That is definitely true as I have seen them on all of their tours since Signals in '82 and of course know this, but as stated before unless I get a smaller guitar footprint such as a Les Paul with a narrower body, it is staying on the right side

As we know, Neil's bass drum wasn't over on the left side of the stage either, but we work with what we have room for and what is most pleasing to each individual I suppose.

One dissertation deserves another.

As far as your attempt to side-step criticism goes...your opening was IMHO disingenuous, akin to the pattern of speech that goes "I'm not racist, but...". You immediately followed your opening statement with claims like "we're coming up with fixes for a problem that has all ready been solved" and "the best way to keep a ball from getting airborne is to use an air ball preventer", making clear what you really are saying about the other options. And posting that in direct response to my attempt to contribute to the situation, feels like a straight-up attack on that attempt.

It just adds insult to injury that the rest of your post is made up mostly of attempts to justify your claim of absolute superiority of your preferred fix that are easily refuted. The next two posts after yours both make clear that even the lane cover is not a 100% solution, in spite of your claims. The NinjaCamp part doesn't cost any more than the lane cover, so assuming it works for people, it's not like the lane cover is any cheaper. And my contribution is by far the most convenient and immediate for those who can take on the printing task themselves, and at just 25 cents worth of filament is at a cost that is literally a tiny fraction of the commercial offers. Even if you get it printed at commercial printing services, its cost is roughly the same or less than those commercial offerings, for those who would like to see if it works better for them.

I suppose if other people start using it (and who knows? I may wind up with the only machine that ever has it installed), we might find a machine where the part I designed also occasionally fails to prevent the missed ball detection. I can't make any absolute claims of its perfection. But for sure, it's 100% reliable on my machine, and unlike the other options, was engineered from the ground up to account for the actual problem and be a 100% fix for it by making it impossible for a fast ball to clear the switch. With the part I designed, if a ball manages to sneak past the switch somehow, it will be because of some reason other than the ball's speed, and would be a ball that even a properly working switch would've missed anyway.

Bottom line: your claim that the lane cover is the only thing anyone could possibly need is unsupportable, and comes across as more of an attack than a helpful post.

Man, I love the shots and combos in this game (like a Borg greatest hits layout).

My only complaint (as far as the rules go), is almost every mode seems to have almost every shot lit! Am I missing the wisdom here? What's cool about every shot yearning to be hit

Game is fantastic
An absolute joy to play.
Code, layout, Mechs, theme and music are sublime.
Wish I’d been able to get on lists for an LE.

It's a valid point. It's definitely a different approach from at least most of the machines I'm familiar with (but keep in mind, I'm mostly familiar with the pre-21st century machines...I'm just getting exposure to the new stuff, having been not so immersed in pinball the last twenty years due to other demands on my life). But for what it's worth, not only don't I mind, I find this design exciting and entertaining.

Looking at the two philosophies, the main advantage I can see for limiting specific modes to specific shots would be to give the player an opportunity to have at least one or two modes they can easily complete, i.e. the ones that have the shots that are easier for them. And I'd agree that from an accessibility point of view, there's some value in that.

But on the other hand, I have found that I really enjoy the tour of the playfield that each mode offers. You cannot generally keep making the same shot over and over, so you're forced to get good at different shots, and in the long run you also need to learn how to set up the next shot from the current one. It's a level of complexity I haven't had to deal with, on the older machines in my collection, and I'm finding it a really fun change of pace and new challenge.

I also really enjoy how each mode has its own narrative. Even the record modes where it's mostly "any shot goes" (Working Man, Limelight, Big Money), they've done a good job giving each mode a different feel. And the other three record modes do have just two or three shots at any given time that are specific to that mode; Tom Sawyer and La Villa Strangiato sequences the shots (mostly), so at any given time, you have limited choices about what will advance the mode, and even Spirit of the Radio has two key shots (spinner and VUK), with the other shots playing the secondary role of qualifying and boosting.

More to the point, the way that these shots are all used in each mode fits nicely into the conceit of the story each mode portrays. As a longtime fan of Rush, I really love this, and I'm not sure it would've been possible to provide that kind of complex fit to the songs if each mode only ever involved two or three specific shots.

Doesn't that allay your concerns? I'm not sure whether it does. Everyone is going to have their own reaction to the design. But I hope that at least gives you some insight into one player's view. I don't think they could've accomplished what they did, had each mode been limited to just a few shots each. I personally find the game a lot more interesting this way.

From my perspective, it's the opposite. The more lit shots, the easier it is to progress through a mode. For Rush, they just seemed to increase the number of shots which increases the time/difficulty. A matter of shot volume vs. shot placement. Rush is a very, very forgiving game (unlike Borg's TRON). One of the reasons I think it's so loved is it makes people feel good (about their play I've played more TRON than any other game and I have many games that last 1-2 minutes With Rush, a game I've owned months (not years) a "bad" game takes 5-6 minutes. A good game is 15-30 minutes, which is fairly common. For me, a 15-30 minute game on TRON is rare...

Thanks for the feedback @dakotamike!

I agree, it’s nice to have options and many people out there willing to offer up their ideas for tweaking these complex machines.

We haven’t received feedback from a single purchaser that the Orbit Cover didn’t work for them but have had many positive comments that it works great.

If anyone is dissatisfied with the performance of the Orbit Cover they need only send it back for a full refund.

It’s pretty underrated, you can still get an LE close to msrp

I take your point about some of the modes. I agree Working Man (for example) is probably one of the easiest modes because you have so many options. But even there, you can't just make the same shot over and over (e.g. the VUK, which is arguably the easiest shot to just do over and over). But I think taking all six record modes together, you can see a nice progression from "easy" to "hard".

Possibly player skill has a lot to do with one's perception of what's "too many lit shots". Maybe you're a better player than I am. But I can tell you, I've lost count of the number of times I've played the La Villa Strangiato mode and failed to even get past the first shot. I'm still trying to learn to post pass on this game, so just setting up for that shot is hard for me -- I don't yet have a reliable way to get the ball to the left flipper -- and I still can't reliably hit the ramp, more like in the 60-70% range. And you have to do that twice before you get to go on to the other shots. I've only finished that mode a handful of times in the eight weeks I've owned the game.

I would rank the record modes difficulty, easiest to hardest, as: Working Man, Big Money, Limelight, Spirit of the Radio, Tom Sawyer, and La Villa Strangiato.

I guess not everyone would have the same rank, but at least for me, at my current skill level, that's where I sit. You're right that for the easier modes, part of that comes from having more options. But I don't think I'd enjoy the game as much if all the modes were as hard as the hardest two.

I do agree that the game is more forgiving than some. But I'm not sure that has as much to do with the number of lit shots in the modes, as it does with other aspects of the playfield design. There are still plenty of ways to drain unexpectedly: a weak shot up the ramp, a bad bounce back from the lower scoop or drop targets, just the right (wrong) speed around the right orbit, that sort of thing. But I find this happens to me less on this game than others, and I appreciate it. Longer games are, to me, more about just keeping the ball in play than they are about how many shots I have to choose from at any given moment. I think the game would still be forgiving even if each record mode had fewer lit shots.

Anyway, you asked if you were missing something. I'm not sure you are. Your approach to the game seems different from mine, and that's fine. It sounds like it's not so much that you're missing anything, but just that you have different priorities, and probably a different, higher level of skill, which leads you to different conclusions about the design of the game.

I know, I keep considering it
But then have to move/sell my Premium.
And geographically Canada is a smaller/tougher/different market than the USA hotspots. Then added $ exchange rate, border cross etc.

Seems either you get an LE on list at MSRP or get thrown to the flippers… which in CAD$ It’s just not even remotely fun lol

Thnx for the idea tho. Believe me I’ve been contemplating it for a while.
I love this pin That much. It’s something very special and “underrated” as you said.
If I could pull off the change, I’d do it.

I didn’t notice you were in Canada, if I still lived in Buffalo I’d consider smuggling them across the border

I don't think it's underrated as a game. Most of the pinheads I know admit it's a fun game to shoot...they just don't dig the band/license. Rush has a huge fanbase, but it might not intersect much with people that would consider a wildly expensive toy. Beatles is a timeless band/license, but the game didn't sell that well. Sure, pinheads can criticize Beatles as a game, however Stern didn't make that many and they still had a problem moving them...they were unable to reach the millions of potential Beatles buyers.

I paid $11,400 for my LE, which is considered a bargain in today's LE marketplace.

Way too long. I'm not reading all of that.

Bottom line: sorry if I offended you with my take. Wasn't my intent. Just relax man, it's pinball and this is a silly forum about fun toys.

I did notice that about your photo and thought the same that just that tiny bit might be the difference. I haven’t retried mine under the plastic. I need to find it again and see if my pattern can fit without conflict on the other side of the orbit. I was disappointed my initial effort didn’t work because I thought the trap from above was the most durable and best direct way to address the problem and why I bothered to make my own.

The furniture pad has held up remarkably for the last 3+ months. I see in your photo you have the mrs switch installed… or is that someone else’s game?

I have been trying to get the mrs solution in place but have had setbacks. Still working to close that with Matt (waiting on me now…)

Thank you!

thanks

Pretty close to cost.

https://pinside.com/pinball/market/classifieds/ad/143362

Talked to Jon Borg yesterday at the Cointaker party. He was wearing a RUSH tee shirt.

Not my photo, just a swipe from the store page. So no mrs switch on mine, but I'm sure both solutions together work nicely.

So if I'm understanding you, you cut your own air ball shield? That's cool. I was specifically talking about the deflector made by gameroom mods though. I'm sure a person could make a version themselves that would work, since it's just a cut piece of clear acrylic, but I'm only vouching for the version that I've used personally.

Whether you use a bought one, or make your own, I definitely recommend mounting it under the pf plastics by the loop. Drops the height at least a couple mm, which can make a world of difference for these microswitchs.

But if another solution, such as felt pads, is working for you, then that's great. Doesn't matter what you use, as long as the loop is working properly. It's such an important shot on the game.

He only has 3 shirts and they're all Rush shirts.

My respect for the man just climbed again.

BTW - how is 1.0 code? I haven’t kept up but think I’ll download it today.

Here is the thread for the tailgate party. Couple of pics of Borg playing Rush.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/cointaker-super-awesome-tailgate-party-sept-24th-2022

The idea was championed by schudel5 back in april - the product from gameroom mods would just be a copy of that I believe. And 5 months ago the only option was to make your own

I still have my latest mrs to install and try but life has kept me busy the last few weeks. And yesterday i spent my time instead rebuilding the ramp assembly in a rush before our tournament start because 6 of the 8 screws holding the nubs and plastics in had worked their way out.

That would be all of the screws i had not loctite’d last time! This time even the light board under the ramp had worked itself loose!

Gosh.. I spent all day modding my Premium yesterday, it seems I've been playing catch up with this game all year with most things in boxes never opened. I decided on red and light blue to accentuate the theme, happy with the way it came out. I'll be installing the new code today along with a Klipsch sub so with the 5 1/4 Kenwood's it should sound much better. Have this full set of Gold screws and spacers to install from Rocket City pinball and they look really cool but that's for another day since it will take a while! Game is brilliant & fun.

Can someone please start a new thread entitled, "Hey Stern where the heck is the Topper & more importantly Expression lighting!" ?!

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Reminds me, I need to check the ramp screws on my Premium tomorrow. I wonder if they are still tight?

1500 plays and amazingly, nothing has worked loose, and my nubs are still intact.

The saving grace is the ramp is extremely easy to get out to work on. Stern has been pretty good with serviceability on titles lately

When your daughters are home from college and they beat you (*ahem* I mean, umm…you LET THEM win) because it’s National Daughters Day.
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Anyone else have a node 10 have issues after the update. Ramp stopped working in first game, I did not know if part of code update or not. Kept playing. Next game Node 10 alert.

Thanks in advance

Yup! Was just playing an hour ago and same thing. Ramp stopped working and got Node 10 alert. Nothing looked off on the board and all connections were fine.

Ruh, roh Shaggy! Not Node 10 issues again!

Still not working on a game restart?

Not even with fingers crossed while flipping the switch. Officially down and at a loss.

Not sounding good with Node 10 boards again. What level of machine: Premium or LE?

Completely off that topic, heard a new call out from Alex during Subdivision multiball “14 divided by 7 + 4 = F#?(F sharp)”

Subdivisions multiball brought two new-to-me callouts from Geddy - "This one is for the suburbs!"

I swear there was also "This one is for the 'burbs!" like a game later, also new to me - but I'm wondering if I just had too much going on to hear the "su-"

Crap, damn, that sucks.

How long have you had the game? It seemed like node 10 issues cropped up pretty early on once a game was unboxed.

Would really suck if the update somehow brought about a recurrence of the issue.

Anyone still seeing clock issues after the 1.0 upgrade. I was hoping they would resolve the issue with the new code. Clock randomly stops. If you reboot the pin it then works again for a while.

Ours was built in July (it’s a Premium) and we’ve had it 6 weeks now. We did the update the day it was available.

I was lucky enough to find that my node 10 issues came down to a connector that was never connected at the factory. I wish you guys luck.

-Ski

Here is my table with all of the mods so far. Believe it or not, my favorite mod is Lermod's back flasher in Ice Blue. Man, when that thing goes when the drum blinks, it looks like a concert going on. It lights up the band back there and I can't imagine the game without it. I highly recommend it.

-Ski

PXL_20220926_015457237 (resized).jpg

I didn't notice an issue before upgrading - now I've seen it a couple of times. It seemed to correct itself once during the game too.

Yep, same for me, no change

J. Borg / Stern please put out the expression lighting. I love my Rush and I just need those art blades. They look so good on LZ

I have had 2 node 10 failures and did a load of research of what might be cauising it. You might look at my previous post 8809. Stern had some conenctor cable issues when pins were not seated correctly in the wiring harness. Both times the board went out I was about 30 days in. I have since added a power backup conditioner and I am about 6 weeks in since the last node replacement.I have stepper motors on the way to try to eliminate all possibilities. Look and make sure the node 10 board didnt fry. It allways on the chip labeled TMC2041-LA. Chip is on the lower part of the board between CN1 and CN3. It normally burns the chip where the letters LA are not visable.

I Have a Ramp fixing question. My ramp was perfect in that I NEVER had a ball stick at the bottom and only very rarely at top like 4x in over 4K balls. I just got up the nerve to replace a blue ramp rubber that cracked (because screws fell out). And to add thread lock to all the screws, as the one behind opto finally fell out. Anyway I put it back in and played maybe 5 games and 2 - 3 times a ball stick at the button of the ramp, and one at the top. The 3 screws that hold the ramp in have rubber pads, so I thought that meant not to put them in too tight. Just snugged up.... Did I put them in too loose? You can see a gap between the bottom of the ramp and that metal flap. Thoughts?
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It's frustrating. Especially since I have an LZ sitting right next to my Rush.

I just experimented with the ramp screws and it TOTALLY makes a BIG difference. If you're having problems with the ball stuck at top or bottom check the 3 nylon lock nuts that hold the moving ramp in. 2 at bottom of ramp but with playfield up, they're at the Top. One centered at the top, but with playfield up it's at bottom. There's about 2 turns of play between touching the rubber grommet and smashed to the tightest. I had all 3 at just touching and ramp not loose. This was my starting position and it wasn't right. I also tried totally tight. That caused the top lip of the ramp to be nearly 1/2" below the Time Machine entrance, but tightened up the bottom ramp gap to zero. I settled on top single screw just tight enough so ramp isn't loose. (This allows for highest ramp setting.) For the bottom two, i basically went to that spot and then turned 1 full turn more (to soak up most of that bottom gap). Tested the up position in the test menu, and I think it's back the way it needs to be. LMK if you see the same.

I was informed last Tuesday that they would be shipping me a board from the newest batch. I haven’t received it yet. But it will be interesting to play with both of the 1.0 software plus the newest generation of boarc to see if the problem comes back.

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Edit: ok now that i am with my game i see the grommets you are referring to. They were just so flat before i missed seeing them.

I’d just make sure yours are seated fully and didn’t move up the screw in some way.

On mine i just made the nuts snug and never had an alignment issue.

Dang, you've been waiting forever. Any chance you can get a closer shot of the TMC5041-LA chip. Your's looks like it fried in a different place then I have seen in all the other pics. Sorry, this has kind of become an obsession. I bought a APC power conditioner, when I installed the lastest board and so far I have been good for about 6 weeks. Probably just cursed myself. There has to be a common denominator between the problem machines with node 10 failures. I's not a bad batch of boards, since the build dates very a lot. I'm a bit suspicious of the add on extension board that took the place of the ferrite beads. I have a shaker and pin woofer kit, so I know it gets more than it's fair share of vibration. I'm also turning the game off when it's not being played.

As they say… well there’s your problem!

F388C01D-F338-4423-86C5-116B04EC8EF6 (resized).jpeg

Led came off including the pads themselves. Had to have been a bad build.

What's worse than the Expression Lighting delay is the absolute silence from both Stern and it's distributors. Given past history, I paid up for the LE because I saw this coming (though it's worse than I thought), so it doesn't effect me. Nevertheless, I feel bad for the community that supports Stern and then gets ignored on support issues like this (among others, like having to wait months for a replacement board). If they were a consumer friends company, they'd have a friggin website where you could purchase node boards, expression lighting, etc. without going through distributors (that rarely have stock of anything). If distributors did stock these items, it wouldn't be as big a deal. End rant