I don't know. I've done several swaps, and it's something mildly satisfying to do as I drink in the basement. This was probably the easiest one because of the way it was built. For example, the pop bumper assembly comes out in one piece, no ground braid stapled to the playfield, etc. The only pain point was just the sheer number of individual LEDs that needed to be transferred.

I think there was a huge speed up in the building, shipping pace that coincided with the playfield defects. Just saying.

Lucky my pin also delivered in this window was not effected because I didn’t play a lot before swapping on the washers.

I do think instead of slapping on Mylar that didn’t help someone should have stopped and took a look at the root cause rather than slapping a bandaid on the problem.

I will, since you’re more concerned about preserving your public image than actually helping.

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well this will get interesting...

After reading all of that, I'll just say you catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar.

Wow, interesting read.

However I will say replacing rubber rings and fixing solder joints on coils is routine pinball maintenance. It sounds like someone who bought a pinball machine who didn't know what they were getting into.

The play-field issue does suck, personally I would be happy with a second play-field. I'd just do a bit of touch up on the first and play on knowing I'd have a fresh minty one in the closet for down the road.

You're doing Spooky a favor by never buying a game from them again... I was with you until you started complaining about the dents on the pinballs and rubber rings getting worn out. This is clearly the wrong hobby for you, and posting that mail chain does not help your case in the slightest. Great job wearing out one of the nicest guys in the hobby, yikes.

proprietary info is my guess...

When you have the best playfield in the business and you have a mistake mid production that you fix, you rarely divulge what the issue or solution is.

I have been told that Stern specifically has been working to figure out exactly what spooky is doing to make their playfields so they can closer mimic it.
The cracking of some TNA pfs under star posts is unfortunate, but it is minor IMHO compared to what I have seen on all other manufacturers and their response has gone above and beyond in comparison also.

I have operated every single Spooky deck thus far, all JJPs, and the majority of Sterns in the past 5 years. It is absolutely clear that Spooky playfields are by far the best ones out there (even with the chipping under some posts; which every manufacturer has if you go look)

You also ended things by saying "I won't bug you anymore just send the playfield" and he replied by saying he's sending it! If he was actually GIVING UP he wouldn't have sent you the PF. It's a figure of speech, he's giving up in the sense he's done everything he can reasonably do to help with the laundry list of things you're asking about, many of them basic common maintenance issues that everybody has to do on every game they have. Very sorry you've had so many issues but man, you're not being very cool here.

Jeez. This is my first pinball machine as well and ive had to fix a few things (a broken drop target, pop bumber screws coming loose, and some of the playfield issues at posts) but SpookyCharlie and SpookyKT don't deserve this attack. KT was also communicating during the ordering process and SpookyCharlie is always available at shows to ask questions.

I'm not at all technically sound person but I can fix things by using this website among others, and just doing the work and learning. 6k is a lot for me as well (had to save) but I'm not at all disappointed and happy to have made it my first machine.
Thanks Spooky for making my favorite game since Funhouse.

Replacing balls, replacing rubber (actual rubber wears VERY quickly, something like titan rings lasts longer), fixing broken solder wires, replacing coils, etc are all maintenance items. I've had to do these on every pin I've owned, sometimes even in the first days of ownership (it happens). If a coil went bad within warranty period I'd probably contact the manufacturer or my distributor for a replacement. If I had an issue with a defective playfield and had to get a new PF, I'd expect to have to do the swap myself. Time consuming, but that is expected.

Thanks Charlie and Scott for an awesome game!

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+10000%

Playing with getting ACNC and will be waiting for Danesi's Haunted House Party. I haven't received the invitation yet though

My machine required drilling out a broken screw from the shooter lane ramp within 10 games. Was I happy drilling into my new machine, no. Was it worth contacting Spooky, no. It was fixed within 30 minutes with beefier screws and this is the first mention of it to anyone. Many of the same issues have occurred but I stayed on top of it and replaced/fixed the issues. Grab some tools and learn how to work on your machine, that's half the fun of this hobby.

The playfield damage under the posts is a bummer...I have a non-pinhead friend who recently made the comment:

"Man, you pinball guys are NUTS! You spend all this money on a device which by the sheer nature of using it, is actually destroying it!"

He was referring to the battle of steel against wood and plastic. My point is, you don't even have to be in the hobby to realize that pinball machines aren't just "toys", or even "commercial equipment". They are "consumables" and they require constant adjustment and maintenance!

All of my personal experience and the overwhelming majority of testimonials from others is that the team at Spooky are the most committed, caring, and customer-centric outfit in the industry.

Photo taken last night... my whole family loves TNA! Thank you, Charlie, Kayte, Scott, and Co!

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Posting those emails was ridiculous and it didn’t tarnish Charlie in any way either it honestly made you look worse than you initially did. I doubt most companies would respond to your messages even half as fast if at all.

After reading all this back and forth today my only comment is, "Holy Crap, the kid is on reactor 8!"

EStroh LOL - now THAT would be a feat! Especially, seeing as how Dad has only made it to Reactor 5.

However, proud to say at the age of 3, he has already mastered the art of NOT always double flipping!

Pretty clear this is the wrong hobby for me. Have fun ripping each other off.

Not necessarily the wrong hobby, but definitely the wrong approach to maintenance of your games.

I have NIB that needed some work, and I have old Ballys that I only did routine checks on. That's just the way it is. As it was pointed out earlier, this is a wooden box with plastics inside, in which we fire several steel balls around while shaking/nudging it and having coils go off meanwhile...

This thread really took a bad turn. Let me change direction a little.

I finally destroyed reactor 7 on Monday. I was half way through ball 2 when I destroyed 6, so 7 was a struggle. I had a little over 8 million points. I came upstairs to tell my wife, and she said I looked like I just ran a race.

Damn...I'm still stalled out at 5.

Kind of a freak game (like 1 in a 100). I think I only destroyed 6 one other time. It's awesome getting that 2nd extra ball!

nice! I am jealous!

Wait, what? Do not agree, at all. "Best in the business" based on what? JJP's got the highest quality wood. Stern uses the best clear coat and the only one that doesn't chip easily (though their wood from IMDN onward is a joke), and CGC is a decent combo of both. This thread alone details in finite detail how "not best" these playfields are. Do they suck? No. But are they the best? Not quite, IMO.

Same. Cannot get past 6.

ive only gotten to reactor 5...like once. Are you guys doing anything to make it easier ? adjustments to getting extra balls? are you on 3 ball play? or 5? any other adjustments? its just such an ass-kicker...which of course, it its appeal.

Stock all the way. I play the short plunge and live catch to the flipper for every plunge and after every lock. Get that down and you’ll start having more success.

I have gotten pretty good at the secret skill shot, live catch and back handing the lock shot. I still can't master the soft plunge.

I am on factory settings, 3 balls. I did make sure to make the standups and upper slings as sensitive as possible, which helps.

Mastering the short plunge and the plunge that falls into the reactor is huge.

To be fair to you, you certainly ran into some bad luck with the out-of-box issues you experienced. Being your first NIB game I totally understand the disappointment you must be feeling. My first NIB game (not my first game by a long shot though) was a Metallica Pro that had similar PF chipping issues within about a 100 games in the outlane area. Stern sent me some nail polish to fill the chipped area. I was pretty devastated at the time, just didn't feel the same about it. I ended up selling it and buying a friend's older Metallica that showed much more normal/graceful PF wear characteristics. I swore at the time that I would only buy games I could inspect before purchase going forward. ...since then I've purchased two more NIB games, both have been excellent, luckily.

Playfields tend to either wear gracefully and end up looking like a 90's Williams game with some slight wear spots but no clear coat chipping off in chunks, or the clearcoat chips off in large slivers often destroying artwork underneath. I've seen this from Stern and now with the posted pictures on this thread. I suspect it has something to do with the adhesion of the CC to the PF but I'm no expert.

IMHO, if the artwork is damaged to the point that the washer fix doesn't cover it I think Spooky should be sending out populated PF replacements ala Stern and Ghostbusters. Barring that have the customer send their PF back to Spooky and have Spooky transfer their mechs, etc to a new PF for them. This is my opinion. The PF is clearly defective in this scenario and they should stand behind their product. If the shipping in onerous due to distance then perhaps you should kick-in for some of that, not Spooky's fault you live where you do.

Ok, I should have clarified. I can do the short plunge (to the right flipper) all day. The plunge into the reactor is what I struggle with. So many times I think I have it and it bounces off the first lane guide and back down the right orbit. I started erring on the side of overshooting it so at least I have a shot at the secret skillshot.

Strangely, I seem to have better luck plunging into the reactor area during multiball than during normal play.

Yeah, I almost want to post my email exchange with Charlie just so you guys could see the contrast. I expressed to him that I didn't want to come off as a difficult buyer, and he couldn't have been nicer about the whole thing.

You spend 6-7 grand and you’re worried about the guy selling you the product thinking you’re a difficult buyer?

It was under 6000.

But seriously, yeah, that about sums it up. I guess it was just the way I was raised. Or maybe just low self esteem. Let me put it this way. I have never sent food back at a restaurant, and I absolutely hate returning stuff to a store.

Honestly I really feel for Charlie and Spooky. Charlie, if you are reading this, for every one unreasonable customer, you have 99 that are absolutely thrilled with your product and looking forward to your next release. Believe me in this case, it’s not you or your company that’s the problem, it’s the client. I am sooooo impressed with your responses and you keeping your cool. That says a lot about you. I deal with people like this in my business and it’s just an unfortunate side of humanity. You handled it the right way, as most other people who don’t care would have ignored them. Good on ya! Looking forward to my next butter cabinet pin from you

I’m with you there — partially cause I don’t want to be a dick but also I find it helps the situation stay under control and you’re more likely to get what you want, have both parties feel ok about it, and you’ll continue to receive good customer service.

Not gonna lie i have 200 plays on mine and i havent seen any playfield issues. #355. I should prolly put the washers on the posts but i checked and had no issues. Had a few issues but as an owner i fix them. Ive raised the hood on my metallica or deadpool more than TNA.

At least you aren’t too proud to kiss ass publicly. Good for you having no shame.

I have not had one problem with my TNA thank goodness. The one above seems to have been on route. Not saying that makes everything is expected but at least I can see the difference between my pin with 200 plays and a route pin with 10x plays especially complaining about pinballs and rubber getting banged up, makes real issues seem more a problem buyer than a problem machine.

This pin looks great, I want one!!

You obviously don't know Charlie or the team at Spooky. They are good people, and if saying that in a public forum is "kissing ass," then consider it kissed. There's a line to when a customer is "always right" and a customer being impossible to please. When the string of email was posted, that line being crossed was readily apparent. Good on Spooky for what they did.

I gotta know, who read that email exchange and thought, "I want to start a pinball company."?

Two thoughts:

I officially never want to start a pinball company.

Never spend your life savings on a pinball machine. It’s guaranteed to end badly.

Quote of the year!

Right, because only negative feedback is valid feedback. People with good things to say must be full of crap.

I applaud Charlie and co for starting a pinball company and for releasing some really fun games. I'm not going to defend jerk customers, but in an established industry like pinball, learning and utilizing best practices leads to far fewer situations like this playfield episode. I love my TNA but I do question some of the odd decisions that were made that could have been avoided simply by watching what others do....some examples:

1) Why are the lockbar and rails so sharp? Aren't battle-tested lockbars and rails available off the counter? And if you want to make them yourself, can't you follow the example of every other manufacturer, and make sure they are deburred?
2) Stern's displays have always sat an angle with the top further back, to reduce glare and improve color display contrast. But TNA's display faces head on, and when combined with a low-budget screen, produces poor contrast and color. Tilting the screen even 5 degrees back using washers greatly reduces this issue. Something Spooky still isn't doing at the factory for some reason.
3) The playfields are not given time to cure properly, which results in both chipping and scratch marks all over the place on NIB machines from them wiping them down at the factory - which you cannot do if the playfield hasn't cured yet. The reason Charlie hasn't "released" the reason why all those playfields are chipping is because the reason is quite simple: they didn't cure properly.

I get it, Charlie. Pinball is hard. But it doesn't have to be quite as hard if you take cues from established players.

In the spirit of constructive feedback I concur with your points other than no idea about the cause of the chipping.

But yeah, tilt the monitor back a bit. Better contrast and looks / feels better too.

I'd rather be kicked in the nuts....repeatedly.