The 3D printed bracket worked great to fix the dropping ball issue, I did instal my new wire form that American sent to replace the broke one, had to drill out the holes on the coaster bracket to 7/32nds to accommodate the new wire form, But it plays great now.

I ordered two brackets that Big_Whoopin made and went ahead and left one just south of the weld that broke on my original ramp. Some photos below. Thanks again everyone for the help.

IMG_0805 (resized).jpeg

Removed right ramp:
IMG_0796 (resized).jpeg

IMG_0797 (resized).jpeg

Broken weld:
IMG_0804 (resized).jpeg

Ramp working with 3d printed brace:

IMG_0805 (resized).jpeg

Awesome, glad it worked out for you! At some point I need to get back to that model and make a couple different widths since the width between the rails (as least on my Oktoberfest) varies a bit.

Apparently the thickness does as well, my replacement form wouldn’t fit into the holes on the coaster ball lock, had to modify. The bracket clipped on well for both my OEM and the replacement part.

Now if I could just reliably nail that barrel lock shot……

I posted a little bit back about my game having an issue with not starting, and it just going into ball search. In the tent scoop there's a switch that registers a ball, and the arm on mine is sloppy, so it gets caught and was confusing the heck out of the computer. Is there an easy way to reduce the side to side motion of the arm, or should I just buy a new switch? It looks like this https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/180-5011-00 is the part I'd need, but I'd like to avoid a pinball purchase when I only need one part.

Has anyone mounted spotlights to adequately light the middle of the playfield? Or is it just worth it to buy pinstadiums for this?

IMG_3852 (resized).JPG

IMG_3853 (resized).JPG

That does look like the switch lever has a lot of slop. I don't think that Marco item has the correct lever though. I'd reach out to American to make sure you get the correct part.

I haven't wired anything up yet but I've been kicking around some ideas on lighting. My first thought was some spots mounted to the posts of the slings that would then aim up the playfield. The one challenge that I would want to figure out is how to power/control them as the GI isn't "normal" GI. (Well, I guess it is sort of normal for modern pins.) It is RGB LEDs that are part of various light shows during gameplay. So I would want the spots or whatever lighting I install to be a part of that as well. This would require a bit of electrical hackery to work they way I'd want.

This is the switch you’re looking for.

Tonight
Prost!
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/s1g7F4DP4zFoZPTq/?mibextid=CTbP7E

IMG_8800 (resized).jpeg

If anyone in my area is considering buying one of these, I have one listed at a great deal in the marketplace here. No issues, other than I never got the beer barrel ramp dialed in to where the ball wouldn't come off the ramp, but I fixed that with a piece of vinyl pipe that can easily be removed.

The game has never been moved since it was un-boxed.

My girlfriend doesn't really like it, too complicated for her.

And honestly, I'm ready to change things up now and get a Jaws.

Hi just joined the club this afternoon -Prost!
I spent the last hour going insane in the membrane reading about membrane switches because our first hour of test games on this Dec ‘22 build with 500 plays on it we were experiencing locking a ball in the barrel but sometimes it wouldn’t kick a ball out into the shooter lane, yet it would say to shoot the ball.
It seems most I read in the thread was talking more about random multiball madness due to these membranes, and the software setting to compensate…until you buy more insane membranes, and magnetized balls etc… but I didn’t seem to find anything about the symptoms I’m describing.
I just got this game to put into my 63 tap craft beer store/bar and straight out of the gate I’m wondering if I made a mistake for location due to these Cypress Hill switches?
Thanks for any advise!

That reminded me, right after I bought this game, it did something odd once, and I turned the game off, and turned it back on, and have never had any more issues like that.

I have also never had any problems with any of the switches, membrane stuff, or magnetized balls. I read all of that, and ordered extra balls, and have never needed them.

It would be super easy to pull the glass on my game, and drop some balls in the beer barrel, to see that it is working as it should.

Once I did have a repair guy out about another game, and he asked to look inside my Oktoberfest, and I don't know what it was, but he said I have the good stuff, that some other games had something different that had caused problems.

I'm glad your games working good, not sure if you're offering any advice or just trying to sell yours lol. I tell my mom to power her electronics off/on to fix them, thats not going to work for my location game though.
If anyone else has any experience with the symptom I'm experiencing thanks for chiming in!

Thanks so much this is all super helpful and definitely makes me feel better about it. It’s releasing the balls from the barrel at game over, and I was told it’s on the newest code with Coop. I’ll check all these boxes when I’m back in town with the machine. Also reassuring to know that once you replaced the membrane it fixes things, I’m just hoping it’s not something that needs replacing every 500 plays etc…
Cheers!

Both.

I wish. I recall changing out the membrane switch for the beer barrel as being a bit of a chore - primarily due to all the messy adhesive that needs to be removed. Not something I look forward to having to do again.

<under construction>

Hey thanks again for your input. Update as of this morn is that I went and pulled the balls and sure enough I could see my purty face in them and I knew that was bad!(; and two or three were def magnetized touching/dragging them. I replaced them with reg balls and then had to get on the road but gave my mgr the task to play later and let me know. I touched base with the previous owner and asked if he happened to put fancy balls in, & it turns out he had done me a favor by putting new balls in just before the sale- mirror balls. Meanwhile my mgr texted me that he played a bunch and everything was gravy since I changed the balls. So thankfully no Cypress Hill membranes for now and going to get this thing ready to get out into the tap room!

I'm so very glad that was such an easy fix for you.

Long ago I had read on here about games with magnets causing issues with the balls, and I ordered like a box of 100, and only time so far I have ever used any was when I bought a used game one time, I went ahead and installed new balls in it.

Still can't save a high score when playing with more than one person (not coop mode). Is this game ever going to be updated Ferret ?

Hey guys,

Just joined the club a couple of days ago! I’ve been reading through this thread. Lots of great info!

I have gotten most of the issues sorted, but I have a couple of questions I am hoping for some assistance on.

My left and bottom pop bumpers aren’t working. I checked the switches and they work fine. Checked power settings on the coils and adjusted to default power. Reseated the connections. I don’t see anything physically wrong with them, but the coils aren’t firing. Any thoughts? Seems odd that both coils would go bad. Game only has 600 plays on it.

What are thoughts on the best code update? I just read above me about the lack of high score entry on the newest code, but what about before that? Mine is on 19.10.24. Would you guys go with the currently available 20.09.23 or just leave what I have?

Thanks everyone! Game is a lot of fun so far!

I hope most have a spare membrane switch in the coin box,I sure do but I bought mine years ago at a different price point still a good idea.

The pop bumpers in that game were never super aggressive, but they always worked fine. I wonder if the easy play setting settled them down even more? I never noticed. May try taking the game off of easy and see if that changes them.

I hope it's something simple like that.

I would double check wiring solder connections. Have you confirmed coil operability in the coil tests via the service menu? Coils rarely go bad - doubt that this is an issue with either.

I would also definitely update the code as there have been a bunch of bug fixes/upgrades since your version.
oktoberfest_release_notes.pdf

Thanks Johnny, I’ll check to see if it’s easy settings. I did a factory reset so not sure if easy is still installed. I would assume it would bump that back to normal. I’ll double check.

Loving the game so far!

Yeah, checked them visually and don’t see any broken wires. In test the switches register but the coils do not. I agree that it would be extremely odd for even one coil to go bad, let alone two. Although it would be extremely odd for two coils to come disconnected as well. I’m scratching my head on this one.

I really want to keep high score entry in multiplayer games so I don’t want to upgrade to the newest code. Any notable issues like that with 20.09.23 that you know of?

Thank you for the help!

Lift up the play field and you'll see around the middle the Multimorphic PD-16 boards. These boards control the coils and on the left and right side of the boards are fuses. Check those. If one blows it'll shut down the transistors controlling the coils. Unplug machine!! If it was only one coil I'd blame a transistor but multiple it likely means the fuse has blown.

Report back.

So just to be sure, have you tested the coils with the coin door closed, or better yet started a game with the glass off and manually tested the coils? I have adjusted the coil switches too sensitive in the past and had issues with the coils not firing because they eventually appeared as closed when starting the game. I imagine there is some software coding that will disable them if found to be closed when the game starts to prevent them from locking on and cooking themselves. I opened the gaps of the switches and have not had an issue since.

do they fire in test?

I’ll give this a try in the next couple of days and report back! Thank you!

Coin door was open but I pulled the interlock switch out. All other coils fired fine except these two. When playing, the game will register the switch hits still but the coils don’t fire.

No, they do not. Switches work though.

Thank you all for the help!

if they don't work in test (and all other coils on that board work) it is either bad transistors or wiring. Odds of two transistors being blown seems less likely than a wiring issue. I'd start by checking the connector on the driver board and make sure it is fully secure and all pins are inserted properly. I'd trace the wiring to and confirm there are no breaks connection issues.

Thank you for helping with this.

I have more info, I bought that game years ago, nib, and right out of the box the pop bumpers always seemed very weak, compared to my other games, but I just always assumed it was an AP thing, and never thought anything about it.

For sure the pop bumpers were working nib, just very weak.

So please, think about this, for sure working, but very weak right out of the box, to not working at all like SNES is talking about.

This was a very awesome game, and I had it for years, but my girlfriend grew to not like it, so I finally sold it for space for something else she would get into more.

I never added any mods, so no issues with any add-ons.

First thing I did was to change it to adult, and I did change the power setting for the flipper for the beer barrel ramp, and before I sold it I changed it to easy, to try to get my girlfriend interested again.

That is all I know, but if I read anything else and think I may can help also, I will post again.

When I sold this game, I thought it was in 100% working condition, because everything was the same as when it was unboxed.

I hope this helps.

Oh, also, not sure if the T in TAP ever worked, but that never bothered me, because this game had so much going on anyway.

I never once popped the hood, but I did have to pull the glass a few times to get stuck balls out of areas after coming off the beer barrel ramp, before I added the pipe on that ramp, and that fixed the having to pull the glass to dig out stuck ball issue.

I no longer own this game, but I still stand behind it, and I will help in anyway I can.

This is an awesome game, someday if I'm ever single again, I may very well purchase another one.

Girlfriend of 7 years is pretty good, so trying to keep her happy.

I did by bending the wire ramp part down. Not sure if it will last. The change they made to the vuk wire form after mine was nice so it doesn't put pressure on that plastic ramp below. I didn't raise the vuk yet. I will if it starts ramping off again.

This was the problem area! Fuses were good, but there was one cable not in all the way. Pushed it in and good to go. Easy solution. Thank you for pointing me toward those boards!

Thank you everyone else for helping as well!

Had a cable popped partially off. Thank you for the help! Back to flipping! Really enjoying the game so far!

I had a flipper linkage break. More specifically the piece that holds the linkage together fell out. I hammered it back in to play for a little bit but definitely not a permanent fix. What flippers does American use? I don’t see any American specific rebuild kits available. I found a thread saying Houdini uses WPC. Is that true for Oktoberfest as well?

Thanks all!

AP do sell parts on their site - including flipper assemblies. Many of their parts can be sourced on Pinball Life's site too.

Prost

I don’t need a whole assembly so I will do some more digging on Pinball Life. Thank you so much!

Edit: ended up finding the part on Pinball Life. It was Bally/Williams. Thank you again!

I have been reading through this whole thread and it sounds like the biggest issue people have results around the membrane switches. I have been in contact with someone that can potentially help make a replacement for these that will be much more reliable. I’m hoping some people here may be able to help us out!

Does anyone have a spare membrane switch (working or not) they would be willing to send?

I know this is a longer shot, but does anyone have a spare corkscrew or beer barrel trough they would be willing to send?

Does anyone know the details of this white connector in the picture? What is it called? The thought being we would like to plug a male connector into the female directly.

Anything shipped in would be returned. I just don’t live near my contact and don’t want to take my game apart and make it unplayable. Having too much fun with it!

Thanks everyone!

IMG_1362 (resized).jpeg

Additionally, any know a distributor that would have the knocker kit for this game? I ordered through American but they just cancelled my order and said they are out of stock with no restock in sight. I looked online and called a couple of distributors as well with no luck. Any leads would be appreciated!

PM sent! Thank you!

Hi Oktoberfestguys,

I’ve joined the club two days ago and i’ve been reading the complete thread, in search of an answer.

What would you do if you had a choice between a new Oktoberfest Pinball and one of these legendary three prototypes?
I have the possibility to get the only device in Europe. The price would be the same as for a new Oktoberfest-Pinball.
What would be the advantages or disadvantages between these two devices?
Thank you very very much for your numerous answers.

Best wishes from Munich, the Hometown of Oktoberfest.
Servus, und bis bald
Michael

If it was me and I had the money for either, I would choose new. I don't see much of the allure with a prototype pin. If I had one of the prototypes I would be less likely to play it thinking it would have to be preserved or something. I'd much rather play it than admire it. Either way, Oktoberfest is a blast to play so get one.

MichaelMunich I had this option a couple years back directly from AP. Big take away {as i was told} was updates would not be possible on the prototype games. Unless it had the original proto backglass or characters in the bumper cars I would pass....and did. Different cab art ws not enough to go that route for me with the limited code upgrade/tech support. Mine was a 2019 run, been rock solid. Upgraded Otto from Rosh if you can find one is the single best upgrade.

EDIT: found email prior to my purchase, this was the info i got.

“1. Oktoberfest Prototype game which was presented to Chicago Pinball expo 2018 and its rare game as no other game similar to that with limited code update capacity. Once game sold, it will have limited technical support considering limited run of that game. Although game is completely functional with limited updates till Nov 2018. This will be priced at $500.00 off. Not Return, Limited Software and Technical Support.

2. Oktoberfest Prototype cabinet –
We have different artwork on earlier cabinets which we showed, rest will be same as regular production game. ”