I had a thread for these but should have just stuck in here instead, forgot about this thread. I made some apron cards for a friend's JP, download and print if you'd like to have them.

Don't print the image in this post, it's just a low rez preview, download the PDF for a high quality full-size print.

PDF is here (about 5mb): https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/227626/Shared/jurassic-park-cards.pdf

Preview:

jp-cards.jpg

That would be the one to go with! Please share if you end up doing it. I'd be curious to see how it works out.

My new friends. The goat is in semi-rigid wire, so he moves when T-Rex moves around. If only he knew what was to come.image.jpg

I did not realize that the bottom row of bulbs in the back box are supposed to be the flashing 455's.

It's mentioned in this video:

Yup.

Cointaker sells LED 455s.

RM

>Not sure if the changing color LED is the right choice for this mod.

Mine had the flasher bulbs in it, but I swapped them out. I personally don't care for the random flashing.

I'm converting all my games to use tokens and updated the "push to reject" image in the coin slots of JP.

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Where can I source the clear ball saucer for T-rex? Would like to light it in green.

I think this one would fit (I can't guarantee it, though):
http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/03-9101-13

It does fit. I bought and installed a clear one. It looks great even without adding a new light below it (which I'm doing soon).

I'm starting my park gate mod and installing some spot lights this weekend I'll post up picks with my progress.

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Got the gate built now just to do the sign and air brush it to make it look more realistic

My plan is to see how this one turns out and add leds to it and possibly look at making the gate open with a small servo. I figured I'd just take it one step at a time.

The PIG 2 can control 2 servos, lights and other electronics. It would be a good fit for this.

I added some trees. I also pulled out the old, yellow eject shield that sits in front of T-Rex and replaced it with a clear one. Then I wired a white bulb in to the GI and placed it beneath it. I think it makes it look real clean and bright. And it looks good when the ball lands in it.

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LEDs

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Thanks for making up these cards. They look great!

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Awesome, happy to share.

Where, or how can I get the cards. Thanks.

Download the file from his previous post and print them out. I printed them on some glossy photo paper.

Just download and print the PDF, should come out the right size: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/227626/Shared/jurassic-park-cards.pdf

Those are the best instructions cards yet! Nice job. However, there is a typo under System Failure. "Slwitches"

Thanks.

Son of a - ...

Fixing!! This is what I get for hand typing my own rules in Photoshop, with no spellcheck.

Fixed, redownload at same link:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/227626/Shared/jurassic-park-cards.pdf

I should have our copy editor at Ars read my instructions cards.

Thanks jeffsgames!

No problem. Those are awesome!

Someone asked for a $0.50 version instead of free play in another thread, so just to keep all the mods in one spot I'll link them here too:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/227626/Shared/jurassic-park-50-cents.pdf

Same cards, just with price for ops.

Question about JP - how easy it is it diagnose and care for as a "first pin"? I love the theme, and with the new code coming out (one day!), I'm weighing my options.

JP was my first pin and was relatively trouble free for years. Not a bad pin to learn on either. I'd highly recommend it for you Nicoga3000 just make sure you get an already working one (and NOT a project) so you can just start by handling the small issues and tweaks as they arise.

I'll honestly tell you that of the 7 machines at my house, JP is the most diva-like and in need of attention. It is never anything huge, and I'm a newbie and have been able to fix them myself for the most part, but it seems to regularly have switch problems for the control room. (This is a very common thing considering how much that shot gets hit, and there was even a press release from Data East about it for operators when it came out.) It's a $2 part and just requires replacing the switch and a quick solder, but it is a critical switch to be able to progress with the modes. My t-rex currently will not pick up/eat the ball, which I've been told is a wire problem, but after seeing other people's issues after poking around on the rex, I'm hesitant to take it apart to work on it. It doesn't really affect gameplay, but that's the 'cool toy feature' so it does look much better when it works. While I love my Data East and Sega pins, they are a pain to get to the bulbs since they are stapled underneath the playfield (whereas Williams/Gottlieb/Bally can be unscrewed/removed from the bottom) so you have to take off the plastics/ramps/etc to be able to access all the bulbs from the top. JP is a good candidate for nice LED bulbs so that you don't have to change blown bulbs as often.

I agree with fattrain that if you're looking for one, get one that is already working properly as opposed to a project pin. It was my first pin and I don't regret getting it one bit. I had a party for a few autistic kids this past Saturday and we did it Jurassic Park themed with dino decorations everywhere, the 3D movie playing in the theater, and of course the pin. One kid was disappointed that the rex didn't eat the ball, but everyone had a blast and determined that of the 7 pins I have at the house, JP was the absolute best.

(This is my dino feast and one of the kids with his mom.)

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Interesting, thank you!

I realize I could start a thread for this, but you guys seem to know the machine best, so I'll ask here!

My wife basically has said I could spend anything I want on a pin. The more I think about it, the more I'd rather buy a game in the $2k range and save up for a second game vs spending $5k on something like TRON (which would be awesome, but it would be the ONLY game I own for a long time, haha). JP is a great theme that I feel like everyone can love and appreciate (important to her).

That said, if I go to check one of these out, what do I need to be looking for when assessing a game??

JP was my first pin as well. It will always have sentimental value and most likely never leave as my 4 and 6 year old love Dinosaurs (not as much as ACDC apparently however)?

Do you know any Pinsiders near you that could go with you to look at a machine? I was lucky when I bought mine; I knew nothing but my game was in pristine condition. It is hard for a beginner to know what to look for (I miss things too and that is 12 games later). What I first look for now is obvious wear - I cannot fix these issues. On JP, check out all the scoop holes. Cliffy makes protectors for this game, and I think they are a MUST have. Look at the wear in the T-Rex saucer area. Look for broken/chipped plastics - these are next to impossible to come by!!! A set just sold on E-bay for around $1100.00!!! Aside from cosmetic flaws, take a peak in the back box and look for hacks by previous owners/operators. Many of these hacks will be obvious to see… Lift up the play field and take a look under there as well. Some problems/hacks are visible, some require more in depth searching. Go into the test menu and see if anything registers as odd or not working - switches, lights, coils etc.
Turn the game on and with the glass off, start a game. Manually press switches and targets and make sure they are all registering.
Take pictures of the game you want to buy, and post them here/email a trusted pinsider and they can help hopefully; two sets of eyes are better than one.

I am in no way an expert, but if there is anything I can do to help you out, just let me know! JP is a great game and extremely fun to mod the heck out of!!

Good Luck
Kyle

When you say broken plastics, what do you mean exactly?

The plastics with the art on them that the light shines through are often broken on pinball machines. Also the ramp plastic is important to inspect for cracks or broken places.

This is a set of the hard to find plastics on JP. I would not be surprised if someone makes and sells them one day, as of now they are not reproduced for public sale.

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Awesome, thanks

Odd question, but can you buy/3D print blank plastics and just paint them yourself? Being an artsy type, that could be a fun project, haha.

You would not need a 3D printer, because the plastic can be bought in sheets and printed onto. Painting it by hand would not likely be worth the time/effort for the results. The best way to reproduce plastics is to scan a set and have them professionally printed on. There are pinheads that do this.

For copyright reasons and my ignorance to the laws, I am not suggesting you do this.

Haha OK. Interesting that it's an option though (that wouldn't cost me TONS of money).

Also, blondetall, I told my wife your story and she thought it was super great - love the pics, too!

I'm thinking instead of investing in a $4k+ machine, I may grab 2 machines for $1-2.5k. Add some variety AND excitement to the mix. JP is definitely one that I'm hunting down!

E: OK, I found one for $1900. Awesome! I have a few questions that I want to get learned on early.

This video talks about a few issues. The one with the scoop shot shaking and not triggering modes...Is that an easy fix? And as I said before, any suggestions on what I should look for and how to test/trigger/review various modes and diagnostics? Never done this before, haha.

Jurassic Park was my first machine and I liked it so much I bought a "project" Jurassic Park as my fourth machine. I'm at the point now where I'd really just like to ship that one off to a repair man and have it returned a few months later completely fixed. After every repair, I'm finding two more items that need work. Quite honestly I'm just not enjoying the process, which is a change from the past. I never used to not mind working on my machines, but this one has really been a drag. Maybe it's my lack of success with the damn third flipper, but right now I'm lacking the motivation and time to work on the machine. All those features that make it a cool machine make it complicated to work on.

I have owned two different JP's and I have found them to be no more difficult to work on or prone to issues than other pins from the era.

I haven't had any issues with any of my DE machines. And they were all in pretty bad shape when I got them.

Make sure the Control Room works when you dump a ball down into the scoop. If the lil' yellow light is on above the Control Room and you toss a ball down there, a mode should engage.

Make 100% sure the TREX works. There's a minimum of 4 "moments" he should work:

1. Very first ball he eats.
2. Once you've spelled out "TREX" on the left side of the machine - the red indicator lights.
3. "Feed TREX" mode.
4. When multiball begins if you hit the TREX shot to engage multiball.

If he "drops" the ball 1/50 times = not a crisis. If he drops the ball more than 1/50 - in my opinion - uh oh. Every once in a blue moon, he'll drop the ball - gravity, rotation of the earth, fate - whatever - it does happen EVERY once in a while. If he starts dropping the ball a lot - there's something out of sync/adjustment/or starting to fail.

The TREX is easily the "cool toy" factor of the game, and when it doesn't work - life sucks.

Those are the two areas that can really halt the game.

Make sure the person selling you the game shows you how to do all the lil' tests - all lights on, coil testing, flashers. A seller should know how to do all the tests pretty quickly and easily. It's the equivalency of someone selling you a used car and not knowing how to open the hood to the engine - how much trust would that instill in you as a future buyer if the seller is telling you "Oh yeah, everything's great - no issues - always kept in tip-top shape.", and they do not even know how to open the engine bay....?

If a seller gets "froggy" or impatient because you're asking a lot of questions - something's not right. Don't ever let emotion take over logic when buying one of these machines. Take your wife, a friend, SOMEONE to keep you in check. I say these things not to rain your parade, but as someone that did make stupid choices over 2 years ago now. Don't want you to go through the crap I did, man - so - take someone with you that can "reel you in" if you start saying "Oh, it's fixable....and so is that and that and that...." - you'll be amazed how nothing is "too difficult to repair" when you really want one of these machines.

Good luck to you! I had a JP from March 2012 to August 2012 - loved it. Was a great machine!

Blast from the past!

It kind of feels like this thread is going off topic from JP mods to JP maintenance and purchasing advice.

I just put some lighted flipper buttons on mine.

Sure is.

We have a brand new person asking for help. You can bet, after what I went through in 2012 (almost lost $2200 to a POS JP...in 2012...), I will do whatever it takes to make sure he does not get burned. Blondetall is active in this thread; I am sure if she feels it goes too far off topic, she'll chime in and let us know.

I think this has turned more into the JP club thread, since it is the most active JP thread. I went looking to see if there was a JP club thread and found this one over a month old.

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/jurassic-park-club#post-1446873

I'm in! Look at the cool egg the previous owner found for it!

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I need to get some good pictures of it, but I installed a small 3" strip light to the underneath of the amber block on my dad's machine. It really lights the block up in a cool way. I will get a better picture of it when I am at his house on Thursday.

Sounds cool. Is it always on or is it controlled by the lamp matrix for the mosquito light?

Always on and then put a flex warm white in the light behind it right behind the mosquito. Then it is always glowing, but when the mosquito light blinks the mosquito really shows up well in a silhouette kind of way.