Replace all LED’s, The original ones are first-generation and not as bright as newer ones

Another simple question for you long time owners. My spinning disc is flaking pieces all over the playfield. I have a new replacement decal for it in hand.

How do you remove the old one? Plastic razor blade and elbow grease?
How do you clean any left over residue? Goo gone?
Tips on laying down the new one?

From time to time, I am having the flippers die after a ball gets locked. It seems to happen after ball 3 is locked and then it kicks out the next ball from the trough, but I don't want to say that is 100% the only time it happens. Any suggestions on what to look at/for?

I think this has become my absolute favourite pin - and it's sitting next to LOTR LE, GB Prem and AFMRLE so it's up against some pretty stiff competition.

It's such a cracking game with an absolute tonne of things to do. Some great rules, 2 magnets, pop ups, spinner, moving ramp, 4 multiballs, 2 wizard modes and some really cool shots. It looks amazing, and with a new sound mix by @fatpanda it sounds fab as well. Not much to dislike really - it can be quite difficult but who wants an easy game?

I've added a colourDMD, the newton mod (which is brilliant), subwoofer and some nice bold artfx characters that I thought matched the theme really well. I also put some Marvel Select characters on top - the Juggernaut one is immense it weighs a tonne for it's size!

Action packed underrated gem this one (imho).

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Reseat the little molex connectors on the ball trough a couple of times.

rd

Yes, yes it is.

Just, whatever you do, don’t stuff it full of huge plastic toys.

<sees pictures> ... Ohhhhh ...

rd

Ha ha ha... I just couldn't help myself...

Where did you get your Wolverine from?

It was from eBay - it's the Marvel Diamond Select Bust. I actually got it pretty cheap because one of the "ears" is slightly chipped but it's really not noticeable. I did have to dremel off the base to allow it to fit though... Some of the Bowen busts are pretty good too I hear.

I dig this game a lot. But it’s very dark. Does anyone have ideas and pictures of ways they’ve improved the lighting in the game and brightened up the playfield?

I upgraded to Comet 2SMDs in factory colors (natural white, red, and blue) and I added two spotlights, one on the right sling and one on the pop bumper behind Wolverine pointing towards the Cyclops shot.

Yeah change the leds, the ones from the factory were first generation and should be updated. Also change the 2 red sling leds to white.

Don't change those red sling LED's, there tied into the light show. I recommend Comet OP-Max for all playfield LED's. They can be finicky with QC for the price, but when they work as advertised there is no other option IMHO!

I know but I just don’t like how it makes the girls faces red.

But they're Villain Mutant Girls! A red hue serves them right!

I do remember someone mentioning swapping the SOCKETS for the red and white under the slings. That way you keep the correct colors for the light show, but the red is gone from their faces (and now on their asses). I never looked into it myself, but they are close and from what the person said....there was enough wire slack to do the switch very easily.

What I never understood was pro owners adding the red and blue GI lights (just to make it look like an LE). Don't get me wrong...I like the different color GI bulbs when they change for different modes, but I generally think they look bad if they aren't doing that. So adding that negative to a pro without adding the positive of the color changing......is pretty mind boggling to me. Deep in this thread somewhere there is someone calling me a troll for saying that, but there is really no reason for doing that unless you want your pro to look like an LE wannabe.

Thanks for the good suggestions. Added lighting is tricky, with the ice ramp moving and not a lot of places to add spot lamps. I do have a lot of Comets, probably from 2-3 years ago, but probably brighter than the first generation

Re music: has any one substituted the actual version of Layla for the one in the sound remix?

Thought I'd share what I discovered:
- Pretty simple to grab an edge of the old decal with a razor blade
- Start peeling in direction around the perimeter
- If the top layer comes off first, just grab the base layer (which is 3M 2 faced tape)
- Go slow and you pull most of the sticky residue with it
- Use a plastic razor to get the rest, then goo-gone

Adding new:
- First, pop out all the slots (these correspond to the slots that show the red/blue lights below the disc) using a pick
- These are not punched out but they are die cut
- Carefully align because you don't get a second shot
- The light reveal slots in the decal from Marco don't quite line up
- Get one side right, get it stuck down, then razor knife out the slots on the opposite side
- Use a pick to pull up the razored slivers and they will simply pull off

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Can you get a new decal anywhere?

Yup. Right here:

https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/820-7001-00

Can someone tell me if the stock DMD in this game is LED or plasma?

Mine was 5v led red dmd.

I noticed last nigjt my Magneto disc magnet is not working.I was to far gone to be playing under the playfield so I'll look into it when I get home tonight. I was just wondering if this was a common problem? My game doesn't have many plays and recently Stern sent me a revised board for the night crawler.the disc is still spinning when it's supposed to just not grabbing the balls.

The fuse for the magnets is probably blown, check f7 on the power board. I think stern sent a service bulletin saying the fuse should be upgraded but not 100% on that.

Tis just a fuse. We're back in action.

So the the gate wire form in the back of the Magneto lock broke on my pro machine. I can't seem to find the part number in the manual. Does anyone know the part number?

-Stephen

If you are looking on-line at the manual on the Stern website........ that thing is horrible with a lot of pages missing. It makes me glad I pulled my manual out of my game and have it protected in a nice binder where I can refer to it instead of having it folded in a bag in the cabinet.

It is actually 2 separate part numbers. One for the bracket that mounts at the top and another part number for the wireform. The part numbers are:

ONE WAY GATE BRACKET 535-5269-03

and

ONE WAY GATE WIREFORM 535-5307-03

I remember having a bit of a hard time finding these at one time. I had to order them from an obscure distributor that really gouged me on the shipping. It look like Marco is your best bet on the wireform:

https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/535-5307-03

You can always go to Hobby Lobby, or JoAnne and get piano wire (sometimes called music wire) and bend your own also.

https://www.hobbylobby.com/Crafts-Hobbies/Hobbies-Collecting/Tools-Blades/Music-Wire---0.015%22/p/97973

This is the only thickness listed on their website, but there are other thicknesses available. Take a piece of the broken gate with you.

Thanks! Yeah, I only have the online manual and it looked like it was missing a lot. I'll have to pick up a printed manual at some point. I was searching parts for X-Men on Marco, but without the part number I couldn't find it.

That's a good idea too. Actually I think that I have some piano wire laying around somewhere. I'll have to see it it's the right thickness.

You can also buy the wire and make your own wireform with a bending jig. Marcos sells wire and the bending jig if I remember correctly.

I have the same issue with the night crawlers, Xavier and the shaker when on. The pounding/rattling registers hits. Is it hart to get to the Optos? Under Magneto? How do I know when seated properly?

Also, does anybody know how to turn the shaker intensity down? I know there is a section that deals with integration but that is not intensity.

Thanks

Joining the club, as I've got a sweet Magneto coming my way.!!! Been awhile since I played one on location, but was always fun.

Read some of this 11k thread, and it seems the Newton ball is the must have mod for this game...any other game changers for this one?

I'll be doing colordmd, comets, titan, etc. ( usual stuff ) but curious about Wolverine and Magneto figures as they always looked a bit big to me.

Any links to unique service problems? Thanks in advance for any direction.....

First of all, welcome to the club! X-Men is an awesome game and the Magneto version looks breathtaking. Enjoy the real backglass (the second to last game that ever had a real one from Stern).

The Newton ball mod is cool, it is not a must have. I do not have it installed on mine. I have no issue hitting beast on my version when I want to and in my opinion the Newton ball mod opens it up to much and you’ll be running beast mode more frequently than you want to.

Thanks @tigerlaw!!! You opinion counts...Will get everything sorted and just enjoy as is for awhile...Excited to expand superhero land!!

Welcome. I love my Magneto! I do not have any mods. The game is extremely sensitive to getting the balance right. Once you nail that, the flow and game play can’t be beat!

Thought I would share. I have A Magneto number 123 which corresponds to the Uncanny X-MEN where they are battling in a pinball machine. Props to GAP for putting the package together.

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My friend who lives about a mile from me has Wolverine #123. He has that comic and a blow up of the cover to boot. Pretty rad, I just wish he’d play pinball more frequently.

Awesome! I would love to see a pic!

Great to hear...I'm super OCD on playfield leveling and pitch.....kinda cool to see this game get 3 votes in the " most influential pin of the past decade" poll floating around. All of my pins have their own place in the lineup (rarely get bored)...anxious to see what itch will get scratched with this one...an addictive/ fun hobby for sure...

I have one that came with mine but not connected. I think he said he started to put it on or put it on and took it off,I could find out for sure hes on pinside.I like it with the wolverine so I may be interested in selling it if you decide to go that route.

Cool...Just pm me if he's got it...I'm going to play as factory to start however, to see if I need it or not...

It came in a box with the machine so it's in my possession. Play it how it is,some people like myself like the way it is but i play a ton of tournaments so I need the harder settings but if you feel it's something you're interested in hit me up and I'll verify if it's new or lightly used (machine had 95 plays when i got it) and we can discuss a price.

Newton ball mod changes the game for the better in my opinion, changed the posts in front of the ramps to cut down on airballs. Moved the right sling spotlight and changed sling leds to white to see the girls better. Change all the leds in the games GI to newer brighter ones. Also alternate music mod I did
My game needs a cleaning, it gets alot of play as it is a favorite of mine.

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Will do...

If you do go the Newton ball rout make sure you set Beast on hard to start.

Also, for maximum enjoyment learn to focus on the side stand up targets. Learn when you can hit them for multi ball progression and when you can’t. People frequently say TWD has the most important side targets in pinball, they are wrong, it’s X-Men.

Can you please explain this, the best way to approach the side targets

You need to hit the targets outside of any of the hero modes when you do that to have the villain modes ready to go. So you can then play a villain mode eg sabretooth and when you finish him, drain or lose your time all you have to do to get back to villain modes is hit one of the side targets again (if you’ve qualified both hell fire and brotherhood)

Anyone else have the Blackbird scoop coil bracket plunger stop bend backwards?
It was even worse when I first found it ... bent almost straight back
The scoop was taking up to 6 attempts to spit the ball out, it became obvious why when I lifted the PF

Fixed it with a zip tie for now and ordered a new bracket. This is the same bracket that Harley Davidson uses

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