Just bought a JP LE should be here in a couple of days! Is there any specific posts I should look at for tweaking my machine?

I've owned a Guardians and there were a few issues with the drop target and right orbit that needed attention.

Anything like that on JP? Also any areas that have lots of dimpling that might require mylar or anything? I have the plastic protector set coming from Mezels, but no shooter lane protector as of yet was thinking I would just add some mylar to that.

Any help is much appreciated!

The Dinosaurs are taking over!

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I am sure this has been talked about...but I'm inept at finding the details on the forums . I thought that the T Rex was supposed to randomly throw the ball, not just set it on the wireform. Is there a setting that I'm missing?

Thanks for the help!

I'm in the same camp here...I can't listen to that fake Samuel L voice anymore! If anyone comes up with a nice set of callouts, please let me know.

Yes there’s a setting in the menu that toggles the throw on or off. I forget where it is in the menu though.

I’m having a bunch of people over Friday including tons and tons of little kids I’m freaking out because I don’t want any scratches to my machines. I was thinking of wrapping them all up in plastic . What would u guys do ? Just let loose and damage happens it happens ?

I had to adjust the height of my T-Rex bracket, but they may be setting them up differently now so you might not need to. Some have had issues with the raptor tail getting caught on the plastic behind it. Check the posts at the ramp entrances and the post protecting the upper flipper for tightness. I decreased flipper power settings in order for some shots to be more makable. I also adjusted the angle of the ball guide leading to the upper flipper to have the ball come off the guide and roll down closer to the face of the flipper, but again that was a personal preference type of adjustment. Doesn’t seem like there’s too much tinkering needed on this machine though, and I can’t think of any widespread issues to address. It’s been a blast to play and to own so far.

Give them a call if you can. There might be something funky going on with their email.

It depends on the Trex mode. I think the Trex rampage mode is the most violent. The Trex chase drops it more gently. When the Trex is activated, you hit the jeep to select between 3 or 4 different Trex modes. She responds differently in each of those modes.

First, make sure the menu setting allows it. After that, it depends on the T-rex mode. I think the T-rex rampage mode has the most violent throw. The T-rex chase drops it more gently. When the T-rex is activated, you hit the jeep to select between 3 or 4 different T-rex modes, and then hit the T-rex ramp to start that mode. She responds differently in each of those modes.

Just let them know the rules as far as not eating or drinking while playing etc. I wouldn’t worry to much about the machines getting scratched up. You may need to clean the glass afterwards though haha.

Woah... you let children play with your pins? That's risky
Seriously though, when I have kids that aren't used to such things over, I keep the door closed, and when everyone gets there, I make an announcement that I'm opening up the arcade. Then they all filter in and I can give them a quick talk about how you play and handle the machine (like not banging the glass or sliding things around the cabinet). I also keep all of the keys out of reach.

I watch them for a few minutes as they get started and make sure no one is holding any pens, anything sharp, etc... The machines are solid though. They can take some abuse... ike a 5 year old climbing on top of the glass and jumping on it, for example. Guess how I know.

Lol.. I let hundreds of little kids beat the living crap out of my pinball machines every weekend on location.. and you know what they are literally absolutely fine. Commercial machines and all. It’s a pinball machine, not a Ferrari California.

LSOG just emailed back....2 weeks is what Stern is telling them for the LED shooter rods.

My lit shooter rod shipped from Stern yesterday.

That is what it seemed like skimming everything I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything.

What did you lower the power to on your flippers? If you don't mind me asking always nice to have some fine tuned shots! haha

My rod was just shipped....now waiting on Box.

I went to 248 on the lower flippers and 243 on the upper. One other thing I remember. You might end up wanting to bend the gate behind the spinner a bit so it doesn’t stick out into the orbit quite as far. It’s a bit of a ball trap there.

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Shooter rod received and installed. It really looks nice!!!
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There is a literal "throw" option I have set to yes, but it doesn't throw the ball. If anyone knows the exact setting, let me know because I wasn't seeing anything else.

Yeah, I can vouch for that. As long as they aren't carrying Sharpies, you're probably fine.

Mine shooter rod and side armor shipped from Stern today too.

Try removing the glass and manually start a Trex mode. Then adjust the car so you start the other modes like Trex rampage. See how it responds in each mode.

A few of us are in this boat. Mine won't grab the ball (more than 1/50 times) even with the glass off, and a ball fed... I am still (3 weeks later) still awaiting any resolution. I contacted them less than 24 hrs after delivery and nothing yet. It seems to be a few of us with T-Rex's have defective magnets or similar... so I still patiently await. I'd contact your dealer and then Chaz @ Stern... patiently waiting! I even left a message for my distributor's service team and have still not heard back.

So I setup my new pin. T. rex head moving around (kinda loud) but mouth won’t open. I can manually open it. What am I missing?

At this point I would strongly recommend anyone without significant pinball experience or just general mechanical aptitude to avoid buying premiums/LEs. Most of the extras on these games require adjustments, tweaks, or flat-out homebrew re-engineering.

I'm not saying the extras aren't cool or worth it. I mean, I ordered a JP2 premium. But I can't think of a single pro that is more of a maintenance headache than its high-dollar counterparts.

I have mechanical aptitude but can’t figure why the mouth won’t open. If you manually lower the bottom jaw you should feel a spring like resistance right?

Yep…took me ~1 month to fully dial-in my IMDN Premium. Since this is a hobby for me, it was fun trying to diagnose/fix issues, however I still shake my head that we "pay up" for some modest mechs and they (i.e. Stern) can't design/build mechs that work. Based on 15 years of owning games, it just seems like the schedules don't allow for any iteration or quality assurance.

LE ordered

Even if you do have mechanical aptitude it's still nice to buy a game and not have to constantly tweak and adjust features to get them to work 100%. I was convinced on a JP2 Premium but then I played it a bunch at Expo and now I'm leaning toward's a Pro. Had a couple ball hang-ups on the up down bank and some TRex rejects. Plus having to worry about the long term reliability of that mech. Sometimes it's nice just to be able to play the game and not worry about that stuff. The gameplay really didn't seem that much different from the Pro either. I have no regrets going with a Pro on KME's other game. Other than change out the shooter spring I don't think I've ever had to make another adjustment or even take the glass off

I’ve had my machine for a week now and just saw the trex throw the ball the first time last night. It took me getting to rampage mode.

It hasn’t done it in any other mode as of yet, I haven’t got that deep in the game yet but wanted to share my experience.

So it seems the general consensus is there are problems with the trex mech. I really hope they get it figured out. My LE comes Saturday and I’m stoked. Would be a huge bummer if the main mech doesn’t work right and Stern tech support takes more than three weeks to even get back to me ugh.

Vocal minority will never be general consensus. Someone whos mech is working fine isn't going to post. That's a long list of LE owners already and only a few are having issues. Out of fifty games (atleast one trex mode per game) so far on my premium, I've only had a few rejects and wouldn't even consider them rejects. Just weak shots that activate the opto but not strong enough to make it to the magnet.

Good to know. Yes of course people with problems say more than those without any. It just is starting to seem like there are enough that’s it’s not just a random poor assembly or broken part. Hopefully that isn’t the case. I’ve had three Sterns already and three more coming Saturday. Up to this point I’ve been very happy with build quality.

I think they are working on mitigating the rejects.
I have seen multiple posts in this thread about how to adjust the mech properly. In addition it seems that lowering the right flipper default power in the last code update had also helped with rejects on my game.

Stern website sold out on Amber shooter rods. Will they do another run? Anywhere else I can get one?

So got a chance to dive in a bit more and troubleshoot. I hear a click of when I do a coil test to open mouth but no go. Thoughts?

You found one this late in the game? I’m surprised. I couldn’t find one last week.

Any chance there is a wire tie from shipping in there?

Still waiting for my shooter rod to ship and I ordered it early Saturday. Come on Stern how long does it take to chuck one of those into a box?

I looked and found nothing. If I hear a subtle click on coil test, maybe my jaw coil is working but something else is not? Should I call my distributor or Stern?

I was with you on IMDN, sold it because of all the issues.

IMHO, the last two Stern pins are a big upgrade in overall quality from IMDN.

I felt like i could pick up IMDN and spin it on my finger like a basketball.

Not a single issue for me on MunstersLE and JPLE, corner brackets, heavier sturdier build, etc. Very pleased.

I would echo this. Mine is not perfect, but it is palatable. I would say I am somewhere in the 50% range as it takes a nice clean shot on mine, but the code seems to handle it regardless of if the trex literally grabs the ball or not.

I absolutely agree that Stern should keep on it as it is a fun feature, but I wouldn’t shy away from the game based on the issues I have experienced.

Granted, these things are like snowflakes…so good luck .

That is helpful. I would love if it was correlated with rampage mode .

I’ll do some tests with the glass off ASAP. Thank you for letting me know!