fine, ended up being I needed to bend outwards the ball trough guide so balls would roll easier.

I’ve been having this happen with my Oktoberfest for a while, well over 6 months (I’ve had the game for over a year, so it took a while for it to start happening). So I can’t imagine it’s a code thing. It will either fling the ball all the way back up to the pop inlanes, or downwards, straight to the flippers. I always assumed it was from the magnet maybe getting a bit dirty, so every once in a while I would clean it off. Whether or not that helped is hard to say. But I guess I’ve just learned to live with it. But I know exactly what you’re describing.

Has anyone developed some trough lighting kits. I tried the Mezel mods one that is 5 volts but I don’t think the gi on the machine is enough.

Thanks for the intel...I pulled the playfield back and found the release coil loose, the screw holding the assembly had backed out. Thinking I found the fault, I put it back together and tested it and the same thing happened...had to leave for an event this weekend so couldn't do any further trouble shooting until last night...I went through all the diagnostics/tests and all worked fine...really didn't do anything other than clean the surface of rollercoaster switches (interesting switches)...now it works fine, no issue. That kind of stuff doesn't give me any repair confidence but we will see. In the AF we call it a CND, Cannot Duplicate...no body liked those, especially Maintenance Supervision/Op's.

Copy, I checked them out and all checked fine, I did find the release coil loose...the balls are the original balls that came with the game. See my other response above to another poster...I appreciate all the help.