Quoted from IdahoRealtor:

It's true. Told by Stern they're being run again in Jan.

Quoted from IdahoRealtor:

Probably. Premiums for January confirmed by Stern and my distributor. If you can wait til then, no need to get bent over.

Quoted from cooked71:

Does the Premium come with a shaker ex Stern?

Quoted from Eskaybee:

Mine was DEC 2014 build too. Got it a couple months ago. Just proof that this title did not sell well which is what 2 distributors told me. Now that Lyman nailed the code, I hear stern will do another run - the game is gaining popularity. Shows that code can trump poor design and poor theme integration.

Quoted from Yipykya:

All those "design flaws" can easily be overcome with the exception of the left arm of the ww blocking a couple inserts. That - you have to remember to peer around him and keep track. It's just part of the pin's charm.
In a home environment it's what you do. You fiddle. Read the mod threads, it's all there. If you don't address those things your missing out on a nice pin being a greater experience.
Feedback sounds - good point. So much of this pin I take for granted when it's really little details that are there but you get use to them. After playing other pins you notice and you realize you've been spoiled, for lack of a better term.

Quoted from Lermods:

Is there any rule sheet available that someone has written up? I looked at pinball news at its pretty basic and written on old code. The game reminds me of acdc, which took me quite a while to figure out. I'm getting decent scores on Twd (200-500 mil on factory settings) mainly because I'm just hitting what's lit, but have no idea on strategy, how to start and complete modes, get to wizard modes, what "kills" mean and what the tools mean. There are a thousand posts in this thread alone to go through, but hoping someone can point me in the right direction.
Thx

Quoted from bigdaddy07:

What are the must have mods for TWD? Right now I'm thinking shaker motor, bicycle girl light, mirror blades, and crossbow mod to start with.

Quoted from sublime90803:

Does anyone have a pic of the premium model they could share. I've seen the LE in real life and the pro of course, but the premium eludes me. I've seen the stock Stern photo, but I'd like to see what it looks like "in real life", particularly the cabinet and backglass. I'm hoping they make another run in January so I can pick one up. Thanks guys!

Quoted from sublime90803:

Thanks man. Is the cabinet a dull green on the sides? Looks spooky. I like it a lot.

Quoted from e4mafia:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XNUs8fgLOB2hVBBzcsgxDvdEuBbGhRuwSJdkkeo1Xv4/edit here is the living community rule sheet. A lot of it is accurate and current, but I still need to do some checking up on latest release. Maybe I'll make it a vacation week project with the glass off.
I have some new mods I got for Christmas to install anyways.

Quoted from NPO:

Is it just me, or does it seem like the Prison magnet throws the ball SDTM very consistently on the new 1.56 code? I had it happen 3-4 times in a row. The only way I could save it was to nudge as soon as the magnet let it go, and it still was very very close to SDTM.

Quoted from Lermods:

i would avoid the red tremor, too much vibration.

Quoted from Lermods:

there is way too much vibration and red tremor is more of a buzz rather than a rumble. If it is a matter of taste, it's not for me and if someone wants to buy my red tremors (I have 2), PM me. I have the rev B in my IM and had one in my XM and I liked them a lot better. I have adjusted the tremors so that they are fine, but just not happy with the buzz feel.

Quoted from Lermods:

The pro doesn't have color changers? I also can't change the inserts on my premium, it's all light boards.

Quoted from gawcol:

I strongly advise everyone to put a mylar on the prison doors.
Also my well walker's belt decal was broken and I got him a new inox belt
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Quoted from NPO:

It's due to the metal ring body of the pop bumper coming down, and it is too close to a deflection pole, so the ring is getting ever so slightly shaved each time a particular pop bumper goes down. You can tell in the picture as the rubber on the deflection post is "stained silver" from the shaving dust. If you look REALLY closely, you can see the "grooved" area in the metal ring of the affected pop bumper. The ring is coming down on the spearhead of the deflection post.
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Solution is to shave the metal body down a tiny bit to help it miss the deflection post. Easiest way is with a dremel at a LOOOOOOOOOOOW speed and your playfield plenty covered with micro-fiber cloths. Once the ring is filed down to your liking, remove the cloths and use a magnet to "blot" your playfield of any remaining shavings. Remember.......blot....not set magnet down and rub your playfield with it like a cloth.

Quoted from NPO:

Had a pretty awesome ball 1 today. 256 million - man, what a rush!! Did it by going for bloodbath, then got Barn going, and remembered Bowen's video saying that if you have Bloodbath going then progress for Prison MB, and after that stackage occurred, WellWalker MB was not far behind, and I lit that up as well!
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Hit Horde for the first time, and man, that was really exciting! The music is awesome, and the "dread" as the mode happens was just fricking great!
Ended up with a score of 311 mil with 54 walkers killed. Crazy to know I didn't even get HALFWAY to Last Man Standing. Man, that is just insane. Some games are 1-2-3 house ball games, but then man, the stars align on one game, and "it happens" and TWD is just....man....great game. So great.
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Looking forward to having this one for a long, long time.

Quoted from gawcol:

Sorry but have to say this is not true,
it's just the little rubber on the deflection post that is painted grey from the factory and it's loosing it's paint when you play the game.
new games with zero gameplay have completely grey rubber at that spot... (i've seen a lots).
Once you play the rubber get less grey, because they loose all the paint and that area gets really dirty.
if you take that small rubber off, and you clean it,
it'll be black and there's never dirt in that area anymore...

Quoted from coasterguy:

pressing both flippers? Have I missed something?

Quoted from DeathHimself:

Just loosen the big nut and with a flat head turn the core a 1/4 of a turn

Quoted from kcZ:

LOL... I've had mine less than a week and I think it is time for it to move on.

Quoted from kcZ:

Same here... Met shaker is nuts, hardly tell there is a shaker in my TWD. Shaker so worth it for Met... TWD, I could take it or leave it at this point but I feel that it rounds out the Premium idea more to have a shaker, if that makes any sense.

Quoted from Radagast:

I couldn't agree more, especially for something like SDTM drains out of the pops. It's hard to imagine the designers wanting the game to function that way, and in any case, whatever is more fun more you is best! My Premium virtually never sends the ball DTM from either pops or prison, but that may be thanks to Gio at Pinball Refinery giving it some extra attention for me.

Quoted from kpg:

Interesting. Do you have a digital leveler you can verify your leveling pitch and side to side numbers???

Quoted from kpg:

Ok so I just re-leveled the machine again, for the 20th time in 2 weeks, and I think it made a big improvement. Beat my walkers killed record, along with putting down a few of my highest scores ever.. Consistently.
I think the steeper pitch helps with the side drains and also the drains from the poppers. I really think 6-9-7.0 is the pitch it needs to be, while leveling the side to side dead level. Thank you for this, I'm going to leave it like this for a while. This game is so sensitive to leveling it's crazy.

Quoted from iceman44:

Pinball refinery. No brainer, its one of the best mods i have on any of my pins.

Quoted from dluth:

Thanks for info on the code upgrade. I played again today and this time took a video of the reject from Woodbury. It kills me! So close to Horde again. Any ideas what can be done to rectify this? I assume bending the ball guide should help?
» YouTube video

Quoted from Ckykedworld:

Im thinking about making twd my next pin. Im just wondering what it would take to make a pro have options that a premium has. I like the cabinet colors/design of the pro and it is in my price range too. Would i regret not getting a premium?

Quoted from kpg:

Love the ColorDMD in my Premium !! Modernizes this game completely even though there's no color-specific ROM data yet for it. I have a Sigma cable connected to it so it changes colors interactively with the speakers which is cool. The animations really pop and honestly I couldn't tell what was happening very well until now. I won't own another pin without a ColorDMD.
Also in this shot you will see the translite letters "The Walking Dead" are not nearly as bright. Behind the glass is where I cut out printer paper to dim the lighting the shows through as it caused a lot of reflection and glare on the play field glass
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Quoted from iceman44:

I play the shit out this pin, about 95% of what I've played over the last year. I couldn't do this on any other pin, in fact, I haven't, but if you play it enough you are bound to have a few lucky games, that is the beauty of TWD. It routinely kicks my ass and then delivers a hugely satisfying victory every now and then!
I open Prison door with the first shots and then focus on getting a mode going. WW is afterthought, and stacking Prison with BB and a mode will lead to big points if you keep it going. Getting it again you should have LMS in sight.
The X shot is huge obviously, I got $780k on that one alone and 1 Billion on LMS.
And on that game I had my best Horde score by far. It was 418 mill but Elwin racked up 800 mill on that video.
Even a stiff like me or anybody can have a great game every now and then, you don't have to be Elwin. Hopefully this gives you average stiffs like me some hope!

Quoted from cooked71:

I disagree - for better or worse, the Premium has a number of features that all together add a lot to the gameplay:
* Bicycle Girl
* Crossbow (I actually like the crossbow, not sure why everyone is so negative on it)
* Well walker magnet (not a huge deal, but definitely makes the shot more risky and ads another random element)
* Walker Bombs
Nothing wrong with the Pro, but the Premium as a whole package is so much more.

Quoted from cooked71:

When I see pictures of TWD on Pinside, I cant wait to get home and play. No other game has that effect on me.
Every time I play it, Im fighting it - like I'm in the Walking Dead world.
It's brutal, but in a good, one more game way. Like you lose the ball and you think 'Yeh, I deserved that, but F**k you. Next time youre going down."

Quoted from markmon:

Not way. Horde is a never ending flow of zombie kills with massive add-a-balls. You'd likely get lms right after horde often with this change. It's not a coding slip up. It's carefully thought out to be as it is.

Quoted from kpg:

I think I finally did it. I wanted to wait to post this until I could definitively say I came up with a solution for the crappy drains out of the poppers. I thought the slingshot rubber trick did it, but nope, it was still a problem.
To follow this fix, please level the machine to 6.9-7 pitch, and using a bubble level sitting right after the slingshots make sure the play field is perfectly level side to side.
1) Put a standard size non-silicone flipper rubber on the metal rails
2) remove black post rubber from Arena ramp
3) put larger rubber shown, 5/16 on post - all the way down (I show a white rubber, I've since ordered a black one). I did put a smaller rubber on top since the 5/16 one was a bit loose, this made it sit still
Enjoy 90% less drains out of the poppers !!!!

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Quoted from DavidPinballWizz:

Suggestions for software would be:
- woodburry machine determined skill shot and not selectable by player
- make horde itself ( a lot) harder and when you drain all balls, keep shooting instead of moving to the next ball in play (like you would have been bit) --> now i find myself avoiding horde because it is too easy, you can keep it going for too long.
Also because I will loose the ball eventually during Horde and I cannot advance my walker kills towards LMS.
Serious question, how many of you have had Horde ended because you were too slow shooting the shots and got bit?

Quoted from DeathHimself:

I was just going to post on this. I just installed mine and removed the Stern felt strip because I was getting a lot of airballs from the flap not meeting the playfield due to the foam. Now with Cliffy installed I seem to be getting a lot of denied ramp shots, maybe because of the slop in the ramp itself rocking side to side. I wish Stern drilled these properly as the hole on the left seems so much wider then the hole on the right where the axle goes through.

Quoted from DeathHimself:

Awesome, does it matter which side to put the rubber on? It seems on my machine looking at the ramp the right side is tighter and the left side has a lot of play, which would mean removing ramps to get to that axle.

Quoted from tp:

El wire fence kit.....what color ? Opinions please. Also pin blades to go with this. Thinking the ones with the fence ? also apocalypse mod can't seem to find? Thanks.

Quoted from kpg:

I know we all have our opinions, but I don't think if u saw it in person u would think it looks like crap. It's not very bright neon at all, it's very dim compared to the rest of the game and makes it feel as if the play field sits inside the prison's barb wire fence. Lots of compliments on it by friends and family. But obviously it's your choice and taste.

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Quoted from pauloz:

The downside of that for me is that sometimes the WW stays back and hits don't register.

Quoted from Shapeshifter:

Setting my premium up and also noticed bicycle girl ramp does not sit flush? Any suggestions? Just have factory mylar underneath.

Quoted from Concretehardt:

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

Curious will the BG ramp dimple the cliffy without a little piece of foam on it?

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Quoted from Shapeshifter:

Thanks - I have no idea if light was on but there are 5 or so yellow inserts to shoot so now guessing, it works as it should do. Game is so fast it is all a bit of a blur!
One aspect that is annoying is that ball sticks on well walker magnet and then drops STDM! I can't think of a solution yet.

Quoted from kpg:

Just played a dozen games or so of TWD.. One of those times where nothing could come together and I walk away frustrated and wondering why I keep coming back to the thing. I am starting to think I don't play it because it's fun, but because it pisses me off and I want to conquer it. It's like torturing myself. I just can't explain why this game was made this way. The down the middles are so much more frequent than any pin I've ever played.
I decided to check out my audits. How do these compare to yours? This seems WAY too center drain happy to me, but maybe these are normal numbers for this pin?
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Quoted from kpg:

Interesting - you could definitely use some outlane adjustments. Close them up and put bigger rubbers on inner post/metal rail on the outlane. That helped a little, but my post extenders will be much better. I also have star posts on my outlanes too which didn't help much. If you can tighten that up, and you don't have too many bad SDTM's already- you might be able to really balance it out well !

Quoted from Lethal_Inc:

Wow, all the posts above seems like such a chore to get this game dialed in. Doesn't sound like fun to me. I enjoy me some TWD on location but with all the work people are doing on their home machines just to get some SDTM issues fixed seems wrong.

Quoted from kpg:

Heres a video on how it looks, and the various options he can program for you- mine works like the first example in the video, I love it! Should have came this way from the factory:
» YouTube video

Quoted from IdahoRealtor:

Regarding the Premiums coming out of the factory now, does the BG ramp still bite into the playfield? Is the Cliffy still needed?

Quoted from NPO:

Well, I'm going to go ahead and say it here first: I am considering selling my TWD Pro.
That being said, this game will be coming with a couple mods - Mezelmods fishtank lighting (note: NOT an actual fishtank), Zombie Apocalypse mod (biohazard flasher emblem that goes underneath the bicycle girl ramp), Woodbury sign tied into the insert so it flashes when it is time to hit the Woodbury shot.
Game has 329 plays on it.
Anyone is interested, go ahead and PM me. I'll more than likely be putting up a thread soon with pictures and videos as I usually do.
Search my name here in the thread to get some pictures and things I have done to my particular TWD Pro (Go to top of page --> "Find Posts in this Topic" --> put my name in --> BOOM, you found my posts and pictures).

Quoted from NPO:

Very good guys (:.
I pick it up NIB this weekend.
My Pro is already sold.
Ready for my upgrade!!!!! Woooooo!

Quoted from NPO:

So I played my Prem today finally. I have the bubble on the level resting dead between the two lines, and this seems WAY faster than the Pro. Where does everyone else have their level set? I noticed an air ball or two if the ball doesn't hit the BG ramp nearly perfectly.
GREAT game so far. We'll worth the upgrade. I was a fool to settle. The light show is spectacular. ...more to talk about soon.

Quoted from rai:

Great, thanks.
I played the premium today, was a blast. Don't really understand the rules fully. But only thing I didn't like was the left ramp occasionally the ball would fly off the ramp. Not sure if this is a common problem for the premium or if it also happens on the pro?
Came home, deciding if I want to keep my STLE or let it go. One thing I notice the ST is more predictable when you miss a shot, TWD has more deadly miss shots = drain shots.

Quoted from rai:

Was playing BigD's game, the plung would occasionally hit the lower pop bumper (not travel up to the roll over lanes) is this normal?
Two things I really like about TWD.
1) rules are very interesting
2) layout was interesting with the plung shot and rollover lane as well as the upper right of the PF being separate from the rest of the PF.

Quoted from vicjw66:

Upon closer inspection I noticed that they forgot to install the outlane posts. Makes the game a little bit harder. Bit of a rats nest with the wiring. I wish this was a spike game.

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Quoted from smassa:

Oh ya that had to be it. He must have a magic button on the side to keep the ball from center drains too!!

Quoted from Lermods:

Here's how my ramp sits. Sorry you are having trouble. When you work with small parts, it's good to lay down a rag or fill nearby holes in case you drop things, which inevitably happens. Sometimes it's good to walk away for a few hrs and take a break, clear your head and rethink things. If your ramp is too far right, sounds like the part that lifts the ramp is to rigid and doesn't have play. My ramp slides back and forth with a few mm of play.

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Quoted from NPO:

When attempting to re-assemble, I have not tried to add the rubber ring. I just want the game back together and working at this point. I loathe $6000+ paperweights.
So, I took all the underneath the playfiled ancoring hexnuts off both metal guidelanes, and I was able to get the 4 holes to line up fairly easily at that point, but then the flap ramp hangs in the air with enough room to get my pinkie finger in without any effort.
20160305_073738_(resized).jpg
Soon as I take the pivot rod back out of one of the four holes, ramp comes right back down as it should...
Dude, if any of your e-clips pop out, heaven help you.

Quoted from NPO:

So, I'm headed to Louisville for the Arcade Expo. Trent will be there, and I can talk to him about this. I don't know what can be done, but with 15 total plays on this game since opening the box, this is total crap (read: not his fault, just expressing how I feel in a bit of a raw moment).
Short of drilling a new hole through the metal guidelane walls, I am out of tricks. I shoulnd't have to make permanent modifications to this game; this should go back together smoothly, and for whatever reason, it is not.
So, Trent and I will talk it over. Maybe something can be worked out. Like I said, 15 total plays since unboxing it last Saturday. There's got to be a solution, and I'm sure we'll figure this out.
I'll keep everyone informed on how things go. Thanks for listening to me rant.
Can someone take for me a good picture of the double black posts for the "air ball deflection" plate at the BG ramp flap entrance. Everytime I go to put that area back together, there is a noticeable gap between the two black posts when tightening everything down, and that does not seem right to me.
Thanks!

Quoted from sparechange1974:

Noticed something in your picture(post 2038), but its hard to tell from my perspective. I was experiencing a lot of air balls coming from the upper right side of the ramp. This was as a result of a lip that was formed, especially when it was off to the right. When the pinball hit the upper right side it would pop off the lip and ... Another pinsider suggested to place a washer under the upper part of ramp on right side. Well, it worked and there is no more lip for the pinball to hit and its pretty smooth now. Not sure if you're experiencing, but saw the lip so I though I would mention

Quoted from NPO:

Dude, once I get home from Louisville I will adjust this right away. If you nailed it, I will buy you two drinks the first we meet. One for a thank you, and the other so the first one doesn't get lonely. Thank you very much.
And thank you everyone for coming to my aid and helping me. Seriously, you all have come running with help, and I am very grateful for everyone's contributions. I'll be donating to pinside when I get home from louisville, because this kind of help and friendship is what it is all about.
When i get home tomorrow, I'll follow up with everyone, and let you all know how it goes. Take care!

Quoted from Shapeshifter:

Oh boy, I feel your pain. Very frustrating indeed.
I added the cliffy under the BG ramp today. Hit a good ramp shot and very smooth.
But miss it a bit to the right and still big air balls.
And I have this bit above my ramp and I don't see this on other games......black wire ...... is this a mod of some kind?

IMG_9432.JPGIMG_9431.JPG

Quoted from NPO:

Well, as promised I am reporting back after fixing the BG ramp as instructed per BigD1979, and I am 100% happy to say that it works EXACTLY as it should !!! My game is all better again, and I want to thank everyone for helping me, and to BigD1979 for having such great eagle eyes on catching that detail. As promised, donation made today!
I did record a video explaining everything, and I showed adding the 7/32" donut rubber to the pivot bolt that helps reduce the slack in the bicycle girl ramp as well as how flush my ramp flap is now that I have removed the foam pads underneath.
I need some pictures of the plastic underneath the BG ramps, guys. All of that area is still in pieces, and I plan to put it back together this Friday night, but there's a good bit to do there, and I need some help if some of you wouldn't mind snapping of photos of the plastics and how they go together underneath the BG ramps. Please <3.
Thanks again for everyone's help. This is what Pinside is all about.
Video for anyone who is interested. Sorry it is in 360p. Don't know why. I uploaded it directly from my Galaxy S5...
» YouTube video

Quoted from aejsm:

I'm having a problem with my prison mode starting by itself.
When the pop-bumpers are working they start the prison mode. I have checked all the connections under the playfield and everything looks ok.
I have even had prison mode start as soon as I hit the start button.
Is it the vibrations from the machine? The shaker doesn't set it off though. Can anyone help
Thanks

Quoted from aejsm:

The doors are just opening and the first prison mode is starting. No mb,yet.

Quoted from charles4400:

Any inside scoop as to whether TWD is getting the colordmd treatment this year? It really needs one!

Quoted from kpg:

Yep! Just put the .BIN file on a USB stick and flash it same way as any other update.
I'd say this is a much bigger change than Cleland's version, it makes the whole machine feel different because of the music changes- especially if you have a sub hooked up to it.
The Cleland version is cool if you want the machine to sound like a Walking Dead soundboard with random sound clips shooting off all the time, especially Hershal- his "step outside" call out is used a lot in that version and wore on me quickly. The SKB version is a perfect combination of show and Stern callouts that balances well, I've just taken it a step further.

Quoted from billsfanmd:

Still Learning rules. When you reach terminus there are 4 diff point values in dmd. How do you score them. Plunge ball a certain time ?

Quoted from Who-Dey:

I just got a WD Pro and I absolutely love it! One quick question for you guys, how steep do you have you have your playfield angle set at? Mine is at about 6.6 degrees, is that about right or do I need to go a little steeper you think?

Quoted from Who-Dey:

Im guessing evryone is in the 6.5-7.0 range, but I was hoping to hear a few more responses from other people. Come on guys, tell us what you have your playfield angle set at! I know its amazing how much just a couple degrees can change the gameplay of a machine. It can mean the difference between being a boring game or a kick azz game thats a blast to play.

Quoted from TKDalumni:

Any fix for blowing the f7 fuse?

Quoted from Nifti:

So my NIB TWD Premium has the right outlane drain and right outline switches mixed up, so if you make the left ramp within the ball save time you get two ball multiball, of course no actual goal or jackpots. I'm undecided if I wanna fix this, at first I thought it was a cool feature to offset the large outlane drains, but as I get better at this game I'm finding it easier to hit the left ramp straight away.
Oh and the barn magnet fuse has blown also unsure if I wanna fix that too as it mostly went SDTM, but was getting good at the both flippers when the axe hit the zombie to shoot it off in another direction.
I usually like to keep things standard, your thoughts?

Quoted from T7:

Replace the 4A magnet fuse with a 5A - going up 1 amp for the magnets isn't too risky. If anything shorts, it will blow immediately.

Quoted from hoby1:

Decided premium on Tuesday ..... Picked up a NIB on Wednesday. Right now in the process of of tweeking in . Then going to do some lighting mods to BG walker and Well walker and finally shop out . pro translite and add sound ROM. So far had to have Chaz at Stern send me one color changing LED board ( no red or pinks ). SOOOOOOOOOO glad I went premium on this game!!!!! I do love the pro and would have been very satisfied. But the way I figured till I add fishtank, metal apron, colored Leds in GI and Inserts,latch, lockdown and work rails its added 500 to the price making only a 1200 dollar difference....... worth every penny now that I have. This FKN game is outstanding.

Quoted from stoptap:

Agree that Woodbury needs work. Maybe some extra awards for the rollovers would help. 5x multiplier or Extra Ball ?