Wonka is challenging because it’s so hard to focus on just one thing. I’m a little ADD too, which makes it worse. But IMO, to get a good score you should try to execute a strategy you plan in advance. Even if it’s as simple as don’t collect at the TV unless you have all three majors lit. OR, maybe the opposite, collect whenever you have any major kit.

But I’ve been focusing on Kid multiballs, and best if I can get a multiplayer on the mode. I’m also trying to load up on Wonka Bars early (unlit left lane to super spinner). And I’m also now conscious NOT to collect good computer awards early. The upper target by the right flipper will change the award, so I don’t collect “hold bonus” or “15 second ball saver” early. Those two seem to be in the first 3-5 awards, and they’re kinda useless on the first ball.

Of course if you happen to start a MB, go for it! Especially if you can play one while lucrative computer awards are running (like Dots or Candy Man or Wonka Bar Craze).

The game is like Sybil. So many personalities. I imagine highly disciplined tournament players can blow this game sky high, but I’ll bet the rest of us are going to get distracted by whatever cool thing happens next. Which is constant in Wonka.

The more you understand the rules the easier it is to plan a strategy. Executing that strategy is another thing entirely!

Any insights as to why my external sub isn’t working?

Game is NIB. Opened it today. About to update code from 1.25 and finally play this thing! Borrowed one in the Spring so I know I love it. It was an SE, so looking fwd to seeing the differences to LE! Hugely underrated game.

The sticker on the base of the lockdown bar states "install 5 balls". I was sent six in the bag and I recall that there is a 6 ball multiball. Do I recall correctly, and the sticker is wrong?
thx! code updated now, looking fwd to playing this!! just want to put the correct number of balls in it!!!

Sticker is wrong. It’s a 6 ball game.

Seems like the last hurdle! time to play!
I will Sharpie that sticker to avoid confusion at some future date. thx a lot for the quick reply!

My new LE Wonka is in route! Should be hitting Kansas City soon from Nebraska than hit I-40 for the long haul to NC. I was thinking of ordering either the “factory looking” game blades from tilt or mirror blades, any opinions?

Plus, I like the mods the mod couple offer, any issues with the flipper covers??? I had hooked on pinballs sword covers on my stern black knight and the swords actually came off and fired at the knight! He sent replacement double sided tape but I had to add carpet tape to hold them on the flippers.

Really excited about this pin after reading everyone’s input here. Hope the truck driver is more like Smokey and the bandit and keeps the pedal to the metal!!!

Willy just dropped to 31 in the rankings over the weekend...

There is no accounting for taste in this fickle community.

But then again I love my munsters premium and I know I’m not supposed to.

I cared about the pinside top 100 ratings when I first got into the hobby. I cant imagine caring about them now.

Same here I strongly focused on bang for your buck!A great pin just feels better when you don’t have to overpay

Yeah I agree...kinda like music.

According to the music charts, rap and country are what we all listen to.

...me, not so much

I will always like what I like regardless of the polls, although sometimes it’s nice when they align.

Slo-mo guys playing with a Wonka.

So, to get the Gobstopper Golden Ticket, you only need to get 5 jackpots? I feel like i do this but it doesnt give me the golden ticket. Just shooting ramps to get jackpots, right?

If only it was that easy.... glad it’s not!

During gobstopper multi-ball to get a gobstopper jackpot you must shoot ramps until the most secret Machine opens(depending on your settings this could be 1,2,3+ etc.) once open shoot a ball in MSM and you’ve got 1gobstopper. Repeat until you have 5.

.

I wish it were! I am only ever able to unlock the gumball ticket and thats it.

Try adjusting your gobstopper multi-ball in game settings to your tastes. I believe you can make it so only 1 ramp shot will open the MSM for a gobstopper.

I just cant do it haha. I feel im cheating if I change from stock. Ill get there eventually. Its just hard for me to pay attention to whats going on in multiball. Things going on everywhere ha.

For the Golden Ticket inserts on the lower playfield.. Do each one represent a specific ticket, or is it simply that the first one you unlock, shows the first ticket lit? If that makes sense. Sometimes I wonder if I got a different golden ticket and im not sure how to see what I have gotten in the game already.

It arrived!!!! LE s/n 258. Now to get my coworkers to help me carry it up 15 steps to the spare bedroom!!

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If you are fast enough, you can load two or three balls into the open secret machine and get a double or even triple super jackpot - you will also get 2 or 3 gobstoppers.

Two yes, three no.

Each of the golden tickets inserts on the playfield correspond specifically to a golden ticket. The far left one is the gumball golden ticket (found in the candy jar). I’m not 100% but I think my guess is really close here.

So from left to right it would be something like:

Gumball, gobstopper, kid, factory tour, wonkavator.

OR

Gumball, gobstopper, factory tour, kid, Wonkavator

Congrats!

I wonder how they choose game numbers? I got mine back in January/February and im number 598...

Oh ok, thats good. I wish they labeled the inserts so that we would know.

Thanks for this info though, its helpful.

Game numbers (unless requested to be reserved far in advance) are pulled randomly, probably from a box of them. I don't know if Chicago production is doing this, but in NJ production they stamped a blue number on the bottom of the playfield that represented the sequential game number on the line. Jack showed me that on a visit to the NJ place.

Hi all,
So, I had posted last week that my WOnkatania topper wouldn't light on my LE. I finally bought a USB stick and installed to V1.31 and lo and behold, the topper lit up. But, the backbox LEDs, which were working right before the install, stopped working. Any idea on what I should do? I checked all connections, but being that it happened as soon as I installed the new code, I think it's a software issue. Thanks!

OK, got the game up the stairs and it is beautiful, but a little flawed, had one 2-3" wood screw in the bottom, not sure what it is for, also a 1/4" long machine screw and wood screw, didn't see anything off on the play field. Will have to open the back box and see if anything is missing.

so far I have 3 issues.

1st had an error code on initial boot up, was a switch open on L/H ramp, was a connector loose under the playfield, quick fix. Verified all other connections are now fully seated. YAY

2nd issue is the ball getting stuck when the ball goes into the gobstopper hole. It stops just before dropping to the VUK 92% of the time and you cannot shake the machine to let it go forward, the ball stops just out of reach for the side kicker so ball search does no good Any suggestions on an adjustment??? This makes the game just about unplayable so without a fix, bought a real expensive dust collector.

3rd is the lock down bar, very hard to get it locked. I have adjusted the screws up and down next to the glass and this does not seem to help, not even sure if it was fully engaged when I first pulled off the glass. Any suggestions on this one??? The cutouts in the lock down bar are about .10" too high for the bar to lock in. Never had a game ever with this issue.

4th issue is the update. Game came to me with code 1.09. I tried an to install 1.31 following the instructions on JJP website using unbooten, or whatever it is called. When I installed the flash drive on the dongle by the coin door, there was several errors listed on the screen and it asked for a system factory reboot, I hit the flippers to confirm, and now it says code 1.31 is installed????? Odd, I don't think it installed it. Any help???

And another thing, this game did not come with an owners manual, is it meant for you to download it only on your computer/tablet??? My sterns, bally, williams, gottliebs all had physical manuals.

Download only.

Lift playfield up and lean back. Put lockdown bar on. Look in there - see what the lever is actually doing.

Settings - Coils - Gobstopper Lock Release - set that about 4 notches stronger.

LTG : )

It was defaulted to 19, moved to max at 22 and it now works 100% YAY!!!! I thought it was an alignment issue of the mechanism. YAY

The mech is just actuating low. Mainly the L/H side, so if it just push up now on the moving mech when I move the lever, it locks! I'm OK with this for now. Will need to adjust the entire lock bar mech monday when I'm off of work.

Thank you so much for the help!!! My wife really loves the light show, the blue metallic powder coat, and his theme is perfect for us since we grew up with this movie. Even better is the camera, she didn't know it was there and was surprised on it taking her picture for the high score!!!! SOOOO glad I cancelled my Avengers Premium order for this, this is a class act pin, even with the minor hiccups. Still unsure if I'm really running code 1.31 or not since I had all the error issues. Is there a way to verify?????

Thank you again!!! You guys did a great job on this pin!

My game room now. Loving the diversity.

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Open coin door. Hit the ENTER diagnostic button once. Look at lower right corner of the screen. If it says 1.31, it's in there.

LTG : )

Never got three but have got 2 many times,mostly by luck when I shoot one in and than a second comes out of the pops and drops!

We've gotten 3 a couple of times...unfortunately it only counts 2.

One time we landed two in the gobstopper hole so quickly they stacked and jammed!

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/559925762?filter=highlights&sort=time

Yep. That’s what it says. Just odd with so many errors before. Game on!!

My build date says July 2019. Guess it sadly sat waiting for me to buy this pin from Pinball Pro. Comical, my latest NIB pin is actually over a year older than my Stern JP that was my first NIB pin made in March 2020.

Good thing you got it though as the factory has run out completely now. Some distributors have them however.

Does the multiplier impact super spinner Wonka bar collection?

Short answer is no. This was Joe Katz' reply when someone else asked the exact question you are asking as I understand it.
Question: @PinballKatz if you combine Super Spinner with Super X (let’s say SuperX 3x), will it collect 3 Wonka Bars per spin during the time when these two things run concurrently?

Joe's answer: Super x will only effect scoring for super spinner right now not bars collected. edit recalling a conversation we had at one time regarding this exact situation and we deemed it to powerful.

That was July 2019 and I'm not aware of any update increasing or changing this.

Some stuff on Wonka Bars:

-Shooting the left ramp will award 1 Wonka Bar, shooting the right ramp will collect 2 Wonka Bars, while shooting the center ramp will collect 3 Wonka Bars. Along with the aforementioned features, Wonka Bars also determine scoring during the Computer Ticket mode “Wonka Bar Craze”. Along with being shown on the display, the numbers in front of the left lane correspond to the number of Wonka Bars that you’ve collected.

-If Super Spinner is qualified, each spin will collect a Wonka Bar.

-Super Spinner: For 30 seconds, every spinner hit will collect 1 Wonka Bar.

-I think the only time it registers over 1 bar a spin is in one of the awards: 2x Wonka Bar.
2x Wonka Bars: For 30 seconds, all Wonka Bar collects will be worth 2x their normal amount (ie. left ramp is 2, right ramp is 4 and center ramp is 6 Wonka Bars). This also means that the left lane - "inner loop combo will score 2 Wonka Bars a spin!"

Are they done for good with producing Wonkas?

Done for now. Not necessarily for good, no. We have CEs but no more of the other models. GnR needed to hit the line.

SOOOO glad I pulled the trigger on wonka on the very day GNR released!

Absolutely having a blast with this game!

So back to trying to figure out Golden Tickets.

How does one achieve the kid multiball golden ticket? I see it is listed as this but im still not understanding how to do these:

"A Golden Ticket is earned by collecting all possible jackpots in Kid Multiball (all 5 kid jackpots, double jackpot and a super jackpot)"

So, for each kid, there are 5 jackpots, a double jackpot and a super jackpot? Or is it saying you need to do a jackpot for each individual kid..?

So you have to get 1 jackpot of every kid, then a super jackpot (which is lit after collecting 5 kid jackpots in a single kid multi ball), and a double jackpot (the upper middle ramp shot at least 1x) a total of 7 shots, but it can be very difficult cause you must get them while staying in multiball. As long as you hit the kids specific jackpot 1x while they are in your kid multiball, you have collected their jackpot.

Hope this helps!

It’s very hard to achieve by accident.

Wow, and that all has to be done during the same multiball? So essentially, you need to have all 5 kids qualified, then kid multiball for all 5 kids to try and earn this? Sounds impossible ha.

Pretty sure your progress carries over from one Kid multiball to the next. I've gotten the Kid Golden Ticket a few times but don't think i've ever gotten all the jackpots in a single go at it.

Question regarding an issue I'm having with my new Wonka LE. Occasionally, the game will freeze up seemingly for no reason. By freeze up, I mean the flippers will stop working, the start button no longer flashes and stops working, and if the gobstopper gobble hole is rotating, it will freeze. The lights and music still function. I've found powering the game down, removing the glass, emptying the ball trough, turning the game back on, and loading the 6 balls up again gets the game to function normally again. It's happened several times now so appears to be more than a one time issue. Any help or ideas would be appreciated.