I'm having a difficult time finding a good site to purchase Cliffy Protectors. Specifically for the garage ramp and Itchy/Scratchy. Any help?

Did you try Cliffy’s site?

http://www.passionforpinball.com/TSPP.htm

I did but couldn’t figure out how to order. I guess I have to email him direct. I tried most of the distributors but they were out of business or didn’t have the ones I wanted.

Just email him directly and he'll get back to you soon enough. He's a one man operation as far as I can tell so it will be roughly a 3 week wait I'm guessing.

I just ordered from him. He'll reply quickly and send you a PayPal invoice. He told me it would be about 3 weeks to get me a TSPP set.

My playfield clear coat is done with a couple wrinkles thrown in
1. Had the Simpsons cars painted Hot Pink
2. Had all the ball trail fire painted red so the dots stand out more
I’m happy with it, going to be using the Donut decals and adding a bunch of pink donuts to the machine, stay tuned……

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Looks great, well done.

Good morning, I'm looking for the LEFT RAMP, someone could help me. Thank you

Im having an issue with the garage door always being open, I originally thought as it slammed shut it hit the switch which reopened it, when I swapped the switch this corrected it for a while but I’ve just noticed it’s always open again, in single coil test the door opens ok when you press run but should it auto close or stay open?
Mine stays open, wondering if someone could check?

Why you little!!!

Just joined the club with this beauty. Bought it from the original owner who had purchased it for his kids. Unfortunately they weren't "pinball" aficionados, so while it's in beautiful condition, it will need a deep clean.

1. Does anyone have an LED guide? Could every bulb be replaced with a bright white? Would it look good?

2. Any particular "must have" mods? I know I definitely want the Duff Beer mod...

3. There are several side blades available. Anyone better than the other? I like the finish that Stern has been using on their latest blades. It's more of a durable/user friendly material vs a vinyl decal. Are any of you using something like this?

Cheers

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There are as many opinions as there are bulbs in the world, but from what I have read and seen in pics, my plan is to replace every lamp with Comet 2SMD Frosted Warm White. That will look the most like the original incandescent, which is my preference. ("Sunlight" is a little cooler and their other white is the coolest. Curious about Sunlight but I know I hate cool white.) If I find I don't like how a particular spot looks I can address that with a different bulb.

Thx for your comment. Yep, I'm assuming the warm white will look pretty close to the original. I actually like the bright white and will go with that, but wondered if folks have added some hints of purple or blue. Any pics with such variations welcome!

I think a pin2DMD or a colourdmd is a must
I like these blades as they match what’s going on on the playfield ebay.com link: Inside decals for Stern The Simpsons Pinball Party TSPP pinball machine

I used Comet 2smd sunlight in my TSPP. I used a few colored where the white is too blinding. I think the sunlight is perfect in this pin.

Anyone can chime in about the Treehouse mod if it blocks the view to the upper playfield?

Tree house mod is a win IMO.

Little upgrade…

Decided to powdercoat (Sour Apple) Did the habitrails and monorail too. Legs will be here tomorrow.

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That powdercoat job is beautiful, wow.

Doesn’t block the upper playfield at all on mine.

That looks awesome....who did that for u?

My 10 yr-old-son used to complain about the blocked view. If you’re taller than 4’10”, you should be fine.

Thank you!

Local guy. I got my last pin done by pinball refinery and he did a good job. But shipping to and from was more expensive then getting it done locally. Didn’t know this guy existed but I’m really pleased with the outcome. Almost went pink….

Treehouse mod doesn't block at all. Blends in very well.

Pinsound with the mix by Baptiste is the only must have mod I can’t live without.

I second this! His soundmix is AMAZING!!!!!!

Hello, all! I’m a new TSPP owner, and have a couple issues that I’m hoping to find some wisdom about here!

1) Earlier tonight, after playing a few games and leaving TSPP turned on to just hang out in the other room in Attract Mode, I heard a couple “ding” kind of noises, and then eventually when my brother got back around to play another game maybe 30-60 minutes later, found the GI on, but the DMD off and nothing else on or responding. We power cycled the game, and still, nothing but the GI would turn on. I opened up the backbox, pulled out the batteries (yep, it’s still on batteries) to check them, and while they were out, out of curiosity to see what would happen (I’m fairly new to the battery era of games), I turned the game on again and it…all turned back on as normal. Incidentally, the batteries were all fine, so they’ve been put back in, and I don’t even know if that would’ve been a potential cause of that kind of problem, but certainly doesn’t seem to have been related here. Any insight or familiarity with what that kind of situation might mean, and what to check if (guessing “when”) it happens again? I’v left the game on again for a while now to see if it would happen again, and if so, to run to it to hopefully see an operator error or something obvious occurring when it made the “ding” noise, but it has been in Attract Mode just fine this time, as it always has been before, so no luck there tonight.

2) Occasionally (at least 50% of the time, I’d say), the TV will catch a ball as it should, release it as it should, but the coil buzzing continues and after a few seconds, an operator error #7 about the TV coil shows up on the DMD. The coil seems to fire and retract w/o issue, or at least w/o any issue that impacts gameplay, so curious to know if this is a familiar problem, as well, and what I might want to look into to resolve it.

Has anyone come across these issues before?

Turned out great....I wish I could find a local guy

Are these the same "ding" noises the game makes at power up? Maybe just multiple, instead of one?

It sounds like your game's software is crashing. Turning it off, letting it sit, and then turning it on is letting it reboot properly.

I've seen this when the +5V supply is a little crusty. Re-seat the +5V power connector as a short-term fix. My short-term fix has lasted several years, but the game is lightly played.

The game only takes power from the batteries when it's off, so removing them is no problem. (Change them with the power on, or better yet, replace with NVRAM. Replace batteries yearly.)

I'm guessing there's a dirty or failing switch associated with the TV. It might be that the switch is staying stuck closed. Switch test is really useful here. There are two; one tests switches changing state, the other reports all switches that are currently closed ("active").

Test it with a ball, not just a finger -- balls close switches differently.

Have you tried Maas in Livermore? I've heard very good things, but haven't used them.

Hello, all! I’m a new TSPP owner, and have a couple issues that I’m hoping to find some wisdom about here!
1) Earlier tonight, after playing a few games and leaving TSPP turned on to just hang out in the other room in Attract Mode, I heard a couple “ding” kind of noises, and then eventually when my brother got back around to play another game maybe 30-60 minutes later, found the GI on, but the DMD off and nothing else on or responding. We power cycled the game, and still, nothing but the GI would turn on. I opened up the backbox, pulled out the batteries (yep, it’s still on batteries) to check them, and while they were out, out of curiosity to see what would happen (I’m fairly new to the battery era of games), I turned the game on again and it…all turned back on as normal. Incidentally, the batteries were all fine, so they’ve been put back in, and I don’t even know if that would’ve been a potential cause of that kind of problem, but certainly doesn’t seem to have been related here. Any insight or familiarity with what that kind of situation might mean, and what to check if (guessing “when”) it happens again? I’v left the game on again for a while now to see if it would happen again, and if so, to run to it to hopefully see an operator error or something obvious occurring when it made the “ding” noise, but it has been in Attract Mode just fine this time, as it always has been before, so no luck there tonight.

I've had this happen as well when I was interrupted during a game and left the ball unplunged for a long period of time (maybe an hour?). I turned it off and then back on and it returned to normal play. I haven't seen it happen again even after trying to reproduce the issue. I'm only mentioning this because I've actually experienced the behavior and it seemed to be a one-off for me as well.

2) Occasionally (at least 50% of the time, I’d say), the TV will catch a ball as it should, release it as it should, but the coil buzzing continues and after a few seconds, an operator error #7 about the TV coil shows up on the DMD. The coil seems to fire and retract w/o issue, or at least w/o any issue that impacts gameplay, so curious to know if this is a familiar problem, as well, and what I might want to look into to resolve it.
Has anyone come across these issues before?

Check out this thread: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/tspp-tv-release-makes-a-buzzing-sound-when-a-ball-enters

I haven't but a local guy has with success....I've sent them several emails with no response so their either busy or not interested?

Just got done installing colordmd. Awesome!

What do you guys have for contrast and backlight settings? I am getting a slight greenish color where it should be yellow

UPDATE: I got it sorted out. I also installed a glare eliminator and I think that was causing some issues. I removed it and it looks much better

I actually think the pink looks pretty awesome...most do yellow or the green

Question… I have a bunch of lights out on the lower left side of my pin. Any idea where I can start trouble shooting that?

Hey guys,

TSPP is definitely a fun game to mod as I've seen pictures of all your beautiful machines, but what about gameplay? What is a general strategy to the game? Ways to complete said strategy?

I haven’t owned the game for very long, but my strategy has been to never let the timer run out

The core element of this game is stacking modes. You can stack the TV modes and even the mini-wizard modes. I would start with just trying to complete the TV modes and get to Alien Invasion, or by collecting all of the Otto doubles and play Springfield Mystery Spot--both of those will jump your score up quickly. Stacking Daredevil Mania to either of those will also likely complete that mini-wizard mode and tack on another 5m.

Fuse… fixed

Thanks for the tips

I read that one of the features with the 5.0 code update was to stop the I/S eject from happening when the drop targets were still up.

Until yesterday I was running code 4.0 and NEVER had this issue.

I installed colordmd and in the process I updated my rom chips to 5.0 code and display. Now I seem to be having the drop target issue. Seems like if the lower target is up and the ball goes into I/S, it ejects it without dropping the target first.

Anyone else?

It should drop first...check your switches in switch test to see if they're registering?

I've heard they had problems during the worst of the pandemic. Worth trying again. I've seen some of their work on pinball parts and it was great.

I checked the switches and all register in test mode. I can also test the drop targets to drop and reset. Everything seems to work great.

I took the glass off, turned on the game and played. It all seemed to work as it should. Weird. I’ll keep an eye on this. Strange how I never ran into this issue until updating to 5.0. Fingers crossed something was just binding up and now it’s all good

i had the same issue and it was a blown fuse.

that fuse blow again.... where do i start for troubleshoot?

ALSO,

i need to buy a new itchy with axe, other than marcos whos selling it for 43$, is there somewhere else cheaper?

Check "World of Springfield" on eBay.

This is my second time with the same fuse. The ones I’m replacing it with don’t look anything like the original ones. Not sure if that’s the issue. My fuse is a thin wire compared to what looks to be a ceramic coated fuse. (Im sure it’s not ceramic).

I've nearly finished an LED swap but this GI bulb in the back by the Homer head looks like a PITA. It looks like you need to remove the mini pf and the right ramp to get to it.

Underneath, the socket is partially under a coil bracket. If you pried up the stapled socket leads, you MIGHT be able to get the socket out... has anyone tried that? Even if you have to loosen the bracket to wiggle the socket out that would have to be easier than doing it from the top.

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I was able to change that from above playfield. Remove the upper playfield and use a piece of tubing to twist out the old bulb and install the led. I bought the “bulb remover” from Comet but you can get it at at Home Depot and cut to length. I don’t remember the size tube. Maybe 1/2”?

Upper playfield is easy to remove. I also did it from the top.

Thanks guys, I'll give it a shot that way. Have to take the upper pf off one more time anyway to get the bulb under the TV that I missed the first time. I have a bunch of brewing tubing, might have the right size "bulb remover" around already.