Playing lot of godzilla and halloween recently. The flippers just feel like they slap so much harder than those machines, very solid feeling

Possible someone juiced them up.. you could check if the coils are OE spec I guess. All things being equal, and in good service, they should feel similar to GZ.

Other options are high coil power configured in the menu.. also possible to have the GZ coil power turned down, typically I adjust Stern coils down a fair amount to avoid power loss with heat etc.

Hey all- just joined the club- Bought a TFTC that needed a good clean/teardown/wax - she is turning out to be a beauty-- I am getting the pinball missing error- I do have 6 balls in the trough, all trough switches 1-7 register in switch test mode. 50 % of the time all 6 register- no problem- the VUK registers as well- Just wondering if you guys have any suggestions- Thank you

What do you mean 50% of the time all 6 register?

koji Bad wording on my part- the switches always register when I preform a switch test. When I start a game and the ball drains, the game does not register that the ball has returned to the trough about half of the time-

Hmm, Is it still the original trough micro switches? I would guess that it could be an adjustment there, but TBH, I think most just upgrade to the opto-switch trough now. Much more reliable... and this is a problematic area for sure.

koji ya they are probably the OGs- I think I will just upgrade to the opto

@koja now just need to find where to buy the opto

Hey all- Feels like my pop bumpers don't really pop that hard- not sure how to word it exactly- My slings were a little weak too- I upped the coil power in menu- Slings feel a little stronger- but pops arent really popping like I think they should- Is this normal ? Or maybe I need to do a dreaded pop bumper rebuild?

I kept forgetting to reply to this, but I like my Crypt to play fast. With all 4 legs 28 1/2" the back legs were up to the top end of the levelers to give me what I wanted. It appears PBL only sells 30 1/2 krinkle legs in sets of 4, but I found that TWISTED QUARTER down here in Florida sells singles for $13.99 and grabbed 2 of those. He's got a lot of other well priced pin/vid supplies as well.

https://twistedquarter.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=82_257&products_id=1239

Now my back legs are only almost half way up the leveler and I'm happy with the speed at which the game plays, and I can still make it up the ramps no prob.

miracleman I just ordered! getting my TFTC fine tuned and absolutely loving that game- After doing a top down strip and clean (this baby was sitting unused for years) it cleaned up very nice- I am still messing with ball trough issues (going to replace the switches). I added color DMD as well... This is a seriously fun game with great shots-

yeah.. it feels like a passion project from the development team. Such great mode implementation, and the sheer number of them adds variety. I feel the dot animations on it are my favourite as well.

TFTC is a very underrated game. The campy horror theme is classic and timeless.

I know that the Crypt Keeper's cackle annoys the hell out of some people, but as a fan of the TFTC television series I find it entertaining.

Gord

Yeah.. I'm using chad rom which apparently minimized the repetition of it a bit. But agree, never bugged me at all.. I like it.

I have a D&D which also has a cackling.. (wizard). Kind of funny when they both cackle.

I was a big fan of the show as a teenager in the early 90s, and do remember playing TFTC at the Big red barn arcade in Eastham, MA as a teenager. I was happy to find this TFTC that was in great shape- I also installed the CHAD code (amazing) and my daughter thinks the crypt keepers cackling is funny-

I think the same artist did the 'scratchy' pf art on LAH, LW3 and others where it doesn't look that great, but on TFTC it's absolutely perfect!

MM

Just tuck the original two back legs in a closet so that a hundred years from now some dumb mutant will be able to choose one way or the other...

MM

I'm needing to replace a DMD and I've been struggling between picking this game or Ghostbusters for colordmd replacement.

Nightmare I can't speak to Ghostbusters- but Changing out to color on the Tales made a huge difference to me- Absolutely love the Gorey and funny animations in color- I have out color DMD in my Getaway as well, But in terms of impact and look The color DMD on tales from the crypt color dmd would be a must have in my personal opinion-

Tough call. Have TFTC I’m a bit biased to it, everything on it looks great. But, Ghostbusters looks fantastic as well. I’ve not gotten as far in that as I have in TFTC so haven’t seen all the animations. Whichever you get, don’t get the LED ColorDMD that smooths all the images.

Hey all. Looks like there was a hack job where the gravestone motor is under my playfield. It is not operation and I noticed two yellow wires coming out of the motor that were duct taped to the connector. Can anyone help and provide me with some direction on this ? Thank you

0FB80009-1AAF-4BB0-95D9-687B2BDB5558 (resized).jpeg

I think you meant to say 'don't get the LCD that smoothes all the images'. LED just changes the dot colors and to me looks the best. LCD can imitate the dots but never looks right to me.
To each their own!

MM

First night trying to repaint this side! Gotta go out and get a better color match for the whites, blue and blacks. But it's a start!

20220921_190513 (resized).jpg

20220921_211832 (resized).jpg

Looks great!

Thank you!

I agree, looks good so far. Can you share the best match colors you've found once you're done?

Will do! Should hopefully have some time this weekend to get it done and figure out the last of the paints.

I've been wanting a TFTC for a long time. I live in Iowa, so if anyone in the midwest is looking to sell, or knows someone who is, let me know!

Hey all, hoping someone here can offer some advice or help on a problem I’m having with my TFTC. The game is on location and has been playing fine until today. During a game today, the ball drained and the game continued to act like it was still in play. The game was shut off and i took a look to see if there was a missing ball in the tough as sometimes they can airball and get stuck somewhere, but everything looked fine. When I turned the game back on, it began its boot sequence, all lights came on as usual, the shaker motor started, but it would not stop shaking. The game wouldn’t kick a ball into the shooter lane, and further it didn’t reset the drop targets, leaving the center one in the down position. I went into the menu to do a trough clear, but the flippers did nothing, not sure if those are affected as I can’t boot the game. I could then smell the coil by the shooter lane, and it smelled burnt. I’m assuming that needs to be replaced, and assuming a fuse also blew as a result? but curious what fuses I should be looking at and where else in general I should be looking. Is there a reason that would cause the shaker motor to continue to shake? Prior to this the game was playing top notch. Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

4EFF85D4-D2E6-4D36-9DC4-6E17D79988CE (resized).jpeg

Jail_bones I had a similar issue with mine- Even while running switch tests all 7 trough switches registered. I ended up replacing all 7 trough switches and problem solved. Its seems like some of the trough switch "buttons" were worn down, and not registering correctly while all 6 balls were in the trough. It sounds as though your issues are coming from the trough and the game thinking there is still a ball in play. I would give it a try-

Thanks so much for the reply, I very much appreciate it. Would your game boot a game still once powered down and back on? I will look at the switches, but after this happened, the game won’t boot, getting stuck after the shaker motor test. I’m wondering if the following tests are just not completing because it can’t complete the cycle past that error? I also have no switch errors, and in switch test, while I can’t activate the flippers to cycle the balls for a trough clear, I can move a ball out and back in and it does show 6 balls to 5 balls, meaning those switches are registering as far as I can tell. Curious what other symptoms past the actual trough, you were having when having your switch issues.

Jail_bones The game would boot- I had a few issues when I originally got it. Mine had really flaky fuse holders- I would check those as well. I think your ball trough issue and power/boot issue are two different things. When I first got mine- I would power on, it would take 5 minutes for the game to boot- I replaced the c2 capacitor and then had full 5v power- the game would boot right away- I also had a few flaky fuse holders that I replaced. The last issue was ball trough not recognizing 6 balls- thats when I replaced all the switches. Since then mine has been working great no issues. I would check your fuses, fuse holders, make sure rom/cpu is seated properly, check ribbon cables and reseat connectors, and make sure you are getting 5v of power as well. Are you in providence?

Yes, I live in providence, the game is currently on location at Pizza J ( great pin lineup here, i run the NEPL league at this location if you do that sort of thing ), though I’m moving tftc over into the garage next door after work tonight while it is down and I await at least a new coil from Marco to arrive so I can diagnose. I am familiar with DE being notorious for having power board issues and appreciate giving me a place to put eyes while diagnosing. Looking at the manual, there also appears to be a 7th micro switch in the trough setup as well, and I don’t think the switch test shows that switch during test. Just want the game playing well, I love all pinball, but this game was always a favorite of mine, I love the theme and it’s a game you don’t often see in the wild, and when you do they’re usually terribly neglected and play poorly. It was my goal when I bought it to make it the opposite of that. So far it’s giving me a run and making me own up to my words!

Jail_bones I was just at Pizza J a couple of weeks ago- I picked up a black rose from matt and the TFTC was right next to it- Ya I agree- TFTC is such a fine game when its dialed in right- Your TFTC looked nice- Ya there is another end of trough ball switch #7 that is notorious for ball trough issues- It definitely sounds like you have something going on with your power supply though- I was lucky and just replaced the c2 and all was well after that.

Small world! I’ve known matt like since we were just kids, but I’m still kind of mad at him for getting rid of that black rose, it was sweet! Half the reason I own this TFTC is because I still give him hell about selling his years and years ago lol. Matt and I just moved my tftc into the garage next door to work on it this week, and I think you’re right, I’m probably having power board issues. The game has a rottendog ppb board that I honestly didn’t even know it had, and we checked for a blown fuse with the little time we had but didn’t find any. Some discoloration on the C1 connector on the mpu. I also cut the leads to the blown coil to rule out a diode doing something funky and the game behaved the same on boot up. Something we noticed is that the crypt door also continues to rise up and down and never stops, drops didnt pop up, shaker still running constantly, and obviously no ball pushed into the lane. Hoping to start diagnosing and maybe someone Can chime in with some advice on where to start tracing. I live a block away from pizza j, if you’re ever back down this way, don’t hesitate to hit me up for some flips!

I agree that it's always worth checking the power supplies on these old Data East games. I've seen very strange issues with them when the power supply is bad. From switch matrix issues to all kinds of weird behavior. And then they all go away with a good power supply.

Jail_bones I will hit you up next time I stop into Pizza J- I love that place- Good luck with your TFTC in the meantime- and ya that black rose is sweet- I did a top down clean and leveled the cannon- Plays sweet now !

I thought I’d give an update, I pulled the boards from the game and the tip36 resister was fried on the ppb board. What caused it im not sure, it’s very possible that the shooter coil which I believe is smoked caused it. I’ll be sending it out along with the MPU and the soundboard to be “bulletproofed”. I’m hoping being blown was also the reason for erratic activity while trying to boot the game, and also why the shaker motor was continuously running. Possibly the system warning that something is wrong? I decided if I’m going to keep the game on location, I’d take the advice of many and upgrade the games power supply board as well. I received such good customer service from Brett at xpin in the past, that even though the site was down, contacted him over ordering something from elsewhere. As expected, he had one, shot me an invoice and that is on the way. I have a new coils for the launch and trough load, and plan on checking the rest of the diodes on the other coils as well as it’s cheap and from what I understand, a bad diode on any of those could have resulted in TIP36c frying. Is there anywhere else anyone else would recommend looking for what could or would have caused this in case my assumption of a locked coil was not the cause? Last thing I want to happen is get the boards back and end up in the same situation. Again, I appreciate everyone’s input and help

I'd bet even money it's the transistor associated with the crypt kicker that blew. Literally, every Data East game that I've worked on that has an outlane kickback, or raptor pit kickback, has had that transitor blown.

Usually blows short and locks said coil on. Seems like there was a design flaw and that the tip36 isn't robust enough to handle the kickback current.

So I'd look there.

Thanks mike! I did see in my research a plethora of people mentioning issues with the kickback coil on data east games. Are you talking about a specific transistor on the board that fails or are you talking about the diode on the kickback coil itself that fails locking it on?

The transistor that's on the board in the backbox that runs the kickback. I rarely run into bad diodes, but I know it does happen.

My friend has a TFTC and the Tombstone target will sometimes record multiple hits during gameplay when struck once by the ball.

Is this the nature of the target and switch?

I have tried increasing the gap to the switch but can't find the happy medium between multiple hits and no hits.

Thanks in advance.

Is the foam backing missing?

The foam is still there and in very good condition - not compressed.

Thanks for the response.

I feel like my spinners could use some more spin. I vaguely remember some people lubricating their spinners? Is this a thing?

Definitely, a tiny drop of super lube, along with ensuring that it is adjusted for low tension, will give you spinners that really rip.

Just put a dab of 3 in 1 oil on a q-tip or toothpick and rub it on the spinner shaft for super spin action.

Hey guys.. been a few years since I've looked on this thread but wondering if there was ever any success with John Kassier doing sounbytes for the krypt keeper? I know he is on Cameo for custom clips, even looks like he has a TFTC pin at home. Maybe a few of us here could chip in and pay for a bunch of custom callouts if JK is willing to do some? There are probably a few musicians on Fiver that would re-record the themes... Just a thought..

I have a new set of cliffys never installed.

This would be a really cool project. It’d get me interested in buying a pindsound for it. The options out there now didn’t do it for me.