A new version of the alternate is available, adding more content to the game. Still having fun. Pm if interested.

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I am posting this in the Maiden forum so I orobably know the answer. If I had choice between a Maiden Prem or a Godzilla Prem (both nib) which would you get?

Pending one can still get Maiden Prem nib. I do not know if Stern will do another run.

I have all 4 Elwin Pros and would find it really hard to choose one to go because they are all amazing. I know this is a dumb answer, but either option is a win in terms of longevity, rule complexity, and shot satisfaction.

Real tough, Godzilla has a ton going on but I’m not there - just yet.
Recently gravitated to more straightforward games so a GZ or AIQ hold less appeal at the moment.
I’m in the minority, but Maiden is still all around lights out.

I've had JP (for a short while), Avengers and IMDN. The only one I still have (or want) is Maiden - they are all amazing games, they really are, but Maiden for me is still clearly the best. What makes this even more telling is that its the only one I didn't buy for the theme - I hired it for a month and ordered one immediately afterwards. The gameplay, rules and layout are *this* close to perfect.

I would also say that if I have people over, this will usually be the last machine people try - but by the end of the night it's the game most people want to play.

I haven't played Godzilla - i'm actually trying not to because I'm sure I will want to buy one and I have too many other machines coming. But - I am so happy to own IMDN, and I truly think its one of the all time greats.

Elwins are awesome!

I like when pins have deep rules without getting ridiculously complicated to memorize like Aiq though.

I think the best Elwin is JP, it just has more shots than any other Elwin and the best code and the best flow of them all.
Theme hurts it otherwise it would be an all time #1.

Godzilla is good, but the code isnt there yet. feels a bit repetitive, but have not played the latest codes so it might be better…

Avengers, good shots with overly complicated code that feels like math home work, terrible animations and awful callouts.
Good flow and some nice shots.

Had it and enjoy it for a bit but sold it very quickly. To me it is Elwin’s worst.

To me Maiden is the 2nd best Elwin and could have been #1 if it had deeper code.
Maiden is the easiest Elwin to master imho.

Maiden is nice because it is quite approachable, easy to understand and once it gets flowing it is just buttery smooth and that makes it fun. I do wish it had more shots and ramps and slightly deeper code and more to do. The game is quite bare and has that flat old time feel but with modern code. Plays fast and flows well.
It is certainly a good game.

Jp would make me a better player, great code and great flow however the shots are way more difficult than in any of the other Elwins. Super technical.
This pin isnt approachable at all and requires lots of time to master.

If I had to pick only 1 Elwin it would be JP.

My 2 cents

I have both. I'd hate to get rid of either. It's too close to call as to which one is better when both are great.

For me Maiden has the best call outs, animations (attitude). And is most approachable.

Agree with the above. I’ve owned all 4 Elwins and the only 2 left are GZ and IMDN. IMDN is never leaving, and I’m leaning that way with GZ too. AIQ had no soul and JP was too difficult and repetitive (felt like I was doing the same thing in the same order every single game).

From an amateur perspective:

IMDN - hardest. Best "feel" of a game with the music + call-out integrations. I find 1/2 the shots a pain to hit, but the banter helps keeping coming back for more. Don't care much for the lady's quips, but Satan's is on point

AIQ - funnest to shoot. A couple of hard shots (CM 360 shot and Hawkeye mini loop), but you're not forced to rely on it. So many approaches to help progress/compete the modes. Wish the AV assets would match the shooting masterpiece.

GZ - best balance. First few days of playing I didn't care much for the gameplay... And kept draining super easy on the outlanes. Then more and more clicked, along with all those awesome updates to the code, where it's becoming my favorite of the three. Couple of difficult shots, but not married to them throughout the game like IMDN. Lots of other options to shoot at.

Haven't played JP enough. Only game in town is loud enough where we can't take in any of the AV assets. Feels easier than IMDN, but harder than AIQ. Do have one on order. Kinda late on the preorder so let's hope they continue making them next year (still need to save money anyway)

Does anyone here have cliffy's on their maiden? I put some on last week and the in lane protectors keep lifting a little. It's not a big deal but it interferes with shatz shots a bit. Wonder what I can do to get them to sit right.

I do.. did you remove the covering from the tape on the back? I have no issues with mine

These are good on pins that drop the balls directly on the switch. I think you don't need them on IMdn, balls drop above the switch on the mylar. I would recommend shooter lane and outhole Cliffy on that pin.

I have the rest of the kit installed but not the switch protectors. They cover a ton of beautiful art and as Trek said they really aren't needed on maiden's layout. Everything else the kit covers is unnoticeable and pretty much guaranteed to wear eventually without protection.

Thanks, I wondered about how useful they would be without the ball dropping right on the switch but figured they might help anyways.

I'll take them off if they keep bothering me.

Just picked this up from Gritty still the best pin Ive ever played and now the most expensive one I own.

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Hey guys, I just got my Iron Maiden premium last month and I think I have a sarcophagus switch issue. Every game where I lock a ball in the sarcophagus, it has to do a ball search after every game before I can start a new one. I assume this isn't normal. Has anyone had this issue?

There is also a certain mode/multiball where, if I lose all but one ball, my flipper die as if I've drained all of them. Is there a mode where this is normal or could this be related to the above sarcophagus issue? Thanks in advance!

Check the switch in the sarcophagus, sounds like it is not registering the ball. At the end of a game my premium will dump any ball still in the sarcophagus and fire it back up from the underworld to drain down to the trough. A lot of people have changed out the stock switch for the rollover switch from pinballlife.

Great advice, thank you! Is this the switch? https://www.pinballlife.com/rollover-switch-with-mounting-bracket.html

Anyone use pinwoofer kit for IMDN?
Looking to upgrade sound - have used flipper fidelity in past too, could use some ideas. Thx!

Yep, I have - Pinwoofer plus Kicker 5.25" in the backbox and Kicker Sub in the cabinet. Sounds amazing!

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No, this (link attached below) is the micro roller ball switch you need that is exchanged for the current standard micro switches in the trough of the sarcophagus mech.

I used to have the Premium, but now have the Pro. When I did have the Premium, I also exchanged for these micro roller ball switches and all the issues I was experiencing went away after making this change out. I believe there are 2 switches in the sarcophagus mech trough, so you'll need two of these. It's a mini PIA to loosen the mech under the pf and make this change out, but very much doable.

The game was originally designed to have these roller ball switches in the sarcophagus mech, but at the time of production, Stern changed to standard micro switches for some reason.

When these switches are not registering well in the sarcophagus mech, all kinds of funky things can happen during gameplay that are very annoying. This has been reported over the years both in this thread as well as in the "Iron Maiden Issues" thread, which can also be referenced.

https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/180-5119-02

Hope this helps.

Great write up by Chipscott. Here is the PBlife equivalent as well. Both would work, PBlife is slightly cheaper.

https://www.pinballlife.com/williamsbally-ball-detect-blade-with-roller-sub-microswitch.html

How is everyone’s auto-plunge around the orbit today?

Good.
Goood

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Thanks for asking! hah...gave up for now. went through the whole list of stuff mentioned in the posts and things worked amazingly...for an hour or two. Then magically the issue came back. So weird having it "resolved" for such a short period of time. Not going to worry about it till later in April or something. Requested some lane protectors (well the set really) from Cliffy. Once I get those in will check for adjustments.

Cleaning and waxing resolved my issue.

However, before I did that
I added a shooter lane protector (the $15 clear plastic ones) and that had also fixed the problem before I got around to doing a good clean and wax.

https://mezelmods.com/products/pinball-shooter-lane-protector?_pos=1&_sid=e588f4c53&_ss=r&variant=18133347532897

In case you haven’t tried those 2 options yet.
Worth a shot.

I should also be getting my Cliffy’s soon.
Moving up the list.

clean/wax i did do. The lane protector was something I was looking at (the clear plastic) but since I was getting the metal protectors from Cliffy for a couple of games, will see if that does it. Just weird it being a drastic change to where it worked flawlessly for such a short time.

lol
all orbits working ok here!

I just went back to the arcade where I originally played this game to see how it felt compared to mine and to see if I could put up a high score. I was horrified by how dirty and unmaintained it was. I almost went to management to ask if I could come in and clean the poor thing.

I also didn't manage a high score which sucks, only got 100 million for my best game.

Another annoying thing was that I managed to get the super skill shot ego award, something I don't even have on my own machine. I think it's because the plunger spring they have is way softer so the ability to hit the inner orbit is easier. I have the orange spring on my machine and I think it takes a lot more finesse to hit since the maximum power is much more than you need to hit the skill shot.

I was also nailing loops like crazy, I think because it is totally unwaxed so the ball is a lot slower.
Also had to throw my jacket over the backglass because they don't have the dimmer setting on, it was brutal you couldn't even see the upper left flipper due to the glare.

They have ghostbusters too which I used to think was super hard but now playing a game with two inlanes feels like it's cheating compared to Maiden's brutal outlanes.

Been 100% for ages since I took a couple of swipes w/a small file to the ball guide end.

Same for me. About 1000 games and 100% autoplunge accuracy after removing the minimal edge on the end of the guide.
Need to adjust the Mummy captive ball though…

You will need no extra wires.

When you look underneath the playfield at the sarcophagus mech, and once the sarcophagus mech is loosened from the underside of the playfield such that you can see and access the current switches in there (mech is held onto the playfield with some screws, and once the screws are removed, the sarcophagus mech will fall away from the playfield a bit such that you can work on the mech/switches), you will then be able to adequately see the two micro switches that are currently in place there at the sarcophagus mech trough.

My recommendation is to grab your camera and take a couple of nice pictures of these switches in place and their associated wires (for reference when reassembling).

A basic inexpensive soldering iron It's all you need for most applications in pinball repair, and can be picked up at your local hardware store.
If you've never soldered before, there are some nice YouTube tutorials out there, and you can practice a time or two on some inconsequential metal/wires that may be laying around in your garage or workshop first to get the hang of it.

With the soldering iron hot, you touch the soldered ends of the wires as they meet the prongs of the current switches, which loosens the solder and lets the wire release.

Once you've released the wires to the two current switches, you remove the current switches and replace them with the new micro rollerball switches, oriented in the same position as the ones you removed.

It is usually my preference to lightly "tin" the metal prongs of the new switch before installing them, which is a way of saying to lightly put some solder on those prongs first before reinstalling (which will aid a bit in reattaching the wire...basically giving a little bit more solder to work with. This will also be discussed in the tutorial videos that you will find).

The number of prongs is the same for both switches. So, once the new switches are in place, you just reattach the wires (which will likely already have a small glob of solder from its previous attachment at their ends) to the prongs of the new switch. You do this by holding the wire directly on the appropriate switch prong and then briefly touching the solder iron to the complex of wire/prong/solder to make the connection (you will see the solder liquefy with the heat of the soldering gun, and then once you see that, while holding your wire in place, remove the soldering gun and within a second or two the solder then hardens and you will find the wire nicely attached to the prong). Your wiring is now done.

Resecure the sarcophagus mech to the underside of the playfield and voila, your done and ready to play.

Maiden is one of my favorite games. Wondering if ANYBODY has started super wizard mode Run to the Hills or has seen it achieved in person (watching a stream does not count) My guess is no. I think it is nearly an impossible task, like starting the super wizard mode in Iron Man that has been proven on paper to be impossible.

If it is impossible to get to the wizard mode in Maiden, it should be recognized. Also I’d like to see the game screen add a spot to always reflect # soul shards collected. Any hope to get this change request to Stern and have it done? I hated learning one additional shard is possible on the prem/le models, but I have a pro. Dang. Dang. Dang. If I ever connected this game on-line, I think extra shard is available for pro users. That would be interesting to verify.
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Please dont practice on your pinball.
Use anything electronic, cheap, lying around and practice there.
Also, do not buy a cheap soldering iron unless you like to suffer and produce mediocre joints.
A good tip and a good iron makes the job 100% easy and produce better joints. Bettee joint=Less resistance, less resistance, more reliability, etc.

Watch the channel “solder fix” on you tube.

Good luck

Mine seemed to be down to about 95% yesterday from the usual >99% but I was already planning on replacing all the rubbers this weekend anyway so I'll live with it until then.

Get something like this to practice on (it will give you some PWB experience if needed later). Or just grab a couple of wires and have at it. Don't get the lead free solder - melts at a higher temp, get it w/lead (i.e. 60/40) and rosin that is electronics safe.

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I have not done it personally, but I've gotten to 8 tomb treasures a number of times and I know what I failed at to miss my opportunity each time -- it isn't always the same problem for me. I know you said streams don't count, but Karl's stream on YouTube clearly shows it being done on an IM pro. It just requires a lot of execution, and some amount of planning.

FWIW, I just got pinmonk flipper fans because I was sick of getting close to RTTH and dealing the flippers getting a lot weaker. It got noticeable usually before starting Number of the Beast for me, and unless you have all your level 2 Eddie cards already, failing the beast is a big deal in terms of your RTTH chances. Hopefully this means I will successfully get to RTTH soon, but we will see

To your question about there being more shards available on the premium, I don't believe that is true (even with insider connected granting Can I Play With Madness access for pros). You can't get a soul shard or tomb treasure from Can I Play With Madness. What the rulesheet means is that it replaces one of the Tomb Treasure awards (3rd one). As far as I can tell, it doesn't actually help your RTTH chances in any way. (Unless you turn the extra ball from it on, but it is factory default off I think)

You can also tell both which soul shards you have and also how many tomb treasures you've collected from the status report menu when you hold your flipper up.

Also, it is an important detail that you can collect a soul shard from a level 3 mystery award, so all is not lost if you've played Rime of the Ancient Mariner for the 2nd time and failed yet again on those stupid starboard shots!

Edit: fixed typo pro->premium

Is it possible to swap the Pro's center ramp with a Premium or LE's center ramp? I really like the look of the pharaoh eddie cut out.
If so, is there a place to get one other than trying to swap with someone who wants to downgrade their ramp?

Found this with a quick search:

https://www.stern-spareparts.de/en/iron-maiden-le-center-ramp-535-1817-03_39951_11670

Yeah I saw that, but I was wanting to make sure it fit before dropping the money on it. Other than the cut out, they appear to be exactly the same.
Also hoping to find it on this side of the pond. cheers!

I believe they are identical except for the laser cut designs. Perhaps look up the part number in the premium manual and see if a distributor can order you one.

You are able to hold a flipper up to see status screen ? Say what, which one? Since when?

I know about the end of ball bonus screen and getting to see shard count but during game play, I’ve never seen it.

Pretty much all if not all sterns offer this status view function and have for quite some time.

Yes. I did it on mine.
The three holes are identical and there's no difference between the pro and premium center ramp with the exception of the cutout (arrows vs. Pharaoh cutout).

Here's an example:

(And if you haven't watched this whole video before, I'd definitely recommend it if you want to see how someone can get to Run to the Hills)

Not to be pedantic, but it's worth mentioning that you can only collect a single soul shard from a L3 Mystery award *after* you play Two Minutes To Midnight. If you miss on two of the mode soul shards you'll need to get one of them on the next round and then one can be available as the L3 award. Separately, it can also award a "random" L2 card so if you have 3 of the Level 2 cards and fail NotB you can spam the drops and try to get that 4th card to hop back into it.

Good point. And I completely missed that a random L2 card could be a mystery award! That's huge considering tomb treasure #9 also spots a random L2 card. Time to practice sweeping the drops