After about 10 games on Wonka, I wouldn't say I was underwhelmed, but I certainly wasn't whelmed. However over the next 20 or so games it has really been growing on me. You really need to understand the rules and then it opens up. It is tough to just walk up to it and make progress in it, it's just not that intuitive. But there's a ton of info on the display on what to do if you know where to look. For the huge amount of stuff in the game, most of which is stackable, they've actually done the screen really well. It just takes time to work it all out. During a longish game last night I said to myself, yep this could actually be a masterpiece. Time will tell.
Of course any game needs to be set up right to be enjoyable. And there are solutions to the darkness factor. With the bubbling slings, I would wait until a solution has been announced on that one. Otherwise, it's a great game to own and give yourself time to explore.

Update on my post from last night. Sent a message to JJP support last night at 9:30. At 9 this morning, I had an email from them and new trough opto boards are already in the mail on the way to me at no charge. That's great customer service!

That's Steve !

LTG : )

Yes it was! Awesome sauce : )

Wow this game is amazing.. here is a few pictures of mine and the mods.... still have few more to add.20190915_021019 (resized).jpg20190915_021154 (resized).jpg20190915_021209 (resized).jpg

I notice you have a plastic guard over your right wireform, is that a mod or a factory item/add on?

Im getting so many airballs out of it this last week I shot off an oompa leg and the camera lens itself .. think I can glue them but need to get in touch with my distributor for that plastic

Looks factory to me? Late July build date. No airballs on mine and its playing fast and mean... i have it at 7.0 degrees

I think they started the plastic guard with the LE shipments.

My responses below:

Hey guys I got to play Willy Wonka for the first time and i have to say i walked away extremely disappointed and underwhelmed. I had been looking forward to buying one but after playing this and the playfield issues im thinking of holding off. I wanted to ask owners and people who have had more time on the game thier opinions. These are the points i left with.
1st. Game was dark like hands down the darkest jjp ive ever seen. The Upper left corner was pitch black and i couldn't see what was back there. Couldnt see the pops either. I've seen a few streams and the game was a lot brighter than this.

This can easily be fixed with backboard lighting (see pic)

2nd. People say this game shoots like butter and the shots are satisfying. I didn't see it. The flippers(at least on this game) had just enough power to barely make it up the ramps. 90% of all shots couldn't make it up ramps, orbits or really anything. Just came right back and drained.

No issues with flippers on my game, good and strong. Sounds like a power issue and/or flippers turned down.

3rd. This game is a brutal drain monster. I heard what people had said and didnt think it would be too bad but boy was i wrong. That left outlane is the stuff of nightmares. Game is right up there with Ghost-busters and star wars. Played 5 games lasted barely 8 minutes

Depends on how you set the game up, posts can be moved on right and left outlanes.

4th. I had no idea what i was supposed to do. I played 5 games and not once did i start a mode, or do anything. I came to the machine with no knowledge and left even more confused than when i started. I stuck around and watched other people play and all were just as frustrated as I was. One customer even went over to the staff and asked what she was supposed to do.

As with most jjp games, it takes a while to learn the rules, once you do, you have better appreciation. Jurassic Park rules aren’t obvious either.

5th. I saw the pooling of the clear coat by the slings that have plauged Wonkas and it's a lot more noticeable than i thought it would be. The jurrasic park had washers on it's slings as well.

Known issue, I didn’t have any playfield issues. Adding star posts and washers seems to work to cover/prevent issues from getting worse.194A26DC-8912-4C91-BE16-BF5F8549F1EA (resized).jpeg

Thats what I have here..

It's from the factory to prevent loss of limbs to the oompa loompas - safety first! I'd suggest contacting your distributor or JJP directly to get one of those guards.

So my Wonka LE died Friday night. It was running in attract mode while I was watching tv(I enjoy looking over at that light show once in a while) and it made a few “pop/fiz” noises, yes yes I’m certain that’s the technical term, and then all of the monitors and playfield went out. I check the fuses in the head and they all appear to be ok, are there any other fuses that I don’t see?
I also submitted a service ticket with JJP but am hopeful someone here knows of some fuse that I could check that I didn’t see.
I can hear the hum of the game getting power but nothing turns on/boots up.

This was one of those situations of “you want what you can’t have” even more over the weekend. All I wanted to do was play my Wonka.

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Main or a secondary fuse “fizzled” out maybe?

Possibly F1or F2 on the right side of the I/o board

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Is that a printed WONKA manual? Where did you get it? I thought that JJP was not going to produce a printed version

Its my pirates CE one, but the layout of the power boards/pc is pretty much the same

Thanks! Steve emailed me back so I’m going to try his solution when I get home from work today. Dumb adulting is getting in the way of me getting my Wonka working again...

Ya, I can't wait to retire someday (or win the lottery ... just once is all I need).

Is this true? No printed manual ever?

I believe Butch is currently working on it. He's the best!

I have posted on this subject previously (post #897 Wonka Reveal string). When I last spoke with Jack at JJP ( 4 months ago) he told me that it was an open question on a printed manual but that some form of manual (CD?) would likely be provided. I have since spoken with other JJP team members who told me that they want a printed manual but there is a real cost control struggle going on within the company and the odds for a printed manual were not good. I hope that changes but they have been gradually cutting back on providing printed manuals (used to be with all LE's but only POTC CE came with one included) so I think the odds are it will be a CD only. They are great but also expensive but, so is a WONKA LE and CE.

I hope the Wonka manual will be just as thorough as the other JJP manuals. If they don't sell the printed version, there will be another big complaint issue and someone will likely organize a group buy-in to have them printed (was starting to happen with JJPOTC manuals until a distributor helped out with finding some more), JJP would get upset at that sighting copyright issues, and it would turn into a real mess. Hopefully JJP sees the negatives of not having printed manuals available for purchase, and will at least make them in batches like they did with DI.

Or ... hopefully a distributor will speak up and debunk this rumor so that the uprising gets shot down quickly.

Just curious on the group's thoughts. Would a .pdf version not be satisfactory to all?

Would the ability to pull up documentation on a tablet or smart phone or print up the pages you need on paper work for everyone?

Fewer and fewer appliance vendors have printed owners manuals included nowadays. It's all "Online" to reduce costs.

I'd be good with a PDF. They are nice collectors items, but having a PDF for reference would be nice to have. Could always print and bind on my own if needed.

Not just to reduce costs. Online ones can be updated. Printed ones not so easy.

LTG : )

And a bit more environmentally friendly too..

I’d have been happy with a pdf too, but a printed one is handy at times also

PDF is fine and you can always just print out the pages you want if you are looking at a specific thing and want paper.

the printed manuals were never really about the actual technical information, it was about the "behind the scenes" items that are included in the manual.

Question on pricing. I just called my dist. About a Wonka le.. in the past I have paid 9500 shipped for my potc le. I am told now I have to pay 300 for shipping . Are all you guys paying delivery on top of the 9500 for the game ?

In the past on JJP games, distributors could give extras like free shipping and stuff. No more.

LTG : )

Call others distros

No, just taxes. arranged pick-up. Abel Electronics in Sterling Heights, MI

Yes. I was charged taxes and delivery. Next purchase, I’ll be more prudent of a buyer

Still dealing with very frequent reset issues... it doesn't appear to be software related.. rolled back from 1.14 to 1.06, tried 1.13.. reseated all the cables in the backbox.. still does it maybe 1/5-10 games.

JJP utilizes MAP pricing and part of that is dealers aren't technically allowed to provide incentives like free shipping.

Check the easy thing - make sure that the power cord connection to the back of the pin is seated all the way ... maybe wiggle it with the power on to see if there is a connection issue there. Then check the main voltages going from the transformer to the boards. On my Pirates, I had a loose wire on my transformer connector that would cause occasional issues. Check the connections and the power levels (voltages). That took a while to trace and diagnose my power issue that seems similar to yours - was just a wire pin not seated all the way into the main plastic connector.

I was playing wonkavator multiball when it did it to me yesterday. Whole game went dark and rebooted. Like someone hit the reset button on the power supply. Over current protection? Has JJP support been helpful knockerlover ?

It could be a bad BAG board or USB cable. I had crashes and resets. Downloaded my logs from the machine and sent them to JJP Support and they determined it was one or both of these. They sent replacements and I haven't had an issue since.

Call JJP Support, folks.

Having trough issues. Help appreciated. Thanks.

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these trough boards are absolute garbage. The solder pads on them are no bigger than a pinhead, the size of the component pins themselves. These things aren’t made to stand up to commercial location use. I’ve replaced ours once, and resoldered al the LED pins and headers twice.

Open a ticket under Support on the website or call the NJ number tomorrow to get new ball trough boards.

LTG : )

LTG, love you dude and the other JJP support guys. But we did that and the same crappy design, unreliable trough boards showed up.

Thanks, LTG.

So far I’ve had the CPU and memory replaced. By the time I’m done I’ll have the entire machine replaced. Can’t wait until the warranty runs out.

Call them about it. No idea how bad ones were sent again. Obviously a mistake was made.

I am sorry about that.

LTG : )

Any chance JJP may switch to a different supplier for the CE? Or will we keep having to switch the boards until the warranty runs out?

LOL, got delayed during set up. But now have game working at version 1.09 (as shipped). Things to do include
1. updating to 1.14,
2. fixing gobstopper Subway/VUK issue (i’m hoping to just make an easy bend as many have done),
3. diagnosing and fixing the Wonkavator VUK - it is firing randomly, and wonkavator would not lock any balls even though I worked all the way to Wonkavator multi-ball.

I agree with the majority of you on here that this game is super fun, super smooth shots, A ton of stuff to do and will be a long time until I even come close to figuring it out. I love the flavor of this game!

Pics are of my favorite things that match!

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I believe they already have.

Lots of good ones out there. No idea how a bad set got out for a warranty part.

LTG : )

You won't have to switch anything on your phantom pinball machine!

This pin is really good.. the design is one my favorites ever and its just so fun. Will see in a few month's if i love it like i do my dile but i think it will be my number 1 ever. So glad jjp brought on pat l bc he makes a dam fine pin.

I seem to recall reading here that some (all?) LEs arrived with the Wonkavator lock function turned off in settings. Have you checked this?