I did it... I finally purchased my first pin. Ready or not I've joined this club. I mined for 5 months, at least twice a day through here, craigslist, Mr. Pinball, and because I'm in Vancouver; Kijiji, MAACA and Pinball Revolution. I was really surprised to get a great deal from a terrific seller through craigslist of all places. I would have bet on any of the others. Especially after so many fakes, etc. on craigslist.

I was originally hoping to purchase either WPT, T2 or HS2 and this really wasn't on my radar. I didn't even see the ad until someone showed it to me. Lucky for me everything worked out and I'm now the proud owner of this fun pin in great condition.

I'm looking forward to installing LED's and floods. I want it to look like this...
http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/picked-up-a-wcs-updated-jpop-lineup-beforeafter-lighting-pics

Thanks in advance for the help I'm sure your going to give me in the future.

Manhattan.

These all look great. I definitely prefer with spots. I find the playfield way to dark to play in an unlit room. Especially with my incandescent setup. I noticed that you placed both spots on the lower sling post. In the before/after pic from 'Pinbulbs' they mounted left spot on the lower sling post and the right on the upper. Any reason or just they way you placed them on? I'm looking forward to an LED swap and spots in near future...

So I was playing a game today and was on my third ball. Not a big score (around 750m) but I had all the cities lit for LA and started multiball. The game starts against Germany and it was real hectic at first. After a drain and a bunch of outlanes I'm outta balls. Dejected I cover my face with my hands in shame. After about 10 or 15 seconds I realize that the game clock is still ticking and Germany is still scoring. Is a ball stuck? I look around the playfield and see nothing. I think it was about 16 seconds left in the match that I stumble my eyes over the shooter lane and there is a ball in there ready to be plunged out. After some panic I score but it was way to late... Germany 4 - Dumb Guy 1.

I scored over a billion but it could have been a real good score had I known I could keep going. When does the manual multiball plunge take effect like that? During match against Germany in LA?

I actually don't like the fact that it goes around the orbit the way it does. You are not rewarded for a good shot. While travel is a significant award, there is considerable risk with the shot as it hurtles into the left sling and then god knows where else after. Usually right outlane.

With regards to the spinner, it is the trigger that awards travel. In fact, if you have multiple travels stacked you can advance a city on the way up and if the ball doesn't make orbit and comes back down, you are awarded another.

Thats so funny it actually makes me like the shot now... really.

Yes, mine acts in the same way. Soft first kick, hard on hold down for 2nd + kicks.

On my machine I noticed that after playing for awhile it gets weaker and weaker. I think the plastic saucer grommet might be rubbing on the eject lever a little bit but not enough to impede the performance that much. In fact today it was having a hard time to kick it out at all. And its a killer when its weak since it dribbles down to the top of the sling post and rolls right into the outlane. I need to address this soon. I would prefer to have the power of the second kick by default. Looking forward to some more discussion regarding this.

Just ordered the Pinballbulbs WCS 94 full kit. Looking forward to the transformation. I will post some before and after pics next week. The websites before and after photo's look amazing.

Here is the link...

http://pinballbulbs.com/products/world-cup-soccer-ultimate-led-lighting-kit

Can anyone help me find a place to get a full set of 'Cliffy's' for WCS'94? I tried passionforpinball but it's only an email link... no response yet. Only a day though. Can't find an ecommerce site with this set as a part number to order. With lights coming, I would like to do it all at one time.

Ahh, sorry, think I just found a place... Bay Area Amusements. Google is your friend. I didn't find it at there site the first time I navigated through there.

Got em... perhaps I'll be asking for installation advice in the near future...

I have some work I'm looking forward to doing this Easter weekend. Received my LED kit from Pinballbulbs as well as some other parts and accessories I ordered. Everything was super smooth and quick from all three vendors; Pinballbulbs, Pinball Life and Bay Area Amusements. I even got some special treatment from Cliff himself for my Cliffy set.

Also a note to any Canadians near the border... I used a mailbox service (Mailboxes International) in Blaine, WA and it saved me a ton of cash. If I would have shipped to my home near the border it would have been $40 plus per package/vendor. By using the service it was only around $13/per package plus $2.50 service fee and $10 annual membership fee. After fueling the car and a boatload of groceries it's always a profitable trip. Customs don't even care anymore about duties for the most part. I had just under $300 in pinball parts, declared it and just got waved through. It's like that always now.

I will post some before/after shots of the LED conversion over the next day or so.
20140419_183104.jpg

Thanks, I will avoid it. Appreciate the heads up...

So funny that you posted this jeff, I was going to post something along the same lines tonight...

So after about an hour of getting my *** kicked I ended up having a super ball one. My previous high score was 1.7B and I wasn't even Grand Champ since the default was at 2B. So after ball one I was sitting at a cool 2.3 so I took a pic and sent it of to a friend and grabbed a beer. Ball two was a disaster but ball three was good and earned an extra ball. When it was all said and done I'd clobbered my old high score and more than doubled the default.

20140426_215245.jpg

I also learned a few new things along the way... Namely, after you make it to Germany in multiball, you continue to match up against Germany in subsequent multiballs. I'm guessing the only difference is the jackpot award based on the city. This was the first time I went through all of the TV Awards and cycled back around to Big Goal Round.

One tip I might share that I'm sure many of you already know is how to advance travel. Most find the right ramp near impossible and certainly really risky. I originally thought that you needed both ramps to advance travel. In fact its easier to advance travel by continually shooting the left orbit to get up to the bonus lanes. There's only two so it's often pretty easy to light both with some help from the pot bumpers. My favorite way to get this shot is a back hand while it's slowly rolling up the left trapping flipper. Pretty close to the end and it nails it every time.

BTW, I installed the "High Gloss Super Bands" on my machine and I really love them. Considerably more control. less bounce off the flipper and easier to trap. More subject to ball spin but perhaps it's just because they are new.

WTG marksf123, welcome to the club. I'll be curious to see how easy the Cliffy's are to install considering the size of the ramps etc. I have a set that I have not got around to installing (or even looking to see how hard it will be).

By the way, you mentioned a set of pinball decals to protect plastic... What are those? Can you post a link?

I can't recommend the complete kit from Pinballbulbs.com enough. I was sold when I saw the before/after on their website and now I'm happy to be a spokesman after they've been installed. Looks fantastic. The only change I did was block out (black tape) every second led on the teal light strip at the top. I might even block out a few more as the teal is a very strong colour and kinda washes other colours out at the top. After I was done I couldn't believe the difference. It looked like a new game. So crisp and bright. The spots really made a huge difference as well. I really like playing in the dark and WCS is very dark on the PF above the flippers. Plus spots look so cool even when they are not on. I knew it wasn't just me when my wife actually noticed the difference. She says she can't see the difference between SD and HD on a television so it must be awesome!

I purchased the "Ultimate" kit but it did not have the flashers as you suggested. I don't think you need them. I don't think any of mine are even working. Everything looks awesome though and I don't feel the need to do any additional lighting mods.

When you say multicoloured, do you mean it cycles through a series of colours?

A great time to use it is when you engage the second TV Award (Extra Ball) and the ball ejects from the scoop. Engage magnet and it will often freeze on that left flipper giving you a fairly easy shot at the Striker Hole (for extra ball). Try it, works on my machine...

With my setup (either angle or eject power) it lands too far down the left flipper so that the catch is already to low for striker. It works perfect for right flipper though as it bounces over and up the right outlane and down every time. Kinda TZ like with the slot machine. I got so frustrated trying to get the ball to the left flipper to get that award but rarely succeeded before timeout. It doesn't matter what pin I'm playing, as soon as an extra ball lights I go bananas trying to get it. That's when I thought of the magnet.

Keep us posted...

So true. I always shoot a goal when the soccer ball is spinning for two reasons... neither of which has anything to do with scoring. The first is to stop the noise, the second is my concern for wear and tear. I wouldn't consider disabling it since it plays such a huge and fun roll in the game. My favorite is when the pinball is basically resting at the top of the spinning soccer ball after exiting the upper pot bumpers and is spinning far faster than I would imagine. You don't realize how much spin is on the pinball till it comes down and hits your flipper. Then you realize quite quickly.

It also helps when the pinball is spinning and comes down the right orbit and hits the left sling shot. If the pinball ball isn't spinning it will go from left sling to right sling, then left, then right, then left (etc) then outlane! When the pinball is spinning it goes from left sling to up above the right sling somewhere around the right saucer. Much safer.

If you contact Cliff himself through email he is usually quick to reply. I originally ordered online through Bay Area Amusements but they ended up being out of stock (contrary to the inventory count on the website). They said it would be a few weeks but I emailed Cliff and he got a set out to BAA right away and I had my order quite quickly. Cliff even followed up a week or so later to make sure I got set up from BAA. Great service from both.

I still have not installed them as it looks like the whole playfield will have to get torn up to get the Cliffy's down. everything is buried under ramps and upper playfields. Ugh.

From my experience, it's the FIRST Striker award that is awarded through the goal after you have scored your first goal. Subsequent Striker awards can only be achieved through the hideout. In fact, any time I start a game the first two shots I make are to the goal. The first to score a goal (actually I shoot it just to stop the ball from spinning) and the second to get the Striker award.

There is another Striker quirk... If you haven't had your first multiball, Striker will always award a multiball when Hideout is lit during ball three. This is important since Hideout is so much easier to hit than the Final Draw scoop.

And yes, that is a great score Ken. Almost double mine as well. The trick to scoring big in this game is obviously advancing the cities to get to the World Cup. In my experience with WCS94 the right ramp is very difficult. Also dangerous. If you miss it's either off the post and in your face or part way up the ramp leading to SDTM. It's for this reason that I live in the left orbit (Travel lane). Since you can engage a city by lighting the two bonus lanes at the top above the bumpers (and frequently re-enter the lanes from pot bumpers) it's a great way to advance. I have lit three cities in one shot up there by the ball re-entering the bonus lanes a bunch of times from the pots. I usually hit this orbit by back handing off my left flipper. When the ball is trapped on the left flipper I give it a tiny flip to get it rolling up the flipper and then backhand near the tip. It's actually surprising how natural and relatively easy this shot is. Also it's way safer than the right flipper shot to Travel since it doesn't have as much speed and if it does hit a post it's not back in your face.

Yes, the teal in the pic looks good. It ties in the center field teal ball with the multiball lock lights and the general color theme of the game. I too would buy teal.

And I just noticed... even better is the match with the cab art. It kinda gives the sense that the ball on the cab is coming up into the playfield. Especially in that pic.

What do you mean by this?

Hey WCS94 Crew... I just posted a question in Tech about a trough opto board problem I'm having. Take a look at the link if your interested and just a heads up to look at this board from time to time to save yourself a headache in the future.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/wcs94-trough-opto-board-issue

Yes, the "boing" noise is very loud on my machine on startup regardless of volume setting. This is normal I believe.

I find the best way to good scores is to shoot the left orbit and light the bonus lanes at the top. This will light your "Travel" award and advance your cities. You can also do this by shooting both the left and right ramps. Unfortunately the right ramp is really difficult and also very dangerous. For this reason I use the orbit. City advancement is the key to scoring big, plus there is a few bonuses on the way up the city ladder like extra ball and Boston Tea Party. Always shoot the "Striker Hole" beside the goal when it is lit. One of my favorite Striker awards is "Advance Three Cities" for the reason mentioned above. Of course there is also an extra ball award in there too. Search back to an earlier post of mine in this thread for a great way to get the Striker extra ball award using the magnet above the left flipper.

Thats a monster list. If your really going to invest that kind of cash and not worry about getting it out it sounds great. If you want to save some cash and get better enjoyment I would recommend dropping the above items and add Invisiglass. It really does look awesome and you get to take it with you to your next machine if you swap out...

I use it quite often but only in one scenario... TV Award #2 - Extra Ball. Just before the ball is ejected from the scoop, press the magna-save and hold the left flipper up. On my machine this will allow me to trap the ball on the left flipper for a controlled shot up to Strikers Hideout for the extra ball. It works quite often.

So I finished cleaning and waxing my WCS94 a couple of weeks ago and it plays great and super fast. I love it. What I don't love is that the right outlane seems to be entering the equation far more often now. Especially when I miss a left orbit shot and it hits the post on the left side of the ramp. The rebound is near perfect back into the right outlane.

I have been tempted to move the outlane post down to the lower setting to try and offset this a bit but I kinda feel dirty in attempting it. Is it wrong? Am I breaking a moral code? I just thought I would make a quick post about it to get some feedback from other WCS94 owners before I do something that might get me kicked out of the club

Congratulations and welcome to the club. Good luck with the deep clean. Novus 2 and then a nice carnauba wax should get you where you want to be. By the way, your avatar is really cool with the four sports logo's divided up. That's neat. Did you do that yourself?

Great question. This bothers me at home as well. In fact it actually alters my game play. It doesn't matter what is available on the playfield (maybe not extra ball) I always shoot the goal to stop it from spinning. All mechanical parts have a life span and I want to get every second out of it.

I'm experiencing this exact issue right now. In fact, when the soccer ball is spinning and I engage the magnet, the flipper can barely hold itself up causing it to move up and down. So can you post the part you replaced to fix it? Thx.