This is the second “deposit” that they put up after the first one (for Q1 2021) sold out. I was very early in the first one but still haven’t heard anything about my actual position in line or when we might be getting the games. I plan to give Melissa a call tomorrow.

I posted what I heard from Melissa yesterday that 22 games were built and that 2 or 3 would be sent by air freight and the rest by sea. Never said that anything had been shipped. I suspect the above is all accurate, but that it may be awhile (Weeks?) until they actually ship them due to the latest post from PB.

That is all I found, and is just a video talking about the Cointaker ad - no video of the actual machine.

I haven’t reached out and I’m first on her list. Just got a Shadow that I’m having a blast with so I’m all good.

22 by sea is what she told me, but take that with a grain of salt. Still waiting for the first 4 to arrive at Cointaker and be sent out. (Yes I know about the one at Ayce Gogi - apparently they bypassed the line and got one shipped direct from PB). Seems like it would take longer to get to CA than PA, so I don’t think they were sent at the same time.

I just ordered a couple of beacons on AliExpress that look similar to the OG ones but only cost $50 a pair. Hopefully by the time they arrive we'll figure out how to get them working.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002023875218.html?spm=a2g0s.12269583.0.0.1eb6c9f0TtoSqE

No guarantee that they will work or if the SE will even support beacons. Or the LV for that matter. It is a gamble but not a very expensive one.

Exactly. If there is a beacon test in the software I’ll activate that and probe the Backbox Extension Out pins with a multimeter to see what I can discover. Should be simple.

The airlock is supposed to have a factory protector, at least according to the description on Cointaker:

“Airlock Scoop Assembly with playfield protector”

Did that get dropped from the production machines?

Possibly - and that would be my preference. I am not a fan of Cliffys on HUO machines but like to use them on routed machines if I am covering repairs or existing damage. I might take some slo-mo video of the airlock eject and see if the ball hits the edge of the playfield. If it doesn’t, then a Cliffy isn’t doing anything but looking ugly.

This is all personal preference and I feel the same way about playfield protectors. When I buy a machine with Cliffys I always wonder what the seller is trying to hide underneath.

Looks like the first shipment of 4 units finally arrived at Cointaker and are being trucked onwards. I just got a shipment email. It is finally happening!

If you're going to be in the Atlanta area, absolutely hit me up.

I will probably skip the unboxing video since it will pale next to Retrocengos awesome video, but I will absolutely take lots of pics and videos.

I just scheduled delivery w/ Fedex Freight for Wednesday morning. Fingers crossed for no rain so I can get it into the basement.

Beautiful! Don't forget to check if the speaker/subwoofer cables have been switched in the backbox.

Yeah, very nice collection. Is this a commercial location? Just guessing due to the parking lot and Exit sign. if so, I wish I lived near you!

The eagle has landed! Shout out to the awesome delivery driver from FedEx Freight that brought it all the way around my house to my lower basement door. I usually have to fight with drivers to bring it to my garage (I have a kind of steep driveway).

Unboxing and setup later this afternoon.

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I woke up this morning to a partially flooded basement (we have had crazy amounts of rain this week) and took the day off work to deal with that. Having a boxed Alien sitting there made the cleanup work take forever. I finally took a break early this afternoon and got Alien setup.

I’ll post more later but the short version is that despite the flooded basement, and needing to be introduced to PB Support already to deal with some problems, I’m currently grinning from ear to ear. I’ve never played Alien before but completing Loader Battle was one of those “special” pinball moments. Lots more to come, but for now I’m back to vacuuming up water…

Ok, one quick pic. The lighting on this game is so awesome, and I think all the lights are RGB. Star posts are lit from beneath and these translucent light blocks are used all over the playfield in place of standard stainless steel ball guides. I think I'll replace a lot of the black rubber with transparent titan silicone.

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I had a chance to put a dozen games on it this evening and made a short video showing some of the lighting effects. I’d like to do some gameplay video but I’m not set up for streaming and would need to do it with a phone camera - will play around with that tomorrow. I’ll post my thoughts, issues, and experience with PB support later. Thank you Ferret for coding such an amazing game. Love the variety of modes and overall polish. I need to dig into rules cause I have no clue how weapons work. Also not sure what stacks with what. I think I had two multiballs stacked together, possibly with another mode. All I know is my score went nuts.

Pinball Brothers have put together a really solid product at a fantastic price point. If you compare this to a Stern premium I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

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.

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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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.

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).

Screen Shot 2021-05-09 at 2.06.33 PM (resized).png

Averell I appreciate everything you have done on the OG Alien - you have been a huge source of information in the main Alien thread and I really value your opinion. However I think you’re being overly dramatic here. Let’s wait and see how PB responds before claiming they “failed in many ways”.

From what I understand, these combo RGB led/micro switch boards were used in the OG for the Xeno, chestburster, and recharge standup targets. These are all lit and larger than the weapon targets. In the remake they’ve decided to use those same boards for the weapon targets rather than leaf switches, even though they don’t need to be lit. My feedback to them has been that I’m concerned about the durability of these, given that 3 of 5 of mine didn’t work. I think part of it is the narrower target face has to be perfectly aligned with the board, whereas the larger targets don’t require perfect alignment. I’m still waiting to hear back from them on a solution.

Outside of the switches the remake is awesome and improves on the original in many ways. I’m willing to cut them some slack here and give them a chance to show they listen to feedback.

https://www.pinballbrothers.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/216-01-03-00_Target_LED_15x25mm_V01.pdf
https://www.pinballbrothers.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/216-01-04-00_Target_LED_25x25mm_V01.pdf

How often are those micro switches being hit head on with a full speed pinball? I think that is what they are not designed for. See the PDFs I linked above.

Good news: I heard back from PB and they tell me that the factory has redesigned the weapon target switches and will be sending me new ones. No idea what the redesign involves, but I’m sure they don’t want to be replacing these multiple times so I’m hopeful they will get it right the first time. I’d be happy if they were just leaf switches.

BlackFlag Thanks for the awesome video. I watched the whole thing last night despite not understanding a word. I also had no idea that Alf was a cat.

I notice that your MUTHUR lane kick out is very smooth and it seems like the coil is much lower powered than mine is. I have been trying to adjust mine under the playfield and it is still not a consistent smooth feed to the upper left flipper. Did you make any adjustments to yours or has it always been that way? I tried lowering the coil strength to -25% but it still is coming out much stronger than yours. I am planning on taking a slow mo video to analyze further, but seeing your video almost makes me think my coil is too strong.

Do you have any problems with the up posts by the pop bumpers? In Derelict Ship mode I think that both orbits should get stopped and dropped into the pops but mine does not do that all the time. They do work fine in test mode.

Interesting. There is not much clearance for the coil plunger to go through the playfield - I wonder if after your adjustment it is now rubbing against the playfield and that is causing it to reduce power. Just a guess. I'll be taking videos to try to diagnose further, and will work with Cato to come up with a better solution for everyone. I'm not the only one having problems.

Now, heres the other adjustments done on my machine :
Right + Left Flip = +10%
Upper Right Flip = +25% (as the Hypersleep ramp is pain to climb!)
Upper left Flip = Factory default to avoid drop targets destruction.
Lowered the kicker to -5% as sometimes the ball pulls out like hurricane.

I have not played with coil setting much, apart from the trough kickout and auto launcher, which I reduced some. They are not working 100% yet so I will continue tweaking these. I may increase the flipper strengths a bit as they are a bit underpowered (I've been playing too many Sterns).

Now, concerning the up posts by the bumpers, we have the same feeling here. It seems they don't always come out but not easy to check while playing.
I bet on a code issue for that.

I agree here. Pretty sure this is software related - or perhaps the proximity switches that detect the orbit shots are not 100% accurate. I wish through-playfield switches were used rather than proximity.

My main issues are/been :
Random Xeno initialization scheme
Random Xeno work : sometimes i feel like the xeno and the magnet are not working synchronioulsy
Lock 1 (opto) in Hypersleep chamber not perfectly aligned, now Opto 1 is fine but move to opto 3 (certainly after after re-assemblig the ramp)
Sometimes a ball step between reserve and shooting lane, due to the small plastic part which preserve the playfield but just shaking smoothly the machine pull the ball either back inside or in the lane.
And rarely randomly either the machine don't notice the (last) ball is drained or on the opposite consider you've lost the last ball then shut down flip and ... "You failed" ! :p

I think I've also run into just about all of these. I suspected a software issue with the hypersleep chamber coil as well, but maybe it is opto related. I'll need to look at that.

What a fun game though! I'm having a blast playing it.

Not happening on mine. I have had it enter a multiball at the start of a ball before, but believe that is a software glitch. There are certainly a few of those.

I’ve been pretty up front and honest about all the issues I’ve had with my machine. A lot of people avoid the first machines off a production line for this reason. I also am incredibly impressed with the response I’ve gotten from PB support to my issues. That’s why I’m not worried.

If you want all the bugs worked out BEFORE you buy - I’d wait another 3 months.

It was a great stream. I was watching on a TV so wasn’t following chat but it sounded like Joe Schober was on explaining rules. There were a few glitches I saw, but I may have missed some as I was multi-tasking.

1) During the first game it got into a state where the game lost track of the number of balls and it wouldn’t allow one of the players to end their turn. There was a ball in the hypersleep lock and I think that was related. I’ve had a few times where a ball gets in there and will not be ejected. I’m sure this is a software bug.

2) Several times an extra ball got put into play during ball launch. I’ve not seen this happen on my machine so it is likely a flaky ball trough switch or shooter lane switch.

3) Flaky weapon target switch. No surprise here. I heard from PB support and they claim they have relocated the position of the micro switch on the target - not the kind of fix I was hoping for but I’ll wait till I get them to see for sure.

4) Similar issues I’ve reported with the up posts not stopping the ball during Derelict Ship. Pretty sure this is also a software issue.

Karl wasn’t able to get into a groove bouncing between chat and the 2 other players. They didn’t even get into hypersleep multiball the entire stream, though there were a few good scores posted. Stacking two multi-balls with a mode is clearly a great scoring strategy. I hadn’t grasped the power of the shotgun as a ball saver until this stream - this will be much easier when my weapon targets actually work.

Thanks for this tip. The feed was so smooth on the RB Flip and IE Pinball streams. I really want to fix mine and will give the foam a try.

I thought that the blue shot was always supposed to direct into the pop bumpers, and that is not consistent on my game. Seems strange that it would not always give you “egg” hits.

Mine does work correctly in test mode.

I heard back that they don’t have a list but will put one together for me. I’ll post it when I get it.

Tongue magnet always works if the ball has been grabbed by the playfield magnet - but the playfield magnet is less than 75% for me. It works most of the time if it is a shot that bounces into the xeno target from somewhere else (I.e. slow moving ball), but fast direct shots are never caught. It doesn’t work nearly as well as the TWD prison and well walker magnets.

Great question and I’d love to know. The well walker one in particular is impressive, since the ball could be bouncing off the edge of the WW and heading in a completely different direction, yet still get pulled onto the magnet every time.

6 times? Wow - I didn't remember the TWD magnets being that large. I was hoping it was just a timing thing (like chuckwurt mentioned) but there is likely no easy fix with that difference in surface area.

Now where did I put my hole saw bits....

I have a guess on a feature that will NOT be in the LV: A playfield screen. If you think they'd go to the trouble of redesigning the playfield and light boards to simplify manufacturing, and then go and make two different versions? I don't see that happening. The Super Awesome podcast reveal from last December should have convinced everybody of this, but there are still doubters.

Sorry not yet. I will remind them.

I’m expecting the new weapon switches to arrive this Wednesday. I’ll post pics of the design changes when I get them.

I got my replacement target switches today from Pedretti. They "feel" better, but I swear I can't find any design changes from the ones originally on my machine. Maybe I'm missing something. Here are some pictures (the one with the green cable is the old switch)

I'll install them and see how it goes, but I'm not confident these will be any better.

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Thanks chuckwurt - that is what I was expecting to see as Cato told me they moved the microswitch. I was sent six switches and none of them have a repositioned microswitch.

Looking at your pic - it seems they just drilled an extra hole in the switch board and slid the whole thing down. Lol

These are similar (newer revision) to the ones that were used for the larger targets (Xeno, Chestburster, Recharge) on the OG - and there were lots of complaints about them then. Now they've adopted them to be used on the narrower weapon targets too, which are failing like crazy. I think the OG used leaf switches for the weapon targets, which is what I'd rather see them use here.

You'd need to do something to connect the cable, which is nicely socketed on the PB switch. I'll give these a shot and see how they hold up (after drilling holes I guess). This seems more like a bandaid than a proper fix.

The LED is not hooked up on these weapon target switches. If you see there are two connectors at the base of the board and only one green wire in my picture. The second connector is used for the RGB LED, which is only connected on the other "larger" target switches (Xeno, Chestburster, Recharge)

One thing to note about the weapon targets is there are some known bugs. Hitting an already lit target will often unlight it and any adjacent lit targets. This seems to be cosmetic only as the lights will come back after a mode change. I’ve reported this to PB.

Not yet. I’ve been told I might get some beta code next weekend. I’d love to see some of these annoying bugs squashed.

I was sent the wrong switches and decided against drilling holes in mine - there are traces that run through the switch board and drilling a hole in the center would definitely cut through traces. PB are sending me new switches.

Chopper36 and I have been exchanging issues via PM and the good news is that just about everything we have jointly seen should be resolvable via software updates. The beta update is taking longer than I hoped but it should be coming soon. How many of those 4-6 items get fixed will be very telling - lets hope it is at least half if not all of them.

Grabbed my tape measure and checked:

Backbox:

Width: 27 5/8”
Height: 27 3/4”
Depth: 7 3/4” (top) 6 3/4” (bottom)

Cabinet:

Width: 24 7/8”
Height: 16” (front) 23 1/2” (rear)
Depth: 51 1/2”

I’m still waiting for the beacons I ordered from AliExpress to arrive, so I haven’t tried anything yet.

I’m still waiting on my replacement target switches (they sent the wrong ones first time). No new issues but I’ve taken a break from playing waiting for a software update. I’m disappointed that it hasn’t come by now - I’ve had my machine over 5 weeks and everything I’ve reported is a “known issue”. Time to get a beta out!

Mine was delivered within a couple of days of shipping from Cointaker. As I recall I got a text from FedEx Freight that had a link to schedule delivery. Shipped on a Monday and was delivered on Wednesday.

Congrats! For all the new owners about to get their machines, here is the support website for PB:

https://pinballbrothers.freshdesk.com/support/home

Still waiting on that code update…

I encountered the flickering volume / blown fuse issue on my first day of ownership. I’ve had another blown fuse as well, but it was a different one and had different symptoms (the coils on the right side of the playfield wouldn’t fire).

I’m told that the extra balls being fed is a software issue and a fix is in the works. There are a half dozen other software annoyances that are also known by PB, like flippers losing power and dropping, and weapon target lights turning off when already lit. Please continue to report these to PB - I’m really surprised they didn’t release a software update before this container arrived in the US.

One other tip: If you ever have a ball that is not being detected in the MUTHUR shot, Airlock scoop, or ball trough (from a drain), hit both flipper buttons and it should be detected. This is also a known software issue.

Mine behaves the same, but on one of the streams I saw (don’t remember which one) the startup test seemed much smoother than mine. I haven’t spent any time investigating further.

Lets hope that v3 is a leaf switch.

Thank you delt31 for your thorough review and insights from a former OG owner.

Agree on the lockdown bar. My issue is with the latches themselves. You need to push them almost closed before lowering the playfield or they can get caught under the rails and you won’t realize it until you put the lockdown bar on and try to latch them but can’t. Then you need to slightly lift the playfield, hold the latches tight against the front, and then lower the playfield. I don’t like latches on lockdown bars in general (I like the BW receiver handles) but these are worse than Sterns.

Quick update on mine: I had not turned mine on in several weeks as I was at a point where I just wanted some of the software bugs fixed before playing it more. Went to power it on with software update USB in hand, and just got a black screen with the CPU fan running. I’m currently working w/ Cato on what the issue is. Frustrating. But Cato is awesome and I’m sure we’ll figure it out.

Not sure - but am curious why you would want the airlock screen on the apron vs. the main backbox screen? Seems like most people want to make up for the missing main playfield screen from the OG, and the airlock screen is very visible while you are playing. It also has information that pertains to the airlock shot, directly underneath it.

Having said that, it would be much harder to accomplish. I’ve had my screen box (which houses both the CPU and the main display) open recently as we diagnose an issue I have had, and the main display is connected to the ITX board with a 30-pin LVDS cable. I believe splitters are available for these but I have read they are very picky about voltages and resistances. Anybody familiar with LVDS and what it would take to split a signal from the backbox and run it to a small display in the apron?

The only other external connector on the screen box, apart from the HDMI used to feed the airlock screen, is a VGA connector. Perhaps it could be configured to mirror the LVDS output.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/pinball-brothers-alien-remake-owners-club/page/22#post-6333007

I haven’t posted much in the past couple of months, mainly cause I haven’t had mine in a playable state for most of that time. Those of us in the very first small shipment really got prototype machines. I’m awaiting a new care package from Pedretti that will include all new under playfield boards, wiring harness, coils, and v3 weapon targets. Add that to the replacement display and CPU that I received previously, and I will have practically replaced every major component on my machine. There have been design changes on many parts of the machine over the past 6 months and those of you with newer builds should have a much easier time. Hopefully the LV will be rock solid once announced/shipped. I’m still on the list for one of those.

I’ve certainly learned my lesson about trying to get in early on a new machine, but part of me has enjoyed being part of the journey. I must be sick in the head.

No - they are built into the light boards attached to the bottom of the playfield. This would be fine if they registered properly, but at least one of my sensors (the right revive lane) only covers about half of the area it should. Balls that go too far to the right are not registered and you lose out on your revive. Very annoying.

dri nice workaround on the MUTHR eject! I had sent a similar video to Cato a month or so ago:

I think the ultimate solution should be a weaker coil, maybe along with a stronger spring.

I have a DHL care package scheduled for delivery tomorrow that has all new boards, coils, and supposedly the v3 standup targets as well. I’ll post pictures once it arrives.

Since we are discussing flaky switches - I’m curious if any other owners are experiencing the same issue with the right revive lane that I am. If you are, please report it to Cato.

I got the care package a day early - but it didn't include the v3 standups. Just 16 lbs of boards and coils. Bummer.

I never got one.

When replacing that board, I found the eddy switch was damaged which contributed to the problem. It is still possible to slide a ball by in test mode but hopefully less likely in a game.

Congratulations! FedEx was super quick - I got a text message from them asking to schedule delivery before I even got a tracking number from CoinTaker. Given you are in PA, you should be enjoying it this weekend!

Price increase was inevitable and every manufacturer is doing it. JJP bumped the price of GNR LE by $1k overnight, very early in the run. Stern has an upcoming price hike that is supposed to be significantly larger than their typical annual price bump.

Cato shared some of their frustrations with me on electronic components - one particular component, that is used in many parts of the machine, went up 50x overnight. I've seen similar things first hand when I tried to order a run of assembled PCBs from China - the component prices went up so much compared to a year ago that I thought there was a typo. This is happening in every industry right now.

It does have me rethinking my plan to upgrade my SE to an LV. It will really have to knock my socks off.

I share the concern that these price hikes, which are at least partly due to higher component costs, will not get rolled back when the components get back to their normal levels. Especially in this hobby that seems to be growing by the day with people with deeper and deeper pockets. The prices of toppers pre-Covid was already escalating at an alarming rate. The next couple of years will be really interesting.

I was sent a new set of 4 flipper bats in my most recent care package. I thought it was a mistake, as I'd never had an issue with my flippers, so I asked Cato. He said that some of the earlier run flipper bats had a manufacturing defect that could cause them to snap as several of you have observed. The newer flipper bats have a PB logo on them - the earlier ones nave no logo. I went ahead and replaced all mine just to be sure.

I was surprised to see you guys were streaming Alien on Saturday night. I didn't watch for long as I'm addicted to those District 82 tournaments that Tom Graff streams. Look forward to seeing Alien more on your stream.

I suspect some sort of mechanical binding on your MUTHR kickout. I bet the plunger is binding on the edge of the kickout opening. I've settled on -45% on my kickout to give me a nice smooth feed to the upper flipper. +50% would likely launch it through the plastic above!

Make sure you select the right update option - I think there is a System Update and a Firmware Update. I believe you need to do System Update.

Also make sure you use a freshly formatted (FAT32) USB stick.

This definitely happens on my machine as well, but is quite rare. I reported it to Cato months ago and he is aware that newer software updates have not fixed the issue.

Even with the latest software update I’m having very poor Xeno magnet grabs - less than 10% I’d say. It also seems like 2.2c (and d) have reintroduced a problem I had early on where one of the flippers will randomly lose power and drop while raised - often resulting in a drain. Cato recommended that I go back to 2.2 but I’ve not done that yet. Is anybody else experiencing this? If anybody watched the IE Pinball Alien stream that Karl Deangelo did from Ayce Gogi it happened quite a few times during the stream.

I had a similar issue and it was the fuse. Did you test the fuse with a multimeter? Sometimes they look fine but are blown. If you don't have a replacement fuse, maybe swap the fuses around (there are three I believe) and see if the problem goes away or moves to the center or right coils.

I won't be upgrading to an LV. I've got AliExpress beacons waiting to install when the firmware is ready. Even though I love shaker motors and install them on all my Sterns, it is NOT needed on this machine - the bass is already good enough from the large subwoofer.

I'll probably powder coat at some point, but have other projects to finish first.

I ordered two of these in yellow (12 volt):

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001639417744.html

Cost me about $22 delivered. I'll need to paint them black and come up with a way to mount them. I have no idea if they will work, but I am hoping the 12v is correct as that is what was recommended for the OG Alien. I have also ordered connectors and pins to make cables, assuming that they will plug into the "backbox extension out" header.

I doubt that PB is going to have different firmware for SV vs LV, especially since there are no playfield or mech differences between the two models.

I'm a bit disappointed that the lit side blades won't be available as an accessory, but if that is true then I'm probably going to go with mirror blades. I really liked the look of those that somebody posted further up in the thread.

Those are EXACTLY the same as the ones I linked to above from AliExpress. Probably worth spending the extra money to cut down on shipping time (mine took 2 months to arrive).

Assuming the backbox extension connector is where these will attach, I ordered these parts to make a cable:

https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/molex/0039012100/61385
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/molex/0039000039/61448

V3 standup targets arrived today. Two main changes that I've noticed:

1) The PCB is much narrower towards the top - even narrower than the metal backing plate. This should completely eliminate the target getting stuck on the PCB.
2) The two connectors on the bottom (switch and LED) have been replaced with a single connector, and the V3 switches come with a new breakout cable. The previous connectors were quite flimsy - I had a couple that broke off. Hopefully this eliminates that issue.

I'll be installing them later this evening.

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In my opinion - no. It feels really good now but I question the longevity of it. It does have an RGB LED which is a plus vs. a leaf switch, but the LED for the smaller target switches is not active in Alien. Maybe something they’ll enable just for the LV?

5 x weapon and 3 x xeno/chest burster. They didn’t include a 4th large target for the “recharge” target - probably because it doesn’t get direct hits from the lower flippers.

In my opinion the new switches feel really good and I think they will hold up better over time than the v2 ones. I still think a leaf switch makes more sense if you don’t want to light them. I’m happy though and no longer view the switches as a negative.

The switches still seem to rotate slightly when hit on the edge - this happens especially to the two by the airlock scoop. I think I’ll apply a drop of loctite to the assembly screws and tighten them down harder.

This shipment included a few extra things that had been missing/changed since my very early run machine was shipped, like a coin box, airlock scoop protector, and all new wiring harnesses. It was actually really interesting swapping out the wiring harnesses (there are 4 - left/right versions for both power and signal). They are really well made and cleaned up the underside of my machine greatly with lots less unused connectors dangling around. It also gave me an appreciation for how simple these machine are to assemble. I’ve pretty much replaced every single component on my machine now and it should be “equivalent” to the ones shipping today.

I obviously wish all this was done before I bought mine - but it shows the commitment that PB has to making this machine better. I am actually reconsidering my decision to skip the LV and might pick one up anyway.

Oh, and Cato rules. By far the best pinball support tech from any company I’ve dealt with in the past 20+ years of pinball ownership.

Sure. I haven't installed it yet cause it will take a bit of disassembly.

Not sure - but I'd reach out to Cato just in case. As for mylar, I've not bothered. My Xeno magnet rarely grabs the ball anyway so there is not much to protect

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I have been on 2.2D for months as well and Xeno grab is still terrible - less than 25%. I have the Xeno magnet set to +50% power. Those of you with improved Xeno grabs - are you reducing your flipper power or making any adjustments to the Xeno targets to direct the ball back towards the magnet? I need to do some slo mo video captures to see the trajectory of the ball - I suspect it is going airborne and either hopping over the magnet or going in a different direction.

Interesting - as I recall the v2 targets had a piece of foam just behind the top edge of the target face, which prevented it from pushing back too far. This foam is gone on the v3 targets. I might try putting a piece of foam back there and see if it improves.

Awesome solution! Does this also work for the larger Xeno/chestburster targets? Would you be willing to share the STL file? This might be the final excuse to buy a 3d printer

Agreed. I always pull it all the way forward, tip it up, then have to grab the rails and pull the back forward again or it is dangerously close to tipping forward. It would be nice if this were improved - along with the horrible lockdown bar latches that usually get stuck in the down position and force you to pop up the playfield slightly to release them.

Just letting you all know that I've left the club today - just sold my SV to a local Atlanta collector. Fortunately it is just temporary, as I've decided to buy an LV.

As one of the earlier recipients of a machine (mine was delivered on May 5th), I have had my share of problems. I have witnessed the many improvements that have been made since those earliest "prototype" machines. I have replaced all the boards, the CPU, the monitor, all coils, wiring harnesses, flipper bats, weapon/xeno targets (multiple times). Almost everything under the playfield has been replaced with "upgraded" versions. The machines shipping today are vastly improved from the one I received - and that is the reason I'm in for an LV. This time I'm going to go with a "later run" LV - just to be sure that somebody else is working the kinks out first

FYI my machine has been playing awesome since the last batch of upgrades (v3 targets). I have finally been able to just play the game and enjoy it - and it truly is one of the greatest ever. David Thiel's sound package is unmatched.

Cato is the only reason I'm still a PB customer - from the first time he responded to a support ticket at well after midnight his time - I've had nothing but first class service.

Best of luck to everyone still waiting for their machines, and see you back here when the LV starts shipping.

It is actually the opposite - the v1/v2 did not include an LED cable, but the v3 has a new Y cable that does include the LED. If you plug them all into the boards you will find that one of the LEDs is lit and the others do not light. That is a bug so I just unplugged it from the board. Reported it to Cato.

There is nothing programmed to light up the weapon LEDs in current software, so probably better just to leave them all unplugged for now.

You should have gotten new Y-cables:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/pinball-brothers-alien-remake-owners-club/page/67#post-6535132

Make sure you understand the rules for this mode. I also thought mine was not working, but it turned out that only one of the two orbits is supposed to drop to the pops and the other builds the value. I forget which does which (blue or green) since I sold my machine back in December.

I got to meet Cato last night at TPF during the Big Smoke. He was sitting w/ Steve Ritchie most of the evening and I didn’t want to disturb, but did grab him later on while things were wrapping up. He remembered me from my issues with one of the earliest games delivered.

He mentioned that support cases have gone way down which is great to hear. Newer delivered machines generally just have shipping related issues (loose wires, etc). The factory is able to handle support cases as well now, instead of everything going through him.

LV is all sold out (not sure if that was well known - I’m not on this thread much anymore). No plans for a price hike.

I didn’t play the LV yet but will do so today. First impression is that I’m not sure how much I like the side lighting. It is hard to judge on a showroom floor but it almost seems too bright and you lose some of the creepy atmosphere.