Just finished up this paint job last night…

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Made some apron cards for Lightning just now, pretty pleased with the result:

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Download these if you want a set for your machine:

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I'm finishing up not one but TWO Lightning restorations, and the first is fully reassembled and flipping (huzzah!)
Only problem is, I got no speech. The primary sound board is working, and it has the jumper modification called for in PinWiki. The speech board is the new Glodstone one, and it works when I use its built in self test. But when I start a game, nothing. I'm stumped! Would welcome input.

You're reading my mind. Here ya go:

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Update:

The MPU in the machine with no speech is a 2017 Weebly. I swapped in a 2021 Weebly board I had in the shop, and now it seems to work fine.
I’m hoping Barankandl has some insight/a workaround for it. The owner has a big collection and can probably swap out an Alltek from one of his other machines, so not a big problem, but it’s weird. And knowing that the speech is triggered from the lamp board further muddies the picture, but I guess all that stuff is still process by the MPU…at any rate, got it working!!

Oh wow - thanks!! Will give that a look today!!

I have some board experience, but it's limited...I'm totally fine running a jumper wire but am not able to identify which pin is #18 on U11. Are those counted form the "indented" side? and am I using the top or bottom pin?

Awesome, that’s precisely what I needed. Thanks so much for the clarification!

2 for 2.
It was a long path, and they fought me in terms of getting all the bugginess worked out, but now these are fully restored and playing 100%

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So, I have never gotten Valhalla Time on my machine, and no matter how well I do I haven’t gotten near breaking into a 7 digit score.
I’m using a Weebly board, don’t know if that is the issue, or if there are settings I am unaware of.

I bought the game as a project and restored it; I like the vibe in general but am finding the gameplay pretty “meh.” Gonna bring it up to Dick Hamill and see what he can do in terms of building new code/new rule set.
I think it has a lot of unrealized potential.

Ok, so the dip switch was set to on for Valhalla time, but I had to also set the coin door.
It *seems* like you have three different thresholds at which it begins. I set mine at 250k, 550k, and 850k. So - you can activate Valhalla time at 3 different scoring thresholds? Is that right?

Now when I reach 250k, I enter Valhalla time. But, this seems weird, because it starts during the active ball - not after you’ve drained. Is that by design? It seems really weird to basically kill the player’s ball once they reach a score threshold.

When I reach 550k, nothing happens.

Is this screwed up? It seems like you should be awarded a Valhalla round after the ball drains once you reach those scoring thresholds.

Explains why my old plastic was broken *right there*!

I posted a rundown of my recent Lightning restorations, if anyone is keen on checking that out:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/a-tale-of-two-lightnings

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When I did the 2 Lightnings at a time last winter, I was surprised to see that the arrangement of posts was different between them (ended up having different numbers of the 2 styles.) I didn’t keep track of those differences, just used the reference photos from the one playfield I shot pics of during teardown. I seem to remember the differences seeming largely arbitrary, I couldn’t figure out a strategy as to why they were arranged the way they were. But, it’s good to have a roadmap in any case. Not sure what would happen, if anything, if someone were to use all of one size or the other…

I’ve been meaning to post these follow up pics - I had Cliffy make protectors for the ball locks on Lightning.
He made a batch of them, so if you’d like a set, drop him a line!
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They’re an absolute no-brainer. Perfect example of updating with the times. Makes LED bulbs suddenly seem kind of silly by comparison.
I really wish Yopp or somebody would figure out a solution for GI sockets now. I replace all of those on games I work on as a matter of course, and they’ll be fine for a long time, but still, a lot more potential for failure vs. the simplicity of the Yoppsicle lamps.

Yep - he’s got one of the ones I restored last year at his place currently. I loaned him my Galaxy in 2021 and he turned that game on its ear, in ways I was blown away by. We collaborated on music for that one and I sent him some music cue ideas a while back. I think he’s currently finishing up new code for Scorpion, and I know he’s got designs on Black Knight and Jungle Lord as well but Lightning is next in the queue as far as I know.

A lot of them are really beat due to how many inserts there are; the big arrows are always warped and twisted and the small arrows are often pretty malformed at this point also. It think it is less sought after mostly because the playfields have worn badly and the gameplay suffers for it.

I restored two of them last year and it was pretty challenging. I was glad to do it because the playfield is interesting and the game deserves to be preserved; one of them is now at Dick Hamill’s house and he is going to be programming new rules for it. Slochar has done rule amendments to fix the weird stuff like relocking balls during Multiball. Dick’s code will be change the game substantially, and introduce different music and sounds.

I’d say yeah, Lightning is a good game, but you have to put in some significant work to realize its potential.

I had a guy cut me some using a CNC, but they still needed to be sanded down in order to actually fit the openings. I ordered some 1/4” polycarbonate; he didn’t cut any extras or I’d just send them to you!

But, if you buy a small piece of poly, it would be easy enough to cut out the parts on a scroll saw - if I was going that route I would cut them rough on the scroll saw and then sneak up on a good fit using a belt sander. Go slow and nibble away at it a bit at a time. On the playfields I worked on, I still had to drip in clear around the gaps, but that’s pretty standard on restored playfields.

Lightning is on its way to becoming the next classic Stern sleeper hit.
New code is being completed, I’ve played the beta test version and it’s pretty rad.

$2500 seems a little steep for Lightning; on the other hand a lot of them out there are pretty beat. Pics look good in terms of general condition; what’s the situation with mechs and boards?

Live stream was last night, check it here:

https://www.twitch.tv/dickhamill

I’m working with Dick on finalizing ruleset options, and designing a topper which will allow for Lightning flashes. He didn’t want to get into adding a relay (to flash the GI off and on) for some reason, but the topper idea should make things pretty dramatic. Stern was really cutting corners on Lightning; it’s incredible to me that there is neither a relay anywhere or a flasher on the whole game.

Anyhow, closing in on a finished code!

My friend has been writing new code for early solid state pins for the last several years now; as opposed to those system 11 reskins, these code rewrites are open source. Nobody is trying to monetize the effort, it’s just for the sake of the hobby and giving new life to some of the older titles which had simpler rule sets. (His work on Galaxy absolutely reinvented the game.)

Anyhow, that’s all to say I wouldn’t make a direct comparison to Funhouse 2.0 as it isn’t a kit bro g marketed to purchase. But functionally, yes, it is a deeper rule set which creates a different dynamic and feel to the game. I’m playing the first test version and it is already a vast improvement over the original rules (which always seemed half-baked to me - like Stern was rushing the game into production to try and keep up with Black Knight.)

Probably not something to sell, but it would be simple enough to fabricate with plywood and paint. Once we get it figured out I’d be happy to share basic plans on how to assemble it from common materials.

If you know how to program, there are a lot of possibilities. Endless, really. He’s been trying to keep it from being too complicated for people to rig up, and from drifting too far from what might have been possible in 1981. So no graphic displays from our end, but, again, there are lots of possibilities if people choose to expand on the code.
The thing I like about these code rewrites is that it is a chance for people to experience pinball as a *hobby* again, not just a thing to throw money at and get shiny objects. Creative, open source stuff. (That said, I can’t program a freaking VCR, but I give input to Dock about things that might be cool to include … )

Seriously! I’m always telling people who are new to pinball about how the machines were expected to last only a few years.
I restored two Lightnings last year and was really happy to do it, since mostly what you see getting restored are the “A-List” machines. For whatever reason, Lightning playfields tended to wear poorly; I just last week tried to talk a Pinsider out of parting one out.

I know that Dick has been kind of on the DL about new developments; like many of us, he’s spending less time on social media. He’s really intent on these projects being understood as a hobby effort and not a for-profit venture, so he hasn’t made kits available, but all of the stuff you need is commonly available from DigiKey or even Amazon, and it’s not advanced electronics by any means. He’ll have everything documented on his page and we’ll put links to the at stuff up when it’s ready for prime time.

Can confirm - new plastic sets from CPR have that left side “missing” deliberately.

I put in an hour or so dialing in my machine and fired it up with new code and speakers…I can’t across what a tremendously different game it feels like now. Having more ways to engage with the playfieldakes the whole game feel more lively; I find it has made me better at keeping the ball alive, I think I’m just trying harder because I’m more invested with these rules. I had thought “no way he can pull this off for Light if. The way he did for Galaxy”, because Galaxy was such a home run.

He did it again.

I installed Swinks drops on my Lightning because I was sick of the bricking. Really made a big difference!

Since he sends targets blank, I decided to have some fun with it - made up these decals, and if you want I can share the files with you. I discovered a nice brand of vinyl decal paper that works well with inkjet if you choose the “presentation paper” option. I laminated them with an Avery laminating film so they really look good and should last. (On small stuff like this high quality packing tape works just as well TBH.)

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Maybe it’s more than you want to get into, but I just cut new ones out of 1/4” polycarbonate. I wanted to have a bunch of extras cut for fellow Pinsiders but my CNC guy was distracted and didn’t do it, and worse, he chucked the remains of the sheet!
But, you can buy that stuff pretty cheap, get like an 8x10 piece and cut it on a scroll saw, go wide and sneak up on the fir with a belt sander. It works!

When I restored Lightning I resurfaced the inserts and had to redo the lettering and keylines. I can send you the files if you want to make decals. Restoring the playfield is doable but not a small job; I removed every insert and did multiple stages of clear coating and paint apps; it’s kind of an all-in proposition…

OK y’all here’s what you’ve been waiting for:

Starting new thread here:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/storm-23-new-code-for-stern-lightning#post-7644813Why

I had this problem on my machine; I had replaced the mechs outright and was being driven crazy. The problems I discovered were:
1) flipper sticking in up position - the EOS switch stack was pointing up slightly, just enough to allow the primary switch leaf to get caught on the flipper crank. Repositioning it a little lower eliminates the problem.
2) flipper not coming fully to rest - turned out the spring was slightly too tight and was gripping the flipper shaft. The friction stopped the flipper from returning to the at rest position; frustrating when you don’t notice it and try to let the ball do a dead pass and instead it kills the momentum and drains! Also, a solid case for mimicking the Fliptronic external spring. In my case, replacing the spring eliminated the issue.

I used Comet 2SMD frosted bulbs for all my GI lamps, and the upper playfield has really good visibility.
I'm a "natural white" fan, yes, yes, some people hate them, we know. I don't know if natural white is actually brighter than warm white. It also helps to repaint the base white of the playfield since they are always really yellowed with age.