Based on my experience the epoxy just prolonged the inevitable. Rens said they were hoping the new pins were more durable, but I'm guessing they aren't if you have a newer machine. Taking the bowling alley out and replacing them, while not that difficult, isn't exactly a quick process.

I was thinking that a hollow or maybe even rubber bowling ball would be better since it just feeds through the bowling alley on a loop and isn't used for regular play. But that's if the ball hitting the pins is the issue. It could be the torque of them moving too, or a combination.

Someone already had an upgraded version. I think it was the mod couple

Even if those ramps are made from a thicker plastic, they get beaten and will break eventually. I am really in for a set of ramp protectors but Cliff hasn't been able to put his hands on a Big Lebowski to make them yet. He's offering to do it he can have access to a machine. Unfortunately that won't be mine as I am thousand of miles and an ocean or two away from him (and still awaiting my game).

After loosing almost all original bowling pins and the first two out of ten new ABS bowling pins my solution was to install modified (self made from Pertinax) connectors between plungers and bowling pins (approx. 0.1“ longer than the original white plastics).
That prevents the bowling pins from hitting the metal rod of the row behind.

6E7C25BB-17E5-429F-BC49-55AF242B2B96 (resized).jpeg

7BFB7580-8826-4B8B-9A00-3F703F1EE893 (resized).jpeg

C9756F1A-D26B-41AF-98E0-7A677B402739 (resized).jpeg

Where is he?

I got my game about 3 weeks ago. What's crazy is that all the ones on the 3 row broke... And yes, i believe its possible that the pins are hitting metal on the back.

That is a very good solution. I wonder if putting a piece of soft velcro on the metal rod behind can also help.

Before I found my solution I put some old post rubbers on the metal rods behind - it doesn‘t work…

So it needs separation... i will try to print some bowling pins tomorrow and will leave the stl file here. Thank you for the advice.

I have a scoring question for all of you experts out there... (I don't own the game but trying to learn it as they have one at a bar near me.)

Is there any points or playfield multiplier advantage to having multiple characters in multiball? As far as I can tell it is simply a number of balls in play concept.

I *believe* the only way to add multipliers to a character jackpot is to have the White Russian on their associated shot and to acquire the bowling ball multiplier. After that, it's just hitting the shot to raise the JP value.

Is that right, or am I missing something?

If you have all 5 characters going you not only get 5 balls, you can get a 20x multiplier going for each character if you have both their bowling ball and a white russian lit for that character (5x2x2). If you can consistently hit a character and build up their base jackpot before going into multi-ball you can get some insane jackpot scores. But usually, you get everything perfectly set up and then....

Ah, understood! So the number of characters going also acts as a jackpot multiplier. Do you happen to know whether the multiplier changes based on the number of balls in play, or just the number of characters started?

I'm going to go do some testing anyway (right now) so this will be a fun experiment!

Thanks! I never considered that they could be hitting on the row behind them, which probably explains why my back row is still good. I'll need to glue my pins back together again and try this.

It's just the number of characters flashing when it starts, and doesn't go down as your drain. If you played a previous multi-ball those characters don't count. Once you play all 5, the whole process starts over. I think the bowling ball multipliers carry over if you play a character again. It's hard to try to do the math in your head and play at the same time.

Cliff is in San Ramon, California

Not really, what about custom codes going around with music and videos for Jurassic Park, Guardians of the Galaxy, X-Men… to name a few..

The Proto pins have arrived and went into testing. Testrig is a bowling alley running all the time. See a video at https://photos.app.goo.gl/adRQaxNapmvTVks18

Unfortunately during second day of testing a pin broke …

So, new idea was to limit the upper movement so it’s not hitting anything. Mainly this is a ring over the bowling pin acting like a kind of coil-stop. Just not at the end of the coil but start. This was done this week. I think the testrig was turned on Wednesday. Plan to have this running for at least a week during business hours. If nothing breaks this would than be a solution for all involved.

Hopefully this solution will put an end to this once and for all. A Testvideo on this latest solution can be seen at https://photos.app.goo.gl/ojzb5TwgTGrHXmP18

F03D5FFD-EE38-468D-80A6-CE3EA391BCA2 (resized).jpeg

It's privately shared I think for obvious reasons. You just have to know who to ask, swear that you have purchased the included copyrighted music/video, and that it is for personal, non-commercial use.

For TBL it is pretty easy since it is just music files that you need to edit with Audacity, or another audio editing program, and then rename & copy them to the drive.

Rensh KoenHeltzel Any ETA on the 1.00 code release? I know you've been working hard on it just figured I'd ask for the sake of asking.

Glad to see they are working on this! My month old game lost one in the first week.

I haven't had any break on me yet but if it happens, I plan on drilling up through the bottom of the pin and epoxying in a metal rod. This should make them unbreakable at least up to the top attachment point.

Rens, any chance that just limiting the time of the pulse sent to the coil pulling the pins up could prevent breakage? Really, as long as the pins hit show some kind of motion, it should look convincing. Could be a cheap and easy software fix if it worked?

I think this was asked just one page back.

OVER THE LINE!

It’s mostly now waiting time for the extra needed video/animations and audio assets (like new callouts made by the same voice actor).

There is an internal goal but this goal has been shifted already a couple of times so will only tell it’s ready when it’s ready. In current times things are just so many times delayed.

Keeping a factory running nowadays is just a challenge and a 24/7 job. Parts to late or arrive not at all, bad quality, higher priced, fake copies, you name it. It’s all in the mix nowadays in the life of many factory owners

I am interested in that STL, thanks for sharing!

I too would like to know this, Just got my machine a week ago!

Officially joined the club today!

A0486EE4-F730-4E75-BEAC-6BDF50F2782F (resized).jpeg

That topic is discussed a number of times, last time couple of days ago. See #3395.

Made my own target decals while I wait for my torx tools... They are printed on photo paper. These are just a prototype.

20220410_114752 (resized).jpg

20220410_114757 (resized).jpg

20220410_114804 (resized).jpg

20220410_114812 (resized).jpg

Is there any word on how long TBL will be produced? I wouldn't really be able to purchase until next year. I guess the preorder list could be longer than that already.

I did try to search this thread for some info on this, but I didn't find anything, though that could be my chosen search terms.

14 to 18 months. I would put a deposit and just skip on the machine if you are not ready.

Love the red vette. Where did you find it?

This isn’t Nam Smokey. There are rules.

Got it a while back at a local toy store. Made by a company called Greenlight.

51VZI6J3U0L._AC_ (resized).jpg

Hi
As I am still waiting my machine to come ... and heard the plastics paint are quite fragile ...
I am looking to make Plastic protectors (Convolux) and hope to make them before the machine delivery, so I am missing the plastic scans
So if one of you is having a proper scan of all the plastic parts, I would be grateful so I can design the cutting models based on that.
Thanks a lot

Over 13000 balls have gone through the bowling alley without a single pin breaking so clearly this is the way to go. So, solution is not stronger pins but a limiter (the ring) making the swing upwards different and not hitting anything anymore. Rings have been ordered and also a STL file for 3D printing will be provided.

To be cntd asap but looks like we are (finally) heading the right direction

Excellent news @rensh...really appreciate the continued improvements to this machine. I have owned mine for a few months now and absolutely loving it. Please let us know how / when we can get a set of these rings and get instructions on how to install them!

I am looking for some different scoring strategies/approaches. I consider myself to be a pretty solid player (I've won a large league and have won some tourneys), but I struggle to break 32 million on my game. That said, there is one on location where the GC is 125 million...to me that seems unachievable. I look on Pinside and the highest scores posted are in the low to mid 40 million range. I'd love to hear folks talk through their scoring strategies, especially if you're been able to achieve scores far north of my 32 million.

Thanks!

It's basically this for me: Don't go into character mutli-ball until you've got all 5 characters lit with all 5 bowling balls, preferably after you have built up their jackpots by hitting them multiple times and lighting some white russians. Then do some damage.

If gets somewhat boring, but if you are good about building up a single character's jackpot, a single shot could be worth a lot. For example, one time I think I built up Donny to something like 700k, and of course messed things up before I could get into multi-ball with everything stacked, but I think that would have been 14 million per Donny in multi-ball, and if you wrap around 2-3 times it really adds up. Even without building up their jackpots at all you get a couple million per shot.

So let's say I build up a single character's jackpot to 500 thousand. If you add a bowling ball, does that make it 1 million. If you add a white russian on top that are you now at 2 million? Do you then multiply the number of characters you brought into the character multiball on top of that. So 2 characters in this example (with ball and russian) would be 4 million?

I want to clarify my understanding. Appreciate it!!

Will this be applied to machines currently in production? I should be receiving my final invoice from CT at the end of this month or the beginning of May. Would my machine have this fix incorporated?

Difficult to say. The rings have a couple of weeks lead time so sounds like just not.

Rensh, awesome work. Will be be able to order them directly? I wish that I had a 3d printer but don’t at the moment.

Yes, I believe in your example it would be 4 million (500k x 2 x 2 x 2). Once you light a white russian for a character I think you only get 3-4 drinks before it goes away.

I guess another grind it out strategy would be 1-2 characters at a time, forgetting about maximizing the multi-character bonus.

I came up with my own solution, although I'm definitely wanting to get the solution that Rensch

I am the owner of serial # 620, and I have had to repair a few pins so far. I think that the rings Rensch mentioned are a good idea. I did come up with my own solution. I took a small piece of receipt paper (about 1/2 " square, this is the paper you would get from a bank machine or supermarket receipt tape) and folded it into a cone shape. I placed the paper in each of the pin coils between the solenoid rod and coil stop. This works as a cushion so the snap of the impact of the coil doesn't go through the pins. This has been working very well for me, and doesn't prevent the coils from working properly. The receipt paper seems to be pretty durable so far. I installed it about a month and a half or so ago. I will definitely install the "ring" solution Rensch showed when it is ready, but my "coil cushion" idea has been working perfectly.

What was this solution, if you don't mind sharing it? I had a "coil cushion" idea at the coil stop...

The thread has made it to page 0.69!

14FD2E29-2ED9-4C69-8D21-71676593D542 (resized).jpeg

I made a Video of my new Lewbowski! And did a step by step installation of CPR9999 mods in the video too!

My buddy just gave me this Kahlua Neon sign. Decided to use it as a sort of topper. I hung it on the wall right behind the game and I think it looks pretty good.

2287B673-BBFE-474B-925E-DA93288DE3F5 (resized).jpeg

image (resized).jpg