I like the retention. I was hoping to preserve it even after a power cycle. But I understand that they have to be rejected or the optos up there can't reset.

Yes. So far there is one after the first golden ticket, Oompa Loompa Odyssey, and after the 2nd golden ticket, Wonka’s Office. These are the only ones I know of.

The story behind these two plugged holes on Twilight Zone's Pop Bumper area is hilarious......

The following is quoted from Ted Estes write-up on TZ design process:

***Jet Bumper Posts – Some games have two posts with rubber rings installed in the jet bumpers. The history of these posts is a story of frustration for the design team. In designing Twilight Zone, Pat Lawlor wanted to try something a bit radical, and placed the jet bumpers very close to the bottom of the playfield. After experimenting with the jet bumper placement on the whitewoods, Pat decided that they weren’t too bad down there. Something changed (slight positioning differences of posts and jet bumpers, perhaps?) between the whitewoods and prototypes, however. The ball kept flying down the left drain any time it went into the bumpers. After a few weeks of listening to complaints, Pat came into work one morning, grabbed a drill, some T-nuts, posts, and rubbers, and installed the posts. The complaints died down until several thousand games into the production run. Now, people were complaining that the ball would fly out of the bumpers and straight between the flippers! Something else had changed (slight warp of the playfield, perhaps?). Pat decided to take out the posts, but leave the holes, and put the posts in the coin box for the operator to decide to use. Which setup should you use? Which ever makes your game play the best.***

I know this isn't a TZ thread, but understanding the history of Lawlor, and his approach to pop bumpers is a good thing!!!

added rubbers (resized).jpg

these_2_holes (resized).JPG

Later TZ's didn't have the holes.

LTG : )

Interesting ... and maybe why Pat left an added post in the coin box for the Wonka left out lane. Not related to the jet bumpers, but to give the option for the pretty unforgiving area left of the slings. I installed that left out lane post and it plays much better for us. It still really doesn't make it super easy over there, but my wife and I consider it more "fair" and more enjoyable with it in. I'm glad Pat gave it that option with Wonka.

I understand the optional post on the left outlane.. But whats the purpose of the hole above it(with black plug)? Play field manufacturer messed up?

I believe you are supposed to be able to remove the black plug and install the post there. Anyone have any luck removing the black plug and if so how without damaging anything?

Thought the same. If used there, almost appears to block the inlane next to it a bit.(hope I’m wrong)

Yes, Oompa Loompa Odyssey and Wonka's Office are the only two I've gotten to so far. There's also The Most Secret Machine mini wizard mode, but I have yet to earn more than two Golden Tickets to unlock it.

From the guy who wrote the rules:

“The way it came is the way its intended. No post in place in either position. I will add I personally prefer the plug to be removed entirely but I will caution with it not there a small possibility of a ball trap exists. Its fairly easily nudged out if it happens though.”

I’d heard that story but didn’t know exactly where they were talking about until I saw those pictures. My TZ does not have those holes. Interesting!

While I agree, and prefer my games set up tough. But let’s be honest, the guy who “wrote the rules” didn’t design the game, did he?

Similar to the Bally/TZ history and as an owner of a early production one (with pop holes/plugs). Will JJP have the newer playfields without the holes? As someone who enjoys the game- I hope so, atleast the top one(seems to be incorrect)

If I’m stating the (maybe not so) obvious, forgive me, but I believe the black “plug” is a threaded screw. You would need to unscrew it to remove it instead of just pulling it out.

He stated the way it ships is the way it was intended. Not his personal preference, but the way it was designed by Pat.

Perhaps but there is no slots in the "head" of the black plug to insert a screwdriver head into. At least not on mine. The head is a smooth dome.

I have tried to pry it out with no success.

I think the only way may be to drill it out.

Totally agree!

First day with my LE. Halfway through my third game, I got a second ball spit out, then an unlimited multiball, and now a "TROUGH ERROR" which won't let me start another game. Fkn GRRRRR!!

The hole goes the whole way through the playfield. Stick something up from the bottom and gently push it up and out.

LTG : )

Hey, I was just watching the credits roll on my Wonka in attract mode. I saw you there at the end : )

The gobstopper sticker looks great on a black pingulp too!

Highly recommended.

image (resized).jpg

Played a bunch of games on my friend's LE that just showed up a few days ago. It has been great, with just a few minor issues that we could mostly resolve. One though, which I think was mentioned by someone earlier in the thread, is an issue with the lockdown bar receiver screws sticking up too high. As delivered, they touch the glass when you go to slide it out. Thread the screws in to the point where they don't touch the glass, and now you can't latch the lockdown bar. I haven't run into this on another game before. What should we look for? Excess beer seal foam maybe?

It's really just an annoyance, but I'm afraid that one of these days we'll forget and put a big long scratch in the glass.

Yep. Had the same raised screw issue on my Wonka. Just lower as you mention just to clear the glass then simply push down on the lock bar center when latching. In time the beer seal will compress and mold to the glass enough to make it a mute issue. Loving this game. Joe and team did a Great job on the animation to this point. Amazing!

Anybody had this issue yet?

22DAC029-1F5B-4F2A-8915-9FC9A22C7CA3 (resized).jpeg

86F89C27-DFCA-42A9-B884-1153EAFB7957 (resized).jpeg

DB2B2C1B-E0E3-4408-A8D2-05AFFBA63BAD (resized).jpeg

In over 6 years only one other one I ever heard of was on my WOZ. Looks like it split in half. The red arrows point to tiny welds or rivets.

I marked your voice mail for Frank to get you a new one.

LTG : )

bd8dd7e6a5db61e31a106c23ed4edcfa0ea0846c.jpeg (resized).jpg

I found the other side of spinner target ,I'll have to wait and get one from Frank Monday morning

I'm to tired to read back but can someone shed light on my none spinning gobstoper?
Worked for 1 day only.

Each day I get a new error on something different but mostly switch tweaking.

Bloody Great Pin though
(:

Looking good!! So glad the install went smoothly! Keep spreading the pinball love!! ❤️❤️

Zave sum room fur lator Augustus!...

Looks like he exceeded the load of what your spinner could take

I do pound the hell out of that shot I love upper flipper shots my first pin was Whirlwind

So having an issue i need help with...

Ball locks in gobstopper... then i hear a mechanical rotating sound and a ball isnt put in the shooter lane for like 10 seconds. Sometimes it even has to do a ball search b4 ejecting one!
Any advice to troubleshoot?

I had to put my gobstopper lock release at max, which is 22 I think. They are coming out with a new part that's suppose to help the issue. Write tech support to be put on the list to be sent one when they are available.

My captive ball knocker ball fell off today and started rolling down the playfield. Im slightly worried about playfield damage since the ball isn't round and I hit it once before I noticed. I hammered it back down, but is there anything special to do to lock it back on?

Best 5 dollar mod I've ever bought.

IMG_2691 (resized).jpeg

If you can't knurl the end of the shaft and press on. Try super glue or 5 minute epoxy.

LTG : )

I have No "Big Points" text on my LE

Nobody does. It was on the prototype.

I do

Does anyone know the solution for this trough error?

Replacement trough optic boards.

I finally got around to installing my headphone jack / volume control and the shaker motor on my SE yesterday. Magic. I now have everything I wanted from the LE. Time to start shopping for some mods for the shooter and playfield.

The shaker is great - Wonkatania Mania slowly ramps up the rumble and by the end the whole room is shaking Wonkavator Multiball is fun too.

Also: I really cannot stand the diverter. It's not working as intended, and it's causing a casual player like me to miss out on limited opportunities to take advantage of crucial (yet limited) shots for big points or rules. They need to figure this out, pronto.

Thanks!So is the shaker motar used enough?Try practice lower right flipper to upper left flipper for more spinner shots

Reflowing solder seems to fix the issue or jjp will send u new ones.

I'd call BS on this, unless you're into SMD solder work. Nearly everything on the opto boards are SMD. I reflowed all of the "through-hole" components on my opto boards and it made not a bit of difference.

The shaker motor is tastefully used. Perfect amount.

I hear what you're saying about the bottom right to upper left pass (it's needed to trigger kid multiball anyway), but that still doesn't change the fact that moving a ball through the gobstopper ramp proves to be a crap shoot as to whether or not you're going to be able to use the upper left. Not to mention, if you short-plunge for a skill shot to the saucer, the first place you're headed after you use the upper right flipper is the center ramp, which goes right to the diverter too. That's where 90% of my angst comes into play. Land a ball in the saucer, then trigger a computer award like "super spinner" for example, shoot the ball up the center ramp, watch it roll to the diverter where it should drop down to the magnet, and *dammit*, it just rolls on by.

I feel your pain, my diverted just seems to mess up when ball is moving to quick.What shaker did you use and where did you get it?

I bought mine from Pinball Life.

Hey guys! After a week of ownership and no issues I got the dreaded ball trough spitting out balls at random. All the switches are recognizing the balls so I don’t have a solution. I’ve called Frank but no response yet. This sucks!

I just started a new stream on twitch. I’d love you all to come by and hang out! I will have wonka LE with direct audio and video, as well as this weekend I will be receiving JP pro and The Big Lebowski! So stop by, watch some pins, get drunk together and shoot me a follow if you enjoy it. Logo and overlays coming in the near future too!

The channel is DeathSaveArcade. Also can follow on Twitter @DeathSaveArcade or hit the notifications button on twitch to see when streams go live. I look forward to hopefully meeting lots of ya in there.

Now I am gonna call JJP again....

Sounds like a recall needs to be issued. There HAS to be a way for JJP to zero in on which units are fitted with the opto boards that were subbed out to the "other" pcb house.

All of the potentially affected opto boards need to be pulled and swapped immediately. Get ahead of it, instead of playing "catch-up."

Hey bud, that twitch is me, yes. But the new stream will be under “DeathSaveArcade” there are 4 tests videos up from last night and today. I wouldn’t watch 1 or 2. But 3 is a good one on wonka. Fair warning, it’s a test so audio levels and things got tweaked after so it’s a little high. On test 4 we had the ball trough issues. Test 5 is tftc!

I will be getting logos and overlays etc, but I need to find someone to help me create those. The wonkavision will also be direct video as well in the future. My he splitter came faulty and couldn’t be used so it was only direct video and audio on the main screen. I have the same setup as Deadflip from his stream guide so the quality of video and audio is high. I will have direct audio and video whenever possible.

Look forward to seeing more of ya and hanging out together!

is your ball jam opto active too? if the machine thinks that this opto (ball jam) is being activated, then it will try to clear the jam by sending out another ball. it is switch 6 i believe.

Nope, that one is yellow. Not green.