I love my CE, have only got 2 tickets so far. Pitch is at 7.0, couldn't deal with the ball floating at 6.5. The right out lane is a pain in the ass and the rubber piece for that post to ease the pain is too big, have to find smaller rubber piece to make that work. In the mean time I've been playing it with no post, it's super fast for me at 7.0 but the shots are pretty sweet and way better than any of my favorite Stern games.

These rubber post nuts with a hole poked through them at PinballLife work great.

AFF9D412-6E10-4713-9E42-A5F461B508D6 (resized).jpeg

Main physical difference is the se does not have a physical ball lock.

Other differences

Cabinet art
Backglass art
Powder coat
Invisiglass
Shaker motor
Headphone jack

Also the ball lock has lots of rgb lighting that really adds to the allready incredible lightshows. The lock also changes the game for the better as it keeps the ball out of the dangerous pop bumpers more and you also get more chances at the skill shot and computer awards /modes.

I just went through this choice and I’m glad I got the LE.

I noticed today that when i shoot the gobstopper ramp and it comes down to the flippers, the ball on the way down hits the metal diverter. Is that normal? It doesnt stop the ball but hits it enough to shake the diverter and housing it seems...

I am having issues just not sure how to roll back. Or I am seeing things for the first time like flippers dying during modes.

Not yet but cleared hurdle and JJP made it easy to get it now despite him no longer being Distro.

I'm just ready to have fun playing some Wonka with you guys!

Good news!

Looking at a couple right now. What is the deal with the pf...Are they all bad? chipping? pooling ? what was their solutions. LE I am looking at has a chip and some pooling.

All true. You simply have to decide if this extra bling is worth $2000. If it is, go for it. If not, use that money for something else and enjoy your SE, which is an amazing machine.

Thanks again for your repeat business!

I bought a used SE with some pooling. You never notice it from a players perspective. Has it gotten worse over a couple hundred plays? Can’t tell.

Unless you are in the habit of hovering over your machine with a flashlight like a lunatic and shining it at all kinds of funny angles to catch the light properly to reveal the offending posts it’s really not a big deal. It’s happened on like four of my games and I’ve stopped worrying about it.

Use yelobird's playfield iron and vireland's mylar circles to seal em. It works.

Is there a method to fix the damage/pooling under the ball guides?

uder ball guides (resized).JPG

Keep getting a ball stuck here. Any suggestions

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Is the mech still rotating like it’s supposed to be?

If so, is the ball magnetized and stuck to the rail in there? Change them out.

Are you using silverjet balls by any chance?

Figured out my gobstopper diverter issue. The spring is far too loose and it was letting the diverter sit almost all the way down. I didnt realize that I had the issue where the ball was actually going to the upper left flipper far more than it should have because the spring wasnt lifting the diverter as it should.

I basically looped it to the nub further down the spring to make it stronger. Also, someone mentioned here to add a small extension for better leverage. Thats a good idea also. One thing I have to fix is since I have spring hanging off the back of the nub, it is hitting the back of the chocolate factory back and getting slightly stuck.. when one ball runs through, it hits the diverter and it goes up and ball still comes down.. not a huge issue.

But diverter issue essentially fixed.

Does anyone know what kind of replacement spring that would use?

Looks like it is getting caught on the lip. I wonder if it's an alignment thing. I'll check the settings.

Using the balls it came with.

Yes, but it involves partially disassembling your game and using an iron to re-melt the clear and make it flat again.

What's the manufacturing date of your game?

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/diy-playfield-post-repair-and-chip-proofing-how-to-all-brands

July 2019

Ouch. Sorry to hear that. Your playfield will only get worse over time. It's part of the defective batch.

Looking at a Wonka with a pretty good size chip by the Bars collected inserts. Do other Wonka's have chipping issues. Only reason I would get it is because its a good price and would come with a new pf (that I will never swap

IMG_1834 (resized).jpeg

Mine chipped in a similar location due to pooling along the ball guides. Feels bad, man.

Could you pinpoint chip location?

Can b minimized and greatly slowed down tho if precautions are taken . I have a july also . Hope to get a new playfield soon .

Mines the same.. I added rubber and nylon washers after flating it all out. Its holding up ok considering how many plays I put on it. Hope to get a new playfield to swap in at some point. It's my favorite pin and I'll have it for a long long time.

There is a Huge paint touch up between the 1 and 2 inserts. That would be hard to look past. Sorry.

It’s the red spot between the 1 2 10 25 inserts

At least is somewhat gummy bear shaped...

good point So do all pf have issues? or just early ones?

First run mostly and not all those are effected. Oct on is usually ok. Thsts the first I seen a chip somewhere other than posts area tho. Usually its confined to under posts where it's not very noticeable and dont effect game play

Yeah that's the first one I've seen just sitting out there staring at you. That's naaaaasty.

Oh shit that looks like something quite different then what we’ve been seeing!I don’t know what the hell caused that

Can you negotiate an even better price...?

I wonder what the game tastes like. Surely the owner thought it lickable, and took a big chomp accidentally.

Oh that’s something he’s looking to buy from a previous owner.I don’t think that’s on the manufacturer?

Just received my Wonka CE and it is truely amazing, but unfortunately I've got an issue straight out of box that maybe somebody here can help me with. The game starts and says to go into the test screen. The test screen says that the camera can not be intialized and another screen says the camera can not be found. I have opened the backbox up and have traced the camera to the USB port. I've removed and reseated both the USB connection and the connection directly behind the camera without any luck. I've also upgraded the firmware to 1.33 but this hasn't helped either. I've put a service ticket in to JJ but do any of the gurus out there have any suggestions to try to get this working?

Sounds like the camera might be dead Contact JJP for a replacement.

Try changing usb ports to see if that changes anything.

I had two bad cameras on my potc, one was dead right out of the box from jjp. You’ll likely need a replacement.

Hey guys curious to hear thoughts on theme integration and overall ‘fun’ factor. I know I know. It’s all opinion. I need a lot of time on a pin before I know whether I like or loathe it so looking for peoples thoughts.

I have a medium size collection (12 pins) so I don’t need a pin that does it all. I really just like something that is fun (like monster bash) and/or something that is pretty deep (like my BM66) having both is great...

Thoughts? Thanks!!

Game is excellent imo.. just bc most videos are not synced to voice does not hurt it at all . Gameplay is top notch due to amazing layout and code is plenty deep with lots to do and go for. Light shows are mesmerizing and some of the best ever and I cant get enough if the game even after months and thousand plays....just very well done.

What he said^

So my LE started putting two balls at a time in the shooter lane. I played a couple of games like this thinking it was a switch problem. I then realized that the newton ball had broken loose and was in the mix with the other six. This was concerning, but so far I haven't found any playfield damage from the newton ball.

Anyone know if there is a standard replacement for the newton ball, or does it need to come from JJP? I see where some of them are game specific.

Check if JJP has them. Otherwise - https://www.pinballlife.com/newton-pinball.html

LTG : )

Having a issue with my Wonkavator. The game ends mid-turn after locking a ball in the Wonkavator. Sometimes it happens right after plunging the ball while other times it take a few minutes. I rolled back the code and it's still doing it. I have been checking plugs under the table not seeing anything. Has anyone else had this issue?

Here's a video it's not that good. Hard to play with one hand and film.