I went with the HerculEase capacitor mod which is a similar fix and much less $. Yes noticeable difference in flipper strength and endurance

Ummm. Someone has put the larger 6800 capacitors in though. So you’re pretty much at the same as the new board in terms of flipper and sling power etc.

Thank you for this! I was beginning to second guess my situation because: The seller's ad said, "I also did the I/O board upgrade."
The flippers are actually very responsive and I have a lot of activity with the magnets. So, this makes more sense. ...also have these 2 capacitors in the coinbox (photo)
Seriously appreciate everyone's input. Bought Wonka on 6/3/24 and I have read thru this entire thread. Just wrapped up an epic game today!

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Had a blast with an epic game today!
First time I've been able to play The Most Secret Machine mode. That was sooo cool
4 Golden Tickets (had 2 maybe twice before) Only needed 1 more Gobstopper Multiball, and had one more ball to play - choked in about 30 seconds
Such an expansive set of rules/play!

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Well done! Seriously I love this game sooooo much. All other pins I have lack the immersion that this game has.

Congrats! The Most Secret Machine is my favorite mode in the game. I have been to Pure Imagination twice now and still prefer The Most Secret Machine…

Appreciate the congrats
Vinny: I recently watched your PURE Imagination Twitch. Awesome gameplay skills - I share your enthusiasm for this game. Your videos + Tommy Vernieri's & Derek Stutsman's YouTube tutorials helped me a LOT to better understand and appreciate Wonka for the immersive brilliance JJP built into this pin.

Edit:Link to videos mentioned:
VinnyBlanc https://m.twitch.tv/videos/2148079213
zaphX aka Derek Stutsman

Tommy Vernieri

Had the game for a couple of months. Love it!
Just having problem getting the fifth ticket. I´m just playing and have no idea what tickets a get and what´s missing, but it´s all fun.

Have a roddy sensor that makes to gobstopper vuk fire from time to time. I guess it´s an optical sensor going from the gobstopper to the vuk on the other side, but i´ going to have a look see. Is this a common problem?

On the enhanced i/o board.
Is this really a good solution? More energy, more wear?
Isn´t the added fans solution way better for the machine?

I have the default IO board with the flipper coil strengths turned way up and the PinMonk flipper coil fans installed and have no issues. I stream for hours at a time with no fatigue and it shoots beautifully. Definitely a cheaper (and easier) option than the IO board.

Glad to hear I could be of some help. Keep grinding and you will get that 5th golden ticket. The bottleneck for me was always the Wonkavator golden ticket. I have been getting it more reliably, as of late, which then give me more shots at PURE Imagination

Worked perfect for me. I was one of the first buyers, no issues, only positives!

Hey guys!

I’m looking a getting a Wonka shipped to me. Build date is 8/9/2019.

Did JJP have pooling issues around the posts at this time with this game?

What spots of the playfield should I get close up pictures of? Mainly the sling post area?

These are the pics he sent so far.

Thanks!!

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Please excuse my ignorance. What's this?

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Haha! Not sure. Reflection of a clock?

There some other similar stuff above the right flipper. Maybe someone put decals from a clock on the playfield as a protector? Weird stuff. Doesn’t belong whatever it is.

Looks like the protective plastic that covers the display of new clocks or something. Wanted/needed mylar and couldn't wait?

Ya, not sure what those are. Would ask for more picture there in case this is not a reflection and some stickers that were put there. As other stated there shouldn't be any of those stickers there.

As for pooling, ask for pics of up close sling posts and under the sling plastics. Maybe some of all the posts screwed into the playfield.

It's not a reflection, you can see them in the first photo too, going "under" the flipper...

Very interesting...

I see one chip on one of the sling posts. Other than that it looks perfect I think.

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Id imagine that chip can be covered mostly with a washer...

Now, what is up with the sharpie coloring of the flipper? lol

It's really easy for someone like me - a semi-pro armchair quarterback - to critique every last little detail about a potential sale between two parties that I'm not affiliated. At the end of the day it's all about how you feel about the deal and the value that it presents you.

I'm looking forward to seeing you posting here about your adventures collecting Wonka Bars and chasing Golden Tickets!

Cheers!

Big Willy

Yeah I was thinking that. Or a star post?

Haha, the flippers a a gold colour, so maybe that’s a reflection!

Richard

Yea that too.

Hey, I just figured you were trying to do something different with the flippers! lol

Ah yeah It’s a reflection of the top of the phone that’s taking the pic

Hi All,

Weird thing happened this morning. My daughter wanted to play Wonka, so I turn it on. The machine looked like it kept going to load, failing, and restarting that cycle. She was flapping on the flippers while loading, so I thought perhaps that might have done something?

I got nervous, gave it a power cycle, and it started up fine.

Any ideas?

Perhaps your CMOS battery needs changing? I think that was an early indication on mine that it was time to do so, but I may be totally wrong.

This is my first jjp game. I would say every time I’ve played a jjp game on location I’ve hated them. Now this and foo fighters have joined my line up and this game is getting the most play. My son can’t stop playing it. Also my dad got a Toy Story and it is also a blast but have hated it on location. Now I want to get a Guns N’ Roses!

Yep, Wonka is awesome! I'm still chasing that elusive 5 golden ticket game but enjoying the hunt!!

GNR is good, too. The ruleset has been updated and scoring is much better balanced. It probably is getting the most attention at my house lately.

Could be. Ill have to check that out. Thanks

I finally got a chance to see the documentary Remembering Gene Wilder. I thought it was interesting and if you're a fan of him and his movies you will probably enjoy it, too. I did not realize that the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was considered a flop at the time. I know I enjoyed it as a kid and still do

We enjoyed the documentary as well. He was a brilliant theater and movie actor and accomplished director. Certainly a lot more complex than the Willy Wonka character that made him a mega star. I never watched Blazing Saddles or any of his other stuff, but Young Frankenstein looks good and I might watch some of his other films. He will always be remembered for Wonka, though. What an amazing piece of acting that was! I love that JJP used Gene Wilder throughout the game and not Johnny Depp Wonka which was creepy. This game is a timeless masterpiece!

Any secrets on how to get the Gobstopper switch to stay under the mech so it spins with hits as it should? Mine keeps going over the metal flap for the target.

Not sure I understand. Pic/video?

I had this happen quite a bit when I first got mine. I had to shorten the spring to make it tighter. This makes the Gobstopper target harder to move when hit. If there's too much give on the target, you'll have the same issue you are currently having.

I still have an overlap here and there, but the next hit on the target fixes the problem.

I bent the blade with the roller a little and it hasn't popped out since.

It sounds like this is the same problem I had...here is a link to my previous post with my solution. Still going strong all this time later: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/wwcf-club-wonka-golden-tickets-inside/page/255#post-7337726

Finally pulled the trigger and dropped the Advanced I/O board in. It breathed new life into this amazing game. If any of you are on the fence I wouldn’t hesitate. Flippers and magnets are performing great. I have had my Wonka for a few years and it feels better than new now.

Hi all…hoping this is an easy fix but not sure. After turning on Wonka, the game loads and goes into attract mode. However, (1) the start button does not blink and I cannot start the game, (2) the coin door buttons do not work and opening the coin door does not give the normal indicator that it is open.

Once it loads, the gobstopper hole doesn’t turn or calibrate, as I think it should.

Has anyone seen this before?

Hey Galooch,

I just had this happen to me after I was able to assemble my pin downstairs - needed to take the head off. The 12 Volt plug coming off the SSD wasn't connected properly to the I/O board. Check that connection.

Right inside the coin door is a big connector. Try unplugging it and plug back together real tight.

LTG : )

Thank guys. It appears this was it and we’re all set!

Where did you buy the board ?

TonyScoots PINBALL LIFE - I really can't stress how much better this has made WW for me- I have owned it for a few years. The flippers feel perfect - the game flat out plays better- playfield magnets work the way they are intended too-

Curious about this also. Is it just one board needed?

Pretty sure its this one. Its not cheap.

https://www.pinballlife.com/jjp-fully-populated-enhanced-io-board.html

Does anyone know if there is a way to take the images from high scores and put them on a computer? I assume they can save to an SD card...

Just curious. We have some funny ones id like to save.

If you run a backup of the machine audits through the menu the high score photos are included in the tar.gz file in some subfolder - I have an older backup here to hand and the path to the photos is \jjpe\gen1\Wonka\vf\misc\photos - there have definitely been newer code versions since I took that backup, but I imagine the folder structure is still the same.

You can get a cheap video capture card for like $20 and grab the hdmi in the backbox and either split it or just hook it up direct to your computer and grab the images that way. Same premise I use for streaming. You can see both backglass and wonkavision being captured

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2074535160?tt_content=vod&tt_medium=mobile_web_share