I have had an issue with this same switch, but it was just a manipulation of the yoke on the switch. I wonder if sometimes when there are 2 balls in this VUK that the Y lever attached to the switch- that the ball sits in to activate the switch, may get bent and it just needed to be bent back so that the ball activated the switch. As I recall the whole VUK assemble comes off the playfield with 4 wood screws and disconnect the molex connections for the switch and coil- piece of cake .

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You are welcome, glad I could help and you got it fixed!

if you're going to have a flakey switch its these "Y" switches, hate em!

Mine had the same problem, but if i hit both flippers at the same time it would trigger it for some reason. I replaced the switch and its fine now.

Hey guys. At Expo, I purchased a Cliffy ramp protector set (along with one for the shooter lane, but I already have that taken care of).

So they go on the Moe's, Treehouse, and Garage ramps...can anyone please share their experience/tips when installing these protectors? Thanks.

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Yeah, they are problematic. If you have a game like TSPP that uses them...just order a few to have around as spares.

I just got a Nvram but I dont know how to install it.
Do I just remove the current chip and put that one, turn the game back on ?
And does it erase the scores and settings ?

It should be as simple as you mention. Old one out, nvram in. And yes, your old scores and settings are gone.

Don’t forget to take the batteries out! Otherwise there is still the danger of leaking.

And just make sure you face the chip the right way. The notches should match up.

Joining the club 3 weeks from now (after Houston Expo) and wanted to see what spares people typically stock for TSPP, outside the normal stuff like coil sleeves, etc.

Thanks in advance!

Thing is built like a tank, never stocked anything but balls and rubber replacements.

Same here. Game is rock solid.

A couple of those crappy “Y” switches went bad on mine. Those are flaky so you may want to have a couple of extras on hand. Otherwise, I’ve had no issues.

New owner here! Couple of questions and comments. I love the game, jam packed and enjoy the theme and play. Buuuuut “Doh frenzy” or whatever it’s called has to be the most annoying mode I have ever played on any game, wish I could turn just that down as Im to the point that I’ve turned down the sound simply because it irks me that much. Second thing is I eventually will put this game on route when I’ve had my fun, I’ve seen a few post for start button protection and it seems the only viable option is Mylar. What about putting a generic start button on that’s not recessed maybe with some felt behind the face as not to dig into the paint? Then when I pull it off route and put it back into my collection I can just put the original button back on.

Are you a fan of The Simpsons TV show? I think Doh Frenzy is one of the funniest modes ever

Oh I’m a huge fan, not as big a fan as I am of king of the hill but unfortunately there’s no pin for that. I get different strokes for different folks but after the 1000th doh I’ve had enough haha.

Tspp owners

Question

Does anyone have an led kit list available ? Want this game to sparkle

Also Any suggestions on what is the optimal settings for modes and IS drops etc

Or if there is a page in this massive thread lmk

Thanks

Just use the same 2-LED clear domed cool whites that Stern uses on their games. They distribute light very well. It’s not as spotty as my pics look. However, use warm whites under the orange ramps so they look nice. Cools make them look goofy. I did use one frosted dome under the orange ramp to the left of Homer’s head. It’s in that perfect eyeliner spot that will annoy you with a clear dome LED...so, frosted there. The rest are covered by plastics well enough.

For inserts, don’t color match!!! Use cool whites under green, blue & white. Warm white under red, yellow and orange...and the middle family character inserts. This will bring out the natural color of the inserts beautifully. Use pink under the pink/purple inserts like Bart modes. I used the premium non ghosting flat top dome style, but painted the top white to diffuse the LEDs. I preferred this over frosted. Frosted changes the color temp slightly. White paint pen on top of the flat dome doesn’t.
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Use comet frosted in most of the GI, in the inserts, color match the bulbs, if you just use white some of the colors are washed out.
Yellow inserts should get orange bulbs.
I'd do orange under the ramps too.
Forget kits, they are over priced sub par bulbs.

Ignore this. Don’t color match. The color of the inserts are their own color and look great with proper warm or cool. Only pink/purple benefit from colored LED.

Don’t use frosted in GI unless it’s directly in your eyeline.

Don’t use orange under the ramps. Use warm white - they’ll make the orange of the ramp really orange, but won’t orange bomb the playfield...you’ll get the benefit of an orange ramp and white GI.

Here is my prototype for a start button protector

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"Ignore this" is a bit extreme of a response.
I just did it recently.
Took some experimenting. But I had quite a few colors on hand and i'm pretty confident colors in the inserts looks better.
But if you have a different opinion, that's fine and all, but suggesting to ignore someone else's post comes off pretty rude.
Reds may not of needed it, but at some point it's just easier to do all the colors.

Curious why you feel to not use frosted in GI? imo using clear lenses gives you hot spots through the plastics?

Definitely interesting, seems a bit too 3D for me but definitely interesting. How does it mount?

Thanks, all! I did have the Y switch on my short list of stuff to buy. I'm "only" on page 50 or so of this thread, so still more reading to do.

LOL sorry to be so blunt, but it came right after my writeup and I was like "c'mon" ...

But seriously, I've seen LEDs from the moment people started using them in pinball, and it's been a bumpy ride of horrible light spread & color bombing...and when I finally realized it could be done right, I became an LED convert...many local hobbyists have seen my LED jobs in person and love them, even if they were LED haters.

I reject your confidence that colors look better in inserts as a blanket way to do it...perhaps some games it may look better...but inserts are like gems - they have a really lovely natural color that incandescents do not bring out, but a correctly placed warm or cool white LED will make look brilliant. For instant on this game...cool white on the blue I&S inserts result in a beautiful sky blue...but if you use blue, you get a harsher more artificial "LED" blue.

My method results in a brilliantly colored game from color temperature, not color blasting.

So, even incandescents will result in a hot spot, that's just the nature of the distance from the light to the plastic. When LEDs started, hot spots were bad because the LED only pointed directly up. You had a hot spot and no spread - resulting in games actually being darker! The modern 2-LED with domes that Stern uses have a wonderful light spread...so yes, you'll get a traditional hot spot, but also great light spread. A frosted bulb might mellow the spot, but also it will reduce spread...I also don't like the color temperature that frosted domes give off...it just makes the game seem more artificial looking and less true and vibrant.

This ended up being the small ribbon cable that goes between the CPU and driver board.

Thanks.

I’ll take everyone suggestion and appreciate everyone’s help

all white is all you need. I use frosted in the gi, knocks down the" blindness to the eyes" effect you get on some of the newer sterns. comet 2smd sunlights are all I use on all my games. ive tried many others, nothing else compares in my mind. if you want to color match, then do it, but no need to on most games. Occasionally you will get a color that looks funky with whites (red inserts on tron look pink) but 90% of the time you'll be fine. everybody is different, some like the way the new sterns come out with clear bulbs in the gi's, I personally hate it. Rare hero and Jcar both have their way and im sure they are happy with the final outcome...... neither is wrong. Just easier to buy a bunch of whites then trying to figure out how much of a certain color you need. Keep it easy at first, then adjust as you go.

Tron has pinkish inserts. They’re not the standard red color.

We view bulbs very different ways.
I see how they look as an opinion, you see them as a fact.

Just to be clear, I rarely use colors on any machine.
For a while it was all 4smd whites, but if they can be seen, they are blinding.
That's why the switch to frosted.

I put all white in the simpsons and IMO it make the inserts look washed out.
I'm not really concerned with what they were supposed to look like 15 years ago, considering led's weren't used in pins back then.
Many people like the inserts to really pop with color and the matching in this particular case does.
For me, it's an improvement, but you seem to more of purist, which is ok.
Just remember, the person that asked the question said he wanted it to sparkle, not look factory original.

I did the whites under the ramps, they over powered the original color of the ramps.

I'm not suggesting recoloring the entire machine (which I have done and then undone on other machines).
Just some strategically placed color bulbs.

For example, those blue itchy and scratchy inserts in your pics, that's exactly why I changed them.

I recently did mine with cool white LED's from Comet. I prefer frosted especially for any that are directly seen. I started to color match all the inserts but didn't like how it was looking so I just used white. I did use purple on a few of the purple inserts. I keep a lot of LED's on hand, so I ordered 50pc bag of cool white for 47 bulb and 555 wedge bulb. As far as flashers go, I find the LED flashers are super bright. I sometimes like the incandescent flasher better because it's not so blinding. Up to you and your tastes. I would say make all the flashers consistent either all LED or all incandescent. Have fun with it and make it what you like.

Of course it’s all subjective. However, I see so many LED people suggesting color matching as the only way to go, so lots of people do it. I personally feel if people do that as a “rule”, that it makes games look harsh. It’s worth exploring using the varying color temperature of warm white and cool white to see how it brings out the natural colors. For example the blue inserts in my Addams looked shitty with white, so in that case I went with blue LED. Family Guy has a lot of clear or yellow inserts that look better color coded, so I used red on jackpots, green on Seamus, orange on Extra Ball, red on Death. I used a color changer on Skill Shot.

Anyway - you do you, it’s all good - I just wanna put it out there that color matching isn’t a necessity and neither are frosted bulbs. Colors sparkle & pop with my method.

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Trying to get my head wrapped around the rules, so starting to cook up a JP-style rules flow chart for TSPP. This is almost entirely based on Bowen's rule sheet.

Let me know if you see any glaring omissions or have suggestions for improvements.

Still need to flesh out the "Other Scoring" portion, but decided part of the way in that if I put scoring stuff in here, it would be even more crazy!

TSPP Rules.pdf

Sweet Jesus that chart is so pretty I almost cried! Look how deep this game is! Omg

This is freakin' awesome!

I so needed this....can't keep the rulz straight in this game...going to print this out and keep it handy

Great chart! I’m still new to the game. Do you have to complete all the tv modes or just start them to get to Alien Invasion?

Just start them. And they all stack so - you could theoretically start one, relight with right orbit, get back up to TV to start another, repeat until you get to Alien Invasion!

Thanks! I thought so. So should the chart be updated to show “Start or Complete All TV Modes” to get to Alien Invasion?

Yes, but each completed mode adds time to alien invasion.

Simple rules question - when I get the couch multi-ball going, I know one of my goals is to get balls back up to the couch and light up the characters on the lower playfield. I got the first one flashing, but based on the rules I've seen online I'm not totally sure what I need to do at that point to get it to remain lit throughout the rest of the game.

Thanks in advance!

or play on easy and for the first AI just catch the ball coming out of the TV and shoot it right back in to start all the modes haha

after that though, it requires the orbit shot

That is the Super Jackpot. Each successive couch shot during couch multiball will light a character. The character should remain lit for the rest of the game.

Good call out. I’ll make sure that gets into the next draft.

Ah, thanks! I thought I got one blinking, then it didn't light for the rest of the game once the mode was over. I'll have to get it to occur again and see what happens...or do you mean after I get the first character blinking, then I have to hit the couch again to keep character #1 lit?