Hi!

For those of you having requested technical support from JJP; how long does it usually take before you hear anything from them? I’ve reported an issue with my left lane magnet on october 11 (so 13 days ago today), but it has remained silent since then. I would’ve expected some sort of reply by now.

I am not keen on spending my money on trans-atlantic phone calls if e-mail correspondence should work too. I’m not sure either on how JJP feels on making intercontinental phone calls

Luckily my distributor is now helping me out, so I’ll wait and see how that works out first.

I’m reading all these posts about lowering the difficulty and I have to say I feel tempted to do the same. After owning the game for a couple of months I’ve played only 3-ball games on the medium difficulty and activated Wonka’s just once. (And scored a mere 1.6 mil that game).

I’m reading mostly about players getting 4 tickets so I’m wondering which one is usually missing. I’m guessing Wonkavator?

Yes, I have te same experience. GC is 4.5M.
Obtained the second golden ticket last week for the first (and so far only) time and I screamed for a bit. I found myself doing a little victory dance when Wonka’s Office was starting. Drained quite quickly, but I did not really care, I HAD BEEN THERE!! I would have never been on such a high if the road to it had been easy. This felt like all my practice and effort was finally being rewarded...

And while typing this I can hear a whispering voice calling out to me from the start button.....”press me....”

Ok, I caved. I have decided to move the extra outlane post to the higher position. I can’t seem to get the black placeholder out of there though. I’ve tried pushing it from underneath the playfield, but it won’t budge. Approaching it from the upper side seems a bad idea. I really do not want to damage the playfield.

Any advice?

This is how it works; you play a kid in multiball. If you do not score it’s respective jackpot before you drain you won’t get another chance until you’ve played all of the other kids. The game rules are quite hard in that respect. If you’ve brought a kid into multiball, you will not be able to bring him or her back untill you’ve played the other kids in MB too.
Once you’ve brought all the kids into kid MB, they all “reset” after that and you can start over to qualify them again the same way you do at the beginning of a game.

I’m not completely sure what makes them greyed out, but I believe that means you’ve brought them into multiball and there not available anymore.

I hope this clarifies!

I have a small issue with my flippers, ever since I got the machine NIB. They’re not symetrical.
By looking at general playfield photo’s, I get the impression that the right flipperbat is mounted too far to the right. I’ve watched the flipper assembly video, but I’m not sure what to adjust to get it in the correct position.

Another thing is that when the flippers are up, the left one reaches higher than the right flipper. Which one is correct? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

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No, it just ends when you drain two balls.

I haven’t been able to complete the 2nd level yet. But reading about level 3.... wow... That stuff is not meant to be completed by any mortal

Well... after one year, I just moved that optional “cheater post” to the higher position. I am shocked how much of difference that makes! I improved my GC score, that I had set months ago, twice in one afternoon playing! Reached phase 3 of wonkavator MB for the first time. Scored a third golden ticket for the first time and, having scored 3 out of 5 gobstopper jackpots, felt that the 4th was within reach.

This cannot be a coincidence. I was trying to figure out what was happening, but I feel it’s mostly the multiballs where the difference happens. I think, with no extra post or, the post in the lower position more balls get forced to the outlane when the inlane area gets congested. Like when one is coming from the wireform, a subsequent ball from the playfield gets pushed away to the outlane. With the post in the higher position it just keeps it’s position in front of the returnlane awaiting it’s turn to feed my left flipper.

I haven’t read about any experiences similar to this, but I’m sure there must be...

Check your stance. Make sure you have a good grip on the machine. Be prepared. Hope for the best.
But that might not be the answer you were looking for...

I kind of enjoy this aspect of the game. Can be nerve racking, especially when you’re on your last ball and got something like wonka’s office armed...

you know it’s coming

Yeah... about those playfield issues...

I have my machine a little over a year now. The playfield is from may 2019. I never paid any attention to pooling/chipping, but I recently decided to install the Cliffy protectors. It comes with carbon washers and I've removed the starposts. Not happy with what I am seeing. Any advice on how to deal with it? Is there a way to flatten the pooling, so the washers are flush with the playfield when I intstall them?

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I wholeheartedly agree with your reply. Thanks to cooked71 for pointing me in the right direction. I managed to figure something out to get rid of the pooling; I used a hairdryer to warm up a putty knife and pressed it down on the playfield with some parchment paper in between. It did the job! I have placed the washers flush with the playfield so now the marks are completely invisible.

As you mentioned, this is just a cosmetic issue. Gameplay is so much more important (at least to me) and I have been lucky enough to only have the magnet coil broken. JJP sent me a new one. Didn't have any gobstopper/trough issues. The playfield issues won't keep me awake during the night, but they do feel sort of... unnecessary

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I have got a weird new issue to deal with:

Today when I started playing the game I stumbled on an issue which I can't explain.
When I shoot the saucer the following happens:
- Right slingshot triggers
- A captive ball mode is started, even though no captive ball mode is qualified. If it is Slugworth MB, 3 balls get launched into play
- Kid MB is started with whichever kid is qualified (not collected)
- If the captive ball is at “?”, a captive ball mystery mode is started

And I get a random sequence of call-outs/music/lightshow it seems. I'm not sure about that one, since so many things happen at once.

I've tried a factory reset in the menu and did a full re-install of the 1.31 code.

Does anyone have a suggestion what to look for or to do?

Thanks for the suggestion! I have tried the TV eject and it triggers the full row of “return 1 j200-1”
The connector in the backbox seems fine. I have been moving around cables in that area to get the cliffy protector installed. But there is nothing under tension at the moment. What would be a next step?

It worked fine before. I cannot find any compromised insulation there, but here’s what I’ve discovered; the opto works fine until it touches the little metal mount it is attached to. Then the full row is triggered. Something shorts in the little opto piece? Solution is to replace the opto?

yes, I was just thinking about that. I think I’ll find something.
And I am still wondering about the cliffy protector. Opto touches the mount, mount touches the saucer metal, saucer metal touches cliffy and cliffy touches ballguides and posts. It shouldn’t make any difference, but still...

Thank you so much for your help!

edit: insulationtape between the mount and the saucer metal. It works!

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So, first thoughts on code 2.0

I’ve been playing the game for a little over two years now and collected 2 tickets every now and then. 3 tickets only once. After installing the new code, I checked the settings and decided to go with factory medium difficulty preset. First things I noticed were some minor changes in the light show. And the centerloop being available to advance Super X. Then I started playing…
Man, things were going quickly from there! The new code allows for a LOT faster progression through the factory modes. I couldn’t keep up with what was happening sometimes. Activating modes while in gobstopper multiball. Before I realized, the saucer was lit for Wonka’s Office and I hadn’t even activated Oompa-loompa odyssey yet…

I always felt that gobstopper MB was too difficult after the third gobstopper. As I recall, each ramp was no longer lit after collecting a jackpot, requiring you to shoot all the ramps individually (please correct me if I’m wrong there). As if it wasn’t hard enough already. Requiring only 3 super jackpots this should now be doable. Same goes for wonkavator. I can do level one and level two. Level three felt very demanding having to confirm the jackpot with the captive ball.
For the kid MB: it only feels fair that you can continue where you left off when you drain. And the greatest and most sensible change: you can now see which jackpots you’ve collected on the Wonkavision!! This should have been there in the 1.0 code!

Other cosmetic changes feel like a nice polish. New movie clip when locking a wonkavator ball, slight lightshow changes and slightly different shaker motor behaviour.

I think it’s all buffs with the new code. The only nerf I’ve found was the single super spinner shot is only available with Kid MB lit (in the factory preset). I’ll miss the satisfying 2x wonka bar spinner rips… might change that setting
All things considered it puts Pure Imagination within reach of mere mortals like myself. Although after this first impression I think I’ll choose a harder preset in the long run. Have to keep the challenge to feel the need to hit that start button again.

Anyone found that new secret super skill shot yet? (Don’t spoil, just interested to know if anyone discovered it )