I picked up a Wonka LE two days before Christmas. Distributor here said JJP re-released 200 more. They allowed him 2 and I was lucky to get one of them as the other was sold. I missed this game originally and am so happy to get one. It's been years since a new game and I love it. This is also first JJP game and I have to say I am impressed. I love the theme and it is so well done IMHO. This one is LE# 1100. I am curious if there are any higher serial numbers out there or could this be the last one of this batch? The build date does not show day, just 12/21.

I'm having trouble with the left ramp diverter on a new game. Lots of times the diverter tries to divert ball to lower flipper but it only stops the ball which then slowly continues onto the wire ramp. The diverter is working fine but I noticed my left ramp has a significant lean to the right. This causes ball to hug the right side and avoid the drop hole on the left. I am wondering if this ramp is supposed to be level near the diverter end?

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Don't forget oompa loompa multiball. A very cool mode, the custom music track is great, especially when you hit shots.

Actually that is a different problem. Mine had that one too. The spring that pulls the diverter arm back up is too weak. It acted lazy and hung down a little just as you described. I added a second light spring and have had no more problems with the diverter arm getting in the way when it shouldn't. I think JJP put too light of a spring on this recent batch of Wonka's. Well at least a few anyway. Does your left ramp exit lean right like mine does?

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Fixed problem with diverter

Found the problem. Took off lower left wire form and found it was bent causing plastic portion of ramp to lean down to the right. Also one fork(upper right) of wire form was installed wrong at factory. Wire should not be inside the plastic ramp.

Saw something new during my best game so far. It was called ransom. You could raise the ransom by hitting certain shots. Unfortunately did not complete before losing that ball. I love how this game has new surprises that pop up. There is a lot more depth to this game than it may look like on the surface. My best game is 19.26M with three golden tickets. This is way higher than my average game. Have had this game about 3 weeks. Factory rules except enabled replay and special to award extra balls. I really like this game!

That could be. I think I had 248 bars on that game. It makes sense that they would tie the mode to Wonka bars. The lady in the movie had to "think about" whether to surrender her case of Wonka bars for her husbands release.... after saying she would pay anything, anything!

Unfortunately I did not get enough time figure out how to end ransom.

What I think would be really cool! If games had enough memory to allow you to "review" your last game on the monitor. I would love to see some of the things I am missing that are going on the LCD. If I try to look up there while ball is in play I usually lose it. They could add an adjustment that allows review of last game. If adjustment is set to on, then when game ends it questions you: Review last game? Left flipper = no, Right flipper = yes. Then allow left flipper to rewind and right to fast forward. Push both flippers at once to end review. Of course this would probably be best only for home settings.

So far it seems no one knows how to end or collect ransom value. I only noticed that the ransom value could be raised by hitting certain shots(can't remember which). I did not have time to see any more about it before I lost the ball in play.

By gobstopper target do you mean the "secret machine" just below the big gobstopper?

I'm still getting to know some of the shots and call outs. I hear the game say things like "shoot the saucer" and I'm like: I don't really see one in this game?

Happened to glance up and see the scene where Charlie Bucket finds a silver dollar in the street drain while I was playing. Not sure what I did? Wondering if this has something to do with the lost Golden ticket? Not really sure what I did when I get a golden ticket yet. With enough play I suppose I will figure out how to purposefully go after them.

That makes sense. Sort of cool the game would use a quote like that considering the saucer is not really visible.

Curious if anyone has experienced flipper fade from coils over-heating on Wonka? I see it's been a subject on some other JJP titles such as pirates. Saw this post about a simple/cost effective solution(from Stef95 post #17361): https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/jjp-pirates-of-the-caribbean-official-owners-and-fan-club/page/348

Cool. I saw it once and my feeling is that if it's associated with special it must play the clip when you light special. I do have replay and special set to award an extra ball which were off by default on 2.03.

It's not just you. It's got to be confusing to new players at times. I have been confused. The words on the ramps don't exactly standout either. Especially where I have my games because it's kind of dark and this game does not have the brightest G.I. I also heard it say something like "shoot the factory ramp". I think that is the right ramp? Confusing because the left ramp leads to the diverter that looks like a factory but the right ramp is near the smoke stack.

I have been wondering what the camera ramp was. I sometimes mistake it for the left ramp.

Nice to know. Sounds like a problem on Pirates anyway. I think long games with multiplayer are when fade is most noticable because coils over-heat. I could see having long games on Wonka. I have not noticed fade yet.

Interesting. I am going to try to watch more closely for this when all magnets are going. My flippers at still at default but feel just right to me.

For sure. No need to look for problems. As for the confusion with the call outs and different names for the same shots. I personally like as much variety with quotes as possible. It may lend some confusion at first. In the long run though it makes each game feel a little different. For me anyway...quotes that tell you where to shoot can become some of the most annoying things in the long run. You will figure out where to shoot in time. I have owned games that would repeat where to shoot over and over with the exact same quote. I really appreciate the variety of call outs in this game for various shots, modes, even drains. It makes for a much less repetitive experience and a more classy feel to the game. A little temporary confusion is well worth the trade off. JJP.....Don't fix anything here please.

Love it, a true classic and a must have for me. It was so unexpected to see that them. It's just now been 50 years since release. To top if off Pat & the team did such a nice job with it. What a great pin!

How very sad that you can't call those naughty kids a Brat today. Wake up Dahl family! Wait a minute, sounds like they are "woke".

The one valid reason I see for changing Brat to Kid is that Charlie did not belong in that group, but still?

That's amazing. I figured he would be living in Germany or something. Do you ever talk to him about the movie?

Grandpa Joe made him do it.

That's interesting. I figured it would be from over tightening. How do the washers prevent pooling if cause is posts getting loose? Maybe as someone asked pooling is just hidden under the washers. Sorry, I bet some of the long time WW owners are tired of this topic.

I think somewhere in there you must have hit the nail on the head. More than likely the actual cause is more than one thing and therefore the fix will probably remain a bit abstract. If it was crystal clear I think it would have come out from JJP or someone by now. Seems like lots of JJP games are affected by this. I especially enjoyed number 5.

Those don't look good. Yes that can wear your game quicker. Will check mine tonight and try to post tomorrow. Mine is somewhere just over 100 plays. Thanks for posting!