Sooo. I have the machine for a couple weeks now; A few key bulbs are out and occasionally the K diamonds doesn't stay pupped' up and/or the Kd sensor may be intermittent. The upper-field's right flipper was angled low, now closer to the right flipper's angle. Last night; I updated from v1.0 to 14.0 (downloaded from stern's website). I'm new to the game and found it difficult to pass 20,000,000. This morning's game has me thrilled and scratching my head (loosing my hair and/or confused).

On ball 2 and I think the first tournament had yet to be passed; My focus was aiming at targets while avoiding the advancement of cards. Eventually multi-ball came and lasted for some time. At one point I saw a 2,000,000,000 figure on the DMD and No-Limit-Holdem. I continued with multi-ball for much more time. Jackpot was ringing and I was go, go, go with keeping it alive. I had over 2 Billion when ball 2 ended. Ball 3 was a waste. I stopped to think about what happened, grabbed a camera, then choked.

In the end 2,183,728,479 was the score. I posted my score, however, I wonder if it's valid. Is it? It has a flaky K diamonds and who knows what else. How do I validate it and should it be taken down?

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Yea. I suspected so. I've ordered parts to rebuild the center quad popups and replace the Kd opto. I'll have to poke around, see what else may be amiss. Thanks.

I have an occasional ball hang when occupying the Ace-in-the-Hole. One of the (2) holes provides enough resistance to require nudging it out. I spent a bit of time looking for lost screws, but the best I can see from the web images and manual; they shouldn't exist. The replacement image on Pinball Life doesn't appear to have them either. I'm replacing it, but what the heck?

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Thank you. I dug into the popups this weekend. The teeth were barely grabbing the rest. I had ordered replacement parts, but current parts look very fresh. The bracket/mounts did not look bent, but a washer was installed behind the popup springs for both the Kd and 7s. I found a specific update for WPT on Sterns site noting that spacer washers up-to 1/16" can be used to improve popup lock. I re-assembled the 4up bank without the (2) spring spacers and it works great now, almost too good. I'll pickup thinner washers or source washer-shims if needed.

I'll look at the audits after this (it's great that this was developed into the machine). I haven't checked the level since I 1st brought it in. I'm still moving it around and it may be off along with the 2B game.

EDIT: Add image to better explain. (5)washers added in Green. (2)extra-washers removed in Red (not c-clips, 2 additional washers were there, assumed to be placed in an attempt to reduce popup problems).

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Here's a video of the audits. I don't know what looks out of place;

I starting to 'believe' I can do it again. My Paris light was dead and I feel I was on the second location with all my focus on jamming chip-tricks, stealing blinds, mystery award and cutting-the-cards. I have a feeling stealing-the-blinds led to something big when no-limit-hold-em hit.

Should record my sessions. I'll make or find a camera rig. Tightening loose hardware and replacing one piece of incorrect hardware tonight.

Will do. I do recognize their may be one or more quirks with the machine. Either way, I'll document and provide.

An upper play-field replacement should arrive this week. I placed clear tape over the current ace-in-the-hole play-field holes; thinking it would allow the sensors to read and stop catching the ball. It didn't work. It appears that a cloudy/worn play-field will eventually block the ace-in-the hole sensors. Most likely, the holes were drilled to resolve the worn play-field.

I'm falling in love with this machine (...not like that!). As I dig into this; I want to pull it completely apart. Refinish the cabinet and clean everything from top-to-bottom. I'm amazed/frustrated at fining loose and misplaced hardware. As a home-game hold'em player and custom chip maker; The theme grabs me and the way they designed into pinball is awesome. When I'm up close, working on the play-field, scanning the shots, popups, ramps and card screen, I find myself muttering, "This is so cool".

I spent a bit of time combing through images of casino game-rooms; Hoping to find something providing depth and 'that card-room' feel. My last thoughts were to produce blades from the following WPT images. I don't know what I want, but the mirrors look great and would save time too.

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Very fresh and bright. Looks great, Nice.

I'm finding the back-wall LEDs are irritating when sitting down. My eyes could be a bit sensitive, but sitting in a room with multiple back-wall LED'ed machines is difficult. I prefer to look away while sitting down or standing at a distance. I'm thinking of making a blinder from a sheet of shaded plastic and position it to block the back-wall lights from crossing the room.

Hey, that's interesting. I'm swapping my machine's for these. Thanks.

Here's a couple pages from the Stern WPT Manual; 56,57. It's not a side-by-side comparison, but might provide some input.
https://sternpinball.com/support/game-manuals/

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I was surprised it was a poker terminology. 'Dinner for two' what the heck was that, waaaiiit a minute; ohhhhhhh!

For decades, I've played poker and created custom poker chips for people and had never heard that term. ohhhh jeeez; live and learn. Steve is awesome.

For the life of me, I cannot remember the process I used to determine the flipper angles for the upper playfield. I suspect I tried to replicate the angles shown in the Machine Manual;

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Interesting; it looks like the replacements from Pinball Life have flipper alignment marks.

This upper playfield is from Pinball Life (red arrows to highlight tic-marks);

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I recall finding one side trapping the ball easier that the other. The marks certainly help as a starting point, perhaps a slight tweaking is necessary.

Side project that some may like; I have a debt to pay and intend to gift these to a certain Good Samaritan. These are actual sample-sets of the poker chips used for the filming of the Poker Superstars Tournaments. I bought them from the producer's wife many, many years ago. I collected chips and cards way back when.

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I broke 2 billion after updating to 14.0 code. I recall having been told it must be a fluke, perhaps a stuck opto. I shared the audits and nothing was flagged by reviewers. Unless there's something flakey with the board or chips it could be genuine. Safe to assume a flawed machine, but I wonder if it's possible to recreate.

It was years ago, best of what I can recall specifically; All hands of poker, except Royal Flush, were achieved on ball 1. Ball 2 launched with Mystery activating All-in Multi-ball. Making all of the targets was requested and accomplished. It was a flurry of activity that I truly didn't understand. Ball 2 ended with billions. I wish to try again and record the effort. Perhaps expose a machine flaw or scoring technique.

Yea, I agree, a goofy machine. It sits in storage until I'm ready to restore. I'm curious if its faults are likely hardware or code.

Wait a minute; you played a 30hr game. Incredible. I can't imagine pushing 10hrs; I'd need an entire pot of coffee and then some.

Nice work. Congrats.