If it’s anything like other stern games, the coil default power may be way too high. Lower it in settings. Also, Mylar on the ridges would be a good idea until Cliffy makes custom protectors.

Agreed. That other thread has more posts discussing Munsters than Mando. Any new owner checking out that thread would have to wade through a ton of BS to find anything about owning this pin.

What else needs to be removed to pull out the guide if you want to install a washer there?

Out of curiosity, how smoothly does this shoot compared to EHOH?

Thanks folks for the shooter insights. I have a Mando prem arriving later this year, have a Deadpool prem, and a GnR LE will arrive... sometime. I have room for a 4th pin, and I'm trying to decide if Mando will be my "flow" pin or if I need the 4th pin to fill that gap in my small collection.

I had something like that happen with my Deadpool NIB. Turned out to be a bad opto switch that had to be replaced. Besides triggering off the flippers, it also triggered when I hit a ball guide. Run a switch test and see which one triggers.

Sounds like the Child SDTM drops could be easily “fixed” by adding a short ball save timer after the magnet throws the ball and then give a reward if the ball drains with no switch triggered. The harder, actual fix would be programming the magnet to not throw the ball that direction.

Do you get a new attempt at a super skill shot when the ball goes back down the shooter lane like in Deadpool?

Speaking of shakers, how’s the shaker implementation in Mando?

The fact that JJP grandfathers pre-orders into older prices (at least for direct purchases) may put some competitive pressure on Stern to do the same with their distros.

Mine said he got allocation for the Oct. run back when the machine was announced which, if true, means he got allocated well before any price increase. If I was a distributer, I wouldn't be too happy with Stern if they didn't honor the price when I received allocation and sold pre-orders/deposits to my customers, who would be just as likely to be angry with me as with Stern for a bait-and-switch move like that.

I don't disagree that it's what Stern did in the past. I'm hoping competition is putting some pressure on Stern to change their practices.

Fortunately my invoice specifies a charge of the remaining balance (original price minus pre-payment) when the machine is ready to ship, so changing the amount I would be charged would void the order and should trigger a refund for the pre-pay amount.

Agreed. According to my distro, he sold units that were allocated to him (at least to me, and he's been upfront about creating a waiting list, took pre-payments after confirming his allocation, and communicated which production run each customer was slotted for). Distros who sold outside of their allocation put themselves in a bad position.

I've been waxing after 500 games, and noticed the wax gets a bit thin at that point. That said, I tend to apply a thicker than normal coat and let it cure over multiple days before playing, which may help the wax last longer.

Did you try adding non-bounce foam to the mech?

Try this stuff if it fits: https://www.pinballlife.com/target-backing-foam.html

Otherwise, try sorbothane film. Amazon carries it at various thicknesses; the thicker it is the more it will deaden bounce back.

This is why Pinside's "ignore user" feature is so great

Nerd warning: Boba Fett’s ship was always a Firespray. Firespray is the name of the ship model, like how Mustang is a car model from Ford. Slave 1 is the name he personally gave his ship.

That’s weird because when people stream Mando using a direct video feed for the video assets the video quality looks great.

I wonder if the problem is the actual LCD display or how the gamma is calibrated?

I also wonder if the magnet could be used more often, beyond just for the mystery award. For example, activate it after a pop bumper launches the ball up a CHILD lane, and then Grogu "grabs" the ball and throws it.

It just looks like the magnet is so underutilized and more frequent use could make it more of a feature.

The second Mando premium run was planned for Oct.

From my distributor. I ordered the day that Deadflip hosted the Mando gameplay reveal and was told I’d be in the second Prem production wave planned for Oct.

I asked again last week for confirmation on the timeline and was told that everything is on track as far as he’s heard from Stern.

Some other folks, in this thread or the hype thread, we’re also told about an Oct. Prem wave, so information seems consistent.

It's not a delay on Mando, though. Stern already ran their first production waves of pro and premiums, and the second premium run was always planned for October after whatever their next reveal was (which we now know is Godzilla).

I knew when I placed my order that I was in the Oct. production run. If your distro didn't let you know what the production schedule was, and what wave you were in, that's on them.

I hate to say it, but the problem might be the hardware. I’ve been living vicariously by watching streams while I wait for my Prem, and all direct-feed video looks great, which means video compression may not be the issue.

Has anyone tried running the video to another monitor to see if it makes a difference?

Not your fault. Your distro should know better.

The good news is, barring any actual delays, the next run is starting later this month. FWIW, Stern did have some delays due to parts and/or labor constraints last spring, so here’s to hoping that we don’t see a last minute delay to this Oct. run.

Just had my first opportunity to check this forum today.

Mando #2 on Pinside (for now). Yay!

Dwight answering questions on Pinside. Yay!

Manufacturing delayed. Not yay...

Bad switches happen. My DP arrived with a misfiring opto. No big deal, just grabbed a replacement and installed it in 15min. Sounds like the operator should get on it

Well, my brand new Jeep Wrangler’s doors leaked during the rain since day one of ownership, and it’s “working as intended” according to Jeep. And I had a new Toyota arrive with scratches on the door. Those vehicles cost quite a bit more than a pinball machine

So, this feels like you may be trolling, but in case you’re a gnome and not a troll, no one has mentioned metal shredding from the upper playfield. Sounds like a bit of hogwash without specifics, as it’s not even clear where that metal would come from.

Other than that, freaking out over a cheap, easy to replace switch is a tad over the top. It’s like finding out you had a bad fuse in a car and replacing it with a good one. These things can operate fine for a few days, including during Q&A, and then suddenly die.

If you want to gripe about NIB standards, it’d be better if the Q&A process included some time to ensure the ball guides are directing balls to where they should. Dialing in shots by bending and aligning guides takes far more time than replacing the occasional bad switch.

Replacing a stop is very simple, though I don't have my Mando yet to know how easy it is to access the upper playfield coils. These stops take a beating and will wear down over time, but some new pins seems to have stops deteriorating faster than than better quality third-party stops. Coil stop quality from manufacturers these days sound almost like flipper rubber and ball quality - you almost want to consider replacing them straight away.

It seems like any pin with coils between the main and upper playfields is going to have this problem if users don't replace the coil stops as soon as they go bad. Any signs of metallic dust under a coil means its time to check the stops.

Good to hear Stern switched to better stock. My Deadpool Prem NIB stops have been fine after ~900 games with no sign off dust. So far so good on those.

There was definitely a time in that owner forum when people were recommending close inspection and potentially early replacement of the stops. Not that it seemed like a big deal to replace them.

This should be a key post

I think a mod has to make it a key post

FlipnOut mentioned that the October Mando Prem runs were pushed back to December, which jives with other reports. I'm curious, though; has anyone with a 2nd-wave Mando order heard otherwise from their distributor? Did any small productions runs make it out this month?

Unfortunately it sounds like Godzilla production is pushed out, too, according the the FlipnOut podcast. Supply chain issues are biting real hard right now.

Someone else did a few pages back. I’ve watched both seasons, much of season one twice, and I don’t remember the nob looking that rusty.

As others said, check the switch test. Bang on the playfield to see if vibrations are causing a switch to trigger. If it’s an opto, it might need to be realigned or simply went bad and needs to be replaced.

I thought they released the plunger already? Looked like some people already posted images of their plungers.

Topper still seems TBD.

Mine also confirmed December. FlipnOut said December is what Stern communicated out to distributors. Given supply shortages and logistics problems, it wouldn't be surprising to see more delays.

Give this man a key post

Looks great IMO!

Wow, wonderful incorporation of community feedback into the new code. Great to see how Dwight has been both active on the forums and listening to suggestions.

Checked with my distributor today. He expects his premiums to begin shipping in ~2wks.

My distributor was told premiums are shipping in 2 weeks. They should be on the line now if that’s true.

Sounds like the machine is going through a ball search? If that's the case, as Jesder mentions, the switch in your scoop probably isn't detecting the ball.

Plus, isn’t that standard in Stern titles? Seems like one of the first things that’s recommended for a NIB Stern is turn the trough power way down.

I don’t recall the minimum setting on my DP, but it did let me go too low, to the point where balls wouldn’t eject into the trough. It took some experimenting and I think ~150-170 is where I landed.

Any Premium pre-owners with an expected December build date heard if their machines have shipped yet?

That was the rumor. Hopefully they’ve already been on the line and complete, otherwise shipping this week seems like a stretch.

My distributor thought there was a slim chance my premium would ship this week. That obviously didn’t happen. I didn’t want to bug him just before Xmas, but I’ll drop him a line on Monday to see what’s up.

Between the holidays and omicron raging, it wouldn’t be shocking if this run got delayed a couple weeks.

Stern does know, however, that this run was originally scheduled for October. So they know that distributors and their customers weren’t expecting to pay the 2022 price hike.

Man, I feel bad for anyone being strung along like that by their distros. They all knew their allocation a few weeks after the reveal, and back them Stern informed them that the second prem run would be in October. So all these distros knew that any customers without allocation in the first run would be waiting until Q4.

It’s disheartening to hear how many customers were told to wait a short while while the sellers knew it was going to be months away.

Once the production delays pushed from Oct to Nov and then to Dec, that’s a different story and not the distro’s fault…

Regarding #3, I think you have to hit start for each player, i.e. you need to hit start four times if you’re playing 2v2 with 4 players. At least that’s how it worked with older code.

Stern’s paper speaker cones are all sorts of bad. My DP even arrived with tears in the woofer. IMHO speaker upgrades (e.g. PinWoofer) are one of the top priority pinball mods.

Unfortunately, put me in the Feb/March premium club. And with omicron forcing employee sick days everywhere I wouldn’t be shocked if there’s another delay.

Just got invoiced and my distributor said some premiums are shipping next Monday. Look forward to finally joining the club

Well, I don’t have my Mando yet to compare. (Give me a couple weeks!) But Deadpool Prem has been my only home pin for almost 9 months and I never get tired of it, even after 1,000 plays.

It’s got such a variety of shots, some long, some short, some flow, some are tight, and I’m enjoying multiple ways to chase points.

I think what you want to keep depends on what else you have and what variety you’re looking for. Mando is a unique “fan” that’s close to the flippers and, based on comments here and watching streams, is more about good trapping and backhand play. Godzilla is KWE at his finest with lots of flow, long shots, and loops off the third flipper.

I have a JP on order, so as much as I like the look of Godzilla I don’t want that redundancy in my small space. I think between DP, Mando, JP, and GNR there should be good variety there for a while. Something may come along that eventually boots the other three, but DP is bolted to the floor.

I hope Cliff’s t-shirt says something like “This playfield is protected.” Although that may be more fitting for a jockstrap…

Interesting stuff in this kit and I’m considering ordering one. Can someone explain the problems it’s trying to solve? A few of the “fixes” in this kit are for things I don’t recall anyone complaining about in this thread, and I’ve been following it since day 1.

For example, why does the Razorcrest target need an upgrade?

Congrats! Those blades look awesome. Now is probably a bad time to tell you they can be installed without removing the playfield…

I’d have thought Stern would’ve redesigned those ramps and/or the protector by now. That’s a lot of free ramps they’ll be giving away under warranty.

Wow, that's definitely designed for a hologram appearance. It's not designed to be reversed, rather it's designed to be upside down (which I guess is the same thing). My guess is that it's intended for a topper that has mirrors to create the hologram illusion. This could be a very sweet topper.

Edit: Typos. Also, that's clearly Moff Gideon voicing "You have something I want."

Damn, looks like a rancor played soccer with it. My DP arrived with similar damage on the cabinet. I kept it and I’m waiting for a replacement cabinet to do a swap.

Unless Stern changed their default trough eject power, odds are the shooter lane wear will occur since it’s been the same on all their machines for a long time. It’s just the nature of firing a hard metal ball at less-hard-than-metal wood.

Turn the trough eject power way down and then test the eject and raise it until balls reliably eject into the shooter lane. That said, your trough will still wear over time regardless. Your best bet to reduce wear is to install cliffys or at least apply Mylar.

Technically the full plastic trough protectors give the most protection. But if you don’t want to completely cover up the trough with plastic, then cliffys are your next best option and look great IMO.

Lowering the eject power will greatly reduce/slow playfield damage, but it’ll still show signs of wear over time. Cliffys or Mylar will further reduce/slow that wear.

Can you shim something in there to hold the screw in place?

So after hearing my Mando prem was supposedly shipping last week, I was getting a bit anxious having heard nothing. I was about to contact my distro and just received a notification that my machine is shipping.

Yay!

Then I looked at the tracking number and saw it actually shipped two weeks ago and, theoretically, is supposed to arrive today. And I have no arrangements to carry the damn thing up the stairs, lol. Anyway, FedEx has been horrible in my area since late November, so there's a good chance it won't arrive until next week. But I might be stuck staring at the box in my hallway until movers arrive to carry it to the second floor.

Heh, I thought about that. But we just refinished the stairs and my wife would murder me if we did that. I have a stair-climbing hand truck on order, but sadly it's still about a month away from delivery.

I like the way you think. Thank goodness she doesn't have a Pinside account.

It won't fry them, but it will take a photo of them.

#playwithyourpantson

Well, so much for receiving my Mando today. As expected, FedEx's tracking was off. Scheduled to receive mine next Friday.

Yeah, I heard you guys got some snow back east FedEx here got backlogged by weeks thanks to omicron hitting over the holiday season. Just received a package two weeks ago that's been sitting at the local hub since before Christmas. My Mando apparently stalled on a train that's waiting for the hub to be able to receive it.

Ordering spares sounds like a good idea. Is it a left or right Stern rollover switch?

Honestly, the scanner doesn’t bother me as much as the obnoxious red instructions around it. Stern should have gone the extra mile to tailor the color scheme to each machine’s color palette.

Dang, and I just ordered something else from Marco and could've added this. Ah well, next time. Thanks for the tip!

Maybe Stern is announcing a replacement art plastic to put over the IC reader that they'll sell for $200 a pop

In the meantime, it might be good to put Mylar there.

The same time that JJP will reveal Toy Story

Weird. 700 plays on my Titan's and they barely showed any wear. Your right flipper rubber looks like it's in good shape.

This is the wait.

Shooter rods have only been lit recently, but the Child gets lit nearly every single game...

Do not use clamps. Do not truck from this side. This is the way.

IMG-3129 (resized).jpg

I’m not sure a protector would mitigate planking. That’s likely due to humidity/temperature fluctuations that caused the wood grain to expand.

So I finally lugged my Mando up the stairs this past weekend. Had to carry up the glass and playfield separately because my weak-a** arms couldn't pull the entire weight at once. Got everything up, installed the legs, then needed one final lift to push carpet sliders under the feet and threw out my back.

How much Beskar does it cost to buy a new back at the foundry?

Just installed my official rifle side armor. I found it interesting that, while it uses the original bolts at both ends of the cabinet, it doesn’t use any of the original two wood screw holes and asks you to make new holes in that gorgeous cabinet art.

I opted to just attach it with the bolts and left the wood screws off. This does make the armor a little wobbly in the middle and below the flipper buttons. I cut strips of sorbothane to wedge in these spots, which filled in the gaps and absorbed most of the hollow metal noise.

The moment I heard that Eddy originally designed a moving Razrocrest, my first thought was “future official Stern mod incoming.”

I'm working on my NIB this week and was thinking about doing exactly this. I'll try it out and see how it goes. I'm thinking a washer under the plastic and black screw, then some sorbothane under the rest of the plastic leading to that spot.

It’s just a common reality of pinball machines these days. As others mentioned the dimples will smooth out over time as the clear gets compressed evenly from play.

Also keep in mind that older clear coats were stronger because they used more toxic compounds back in the day. So yeah, you’re getting dimples, but you’re also inhaling fewer VOCs

Maybe order a spring one step up on strength?

Got so close to finally setting up my Mando last night. Reached the final item on my checklist: install Cliffy’s ramp protectors. And then I realized I don’t have a wrench small enough to fit in the space around the lock nuts on the ramp.

Now I’m waiting for Amazon to deliver a super thin wrench set today.

This is the delay…

Sadly I only had a giant wrench and a hex driver. The driver's circumference was too large to fit around the nut due to its proximity to the ramp wall.

But the small wrenches arrived this morning and it's all done! Waxed up the playfield and plan to let it fully cure before polishing and testing everything tomorrow.

That happened to me, but the gun didn't actually "break." The guns are molded separately and then fit into a groove lock/key style. My guess is that they're supposed to be glued in, and mine wasn't. I used a super tiny drop of Gorilla gel glue, re-inserted the gun and it's perfect now.

Ah damn, and I just spent a freakin' eon placing Mylar there after a gazillion attempts. I'll watch for it on his store. It'll be far more durable than Mylar.

You can tone down the shaker by adjusting the offset angle of the two weights. Put them at 180 degrees from each other for the least intense shake.

Edit: Never mind, I’m way behind everyone else

I cut a small piece of sorbothane and adhered it to the left side of the ramp’s exit. It’s just enough to push the ball to the right upon exiting.

This also slows the ball down, so it might not be a good fix if you like shots to exit that ramp like greased lightning.

So…. Does anybody like the odds that we’ll see a topper announcement this week?

I noticed that if I trigger the flamethrower during the start animation for a multiball that the button light goes out immediately even if I hold it. Does using the flamethrower at that time automatically light all the lanes as if you held it, or does it just light one lane as if you just quickly pressed it?

Anyone know of a setting to dim the flipper spotlights without darkening the GI? The lights feel glaringly brighter than the rest of the GI, especially with white flippers.

Thanks! I had tried orange gels but preferred a more neutral way to dim the lights. I’ll try this tape.

Anyone aware of a good solution to keep fast balls up the right scoop from hopping off the wire forms? Most of my clean shots are jumping off at the junction, with many going SDTM or even flying over the left inlane guide for an outlane drain.

Thanks, might give that a try. Going to test some sorbothane at the top of the scoop. Balls only fall off the wire form when they fly out of the scoop, which makes me think a small ridge of thin sorbo at the exit’s top could slow those rockets without impacting balls that exit at a slower speed.

I’m loving a lot of Mando’s design, but between smooth scoop shots falling off the wire form, balls bouncing off the diverter back down the left ramp, fast balls missing the horseshoe switch, and centered shots bouncing off the right ramp entrance like a trampoline into the air guard plastics, the game seems engineered to punish perfectly clean shots.

While most of these can be fixed with some home modifications, these are a lot of design problems to have when a machine is working as intended.

That PU kit is a thing of beauty. I was skeptical at first, but my left ramp is smooth as butter with it installed. Unfortunately the washer under the right ramp hasn’t stopped balls from bouncing off the metal tongue and into the air guard plastic which causes rejects.

Yep, triple checked it. Tried it both tight and a little loose. From what I hear it may just take time for the metal to wear in.

What’s everyone’s strategy for handling VUK ejects? Live catches, drop catches, dead bounces, etc.?

So far I’ve had the most success with live catches, but every approach I’ve tried has been somewhat unpredictable with balls going out of control. I think I need to get better at my live catch timing…