I had this issue. My Amp was set to full volume. Check the dials and set it to something more reasonable. Scott had "official" instructions for correctly setting the Amp in the club thread.

Got it figured out.

One of my connections was off by one pin.

All good now.

Looks nice!

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Make sure that the shooter rod is aligned and touching the ball in home position.

Dang.. lucky you. If you saw my post a few days ago, my replacement translite was smashed to pieces… Spooky is attempting to send me another. Hope they package it up a little different.

That's a complete bummer man. I didn't see. I'm sure they'll take care of you.

Was the back box removal relatively straightforward? any major issues to look out for?

The wire setup is messy and so it’s a little time consuming to reconnect everything.
But, it wasn’t too bad. 3 bolts on either side and the back box comes off easily. I left the hinges on and just made sure to put something in between them and the cabinet to avoid scratching the decals. And, I also tied them down to avoid them from swinging around.

So much better.

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Last night after I played about 10 games… the ball was trapped behind one of the drop targets. The drop won’t come down by itself now. I can manual prwss the target and it drops right away. But when the machine tries to do it it won’t go.

Any ideas/help would be appreciated.

Also, not sure if these are connected but the machine also keeps resetting the boot process and won’t boot up now too.

Any ideas/help on this would also be appreciated.

Haven’t messed with it today, don’t have time, will look into it tomorrow.

Sorry, replied to wrong thread, deleting…

Ok, same exact issue. Take out the screws. Pull the metal piece out. The tips were bent/flared up a tiny bit because the installer screwed them in too tight…think the ball was catching on that and flying. Use your fingers (it’s easy to bend) to flatten the tips out. For mine, I bent them slightly negative curvature so they would 100% not flare up when pressed down. Then I put a very thin layer of foam under the top part of the metal piece (the part that hugs the orbit, basically where the ball exits the ramp and plops into the orbit) so the bottom of the metal shooter ramp isn’t grinding against my playfield, and has some soft support under it. Then I screwed in the left screw, but didn’t screw in the right one. This was because the ball kept bouncing off the right screw, and 2 screws really aren’t needed here (looks fine). This seems to have solved my problem, so satisfying to have the auto-kicker actually work now.

I don't know what is worse, getting a few games in then it not booting or it not booting right out of the box. I just set up my CE 145 today and it won't boot at all. I gave a cursory back box inspection and couldn't identify any issues with wire connections. It tries to boot and once it seems like it is almost there, the ball eject fires and then starts the boot process over, rinse and repeat. I'll look at it closer tomorrow and try power cycling again. Unfortunately I am not an expert with these things. Lifetime player, first time owner.

I've been playing for a couple of days now and so far I'm very happy with the quality of my machine.

Perhaps it's because I was closer to the end of the run but I've been lucky enough to not have any issues with my backglass, shooter, switches, etc. I think the only obvious quality control issues with my machine are the apron gap over the shooter rod, and a tilt bob assembly that I had to re-screw because it was installed misaligned. I have the 3D printed apron-gap-fixer from scottieIA on in the mail, but I do really hope Spooky can figure out a more professional fix eventually.

Mine was doing exactly this when it was first delivered, and the problem was a few connectors had come loose in the backbox during shipping. I'll edit this post with a photo of the connectors later today.

Edit: photosattached now. It was the last two of the color coded bank of four that had come unplugged. While taking these photos I noticed I’d actually plugged them in incorrectly. Fixed now, though I didn’t notice anything wrong when they were flipped.

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Great suggestion and thanks for the picks. Mine are in correct order by color. I pulled and re-seated them but no luck. As far as I can tell, between your pics and my backbox, everything (incl. dip switches) are all in the same place. Hoping it is an easy fix. I'll call Spooky tomorrow.

Hey that sounds like the exact same problem I'm having with #144. Sounds like the line was having issues that day. Let me know if you figure anything out. My leading theory is fried driver board. Email Spooky service and let them know what's going on. Although it's been frustrating, they are very helpful!

Misery loves company but in this case I am not happy to hear you are having similar problems, it is just nice to know I am not going crazy. Been in contact with AJ this morning trouble shooting. Will provide an update once we figure it out.

Hey guys, late the the party.

I'm headed up to Denver this week to finally get a crack at TNA CE in 1up.

I've loved pinball my whole life but am finally in a financial position to get some pins in-house. I've been obsessed with TNA for a while, but am also planning on GZ Prem and Rush LE (if I can find one).

Anyway, curious to know what the current # of the 250 we're at for anyone who has recently picked up a TNA CE. They've gotta be getting close to finishing the run, right? Don't want to miss my chance before I get an opportunity to play in person.

I’ve been obsessed with TNA for some time as well and was very excited about the re-run, but instantly turned off by the cost compared to what the original came out for ($6k). I got even more turned off by the QC issues on this run I’ve been reading about here. Though its been great to see Spookys fast support turnaround.

There’s a CE on location at my favorite local spot and after comparison and consideration, I opted to jump on a nearby 1.0 for sale that has the right mods. Picking up after the holidays and saving around $2500. Really the main difference is the powder coat. Which is great on the CE, but I could get that done for $250. Everything else you can also buy from PBL to upgrade a 1.0 to a CE.

All that being said, have you seen this ad in CO?

SOLD!

Machine - For Sale

Total Nuclear Annihilation Archived

HUO - Undocumented (Home Used Only) - “Sweet sweet TNA with a few mods cliffy at the scoop green plastic protectors, homemade Towers custom pop bumper lighted side rails speaker light kits shaker ,glow in the dark rubbe...”

2023-02-05

Denver, CO

Bongiorno

7,000 (Firm)

Archived after: 14 days

Viewed: 966 times

Status: Sold (amount private)

Contributed to Pinside

Hey cookpins,

I have seen that ad, and return to it daily. It's been... a struggle, to say the least. I think my wife is ready to see my drop a couple years' worth of mortgage payments on pins just so I'll finally stfu with my internal deliberation dialogue.

I've read all 33 pages of this thread and understand that people have had issues, which seems to be a theme with several Spooky machines. I guess I believe - perhaps naively - in Spooky's customer support (especially w/ Scott's omnipresence on this board) and my ability to learn new things.

Personally, I’ve had a small portion of issues, but they are all cosmetic. Mine was CE #2 and the machine worked right out of the box not having fix major mechanical issue.

Only one was the shooter lane popped up.

Maybe I’m an outlier.. but I will say their customer service is what you expect when you purchase an expensive unit.

Sorry if I was salting a wound

I agree in feeling reassured by Scott's presence here, and others from the Spooky team. It's something that's grown my respect for the company, as you don't see any other manufacturer interacting with the community in that way. Good luck on your TNA journey!

Commenting because sometimes the frustration with problems can overshadow the contented. You're right to believe in Spooky's customer support. While I've had no issue with my #107 TNA CE there have been too many issues with other pinsiders' games which should cause concern over quality issues. Some issues appear to be a result of jostling during shipping (loose connectors, cabinetry shifting). The strength setting of the shaker motor may also rattle connections loose. Since you've read the thread you already know that there have been plenty of other concerns. Do your due diligence, evaluate your options/priorities, then don't look back - play whatever version you get like there's no tomorrow! You'll love it!

CE 67 here. Everything was perfect out of the gate on delivery and set up. One ribbon cable started to come loose after many plays, and that’s it.

I have far greater confidence buying NIB spooky than NIB stern because if there is an issue, I know spooky will be there. I had issues on my sterns and stern just kept punting me every two weeks, so I eventually had to figure it out with the community. And that’s bull corn.

Keep in mind that a greater percentage of people with issues will post versus those with no issues. So sometimes it can seem like every machine has issues, but that’s just not the case. Think of all the non issue games, like CE67 that never posted until now! Because usually people don’t post just to say: it’s all good and the game rocks!

So yeah, from my experience with 2NIB spookys (and a third with scooby), I would not hesitate to pull the trigger to purchase NIB spooky. I prefer to support companies and those people behind those companies…like spooky.

Same! One of the reasons they're my favorite manufacturer and I can't wait to get my first machine from them. However, I don't necessarily want to support the government with paying more taxes, and roll the dice with shipping companies, so I was happy to find a 1.0 within a reasonable drive.

For those on the fence because of QC on TNA. It's still worth it.

No other game delivers this kind of pinball. You're paying for Scott Danesi's brilliance in the gameplay and sound design.

That being said, I would never own a Spooky game not designed by Scott.

#97 delivered today. Only about 20 games in but so far it plays perfect. Fit and finish is excellent on this one. I’ll report back as I get more games into it.

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Your back glass looks washed out. I’d send that to spooky customer support to get an updated version.

Here is mine turned on with a picture of both back glasses next to each other.

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Pretty lame take.

Has anyone received one of these outside the US yet?

Me and a friend (CE #1 & #66) had both of ours shipped over a few weeks ago. They arrived on a container ship in Hamburg, Germany. The freight agent said we may get them next Tuesday!

Received #137 yesterday. I unboxed the game in front of the delivery guy, found no major problems, and signed for it…

Good and bad.

The packaging (butter cab) was exceptional and the game is beautiful.

A buddy and I set the game up and everything looked great until I tried to launch the first ball. The auto shooter fork would not retract and I could not launch a ball. So I turned the machine off and lifted up the playfield. Doing so we immediately saw a coil dangling by its wires with an immediate electric arc…not good. The autolauncher coil is screwed into the bottom of the playfield with FOUR screws- all four were out. WTF!! Was somebody troubleshooting something and forget to reinstall?

We looked for screws and the autolauncher spring- found the spring and two screws. Whew. Unfortunately, I potentially also had an electric problem as well from the coil arc.

So we reinstalled the autolauncher and booted up the game- bottom flippers dead- the upper one still worked as well as the lights. ?Fuse - ?Fried board

I looked up the manual online- no help with fuses or electric problems. We looked under the playfield as well as the back box for any fuses- found four of them on the power board (I assume it is the power board). We found the blown fuse and the next challenge was finding strong enough readers to figure out what fuse was required. Fortunately I had several boxes of various fuses and found the proper one. No fried boards that we could see.

So, we fired up the game…seemed to be working wonderfully. There is some static on the speakers during start up (?normal). The flippers worked great and the game is a blast.

Unfortunately I noticed that the beacon and the speaker lights did not work. I ran the beacon test-nada.

So, not a great first encounter. But a really fun challenging game.

Current problems- speaker hum and static on boot up. Beacon and speaker lights not working (possibly other lights/mechs out but I have noticed). Any input from you all would be awesome. I did email Spooky.

I have pictures to follow.

See above.

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Does it say who inspected yours?

I’m guessing Stevie Wonder

Could not find who inspected it.

Back box LED light strips do not work as well. However the sold state scores and LCD screen are fine.

I checked all four fuses- they are intact.

Is there a sticker on the cabinet under the lockdown bar? Curious because there are now 4 closely sequential pins (mine included) that are all DOA/having serious issues. See post in the club thread.

I have read many posts concerning various aspects of quality control and the group consensus is these are “artesian pinball” machines and therefore should be happy with whatever you get.

Oh yeah and the customer service is top notch.

You fired up a machine without doing a physical inspection, first?

Not for nothing, but shipping can lead to all sorts of crap rattling loose and causing issues. Always give a machine that you did not see running previously a good once over before powering it up. Doesn't take but a minute or two and can save you no end of headaches that will occur the one time you don't check for loose parts/wiring.

Nobody, clearly.

Things happen in transit, wires or connectors come loose, you gotta adjust some switches, that's pinball, NIB or not.

4 screws don't fall out.

People cut Spooky a lot more slack than any other manufacturer because they're the "underdogs" and feel like part of the community, but their quality control issues are not a new thing. This isn't a handful of people building a hundred games out of a shop anymore.

They are charging $3000 more for TNA now than when I bought mine. Inflation, costs, the market etc etc, is what it is. But for a $9000 game you should reasonably expect that someone looked at it before shoving it in a box.

And that's leaving out things like someone seeing those low quality backglasses and shrugging and shipping them anyways instead of fixing the problem before anyone saw them.

TNA is an amazing game and deserves to be built better.

I have seen a lot more than just 4 screws back out during shipping. It happens.

NEVER fire up a machine without taking the glass off, lifting the PF and inspecting it.
Same with the backbox. Go over the whole machine before you introduce power.

if four screws fell out from the same mech due to shipping, Dave should go ahead and re-tighten every screw in the game

that's silly for a brand new game

All good points!

I currently have over 30 pins and work on all of them. Most were new in box. So I’m not a total rookie, but certainly can act like one! Until recently, I would unbox my new games with a buddy or small crowd and make a night of it. No more- I unbox in my garage with the delivery person watching patiently. The comment about inspecting everything before booting is spot on. Don’t be hopeful like me.

So fortunately, everything is now good. Spooky got in touch with me very quickly this morning through email. I disconnected and reconnected multiple Molex pieces on the circuit board. Now all is working well.

I guess one exception-the dreaded metal piece in the shooter lane is causing some problems, but I just did a minor adjustment and it seems to be OK now.

I have to agree with a comment about how most new in box problems are from transport. It is amazing the problems that occur, and many are fixed by inspection and reconnecting.

Again thanks for all of the feedback and thanks to Spooky for the quick reply.

By the way- game is fast and really fun.

Not to worry because that didn’t happen. The response illustrates and supports my prior post though.

I check every fastener I can reach easily while I am inspecting the connections.

Honestly, this mech is one that gets adjusted for play and I am guessing the final assembly guy forgot to torque them down fully once the mech was adjusted to place. I often forget to fully snug all screws when adjusting launchers and setting flipper placement.

At least, until I put the glass on and remember that I am an idiot.

Agreed. That's what I assume happened.

Also I don't know what sort of testing Spooky does on their wiring, but poor crimps/connectors seems to be a pretty common issue overall. I can see how a poor crimp works itself out during shipping and it becomes a nightmare to track down a flakey connection (especially with little documentation)

I thought spooky was off this week for the holidays?

I’m currently sitting on TNA #160 with a few issues and have been waiting for the week to go by so I can talk to them.

Well, crap folks.. that is sucky. I had #2 delivered with only cosmetic issues so far. QC checked out for my machine…

My inspection stamp was located below the lockdown bar.

Hope you guys get your problems resolved. This game is super fun and sure is a nice fish breath of air after playing long games on my other machines.

I was also thinking of getting WOZ, but I’m digging games that could be similar to TNA.