I had this exact problem today as well, left flipper had substantial up and down play. So with the playfield up (and without gravity pulling the flipper assembly downwards) the flipper had no issues, but when the playfield was down it felt sticky and would get stuck sometimes without fully resetting to its rest position.

Super easy fix, hardest part was making sure the flipper was sitting in the correct position with the playfield up when re-tightening.

My flipper acted the same (sticky and would not go back down all the way) with the playfield up or down.

If anybody is looking for a set of the Hooked EL side rail lighting, i have a set I will let go for list price. (sold)
They are never used and still unopened in the bag they came in a couple months ago. Message me.

These currently sold out at Hooked on Pinball and we aren't going to use them.

Love our tna ce!

(SOLD)

Anyone experiencing the issue of randomly spitting out two balls into the shooter lane? Seems to happen more often on a ball save, non-multiball situation. Corrects itself after draining a ball and the machine seems to know this happened. This started off as happening once every 10 games or so, now it's every game.

That is a new Spooky feature they build into games the past couple years.

Happened to my NIB ACNC and Ultraman. Same with many others.

Random extra ball spit out into play , and/or never ending multiball.

Kinda cool eh?

It's the Butthurt Flipper!

Everybody wave to the Butthurt Flipper!

*Waves*

Hi Butthurt Flipper!

Does TNA CE come with Invisiglass (or equivalent)? For the life of me I cannot figure out a way to positively identify low reflective glass.

Your Jam opto is most likely flaking out. Do you have a credit dot on the machine?

It ships with just normal glass.

--Scott

I don’t believe TNA has invisiglass.

If you have an iPhone put your flash light on and put it a few inches from the playfield glass. If the reflection is white it’s not invisiglass. If the reflection is a greenish or colored tint. Then it’s invisiglass.

Thanks Scott, not sure, will check tonight when I get home from work.

Thanks again for this.

I had a friend who just started 3d printing try your design. They turned out pretty good using what material he had - (a little shiny). Probably not quite to specs as getting them direct from you.

I installed them the other day - they fit snugly - and made a world of difference - to me anyways. Used a black "paint" marker by itself and wasn't impressed - installing the plugs was the answer.. A++

Thank You!
BACKBOX_PLUGS (resized).jpgBACKBOX_PLUGS3 (3) (resized).jpgBACKBOX_PLUGS3 (4) (resized).jpg

Curious to know if you resolved your issue - in particular = does yours still pop 3 times or so when powering on?

I just received an original run game (love, love, love it) I tried updating to 1.5.0 on Scotts site and the game is just frozen on the update screen. It was on it for 2 hours so I powered off the machine and tried another USB stick and redownloading the code. Obviously the game won't boot now. Any ideas how I get it going again please?

Edit - got it up and running

IMG_20230112_160348 (resized).jpg

No clue because the replacement board they sent melted so haven't been able to turn it on or play it since.

I have a fairly large collection....the only machine that I don't have anti-reflective glass on is TNA. I just don't think it needs it. Just my opinion.

Pics?

Are you having issues with the PD-16 coil driver board? It sounds like we are having similar problems. My machine (s/n #1) worked for about 5 games, then the PD-16 board on the bottom failed. It controls the backbox lighting so immediately we saw that go out and knew something was up. Upon closer inspection I found a burned up SMD component at position U2 (linear voltage regulator?). Also, the D14 LED remains lit after bootup which is part of the voltage watchdog circuit. If this lamp stays on it disables the entire board (according to the Multimorphic documentation). That watchdog is looking at voltages on the board at bootup and should go out after a few seconds.

If your voltages are all correct on the machine (5v, 12v, and 48v at the board), you can turn ON jumper #6 on the board and disable the watchdog routine and it should allow the board to boot and operate normally. This is in the documentation that Multimorphic has on their website for the PD-16 board. This didnt make my board work, but it might work for you.

When I removed the lower PD-16 from my machine, put it on the bench and began testing components I also found that one of the N-Channel MOSFETs appeared to be blown. This MOSFET drives pin #5 on the left side big commector (Drop Target #2 Raise Coil).

I swapped the good board on my machine into the other position and everything operated normally, which leads me to suspect a faulty board and not a wiring or voltage problem. Replacements have arrived today so lets see what happens...

Maybe all of this helps you out. Sorry you are also having issues. It must be very frustrating.
I've attached a photo of the bad board and good board on my machine for comparison.

20230104_171919 (resized).jpg20230104_172651 (resized).jpg

Holy crap!

Did Spooky send you a replacement board? Or did this happen to the replacement board?

How are your voltages? Mine were set a bit on the high side at the factory.

Hi Folks,

I love TNA, play it locally at the arcade regularly, and admire the community around the game.

I've considered picking up a CE or a used OG for many months. I have to be honest however, all the out-of-box challenges folks are posting for new CE machines is intimidating and have kept me from purchasing. I'm not opposed to getting hands dirty a little and trouble shooting, but I do worry about the time commitment to get something up and running that is new (which is why I may prioritize a used functional OG).

My question is, do those of you have bought a CE and have had to fix issues regret your purchase? Or has it been worth it to you to go through the trouble of getting it up and running?

Thanks!

Ugh!..

Out of the box, I needed to replace my shooter ramp, backglass and side art. Annoying, especially for the price paid, but I do not regret my purchase one bit. I love the game. Play it daily. Same with R&M. No matter who makes a pin, eventually you will have to open the hood and roll up your sleeves.

But play it first if you can. It's not for everyone.

I recently got a TNA, I chose the original because of the price difference. I was able to upgrade my original run to have the same neat features as the CE, all except the black armor, for a lower overall price. I also enjoy working on these machines so doing the upgrades myself was fun.

While I think you will get two clear sides with this question, I think we can all agree it's a really great experience playing this game. The sounds, lights, and the straightforward challenge are all aspects owners love about this title.

100% regret purchasing NIB from Spooky and will never do so again. No regret for owning a (one day functional, hopefully) TNA though. Amazing, unique game with an experience you won't find anywhere else. If I could go back in time I would buy a used TNA that someone took care of. Scott's design is a masterpiece. Spooky's build of it is a shitshow.

Here are some new ones (switch1, knocker/shaker..etc) - and I updated some of the old ones as well so you may want to check them too. (The .jpg's sometimes have a few more extra tweaks than the .pdf's). Posting them here is an issue when I find a problem and need to correct or update something.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ObqfQeHLuyJLEe5PYVtv4vZuhRNixfBE?usp=sharing

use with CAUTION (I have seen a few discrepancies between mine and the official manual)

Only available in Right to Repair states..

overview (resized).jpg

Update on #116...

I've had it set up for a couple of days and have been playing and tinkering with it. I've got about 40 plays on it so far.

The good - It arrived with zero shipping damage. Nothing was knocked loose during shipping, game booted up and played right away. TNA is even better than I remember it. The last time I played one was at Zapcon 6 or 7, and I only had a chance to play it a few times. It made quite the impression back then. Glad I went with butter, pretty damn sexy! Worth the wait.

The meh - Mine came with 2 plumb bobs, one in the leg box and one stapled next to the coin box. There was a small piece of wood block in the head laying in there loose. Like some others, the rear playfield glass channel isn't aligned perfect. It seems to sag a bit in the middle, but after having the glass out a few times it's much easier to re-install than it was the first time. My right gate needed an adjustment, it was allowing the ball to roll under it in the closed position, simple tweak and it's working as it should. The spinner bracket was bent slightly up, but the spinner still functioned. It's been bent back to level and rips better now. The lower slings are touching the rubbers, but this doesn't seem to be impeding the switches from making contact and firing the sling when touched.

The brow-raising - There is no thread-sert for the head bolt... Anywhere. It's not in the hole and not laying anywhere in the cabinet. There is a speaker hum/static sound in the speakers in attract mode. I've turned down the volume on the back of the monitor, and it doesn't seem to have an effect on the hum. I have not adjusted the amp at all yet. Not an issue during play, but mildly annoying if the machine is left on. I've got a strange issue with my ball save counter digits. I think I saw something similar posted, and I'll have to do some digging here. All the segments work, however when counting down the center segment of the left digit does not light for "2" or "3" and the top left segment of the same digit does not light for "0". Yet those segments light for other numbers.

Nothing really majorly bad with this one... Yet. Hopefully it stays that way. TNA CE is my second NIB pin. My first was AC/DC Luci back in 2014. It had much worse QC issues right out of the box, bad enough I had Stern send me a new playfield, which was like pulling teeth to get done. Luci was an awesome pin to own, but TNA is already outshining Luci. Thanks for your hard work, Scott and crew! I feel lucky with this one after reading so many issues that others have had out of the box. I hope you guys can get yours fixed and flipping soon!

#182 arrived yesterday safe and beautiful. Couple minor issues but nothing major. Plays great and looks beautiful. Small adjustment to right orbit roller to center the switch. No threads in the wood for the head box bolt. Oh and the backglass does need to be lifted to open the speaker grill. No big deal. Also the playfield glass rear receiver is a little low so you have to push glass down the get the glass to go in. All of these are small nit picky issues compared to other games I own. Great quality overall and plays and sounds great! Just wanted to post a positive so there is some balance. So far its the nicest machine with the least amount of trouble i have received to date. Definitely don't regret this machine. Soo much fun.

If anyone wants pics for comparison or anything let me know.

Thank you Scott. My daughter doesn't like pinball but she came out and started dancing when I turned this on. Lol

My #34 LE has a 'U' shaped playfield glass rear receiver that I use a stiff piece of plastic to lift when sliding the glass in. I think that this is an intentional placement in order to prevent the glass from rattling from the subwoofer. I have an upgraded subwoofer in my Godzilla (no sub enclosure though) that rattles the glass in the same rear receiver so I wrapped a piece of black felt around the glass to stop it.

I was going to leave it for that reason but never thought it might be intentional. Good point. Definitely makes sense with this machine. It thumps!!!

I received my CE months ago and I haven't had one single issue in mine. I'm not invalidating anyone else's issues, but those looking at this thread hearing some experiences might think it's just horrible quality out of the box. For my machine, I haven't had to do one adjustment. I might've just gotten lucky for once this time.

Just my experience for what it's worth.

Same here. It's understandable that owners with problems likely communicate more than those without problems. Reading several Spooky game threads the last few weeks could easily give the impression that everyone, every game is subject to problems. Even the few Stern game threads I'm following have this super negative vibe lately. There seems to be a lot of frustration, hope people's spirits lift soon.

Only other comment i have is regarding the butter cab. Is it worth it is the “thousand” dollar question. To be honest I’m not sure. It is absolutely beautiful and i love the gloss and quality look. But $1,000.00 is a bit steep. Not sure if i’d do it again. Not saying no…but it would be more enticing at a little lower price. Are there better ways to spend $1,000.00?

Yes…I just wanted to go for it on this one because i love this game so much.

The game is worth it and I don't regret the purchase as it's literally one of the best most addicting games I've ever played. That said - Spooky's QC and manufacturing processes are garbage and really need work for what they're charging. Simple things such as the sling mechanisms being mounted in the completely wrong place is unacceptable, the backglasses looking completely terrible and they just shipped them anyway. Things like that are just a sign of a company that DGAF. They have taken a position of just slapping shit together and then dealing with the repercussions on the back end which I think is a poor approach compared to just ensuring you ship a quality product every time and lower the investment in post purchase support IMO.

That doesn't explain why they worked so hard to replace them for everyone. Pretty much incongruous with your premise of them not giving a fuck.

There would have been equal to greater uproar if they delayed shipping until all new glass arrived.

I get being frustrated, but asserting that they DGAF is bullshit.

I disagree - if they would've delayed to put a quality game out noone would've complained. The machine is riddled with issues and you can feel free to bury your head in the sand if you want. That's your right.

They have top notch support and follow up. No other company has that level of post purchase follow up except maybe Pinball Bros. I'm not saying they DGAF at all . I'm saying in terms of ensuring a quality product going out the door - the attention is severely lacking or was with TNA. I've had no issues with my halloween games compared with my TNA.

Or they rolled the dice, and hoped people would accept it, with the contingent plan being to replace upon request. I'm sure some numbers were crunched.

Ding ding ding
Winner winner chicken dinner!

No problem! Happy you liked them! I don't mind helping other TNA owners because I know they have a very good taste in pinball!

ouch.!

I have been trying to get some spare boards rounded up (..just incase).. However - I cannot find a PD-16 right now.. Currently PBL and Multimorphic are showing Out of Stock.!

I thought maybe Spooky was hoarding them for Scoob - but it might be using different stuff.. not sure...

Hopefully Sp00ky has one for you..

Is there a more thorough listing of the rules than here? http://tiltforums.com/t/total-nuclear-annihilation-rulesheet/3209

This rulesheet doesn't seem complete. For instance, there are times when I can easily change which CORE lights are lit using the flippers, and there are times when the CORE lights don't move with the flippers at all, like when the reactor is started and the ball is in the upper playfield and I'm trying to get it critical.

Max

On mine, lane change is always working. When the reactor is unlocked and trying to advance to critical, and even when the reactor is critical lane change works.

I didn't really see anyone else mention the popping noises on bootup - except yours. So I went down the rabbit hole and did this/that. Sent a video to AJ and he sent me a new amp to try.etc..
But, I just watched 2 other videos and they do it as well. I understand the sub thump from the old car audio days - but figured the other popping noises was something else. (Iv'e only heard my old '93 Gladiators start up and its all kinds of noisy but just figured it was because its old. lol.) Guess I should have watched the videos first - lol.

I'm guessing - it has something to do with the way the Upboard and other software initializes (out of my zone for now). Shutting the machine off makes a nice racket as well which is another set of issues.

(I know I should just "put the hood down" and play it) - but I got bored, so for the powering up noise I added a delay switch. It just plugs in between the amp and the barrel connector. Variable settings allow you to dial in when the power turns on the amp. It was only a few dollars and says it can handle 10amps. I still get the sub thump when it eventually powers on - but it's past the initialization and you don't hear the popping noises.

(References to the noise)

= at 21:54~22:12 timestamp

and

= at 20:50~21:03 timestamp

UCTRONICS_FC-32 (resized).jpg

UCTRONICS_FC-32-A (resized).jpg

Got around to using a video to capture the boot screen - it's so fast.!

Not sure what the warnings are all about - but shes been playing just fine..

BOOTUP (resized).jpg

Happy to report that CE #1 is finally fully operational thanks to the great customer service from AJ at Spooky!
The PD-16 board fixed the coil issues, the new score display works perfectly, and the replacement backglass looks beautiful.
After some adjustments and playfield waxing the game plays great :

20230113_225136 (resized).jpg

I actually kind of like those noises -- since they seem to be normal, it is comforting to see and hear the machine doing "normal" things on bootup. And the noise lets my dogs know it's time to go somewhere else (they are not fans of the game).

Max

Congrats… finally, CE’s #1 and #2 are operational!!

Wait.. don’t new machines already come waxed? Just asking a newb question on NIB machines.

Are you just playing it safe knowing you know you did the waxing?

Honestly, my original does this too. I tried to address it by putting a time delay circuit on certain parts of the system early on, but eventually just abandoned trying to make it boot up silent. This is just an artifact of using a modular audio system like this.

Curious if the 12v delay quiets it down well enough. But I don't really mind it.

--Scott

I found some very small metal flakes on the pf bottom when making some adjustments so I decided to clean and wax it all. I'm not sure where they came from. Could have been from the manufacture of the machines.

Also my first NIB but mine didn't appear to be waxed.

That is probably a plating coming off a coil stop or bracket. I would not worry about it.

The game definitely do not come waxed from the factory. In fact, I have never waxed mine. I am not sure how common it actually is for people to wax the playfields on their games. It will make it faster though, but at the expense of ball spin characteristics. Do it protect it? No clue... I am no expert.