Dimples? Lolol

Is it just the screws coming loose for the ball gate? Mine hasn’t arrived yet but if it’s just the screws maybe some blue lock tite?

Gotcha. I’ll be putting mine on route, so hopefully they do a service bulliten on it as it seems pretty common.

@dg_amuse posted a fix for the demogorgon shot at https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/stern-stranger-things/page/68#post-5385952

I can vouch for this fix as prior it was impossible (<5%) to hit on purpose and now it is very doable (>75%). Made the game feel much more compelling and rewarding (versus feeling like you were being cheated and getting frustrated).

Can we add pictures for the above things as well like the gate?

I have a cure for the dimples to....totally stripping and reclearing the playfield before I run one ball on it!

Pitch isn’t changing anything for us. Our misses too high when dead on accurate. Lucky shots are the only ones going in.

Even on new code we are trying different flipper powers all over the place and still it’s unmakable unless you’re extremely lucky.

It’s like our demo toy needs raised up like an 1/8 of an inch and it will be fine.

I ended up removing the gate under the demo after hearing balls kept getting stuck (on location). The one way gate that stops left to right under demo had come half loose. From what I can tell there doesn’t seem to be a downside to this. On the occasions where shots to left-inner mystery shot hit and go right (where gate would have stopped) they just roll back to the left kick out like they should. Has anybody else tried playing without that gate? Anything I should look out for?

I would say just play it and see what happens. I can’t think a reason why it should be necessary to have it either.

I just did the same on mine. Just had a service call because that gate came loose on the one side and was holding balls up. Any issues after removing yours? I’ll report back if we see any problems here.

Any update on this fix? I am going to try it on the one on route here. At this point it can't hurt. The game has been down as much as it has been up with the lock post coming out now twice and the horrible control gate design that traps the ball and even a ball search won't release it. I'm shocked that a game like Stranger Things has so many problems when there is nothing to the game.

Then I get to work on Elivra, that house is a steaming pile. That game is worse than Stranger Things to keep working correctly, but at least there is a little something to it. Coffin issues, multiple house issues. A premium game with a premium price tag shouldn't have this many problems out of the box.

This route has all Stern games and from a maintenance perspective you can see the decline in quality. They have all the newest Sterns, but they are 0-2 here with the last two new releases now. I thought they brought a new QA director in house and things were supposed to get better? They are lucky that the operator I help out has a weird loyalty to them, I wouldn't buy this stuff to put on route if it was me paying for the games.

What's the easiest way to do this? Did you have to take off the demo and the screen and plastics/housing there? Or is there an easier way to accomplish this?

I just received my STh's & the gate popped off & obstructed the ball within the first five games. I simply pulled out the upper left wire piece so there was more length for it to fit in the hole firmly. I did this without removing anything, as the right side gate is secured firmly on that side. It's a bit difficult to wedge your fingers underneath the ramp where the gate is, but this is easier to do that taking everything apart. Haven't had a problem since, after 50+ games.

Exactly what I did to mine. No issues with that since. I am having an issue in the upper right pops area. Seams weak shots up the right orbit can sometimes fall.on the right pop.and not cause it to go off. Must be an adjustment issue. Have not had time to lift the playfield to look tho

Hmm, I'm not really having that issue much; is it a leveling issue? I feel like this game needs to be leveled perfectly for it to truly play right.

I'll try the to finagle the wire:

So pull the excess wire from above the playfield? Or Underneath?

Thx in advance, glad to hear this is a rather easy fix.

I would simply adjust your pop bumper switches. They are gapped too far apart, on a weak hit against the pops the switch is not sensitive enough to trigger the pop. Just adjust the switches in closer together & this will no longer be an issue.

Yep this is what I did as well.

Any tweaks to help with the magnet lock? I've only had a few games on mine but had a bunch of misses..

I removed the hex post from the front of Demogorgon. Working better now.

Following this thread. Digging into a bunch of smaller issues this weekend on my LE, hoping to get things dialed in and will report back

It’s super sad you need to “dig into” a $9000 pinball machine to get it to work proper sorry to hear you too are having issues.

Fuck stern! I’m out!

This isn’t another stern bashing thread guys. We’re here to help each other out with the issues. All pinball machines need tweaks, if you’ve bought a game from the 90s you know this.

Thanks for the info everyone. About to pick up a Premium and was wondering what issues have cropped up that I'd need to address out of the box.

See here for a checklist stern provided us to dialing in the magnet and lock diverter.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/stranger-things-club-join-our-party/page/35#post-5472488

We got our LE in 2 days ago. The projector isn’t working. Support has no clue. The projector will display a default screen if you unplug the hdmi cord. I also tried to hook up a small tv directly to the cpu and no video. I swapped the cpu from Elvira LE and still no video. So they are sending us a new cpu and projector

Is anyone having issues with the ball travel to the magnetic lock ramp.. my machine is level and I’m hitting the ramp clean but when ball lock is on it doesn’t seem to want to travel over the component that helps toss it up on the magnetic wall. It’s actually driving me nuts.

See here for a checklist stern provided us to dialing in the magnet and lock diverter.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/stranger-things-club-join-our-party/page/35#post-5472488

Good luck. It’s a fickle bitch for sure.

Thanks Chuck.

Anyone experience this or have an answer for me otherwise?

Playing latest code update and noticed that I cant stack extra balls.

So basically it will give me the 1st extra ball but if I light and capture a second extra ball it does not award it after receiving the first extra ball.

Thanks for the input in advance

After one week on location I have an issue with the 2 optos (left down post lock 1 and 2)
The 2 switchs doesnt work. After a closer look at the receiver board, I see that the phototransistor are gone. On the 2 boards !

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What does the other side of the board look like?

Has anyone had any issues with the drop targets not dropping? the far left drop target doesnt drop several times a game with a dead on hit. it will drop fine when hitting at an angle or a soft dead on shot.

Standard. Drop targets have been bricking for their entire existence. Crazy no one has been able to figure it out how to fix that by now.

thank you. i just found it odd that its only the far left, i dont think i have seen it happen on any other one.

It will happen on any of them from time to time. You don’t notice it on other games because they are usually out on the sides of the game so it’s less likely you’ll get a dead straight on shot.

Lower the flipper power setting. Instead of bashing them at 255 setting try 200 and watch the airballs go away too.

Any tips for getting the feed from the orbits correct? My left orbit hits the sling 50% of the time. And the right orbit it kind of all over the place, mostly at the top of the post of the right sling.

I've tried more pitch, less pitch. It seems level L-to-R.

Mess with the guides themselves as well as add a rubber to the post on the shooter lane gate.

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I increased the magnet power from 48 to 60 and now it’s a lot more consistent.

Thanks for the info @chuckwurt. Forgive the next couple stupid questions. I’m very new... this is my first pin

Where does one get those rubbers for the post?

And when you say mess with guides... just start bending things? Which things? I’m hesitant but obviously would love for the feeds to be cleaner.

Titan pinball. Buy a bulk set and you’ll have tons for when you need them in the future.

See if you can adjust the ends of the guides so they guide the ball more towards the flippers.

I didn’t have to touch mine. Just an idea.

Anybody else having issues with direct bash hits not registering on a Pro Demogorgon? Sometimes it will be working fine and deducting health with each hit, other times hits refuse to register 5 times in a row. Is there a switch adjustment here anyone has done to make the bash hits more reliable? Thanks.

The switch that registers hits is an opto type sensor that points straight up in the air that is under the plastic right in front of the Demo. Put in switch test and make sure that is working right. I have noticed though that the hits will register but you'll get no sound effect at all or it will come way after you have hit the demo.

Thanks Chuck. We'll try testing and cleaning that opto.

FWIW, on the left orbit I just used a screwdriver and pried the end of the guide out the smallest amount, over and over until it didn't trigger the sling. Was a bit nervous but it was so minor I can't tell and now the game plays a whole lot cleaner.

Need a little help here. Downloaded and installed the new 0.86 code and now the demogorgon modes start without hitting the drops. When a ball goes in the pops, hits a switch or sometimes just when I flip it cycles through "will look out run" and begins the next mode/multiball without hitting any of the drop targets. I've tried the LE and premium files, but they do the same thing. Thoughts? The download may be coincidental and this could be switch related or due to a short perhaps. Anyone else had a similar issue?