Hey fellow owners, I just joined the club today!

I'm not familiar enough with the game to know, but I feel like my RBION is behaving strangely. Sometimes I hit the shrunken head and it plays sounds as though it's starting a continent mode but doesn't. Other times I hit the shrunken head and the game spits out a bunch of balls like I've started some kind of multi ball mode but I'm still in regular play. Is that normal?

If I go into active switch test mode I find that 'Varitarget Opto 1' is active. Would that be the culprit? Also active are the four trough switches.

Might also be worth noting that when I got the game the sounds were also playing up. Only a few sound effects were working. So I reseated the sound ROM and that fixed the sound issues, but I have the above gameplay issues.

Thanks TheLaw. Should there be any Varitarget optos active during normal operation? I understand that the head doesn't start modes, which is why I believe something is playing up. I'll spend some time going through all of the switches in test mode to see if anything is amiss. I might also reseat all of the connectors (and even all of the chips) in the backbox to clear out any potential cobwebs.

Thanks for your help mate. I thought I'd describe my behaviour in the hopes that someone might go "oh yeah that's common behaviour with this era of Stern when X has happened". This is my first game newer than 1995

On that note, the lockdown bar is SUPER loose and it slides around a lot. Nothing like B/W lockdown bars that are always nice and tight. Is this "that's Stern, so suck it up and deal with it" scenario, or is there a fix for that too?

Thanks for clarifying what’s normal on your game. I appreciate it!

So I spent some time last night reseating all the ROM chips, all the connectors, resetting the board and the game to factory. Seems to be working fine for now, fingers crossed!

Now I need to see if there is a way to adjust the Varitarget. Direct hits are not enough to push it all the way back 80% of the time, which is super frustrating. I have set the coil pulse strength to HARD as well.

I also need to order some proper Stern flipper plungers and coil stops because the previous owner installed WMS ones and they're too short, making the flippers sit SUPER high when raised up. As a temporary measure I bent the coil stop brackets inward to compensate, but it's not a long term solution (and has led to much increased buzzing from on the right flipper).

The other thing is the skill shot. It totally sucks on this game. Seems as though a launched ball is hitting the tip of the Upper-Right flipper on it's way out. A full hard plunge is just high enough to get into the skill shot, but the ball is travelling so fast that it hits the opposite side of the bracket and bounces back across the hole onto the playfield. Any lighter than this and the ball hits the post below it. I'll try adjusting the lane guide as I don't think moving the flipper is going to be a reasonable solution (could potentially try a flipper rubber that isn't quite as thick).

I also had to seriously adjust the BION scoop assembly as it was shooting balls STDM 25% of the time. Quite a bit of dialling in required on this one to get it to play nicely. Almost there!

Good to know! I was seriously disappointed with the plunge/skill shot on this game. I’m definitely going to fix that.

Regarding the scoop, it wasn’t loose but it has been welded and repaired so I assume that affected the kinetics of it. By default it looks like it’s mounted with an angle slightly towards the middle. So I re-mounted it with an angle parallel to the playfield and scoop now feeds to the left half of the left flipper consistently.

Regarding the varitarget strength, I've played around and I think that I'll wait until I get a proper Stern flipper rebuilt kit in this game. They previous owner but B/W plungers and coil stops in, so the flipper travel was way too long. The only way I could fix it in the interim was to bend the coil stop brackets inward. When I get the flippers rebuilt and they're working correctly then I'll be able to rule them out as a possible issue. They're very inconsistent right now. Backhanding the right ramp, for example, is a pain in the neck. The sweet spot changes because the flipper strength varies wildly from shot-to-shot. That's either a common issue with these Stern games (I did notice Keith Elwin comment on the flippers in his tutorial video) or it's because my flippers aren't performing correctly. I'm hoping it's the latter!

I just had to fix this myself. There are nuts underneath the playfield that attach to posts from the top ends of the two bottom-right lanes (shooter and ball lock). They are easily identifiable by the fact that they've both got slots. Simply loosen the nut, push it along the slot in the direction that you want to make the adjustment, and tighten it again. Trial and error until you get the trajectory you want.

A week in and I'm thoroughly enjoying this game. Getting frustrated with the inconsistent flippers, especially backhand shots to the right ramp and varitarget. The sweet spot constantly moves. Hoping when I get rebuild parts that this will be mitigated.

I'm keen to hear what difficulty settings you guys use? I've set mine to medium, and set replay and special to award extra balls. I feel like I should set those back to credit or something that doesn't award extra balls because I tend to get too many and it makes the game too long and easy.

Some of the modes are tough to complete for a Ripley's letter! I find South America (Shrunken Head) the toughest. Because of the time it takes to gain control of a ball that has made a successful shot to the head in order to get another attempt (either via left flipper > right ramp > kickback, or right flipper direct), a single missed shot often means that there's not going to be enough time left to complete the mode. I can reasonably complete all the other modes, but it's the only single-ball timed mode that I almost never able to complete.

One interesting thing I noticed last night when I had visited all continents and had the Continent Jackpot lit at the Varitarget. A lit BION scoop seems to only ever award RIPOFF. I got awarded RIPOFF three times in a row while I was using up the rest of my balls to try to get 2x Playfield running before cashing in on the CJ. It's as if the game code wants to award 'Visit Continent' but it can't so it always gives you RIPOFF instead.

I don't get RIPOFF letters any other way except by shooting an unlit varitarget, which I believe is how it should be. What I'm saying is that the "award" from shooting into a lit BION scoop, while all continents are flashing at the varitarget to indicate a Continent Jackpot is lit, seems to always award "Light RIPOFF" and the "RIPOFF" arrow is lit at the right ramp to start it. I lit and started RIPOFF via BION scoop awards three times while I had a Continent Jackpot lit. Twice in one game, and once in another game.

I should try it with the glass off to prove it, and see what else may be happening with any other switches, as you suggest. But it could be normal behaviour.

That's right. However I can't reproduce it with the glass off. Perhaps because I reset my game to factory right after you mentioned it! I definitely noticed it, and took advantage of it at the time. Perhaps an odd bug.

I turned the ball save on for 5 secs just to eliminate the house balls. Outlane posts are set half way, they’re not too bad. I find the slingshots are pretty weak (but that’s just that era of stern isn’t it?) so you don’t get bad dangerous side-to-side action. My game arrived with super bands on the flippers which make an already-forgiving flipper gap even easier to deal with. Plus the ball is easy to trap.

The biggest challenge for me with the game is the inconsistent ability to hit the varitarget. And the left ramp.

I turned off replays awarding extra ball but left special to award extra ball. Difficulty set to normal.

How come you can't adjust your lane? Both ball launch lanes are adjustable from underneath. They move left/right in a slot. Simply loosen the nut, adjust the angle, tighten.

When I got mine it was too far right so the ball was hitting the rubber post and going full-tilt into the skill shot hole. I adjusted it so that it goes up the spinner lane on a full plunge. There's no skill shot up in the rollover lanes though, so there's no advantage to trying for the rollovers on the plunge of a new ball, only on a newly-served ball after locking one (no skill shot available on those).

How often does anyone manage to complete South America (Shrunken Head) mode? I've never managed it! The timer is so short to complete 6 hits that if I miss two attempts I find there's not enough time to get it. And I miss at least two attempts every time.

Just getting the ball back under control for another attempt takes time, and if the ball settles on the left flipper it's about an equal amount of time to post pass it to the right flipper for a direct shot as it takes to shoot the right ramp for the diversion shot to the head via the ball lock kickout.

Another thing I'm getting a bit frustrated with, and someone might have a tip/solution for this, is the Bonus X rollover insert lights. Oftentimes an upper orbit shot with the upper flipper sends the ball into those lanes for me, but also oftentimes one of those shots is accompanied by a light show that involves the inserts! So I've got a ball up there about to roll over a Bonus X lane, and does indeed roll into one of them, while a light show is flashing everything and obscuring which of the inserts are unlit. It frustrates the hell out of me to be making a blind manoeuvre here and then hearing the sound effect for a ball rolling over an already-lit insert. The light show causes me to blow a relatively rare opportunitie to light a Bonus-X insert.

Stacking with MB is the only way I've ever reliably achieved it. Although just yesterday I managed it on a single ball finally! I had been practicing my drop catches and that technique works wonders in this mode on my game where a ball returned from the head magnet often arrives straight to the base of the right-hand flipper. Drop catch makes for instant regaining of control for another shot to the head.

I know people like to say that Europe is best stacked with MB but I find it much easier than South America to complete with a single ball. This by shooting the Tombstone target next to the Shrunken Head. Often rebounds back down the PF from there will hit one of the Tombstones above the skill/bozo hole.

As for the bonus X rollovers, I don't deliberately shoot for them, but I like to make the most of the opportunity when it arises. Since the ball is often fed there by an inner orbit, and an inner orbit shot often accompanies a jackpot of some kind there's a light show that obscures the inserts just as the ball is heading into them.

I don't know about the right inlane but I know that the left inlane rollover switch temporarily lights the 'Advance Tombstone' at the right orbit. Shooting it increases the value of every tombstone target. Not worth specifically going for I don't think. It's a bit of a shame with this game, as inlanes objectives are often great additions to a game that keep you on your toes as balls are feeding back to the flippers.

I think it does. When I first got my Ripley's it was 8 idols for EB. Then the opto started playing up and giving me random idol hits throughout gameplay and the software reflexively increased it to well over 20. Now that I've fixed the idol opto I'm waiting for it to slowly adjust back down to a reasonable level

I guess is that the settings is just a baseline for it, and it reflectively adjusts up or down based on your performance.

Just a flipper setup anecdote for those who are interested.

When I got my RBION the previous owner had foolishly installed the wrong coil stops on the flippers. Not only were they wrong; they were mismatched!

The proper Stern coil stops are very thick so the flipper travel isn't too long. With the wrong ones installed my flippers were travelling too far, sitting too high. I bent the brackets as far as I could, which helped in the mean time while I waited for new parts to arrive (I live in New Zealand so it takes a few weeks to get parts here).

I really enjoyed the game but found some shots very difficult. In particular, the left/middle ramp and the shrunken head. It was clear that with the flipper travel too high the sweet spot for these shots were in the wrong location on the flipper. For example, the shrunken head shot, to get the right angle to hit the shot the ball was leaving the flipper so late that it was hitting the post beside the BION scoop. To illustrate this, when just missing this post the ball would enter the shrunken head shot and almost be hitting the small Tomb Stone target to the right of it. The only way to get an easy shot to the SH was when the ball was already moving with speed, not from a cradle position.

On Friday my new parts arrived and I quickly installed new coil stops. The flipper travel is exactly as it should be. The SH is easy as pie to hit, as is the left/middle ramp. I'm re-learning the new shot placements now, but boy has this game got 100% more enjoyable now that it's playing as designed. It's harder to trap the ball, but the shots feel much more natural great.

TL;DR: Previous owner had wrong coil stops on the game, too short, leading to flippers travelling long and sitting high. If your game has flippers that seem to sit quite high, consider installing new/correct coil stops. So much more enjoyable to play now.

Is it cheating that I've got my RBION set up for a full plunge into the super jackpot ramp?

For some reason when I position the lane guide as far down as possible it still isn't far enough to get around the inner loop. It just hits the post between this and the super jackpot lane. So I figured I might as well set it to do something useful instead of hitting a post.

It makes for a thrilling multi ball, where I try to get two jackpots to light the super before the ball saver times out. If I manage it, I let a ball drain then try to get a full manual plunge in to collect the super jackpot before the auto-plunger gets it. Auto-plunger is weaker so it only sends it into the post, or partially up the inner orbit.

Indeed. The other thing is that when a SJ is lit via the Temple or BION/BOZO award it remains lit between balls, so I can simply full plunge the next ball to collect it instead of the more difficult task of shooting it via the Upper Flipper (which isn't difficult at all in single ball play, but still this launch setup is an advantage).

I'm starting to think I should put a bit more effort into getting the launch set up properly. I might tweak the pitch of the game (higher should result in lower launch trajectory) and maybe extend the adjustment slot to make a lower launch trajectory possible as well.

I have noticed it. It's always 200k so it's not a big deal. There are a few other bugs I've noticed. May be particular to my game?

• Collecting The Head Knows with one Bonus X lamp lit, and hitting the flippers while the award is being collected, causes it to be unlit.
• Sometimes when collecting a Super Jackpot the one that is lit on the PF isn't actually what gets awarded.
• Occasionally the orbit post pops up for a second when shooting the right orbit, for no particular reason, when no jackpots are lit.

I've got a question: Not every time the idol is triggered do you get awarded an idol. How do you tell that the idol is lit so that you'll collect one when it's shot?

Another inconsistency I've noticed is that amongst the three regular continent multiballs (NA, Antarctica, Africa), Africa is the odd one out in that the relight shot (idol) doesn't count as a jackpot so it's much harder than the other two. Not to mention that it's already harder because it's impossible to shoot the idol from the RH flipper with the LH flipper raised because it's in the way. So the only way to hit the idol while cradling both balls is if they're both on the left flipper and you backhand one of them into the idol. Africa is the hardest by far.

I'm absolutely loving the multiballs in this game. Each one has a slightly different technique for relighting the jackpots.

Which reminds me, I was playing yesterday in regular MB and I was one jackpot away from lighting the Super for the second time in that multiball, and I accidentally shot the ball into the lit BION scoop which "awarded" me with 'Relight Jackpots' and I had to score two more to relight the Super! Only time an award actually made my life worse. I bombed and missed the second Super relight, haha.

It's always on for me. Should it always be lit? I thought I read somewhere that the idol isn't always lit and something to do with the left bumpers causes it to light.

Thanks for the info. I'll have to play around with the glass off. I'm sure the red light is always on, the idol always makes noise when I shoot it but I don't think it always awards an idol each time.

I was just playing a minute ago and the common BION scoop award during a two-ball mode is 'Idol Worth 1 Million'. Seems like it's only worth this during the multi ball? I missed it during MB but when drained down to a single ball out of the 2-ball MB mode I shot the idol, scored a hit on it, but not for 1 Million.

Hmm, I’m definitely going to have to take the glass off and play around. Looking through the manual it doesn’t look like there is any setting for it.

So my idol is definitely always lit and always scores an idol when I shoot it. My game was set to Factory and Medium Difficulty, so I installed Hard Difficulty and it didn't change the idol behaviour.

It seems like my game's behaviour differs from what is expected? TheLaw you mentioned the back panel lights. I always wondered about those. They don't behave as described. The panel says "kickup scores when lit" which I assume is referring to the BION scoop. When my BION scoop is lit it always awards an Amazing Event. It never awards Wake Up Idol and it never Scrambles the Temple Code (unless this is one of the random awards). So whatever is lit on the back panel appears to be irrelevant.

I'm running 3.20. What could be going on here do you think?

I tested this with the glass off. Shooting a lit BION scoop during South America (Shrunken Head) Mode awards "Idol Worth 1 Million" and what it does is makes the next Idol shot worth 1 Million *plus* it counts as a hit to the Shrunken Head!

I tested it. Started SA mode (Medium Diff is 6 hits to complete mode), put ball in lit BION scoop, got "Idol Worth 1 Million" award, shot idol for 1 Mil, then hit the head 5 times and got a letter.

Since I struggle to complete SA mode as it is I think I might do this each time so at least I'm getting 1 Million points out of it plus the value of a head hit for the mode bonus.

That sounds better than mine being lit all the time. I thought it might have been that another switch was triggering a relight but with the glass off I can repeatedly trigger ONLY the idol and it awards idol after idol without it ever being unlit.

Question, then, as someone whose game doesn't launch into the multiplier lanes, is there a traditional skill shot available up there? As in, if you roll into a lit lane you get a full set of Bonus X lamps in one go? Or does it merely provide an opportunity to get one of the three that you need? Typical bonus for me is well under 1 Mil and that's usually with at least 2X Bonus. So a 1 Mil (then 2, and 3) skill shot is worth more for me.

I see. In that case I probably won't even make use of a full plunge into the rollovers. I'd probably rather dial this in such that auto-launched balls make it up there, but not worry about where a full plunge goes.

I hit the rollovers all the time. 80% time I shoot the inner orbit from the upper flipper it goes into the rollovers, and probably 50% of the time I shoot the left orbit and maybe 20% of the time I shoot the right orbit. I almost always achieve 2X bonus on a given ball, and often get 3X on one ball in a game. I've only twice got 4X bonus. It's not super common for the bumpers to push the ball back up into the rollovers (perhaps 20% of the time the ball is in there) but if it does it almost always goes up into the middle lane, so leaving that one unlit is a pretty good way to earn your way towards bonus X.

I have to share a sweet moment on RBION this evening:

In multiball with two balls cradled on the right I do the half-button-release to just lower the upper flipper, shoot the right orbit from the left flipper for the post feed back to the upper flipper, press in to shoot the inner loop for a jackpot which lights the super, ball loops quickly around back to the upper flipper for an instant half-press combo shot to claim the super.

Felt so good. I like how this game really teaches your double-stage flipper dexterity.

Very true. I recently bought some Ninja Chrome balls from Ball Baron and they magnetised and started sticking after just a couple of weeks! This despite their description saying magnets can cause them to become magnetized over time (over 100+ games). I played probably 25 games before they got magnetised enough to stick in the trough.

I think RBION is just a particularly bad game for magnetising balls because of the TWO pulsing magnets that get used frequently. I think the multiball start magnet animation probably contributes to this the worst because the magnet pulses extremely quickly too create a shuddering ball effect on the magnet during the puke animation.

I, too, have to smack the machine to get the trough balls to roll down correctly sometimes.

This isn't Stern's fault. The balls that were in this game prior to me owning it were standard non-chrome balls and they never stuck together. The answer is to use regular balls. I wish I knew that before spending too much money importing Ninja balls to New Zealand!

Must be a setting somewhere? Because my factory settings RBION resets the Bonus X every ball (unless "Hold Bonus" is awarded via BION/BOZO).

Tonight I finally made it to Frog Frenzy!

I got the first 5 Super Jackpots in the first multiball, the 6th one with the Continent Jackpot and the final one to start Frog Frenzy by completing the '2' row in the temple grid (which is the only way I could see myself getting there the quickest). Pulled it off with two balls to spare. It was a great mode. Tick that off the bucket list

Thanks! Before this my best was 4 SJ's in a game. Considering you have to get 7 of them to reach Frog Frenzy I thought I'd never see it. Just had one of those multi balls where every ramp shot went smoothly, ball juggling went perfectly, double-stage flipping for jackpot went well, and I had a couple of rebound shots that went up there too (one during MB and the other to claim the 7th SJ).

I'm having a bizarre issue with my RBION that I'd love some suggestions to remedy.

I just replaced replaced the right flipper switch (double-stage) with the recommended "new and improved" version (https://www.pinballlife.com/index.php?p=product&id=598).

I replaced the switch because the right flipper was weak and I couldn't backhand the right ramp. The new switch has added a lot more power to the right flipper, but it comes with a catch:

The right flipper's power is significantly weakened when the upper-right flipper also flips at the same time.

I can backhand the right ramp no trouble with a very powerful shot if I make sure to only press the button in part-way so as to not flip the upper-right flipper. But if I press in the button the whole way, like one normally does when playing pinball, both flippers flip at the same time but the left flipper is very weak (I estimate roughly 25% strength). It has made the game much tougher when I have to explicitly make half-presses in order to shoot the varitarget from the left flipper!

Any ideas what might be causing this and what I can do to remedy it? Thanks in advance for any input

Yeah I've thought the same thing. I assume it was intended to be a tomb stone target but there wasn't room for an insert so they couldn't make it function like one.

Also I noticed recently that the two targets flanking the Shrunken Head count hits during South America mode *except* when "Multiball Start" is lit, in which case *only* the Shrunken head counts. So best not be missing the SH when you've got MB lit!

This reminds me, also, that Keith Elwin's RBION tutorial he says that RBION has one timer for all modes. On my RBION this is definitely not true. Should it be true? And, man, watching that tutorial again makes me realise how badly I need to fix my right flipper. I cannot backhand the right ramp AT ALL and Keith does it constantly.

The context in which Keith says this is when he's half way through Europe mode and he starts Multiball, implying that as long as Multiball is active so will Europe mode. In my experience, starting multiball does nothing to affect any mode timer. Nor does stacking any other mode (timed or multiball). The timed modes simply end when they're supposed to regardless of what you're doing.

Unless, of course, there's something up with my code. Because earlier in this thread there was a discussion about lighting the idol. Mine is always lit no matter how my times I hit it and I can't figure out why that is.

I can't help with the speaker panel (I think the only reliable result you're going to get, since the cutouts are all bevelled, is for some one to measure all of the sizes and distances of everything, and also measure the corner radii, so you can produce a new drawing to those specs.

I can help with the colour matching. I don't have graphic files but I've got a Pantone swatch book so happy to help match anything you need.

No worries. I've only got PMS values on my swatch book, no CMYK. In my work I always ask the printer to give me their CMYK values for any given PMS colour.

The blue is: PMS 2748
The yellow maps are tough to match because there's such an aggressive halftone in the printing and there is so much graduation from the worn paper look. Best I could get from a section with the least amount of 'dirt' is PMS 107.

I'd suggest possibly ignoring the cabinet art when designing the speaker panel anyway because it's much more an extension of the translite artwork than it is an extension of the cabinet artwork.

Correct, I don't have a bridge chart. I've found that the same CMYK values produce different results depending on the printing bureau and the machine they're using, so when a CMYK PMS match is critical I always get them to perform print tests on the same machine and paper stock to determine the matching CMYK values to use for a given job.

Sorry for omitting the C. It's a Coated swatch that I matched to. I had a very similar brand colour with a brand I worked with a few years back and so I'm not surprised to hear you say that the process version is more purple. It was the bane of my existence back then (hence why I established the aforementioned practice of making the printer give me custom CMYK values or each job!).

So I've been troubleshooting my weak lower-right flipper problem and have some more info. This is getting strange and I need some suggestions as to where to go next. Basically, my current issue is best described thusly:

My lower-right flipper is weak when I hit the flipper button hard. A soft button press, or half press, results in a nice strong shot that backhands up the ramp nicely.

If I hit the button hard it's so weak that it barely makes it past the ramp flap.

It has nothing to do with the upper flipper because I taped over the leaf switch for it to test if that was part of the problem and the behaviour is unchanged.

How in the world would the speed at which I hit the flipper button translate inversely to the power of the flipper?

I can only think of one thing. The contacts on the Stern flipper leaf switches are not large round contact patches like B/W ones, they're thin 45º angled pieces of copper. Opposing contacts are at 90º to each other, so they form an X when they touch. Perhaps what's happening is that as the button is pressed in, and the leaf switches of the lower flipper come together first, continuing to press in causes them to bend together and the contact pieces rub against each other. A slightly rough surface might lead to less electrical contact as they rub.

A hard/fast press of the button makes this weakened electrical contact effect the stroke of the ball because the movement is happening as the flip is happening. I've already adjusted the contacts so that the lower flipper contact has minimal travel, but it's impossible to eliminate it because you definitely need to leave some travel for the upper flipper to stage them effectively during gameplay.

Is there a way I can smooth out the metal on the contacts? What would be the best material to use to do that?

I've done that, it's fine. I even adjusted it further to ensure that it doesn't kick in until the *very* end of the stroke and it has had no effect.

The problem definitely lies in the button/leaf switch action. If I press it lightly/slowly the flipper flips hard. If I give the button a fast/hard press then the flipper flips weak.

Thanks! I just borrowed one and it worked a treat! The right flipper is now working perfectly and I can backhand the right ramp.

Just played a game and got Frog Frenzy again and spelled RIPLEY (just needed the S) which is as far as I’ve ever gotten. 130mil score.

So great to have a fully working game again thanks for the suggestions folks

You may have built out the left edge of the scoop too much and the ball is impacting it on it's way out, changing it's trajectory.

Always the best way to diagnose kinetic issues is to put your smart phone into slow-mo mode. Film the ball ejecting from the scoop and watch what it does. You'll soon see what the issue is.

My game was restored by a previous owner and he repaired the scoop with wood epoxy resin. Over time the tightness of one of the posts and the impacts from the ball caused the epoxy to crack and separate from the play field, slowing moving the edge further inward until it started protruding in the way of the ball. This caused the ball to go STDM. Instead of dealing with the major headache of fixing the epoxy, I just moved the scoop over a few mm and solved it.

Hope this helps!

Previous owner put a rubber dome underneath one of the holes in my ramp cover. Not sure what normally goes there TBH, so maybe ignore that particular part. But I hope I captured everything you need. Let me know if not. I work right beside my RBION

Side note: thanks for also causing me to take photos to notice the rubber dome affixed to my lower bumper skirt. The previous owner must have done this to stop balls getting trapped here. Which seems a stupid remedy before attempting to adjust the sensitivity of the bumper switch. When I got the game the bumper switches (along with all the others in the game) were replaced for new but not adjusted at all. I've removed it and I don't expect to need to replace it.

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It sure was! It was out there by a previous owner. See my "side note" in the post containing the photo.

The scoop has probably broken it's welds. Pretty common issue on this game. Take it out and get it welded back into place. You can also bend the top curve of the scoop to adjust it's trajectory as a stopgap measure, but it's not going to solve your problem long term.

Finally made it to Atlantis today! So much harder to reach than Frog Frenzy.

Very cool mode. I hadn't spoiled it by watching any videos so it was a nice surprise.

I really enjoy the double-stage flipper gameplay and multiball is easy to start, which is probably why I've reached Frog Frenzy three times already. If I get three or more supers in the first multiball then I'll focus on getting the rest of them via RIPOFF, then multiball 2, and the temple awards.

How big is the gap between your right flipper button leaf switches? I adjusted mine fairly large so there is a big sweet spot to perform double-stage flips.

I replaced mine for a new 'improved' leaf switch part that seemed to have more of a gap.

You can loosen a nut under the play field that is attached to the end of the RH shooter lane guide in order to adjust the trajectory of launched balls. Have a play around with that. If your momentum is due to the ball not cleanly entering the inner orbit then that will solve it. If this still doesn't solve it and the problem is that the auto-launcher doesn't have enough power, then clean the mech and replace the coil sleeve with a new one, and ensure your shooter lane is clean and waxed.

Go under the playfield and adjust all of the bumper leaf switches to be as close as possible without touching. That will make them very lively! If they fire from unrelated game vibration then they are too close. But you want to be right on the limit. It can also be worthwhile replacing the spoons that activate these switches. New spoons will be more flexible and also help your bumper action.

This should also mitigate your stuck ball problem, in addition to increasing the pitch. But be aware, changing the pitch also changes the trajectory of your ball launch so you'll have to tweak that if you adjust the pitch.

You definitely want to adjust the switches to be as close as possible without accidentally firing. That and replacing the spoons will make the pop bumpers AWESOME

Once you've done all the usual tricks of cleaning the optos and plastics and adjusting the alignment of said optos and plastics, if it still plays up, then remove the top onto and reflow the solder. If it still plays up then replace the opto. That's what I wound up having to do on mine.

I'm looking to sell my RBION. I'm in New Zealand and it's one of the only RBION's in the country, so most prospective buyers have never played it. So I made a gameplay video and a basic tour of the features. It was my first time speaking on camera and I had fun with it! I nearly made it to Frog Frenzy. Those who are interested, you can see it here:

Thanks! It's about the only thing I'm good at on this game. I can barely earn Ripley's letters to save myself!

Previous owner of mine had put an adhesive-backed rubber dome on the bumper skirt to prevent balls sitting here, but it compromised the bumper action and so I removed it. Setting the bumper switch to be super sensitive solved 95% of hangs there. If not, a nudge would cause the ball to trigger it.

Your assembly is too far to the left. You can see a large portion of your bracket at the right-hand side of the hole in your photo. What is happening is the ejected balls are hitting the edge of the cliffy and deflecting STDM. Loosen the scoop assembly, move over a bit, and re-tighten. You may even have to make new holes for some of the screws.

To verify that my hypothesis is correct, video a ball ejecting from the scoop in slow-mo mode on your phone. You should see it hitting the edge of the cliffy. That's what happened with mine.

There isn't much room at all. I had to move and rotate mine so the screws required mostly all new holes.