It certainly does occur, but I don't believe it is a design flaw. Setup makes a big difference and you can tweak it with the pitch of the game. Most of the time my magnet throws the ball to the right flipper or back into the prison (85% I'd say). If the ball is rolling down the guide from the pops the ball always goes to the left flipper. The ball does not always roll down the guide though. I get most of my SDTM from the pops, but again pitch can make a difference.

That's really cool.

I think the software could be improved to give more random action when the ball is held at the prison magnet. There's nothing worse than playing a kickass game only to have the game throw the ball SDTM. If i brick a shot and drain, that's my fault and I earned it. If i'm playing well, don't stop my groove and kill my ball.

Pop drains happen 2% of the time. Prison SDTM drains happen more than it ever should.

Its all in the setup of the game. Both the playfield angle and level have to be set properly or you;ll get SDTM from the magnet even if you flip at the right time. Day one I was ready to give the game back but after leveling and raising the game pitch slightly it was a totally different game. I rarely ever have a SDTM from the magnet, but I still get occasional bumper SDTM if the ball doesn't slide down the lane guide. Brutal game but it keeps me coming back for more.

I don't know why Lyman never put a ball save on the prison magnet. All you would need is like a two-second ball save, and it would completely eliminate the issue.

He didn't want to. He added the magnet pulse if you flip as the ball is being released from the magnet to change the ball direction. This added strategy and some skill to saving the ball instead of just watching it drop and be released again.

I find it hard to believe that Lyman designed it so that a strategically timed pulse of the magnet is required to save the ball, and if he did, I do not agree with this decision. Even if you become adept at timing the pulse, the ball will still go straight down the middle from time to time. You shouldn't be potentially punished for opening the prison. This is a design flaw, IMHO. At the very least, there should be an option in the menu to turn on a short ball save.

Just the nature of magnets in a game. If the action was more “random” it would still throw it down the middle at some point.

One of the reasons why I’m okay with magnets being skipped in a game unless it’s like Oktoberfest and it’s to setup an upper flipper shot or feed the pops.

Do you have evidence this is true? We know that activating the flippers starts a process involving the prison magnet, what evidence is there that the process is different than what would happen without flipping?

It’s not. Just starts it sooner. Just like skipping a mode start animation. But it is player controlled, that’s for sure. Haha

In most cases, the magnet doesn't even toss the ball though, it will just drop it or actively fling it SDTM.

My game is pitched properly and is level side-to-side. I've checked the front, and the back. I've rotated the core, rotated the magnet coil. I rarely get SDTM from the pops, which is a leveling issue if you do, but it's hit/miss for SDTM on the prison magnet. I would be 100% ok if the magnet had more action and throw it down the middle occasionally. Wolvie in XM does it sometimes (left outlane esp), but I can at least see activity of the ball. On my TWD, I see little or no activity. A 2 second ball-saver or more action is all that's really needed.

To your point, I may just turn it off, because it really doesn't do anything in the game other than give time to look at the animation, and screw me over lol.

When you rotated the core, how much did you do it? I took it from like noon to 2 o’clock and it licked it for me. Only other Idea I have is replace the core.

I think it was 1/4 turn (so like noon to 3). I couldn't do it too much, otherwise it wouldn't be level with the pf. I'm not sure replacing the core would really do anything, since it's just a hunk of ferrous metal. I would imagine it might be ok for a while, but at some point would start doing the same thing, unless materials are different than from what Stern used. We always talk about this to death lol, like zombies looking for flesh.

Pinball Life has stainless steel core magnet cores. Would these be the same as the ones that Stern uses? Or a different source/manufacturer?

Terry pinballlife - Would you know?

I have no problems with magnets in a game that cause randomness, but something seems fundamentally unfair about a magnet that is positioned directly above the flipper gap that stops the ball dead in its tracks and then releases it without a ball saver.

Yep. Sucks. Worst case it can be turned off, so at least if the other tricks don’t work, you have options.

This whole discussion seems a bit like the movie groundhogs day. I'm sure I've heard it all before. That's not to say that it's not important because it is. And a couple of you complaining are close friends, so I trust that your experience is frustrating. TWD is one of my favorite games in my collection and would be among the last couple to ever leave. But, I would invite each and every one of you to come play my TWD premium and you wouldn't be saying 1 single thing about the prison magnet. I can count on one hand all the times my magnet has thrown the ball STDM when I play. I can't explain it... I've never done anything special to my game. Don't really pay attention to the left to right level or the pitch. Maybe I just got lucky on my initial setup. I really wish I knew what the difference was so everyone could replicate it and have the same experience. Same goes for the pops. I get maybe 1 out of 30-40 that goes down the middle... has to be exiting the pops at just the right speed. And typically when it's coming out at that speed, I realize it's going down the middle, but my reaction time is to late to slap save it. I'm sure better/quicker players could save most of those (even how few they are).

I'm no pro player and I have done everything possible to make my Pro easier - all modes set to easy, bigger star posts with rubber rings on the outlane adjuster, extra outlane extender thingies, leveled front/back/left/right and set to 6.5 degrees - and it still kicks my ass unless I am constantly paying attention. I have to whack the right side every time the ball is coming out of the bumpers as it contacts the ball guide so it doesn't SDTM. I have to start a slight left/right shimmie when the ball is about to come off of the magnet after the zombie-axe-to-the-head animation so it doesn't SDTM. Just like the show you are fighting to stay alive while zombies are trying to take you out. No down time. If you let your guard down and relax you're ball is toast. But when you get it going and the points start to rack up it is one of the best adrenaline rushes in pinball! I love mine and will be keeping it for a very long time. When people come over and play it for the first several times they are pretty beat up and discouraged, but I keep adding rules and strategies for them and then the light comes on and they have to have one more game!

My game is like yours. I really don't have a problem with drains from the prison magnet or the pops. That being said, a lot of people do, and it is something that could be easily rectified with a minor software tweak.

I will be there! lol

My pro isn't going anywhere any time soon. as a matter of fact, it is now the oldest game in my collection since I've started collecting (only about 2 years now?)

Slings to outlane get me more than the pops.

My magnet is fair but the drain from the pops Kill me. Has anyone done anything around the pop area to help with this? I nudge, slap, kick...helps but I constantly fight it.

Have you tried leaning your playfield .2 degrees down to the left?

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/twd-lepremium-center-drain-help#post-2911664

I’ve got a guest room with your name on it. As for the collection comment... hmmm, maybe we need to setup more of your games to throw the ball STDM. Maybe then you’d hold on to them longer!!

Space and money Tony. Space and money...

I added a 3/16" rubber to the post on the ramp entrance, raised up about a half inch. Helps a lot. I got a premium. I fit it over the post, tight, but works.

And I know one day in the future you’re going to need that Magneto space and a little money...

This is exactly what was happening with Dialed In. Some owners were getting cheap drops from the theater magnet. Ted Estes added a couple of different magnet behavior options to try to remedy this, but in the end, they used the sliding QED guy to get in the way of the ball when it drops.

Just like Dialed In, some people were fine, some weren't. It really would be amazing if Lyman revisited the code to see if he could reduce SDTM drops from the magnet, or just add a quick ball save to it.

He could also add something to let us know progress towards Seige.

That was added in the last code , in the multiball screen. X jackpots for Siege

my magnet has also worked fine on both my Pre and the Pro I used to own. On the Pro I found it harder to level the game to avoid STDM from the pops.

What might help from the popbumpers is to make sure the lowest popbumper is super sensitive. This way you have less soft dribbles from the pops.

Just installed an alt translite from Ministry of Pinball as the wife hates looking at the factory one. Aside from having to trim it a bit to fit it’s pretty well made. Wish it didn’t say “Limited Collectors Edition” which is kinda corny, but overall an improvement.

C9ADCA8C-08CD-4034-9CBE-6C97C72071BD (resized).jpeg

Looks good! I need me a colorDMD (or 3)...

tyvm.

It's a slippery slope my friend, once you have one it's impossible to stop adding them to the others

Just curious...why "Horde"? I watched the show as it came out, and I'm currently re-watching the entire series with my daughter, and the show never uses the term. It uses "herd" several times, but never "horde."

I hear ya. But we're all collectors here (for the most part), so our asses have been down an even bigger slope already!

A Herd, also known as a Horde or a Swarm, is a large group of zombies.

I know what the word means. I was curious why they didn't use the word used in the show.

Since the word is synonymous with herd, Stern probably felt it sounded cooler as HORDE.

Horde mode is also a popular video game mode, usually a mini-game, where you face an unlimited amount of enemies coming after you wave after wave. I'm guessing that might have influenced the name too. Thank god -- who wants Herd mode.

Haha, just reading "who wants Herd mode" put everything in perspective Haha... thank you for that laugh.

Thank you. Knowing there's an existing video game mode with that may have influenced it makes sense.

Working to "zombie up" my game. I made a few plastics to add some depth. The zombie on the left is spaced off 1/2in from the back.

twd bb (resized).jpg

Trying to convince myself to drop coin Into a colordmd for my twd pro.

But than which type? Led of lcd? The videos I found look to be all in high res eg lcd Display.

I have an acdc and met with smartdmd in highres mode but also a tspp with a pin2dmd which is a led display and these colors really pop. However, tspp is also cartoonesk so this fits led better I think.

Any opinions out there?

I've seen both and LCD all the way!!! I bought the LCD for my game.

I got the lcd, it is the way to go. I had to go led on my Tommy. One huge negative on led, glare on the glass. Gotta go with shields.

I realize I'm in the minority, but I have LED on two of my machines and they look great. TWD is one and SMVE is the other. I don't disagree that the LCD looks awesome and I have it on way more of my machines (maybe 6-7 or more), but I wanted to see if I'd like the LED... figured I could sell it for $30-40 cheaper if I didn't like it because someone would snatch it up since these never go on sale. If I had it to do over again, I might choose LCD, but I might not... depends on how I feel that day I suppose. It's that close in my opinion (for certain titles).