I tried multiple timings. I also tried it on the first and second prison multi ball. I didn't look in the settings. During the animation the ball will release with a flipper press and then the magnet pulses a fraction of a second after release every time. I've got a premium on code 1.60.

What code release are you using? I'd like to see a video.

No way. Haha. Also, when the magnet gets to a certain point, nothing but physical adjustment will fix it.

Premium with 1.56 (had too much custom audio to want to switch without doing it all again [some uniquely mixed tracks as well for tension]).

I'll see if Marissa has time to hold a camera after work today.

I've played a lot of TWD on quite a few different machines. I never found the magic magnet control to be anything but a placebo. Yes, sometimes flipping at the right time will result in a tiny pulse that will change the ball trajectory ever so slightly when released. Also not flipping will sometimes result in the same pulse. And sometimes flipping will result in no pulse happening. I honestly find it to be more of an "old wives tale" than anything. That said, I'm certainly not calling Medisinyl a liar and would love to see video of actually being able to control it enough to consistently hit the prison zombie, much less multiple times. Enough people claim it to be true that it seems like there has to be something there, but I haven't seen it in any consistent, controllable way.

I will say that if the machine is set up and leveled well, the number of SDTM releases from the prison magnet is really not that bad. This "issue" is one of those things that are grossly exaggerated. Sure, it can happen, but really not that often. Same with the feed from the pops. Most of the cheap drains can be tweaked out, just like any other game. It's frustrating when it happens though!

For me some of the worst playfield design decisions are crappy ball launches. For how meticulous Steve Ritchie is about having great shooting layouts with perfect feeling shots, I can't for the life of me figure out why he designed the Star Wars and Led Zepp ball launches the way he did. Just gross. I would say a generic ball launch into the movable lit lane is almost as bad, but at least many of those have a super skill shot option, and they do not put you in instant danger of launch/drain/launch/drain/repeat.

I also agree with the comment about generic pop nests just for the sake of having pops. If all they do is bounce around in there and then dribble out 1 or maybe 2 small openings, why have them? Pops are meant to cause chaos. Stop hiding them. Heck, a game like Stranger Things you can't even see them. What a waste of space and money.

Amusing that people complain about the pops in Ghostbusters when on Trek there is only one exit.

Down to the right upper flipper, shoot the warp ramp.

You have to flip at the right time. It will pulse 100% of the time, and in my experience (owning a TWD and playing a bunch on location) it will make an SDTM drain less likely. And it helps the odds enough that you should do it. And the magnet shouldn't be pulsing without you flipping unless it's sensing that the ball is stuck on the magnet.

Here’s a test of ten tries before and after magnet adjustment and using no flip cancel and using flip cancel. Nothing is full proof. I’ve had success on other games, not this one. 1.60 code.

Before adjustment no flip

Before adjustment flip cancel

After adjustment no flip

After adjustment flip cancel (magnet stopped working during this test) haha

It honestly depends more on where the ball decides to rest on the magnet for what path it typically takes.

Totally agree. The very first thing you do in pinball is launch the ball. Bad launch can ruin the whole game. I like how Congo made plunging into the outlane a super skill shot.

I don't get the love for Stranger Things. You can't see half the playfield behind the ramps with stickers and giant billboard right in your face.

Totally agree with you on this. Stranger Things (Pro) is another offender -- bashing straight into a wall of targets and losing control just never feels like a satisfying way to start a ball. I actually enjoy beating the auto-plunge for ball saves / playfield validation, but that still feels like a side-effect of bad design rather than a conscious choice.

I’d be interested to see that. I have very little issues with stdm from the mag but had also never heard of this trick

In the many games ibmve played it probably throws it sdtm 1 out of 20 times

I feel like if the point was to prevent SDTM from the magnet then Lyman would have just coded a temporary ball save instead of hiding some complex rules for the user controlling the magnet. Also more people would be aware of it and surely it'd be in the patch notes if it was added later.

The magnet throwing it down the center occasionally seems an accepted part of the design. It's supposed to be a hard game and Borg designs a lot of his games with magnet features placed by risk/reward areas

I feel like that game set up is everything...so I wonder if that helps? We all remember at the beginning everyone complained it was STDM out of pops 80% of the time as well.

If I was designing a pin that is intended to swallow money, I'd try and make every shot lead to SDTM. Play better!

This is great point. Guardians and Godzilla on location can play really bad if they are slightly out of level or not adjusted correctly. I also wish code would auto update.

I was going to be contrary to begin with, but on consideration this is an excellent point. I see it all the time in written game reviews.. people think a game is whatever.. but their review is based on a single machine, set up either really well or really poor, and I'm not talking about level, I mean, thought actually put into the player calibur, the difficulty of outlanes, the tilt sensitivity, angle of incline and so forth.. but sometimes as you say, the design can work in either case.. it may not be optimal, but people come away loving it.. so maybe something to be said for that.

Meh I get what you're saying, but I also think people have no idea how to troubleshoot; Agreed within reason.

Like the Sim Card Shot. Flipper power up it bounces off the back and won't go in, to low and you can't make the side ramp. Maybe take a rubber off the post to help? I mean that is truly shitty.

There are definitely games that are very particular about how to be setup or they don't work as intended. Halloween/Ultraman jumps to mind in terms of needing just the right pitch and minimal cross slope, otherwise there are subway issues and the butt pretzel is just butt.

Agree 100% after having to deal with my STH LE. Games always need tweaks, but not like that haha. Nothing feeds well out of the box.

Made two quick attempts. Missed a double strike, but got a strong hit on both tries.

The second clip was taken with the screen in view for a better judge of the timing I'm using.

Iron Maiden's cross field plunge that also loads balls for Trooper is extremely dependent on how the game is setup. Thought I remember hearing Keith said he'd never design another ball launch like that again.

The timing of the flipper press on the videos I posted were identical at times and you can see from those you’ll still get SDTM every once in a while. And mine almost never flings the ball up the playfield. The flipper cancel helps, but nothing is full proof. The SDTM is coming at some point. Just like the well walker magnet fling to outlane unless you have them closed off and Chester posts in.

Just have to get lucky on this game imo.

Ditto, lol. "Hangs head in shame"

Sounds like that's the case, and as noted in my 2nd thread post, I was entirely willing to accept that other games are different--that my perception could be based on skewed personal results. Never knew anyone was having a different experience, and having done it on more than one TWD, I had no reason to question it.

Wonder if there's anything about the way my magnet is positioned that's making the difference. Very predictable response on mine, and strong throw (EDIT: Seems answered below).

I thought I found the solution with turning the magnet slightly (Borg suggestion), when it worked on two different games I worked on. But then it didn’t work on my LE and I’ve just thrown my hands up on this and turn the magnet off in comp.

Drove me crazy when I first got the game, and no setup change could fix it...but given enough time to break-in and settle down, the shot becomes perfect...until it gets waxed, starting the cycle over again. So I just don't clean the game the same as others to avoid the issue returning for so long.

Do you let the ball roll backwards for a second so the magnet grabs it and flings it back forwards?

Wow...that blows my mind. Thanks for taking the time to post. Cool stuff. Yours must be a unicorn because I've never seen another one that has a fraction of your fling strength, much less consistently.

I have to disagree on Stranger Things for two reasons...one being the drops make it much more safe of a shot, and more importantly that you can plunge lighter to go for the super skill shot into the saucer. I actually find that perfect plunge arcing it into that saucer to be one of the most satisfying skill shots ever. I rarely if ever let it go to the drops. And I've never been able to hit an MXV skill shot (into the drops and bounce directly into the saucer).

Mine does this as well but the flipper button press has no impact. The magnet pulses after release regardless if I press the flippers or not. Pressing the flippers just cancels the animation and then it pulses the magnet in the same timing.

I thought you meant that you could literally pulse the magnet multiple times using the flippers like the power on TZ.

While I see that happening in the video, it's not something I've paid attention to...always just going off the muscle memory/timing after the video/audio cue.

And it's just one tap of the flippers to get the result shown.

On mine, you can indeed pulse the magnet multiple times like on TZ, but it's just one more shot on the return, and requires more luck to pull off--not performed in the video, but it's possible two get two hits total that way (or have the second attempt wrap around into the Riot shot).

All very good points -- short-plunging to the right flipper and shooting the saucer a few times is practically the only way I dodge strikes at league night. Should probably trying plunging the saucer and going for the MVX too! The rest of the game has really grown on me the last few months.

Yeah...in competition it's a much better idea to plunge to the flipper and then shoot the saucer. But at home playing for fun, I'm always trying to arc it in. Such a good feeling! Glad the game has grown on you. It surprised me too...I expected it to be relatively short term in my collection, but it quickly turned into a favorite. Fun layout, great ruleset with the perfect progression (no matter what your skill level, there is always an obtainable "wizard mode" for you), and you get to jump shoot a ball into a demogorgan's freaking mouth! That's good stuff. There are a few places that I think the playfield could have been improved (the dead end right orbit especially), but nothing that I truly hate.

Beatles is an amazing playfield design and ruleset. Sea Witch but better (and they added an option to play OG Sea With rules which is supper cool)

Though I can see why a Beatles fan may not like it.

Beatles one of my favorite Spike 2 games though. It's such a fantastic tournament game.

Big Buck Hunter is a great game IMO.

Ghostbusters is the only modern-ish Stern I actively and strongly dislike because of the playfield design. And even only counting since its release, that's a lot of games.

Feel bad for you. I love the Beatles, and the game exceeded my expectations.

Can this be done via the flippers or is it a setting?

Hold in the flippers before starting a game, like other Sterns. Not sure if it has to be enabled

This is AFM's big secret: The saucer is off-center. By less than an inch, but it makes all the critical difference, so that rebounds out of that area go to the right flipper far more often than SDTM.

AFM's big problem tends to be when the Stroke of Luck scoop is badly adjusted and fires SDTM, though of course any competent operator will fix that.

Beatles was a dream theme for my wife but she absolutely hated the era they went with in the art.

Lunchbox

Re-using the troll pop-up from Hobbit for Gabby-Gabby in Toy Stoy 4. The ultimate lazy gesture to get a single toy in a 12-15k game. Doesn't even really work with the story, one of the ventriloquist dummies woulda made way more sense.