I have owned 3 JJPs and I wouldn’t say any of them have weak flippers. GNR,Wonka,and dialed in. Guys at league make jokes that I since I own JJPs I am good at all the old slow games lol.

At least do this. Clean the area. Wax it. Then apply mylar. Then it will be easier to remove or replace if you want.

LTG : )

Yes get the rollover protectors from www.passionforpinball.com.

I run them in my inlane drops for the same reason.

Yes. I'd prefer that.

Mylar until you get them, unless you have them on hand.

LTG : )

Funny you mention the design - I've seen pins go for decades with no problems like this, but I've also seen a Dialed In with under 1k plays and wood splintering there. I'm not sure why some pins have no problem and others do, but it does seem like a weak place to drop a ball repeatedly.

Man that website is rough.

I never felt my JJP flippers were weak on my WW or my WOZ.

His products are not. Ask anyone.

I'm not doubting that. I know the reputation. I'm not even sure how to order anything though. You send an email?

Yes, send Cliff an email with what you want. He will take good care of you.
He’s a good man!

Just don’t PM him here on pinside to order. You will be scolded!

I'm seeing a lot of posts about how on Toy Story JJP has fixed the mushy flipper feel. I definitely notice it myself on Wonka, the difference in the flipper feel coming off of Iron Maiden or Attack From Mars.

If the flipper feel is improved on Toy Story, can the flippers not be improved on Wonka and other older JJPs now? Would it be as simple as swapping out flipper mechs for example?

The flippers can be cranked up in the settings. Even bumping it up two points makes a very noticeable difference. Like, "did I just enter a cheat code" difference.

What I'd like to know is: Has JJP ever stated why their flippers are lower powered than most other manufacturers? The only benefits I can think of are 1) Less wear and tear on the machine, and 2) They think people will like it better. I can understand #1, but I would find #2 impossible to believe. I don't think anyone turns their flipper power up and then returns it to the factory setting. And yet, the flippers on every JJP pin feel the same.

I have a question about a splitter. I just added the Lermods translite lighting to my Wonka. I was already "splitting" off the connection to power that strip for other mods, so basically I just plugged the new LED strip lighting into that connection (the yellow/black wired connection). My question is this; I want to split off that connection again to power the JJP translite strip that was in use (to use on the backdrop of the playfield). I see that Lermods sells a JJP splitter, but I'm not sure if that is the correct one (I have emailed them to see). Does anyone know which splitter I would need to accomplish what I'm trying to do? Thanks!

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After emailing with Lermods, they believe it could be done with a Male/2 Female connector splitter.

I emailed a couple days ago and haven't gotten a response. Is that normal?

Yes and he is always backed up. Be prepared for a wait..

His products are awesome, therefore, he has a lot of demand to keep up with.

MY POTC, WW, WOZ flippers are great, but my GNR is weak. I even increased the strength. The right upper flipper is the worse, where I can barely make that ramp at all.

Any ideas.

BTW -Traded my 6 year Hobbit, which I only personally had 20 plays on it, but total around 160 for a HUO WW locally - 6 miles away thank god - that had the same number of plays on his.

Best trade I could have ever made - Love the Willy!

Check playfield pitch with an inclinometer or something other than the bubble thingy on the right rail of the playfield.

If not too steep, game is level left to right. Maybe try changing the angle of the flipper bat a little.

Former jjp Pinball Ambassador LTG : )

Ha! I have two machines right now (three more I'm waiting for) but.... my two machines are Willy Wonka and Hobbit.

You probably solved this,.. but I can almost guarantee your diverter flag fell off. So, on occasion shots that aren't super strong are falling into the wonkavator VUK and then wonkavator is kicking them out.

You can pull the diverter out from under the playfield. You'll need to find the screws that fell out (along with the diverter flag). Reinstall the screws with some locktite.

PM me if you need pics. pretty sure someone sent me some that helped me out.

T

Man, this game is a keeper.... There is enough code and shots to keep me busy. I am gonna call that this it will take me at least 1 year to beat with the limited gameplay I have right now. Can only consistently get 2 Golden Tickets, but I try to get different tickets each time.

My strategy is not the best, but I like that I can try to devise my own. Damn this game is fun and wished I got the CE model... Oh well.

Is it worth buying a spare playfield? How does the playfield hold up after 7K+ plays?

No, I don't think it's worth it to get an extra playfield for home use. Practically ever. I imagine you'd see this pin with 100k plays and say "No, not worth $900 and many hours to replace." zaphX, care to respond?

That isn't his problem. It's the same one I had for awhile - the ball appropriately goes up into the Wonkavator to lock, but then it gets released instead of staying locked. You're referring to an inadvertent lock.

Does anyone have spare playfields? I called JJP and they weren't available. I was looking for a CE.

I bought one a few years ago.

I will say the CE playfield has held up pretty well. I've only had two minor issues:

1. The clear around the top post on the left sling blistered. I flattened it with the iron technique and put a mylar ring over it, looks fine and has not worsened.
2. The posts that hold the rubber above the left outlanes started to show some "air gap" between the clear and art. I applied the playfield iron once which worked, but it came back. Did it a second time and overcooked it; the clear came up and cracked off. 100% my fault and I should have left it alone. I ordered the playfield that day to make peace with it. Fortunately it's not in a ball rolling area and you won't see it unless you go looking for it.

Moral of the story here is be careful "fixing" things with the iron as you might make it worse.

Our CE has over 15K plays which a ton for HUO so I'm glad to have the playfield and plastics to refresh it if/when the time to move it on comes.

Individually I've now got each golden ticket. Kid multiball always feels the most satisfying. Just need to chain them all together. Still never made it to Most Secret Machine

Gotta get 4 for MSM. It's a great mode!

Yeah my current grand champion had factory tour and kid tickets. Was half way towards wonkavator ticket and that’s when I decided I didn’t know how to play pinball anymore and lost it all. Tragic.

Have you got to pure imagination?

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Sadly no. Susan has gotten 4 tickets twice, me once.

The game is bolted until we do, and probably still after that.

Once. It was the only time I had lit that far right ticket. At the start of ball three I looked down and said "The rest are lit, that's the only one left! I NEVER get that one. I need to do this." Looked up the walkthrough for the millionth time, and did it.

Admittedly, I did not read through all 12,533 posts so I apologize if this has been asked before.

I recently picked up a Wonka LE and very happy with it so far. A couple days ago I played a Toy Story 4 LE on location. The Toy Story had flipper mechs that felt much more “sturdy” than my Wonka (I don’t know how else to describe it), and the mechanical sounds of the flippers and other coils was significantly quieter in TS than my Wonka. I know it is a newer game, but what is JJP doing? Additional insulation under the lockdown bar or in the cabinet to dampen the sound? Wonka feels high quality but I was really impressed with Toy Story. Wondering if I can replicate the effects on Wonka with some mods. Thoughts?

Is it possible some ambient noise attenuated the flipper noise on location with TS4? I can't imagine anything significant changing internally...

Sold

Acoustics of the room you are in can make a difference as well.

I start every pin I buy in our hardwood floor living room for a few months before moving it to the gameroom that has carpet and velvet curtain walls. The sound is confusing at first - it sounds absolutely deadened. Which is cool, but weird.

Proof that the fifth ticket is unobtanium

I started with the greatest 1st ball ever (see pic). And then, even after three balls and two more Wonkavator Multiballs, could not get it.

I feel all your pain!

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Question… the photo camera is grainy.. do they really suck or just need to have back lighting to pick up your face?

This is my first JJP and wondering what the trend is with these cameras.. my kids are also asking, but thought I’d get other opinions.

Page B-22 in the manual. Tests - Devices - Camera.

In camera you can play with it a little and see if it improves.

Be sure camera lens and backglass are clean.

LTG : )

I've gotten that fifth golden ticket handful of times. The hardest one for sure is the Wonkavator one. It helps if there are locks from previous games carried over.

I think my highest scores are in the 60 millions, so you're not that far off for sure. I remember one game I had when I got to that score lasted almost 50 minutes!

Will tonight. Thanks!

I’ve got to pure imagination twice. One time beat it up. Put up 39 million. Second time screwed the pooch on the mode but still put up 36 mil. Both times gave me tingles! Super cool mode

For once, I had a heater of a first ball going, and didn't mess it up. My new GC.

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Nice!

Has anyone had issues where the balls get stuck coming out of the Wonkavator lock at the top of the machine? Seems to be happening quite a bit when it releases them for multi ball.

In settings adjust the timing of the post that releases them.

Finally got 2 golden tickets in one game. I have had it happen several times since. Guess I just needed to get it once to break the spell. Even won wonka’s office! Such a great game!!!

Also check the screws holding the coil that controls the ball release to the back of the Wonkavator assembly. They’re often loose and could cause something like that.