I finally beat Germany! What a rush. I love that mode!

Hey over Thanksgiving I spent some time replacing the plastics and ball, and installing an LED kit from pinballbulbs.com. The kit came with a few add-on kits for spots and strip lighting too. I really like how it looked but recently taped over a few of the LEDs on the backbox strip because it just seemed a bit too bright back there.

Here are some pics before I taped the strip in the back. Have to get a current pic once I am happy with how much I'm cutting back on that strip.

I also experimented with clear flippers and super bands. I like how they look but I think I'm going to get translucent red super bands instead. I think it will look better and easier to see.

FYI I bought the ball from Illinois Pinball. They didn't have it on their site but I called and got one no problem. I think they have a small number of them. I originally bought one from Marco the week of Expo, but when I got it in the mail the paint was peeling off. They were down to a few bad ones. They took it back no problem, and I think they pulled the rest out of inventory because the last few they had were bad. They have another order placed for them but didn't say when they would have them restocked.

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I highly recommend the kit from pinballbulbs.com. It really brightens up the playfield and makes the game a blast to play. Especially with their add-ons they package with the kit.

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

Here's my before and after:

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Backbox:

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The pics I posted in this thread a couple pages ago used the same LED kit he put together. It was awesome! The only changes I made were to swap out a couple purple bulbs in the backbox to scale back how purple it was, and to reduce the amount of strip lighting under the backbox by covering up some of the leds. I didn't post a pic of that change but it softens the lighting a little bit while still keeping it bright and playable. pinballbulbs.com is the site for the kit. It looks like they changed the lighting at the rear to cyan instead of purple and kept the purple towards the front. It looks GREAT on my machine! I also like the spots that come with the kit.

FYI if anyone is going to the Louisville Arcade Expo in March, I will have this machine there to play.

I have this strip in the back of mine. I ended up covering every other LED and it tones it down to a perfect level. I did it with black electrical tape to try it out. Going to go back and redo it with Gorilla tape to make more permanent. Try it out to see what you think.

I bet this was done as a difficulty modification for route games. Mine was supposedly a HUO and it spins clockwise normally.

I've only made the final twice. I wish it had an auto launch! The first time I usually only had three balls in play because I wasn't ready to try to keep up. The second, my daughter was watching and she started plunging them for me. That was much more fun (but cheating of course!).

Can't wait to do it again.

Anyone coming to the Louisville Arcade Expo this weekend? I'll have my game there. Anyone who doesn't have one of these needs to play it. GREAT game!

I think it would be too easy with the auto-plunge. I think overall I like how it is! Just never remember to plunge the balls until it's crazy.

That one was mine. Here it is. If you go with Purple, be careful with the colors. The first attempt I did was a really cool candy color that looked amazing under fluorescent lights. However, when under incandescent lighting in my basement, or even out in the sunshine, it looked pink. UGH! Had to redo it.

http://www.jeffsgames.com/2013/10/24/world-cup-soccer-pinball-improvements/

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ebay.com link: BRAND NEW Soccer Ball 3D Deco Night Light W Cracked Sticker Battery LED

This would be a cool idea if you could tie into a flasher somehow...

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I got grey cliffys for mine. After that, I saw they actually made silver ones. I think I would have rather had those. I saw them at the Louisville Arcade Expo at Rob Anthony's Pinball Classics booth. Don't see them on their site though.

Those are pretty sweet! What did you make them out of in case I need to do one in the future for mine?

So do they flex well enough to trigger the switch properly? I like the fact that they would be slightly more rigid because I bet they look better than the sagging look of the other material.

Thanks!

They do somewhat. It's really part of the game and unavoidable with roll-over buttons. If the ball is rolling slowly you'll get that. Hopefully it won't drain down the center. Get good at the magna-save button just in case.

I have triggered all four buttons and scored a goal all in one shot from the right flipper a few times. Kinda fun to try to do.

I rarely use it because it's not a natural reaction like hitting the flippers. I wish I could do it better. I've saved a couple really fast drains though, just by pulling it a little closer to the left flipper.

That's the kit I have in mine. I love it!

I posted a review on my site this week: http://www.jeffsgames.com/2014/04/03/wcs-led-upgrade-and-led-kit-review/

I'm planning to send over a photo to them of the final light arrangement in the backbox. I swapped out a few of their purple bulbs with cool whites to get better color definition. I also put a multi-color LED under the TV award. I liked the look of it. Got that tip on here in a post a couple years ago.

Can't wait to see how it turns out!

So I had a friend come over last night that never played WCS. Talked him through the rules over a couple games. Then he proceeds to get to the final match, and defeat Germany. In the process he beat my personal high score. I love a good challenge!

It made a HUGE difference. You get the benefit of having the light fill in, but at a more appropriate level. I tried every third first, but then going every-other-one seemed to be the best fit.

Looks great! I like the three color coin flip bulbs. I'll have to think about that. Someone also had four colors of lightning inserts earlier that looked great too!

1. With a little work, I actually got mine to sit flat. My old one was so bent up that it ended up moving into the ball and cutting a groove like a lathe. I worked it under the ramp and I think it looks great. You can see it in this pic below. I don't have a better, direct shot.

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2. I think that black strip is custom to your machine. You have a broken plastic there, like mine had. Balls get caught above the band when the plastic is missing. The previous owners of my machine actually stretched the top rubber up there to prevent it. It's tough to find a replacement plastic for that one too. I ended up with a new set of plastics so I was finally able to fix that mess on mine!

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3. That's how mine looked.

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I don't but I thought I read they were going to get more soon. I originally thought to put a clear plastic protector there until I got plastics. You could try that.

http://www.pinballdecals.com/PartsByGamePages/WCS_Page.html

I took my WCS to the Louisville Arcade Expo in March, and someone whooped my High Score. Been trying to beat it, and finally did tonight. Third time getting to the Final Match, second win against Germany. Great game!

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I'd look at buying a replacement instead of painting. You'll end up having a ball that has a contact surface that's too slick. It's important to have good traction on the ball to have the right gameplay. I replaced mine and it was worth it! A good ball adds so much to the gameplay. My old ball was horribly worn and dirty and had no impact on the game.

I got mine a few months ago from Illinois Pinball. Not sure if they are around any more, but Marco also sells them if they have them back in stock.

Congrats on the purchase! That's really exciting to find your "holy grail" machine. You'll really enjoy it!

As for tokens, mechs can be adjusted to take all kinds of different sizes. There are several sites that show how to do it, but here's a video from a guy that does a lot of how-to videos:

Good Luck!

I hope that some day after I get all the games "on my list", I can go through to convert them all to tokens and get a change machine. I think that would be so cool!

Thanks! I appreciate that. It's a fantastic game, and honestly one of those pins that can be made so much better with a well-planned LED kit. While there are several games that I think LEDs would ruin, I love how most games really look better with them. Same reason I think Stern Star Trek wouldn't be the same without LEDs.

I agree completely. I'd suggest getting some black Gorilla Tape to cover the LEDs on the back strip. I used regular electric tape for a while but the heat caused it to peel off. No problems after I did the Gorilla Tape.

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Looks better:
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I also came up with what I felt was the best bulb layout for the backbox. They now have my pic on their site to help. The default was too "purple" so I added a few cool whites to bring it down a little bit.

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I thought all mechs could be adjusted but I could be wrong. I picked up a Pachislo a couple months ago and as complicated as those are, there were even ways to adjust them to go from token to quarters if you wanted to. I left mine tokens. I did notice that many of my Japanese tokens are steel so they are magnetic. If that's the case with yours, you'll never be able to adjust that without removing the magnet.

Here's a helpful thread on KLOV about coin mechs. Video game mechs but should be similar.
http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=276254&highlight=coin+mech+tokens

http://www.pinballrebel.com/game/pins/card/cardu.htm

I didn't buy any flashers either. Mine plays fine with the old flashers. Maybe some day I'll upgrade them. I just went with what the kit had.

One more quick tip. I bought a multi-color LED at a show a couple years ago and I use it under the TV insert. It's really cool and adds quite a bit to the lighting. Gives a feeling of a TV show being shown on the screen.

Now it would be really cool to do something like the Crystal Ball in WOZ, but talk about a tough mod!

Yes. Just a simple multi-colored LED. There are now several types from most sellers, with different cycle speeds. Mine is relatively slow but I can imagine a fast changing one would be cool.

That's a cool idea!

Looks great! I'll have to look at my goalie to see what holds it together. From this teardown pic I took a while ago, I think mine was held on with two bolts screwed through the goalie and leaf directly into the back plate. I don't remember any nuts there but I'll have to double check.

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At least recommend retro LED bulbs. I hate the heat that the incandescent bulbs generate, and won't need changed as often since the LEDs will last MUCH longer.

I would suggest cool white under the purple city inserts. Purple washed out the actual letters on the inserts. If I remember right the pinballbulbs.com kit used cool whites there and they looked really good. I tested a few different colors when putting in the kit, just to see what I preferred and I really liked the cool whites.

I was playing a really good game this weekend. Got all the cities but of course drained before I could start the final match. LOL. I'm finally getting the hang of the Travel shot. For some dumb reason that shot is the hardest for me to hit. I can even hit the right ramp more consistently. I had 7 cities flashing waiting for travel loops in that game. I finally got the shot down by backhanding it from the left flipper. I can hit it every time doing that.

I've never seen the topper before. Got a good pic?

Nice. I just thought that was the ramp decal.

I want to buy a replica WC trophy for a topper. It would be cool to install some flashers on top of the backbox like Jurassic Park, and flash the trophy.

For the coin toss, you need to hit each of the drops. Once you get all three you travel to the next city. These are pretty tough to hit. I actually put new black post sleeves in and the bounce made it impossible to hit what you were trying to hit. I ended up changing them to yellow cliffy sleeves and they have a better bounce. They look better too.

The coin toss is done with every new ball launch, the launch after a lock, or at the launch to start normal multiball. It doesn't light for saved balls.

I always go for the farthest one first, then the middle, then the short.

Thanks! I've collected video arcade games for 20 years and I'm trying to settle into my "final" lineup. I have 5-6 project games to finish up, and I still have to find a nice Q*Bert. It's going to be my last pickup to crown the collection.

I've had a few pins just in the last 3 years. WCS is my keeper and hopefully someday I'll be able to branch out and pick up a few more. Prices are just too high for me and I have enough video projects that I'm trying to keep my focus on those. My current project is building a Fix if Felix Jr. with my daughter. She wanted to "make a game" and loves that game, so it was an easy project to take on.

In case you didn't see it, here's a video I took a while ago of my current lineup:

I didn't have any issue missing bulbs. I actually had several spares in the kit. Did you follow the instructions and mark off each bulb one at a time? I'm only asking because I did my kit that way and while I had difficulty finding some of the bulbs, I did end up going through the whole kit without any issues.

One idea for the LED strip is if you decide to cover up some of the LEDs to tone it down, use black Gorilla Tape strips long enough to tape the strip to your cabinet. Kinda like railroad ties!

Hey you might want to try a set of Super Bands from Marco. They work great on this pin! They're not that pricey and they really enhance your control of the ball once you get used to them.

I put this on the underside of the plastic glass channel. I cleaned it up with rubbing alcohol before and it stuck perfectly. Haven't had an issue with mine.

Anyone going to the Louisville Arcade Expo this weekend? I'm taking my WCS.

Sadly I'm no longer a WCS owner. I sold my machine to a friend. I plan to get another some day soon because this is such a great game! Keep up the cool mods and customizations. I can't wait to do another one!