Godzilla (Limited Edition)
Stern, 2021
Godzilla (Premium)
Stern, 2021
Godzilla (Pro)
Stern, 2021My disti told me I should be getting my game in the next production wave. Ordered in April, was originally told December most likely but the January-March orders were all just fulfilled for him on the most recent shipment. Hoping that Stern is ramping up the next run of Godzilla b/c then I'm soon after!
Quoted from DiabloRush:They’re currently $26 for both figures (including shipping) on Amazon. FYI.[quoted image]
$30 ea on amazon.ca 
Quoted from Pensfan112:Godzilla has been at my place since Friday but already pulling in some new pinballers. One thing I noticed is maybe 10 percent of the time if you don't get a perfect lock shot into the building it will go in but doesn't register the lock. Ball search usually finds it but sometimes doesn't. Any body see this thinking I just need to just check the switch and adjust it a bit. The other is the tesla spinner shot sometimes goes straight down the middle. Seems like something is kicking it out when it comes around but it's so fast I can't tell what. Anybody have this and figure it out?
Quoted from zacaj:Is anyone having issues where a center spinner shot won't hug the left orbit cleanly, and instead goes straight down the middle? Can't figure out what might be causing it
Quoted from Hallucinate:Over the weekend I picked up a digital level and confirmed that my GZ Pro is level left to right and 6.5 degrees front to back. Unfortunately, I still get SDTM drains when I hit the center spinner. In fact, I just played a quick game and it happened twice. Both shots were really nice, strong shots that ripped the spinner and neither touched the touched the upper flipper on the way down. One moment you've got Ebirah in hot water and the next moment - drain. I guess I can deflect the ball with the upper flipper when it comes out of the loop or else just make softball shots to the center spinner. This doesn't happen when I make a gentle shot - only when I crush the spinner.
Any other thoughts or adjustments that I could make to prevent this?
I am getting this same thing on my new premium. Fast shots to the center spinner and sometimes to the loop will drain straight down the middle. The ball doesn't hug the ball guide on the left above the flipper when it happens. It is already moving towards the center of the playfield well before coming out of that lane.
My game is level side to side and currently at 6.8 degrees setup with a digital inclinometer.
Quoted from DudeRegular:I am getting this same thing on my new premium. Fast shots to the center spinner and sometimes to the loop will drain straight down the middle. The ball doesn't hug the ball guide on the left above the flipper when it happens. It is already moving towards the center of the playfield well before coming out of that lane.
My game is level side to side and currently at 6.8 degrees setup with a digital inclinometer.
Game level != Playfield level. Maybe you are talking about the playfield but just making sure..
Quoted from DudeRegular:I am getting this same thing on my new premium. Fast shots to the center spinner and sometimes to the loop will drain straight down the middle. The ball doesn't hug the ball guide on the left above the flipper when it happens. It is already moving towards the center of the playfield well before coming out of that lane.
My game is level side to side and currently at 6.8 degrees setup with a digital inclinometer.
When you say it's level side to side are you taking different measurements at different points in the play field? It is possible to have a little bit of flex in the playfield and while it may show level side to side at the midpoint of the play field your top end may be leaning the opposite way slightly.
Also consider maybe taking your flippers down about 5 or 10 points in power setting until your playfield and rails get broken in a little bit more then once the consistency is there turn them back up
Also make sure the ball guide around the back is nice and flush with all other areas. Might be causing the ball to get wild.
But most likely strong shots are too strong.
Yeah I’ve noticed that on my new pro as well a really solid shot from the left flipper to the center spinner will come off the wall and SDTM. I’ll try to reduce left flipper power slightly and see how it helps.
I’ve tried my best to level that area but my good digital level won’t fit with the wire forms in the way.
Quoted from chuckwurt:Also make sure the ball guide around the back is nice and flush with all other areas. Might be causing the ball to get wild.
But most likely strong shots are too strong.
My ball guide (and other early runs) is very far from flush. My distributor contacted Stern early on and was told by someone from their engineering that it had no impact whether it was flush or not. This always seemed surprising because if that were the case, I don't know why they would make the change in subsequent runs if it didn't matter.
For a long time, it didn't matter for me. For whatever reason, my machine apparently had the world's most repeatable upper loop as I constantly see people talking about being unable to hit even six in row for the ally (including Karl Deangelo) when my max loop combo is 20.
However, as I continue ever on (hopelessly?) trying to get my machine dialed in for shots to behave as they were designed, I go through periods of changing the pitch. And at some point, my upper loop started doing the thing described of having the ball no longer hug pass next to the upper flipper but an inch away from it and straight toward the center drain.
Someday, I dream of finding the sweet spot setup where all shots behave as they were designed. I just don't know if it will ever happen. I guess the overall point is that it feels like if you make changes to try to fix one feed or similar issue, you end up with a different one.
The biggest riddle I continue to try to solve is how to make my magnagrab actuate consistently when shooting the ball through the building. For whatever reason, my machine plays super fast. And, unfortunately, a cradled backhand from the right flipper will fly by the magnet 90% of the time. A hard clean shot from the left flipper will do it probably 20% of the time. It's maddening because not having the ball stop at the magnet when destruction jackpot lit or have it whip the ball up the left orbit when not has major negative impacts for trying to blow up the game.
Ultimately, I've had to adjust my strategy to intentionally avoid hitting the building strongly and cleaning to increase the chances of the magnet doing its job. And that's obviously not the design team's intention.
Quoted from KneeKickLou:Yeah I’ve noticed that on my new pro as well a really solid shot from the left flipper to the center spinner will come off the wall and SDTM. I’ll try to reduce left flipper power slightly and see how it helps.
I’ve tried my best to level that area but my good digital level won’t fit with the wire forms in the way.
remove the nut on the right ramp and move it so your level fits
Quoted from blueberryjohnson:when my max loop combo is 20.
I need to see a video of this. It’s literally impossible on the dozens of examples I’ve played. You’re shots must be CRAWLING around the loop. Or maybe they are getting held up by something back there and dropping it down to the flipper nice and clean each go like the rush loop?
Quoted from chuckwurt:I need to see a video of this. It’s literally impossible on the dozens of examples I’ve played. You’re shots must be CRAWLING around the loop. Or maybe they are getting held up by something back there and dropping it down to the flipper nice and clean each go like the rush loop?
Some times after a few clean loops I'll have one that rattles the start of the loop and that slows it down and kind of resets it. But still my max is 6.
But normally yeah the centrifugal force and my not perfect timing usually limits me to just a handful of loops
Quoted from chuckwurt:I need to see a video of this. It’s literally impossible on the dozens of examples I’ve played. You’re shots must be CRAWLING around the loop. Or maybe they are getting held up by something back there and dropping it down to the flipper nice and clean each go like the rush loop?
Watch stone on the batcave video. Does exactly that… hits something at the top of the loop and slows down almost every time.
thank you sir. I tried the settings, stern said increase the fast pulse magnet number and I have but I’m in a similar situation…staying tuned. I’ll work on it
Quoted from blueberryjohnson:Sandeep There are two magna grab settings toward the end of the custom game settings (so when you go into that menu, navigate left to get to them more quickly).
I have not determined how to use these settings to help me with the same issue. For months on my pro, a cradled shot from the left flipper will fly through the building and past the magnet 90% of the time. A cradled shot from the right flipper will do this maybe 25% of the time.
I can tell the ball IS traveling quickly (my overall setup plays fast) but I'm hoping there's a combination of those two settings that will make the magnet perform its catch most of the time without other unintended effects (I'll try cranking one of the settings all the way up or down and now the magnet will trigger but it will throw the ball some crazy place instead of grabbing it). Obviously the game is designed to do this, even if your playfield is steep, waxed, what have you.
I assume having appropriate values for both of the settings that play well together is needed for a solve. Both factory defaults have plenty of room on both sides to be increased or decreased. I've not had luck randomly locating a sweet spot and I haven't sat down to come up with a systemic process of evaluating various combinations (as I imagine other more STEM-minded folks would).
So I emailed Stern support asking for setting pair recommendations from them to try that they think may help address the issue. If they respond with options and I find success with any of them, I'll be sure to share to the thread.
I'm working on improving the ball shooter, it's been rattle-y since I got the game a couple weeks ago and it really bothers me. This builds on prior threads by fooflighter:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/stern-godzilla-official-owners-club/page/280#post-7087445
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/stern-godzilla-official-owners-club/page/281#post-7088176
I've done several things from this advice, will share to help others, but also to get pointers moving forward. I have made progress: it shoots much better now, but is still not to my satisfaction.
The first step was stabilizing my playfield, as it would shift by 3-4mm if I pulled on the front of the PF left/right. If that isn't stable, then aligning the shooter rod won't do much good.
There was prior discussion about playfield alignment brackets and that some earlier GZ's had come with them, but newer builds didn't. I emailed Stern support asking why my GZ didn't have them, while others did, and if it needed them. The response: "As for the alignment bracket, the new cabinets are not supposed to need them. I forget the exact date we started using them, do you know when your friend got their game?" Apparently, there were "new cabinets" at some point, and it was on purpose the brackets aren't installed any more.
Although Stern said the new cabinets don't need them, my playfield (build date 8/22) certainly seemed to need them (btw, another owner in this thread said their PF didn't move at all, and they didn't have the brackets - puzzle). So I ordered the brackets:
https://www.pinballlife.com/switch-plate-left.html
https://www.pinballlife.com/switch-plate-right.html
(note, when this part is being used as a playfield alignment bracket, it really shouldn't matter whether you use the "left" or "right" part, but anyway...)
To install these brackets...
With the PF down, I reached my hand through the coin box with a small piece of painters tape and stuck it by feel to where the PF meets the cabinet. This helped determine where to put the brackets.
tape
On each side, I screwed in the brackets so that the top screw was right near the top of the tape. Just used one screw at first in case it was in the wrong position (why make two bad holes instead of just one?)
trial placement
I lowered the PF to test them out. They were in the right spots, but the PF wouldn't lower all the way. So the brackets needed to be flattened a little. I thought about tapping them with a hammer, but didn't wand to damage the cab, so I removed the brackets and flattened each slightly in a vice. Pic shows before and after slight flattening.
before
after
Then I removed the painters tape and put the brackets back and tried again. PF was snug and fit was good. I added the second screw to each bracket. And it looks like this installed.
bracket installed
Now, the result of this was that my PF was rock solid. I could not budge it even 1 mm left or right when pulling on the front of the PF. A nice feeling in itself 
With the PF stabilized, here is what my shooter alignment looked like - too far to the right. Also, quite far away from where the ball will rest.
06 shooter too far right (resized).jpg
Next I loosen the screws on the shooter rod housing and shift it over to the left as far as I could. It barely moved so I just moved it as far as possible and hoped it was far enough.
loosen screws
shooter rod aligned
I could have done a few different things to bring the shooter tip closer to the ball. I had several old barrel springs so I decided to try a shorter barrel spring. (this part may be similar to one I used, but it's hard to tell from the pic: https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/25878)
original and shorter spring
shorter spring installed
(I'm not thrilled having this nasty old spring on my beautiful GZ, but alas...)
So this is how the alignment and position looks now when at rest. Well-aligned and the shooter tip is just a hair from the ball, which seems to work well on other games:
11 final shooter resting place (resized).jpg
The result... overall, the shooting experience is much improved. Before, nearly every manual plunge was a rattle-y shot that didn't cleanly leave the shooter lane. Now, soft plunges and powerful plunges are nearly 100% clean. There is a lot more trouble in medium-strength plunges, though. Somewhere around where you want to be to hit the skill shot. And with those, it's about 50/50 a clean shot verses rattling around.
To me, the effort thus far was worth this result, but still puzzling whether I can actually make it better from here. With some slo mo video of the medium-strength rattle-ly shots, things always go wrong at the short metal ramp near the shooter.
metal ramp (resized).jpg
Before hitting this ramp, the ball is going straight. Then, near the top of this ramp, the ball veers toward the right, hitting the right wall, bouncing toward the left and hitting the metal wall near the scoop.
rattle (resized).jpg
Right now, I am feeling like this metal ramp may be a design problem that I can't reasonably fix. Other games have a slit or graduated channel for the ball which seems work better. When the ball hits that ramp, there's a sudden change in upward direction that causes the ball to go wonky about half the time. At least that's my theory!
If anyone else tries to improve this or has suggestions I am all ears. Also, does anyone's GZ actually shoot great out of the box? I would be curious to know.
PS - game is carefully leveled side-to-side with digital level, and at 6.65 slope. Many have said 6.8 ish is a better slope for GZ and I'll try that sometime soon. Not sure if that will affect this issue any though.
Quoted from jackd104:I'm working on improving the ball shooter, it's been rattle-y since I got the game a couple weeks ago and it really bothers me. This builds on prior threads by fooflighter:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/stern-godzilla-official-owners-club/page/280#post-7087445
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/stern-godzilla-official-owners-club/page/281#post-7088176
I've done several things from this advice, will share to help others, but also to get pointers moving forward. I have made progress: it shoots much better now, but is still not to my satisfaction.
The first step was stabilizing my playfield, as it would shift by 3-4mm if I pulled on the front of the PF left/right. If that isn't stable, then aligning the shooter rod won't do much good.
There was prior discussion about playfield alignment brackets and that some earlier GZ's had come with them, but newer builds didn't. I emailed Stern support asking why my GZ didn't have them, while others did, and if it needed them. The response: "As for the alignment bracket, the new cabinets are not supposed to need them. I forget the exact date we started using them, do you know when your friend got their game?" Apparently, there were "new cabinets" at some point, and it was on purpose the brackets aren't installed any more.
Although Stern said the new cabinets don't need them, my playfield (build date 8/22) certainly seemed to need them (btw, another owner in this thread said their PF didn't move at all, and they didn't have the brackets - puzzle). So I ordered the brackets:
https://www.pinballlife.com/switch-plate-left.html
https://www.pinballlife.com/switch-plate-right.html
(note, when this part is being used as a playfield alignment bracket, it really shouldn't matter whether you use the "left" or "right" part, but anyway...)
To install these brackets...
With the PF down, I reached my hand through the coin box with a small piece of painters tape and stuck it by feel to where the PF meets the cabinet. This helped determine where to put the brackets.
[quoted image]
On each side, I screwed in the brackets so that the top screw was right near the top of the tape. Just used one screw at first in case it was in the wrong position (why make two bad holes instead of just one?)
[quoted image]
I lowered the PF to test them out. They were in the right spots, but the PF wouldn't lower all the way. So the brackets needed to be flattened a little. I thought about tapping them with a hammer, but didn't wand to damage the cab, so I removed the brackets and flattened each slightly in a vice. Pic shows before and after slight flattening.
[quoted image]
[quoted image]
Then I removed the painters tape and put the brackets back and tried again. PF was snug and fit was good. I added the second screw to each bracket. And it looks like this installed.
[quoted image]
Now, the result of this was that my PF was rock solid. I could not budge it even 1 mm left or right when pulling on the front of the PF. A nice feeling in itself
With the PF stabilized, here is what my shooter alignment looked like - too far to the right. Also, quite far away from where the ball will rest.
[quoted image]
Next I loosen the screws on the shooter rod housing and shift it over to the left as far as I could. It barely moved so I just moved it as far as possible and hoped it was far enough.
[quoted image]
[quoted image]
I could have done a few different things to bring the shooter tip closer to the ball. I had several old barrel springs so I decided to try a shorter barrel spring. (this part may be similar to one I used, but it's hard to tell from the pic: https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/25878)
[quoted image]
[quoted image]
(I'm not thrilled having this nasty old spring on my beautiful GZ, but alas...)
So this is how the alignment and position looks now when at rest. Well-aligned and the shooter tip is just a hair from the ball, which seems to work well on other games:
[quoted image]
The result... overall, the shooting experience is much improved. Before, nearly every manual plunge was a rattle-y shot that didn't cleanly leave the shooter lane. Now, soft plunges and powerful plunges are nearly 100% clean. There is a lot more trouble in medium-strength plunges, though. Somewhere around where you want to be to hit the skill shot. And with those, it's about 50/50 a clean shot verses rattling around.
To me, the effort thus far was worth this result, but still puzzling whether I can actually make it better from here. With some slo mo video of the medium-strength rattle-ly shots, things always go wrong at the short metal ramp near the shooter.
[quoted image]
Before hitting this ramp, the ball is going straight. Then, near the top of this ramp, the ball veers toward the right, hitting the right wall, bouncing toward the left and hitting the metal wall near the scoop.
[quoted image]
Right now, I am feeling like this metal ramp may be a design problem that I can't reasonably fix. Other games have a slit or graduated channel for the ball which seems work better. When the ball hits that ramp, there's a sudden change in upward direction that causes the ball to go wonky about half the time. At least that's my theory!
If anyone else tries to improve this or has suggestions I am all ears. Also, does anyone's GZ actually shoot great out of the box? I would be curious to know.
PS - game is carefully leveled side-to-side with digital level, and at 6.65 slope. Many have said 6.8 ish is a better slope for GZ and I'll try that sometime soon. Not sure if that will affect this issue any though.
Plastic lane protectors cover the ramp and help make a smooth transition
Quoted from chuckwurt:I need to see a video of this. It’s literally impossible on the dozens of examples I’ve played. You’re shots must be CRAWLING around the loop. Or maybe they are getting held up by something back there and dropping it down to the flipper nice and clean each go like the rush loop?
Negative. My machine generally plays dumb fast. When the loop was looping, it wasn't lightning but neither was it slomo. The feed just remained consistent and pristine.
However, as I mentioned in my last-post novella, my loops currently no longer loop as I endeavor to resolve other issues.
Quoted from Sugar:Plastic lane protectors cover the ramp and help make a smooth transition
Hmm, something like this?
https://cointaker.com/products/pinball-shooter-lane-protector
Quoted from jackd104:Hmm, something like this?
https://cointaker.com/products/pinball-shooter-lane-protector
I have these, they don't seem to affect the randomness of the manual plunge one way or another.
Quoted from chuckwurt:I need to see a video of this. It’s literally impossible on the dozens of examples I’ve played. You’re shots must be CRAWLING around the loop. Or maybe they are getting held up by something back there and dropping it down to the flipper nice and clean each go like the rush loop?
The trick is to rattle each shot just enough to keep the speed under control, the little ramp helps slow down as well. I got 9 once and can see how someone better than me could keep it going longer by finessing the shots and not letting them get too fast.
Quoted from jackd104:I'm working on improving the ball shooter, it's been rattle-y since I got the game a couple weeks ago and it really bothers me. This builds on prior threads by fooflighter:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/stern-godzilla-official-owners-club/page/280#post-7087445
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/stern-godzilla-official-owners-club/page/281#post-7088176
I've done several things from this advice, will share to help others, but also to get pointers moving forward. I have made progress: it shoots much better now, but is still not to my satisfaction.
The first step was stabilizing my playfield, as it would shift by 3-4mm if I pulled on the front of the PF left/right. If that isn't stable, then aligning the shooter rod won't do much good.
There was prior discussion about playfield alignment brackets and that some earlier GZ's had come with them, but newer builds didn't. I emailed Stern support asking why my GZ didn't have them, while others did, and if it needed them. The response: "As for the alignment bracket, the new cabinets are not supposed to need them. I forget the exact date we started using them, do you know when your friend got their game?" Apparently, there were "new cabinets" at some point, and it was on purpose the brackets aren't installed any more.
Although Stern said the new cabinets don't need them, my playfield (build date 8/22) certainly seemed to need them (btw, another owner in this thread said their PF didn't move at all, and they didn't have the brackets - puzzle). So I ordered the brackets:
https://www.pinballlife.com/switch-plate-left.html
https://www.pinballlife.com/switch-plate-right.html
(note, when this part is being used as a playfield alignment bracket, it really shouldn't matter whether you use the "left" or "right" part, but anyway...)
To install these brackets...
With the PF down, I reached my hand through the coin box with a small piece of painters tape and stuck it by feel to where the PF meets the cabinet. This helped determine where to put the brackets.
[quoted image]
On each side, I screwed in the brackets so that the top screw was right near the top of the tape. Just used one screw at first in case it was in the wrong position (why make two bad holes instead of just one?)
[quoted image]
I lowered the PF to test them out. They were in the right spots, but the PF wouldn't lower all the way. So the brackets needed to be flattened a little. I thought about tapping them with a hammer, but didn't wand to damage the cab, so I removed the brackets and flattened each slightly in a vice. Pic shows before and after slight flattening.
[quoted image]
[quoted image]
Then I removed the painters tape and put the brackets back and tried again. PF was snug and fit was good. I added the second screw to each bracket. And it looks like this installed.
[quoted image]
Now, the result of this was that my PF was rock solid. I could not budge it even 1 mm left or right when pulling on the front of the PF. A nice feeling in itself
With the PF stabilized, here is what my shooter alignment looked like - too far to the right. Also, quite far away from where the ball will rest.
[quoted image]
Next I loosen the screws on the shooter rod housing and shift it over to the left as far as I could. It barely moved so I just moved it as far as possible and hoped it was far enough.
[quoted image]
[quoted image]
I could have done a few different things to bring the shooter tip closer to the ball. I had several old barrel springs so I decided to try a shorter barrel spring. (this part may be similar to one I used, but it's hard to tell from the pic: https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/25878)
[quoted image]
[quoted image]
(I'm not thrilled having this nasty old spring on my beautiful GZ, but alas...)
So this is how the alignment and position looks now when at rest. Well-aligned and the shooter tip is just a hair from the ball, which seems to work well on other games:
[quoted image]
The result... overall, the shooting experience is much improved. Before, nearly every manual plunge was a rattle-y shot that didn't cleanly leave the shooter lane. Now, soft plunges and powerful plunges are nearly 100% clean. There is a lot more trouble in medium-strength plunges, though. Somewhere around where you want to be to hit the skill shot. And with those, it's about 50/50 a clean shot verses rattling around.
To me, the effort thus far was worth this result, but still puzzling whether I can actually make it better from here. With some slo mo video of the medium-strength rattle-ly shots, things always go wrong at the short metal ramp near the shooter.
[quoted image]
Before hitting this ramp, the ball is going straight. Then, near the top of this ramp, the ball veers toward the right, hitting the right wall, bouncing toward the left and hitting the metal wall near the scoop.
[quoted image]
Right now, I am feeling like this metal ramp may be a design problem that I can't reasonably fix. Other games have a slit or graduated channel for the ball which seems work better. When the ball hits that ramp, there's a sudden change in upward direction that causes the ball to go wonky about half the time. At least that's my theory!
If anyone else tries to improve this or has suggestions I am all ears. Also, does anyone's GZ actually shoot great out of the box? I would be curious to know.
PS - game is carefully leveled side-to-side with digital level, and at 6.65 slope. Many have said 6.8 ish is a better slope for GZ and I'll try that sometime soon. Not sure if that will affect this issue any though.
Great writeup and detail..I'm glad I could help get you closer to plunge perfection!
Quoted from metallik:The trick is to rattle each shot just enough to keep the speed under control, the little ramp helps slow down as well. I got 9 once and can see how someone better than me could keep it going longer by finessing the shots and not letting them get too fast.
The sweet spot is "make the shot but poorly."
Quoted from metallik:The trick is to rattle each shot just enough to keep the speed under control, the little ramp helps slow down as well. I got 9 once and can see how someone better than me could keep it going longer by finessing the shots and not letting them get too fast.
What worked for me was actually increasing the upper flipper power a degree at a time over default (I did this in switch test mode with the glass off and the 48V power on so as to use the actual flipper and not just test rolling) until I had enough power to hug the wall but not enough to overpower the shot over time. Since I raised my pitch to 6.8 and my ball was coming away from the wall slightly, a little boost of power did the trick and let centifugal force help hold the ball to the wall instead of being overpowered by gravity and falling away. It is a VERY tight narrow window based on pitch, playfield condition, using Titan rubbers etc...there is no way I can reproduced the loop numbers on location like I can hit mine at home, but that's all right since it's dialed in for fun more than anything. I can bang out 6 or 7 lose it and then go back into another 3 or 4 but location, lucky to get 4 in a row.
Can anyone tell me there setting numbers for the Godzilla magnet fast and slow pulse? It seems after the latest code update the magnet is not grabbing the ball. Maybe 30% of the time. Is anyone having issue? It’s like the ball thru the building is going to fast…?
I’m almost certain before the most recent update to the code (.98) the Godzilla magnet worked fine. I’m curious to hear after this recent update how everyone’s Godzilla magnet is working once the ball goes thru the building. I’m referring to the magna grab near the bridge. In the read me settings were changed…please if anyone could give there experience after the recent update. blockquote cite="#7098756">Negative. My machine generally plays dumb fast. When the loop was looping, it wasn't lightning but neither was it slomo. The feed just remained consistent and pristine.
However, as I mentioned in my last-post novella, my loops currently no longer loop as I endeavor to resolve other issues.
Screen Shot 2022-08-25 at 7.43.03 AM (resized).png
Finally broke 10b on my pro. Could have been so much more because drained with final tier two monster lit and what would have been by far my biggest Earth bonus ready. Never used oxygen destroyer. No city combo extra ball. Second to last ball, brick drained off a missed 11x destruction jackpot with Rodan running which would have been worth 880m.
Got confused by recent change to code I hadn't experienced with far reduced ball save time on later rampages (or maybe as you advance rampages through the multiplier levels?) Foolishly picked 10x bonus as the level 10 powerup instead of +1x rampage multiplier because I was in the last city on my last ball and thought there was no way I was getting to another one. I was wrong. Good god, I could have played a round of Rampage at 4x.
In the end, good game. But such torture not being able to get the ball under control for the thousand-and-first time in what had to be a least and hour-long game to hit the scoop, all but time out the last battle, and then go to Planet X. I recognize I'm definitely a glass half empty type.
Quoted from blueberryjohnson:However, as I continue ever on (hopelessly?) trying to get my machine dialed in for shots to behave as they were designed, I go through periods of changing the pitch. And at some point, my upper loop started doing the thing described of having the ball no longer hug pass next to the upper flipper but an inch away from it and straight toward the center drain.
Someday, I dream of finding the sweet spot setup where all shots behave as they were designed. I just don't know if it will ever happen. I guess the overall point is that it feels like if you make changes to try to fix one feed or similar issue, you end up with a different one.
Same, 1000%, except I'm not adjusting the pitch or side to side level now that I have that set perfectly. It's hopeless if you want the game to be somewhat consistent and predictable. Some things can be dialed in "better"... but this game is a constant battle against good shots going SDTM. I get them from the center spinner loop, the right loop, both building entrance shots, the right ramp, and the right lane behind the pop. Basically, every shot in the game where the ball can return. It's just the way it is with this design. I have never found Iron Maiden to play this way, or a lot of other pins.
I'm improving my scores overall on this game, and the frustrating drains are getting less common, but I still have some games where I score only a few million points because I only got to touch the ball a couple of times and then good shots were rewarded with a drain.
Wade
Anyone have a photo of a damaged newer-style magna-grab plastic that was supposed to cure the issue of the bridge bashing the original plastic and cracking it? I have a newer Premium and haven't put many games on it yet but it is already showing just a bit of "damage" to the outer edge of the plastic. However, I'd like to get a replacement from Stern and would like a photo of how bad the damage could get if nothing is done (I have read all of the do-it-yourself fixes [i.e., washer in the coil to shorten stroke; plastic furniture dot, etc.). In addition, the Stern tech asked for a photo to show the engineers that the problem still exists. As my plastic isn't "beat up enough" yet I was hoping someone else might have such a photo I could send along with my own. Thanks!
Quoted from jackd104:I'm working on improving the ball shooter, it's been rattle-y since I got the game a couple weeks ago and it really bothers me. This builds on prior threads by fooflighter:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/stern-godzilla-official-owners-club/page/280#post-7087445
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/stern-godzilla-official-owners-club/page/281#post-7088176
I've done several things from this advice, will share to help others, but also to get pointers moving forward. I have made progress: it shoots much better now, but is still not to my satisfaction.
The first step was stabilizing my playfield, as it would shift by 3-4mm if I pulled on the front of the PF left/right. If that isn't stable, then aligning the shooter rod won't do much good.
There was prior discussion about playfield alignment brackets and that some earlier GZ's had come with them, but newer builds didn't. I emailed Stern support asking why my GZ didn't have them, while others did, and if it needed them. The response: "As for the alignment bracket, the new cabinets are not supposed to need them. I forget the exact date we started using them, do you know when your friend got their game?" Apparently, there were "new cabinets" at some point, and it was on purpose the brackets aren't installed any more.
Although Stern said the new cabinets don't need them, my playfield (build date 8/22) certainly seemed to need them (btw, another owner in this thread said their PF didn't move at all, and they didn't have the brackets - puzzle). So I ordered the brackets:
https://www.pinballlife.com/switch-plate-left.html
https://www.pinballlife.com/switch-plate-right.html
(note, when this part is being used as a playfield alignment bracket, it really shouldn't matter whether you use the "left" or "right" part, but anyway...)
To install these brackets...
With the PF down, I reached my hand through the coin box with a small piece of painters tape and stuck it by feel to where the PF meets the cabinet. This helped determine where to put the brackets.
[quoted image]
On each side, I screwed in the brackets so that the top screw was right near the top of the tape. Just used one screw at first in case it was in the wrong position (why make two bad holes instead of just one?)
[quoted image]
I lowered the PF to test them out. They were in the right spots, but the PF wouldn't lower all the way. So the brackets needed to be flattened a little. I thought about tapping them with a hammer, but didn't wand to damage the cab, so I removed the brackets and flattened each slightly in a vice. Pic shows before and after slight flattening.
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Then I removed the painters tape and put the brackets back and tried again. PF was snug and fit was good. I added the second screw to each bracket. And it looks like this installed.
[quoted image]
Now, the result of this was that my PF was rock solid. I could not budge it even 1 mm left or right when pulling on the front of the PF. A nice feeling in itself
With the PF stabilized, here is what my shooter alignment looked like - too far to the right. Also, quite far away from where the ball will rest.
[quoted image]
Next I loosen the screws on the shooter rod housing and shift it over to the left as far as I could. It barely moved so I just moved it as far as possible and hoped it was far enough.
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I could have done a few different things to bring the shooter tip closer to the ball. I had several old barrel springs so I decided to try a shorter barrel spring. (this part may be similar to one I used, but it's hard to tell from the pic: https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/25878)
[quoted image]
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(I'm not thrilled having this nasty old spring on my beautiful GZ, but alas...)
So this is how the alignment and position looks now when at rest. Well-aligned and the shooter tip is just a hair from the ball, which seems to work well on other games:
[quoted image]
The result... overall, the shooting experience is much improved. Before, nearly every manual plunge was a rattle-y shot that didn't cleanly leave the shooter lane. Now, soft plunges and powerful plunges are nearly 100% clean. There is a lot more trouble in medium-strength plunges, though. Somewhere around where you want to be to hit the skill shot. And with those, it's about 50/50 a clean shot verses rattling around.
To me, the effort thus far was worth this result, but still puzzling whether I can actually make it better from here. With some slo mo video of the medium-strength rattle-ly shots, things always go wrong at the short metal ramp near the shooter.
[quoted image]
Before hitting this ramp, the ball is going straight. Then, near the top of this ramp, the ball veers toward the right, hitting the right wall, bouncing toward the left and hitting the metal wall near the scoop.
[quoted image]
Right now, I am feeling like this metal ramp may be a design problem that I can't reasonably fix. Other games have a slit or graduated channel for the ball which seems work better. When the ball hits that ramp, there's a sudden change in upward direction that causes the ball to go wonky about half the time. At least that's my theory!
If anyone else tries to improve this or has suggestions I am all ears. Also, does anyone's GZ actually shoot great out of the box? I would be curious to know.
PS - game is carefully leveled side-to-side with digital level, and at 6.65 slope. Many have said 6.8 ish is a better slope for GZ and I'll try that sometime soon. Not sure if that will affect this issue any though.
I wonder if a different design of that metal ramp would help. Maybe if it weren't flat in the middle and had a valley or groove instead to make it shoot more consistently straight?
Wade
Quoted from blueberryjohnson:I recognize I'm definitely a glass half empty type.
Definitely. I'm still trying to break 1 billion.
Wade
Quoted from scootss:I spent way too much time looking at and trying lit flipper buttons...
- CoinTaker - I tried to buy these but they're on backorder (and they still are). Their site doesn't tell you that until you try and check out though.
Just wanted to update you on this as I contacted Melissa at Cointaker about the availability.
She said it was an error and they did in fact have them in stock and she would fix it on the site shortly.
A bit afterwards she emailed me and said they were no longer marked as backordered on the website.
I just placed my order for them today so I will report back with how they are once I have them installed. Since I have the Brite ones on my JP I will be able to do a direct comparison.
Quoted from Sorokyl:Game level != Playfield level. Maybe you are talking about the playfield but just making sure..
Quoted from chuckwurt:Reduce the flipper power on all flippers.
Quoted from fooflighter:When you say it's level side to side are you taking different measurements at different points in the play field? It is possible to have a little bit of flex in the playfield and while it may show level side to side at the midpoint of the play field your top end may be leaning the opposite way slightly.
Also consider maybe taking your flippers down about 5 or 10 points in power setting until your playfield and rails get broken in a little bit more then once the consistency is there turn them back up
Yes game is was leveled at the playfield in more than one spot, not from the glass. I did drop the flippers down 5 points each and ended up putting up a nice game. The feed out of the left ramp lane from either loops or center spinner was better, but still had some issues. There is no amount of nudging that is really going to help when it happens either (outside of a massive slide save), because the ball isn't on the ball guide. On the pro I had before this premium, even a screaming exit from that location was a good shot at a live catch or a bounce over to the right flipper.
Quoted from DudeRegular:On the pro I had before this premium, even a screaming exit from that location was a good shot at a live catch or a bounce over to the right flipper.
This is how my pro behaves. Even when it bounces off the guide, it’s still a very makable life catch or at least easily get the flipper on it.
Quoted from chuckwurt:This is how my pro behaves. Even when it bounces off the guide, it’s still a very makable life catch or at least easily get the flipper on it.
Ya that is what made the difference so noticeable for me. I could pretend to be a good player live catching a fast shot to the center spinner.
I am leaning towards the ball guide directly behind the building where the loop drop meets. Shots through the building don't seem to have the issue.
Quoted from EZ-Rhino:Anyone have a photo of a damaged newer-style magna-grab plastic that was supposed to cure the issue of the bridge bashing the original plastic and cracking it? I have a newer Premium and haven't put many games on it yet but it is already showing just a bit of "damage" to the outer edge of the plastic. However, I'd like to get a replacement from Stern and would like a photo of how bad the damage could get if nothing is done (I have read all of the do-it-yourself fixes [i.e., washer in the coil to shorten stroke; plastic furniture dot, etc.). In addition, the Stern tech asked for a photo to show the engineers that the problem still exists. As my plastic isn't "beat up enough" yet I was hoping someone else might have such a photo I could send along with my own. Thanks!
The replacement fix was just a Pro plastic. If that plastic is still being damaged, I would hope the Stern engineers are looking into this further.
Quoted from DudeRegular:Ya that is what made the difference so noticeable for me. I could pretend to be a good player live catching a fast shot to the center spinner.
Since mine is so repeatable. I prime heat rays all the time. If you get down the live catch, it’s pretty safe to prime a heat ray before you get into any worth while stacks.
I don't think there is a way to create a perfect plunge every time. Like many have said, ensure the plunger is centered on the ball, that will make the most difference in the plunge. Even the tiniest imperfection in the plunger or shooter lane will cause the ball to go off center and start rattling around.
Here are a few things I noticed that affect slower plunges on my machine, full force or auto-plunges never have issues.
1. Even when the plunger tip is perfectly centered on the ball while at rest in the shooter lane, rotating the plunger rod changed the alignment just enough to put the tip off center. Either the rod itself is bent, which it didn't appear to be. Or the entire shooter rod housing isn't perpendicular to the shooter lane, which is more likely.
2. When pulling back the plunger, there was enough slop in the rod housing that even light pressure to the left or right was enough to put the tip off center.
3. The slightest bump or imperfection in the shooter lane was enough to send the ball off center and start rattling around. There were two places I could see this happening consistently on my machine:
3.a. There is a significant bump of clear at the far end of the switch at the bottom of the shooter lane. I saw several times where the ball would start to go off center here. I can feel a hump there while running the ball over that spot with my hand. And it has a tiny crack, I'm guessing from the ball hitting it.
3.b. The front of the metal flap for the transition to the metal part of the shooter lane. This was very minor, but sometimes just enough to start side to side movement in the lane.
4. I think the biggest culprit is the curved ledge at the end of the shooter lane. On almost every slower plunge, I could see the ball "falling" off this ledge and turning left. Anything that starts side to side motion in the lane will usually exaggerate the ball falling off the ledge and going left. Even the slightest turn to the left off the ledge will cause the ball to hit the staple there, which causes the rattling. Here is a slow motion video where it's pretty clear:
That video is a little more exaggerated than most plunges, but it shows what I'm talking about. The important thing to see is that it did not hit the right wall of the shooter lane and bounce left. When it went over the ledge it turned left, because it's curved. If the ball has enough speed/momentum to carry it over the ledge, it avoids the rattling issue completely.
Unfortunately there is a very small window of a plunge being "too slow" or "too fast" for making the skill shot behind the upper left flipper. Every "too slow" plunge just rattles around, and the fast ones are too high to go behind the flipper. So I guess all these issues make it a true skill shot 
I'm guessing the staple is to guide balls into that switch behind Mechagodzilla, and it also seems to be the main cause of rattling plunges. It would be interesting to see if removing that staple would reduce the amount of rattling plunges. That would probably affect how often that switch is hit, but I wonder if replacing it with one of those magnetic reed switches would still allow that switch to register?
Quoted from EZ-Rhino:Anyone have a photo of a damaged newer-style magna-grab plastic that was supposed to cure the issue of the bridge bashing the original plastic and cracking it? I have a newer Premium and haven't put many games on it yet but it is already showing just a bit of "damage" to the outer edge of the plastic. However, I'd like to get a replacement from Stern and would like a photo of how bad the damage could get if nothing is done (I have read all of the do-it-yourself fixes [i.e., washer in the coil to shorten stroke; plastic furniture dot, etc.). In addition, the Stern tech asked for a photo to show the engineers that the problem still exists. As my plastic isn't "beat up enough" yet I was hoping someone else might have such a photo I could send along with my own. Thanks!
Broke on day 3. Has since split in two. I have removed the whole plastic and now I watch the captive ball move while I wait (since April) for a new plastic.
IMG_1122 (resized).jpegIMG_1123 (resized).jpegQuoted from SimplePin:Broke on day 3. Has since split in two. I have removed the whole plastic and now I watch the captive ball move while I wait (since April) for a new plastic.
[quoted image][quoted image]
That is not even where the crack started on the original plastic, at least on my 1st run game.
Is there any visible damage to the bridge(bottom portion) from where it was striking?
Quoted from eyeamred2u:That is not even where the crack started on the original plastic, at least on my 1st run game.
Is there any visible damage to the bridge(bottom portion) from where it was striking?
Nope. It's the metal edge of the bridge that's hitting the magnet. I know I could do the washer thing. Just don't feel like tearing that bridge apart. No further damage is happening for now, I check whenever I pull the glass. Maybe Stern issues a real fix one day?
Quoted from jdlang11:I got these from Pinball Life. They are nice.
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How easy to do these mount? Mothra uses same screws as whats being used by the plastic? Glue on the larvae version?
Quoted from PanzerKraken:How easy to do these mount? Mothra uses same screws as whats being used by the plastic? Glue on the larvae version?
Martha is super easy to mount, screwdriver in 2 minutes. Remove the old screws install the new Mothra which only uses one of the existing screws.
I didn't install The larva cuz I don't like how it looks, its a little big and where they say to mount it will obscure part of the flasher over the maser cannon, it basically comes with an adhesive strip on it.
I only bought this because my original Mothra broke and to get a replacement from stern was going to take forever, and apparently plastics are not covered under warranty. So would have had to buy a whole new set of plastics and pay shipping this option from pinball life was cheaper.
Quoted from jackd104:Hmm, something like this?
https://cointaker.com/products/pinball-shooter-lane-protector
Yep that’s it
Quoted from PanzerKraken:How easy to do these mount? Mothra uses same screws as whats being used by the plastic? Glue on the larvae version?
IMO, best way to mount a mothra figure in place of the plastic is to put a small hole in the back and glue a paperclip in, and then attach the paperclip to the mounting screw from the original. you don't see the wire, screw or bulb from standing height, but here's a picture from down low so you can get an idea
pasted_image (resized).pngQuoted from Sorokyl:IMO, best way to mount a mothra figure in place of the plastic is to put a small hole in the back and glue a paperclip in, and then attach the paperclip to the mounting screw from the original. you don't see the wire, screw or bulb from standing height, but here's a picture from down low so you can get an idea[quoted image]
This is a great approach - I typically use an unsheathed wire from a piece of Romex electrical wire wrapped around a small wood screw, then the other side under a nut somewhere on the game. Cut it out in the length you need, bend using pliers and the bronze/copper color disappears into the game. I mounted those little toy jets to the slings, and you have to stare REALLY hard to find the wires
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