I've sent 5 emails now since the beginning of December with no answer to my question. (I have 2 deposits in - 1 for Alien LV the other for TBL).
I sent an email on Monday and got a 'Sorry we've been busy because of the holidays, I'll get back to you later today"
It's now Wednesday and no follow up - sent another email today.
I don't want to be a pain in the ass, but it seems like a reasonable request.

All I am asking is my place in line - not when the machines will ship or anything else.

Call Mellissa.. the number on CT webpage is cell, you will get her.

Craziest thing though. I never called or emailed CT and I got my game just fine. Not exactly 'quick' or when I wanted it, but it came. Strange.

I don't doubt it. It's just frustrating that a relatively simple question can't be answered.

Yes, I could do that. But then why bother having the contact emails posted on the site... but this has all been rehashed a few times already.

I don't want to just be another person in the line beating that horse again... just venting a little frustration, that's all.

I know it will get here 'when it gets here' and that knowing my place in line will not make that any faster or slower... I'm just feeling frustrated like a lot of other folks.

How do you earn xtra balls?

Complete 3 life cycles will light extra ball, not sure if there are other ways

Right, completing X Lifecycles (adjustable) ... also advancing bonus X past 4+2+6 ... also Mother Mystery award. Winning X scenes (adjustable) lights Special, which can be set for EB. And of course you can set Replay score for EB as well.

Which springs does PB use in their flipper mech? One spring is already torn and therefore I would like to order a few as spare parts.

Thx in advance!

Not being impatient, the game will get here when it gets here, but I’d love to have an idea when that might be…

To those receiving an LV from the first lot, when did you pay the $1,000 deposit?

I indicated interest to Melissa December 2020, and paid the $1,000 deposit September 25. I haven’t heard anything, and similar to others, no response to email.

I went through this process with TBL, and Melissa is solid gold so I don’t want to bother her by calling, although I know she would answer.

I paid my 1400 deposit on 12/2020, paid invoice last week lv game#2

12/19 - asked to reserve a spot for me for LV
12/20 - final confirmation on specific LV # reserved
1/9 - put $1 down via CT website
10/1 - received down payment invoice and put $999 down

No final invoice yet.

The $1400 down was a transfer from a SV to LV - correct?

My game is now on 35 days of being dead. New code bricked it, Doesn't even recognize the drive anymore. "Supposedly" this computer was already replaced once. Can't get answers from PB, Cato keeps saying stuff to the factory for me but this has literally been the biggest piece of garbage I have ever purchased. Owned it 3 months and it has just been broken for most of it.

Not even sure what I can do at this point but they have sent me replacement things before but now I need something to get the game to even boot. I really wish they would send me a new machine at this point.

Oh man this really sucks - 35 days down without being playable in any way, I cant say I blame you for hating the thing. Minor issues, eg targets malfunctioning, switches not registering is one thing. Having a bricked machine is another thing entirely, I really hope they sort this for you soon.

Yea, had the down on sv but announced lv so shifted over once I heard. Hope this helps.

That sucks. They should send you a new computer + drive to replace it all. Hopefully Cato will come through on this, he seem like a great support guy what I've heard.

He is not as responsive as he was when the issues were "minor" initially. This is the second time it's been down for over two weeks and supposedly before I got this it had a new computer in it as well. He's taking a week or so for responses now.

I'm curious, are you the original owner? If not, you get a great deal on a broken machine? some sample games were sold at a huge discount. What's the build date? Maybe Cato can get a local shop to take it in as a project and just send you a new game. Hope Cato sorts this out for ya, that sucks man. I would rather deal with Cato than any other manufacture, your in good hands.

These type of issues are what concern me long term on these newer 'pc' base games. Hope they get you taken care of.

Do you know anything about computers? Are you able to tell if the PC comes on? Powers on? Gets stuck on something with the drive, etc? Or are you completely reliant on Cato's troubleshooting?

I can say that the connectors between the PC and the outboards in the cabinet can be flaky, and any piece of this hardware can go bad at any time. The same troubleshooting process applies though as the older machines. Start at the power and work your way through the order of what should be coming on.

I've been asking for a new game for awhile. I bought this game from someone who had it for three weeks, so it is one of the first batch. Supposedly the computer was replaced when he got it as he also had issues but I did not know the level of stuff that was going on until I had the machine. It literally started having issues within 30 min after I got it. It's been nothing but a nightmare. I paid $9250 I believe for this.

Cato has just been slow for whatever reason. Literally no excuse at this point. I need a new machine. The hard drive won't show in the boot menu. We've been through all this with him. He sent me a new one, it lasted one day. It's crazy how bad this machine is. He's been great about sending parts before because half the machine had issues (mind you I run this on location) but I am over it at this point. Pirates didn't break this much and I sold that.

The nice thing about using PCs is that as long as we find something that'll fit, we can probably always stuff a whole new PC in at worst, even long after PB is out of business. Any time I get a game with a PC in it I take a full disk image just in case

So I received a FedEx alert today and got excited that I was going to eat my words but false alarm. It was something else I ordered. Fingers crossed we get shipment alerts this week and I eat my words and all is right with the world!!

Interesting... I worry much less about these issues on PC based games. Hardware will exist to run x86 or ARM based Linux software for a very, very long time, just because of the enormous scale of those platforms in every industry. I don't have tons of faith that, say, my WPC games will be fixable down the road when the MPU board fails. That relies on a small number of highly specialized vendors like Rottendog or Alltek.

It's not really the hardware that concerns me so much. It's more about how the drives and data on them are usually locked/encrypted etc. That adds complication down the road in keeping things running.

Mmmm I miss eating my words “Alienbits” we’re the best!

3ADDDBF3-EAC1-4582-96E3-BC3F24927719 (resized).jpeg

Same thing happened to me. Went from amped to sadness haha

I'm getting a ton of bounce-backs to drain from the gate. Ball goes through, hits the sling post rubber and goes back through before the gate closes.
Is mine mounted correctly? Thinking about reversing it to give the gate more room to drop.
Thought I'd check in here first since it seems like a job getting to that top screw holding it on.

20220116_184300 (resized).jpg

If you reverse the gate, you will need to re-bend the end of the wire to allow the one-way gate to open correctly.

Alternatively how high can the gate open - is it much higher than the height of the ball? If you reduce the height that it can swing open (yet still allow the ball through) this will reduce the time it takes for the gate to close. I've seen various methods used on Stern's JP for this purpose however it's a bit hard to see the top of gate in your pic as to whether either of these would work

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/jurassic-park-stern-2019-owners-club-welcome-to-jurassic-park/page/78#post-5456180
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/jurassic-park-stern-2019-owners-club-welcome-to-jurassic-park/page/82#post-5486029

Thanks. I'll look into those options. Could I also just drill holes on the right side of the bracket and move the wire tobthe right a bit? That would give it more room to drop once the ball goes through?

I took the plunge today and preordered Aliens LV! Kind of nervous about the quality, but the aliens theme makes me think it will be worth it!

Contact Cato. I had a similar issue and they sent me a new gate that was reversed

Slow-mo vid shows it is hitting the post and bouncing around.

I took the lower gate post rubber off. It still bounces a bit but not getting rejects anymore.

It shouldn't be hitting that post as the ball should be going through higher up in the middle of the gate. I'd be adjusting the ball guide where it comes out from behind the APC targets. The other thing that'd affect this would be the pitch of the PF as the steeper the pitch the more likely it'll hit that post.

Don't think I can adjust that ball guide? Looks like it's screwed to the playfield right at the bottom.
Current pitch is 7.0

Loosen the screw(s), then push/flex the end of the ball guide up while doing up the screw - you don't need much change to affect the trajectory of the ball.

What pitch is recommended? For example if this game is designed/setup for 6.5 degrees, then this could be a consequences of making the game steeper and hence why you need to re-adjust the ball guide to direct the ball to gate

Great idea to do a disk image! Think I'll do the same.

I thought 6.5 was max. Mine is about 6.2 and I don't have this problem much at all.

Is PB still on Xmas hols? I put my first ticket in nearly a week ago and have heard nothing.

I'm running 7.5 degrees with no issues and makes it a bit faster. Also just removed mid centre post on left drain to speed things up and works well.
Trim back from powdercoaters and custom cabinet, translite and apron art all on its way. Will post up picks when fitted.

I did the same last week, the theme just draws you. Then you find out about the mods this game looks awesome. Plus you can't have all sterns!

Better.

I paid my $1400 deposit to Cointaker for an LV on 12/18/20 and still no final invoice.

You must have transferred your SV deposit?

Nice. Did you bend the guide rail? I've been having bounce outs too, but haven't played with it.

Yes. Had to bend it.

Can someone share their fix for the scoop?

I adjusted my pitch and the strength of the coil but it isn't consistent, I'm still getting a lot of SDTM returns.

What is the reduced coil strength you set it to?

50%, seems to do the job about 60% of the time. Have you had better luck with a different coil strength?