Just joined the club 2wks ago this game is super fun and gorgeous! Spent the first wk havin fun modding and then finally read tilt forums rules & watched zaphX greatly explain things and the gameplay totally opened up to me-I added the ‘cheat post’ at the same time & my 2nd game I got 4tix and 19.5 mil where prior I had only gotten 2tix twice and 13mil!
So my question is whether the ‘cheat post’ is really cheating or did I just have an epic game?!(; It felt like stock was a super drain out the left and I wanted to be able to nudge the outlane - but just wondering if people switched back to stock after trying it out?
A few custom things I did that turned out nice for me was adding an ice blue led on the back of the Wonkavision pointed down & lit up the two tv lanes, & put a purple led strip pointed down on the ramp plastic in the back left that added accent to that dark area. I also felt the right ramp sign blocked too much view of the spinner and ball path to the upper right flipper, so swapping out the lower profile Mezel ramp sign opened up that view it just created a lot of light pollution using their led strip - but changed that led to a purple strip with a dimmer from Comet and dialed the dim to the lowest setting and it turned out great.

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Thanks, I tried doing the two smaller post caps with the tops barely cut off but the ball still got stuck in the left in lane, so I had to go with one regular post rubber on the left and no rubber on the inbetween post. I don’t like the idea of no rubber there but I figure bashing the captive ball is more abuse than this post would take.

I feel like that shot is a Wonka right of passage. It took me a week before I finally found that sweet spot and started nailing the shot. Until then I thought maybe something was wrong with the spinner or guide rail, but after patience and persistence I finally ‘found it’ and the payoff is great. It sounds like your machine has a couple of other issues so I’m not discounting the possibility it’s a setup issue, just saying that shot was frustrating for me too that first week after opening the box.

When the ball drops from the magnet try shooting it around the line above the arrow on the playfield, depending on your pitch either right on the line or a hair above/below.

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Ghostbusters

If you already have an external sub then for $35 the Pinsub adapter made an amazing difference for me - instantly went from thin sound to full, well rounded sound with loads more bass. If you don’t have an ex sub then just up to you how much money/which way you wana go.

Just running a wire from Wonka’s cab sub to an external bass doesn’t do the trick (like it usually does with most pins) even when tweaking the low pass / frequencies on the ex sub, something about how Wonka’s audio was done is just crazy thin.
For my use it sounds great now after the adapter to ex sub, if someone wants to go all out with the most options and more $$ then of course a Pinwoofer overhaul will provide that, just didn’t seem necessary for me.
As for the headphone jack mine sounds completely void of bass I can’t play it with my Bose headphones, compare playing Pirates with headphones to Wonka with headphones and Wonka’s is unbelievably thin.

It sure doesn’t but for whatever reason this is the case on Wonka

I changed out the stock right ramp sign with this one from Mezel Mods and it allows you to see the ball path to the upper right flipper. The sign comes with a crazy bright white led strip that I swapped out for purple led strip and put a dimmer on it and dimmed it almost all the way down. The sign really doesn’t need a light at all, and would also be great if it said Factory Ramp instead of just Ramp, but it’s nice to see the whole ball path.

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Ran into this same issue on this title, usually just alligator off cab sub to ex sub does the trick, but for whatever reason not on Wonka. The Pinsub adapter fixed this for me and it magically has bass now, you’ll feel it as soon as you plunge, and hitting the gobstopper sounds delicious.

I got 3rd & 4th tix at same time on a string of multiballs and then drained had no idea what just happened or that a mini wiz was ready at the saucer! It was ‘only’ 19.5mil then next had a 3tix game that was 32mil, still chasing that 4th tic mini wiz. Had a Wonka’s office that was upper flipper to cam ramp to lower left flipper then hit the captive ball and ricochet through spinner and into saucer and ended Wonkas office it was 2.7mil in like 2 shots. The scoring in this game is wild.

I just installed the gate mod today too and it already feels stock to me, & no more pop bumper ptsd!(; I was concerned that it might slow the game down, but after install I was very pleased that I feel like there’s still the same flow, just less stress every time the ball heads for the pops. I had a few times where the ball stayed in the pops a tad longer bouncing between the lower pop and the gate, but still a nice trade off for the dreaded sdtm. Great work by the gate meister Travahontas

Regarding the gate, theres still plenty of randomness, often the ball still flies through it and as noted sometimes you still get a sdtm. It’s not exactly a “controlled gate” where your ball is always caught and safely placed at the guide to trickle down, instead it feels more like a chance to alleviate some of the punishment while still allowing the game to flow. Also if your house has guests or children playing then you’ve watched all of them not listen to you about soft plunging and instinctively full plunge every time & often to their doom, so it makes their experience more enjoyable.
For me the only down side has been sometimes the ball gets kicked back into the pops off the gate, and this could ring up some extra pop points that you would otherwise not have, but that seems to be the trade off.
As for changing the auto plunge to not go into the pops - that’s a slippery slope of changing Pat’s intentions!(; but that’s the point to each their own as long as you enjoy.

Go for the cool white but add a dimmer to it. Dial the dimmer down a good bit so you still get the full crisp lit translite but it warms it up a little being dimmer, plus when its full bright you get a ton of reflection on the playfield if you play in the dark.