Post your stream link or video link after the stream, would like to watch.

Ah. Thanks for the clarification.

How do you repair something you don't have a schematic for? Sure, you can always hold most PCBs up to a bright enough light and visually see where the traces go but man.... at any rate....it doesn't matter if Ben (or whoever) doesn't want to make them public or not....the community will get it figured out and then they'll be out there regardless.

Once I get my game, if nothing's been released, I might try to put together a basic switch/coils/lamps guide.

Wednesday 8pm ct
https://www.twitch.tv/pridepinball

Spooky has not put out any electrical information for R&M and there is also none for UM/H. I was showing how they don’t need a schematic drawing, and gave an example that could be done in a spreadsheet instead of an engineering drawing. At least for the switches/coils/lights/wiring. The board itself might be a different task.

That’s a whole different level because I suspect it stems back to the Pinheck board build files being available online. Homepin took them and cloned the board and used it in Thunderbirds. The schematic for the new board can be available while being legally protected (against Homepin part 2).

Why doesn't everyone explain game rules like you do lol. can't wait for mine, a complicated looking game with a set of rules a newbie can follow awesome...

Most problems in the field are blown components, which are easy enough to spot with the naked eye. It's not too difficult to troubleshoot other problems if you're familiar with board repair, and have a decent understanding of the system. If it's something really wonky, like an intermittent serial data problem, there's a chance we can send it back to the manufacturer. Worst case, we can keep the board around for spare parts and send you a new one.

Started on the pinout today. It's just going to be a spreadsheet with connector name, pin number, pin name / function, what mech/device it runs to, and the color of the wire.

And yeah, schematics being available might be convenient, but I have been able to fix most problems without them.
I mean, even when we get Pinhecks sent back for repair, it's very rare that I'll actually reference the schematic. It's usually obvious with a couple quick tests what went wrong.

Nice.

Sold my reservation for $400 -- I'm donating $100 of that to Project Pinball, my employer matches $100 -- and the pinsider who bought it offered to donate $400 to Project Pinball as well!!! I call that a win. Enjoy your game!

Hit the lit shots, to rack up points!

I have a question about the skill shot. If I move the red light to the center drop target (worth 1.5m I think) and then hit said drop target while the red light is still flashing, it should award the skill shot correct? What if more than one drop is hit? I have gone for the center drop, hit it and been given the "Skill Shot Missed" message. I tried going for a stand up target and was given a success message. Could someone confirm the skill shot behavior, please? Thanks!

You have to hit only the individual drop target for the 1.5 million points.

The ball lock to the right is worth way more than any points you'll get from the red shots. It's like an extra ball if you avoid releasing it.

Well, when I do, I am told "Skill Shot Missed".

I have the same issue.

Looks like a code bug that was introduced with the latest update. I'll make sure it's squashed in 1.07.

Awesome!

SST was the last game I sold. I still think is one of the best Sega games.

It is a great pin!

I’ve experienced the same behavior- hit the lit drop target, get skill shot failed. Pretty consistent.

The problem is, on mine I nail that shot, the drop shoots up for a second then releases. 9 out of 10 times. I don’t know of it’s a software bug or what but it’s not a consistent enough shot to bother with.

While on the subject, I wish the skill shot started at the drops and could be rotated to the stand ups. It’s slightly annoying to have to rotate it each time.

When I made that skill shot last night, it held the ball.

1 out of 10 times it holds.

So at Spooky are you guys releasing bug fixes incrementally with testing?

So you make Fix #1 . Add Unit Testing for it. Ensure that it passes testing.
Commit it to your Repo's branch.

You could branch all the Immediate need Fixes - and release those quickly.

Master Branch: Current Stable release
Upcoming Review Branch: Next upcoming releases - could be just code fixes.
Branch A: code fixes for existing framework <-- Example merged into master
Branch B: UI/UX improvements, potentially large impact on game, new features. ( Branch A gets Merged into the Skunkworks branch after fixes)

Then have an Alternate feature branch. Where your making big changes.. That way you can
make people happy with small feature changes and still work on your Major release independently.

Just curious how you guys work on your changes. Where I work on Phone Apps my small team
releases small changes every 3 weeks. And large changes every 2-3 months. Mobile app dev is
a bit unforgiving and we have Apple to appease.

Just curious I've been trying to get an understanding how the various groups of developers in the Pinball
Industry tackle issues. Do you guys leverage modern development workflows ?

That's a hardware issue. Probably flaky opto. Check connectors and wiggle each side in switch test.

Has anyone finished the Dada mode? It's my favorite mode in the game - but even though I've come close, I haven't beat him yet. After you beat him up a bit with the lit blue shots, all the shots turn green for a lock. Does this mean the mode ends with a multiball?

deleted

Pulled a fast one? I call bullsh*t. They clearly have said people should wait and buy. You can ALWAYS buy a game down the line by tapping the used market. If you don’t like a game that costs you $10K, and you bought before laying your own hands on it first, that’s on you, bro. If you buy a game before it’s code complete, that’s on you, too. Don’t blame Spooky.

Reminder of what a juggernaut this license is in Japan. The new film 'Shin Ultraman' is coming out in Japan in about a month, I'm hoping for a subtitle release before my game shows up.

Spooky, is it possible to create a flow diagram for UM like there is for HWN. Can't be that hard, they are basically the same rules.

HWN_rules_flowchart-1.pdf

All right all right all right all right. UM 168 landed last night and I had a chance to put a few games on yesterday and today. I can honestly state that I have absolutely no idea why so many have been whining and crying about their Ultraman game.

This game plays completely different from any spike 2 game from Stern, and different from any 90s BW game. It’s unique. And that’s why it’s great.

I’ve also been putting a lot of games on my Godzilla lately. Godzilla and UM are wildly different but they are both excellent.

UM: gorgeous. Beautiful. High quality toys and mechs. This is a high end puce of art. No point in modding this perfection. Game play is calculated and slower paced. Wide variety of shots and plenty of depth in current code. Very unique playfield layout with interesting challenges like climbing through the uppers. The left lifter does not feel delayed at all, the right lifter can seem like a short wait. Some Opportunities for flow and combo, but much calculated with some pacing and stop and go. This game takes longer to boot up than my Houdini (damn that’s long) and I usually just drink a glass of whine while waiting. It’s unlikely the 8 year old will achieve a great score or unlock much depth from random flipping.

GZ: one of sterns best game play titles. Very flowy. Lots of shot variety and an incredible amount of flow and combo opportunity. Fast paced. While Playfield art is great, Toys are all flat plastic and cannot even be put in the same division as UM. I have a very strong desire to mod this game to get more visual Interest and even $800 in mods still won’t get it close to UM. This game is not as stunning to look at. The depth of modes and gameplay is unparalleled. It’s possible the 8 year old can flip his way into a great score as well as a few multiball modes (actually confirmed with my 8 year old).

And guess what, if you follow the Godzilla club thread you’ve got a ton of people complaining about tweaks they’ve had to make to their ganes to make them playable too. This is not unique to spooky and/or UM.

Both games call me back for more.

Anyone that appreciates diversity and character in their pinball line up will appreciate UM. It brings something that no other game can bring. The French refer to it as that je ne sais quoi.

Can I say UM is better than GZ? No. But I also can’t say the opposite. I have an appreciation of both. I can, however, Understand how GZ appeals more to the masses - much like how a Starbucks mocha appeals to more of the masses than a pour over from your high end local cafe or chugging a few beers appeals to more than sipping a bourbon. And that’s the difference. But there’s no reason to cry and whine when you’ve got a pour over in your hand…or bourbon.

From the beginning it's been mostly flippers who couldn't make a quick buck and got burnt that were dogging both UM and HWN. I get that some people don't like upper playfields or want a fan layout that is easier to shoot but this is Spooky and that's not what they're known for. PridePinball streamed it last night and said they liked it better than Avengers.

I know Japan is not a big pinball market, but I do wonder how many of these machines were sold there. Surely a few made it out that way?

Spooky: any idea how many were sold by you directly or by your distros to Japan? I will guess: 6 machines ordered NIB for Japan.

Really only one super vocal flipper. It's fine if some buyers don't like the game.

There was a lot of that, just like there was with X-Men for Stern. There are many parallels that can be drawn to X-Men’s release for UM.

That said, many of us early game recipients were legit disappointed in the code and the subways were awfully slow (they seem to have slightly sped those up). This was my fourth NIB Spooky machine and the least far along code wise on release…with Spooky having an entirely new team on this release everyone’s anxiety was very understandably high. Not utilizing people like Eric and Scott had me really nervous, as those two are easily among the best in the industry at what they do. People pointed to Bowen because Spooky said he was helping and he wasn’t, but it was the non-involvement of both Eric and Scott that had me worried.

I had one of the first six machines off the line…though the game is good now, those first six months were rough. Hopefully the next release or two takes it from good to really good. The additional music will help tremendously. The pieces are in place for UM to be excellent by the end.

This young team at Spooky will have some more growing pains, but they have a bright future.

Options email came today! #189

Anyone else have this top post come out? I tried to screw it back in but it won’t fit snug. There is a bit of space and I just can’t get it to sit down any farther. Not sure if there was a nut or something under to hold in place. I emailed spooky first a few days ago but no response. Trying to ask around before pulling the top playfield off

349A7534-DA16-4C53-9BC0-E09571E74F4E (resized).jpeg

Did you try to put a piece of a toothpick in the hole?

To check the depth of the hole or to buff the space so that it fits tighter? I thought of doing the trick of toothpicks with a tiny bit of wood filler but had never done that one a playfield and was second guessing myself.

To make it fit tighter

Maybe it’s just me…but I can’t stop playing the new UM right now. And I’ve got both GZ and AIQ new to me in the last week as well. The game is great. There’s just something about having the second (Bemular) and third level (Jirahs) modes on top of the pigman modes (typical main field kaiju battles. And you’ve got baltan multi ball on top of that. If you’re telling me this version of the code is incomplete I’m like wwwhhhhhaat?

324DDD19-1361-42A2-B171-420DA23A2B10 (resized).jpeg

628CEB9B-81FE-4606-A993-7D5E8D8B01A6 (resized).jpeg

Your game room is simply incredible. Wow!!!

Great gameroom! I didn't notice the mirror on the end at first - it was the "second" Super Chexx that caught my eye. I have seen this trick before floor to ceiling, but clearly you don't need to do that to get the same effect!

Hah, I didn’t notice either. Looks like he has twice as many games. I should try a mirror... maybe I’d feel better about my collection.

I totally missed the mirror! Ha! Still, great game room…though not the size I thought it was.

Got some games in on the new code. Getting soooo much better. Light show, stacking, videos, music, sound effects.. nice work!