They just look worn to sh-+

Nothing lasts forever, and I know you got thousands fo plays on your game.

New sling rubbers sound like a plan..

This game gets a LOT of love in our house. At our current rate I expect to hit 10k plays by the end of the year, which means it has paid for itself.

yeah but if you are not securing things hard to the PF... eventually those bolts are going to either bend or elongate the bolt holes too. The bolts need that lateral support the post gives it. Without being secured tightly, those posts will simply move.

Any give in a post (due to a soft base) is bound to lead to new failures over time.

I have 359 plays on mine..I'm just a few behind

My wife puts in a lot of time on it. If I have to clean it or something, I have to schedule those events when she’s at work.

I am really gald she loves it like I do. It has made pinball purchases easier to make.

These posts are tight on the rubber washers and don't move. Plus, fairest post ever, who cares if the playfield under the washer is dented. It's not supposed to be seen! It's covered by the washer/post!

Also, after a year or location on TNA we know this is a sustainable home use environment lifetime fix, at least. Location that's another story.

I have read this entire thread, and beyond sad for what seems a vast majority having pf problems. This is a playfield...heart of any machine...not a "tweak or adjustment". Nothing to stop this from happening on any area where anything hard is attached...slings get the most action, so you would see it there first.

How long have these games been out? 3-4 months? 12k plays on an HUO by EoY? Truly hope populated playfields w proper posts will be made available....I just can't believe it. My early WOZ has the mini posts, no washers, and has been fine for years.

Truly admire all here that are being so positive about dealing with this...my heart is truly sick, and I don't even own one.....

Mark, I respect that, but I think this issue really has been solved by the washers. For the home use owners, anyways.

Here and there someone may still show up to spin up the beehive but really, this one is good to go now.

Location games like at the Cidercade have been beat upon, and the slings, Tortuga, and the starmap without mylar have been the only areas to show the vulnerabilities of the playfield.

All of these the home owner knows of and can account for. Does it stink that we have to, in a sense? Yes, but for the modern day TZ, can we say were at all surprised?

Honestly, I'd rather have delt with "post-gate 2019" than the hard as a rock clearcoat that came on Hobbit, with most of the inserts underneath shattered.

Let's not even think how that clear would handle the 'man overboard.' No thanks...

All the best for you Brian, and the others....it looks like the issues have been mitigated, but certainly not solved. Just took an inspection light to my WOZ as paranoia set in....no cracks (and have actually pulled the slings and many other things off the PF over the years). JJP has always had great customer support...hope the right thing is done here.......

Well, as a home use only owner you should only see the beginning of wear on your huo games in theory anyways. And WoZ almost certainly used the "hard" clearcoat that Hobbit did, so I wouldn't expect any post issues at all.

As before, after almost a year of location play on this game to date, we *do* know what's in store for these playfields in home environments over a lifetime, and these "mitigation" efforts should be good enough for people who just want to play and love them.

As for a true "solve" for PoTC - like for collectors who don't want their games to have to use post washers and such- in my view a brand new kind of clearcoat that survives hard things tightened AND freefall pinball ball drops would be needed.

Anything less is a patch, as you kind of put it.

JJP customer service is next to none but, frankly, I don't see that happening for PoTC at this point.

New washers and half priced playfields is the rumor, and I expect those playfields to be the original stock.

My WOZ has had thousands of plays...All my games get played, and have done extensive work on quite a few to keep them in best shape....For years....

Just wishing the best outcome for those that may not share the opinion of " I spent 9k+,have live with it".

Many can't work extensively on these things. Fewer can do proper pf restoration ( myself included there).

Simply hoping for the best.....

Impressive....What size are the rings?..Not uncommon for the actuator to jump out on occasion, especially if the post setup has changed. I went down to 2 1/4 on my tron for that very reason...Just a thought...

Not just new playfields- playfields re-engineered with a new clearcoat that resists both ball drops and tight posts.

But that didn't happen on TNA. And it isn't gonna happen here, either.

Anyone else think the discounted PF option should be a populated PF to minimize inconvenience and other potential issues?

Why play it a lot when you can just tear it apart anytime something looks fishy

My guess is they ran a bad batch ( though a significant one). Just send replacement/populated pf's to those who as machine is still under warranty ( this is not unheard of). I don't think it's unreasonable...The poll in this thread speaks volumes...

How would this be a consideration unless these machines are commodity based, like a clothes dryer? Normal wear and tear is one thing...This is not that...

Had hoped to read the whole thread to find someone received a replacement play field or defect was isolated...wanted this game really bad initially, and a CE still has my name on it. I just can't...(sigh)...

Again... sincerely hope this gets remedied for all current owners...

I just received my POTC last Thursday. Thanks to all of you who reported the sling post issues, so I was prepared well. My POTC has the small plastics under the Posts and soem minor dent in the clearcoat, but not a chip. The dent in my opinion is due (beside the fact the the clear possibly is not dry enough) to the fact that the hole in the plastic washer is too big so that the post can move on the washer and thus is not fixed.

I documented my protection actions in the following pictures. There are 2 ations: first is substitution of the pastic washers by (self cut) own ones and second fxing the whole goup of the 3 posts by an additional protection plastic (which takes away the pressure to the ground fix by the sling rubber, which is the best protection in my opinion).

The four pictures of the removed post shows the addition of the self cut plastic washer (with a narrow hole to fit exactly to the post metall). The seize was restricted to the holes in my playfield protector; without such protector I would have used bigger plastics. Next step was to add smooth rubber below the plastic, which is available in each colour and thus fits to each section of the playfield. After installing the post you can hardly see that anything was adjusted.

For the plastic cover fix I used the so called convolux protection plastics I purchased, which already has the 2 holes and drilled a third hole for the posts not fixed in the normal cover plastic (the very right and very left ones). But basically you can use every clear plastic for this purpose. Integrating the third post in the fix is the relevant step top do. After this the yellow protection plastic absorbs the slingshot pressure so that the ground fix of the posts should more or less get no pressure at all. The single posts do not move at all and the whole group of posts is very stabil.

The last picture shows the final look. I used two colours (brown and blue) for the smooth rubbers, which are hardly noticable. The drilled third hole in the yellow plastic is hidden by the cover plastic anyway. Now I am very satisfied with the result.

Possibly an alternative to the big black starposts with the thick black rubber below. Personally I do not like that look.

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How many times are you gonna offer your condolences? No ones died, throw 3 bucks in parts and 15 minutes of time and it’s a non issue.

Wow, full on playfield protector install? That game is gonna be well protected!

Likely it's the entire run, as TNA has the same clear as well. Populated playfield swaps make most games sold unprofitable or even take a loss- instantly. So unless this falls under some sort of manufacturer insurance indemnity provision for JJP, let's just keep playing our games with the same proven fix that's on TNA...that I doubt Spooky formally called a
"the official fix" either.

Yes, I like the playfield protectors. An additional advantage is that you need no ugly cliffies, because the edges of the map hole and tortuga is protected automatically.

It's not *just* mitigation and illusion. It's just a pain in the butt, and a little less for your money than you paid for.

But let's be frank here, that's been the MO on this game since the discs and the chest were changed, too. But if you're a home use owner the sky has not fallen in. The washers and posts preserve the playfield. And I daresay operators aren't crying a river either.

Still, if you don't like what you ended up with, you can always sell it at a profit to someone who wants it and will take it for what it is, warts and all. A NIB stock just sold for over $11K the other day after all.

Imagine what a mint one is worth with cliffys, mods and all the work already done to dial it in..

And the people like Mark who don't want to take it at all with these flaws and revamped features, well, theres other games out there and coming out all the time.

To be so wise.....not worth the bandwidth......

I've bought plenty of games w flaws, so have many others......my mistake for inquiring and giving a shit......

Soft = ability for deflection. Deflection = movement... movement = leads to hole elongment or bolts bending.

It’s not hard or soft that changes what happens to the pf. It’s how much pressure you have on the surface area contacting with the playfield.

The original posts had uneven edges... resulting in very small contact area which means very high pressure -> cutting into the surface.

Star posts have a wider base, so they cover the damage and don’t need to be as tight to be stable against sideways deflection. But they are not solid underneath... so they don’t necessarily have a huge increase of contact area with the pf... so they can still risk cutting/buckling the finish. They can be less tight... but by contact area it’s not a huge gain.

The idea of the washer does two things... it increases surface area and makes the contact patch flat and uniform... avoiding any edge or spot taking more pressure than another.

You don’t want these things moving. So the best would be something that reduces how tight the post is (using a star post) and something that makes the contact area as large as possible and uniform (a washer).

Neoprene is only going to do one of two things... either reduce how tight you make it... and give minor play... or mask the edge where the hard point of contact is (under the washer instead of at the edge).

Hmm - is that so really? I have cliffies on order and have a pf protector waiting for install after I receive them. I am waiting for a 4-part cliffies, which I ordered from Europe. So I should rather go on with the install and forget about the cliffies?

Thanks for any info!

I think games that sustained chipping beyond star post concealment who ask for it should receive preferential treatment from JJP than those whose haven't. Either in the form of a favorable discount on a future game or a populated playfield to swap. The former to represent the lost value from the manufacturing defect.

There are other places on the PF with the posts as well. I wonder should one rubberize them all, or only the slingshots? There is a hammer and the rubbers under the ramp to the ship atleast. Have a look at the pics.

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Switched to superbands as of today. The regular Titan ones had bends/ deformities and we're causing too much airballage.

The problem is the clearcoat guys end of story. It's all over the playfield which means your problem also exists all over the playfield. Any edge will very likely crack/chip. The other issue shown in multiple pictures is the artwork pulls up/off the playfield. I have a horror story on a different pf from the same pf company ... but to keep it short I was told (yes I have email proof) that the clear coat is intentionally soft and that it "will" chip if protectors weren't used. (See previous pics in thread showing where the clear is actually rolled on the outside of the post.)
Your POTC playfields are experiencing the EXACT same issue that I and another guy went through. Clearcoat chipping, ink underneath coming up with it, clearcoat rolling. So, if it "will" crack/chip and hole protectors "must" be used... ask yourselves why these games weren't installed with the necessary protection let alone documentation stating you really should add them? Bottom line is any current in stock playfields is also extremely likely to suffer the same fate and swapping playfields would be "maddeningly unhelpful" (that's a POTC Worlds end quote) lol.
I see why people are scrambling to apply whatever band aid they can due to the uncertainty they face. I suspect the waiting is simply to get as many machines past the year warranty. The liability goes away.
Guys all I have to say is if you plan on swapping playfields, request a non cleared pf and request they ship it directly to Ron Kruzman. $300 for the best freaking clearcoat you can ask for that will LAST, not require cliffys and look brand new even after 100 plays. Seriously the guy is a God.

Kind of an unrealistic request but they need to offer populated pf’s in my opinion.

Should be a plug and play fix to the extent possible.

I wonder what the "offering price" will be?

$550

I feel the same and gave up the opportunity to buy a LE and a CE because of how I feel about quality. I understand I am in the minority here but I just can’t buy this machine. Maybe I will change my mind down the line if I see a POTC that’s a couple of years old and not showing chipping. Maybe some good PFs got out there.

It’s a shame because this game is top notch otherwise. Only other game that captures me like this game is Williams IJ from a game play and just capturing the essence of the theme.

It really makes me wonder if this had something to do with why it was shut down so abruptly...the whole thing really makes zero sense but wtf do I know.?

Agreed. Why give the appearance of running away from POTC when it’s being touted as the GOAT. Doesn’t add up to me unless JJP knew they had a lemon as far as quality and reliability goes. If they went on to build more that were top quality it would make the originals look even worse. Some said they weren’t making any money on POTC but this is not their first rodeo and I personally don’t believe they didn’t know what the profit margin would end up being. All I know is with little to no accountability from the community this could be the norm with future games. I sure hope not.

I wouldn’t call it a lemon. I have a very early build and frankly have had zero issues that are not typical pinball stuff other than this clearcoat issue.

It’s a great, beautiful, deep, complex mechanical machine.

JJP should make the people whole who are having chipping and build some more games with the issue hopefully corrected to recoup some of the loss...the demand is there.

If they can’t do this then there is more to this story and we will likely never know.

It is a great game. Maybe the most ambitious every created. But did they actually execute POTC as far as design, engineering and materials used. I doubt people will get a new populated PF even though they should. I mean they put out bad PFs and people in here try to downplay it and call people hysterical. With that kind of cover why would JJP replace PFs. I know this much. If enough pressure was applied to make JJP send out populated PFs to those who got bad PFs they would sure as **** make sure the clearcoat was figured out for the future. The reason they probably won’t is lack of outrage from the majority. People shooting themselves in the foot around here IMO.

Were you successful in getting an offer for a pf at a reduced price?

I concur 1000% but that my good man is a pipe dream. No way in hell will they spend the money to send a populated playfield let alone pay a local shop of your choosing to make a playfield swap.

....and I just switched to regular black rubbers for feel. Doubt superbands would ever escape the hammer, and certainly on location would last darn near forever, but I just thought the superbands extra side to side "slingy," on the ball almost as though the ball just hit a trampoline and went "boinnngg..."
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Damn I just bought super bands. I found rubber made it too bouncy. Maybe titans are the only answer.

When I get my game it'll get white rubber and red flipper rubber, so I'll let you know how that goes .

Perfect plays are probably the best out there, but I'm not a fan of any of them really. when it comes to a nice drop catch, red rubber can't be beat.

My opinion of course, I'm sure it's just because I'm not used to it.

I switched from using black rubbers on my shop jobs. I found that they're a bit stiff, compared to the white rubbers. The biggest reason I no longer use black is the fact that the black from the rubbers transfers to the playfield. It doesn't take long before the playfield will need another wipe down.

Are you on double slotted star posts or singles?

I'm on double slotted- and find them to play really nicely with the rubber at the right level with the ball.

This is an important consideration as well- plus stiffer is what I want, to help prevent sling escapes.

As for the rubber shedding- I'll monitor- but I'd think it more of a problem with posts than slings.

I could also maybe order some new black perfect plays from pinball life.

The clear Titans are a PITA because they REALLY need to be wiped down all the time.