PoTC or Bad Cats? They're both FUN... depends on what I'm drinking.

Harley Davidson or Moped? They're both FUN... depends on what I'm drinking.

Im a Vespa kinda guy, I like MG midgets and Triumph's too.

How much are you betting?

you are 100% wrong

How many did Australia get?

Let's just all agree of they don't or can't make more, it reflects on how dysfunctional they are as a company. You have people WANTING a product that, for whatever reason, you cannot make more of; doesn't this sound like something is wrong??

Common sense apparently is not so common. I agree! The game is feature rich and makes me wonder if expense to profit didnt exactly pan out. It also appears the game had a fair amount of mechanical issues out of the box and a crap clear coat job. If what I just said is true, they'd be a fool to run another batch honestly. I think they're in the mode of on to bigger and better things (except GNR) gack! Lol

Clearcoat job was fine (nice, actually). They just didn't let it cure long enough. It was still too soft on the layers underneath when they started bolting stuff to it.

Hate fueling speculation on something I know little about but I Wonder if the late in the game decision to opt for New playfields (no triple disk) propagated some of this issue and limited cure time? Seems like they have the playfields 6 months prior to line assembly (which they did) but this one I suspect threw them a curve.

That's why I'm fine with getting a half-price playfield I can let cure for a year or more myself. JJP isn't losing any money on these PF replacements since even at half retail price, there's a bit of a profit buffer built in, and it lets me control the cure time. I'm sure that will be fine when it comes time to swap it in.

I have a build date of Jan 19. Just got it 3 weeks ago and played it 5 times as my ship is getting fixed Thursday

With that being said did that help the curing or not? It was in climate controlled building for few months fully assembled so with bolts and such put on it in January it might not make a big difference...I don’t know

If it was built in Jan, stuff was bolted on when the playfield was still too soft, so you're likely in the same boat as everyone else. I wouldn't worry about it. Just throw some cliffies on it and play it, and buy the half price safety playfield you can let cure for a year or years until you use it and it will be plenty hard by then.

Wayne, what's up?
You dont want to sell more Pirate's?
You could unload a c-container easy.

Ive looked and thought about the numbers.
500 would sell easy, sold out in days.
Just the announcement alone would cause a stir.1000 would be my number if I was Jack.
How many WOZ YBR have sold? That would give you a good number.
I say go for 1000 Black Pearl Edition , no missing mechs. $10,500.

They are licensing with Disney - who could not possibly care less about some dumb pinball machines. Disney licensing requires that if you change ANYTHING related to the artwork, copyrighted names, etc, you have to go through the licensing review process again. So thats 6 months to a year delay. And we don't know the total sunk cost plus BOM for each game. They could absolutely only be making $500 on these things. And what if they make (I'm making this up obviously) $600 on Wonka, and expect to sell as many, or more. They do Wonka.

that said, I do think the demand seems to be higher now than the initial sales predicted. Only being able to do 1 game at a time does seem to hurt them a bit, as they can't let sales grow organically.

Why Do POTC when you have a couple of Thousand WW to build now
then 1-2 Games straight after.

And we cant have POTC out sell Dialed in now can we?

100 or so

Love more but will there be anymore?

Unless the replacement playfield is fully populated that is some of the worst advice ever for doing a full playfield swap on a JJP POTC is for only the most highly skilled pinhead

Normally I would say there is no doubt JJP would rerun Pirates based on their history with Woz and Hobbit. But this is different.

Disney cut ties with Johnny Depp from the POTC franchise earlier this year. If they are prohibiting Depp from appearing in future editions, JJP would have to create new art and software as Depp appears in both.

A new license might cost JJP too much now if any reference to Depp in future games is not allowed.

If that is the case, the probability of a 2nd run is less likely. Could be just bad luck for JJP.

Jack already stated in public licensing would not prevent him from re running more pirates after wonka next year.

Chose to believe him or not.

And your solution is? There's one actual solution. Have a spare playfield so it CAN be fixed in the future OR live with the chipped up, bubbled up playfields that get worse over time. At least if you have a brand new, properly cured playfield you can get the machine back to like-new condition. Without that, you're screwed as an owner.

Buy one that has stood the test of time if none can so be it move on there is always another game out there

There is no other JJP Pirates.

Say what?

This is the dumbest statement ever. There is no other game like jjPotC, so this doesn't hold water.

goat-2737355_1920 (resized).jpg

Think HUO

No, the dumbest statement ever is the idea of buying a $10,000 game and buying a " half price safety playfield you can let cure for a year or years" because the $10,000 cant hack HUO WTF

I believe he just lied directly to TWIP after having a great relationship with Jeff. He could of said no comment or deflect but he lied directly to the Pinball Media. Jack lies ... hence he is a liar and credibility has been lost.

.

It's not a JJP-only problem. Stern Beatles is as bad or worse, but I haven't heard of any playfields being replaced at all. Iron Maiden also has the bunching around posts one some playfields to varying degrees.

You have no real-world solutions. Mine works, yours doesn't.

I don’t blame him. I am a parent and I oversee 40 employees. I lie because the truth would cause stress, hurt productivity, cause pain to some and to avoid hard talks sometimes. Jack is the figure head of a business, it’s a business and he needs to worry about that first and answer in the best interest of that business. I doubt if he can even make these calls without approval from others.
Thinking that a poll taken with a few dozen of the most sporadic, change their mind based on the next title , flip flopping individuals that I belong to is a poor business choice. By the time they got these games back in production everyone could of moved on the the next 4/5 titles that have come out and Pirates could be selling for 8k. It’s a gamble, no one knows. I just bought a used Tron even though a vault could come out. I’m selling Pirates because I’m not that into it. I like Deadpool infinitely more, that’s just my opinion. I’m buying Willy Wonka and I don’t have that high of hopes but my wife wants it. If you guys want one buy one. Remember last year when TNA’s were selling for a premium, it lasted a while then 5k and sometimes less. Maybe it will be like Alien and double in price ? No one knows !

Best solution to NIB playfield cracking and damage.
DO NOT OPEN YOUR GAME FOR ONE YEAR SO PLAYFIELD CLEARCOAT CAN CURE.
Problem solved.

That literally makes it a garbage clear job.

Problem not solved. The posts and other components have already pushed into the clear and bunched up around the edges. Totally different than starting with a properly cured playfield.

Beatles has this problem, Iron Maiden has this problem (to a lesser extent), jjPotC has this problem, TNA has this issue, and a couple Wonkas I've seen also have it. It's not an isolated issue but it is relatively new, within the last year or so.

Is it also a problem with assembly line tools and lack of experience? IE Using powered screw drivers and nut drivers and over torqueing the posts into playfield?

I have to say the playfields should of been cured by the time they arrived & populated. I know I had some soft ones after a day or 2, but it was likely 1-2 weeks or longer from Mirco shipping them.

I always cure playfields for a year. 6 months is probably enough, but I do a year. The top layers might be hard, but the ones underneath are the ones that take the most time to fully harden.

would baking a play field in high temp harden the clear coat?

Probably, but I have no idea how much or how long. I've always done the "open air+time" method.

I think the playfield clear (minus the issues some are having) looks better than previous games. I still haven’t waxed my mine, just used wizards and it still looks like glass.
What I don’t get though is how the heck would an experienced company like mirco not know exactly how long these coatings need to fully cure? Don’t they have smart people on board that are in touch with the ink and clear companies and discuss these things, or at least have specs on the products they apply?

The best solution is don't feel the need to be the first on the block to own one buy HUO

I don't care whose problem it is I will take exception with anyone who thinks buying a $10,000 game that you need a back-up playfield is a good idea. Advising a fellow pinhead to do a full playfield swap when you do not even know if he can build the rotisserie needed to do the work is even a worse idea

I don’t get why this hasn’t been corrected at all?

So we have widespread issues with potc, issues with ybr and now it’s reportedly rearing it’s ugly head on wonka.

If I were them I would want to get this straightened out .

Having a spare playfield means when and if you want to do a swap, you won't be stymied by availability. As for who will be doing the swap, owner or an experienced shop like HEP (dreaming outloud) that is a different topic altogether.

Lastly, whether or not it is acceptable for a NIB machine to have a damaged/defective playfield, I vote this is not ok. Clear issues should not still be plaguing this industry.

The problem is that we have mirco basically saying it wasn’t their issue and nothing wrong with the clear or the process and JJp not really stepping up and saying it was poor quality parts and over tightening before proper curing took place.

The root issue is still all speculative, at the end of the day it would go a long way in reassuring current and future customers if someone owned it and corrected it so we can all move on and be happy!

I've never had a rotisserie and done dozens of swaps. It's not required. And having the playfield means it's AVAILABLE for the current or future owner. Non-availibility is a bad thing.

And Beatles, and Iron Maiden, and TNA. It's not a JJP/Mirco issue alone.

I don't think anyone is happy about this situation JY64, it's more about...sadly...damage control, whether present or future.

This entire situation has me questioning home ownership in general. I adore Pirates, but man so many issues I've run into could have been prevented with better quality control, and now...a better clearcoat. For me, this has now been a take out of the box, and play experience. Well, it would have been if I hadn't raised the playfield to inspect it as a new owner.