Nope I got it at the Cleveland pinball show on Sunday. Traded in my turtles.

I saw that you discovered where the screw goes. For future reference, I’ve seen these on the sides of the ramp, and similar used on the top plastic for Roll the Bones, above the scoops.

The other part, no idea at the moment.

Yes to everything you mentioned. I was looking at getting a stern Star Trek Pro as a placeholder till I found something that really filled that flow niche in my lineup. Rush Premium was the way to go for me and filled that flow demand. I love love love the game. Can't wait for the EL lights. Once I dial in the right ramp a little more I think La Villa will be more fun. Right now I really dig getting a mode built up like big money and add in a Multiball.

https://pinside.com/pinball/market/shops/1426-pinhead-mods/07191-pindefender-in-metallic-purple

Went with the gold for Rush and gotta say I’m really impressed with these protectors. You can find all the colors he offers on his shop homepage - Install was a breeze.

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I looked everywhere visible and didn't see anything on the boards. I wrote Stern to see if they know, but right before I sent it, I ran through all the LED tests. The RGB LED pointing into the upper scoop is dark on all 3 colors. I'm guessing that's an RGB LED from that board? Asked Stern to confirm. Thanks all. Will let you know what I hear.

NinjaCamp Expressive Speaker Lights installed, and working as advertised. This is SO sweet. THE mod of mods.

Thanks Ninjas. Absolutely brilliant. I love them!

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2112 wizard mode added among a bunch of other changes with code 1.0, including hints about a forthcoming topper and modes/rewards tied to it:

LE V1.00 - September 20, 2022
==========================
Fixed:

- Fixed an issue that could infrequently cause the drum clock motor to stop
moving.

- Fixed an issue that could prevent the weapon from being enabled when
reaching One Little Victory.

- Fixed an issue that could cause record colors to incorrectly light up
when the player was in a mode.

- Fixed a display issue that could show 0 jackpots during the Cygnus X-1: The
Voyage intro.

- Fixed an issue that prevented players from ever adding more balls in
Freewill multiball after 3 balls had been added across games.

Tweaked:

- Time Machine Multiball:
- Reduced the number of shots needed for time machine multiballs after the
first 3 time machine multiballs are played.
- Reduced the number of time machine hits needed at higher difficulty levels.
- Changed the decades achieved benefits to also boost the base values in
Time Machine multiballs.
- Red Barchetta jackpots boosted +250k for each decade achieved.
- Subdivisions jackpots boosted +500k for each decade achieved.
- Fly by Night jackpots boosted +250k for each decade achieved.

- Red Barchetta Multiball:
- Increased Red Barchetta base jackpot value to 750k (was 500k.)

- Subdivisions Multiball:
- Increased Subdivisions base jackpot value to 1.5m (was 1m.)

- The Spirit of Radio:
- Added the number of Radio Jackpots qualified to the UI info panel.

- Headlong Flight Multiball:
- Time now starts at 5pm by default to make Headlong Flight multiball more
frequent.

- Loop Millions:
- Added additional speech for loop millions values.

- Records:
- Reduced the record requirement to light modes after a player has completed
all 6 modes in 1 game.

- Cygnus X-1: The Voyage:
- Changed the blue planet rules so the side loop and side ramp are their own
separate shots.

New:
- Added 2112 Wizard Mode
- Lit from achieving 2112 time machine years in addition to playing
both Cygnus wizard modes.
- Starts at the Time Machine.
- 3 Minute I. Overture phase to build jackpots.
- 6 Balls in play with unlimited ball save time.
- Each movement's jackpot locks in every 30 seconds.
- After 3 minutes, the player plays through the movements until time runs
out, they lose all balls in play, or they beat the Grand Finale.
- Start in II. The Temple of Syrinx and play through VII. Grand Finale.
- Each phase shows the number of shots needed for an add-a-ball and the
number of shots needed to beat the movement.
- An additional add-a-ball is awarded for completing a movement.
- All shots must be completed before the music in a movement ends.
- The mode ends if a player drains all balls in play.

- Added a 2112 Champion high score entry.

- Changed the logic for the "BEST TIME TRAVEL(L)ER" high score entry to show
the initials for the player who most recently achieved 2112 years.

- Added additional achievements:
- And the meek shall inherit the earth:
- Start 2112 wizard mode by advancing the Time Machine to year 2112.
- The Temples of Syrinx:
- Complete THE TEMPLES OF SYRINX.
- Discovery:
- Complete DISCOVERY.
- Presentation:
- Complete PRESENTATION.
- Oracle: The Dream:
- Complete ORACLE: THE DREAM.
- Soliloquy:
- Complete SOLILOQUY.
- Grand Finale:
- Complete GRAND FINALE.
- We have assumed control:
- Complete 2112 Wizard Mode.
- Topper Millions:
- Earn the MILLIONS topper award.
- Topper Frenzy:
- Earn the FRENZY topper award.
- Topper Extra Ball:
- Earn the EXTRA BALL topper award.
- Topper Advance Time Machine:
- Earn the ADVANCE TIME MACHINE topper award.

What time is it???? Topper Time.

Topper Millions:
- Earn the MILLIONS topper award.
- Topper Frenzy:
- Earn the FRENZY topper award.
- Topper Extra Ball:
- Earn the EXTRA BALL topper award.
- Topper Advance Time Machine:
- Earn the ADVANCE TIME MACHINE topper award.

it'sHappening.gif

Otherwise known as knee pads and lube time!

“Big Money” Topper ?

Just in time for my note 10 board to ship

Just got my Expressive Light speaker lights installed. All I can say is wow! NinjaCamp people, you knocked it out of the park with this mod!

While updating to the new code today one of our cats crawled into the cabinet. I did not notice the cat was in the cabinet when I closed the coin door and started playing the new code. During the first ball I heard a noise from the back box. I stopped the game and opened the back box to find a terrified cat. Somehow she crawled through the small hole between cabinet and back box.

Important installation note should be added to the README. Remove cat before playing!

Cool. 2112 mode is finally here! Not that I'm going to be seeing that any time soon. But still, it's something to look forward to.

As far as the other changes go...

• Scoring changes: looks like they've adjusted things to make it a little easier to reach certain modes, as well as to get slightly higher scores. I wonder if this will help less-skilled players like me get to 2112? Maybe that's even the intent.
• The one thing that does bug me is "Changed the blue planet rules so the side loop and side ramp are their own
  separate shots" for the Cygnus X-1: The Voyage mode. Most owners have not installed any of the work-arounds for the faulty design of the inner loop. Personally, I've only tried the felt option so far, and I've been underwhelmed by its effect. Yeah, it slows the ball a little sometimes. But I still get lots of misses on the switch, and now a slow ball sometimes gets stuck up there. Making the side (inner) loop its own shot is making that mode significantly harder, because it could take many many successful attempts at the shot before the machine actually registers it.

  It's my opinion Stern should not be making this change, until they have come up with and delivered an official fix for their defect.

So, who's going to install the new code first? Me, I'm going to wait and see whether anyone finds any new bugs that got introduced this time around.

Try the magnetic switch (instead of the rollover mechanical switch) with the felt for the inner loop, that did the trick for me. (Although I've never had a problem with the ball getting stuck up there). And it's not a terribly complicated install. Now it hits 100% of the time.

Code is installing as we speak. I doubt I'll get to 2112 mode anytime soon (I've only triggered Cygnus X-1 part 1 on three different occasions, and never got to part 2), but I like the idea of having it there in case one game goes incredibly well.

New code appears to be working. I did not see an updating node board message after first boot, so there may be less risk on this update.

It makes it easier to complete the blue planet actually, before hitting either the side loop or side ramp turned both of them RED.

In other exciting news, the Rush rulesheet has been updated to 1.0 as well! Including the combo album table and other things that match the current game behavior https://sternpinball.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Rush-Rulesheet.pdf

Sorry, you're both missing my point. Let me try to express it more clearly.

Whether I have installed a possible fix or not is irrelevant to what I'm saying.

Ignoring for the moment my own reasons for purchasing or not third-party options to address the problem (I am well aware of all of the available options, including the acrylic/clear-PETG panel installed above the lane that hasn't yet been mentioned in response to my post), the fact remains that only a fraction of the delivered machines will ever receive these fixes. It's well and good for the people who are aware these fixes exist and are willing to take a shot at trying them, if they want to do that. If it fixes their machine, great.

But Stern has a broader responsibility to their owners, because most will not have these fixes and they are significantly and negatively affecting them when they implement a rule change that increases the importance of the defective shot.

If these fixes were 100% reliable (they are not...for each option, I've seen multiple people post here saying that while in most cases the situation is improved, the switch is still missed a significant amount of time), and if Stern were taking it upon themselves to select a particular fix, purchase it on behalf of every single owner, and ship the fix to those owners, then they would be justified in modifying the rules to make the shot more important.

But until that happens, they shouldn't be making rules tweaks that do that. There's nothing fundamentally wrong with the rules tweak, but it needs to wait to happen until Stern's got all the machines working properly.

(Unless of course their intent is to drive business to the third-party mod makers who are profiting from Stern's error. I doubt that's the case. I doubt Stern cares one way or the other about those businesses. But that's the only reason I can see that would logically justify Stern's choice to make this rule change now before they've got the machine fixed.)

That's awesome about the rule sheet. Thanks for pointing that out!

As for the rule change, I personally find it a lot easier to not hit a shot than to make one.

Previously, I could complete The Voyage by making just the side ramp (along with the other shots). Now I have to make both the side ramp and the inner loop, a shot that rarely registers on my machine.

Having the inner loop turn red didn't matter, because it was unlikely the machine would notice a ball going through that lane anyway (Murphy's Law notwithstanding). And even if it did, once I've made those shots, assuming they weren't the last ones for the blue planet, I could focus on the other shots, and not risk shooting the side ramp or inner loop at all.

So, no...I don't agree that this change makes it easier to complete the blue planet. It definitely makes it harder. The reduction in red shots doesn't come close to balancing out the difficulty in getting the inner loop to be registered now that it's required for completing the mode.

In order to escape the blue planet you need 100% progress, hitting any blue shot gives you more progress, hitting a scoop will turn all shots blue again. No need to hit every shot, and having them separate actually gives you MORE opportunity (one more blue shot to hit)

You don't have to hit every shot, no not technically, but if you're trying to boost the score as much as possible before hitting a scoop, you essentially do.

My use of the word "required" was hyperbolic, I admit. But the rule change still dramatically changes the scoring potential on games where the inner loop is not registering shots, and the reduction in red shots doesn't significantly offset that fact.

You have a lot of anger toward the company that just delivered a code update on an already awesome game. There are simple fixes for the issues on this game. Your unwillingness to utilize them is on you.

Please don't make assumptions about my emotional state. You don't have a clue.

Nor were you paying attention to my clarification because you seem to still think my comments are strictly about my experience, rather than the impact the updated code has on the entire ownership community.

You're welcome to your own opinion, but I don't appreciate you insulting me.

Sooooo....... anyway. Is the pillow fight done?

How's the rest of the new code, won't get to play it until later.

I've been buying NIB Stern games for 20 years. The notion that Stern needs to get "all the machines working properly" is unlikely to happen. Tuning games to work perfectly is a function of Stern, modders and owners. To be honest, over my 20 years, the community is usually doing the heavy lifting on figuring out problems and coming up with solutions. Sure, it's an imperfect world, but that's why it's a great hobby...for people that don't want to get their hands dirty, I understand it can be frustrating. You are fairly new here, so it's not too surprising that you are unaware of some of this history...

fwiw, my game doesn't have any problem with the inner loop. I don't believe Stern has even issued a "Service Bulletin" on the inner loop...like they did with the physical ball lock that required an updated switch.

My machine just finished the code update, I plan to dive in after dinner. Might even skip deadliest catch tonight for more Rush

I'm interested in how these clean up after 200 plays, this product looks great. Just curious about color choice. I will pick up one or two and see how they play out. I like the little bit of flare they add and the protection as well.

So far so good! No hangups or any issues. I think these would protect better than Mylar and I’m certain they will hold up well over time.

I appreciate you providing additional context. I may be new to this forum, but I'm hardly new to collecting pinball machines. This isn't even my first NIB machine. It is, however, my first Stern machine and I admit that there is likely much I'm unaware of with respect to their reputation with the community.

Maybe other people are fine with design or manufacturing defects (I consider it the former, but if only a few machines have the problem I guess one could argue it's a manufacturing defect instead), but I don't agree that that means my opinion on the topic is invalid. I personally don't think it's unreasonable to expect it to be possible to get the machine to reliably detect a ball for every shot on the machine, including the inner loop. If it's just a matter of some adjustment to make, that'd be fine. I don't mind "getting my hands dirty". The problem for me is the assumption that all the owners with defective machines are just going to go to the third-party commerce sources for a fix, with Stern doing nothing more than absolving themselves of any responsibility on the matter.

And for what it's worth, I do have a reply via my distributor directly from Stern saying that they are aware of the problem and that their "engineering team is looking into a fix". Now, that may very well be slimy corporate double-speak for "don't hold your breath". But I'd like to think they can be taken at their word and they will eventually provide support to those with affected machines. And given that, I don't think it's asking too much for them to hold off on changes to the software that make the shot more important than it already is (it's bad enough that it's how to increase the bonus multiplier) until they actually do have a fix available to owners.

I can be plenty patient waiting for Stern to address the issue, and IMHO it's reasonable to expect the software team to be at least as patient about it as I am being.

Well, the world you desire isn't reality, unfortunately (but I do understand your frustration!). The software team just delivered "1.0", which is ~9 months after the release of the hardware IIRC. Expecting them to "be patient" is silly, really...we, the buyers have been patiently awaiting the 1.0 release. Each of our games has different idiosyncrasies, some people had problems with one of the pop rings sticking...which I didn't have either. Should the software folks turn off the pop closest to the VUK until "engineering has a fix" for games that have this issue? Of course not. Did Stern even issue a bulletin? I don't believe so...

What games have you owned NIB? I don't believe the other manufacturers (of new games) are any better (than Stern). Dialing in a game is pretty standard for all manufacturers. Stern is arguably the most prolific pinball manufacturer over my 20 years...

A couple of weeks ago I unlocked Cygnus book one while playing at home. This song then became a song choice when playing new games. However, it disappeared the other day. If you unlock Cygnus (either book), does it only stay a song choice for a limited amount of time?

I got to Cygnus, but it never became a song choice for me??

DL'ed new code today, everything seems to be in working order. Cant wait to play tonight.

I'm pretty sure you have to be logged into Insider Connected when you achieve it. From then on when you log in, you have that song as a selection. It says unlocked by "ID"; your insider ID.

A quick question regarding multiball: I was watching a youtube with Ray explaining rules. He seemed to allude there was a way to cycle through multiball choices. How is this accomplished?

True, but I played logged in the other night and the choice for that song has vanished. So, it must be some glitch.

I unlocked it weeks ago and was playing with it last night, still. Seems others have been all over the place. Fingers crossed, it is still there after my update.

You can cycle through the 3 time machine multiballs by hitting the dead end shot. The lights on the ramp (Prem/LE) or the insert flasher tell you which is selected.

To be clear, I'm not saying they shouldn't release 1.0. I'm just saying this was an optional rule change that easily could have waited until later, or never at all.

But, point taken. Reasonable people can reasonably disagree about where the threshold for "this can wait" is.

What games have you owned NIB? I don't believe the other manufacturers (of new games) are any better (than Stern). Dialing in a game is pretty standard for all manufacturers. Stern is arguably the most prolific pinball manufacturer over my 20 years...

My other two NIB games are the two Williams P2K machines. Both were performing flawlessly right out of the box. SWE1 did develop an annoying problem I still haven't tracked down -- the green channel for the video is flaky and comes and goes -- but to this day, Revenge From Mars has been very reliable, with just a little flipper trouble (now fixed) that only cropped up recently. Granted, others have not been so lucky as the years have gone by and electronics have deteriorated, but when new both of those games were solid.

And yes, Stern obviously is the most prolific company over the last 20 years, having been active for most of those 20 years while others have not, and by far the one with the most experience and resources. So? Nowhere have I said anything to suggest these flaws simply shouldn't exist. I'm well aware of the challenges involved in getting such a complex mechanical device to work correctly the first time out without fail, and I don't fault Stern for having missed this issue or others, at all.

I just feel that Stern could and should do a better job responding to these concerns when they come up, and should not be in a Rush to tweak game rules when there are still large numbers of games out there for which such a tweak will have negative consequences.

I have had similar issues where the song didn't show up in the list. I suspect that it has to do with my Internet connection and/or Stern's IC servers. I.e. the game does not seem to cache the achievement info; if it cannot verify your account status when you are choosing songs, that song won't show up.

For what it's worth, the most recent time I found the song missing, I knew for sure it was enabled for my account, and so I tried scrolling all the way around to the end of the song list and back to the beginning again, and when I got to "Farewell to Kings", the song had reappeared. So maybe if you run into that glitch again, you can try that and see if it helps.

Could be. I’m not on the new code yet, and it’s always been a selection for me under my account.

Good to see this. I was in agreement that Headlong Flight was reeeeeally difficult to get to -- took a ton of pop bumper play -- until I found the option in the Rush-specific settings to allow pop bumper action during Multiballs to count toward it. I had turned this feature on, and it made it much more reasonable. Guess I'll have to turn this off now otherwise it'll be too easy!

Been there! Sounds like you were doing the update with the backbox open? My story is different, with the coin door open -- reference https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/cats-and-pinballs-/page/67#post-6451134 ... since I do my Rush updates over wifi, I leave the coin door open (just to not needlessly run the game lights), but I put a rubber band between the key/lock and the shooter rod, to hold the door mostly closed, to prevent cat entry!

Yeah the different lighting patterns indicate which multiball it is -- all red is Red Barchetta, slow yellow/red blinking is Subdivisions, and rapid upward flashing is Fly By Night.

I think I found a bug this morning - not sure exactly how to recreate it but figured others may have experienced it.

I had a callout to shoot the right scoop for an extra ball, and the extra ball insert was lit. Made a few shots and then got it in the scoop. Far Cry lock was also active so the ball locked.... but I never got the extra ball callout and the insert turned off. No extra ball for me.

Not sure what mode I was in to give more details. This is on v1.0 code.

Dumb question, but are you sure it hadn't just moved over to the under-upper-flipper location? Remember, it moves the extra ball location back and forth between the scoop and the upper flipper when your ball hits the slingshots.

I am new to the game, but I saw the xtra ball switch like that last night. I remember thinking, "That's a new twist". Great idea.

That's been around since the EM days using an alternating relay. It's just nobody's used it in a long time.

Just received my replacement opto and I can confirm that it also fixed my main scoop problem.

Hmm, I don't think I saw it change but I guess it's possible - is hard to keep track of everything!