I had the Send It Back bug bite me hard last night.

I was playing at my local arcade for the pin of the month high score challenge on an LE.

Long Ball 3, I start send it back. Finish the mode fully except for the last demo shot. Game freezes for 20 secs, then just ends. No bonus, no keep shooting. Just game over and enter initials. Finished with 1.7 billion but missed out on about 600m in bonus.

Argh! So frustrating! Ihope they fix this soon!

Keep at it Maxharvard! The scoring really starts opening up after Total Isolation 2, (Second checkpoint mode, after finishing 8 chapter modes). I scored over 200m just from 2 super jackpots in TI2. Also bonus can be really big on this game, so stay on top of lighting your inlanes, especially during MB.

I was at "Send it back" which is the season 1 mini wizard mode, so pretty deep in the game compared to Total Isolation 1.

Personal best was around 4.5 billion on a premium.

Please help! Got this back from repairer today for something else and they said they fiddled with drop targets as they didn't think they were resetting properly and now this is happening and this has never happened. Still continues when I turn off and on..any tips would be appreciated. Did a coil test and they pop up and down fine

I'm a little late to Hawkins but on Friday my friend sold his very nice Stranger Things Pro to me!

I consider myself very lucky as all of a sudden it seems this pin is in high demand here in the UK (not to mention I'm a Stranger Things fan) and this one is a very nice example with a custom paint job which features "Welcome To Hawkins" on the lockdown bar, Palace Arcade Sign on the backbox hinges and lightning bolts on the rails.

It also has some other nice mods including...

Shooter Lane Baseball Bat
Joyce's Communication Wall
"Friends Don't Lie" Flipper Bats
Speaker Light Kit
UV Kit
D&D Die Flasher Dome
Mezel Mods Arcade Sign (needs fixing - lights up but no longer spins)
Stern Art Blades / Decals
External Headphone Jack / Volume control (needs installing)
D&D shooter rod (needs installing)
Cleland Code

I'd like to swap out the red flasher domes for purple but apart from that I don't think I would do anything else

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That's a nice one! Hope you didn't break the bank

If i had to guess....and it's just a guess...I would start looking for a shorted ground that may be putting it in a reset loop. Make sure switches are not bent or grounded out...

It looks like your opto behind the stand ups may be blocked and the game won't fully reset the bank as it thinks a ball is stuck behind them. Go into switch test mode and see what switch 84 is doing. Also look under the playfield and make sure both connections to the optos trans and receiver are hooked up properly.

Yes definitely check that the 4-bank opto sensor is working in switch test. Also check them demodog targets behind drops. FYI I just had relay coil 24 fail on me so my drops keep pulsing. In coil test they go up but not down. Pablo referred me to gameroom guys who are the only vendors left with that part in stock.

if both coils work and switches all work check under the PF that nothing is blocking the drops from going all the way up or pulling down on them. Suppose could also be a blown transistor that is telling one or both coils to keep activating but that’d be a little trickier to diagnose and recommend reaching out to Pablo at Stern tech support

How about this shit, huh?

Just took a break from work, fired up the STh machine, ball 1... made Iso1, 2 Demogorgans, 2 TK MB's and an extra ball.. 6X bonus of 250M... First ball drained with 550M.

Ball 2, hits the pops and flies hard into the outlane.

Ball 2+ (Extra ball) - 2 modes completed and drains HARD down the middle.

Ball 3... hits the drop downs and SDTFM.

650M total.

Just... the fuck.

OUCH! I've been there before lol. That's the worst feeling after a great ball 1 like that.

If you're getting drains off the drop targets often, I use the following strategies to avoid that.

1. Shoot drops when ball save is on (pretty obvious)
2. Primarily shoot right side drops from right flipper only - avoid drops from left flipper
3. Sneak past drops when possible to complete "words" for demo modes - mostly from the downed right side drops
4. Never ever shoot drops on the fly on this game. I can't stress this part enough!

Had my LE for quite a while, but first post here.

What a great game!

this needs to be a shirt

Hello, do you know where to buy a UV light kit for a PRO, or if Stern will make some more?
Thanks

yea only way to fix this problem is to literally take the whole drop target assembly out and take everything off to clean then reinstall. I've had to do this on my stranger, my boss's stranger and 2 different Beatles machines. pretty frustrating tbh

that is if your ball sense opto is fine

https://www.flipnoutpinball.com/projects-3

Zach has one but it’s gonna cost ya!

whoah hadn't seen this on pinball life before: ($700)

https://www.pinballlife.com/stranger-things-projector.html

Is that the expected price or marked up?

Sold the NIB projector I had for much less but you know, it's easy to get one so....

I'm finding the biggest issue I have is the ball hitting the bumpers and PERFECTLY hitting the outlane and draining, no chance of recovery or bumping... seems to happen a lot.

You make it sound like chess!! No wonder I score so low. Think 5 moves ahead, got it.

https://www.pinball.co.uk/spares-accessories/mods/stranger-things-prem-le-uv-kit-502-7118-q2/

Yeah I contacted them a few weeks ago to see if they could get any in. He replied a few days later and said he managed to get one (and only one he said) of them out of stern and put it up for sale on their page

Don't limit your search to Pro kits. If you can find a Premium/LE you essentially get a free metal apron out of the deal. Although I expect any available on any level to have a hefty markup anymore.

Thanks for your answers guys..the targets started working an hour or so later before your replies and have worked since.. doesn't mean it won't happen again.. I will definitely get those issues checked now that I know what to look for. Thanks again all

Also after anyone's advice... the technician's that did the machine, adjusted my demogorgan to 'not shake as much'-this was their solution so it wouldn't hit the plastic framing behind it which is why I got it looked at. It hardly shakes at all now, just makes a loud noise from the part that's supposed to shake it I presume.. I'm a little bummed as you literally have to stare at it to see if it's even moving. Didn't end up being the solution I was hoping for..will get someone else to have a look in house, but do any of you guys know what part needs to be adjusted to at least get a bit more of the shaking back if not all, and then the plastic frame issue can be looked at adjusting rather than demogorgan. Sorry for the long winded explanation, it's been a frustrating process.

I don't understand... These are suppose to be easily ordered through any Stern dealer? Did something change? Why the high markup as well?

when i pulled the spacers on my 'Gorgon its chin was resting on the little rubber stopper beneath it, causing it not to vibrate at all. you can take that stopper off, it's not needed, and it should work again

I'm talking about it hitting the kickback, which aims directly at the outlane.

I'm talking the center lane... the bumpers. Those always seem to aim DIRECTLY at the outlane drain perfectly.

i think in this case kickback= sling

try imparting a little upward force on the game when the ball hits the slingshot, to take some of the bite out of it. just use the palms of your hands to smack the lockdown bar "up" a little bit.

if you want to score high, you're gonna have to nudge/bump/pass etc. however, having played this game a lot, i can tell you that sling-to-outlane is still going to be your most common drain. there just isn't that much rubber on the playfield

maxharvard are you talking about purple or blue

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'bumpers' usually means pop bumpers, which is cofusing (me) us

The blue circles in your diagram. I call those the 'bumpers' and the round ones in the upper right as "pops" or "jets" from Medevil Madness.

got it. those are typically referred to as slingshots

https://pinballmakers.com/wiki/index.php?title=Slingshots

My slings were doing the same, I lowered the power on them from 16 to 14. And it's been much better

That might be where mine are set. I lowered them a couple ticks from factory I believe, as they would launch balls straight over the inlanes.

This just made this game infinitely more enjoyable.

Right now I'm working on my aim more than anything and being able to consistently hit the ramps and loops at will. But, that's proving to be pretty hard. Getting the 5-way combo is a goal in every game.

My fave is the burn it back loop, when i get in a rhythm, i can nail that 4-5 times in a row.

Hitting that 3x or more consecutively is so satisfying

Reminds me of the inner loop in ToM. I love it. Flow shot.

Hi folks! Just picked up a very low play STh Premium with NIB topper, UV kit, etc. Man this machine is so underrated! I have it next to GZ Prem and DP Prem. they’re three of my absolute faves.

Anyways - question - the topper created massive glare on the glass. I assume invisiglass will be the answer for reducing that glare? I haven’t ever noticed other stern toppers doing this, but this one does in a few locations.

I was thinking a small black plastic shield / deflector below the topper could help and wouldn’t be too noticeable. Curious what others have done if anything?

Wouldn’t be as bad but this premium with projector is fun to play in lower light.

Thank you!