Very interesting. Thanks for the update. I wonder if it’s software or hardware related. To me it sounds like hardware.

TinyBlackDog - thanks for sharing! Hopefully your flood is taken care of. That’s no fun.

Any feedback on your xeno? Is it working well?

Congrats to PB and also Cointaker for delivering on this....again. Excited to see more.

I was thinking would mirror side blades work well on this game. It would pick up all of the lights and make it a little brighter too although I’m just not sure it fits aesthetically.

Here are some comments on my Day 1 w/ Alien SV.

Packing: The machine is packed very well and arrived without any damage. The legs are placed on top of some thin styrofoam sheets at the top of the box, and the styrofoam didn't really hold up (it was in lots of tiny pieces). Nothing got damaged but I think PB needs to find a better way to pack the legs.

Cabinet: The cabinet is made from 3/4" plywood with black laminate on both sides. This seems to be used on all sides of the cabinet and the backbox, and should hold up really well. The build quality is excellent. There are clear plastic leg protectors attached to the cabinet - I kind of wish they were metal but they do the job and keep the legs from touching the cabinet and digging into the decals. Some have complained about the artwork (I don't agree - I think it looks just fine) - the decals are high quality and installed professionally. There is really not a single blemish on the outside or inside of the cabinet. I checked the speaker/sub wires before raising the head and they were plugged into the correct connectors.

Playfield Bottom: The slides on the bottom of the playfield run from front to back and allow you to pull the playfield out just a little or almost all the way. The playfield also rotates and stands vertically so you don't need to rest it against the backbox when working on the bottom side. Really nice clean design, with much of the wiring being zip-tied on the upper side of the rails. The bottom of the playfield is really clean (see Retrocengo's awesome unboxing video if you haven't already). There are no exposed boards - they are all enclosed in black metal cases either on the cabinet floor, attached to the bottom rear of the playfield, or in the backbox. There are 3 fuses in one of the boxes on the cabinet floor. More later on why I know where they are located

Setup was much like any other NIB pinball machine. There were 3 screws rattling around in the cabinet - two of them from the coin mechanism (these fall out of Sterns all the time) and another from one of the light boards. I installed the balls, put the glass back on, and fired it up for the first time (on off switch is under the cabinet where it belongs, though not in the typical Bally/Williams location).

“CABINET I/O NOT FOUND. CHECK DIP SETTINGS = 0. AND USB CABLES CONNECTED"

None of the playfield lights came on. Great. So I turned it off for 10 seconds and back on and this time it booted up successfully. The Xenomorph went through its power on test and I was able to play my first game. My first few games I was just getting a feel for things. The flippers felt a bit different from your typical strong Stern flippers. The slingshots are noticeably weaker than the Stern "outlane cannons". I noticed a couple of issues within the first game or two:

1. The MUTHUR eject was bouncing balls off the ball guide and not feeding cleanly to the upper left flipper. Need to tweak the angle of the coil bracket underneath.
2. Balls can get hung up on the hyper sleep ramp as they make the U turn at the back of the playfield. Need to take the plastic off and look closer.

However, before I could look at those minor issues I ran into a more significant one. I was in the middle of a multi ball and the MUTHUR and Airlock eject coils stopped ejecting balls. They eventually got ejected by a ball search but got stuck again. Shortly later my left flippers stopped flipping. I powered off the machine and back on and could not get it to boot up cleanly. I tried 4 times, with slightly different messages on the screen. At this point I called Melissa at Cointaker and she fired off an email to PB Support. Melissa suggested reseating the connectors in the backbox so I did that as well as connectors on the black cases in the cabinet and back of playfield. Nothing seemed to be loose and it didn't get me past the boot issue.

It was already mid afternoon (i.e. evening in Europe) so I added some details to her email and assumed I wouldn't hear back from PB until the next day. Much to my surprise I got an email about an hour later with a link to sign up to the PB support site (which is powered by Freshdesk). As soon as I logged in I saw a couple of FAQ messages - one that matched the error I was seeing on the screen and indicated it was due to a specific fuse blowing. I found the fuse had blown, replaced it, and was able to get it to boot up successfully. A few minutes later I got a very lengthy email from Cato at PB support addressing everything I pointed out in my email (about 6 different items). It included an offer to do a Skype call to walk through my problem, which I didn't need cause the fuse had already fixed it. It turns out that several of the items I brought up are already known and they are in the process of fixing in a future bios update. Moral of the story - if you see the message "Volume 10" on the screen during boot up - that means replace the rightmost fuse They'll clean that all up I'm sure - pains of being an early adopter.

From that point onwards, the game was trouble free and my son and I played it all night and he has been playing it this morning too. I still have occasional issues with the MUTHUR eject that I'll look at, as well as the hyper sleep ramp hangup. I think all of my switches are working properly.

Xenomorph: So far the Xeno mech seems to be doing what it is supposed to do. The mouth opens and closes when it is supposed to and the inner magnet does what it is supposed to. The only issue, and I think this was an issue with the OG as well, is that the playfield magnet doesn't always grab the ball. If you hit a slow shot right into the center of the target it always works, but a really fast shot or one that glances off the side and doesn't roll near the magnet, gets missed. I'm not sure how this could be resolved without increasing the size/power of the magnet. I know that the TWD prison and well walker magnets work similarly and seem to be more reliable. Not sure. Anyway I think the Xeno itself is working properly.

The game is such a BLAST to play. I'm going to try and get some gameplay video this weekend. I also want to take a look at the backbox extension connector with a multimeter and see if beacons might already be supported. The bass level is really good - you can feel it on the lockdown bar - so I will probably not worry about a shaker motor anytime soon.

Let me know if you'd like pictures or videos of anything in particular. Besides gameplay - I already know about that.

EDIT: I forgot to mention the screen. I absolutely LOVE the display location and size that was chosen. It is considerably larger than a Stern display (18.5" diagonal vs. 15.5" diagonal) and I prefer it being located at the bottom of the backbox vs above the speakers as in a JJP or the OG - much easier to glance up and see things. The display is really high quality. I think this is my favorite LCD display (quality + size + location) I've seen from any manufacturer. Some may wish for a bigger display mounted higher up but this is just PERFECT in my opinion. If I could get a no-cost upgrade to a JJP style display I wouldn't do it.

Interesting feedback, thanks for reporting here.

Interesting about the display. I had thought it looked bigger than Stern or R&M as well. Nice to hear it is a good quality.

Thanks for your report.

I got mine today and had to adjust the flippers right off the bat they were touching the playfield and also had to increase the spring tension. Had 1 issue where the ball would not launch but after a power off it has not happened again. The Xeno makes a lot of noise and seems labored when extending on startup so I opened a support ticket. The center magnet has yet to grab a ball to be eaten,lol, yet. so wondering if the magnet is turning on. Waiting on support to tell me how to test the coils, does not initiate test from start or launch button. Overall I think once the bugs get figured out it will be fine. It looks and sounds great.

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the chrome is starting to grow on me although I'm still prob powdering it. For the guys with their games - are those just general bally williams

It’s not chrome. It’s rough brushed metal. Like exactly how it came from the manufacturer that cut them. Haha

Must be stainless?

Probably.

I am powder coating mine basically raw metal yuck

yeah you're right. Damn. Yeah it will likely be powdered. I'm assuming it's standard bally williams parts on there (lockdown bar, side armor, etc)

Read my mind. Already been searching for lollypop rails to swap those to (for me) correct black powder coat on arrival. That was the Only stand out must fix I seen when the game was introduced. Getting the strobes you suggested and hope to see my game soon.

Did you find ones that will work? I want to order as well. Thanks!

I want to see if the artwork goes underneath the lollipop rails? I’d prefer to switch them out with just regular side rails without the protectors. Dont hide the art!

Remember the lockdown bar has latches and not the standard W/B sliding lock mech. So, you would have to get a new wide body receiver then.

D'oh!

That's a good point.

Also I would like more art too and trade with no lollis.

Rails would look great in chrome...

Had 1 issue where the ball would not launch but after a power off it has not happened since

Since being on location the same thing has happened twice, once each day where the customer was on last ball in a game and it would not fire from shooter lane. I rebooted after counting 10 secs and it worked fine for rest of the day. Its gotta be software related.

Had the same thing about the ball not launching from shooter lane happen to 2 random customers over the past two days. It happened to them on the 3rd ball and then the game kinda just flakes. I took glass off and manually moved ball to flipper lane , flippers work but scoop and lights on playfield froze no response. Power game off 10 secs and reboot and game works fine for rest of day. Gotta be software related. Im Sure an update to code will make a couple oddities go away.
One other thing is had to change my pricing to custom because under 1 play for $1 worked on right coin slot but left one registered 1 quarter as dollar. Checked the wiring as faq said to wired propertly. When i went to custom pricing their are 4 adjustments im guessing for left and right side, $1 connection and maybe international. Two of them were set to 4 instead of 1 quarter. Again a software adjustment from technical support will fix it in a newer code.

Wow!! That game looks.......amazing.
Really love those new ramps.
This is looking like a home run.

I emailed cointaker to get my name on an LV, is there any indication of how many LV’s will be made and how many are spoken for?

Think they were preferring this route to manage the LV interest list:

https://cointaker.com/products/alien-limited-version-interest-list

As far as number...details coming.

I'd be interested in what their LV list is up to. Let us know what number on the list you get. They're making 500 LV's.

500 right?

If it isn't 426, they failed.

When is the container full of games suppose to ship? Sure hope they address some of these issues before sending more.

I've been out of the pinball loop lately, life been busy, didn't realize these were really starting to ship for real now. Very cool, I'm with Joe, glad people are getting another shot to play this.

I'm not sure what info on the game changes is public or not at this point, so best that I just not say anything, but very curious to see how the differences work out. Since the games are out in public I think it's safe enough to say that the playfield underside sure looks cleaner now!

Is there a manual or any other information included?

dude.. (avrell) you're the godfather of this whole operation! (for some reason) I'm hoping they got it covered this time! but we all know you got thissss if they slip up !

Last I heard from Melissa, she was confirming with them the latest on where things were. Not the best answer but it feels like the next two weeks or so. We’ll see.

Nicest ramps I’ve seen on pinball - they should all look like that

Personally, i'm using this one until ...
https://www.flippermarkt.de/community/howto/cms/media/pages/pdfs/anleitungen/Rulesheet_Alien_V1_0.pdf

You should use the latest version available at IPDB.

always nice to see you back!

Glad to see people starting to get these home!

Seems to point to the same one ...

No, there's a second entry below... Version 1.2.

I can’t be the only one wondering.... how’s the game after a few days?

I didn’t have a lot of time to spend on the game until Saturday. I decided to pull the glass and look at some of the things I’d been noticing. Some notes in no particular order:

1. I had balls getting stuck on the hypersleep ramp. I pulled the plastic off the top and found that one of holes in the plastic was drilled slightly off. When attached, it torqued the ramp in a way that narrowed the top slightly and caused balls to bind. I drilled the hole a bit wider and the problem is fixed completely. PB was aware of the issue and is sending me a new corrected plastic.

2. Several of my weapon stand ups were not registering. I took them all out and adjusted them but I have to say I’m not a big fan of their design. They are transparent and have a micro switch and rgb led attached to the backing plate (the led is not currently hooked up to anything). The micro switch on half the switches doesn’t “click” anymore when pressed. I was able to get them working again but I’m not sure this is a very bulletproof design - there is a reason leaf switches have been used for so long. I’ve asked PB to send me some replacement switches for the ones that don’t click properly. Is this the same design that was used on the OG Alien? Image attached below.

3. Fixed some other minor things - bulb had fallen out of the START GAME button, the tilt switch wasn’t working due to a loose connection, I adjusted the angle of the MUTHUR kick out coil to make it a cleaner feed to the upper left flipper.

4. There are tests in the settings for BEACON and TOPPER 2. I wanted to test the “Backbox Extension Out” connector to see if those pins are wired for beacons, but there is very little space at the bottom of the PC board in the backbox. I’m going to need to order a 2x5 molex connector (think it is .062”) and build a breakout cable to be able to test properly.

5. There are obviously software glitches. I get the CABINET I/O MISSING message on power on occasionally and it sometimes takes 2 tries to boot successfully. Sometimes the MUTHUR or airlock scoops don’t detect a ball until you hit a flipper button. I’ve had two balls ejected into play by mistake. I don’t think the logic for the upper posts that divert into the pops is always working properly. Xeno playfield magnet does not seem to grab the ball as it should. FYI PB was already aware of pretty much all these things and are working on fixing them.

6. I’m getting ball trails after not very many plays, suggesting that they are using rubber and not silicone or polyurethane on their bands. Except for the flippers which are yellow. I’m going to do my usual Titan rings and Cliffy post sleeve swap. I’ll ask PB for a rubber list and share it here.

I don’t mean to sound negative by all of the above - these were all things I expected as an early adopter and I’ve reported everything to PB so they know about them and can do a better job on future builds. The game is so much fun to play - this is a dream theme for me and the immersion is off the charts. PB is proactively reaching out to me for my experience and are obviously listening to everything I tell them. I’ve asked to be a part of their beta firmware program to help test new versions of code.

Sorry no gameplay video yet. I got another toy yesterday (a 22l Ultrasonic Cleaner) and spent the evening cleaning everything I could fit in it from my Shadow tear down. Hopefully soon.

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Except for the ramp issue I have had the same issues, I noticed sometimes the weapons target do not register hits also. My center magnet is not working at all but will continue to trouble shoot the issue next week (out of town for this week) PB has been responsive to my issues so like Tiny I am aware that things like this would crop up but am confident will be resolved with code updates and part support. Plus we have this forum which will help us all in the future. Now who is going to make some strobe mods lol?

After 5 days on location
Heres what I have found
1)I was getting balls ricocheting off upper right flipper and getting wedged near or under right wireform and funny enough right on top of right upper flipper. Part level issue, partly due to wild ball flip during multiball. I adjusted the wireform in my case a tad lower /down manually releveled and no more problem.
2) i had a flakey left ramp opto situation on friday night that melissa at cointaker is helping me with and PB will be remedying very soon with new parts as they are coming across the globe not from Chicago. Keep in mind these things we are finding are helping PB and cointaker to have all the necessary parts on hand and available when you all start getting your machines shortly, the new waves of them coming oversees will include all the parts tou will need in case anythinglike what happened to us.. Before you play your game take off the glass and check each of your optos, spinners, and switchs with a ball manually while in test mode mode individual switches to confirm everything is operating properly. Btw shout out to cointaker contacting me quickly, great customer service from 1st time buyer from them, great people.
3) the small stand up targets, Ive had one that sticks due to on mine a height difference of metal backing and like a plastic burr on plastic part that causes stuck switch error. Part of it is alignment part faulty part. PB will be taking care of this too. Its not a bad design but they will take a beating over the years on location, i will be ordering extra sets when they become available as I am a location.
4) as mentioned above there are software bugs that they are already aware of that as an early adopter of this game we know we have a road ahead us that most of you wont have to endure. They are working on updates of the bugs as we all find them that affect us. sometimes just cause of english programming vs international like coin pricing values will we find one that wont affect u as a home buyer set on free play.
5) the playfield will dimple,get over it. it still looks great after a lot of players, you at home will not have it as much as yours will not be played like mine. I am pleased with their playfield so far and seems to play faster than heighways.
6) you will probably never ever have this happen to but i had moved around cables under the playfield near the mainpower switch box. Its black rectangle metal box on the floor to right of sub speaker. In doing so the black mesh wire cable shifted inside the box and pushed one of the wires closer to the cooling fan causing a vibration noise. I disconnected main power before removing metal cover to find that it had been zipped tied in a loose way to when i moved the black cable it shifted internally 2 of the wires around. One new ziptie later away from plastic fan blades and the problem wont happen again. Again this is an early build probably wont happen to you as they are in a learning curve with the first batch.
6) the railing that hold the playfield to it when you remove the playfield are not rounded and may have sharp edges that you should not slide your hands down when moving it out of the cabinet. Keep bandaids near, haha, ps im a klutz so this type of thing happened to me.
7) as early adopter, on the playfield railing there is at the bottom of the railings a black box mounted to it controlling various thing, mine is missing one screw and would shift the box when i raised the playfield vertically (btw its a neat design on the railing system that allows the playfield to remain vertical and not touch the backbox when you pull it out and raise it up) its two screws that hold the black box to frame, mine happened to be missing one. Its minor just pointing it out.
7) NOTE: PB is an international company. They are not phillips screws and standard nuts like most games you've had from stern or williams bally. They are star screws and metric nuts. Do not strip out thinking they are american scale.

Besides the above and understand I say this truthfully to most all home owners of games, you will not have near what happens to me happen to you and the above is not bad it can be hectic cause its your new baby but once you get taken care of and I have no doubt you will, this company has alot to prove and loves pinball like you and has background in being a location guys. so they know how to put a game together that will be easy to maintenance when it breaks cause all electronics and hardware will. I love this game, this theme, i even love how easy it is work on. and again as early adopter on location with more people touching my than you ever will it is a great addition to the herd. I have 35 games on route now and this one has caught everyones eye. Alot of fun to play and it will keep getting better. I look forward to purchasing future titles from PB. Great job team.

Can you tell me how you adjusted the angle.
mine is works half time smooth to left upper flipper and then I get a little wider release sometimes

I loosened the two screws holding the coil bracket and rotated it as far as I could in one direction, I think clockwise because that is away from the rail, tightened it down and played it a bit. It actually got worse. Then I did the same and rotated the opposite direction and tried again and it seemed better. It is still not 100% but good enough for now.

I might have the directions wrong above - just try one way and then the other and see which works better. Cato said not to move the holes in the playfield but if necessary, the holes in the coil bracket could be enlarged to give it more play. I didn't want to go that far yet.

There are two minor things I'm disappointed in right now:

1) The design of the weapon target switches. These should be leaf switches and not push button micro switches.
2) This is more of an overall design decision that carried over from the OG - but I don't like the way that the area above the slings/inlanes/outlanes is hidden from view. It is really difficult to figure out when you should be nudging a ball out of that area when you lose track of the ball before it gets there. The aesthetics of the habitrails is very cool - but the drawback is hiding everything under them.

Thanks for providing your location feedback - you are going to get way more play then a home use machine will so this is really valuable for PB and future buyers.

My suggestion for the kick out (@pballjunkie’s is definitely inconsistent)

Can you adjust it like classic kick outs? Is it a metal arm that kicks it out? If so, try adjusting that arm.

No arm - just a coil that fires directly into the ball sitting in the scoop. The only adjustments are the screws mounting it to the playfield, or bending the bracket to adjust the angle (not something I want to do).

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Slo mo video from above the playfield when the ball kicks out to see what is causing it to go off course.

Looks like JJP on the G&R has this scoop issue as well.