I know you are not complaining about ACDC being a hack layout rerun and then bragging on AS in the same sentence

Yes I am I know the toy in a box is some of borgs other toys combined but they layout is unique and it shoots like nothing else and is just pure fun; like I said we are all entitled to our own options; I'm not a ghostbusters fan either so to each their own; I love games like Metallica, Aerosmith, Tron and Dialed IN because they shoot so good and smooth and are still challenging too

I wouldn't call it unique. I would call it a very slightly modified KISS. In fact to me it feels like Borg and Lonnie just decided to make another run at that layout because they felt like they could do it better.

Nothing wrong with taking some of the best features of your toys and layouts along the way to try to make something better though. Seems to have worked on this one.

Omg I'm LMAO

Bump. Can anyone answer these? Thanks

Can't comment on the spinner, but the aerosmiths (3 different ones) ive played...

- the elevator shoots fast back to the left flipper
- slow right orbit returns go to the right flipper, not sling.
- Borg through the pops orbit shots are a typical staple for him on a lot of games and they are not easy shots - even on non-borg games. The shot itself throws off the illusion of the angle, plus its typically tighter so they are usually tough shots. But no, havent had any real issues making that orbit shot on AS. I think one of the beat up location AS i played bricked once or twice so i hear what you're saying. Metallica has/had the same issue with its left orbit. I dont think its an issue though for AS.

Can't comment definitively on the Elevator Kickout as I've got an Le, but the few pros I've played this has never happened.

My right spinner has never obstructed the orbit shot. That shot is super smooth.

The left orbit entrance through the pops has to be accurate or it will get caught in the pops. There's no margin for error like a regular orbit shot which could bounce off the ball guide but still make it through. You either nail it or you don't But if it is an accurate shot, it's smooth.

Can't comment on the soft plunge as I've never seen the need to do it. I guess it would avoid the pops. Might try it later on.

Soft plunge is the result of missing the lock or the right switch.

You can activate one or the other with a good plunge.

Sounds like the AS I've been playing just isn't setup good.

Just got done playing a PRO at the arcade. Here are my answers.

1. Spinner played fine for the most part, 1-2 got hung up
2. Elevator kicks to left flipper which I let dead bounce over to the right flipper every time with no issues or worries of SDTM
3. Soft plunge that comes back down to the PF hit the center of the right sling every time, even with me nudging and slapping the game. The sling fired it over towards the scoop almost every time.
4. Pops didn't really come into play during my 4-5 games
5. Outposts were up.

Short plunge on Aerosmith is the way to go. The hardest part is to train yourself to always do it after a ball lock, or a drain while ball save is still active. And yes, you want to plunge just hard enough to actuate the right orbit switch. One thing I've been doing is this: If I plunge a little too hard so the ball is going to roll back down into the lock shot when lock is not lit, I give a little nudge forward so the ball jumps the lock entrance and comes back down through the right orbit, giving you progress on your mode. Some great nuances to this game!

Another thing I've struggled with is how to handle the left scoop kick-out. Normally on a game like this I would do a drop catch, live catch, or dead bounce. None of those things has worked very well for me on Aerosmith. I've finally settled in on hitting it on the fly with the aim of hitting the right ramp. I probably make it only about 30-40% of the time.

I have a Premium and initially I was holding my flipper up to catch the ball and 95% of the time the ball bounced off the flipper and right down the left outlane with no chance to save. I have since put Titan rubbers on my flipper and now the ball bounces all the way back up to the AER targets next to the scoop. Problem solved

Sooooo your Pro that turned into a premium? How did that all work out?

AS, MET, ACDC are all great. Stern hasn't had a bad game in a long time, maybe over 10 years.

MET had pretty basic code when it first came out, and it took over a year to become the perfect game that it is today (it's my favorite DMD now). But I still play and enjoy my IM just as much as MET, so it bugs me when people complain about Lonnie Ropp's code. I'll admit that when I first got IM, I thought it ought to have "more", but that never crosses my mind now. If I get to finish Jericho once or twice a year, that's enough to keep the flame going for me. Borg+Ropp+Thiel is a winning team, and Donny's artwork really puts AS over the top. But I just can't bring myself to sell another Stern to buy AS. Yet. Sure do love that display though...

Well this is getting confusing beacuse after owning AS I was thinking about selling IM to get MET.

I have the perfect solution. Let's swap MET <> AS every 6-8 months.

I still have it. Nothing happened. Distro just let it go.

All the talk about MET makes me want to play one . Don't like their music like AS, but have me curious as to the game itself. Damn, I never though I'd sell my old WMS collection for a stern , but Stern makes some nice stuff these days . Which is a good thing . Keep pinball alive !
Still loving AS, don't misunderstand, also this new stern stuff in the line up has been fun.

Anyone have the ball get hung up under the elevator on the cliffy protector? On a pro model . Like it's magnatized or something. But most likely not . Set up just below 6.5 degrees.. just sits there on the scoop hole protector, needing a bump .
JP

Seems like they all do it. Just needs a forward shove. But it does need fixing. Presents a "stuck ball during multiball" situation in competition.

Yes, a bunch of times.

Is there a cliffy on the elevator scoop on a pro? On the LE, there's nothing on the hole because it's under the upper pf, but it's definitely going to wear. I wonder if it's the same size hole? Can someone take a photo of the elevator hole on the Pro?

I think it's hilarious that nobody thinks Lonnie can code a good game. Well guess what, he just did with AS! The guy is like Rodney Dangerfield, he can't get no respect! He may not be Sterns best but he's proven with AS that he can do a good job and say what you want, but right now he's the big man on campus!!

What's Sterns code name for Aerosmith?

Im curious what makes you think AS code is go "great"? Its not bad for lonnie thats for sure but Oustide the Toy box MB rules nothing is original at all. In fact if it weren't for the toy box rules the game would actually be quite boring.

I diasagree totally sorry. I don't know what makes it so great, I guess it's great because it's just fun as hell to play for many reasons. It's just a good game. It's not the best game ever made or anything like that, but it's mega fun.

Sometimes the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Just my 2 cents: I really like deep games. TSPP, TZ, WoZ are among my favourites. But it is so refreshing to have Aerosmith to be so approachable without all the game knowledge.

Someone can just step up to the machine and figure out quickly what to do to have a fun game. But AS does have a lot of nuances going on that make the game also very good for the better player, like the postponing of the multiball and working the targets and stuff and using the CIU. It is just fun to play for everybody, also the not so good players that come over to play.

It reminds me a LOT of MM. One super cool toy and easy to get into the game but hard to get the most out of it. And we all now what happened with MM

Just tested on my LE, and doesn't hit the top of the right sling - not even close.

Correct. The Pro feeds it differently. My Premuim feeds it right to the flipper.

Edit: oops, was quoting wrong post.

Meaning I stayed out of the pops. I never do a full plunge to avoid the random exits out of the pops, always a short plunge. I've had plenty of SDTM and straight to the right outanes when balls exit the pops, so I avoid them as much as possible and only shoot the left orbit when I have to light the flashing insert.

Just realized you were answering another post.

Yup. You are on to something.

A lot of folks already have a fixed set of guidelines of what they like when they go play a pin and then make a quick judgement about it instead of looking at the pin for what it is. I like games that are not as deep, but I wouldnt say that TSPP, Woz or TZ are bad games because if it. They are all fun to play and I think I am lucky to have friends who own the games, so I can play them. Would I own them? Likely not, but I appreciate them as amazing players for sure. But who knows? I never thouhgt I would get LOTR and well here it is.

What I really hate about all this is folks who like that certain type of game, Deep or Shallow, Flow or Stop and go, mode or Journey pin, etc, make harsh judgments and statements about the games they dont like on Pinside or elsewhere and it annoys the folks who like and own that game. The thing is though, a lot of time it is not the game itself they dont like, but the game does not fall into the style of pin they enjoy playing.

It is like for cars, if you are a sports car lover and you walk around sahing Jeeps are turds and a Jeep lover says that your sports car cant do crap off road? Why bother bother comapring? Why bother making negative statements about this stuff if each are so different?

I think whoever judges pins based on what they are will enjoy playing pinball more. I step up to my LOTR and hit start and know that I will taken on a journey and when I play my IM it will be a short fist fight that I will probably lose. Comparing the two is silly. Playing the two is awesome!

I am glad you get what AS is and not just say that is not deep like WOZ so AS sucks. You get it!

The game isn't boring at all - it's the exact opposite. There is absolutely nothing wrong or boring with re-using proven/good rules in a slightly modified way in pinball. Many times the "new" rules don't work as well as the tried and true rehashed rules. AS has combined many different proven rules together into one awesome game.

Additionally, most games do not have "original" rules anyway - there's only so much to do on a pinball playfield. Sure, you can code up a complicated set of rules that a small number of people will think is awesome - but leaves most people scratching their heads as to what exactly is going on (especially on location for people just stepping up to a game). IMO the really complex rules start to feel more like video game rules, and makes the game less fun than simple, straight forward rules. Example: GoT vs TWD - all the houses on GoT is more like a video game, and most people don't know what to do for quite a while on it, where TWD has straight forward objectives and modes.

Very true - a game doesn't have to be all "flow" with extra complex rules to be a top game

I wonder, and hope, if they'll incorporate smart missles more.

I can easy cue up Aerosmith on my home stereo and play my pins. Not a huge fan of this pin (not liking the play field lay out). My humble opinion.

What's the point of having the button if they don't, i agree? Lyman did a great job with the vip passes on Ac/dc. I like how the vip pass is implemented on AS.

I spy....

image (resized).jpeg

Lift the prongs, wrap electrical tape around the base once, put prongs back. Mine never come out again after I do this.

Where did yours come from?

None have come off on Aerosmith (yet), but I've had them come off of Star Trek Premium over the slings, and Metallica from about the same area. The electrical tape fix takes care of at least 90% of the issue, if not solves it.

Dude thanks for the help and the non negatively! Hope your code drops really soon!

Node board 10 failure. Upper PF

Anybody else?

Nope, but I have had the crappy node design game reset issue when the flipper voltage drops a tiny bit too low - twice, both times on an awesome ball now. Seriously, how does this terrible engineering pass muster in testing?

AS really is a great game and I'm proud to have it in my collection. I haven't played it in a couple of weeks probably and I played a couple tonight and my shots were really off bad. It's definitely not a game that you can take a break from and come back and hit all the shots with no problem. You WILL be rusty and suck after a break from it I guarantee it lol.

Try switching back and forth from AS to Kiss in league. That will REALLY screw up your shot making!

I know this has been talked about but I cant locate it, but can someone please explain to me how the toy box multi ball works when you are in a 2,3, or 4 player game? Say player #1 locks 4 or 5 balls, how are the other players supposed to get multi ball? Please try to explain it in Dummies terms so I can maybe understand it.

Players 1 locks 5 balls. Player 2 qualifies their first lock by hitting the trunk. Lights the lock. Hits the lock.
Trunk won't open, but the insert for 1 locked ball will light.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
Bonus is if player two starts a 3 ball multiball and there are already 5 in the box.

Does that help?