I first purchased a Pinsound board several years ago as a means to “fix” an intermittent sound issue with my Data East Last Action Hero. It definitely did the trick but it seemed to me a bit of a waste to have this expensive piece of hardware on a game a I rarely played. Nothing wrong with LAH, I just don’t play it much. I ended up removing the Pinsound board and repairing the original sound board. I dropped the Pinsound board back into it’s original box and promptly forgot about it for almost 2 years.

Half a dozen new pins later, I found myself with a Creature from the Black Lagoon and a desire to upgrade the sound on the machine. The original sounds are good for the era of machine, but they are not FLAC level lossless by any stretch of the imagination. I wanted to see what could be done with the Pinsound board and an upgrade in speaker hardware. After pulling the Pinsound board out of the box in the bottom of my parts closet, I decided to go all in and order the complete Pinsound speaker upgrade kit as well. The feedback I read was that the speakers combined with the Pinsound board, were a perfect match from a balance of speaker impedance and board power. Folks said they sounded nice, had clear midrange and highs and could play as loud as needed with low distortion.

While waiting for the speakers to arrive, I thought it would make sense to quickly install the Pinsound board and get it working ahead of time. Pulling the old sound board was a very straightforward (and fast) process. A few minutes later and I had the old board sitting on my bench. You have to pull the ribbon cables in order to get to the board, so be extra careful as you do it in order not to stress the cable or bend the board based pins. Take some photos so you are 100% certain of the cable orientation (red stripe). Getting the new Pinsound board installed was simply the reverse of that process and in about 10 total minutes I had the board mounted using the Bally factory mounting points and screws.

If you are not aware, all Pinsound boards require a file to be downloaded to a USB stick. So I went to the Pinsound website to gain access to the original CFTBL sound file for download. After download, the file is moved to the memory stick and then inserted into a provided slot on the Pinsound board. You don’t do any post processing of the file you download. It comes down as a “zip” and you move it to the USB stick in that original condition. Once inserted into the Pinsound board and powered up the board does the unzipping and builds the folder structures on the fly. That same file is what you are listening to as you play the game after install. Remember, your original sound ROM is now gone – it was removed from the game when you pulled the original sound board. In many cases, you’ll have access to several versions of the game sound file. The original will almost always be available, and there will sometimes be several (many on occasion) new, custom made sound files created by the Pinball enthusiast community. I chose the original CFTBL sound file for my initial installation. Note that there are 2 slots in the Pinsound board to house individual sound files, making it possible to (at game launch) to choose which version you want to hear. Very cool feature indeed!

I finished placing my wiring back on the Pinsound board and moved the downloaded sound file off my laptop to the USB stick. Inserting the USB takes just a second and a second later, I turned on the machine. I left the backbox open because the sound controls that allow you to dial in the Pinsound output are all on the board itself and you almost always will need to tweak those dials.
The dials on my (few years old) Pinsound are in this order (L to R)

• EQ sub-bass
• EQ bass
• EQ medium
• EQ treble
• EQ sub-booster

After booting up the machine, I waited patiently for the familiar “Pinsound boot” chime but it never came. I pushed the start button and the game started but without sound. Not even a peep. I powered down and double checked the file structure on the USB – it was just perfect. I tried it again. Still no joy. I tried another USB but to no avail. Finally, I put a minute of thought into it and considered that if the Pinsound chime was missing, maybe the connection to the speakers was not correct. I reviewed the placement of the speaker output wires on the Pinsound board and found the issue right away – I had plugged those wires into the “WPC DCS” output terminals, exactly one segment to far to the left. I unplugged them, moved them to the right in the correct Williams WPC89 spot and BOOM, I had sound. With my mistake cleared it was time for a game and a listen!

The game sounded immensely better. I could tell right away. I could also tell that it needed some dial twirling to get it perfect. I spent a few minutes dialing up the treble (I’m 59 and almost deaf in my left ear) and making some small adjustments to the remaining dials. I played a few games and really enjoyed the clarity of the new sound board and sound file. Call outs were easier to understand, the dynamic range between callouts and sounds was dramatically increased and the music was crisper. I was really focused on just playing the original sounds so did not order the Pinsound Headphone Station. You’ll need that piece of hardware if you decide you want the flexibility of switching (even on the fly) between the original sounds and alternative sound packages built by other pinball fans. the Pinsound Headphone station provides and externally accessible knob that you twist to cycle from one sound package to another. You CAN still switch sounds packages without that hardware, but you’ll need to stop the game and manually plug in the new sound package on a dedicated USB drive. Not a big deal as I don’t see folks (unless you are in the process of developing your own sound package) needing that kind of flexibility. Alternatively, to save you from opening the backbox all the time to get to the Pinsound board, you could run a simple USB cable extension to your coin box area and make the USB drive swaps right there – more convenient for sure. Bottom line is that simply installing the board was showing me I could get all of these benefits, much improved sound and it was still playing on 30 year old speakers! I couldn’t wait to get the new speakers in from Pinsound and see how much better it could be.

While waiting for the speakers to arrive from France, life at the ranch continued to march on. It was the start of June and that means time to pull honey from our Bee hives. We started bee keeping last year and had 3 hives in total. By year end, we had lost 2 of those 3 (unsure why) but one of the hives made it through the winter to enjoy some early warm weather in February. That hive was housed in what is called a Flow Hive. Flow Hives are made in Australia and are a very unique invention, representing the largest shift in bee keeping technology since the Langstroth hive/frame system allowed the commercialization of the industry.

I’ll keep it simple. The Flow Hive has a unique honey storage section made from artificial (plastic) honeycomb that can articulate from normal to “split in half” in just a few seconds. This allows you to harvest honey (when the plastic storage area is full) by simply inserting a long “key” into the rear if the hive, turning it, cracking those thousands of honeycomb cells open and allowing the honey to simply run into a channel that is built into the Flow Hive system and out the back into a waiting jar! No need to disturb the bees, no need to open the hive. Just crack those cells, collect the honey and pop a label on it. Unfortunately for us, sometime around March, we noticed fewer and fewer bees around the front of the Flow Hive. By the time, I opened it for inspection, there were less that a dozen living bees left. Ugh. We lost our last hive. It was very disheartening to say the least. Thousands of dollars wasted and hours of time gone and no bees left to show for it.

It was bitterly cold now so I waited a few days before pulling the brood box frames out to freeze them for later use. Frames that have built out comb are like gold. 75% of the work a bee colony does is to create the comb to raise brood (baby bees) and store honey. After freeezing to destroy any pests, the comb will be reused to give the next colony a BIG head start. When it finally warmed up enough for me to get into the hive, I noticed that the honey super (yes, that plastic one on top) was heavy. Like full of honey heavy! I carried the whole thing inside and plopped it on the kitchen counter for inspection. Sure enough, at least 3 frames of the seven were stuffed with honey. It was all capped and stored neatly just like it should have been. We suspected there was some honey stored and always planned to leave that for our first year colony to eat as survival food during the long winter. Well, it turned out they stored more than we thought and ate very little of it. We harvested the remaining honey and in the process, rekindled our passion to “try it again” this year. I ordered 3 more packages of bees for April delivery right away

Our bees showed up on time, and we installed a total of 2 packages and 2 nucs. Nucs get a much faster start than a basic package of 10,000 bees so those 2 hives grew the fastest. We lost a part of one hive to swarming but even that hive produced honey. In late May, I inspected all the hives and discovered that the 2 nuc based hives had lots of honey capped and it was close to harvest time. A few weeks later, my Pinsound speakers were confirmed to be on the way, but this early June day was going to be designated to focus on the bees.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otJLKh5a2zQ?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&w=500&h=281]

We got back from a church function and got to work right away. I put together the honey extractor first as it would be needed to spin out the honey from the comb. Next my daughter and I donned our bee suites and marched out to the bee yard area. Sure enough, the 2 largest hives were full of honey with 8 out of 10 of the frames in the medium super and 2 frames in the deep super all full and capped. Honey should only be harvested when the bees have filled each honeycomb cell and then “capped” it with beeswax. Then you can be confident that the honey is at 17% moisture content and will not ferment after harvesting.

We extracted 50lbs of honey (just over 4 gallons)! It was lots of work, but a simple process – Pop open the hives, remove each frame, blow off the bees and haul them off to the pole barn. Decap each frame using a special knife, drop 4 frames in the extractor, crank the handle, pull the frames and decap the opposite side and repeat the process. Chris and Taylor got stung once each (I escaped unscathed). Finally, honey is drawn out the gate at bottom of the extractor and run through a double filter screen into a 5 gallon food safe storage bucket. What we pulled will make over 30 pint jars. We spent more than an hour cleaning up the sticky mess and all headed out to dinner to celebrate.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gttc6qtyYRw?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&w=500&h=281]

The next day we tackled the Flow Hive because it was the easiest and to be honest, we were all exhausted. We pulled that honey in the early afternoon and, as described earlier in this post, it was fast and easy! Open the back, set up the shelf and a catch jar, then insert the long key to “break” the honeycomb. Watch the honey run into the jar! We finished that in maybe an hour and collected another gallon and a half from just 2 of the 7 frames! Done for the year at around 5 gallons total. Yea!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOXQ6GjqY_4?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&w=500&h=281]

With the honey harvest behind me, I focused my attention on the box that just arrived from France. My Pinsound speakers were here! I knew from experience that this was not a real complex install so I planned it for an evening project. I don’t know why, but the majority of boxes I receive as direct shipments from China or Europe are of a thinner/cheaper cardboard. The outer shipping box of the Pinsound package was no exception. It’s almost as if the cardboard is more “paperboard” than anything! No matter, the products inside were safe and sound. I opened the outer shipping box and removed the contents. One the inside boxes were opened I spent a minute looking for the installation booklet – only to discover that the “booklet” is just one 2 sided sheet.

The instructions are that simple. Step one is to remove the existing speakers and wire harness. Pinsound provides you all new speakers and a new “2.1” wire harness. I unscrewed the existing speakers in the speaker panel, unplugged the molex connector connected to the Pinsound board and fished the wires out from behind the ribbon cabling in the backbox. In under 10 minutes, you’ll have the old speakers on the topside out. Take a few minutes to dust off the grills that probably have not seen the light of day in years and you are ready to start the speaker panel install

When you pull the DMD on a WPC machine you’ll notice the terribly undersized and tinny sounding right speaker. Mounting a larger (matching the left size) speaker was an issue that was solved a few years ago by several folks. All approached the solution the same way – create an adapter that screws to the reverse face of the DMD and using that adapater you can now mount the new/larger speaker. Pinsound’s solution was no different. Their adapater is black ABS plastic (other use wood or HDF) and getting it installed is pretty quick. Follow the instructions to put the new screws (provided) into the right holes so you don’t do something stupid like poke one out the front of the speaker panel. I checked the depth of the screws vs the holes vs the speaker panel BEFORE i screwed them in. In the case of this right speaker, you ARE making new holes in the back of the speaker panel (one of the few “non-reversable” moments in the install). After the adapter is in place (4 screws through the holes marked “B”), the new speaker can be mounted to it with little effort.

I mounted my speakers using the provided diagram so the orientation of the speaker terminals were closest to the player when the panel was pulled and laid down on the playfield rails. This is probably a great time to share the new tool I used to hold the speaker panel in place for all this work – the DMD slide buster magnets from Mike’s 3D Things on Pinside (see image). They are small but mighty and a “must have” for this kind of work (or anytime you pull the speaker panel to access the backbox). They lightly magnetize to the side rails and give you a scratch protective and non-slip surface to lay your DMD panel on while working in the backbox. Simple but very effective.

With the speaker terminals mounted facing the player, it was a simple task to plug the wire harness onto the correct speaker terminals. The terminals and the wire connectors are sized to ONLY fit the correct position on the speaker (positive and negative accordingly). Once the topside was wired to the speakers, I tucked/hooked the wires into the very same retention clips used on the original harness and plugged the 2.1 molex connector into the sound board in the clearly marked (this time correct!) location

Next it was time to install the cabinet speaker. The size compared to the original was surprising. It looked nearly twice the size of the original speaker. It is was so big that I immediately questioned how it would fit. Worry not reader – it fits just fine. Even though the cabinet speaker is mounted off center and close the left edge of the cabinet bottom, it still tucks in there perfectly. To install, you unsolder the 2 speaker terminal connection (or cut them close as they will not be use again).

Next, you’ll loosen and remove the 4 nuts holding the old speaker in place. Once loose, just lift the speaker up and out of the cabinet. Leave the ground braid wire and the speaker grill in place. Pinsound has provided a speaker adapter (similar to the one up top for the right side speaker/DMD panel) and you mount that part next. You’ll use the original screw studs (still sticking up from the bottom of the cabinet) to hold the new adapter tight to the cabinet bottom. Once the adapter is securely mounted, use the Pinsound provided long screws to affix the new Pinsound speaker to the adapter through the 4 holes marked “A”. Snug them down good but do not overtighten as you are setting a screw in plastic. Finish the job up by routing the subwoofer (the 0.1 part of the 2.1 cable harness) through the existing wire loops on the edges of the cabinet bottom, and connect the +/- wires to the cabinet speaker. Don’t forget to tuck in the old cabinet speaker wire with some electrical tape or a zip tie as it will not be needed again unless you decide to un-install the Pinsound speaker set. At this point the install is complete and you can move on to adjusting the sound to your preference

How’s it sound? Fantastic! There is waaaaaaaay more bass from that cabinet speaker. Given the flexibility allowed by the Pinsound board to boost it, you can really dial in all the bass you would ever want. I will not be adding an external sub to this game – no need for it. Voices (call otus) are significantly clearer. Each dial on the Pinsound board has an extreme range of sound impact. Stay somewhere in the middle of the settings to start and I would not vary much before 10 and after 2 o’clock. The 10/11 o’clock settings will dial back that sound band and the 1/2 o’clock settings will dial it up. It’s all up to you and what sounds best to you. I’ll make some very basic recommendations. Don’t boost anything to the extent that it introduces distortion. If you are wondering if you have done that, just listen. If it sounds good, you are probably not introducing distortion of any significance. Be especially careful of the “Mids” dial as that can make the sound too thin when dialed back too much and can really muddy up the high end when dialed UP too much. Each game will likely be a bit different as the source material was handled/mixed different depending on the technology and/or the sound designer from that era.

The Pinsound system is a great way to upgrade an older Williams/Bally machine. The unique benefit that Pinsound offers vs other sound upgrades is the ability to load alternative sound packages. On top of that the Pinsound team provides a very easy to swap board and a high quality set of impedance matched speakers that allow those sound packages to shine. The system is 99% reversible (save for a few hidden holes created by screws) and is completely invisible once installed. Just power up your game to hear the tremendous benefits

All credit for this idea belongs to thpletcher over on Pinside. I’ve had a Simpsons Pinball Party for a few years now and love it. I purchased it as part of a bulk buy from a friend of a friend a few years back. It was one of 5 games I brought home that night (OK that morning as we arrived home around 2 or 3am)

About a week ago, I was reading through the TSSP club thread on Pinside and I saw thpletcher’s post that he had purchased the Kang and Kodos 13″ plush from Kidrobot and used them as a topper.

Odd … because I had “almost” purchased the very same plush “just because” about a month ago – they looked cool but I just couldn’t get past the “plush” part and worried they would be droopy or misshapen. Besides, I really wanted a vinyl version. So I didn’t buy them. Fast forward a few weeks and I saw that Pinside post and changed my mind on the spot. The post provided no details except where to buy them and that the poster had added some lighting to illuminate them.

Before I jumped in, I read up and refreshed myself on the background of these 2 character of the Simpson’s universe. What I found is that they are way cooler than I ever anticipated. First, most people know that the Kang and Kodos duo are aliens in the series. They almost exclusively show up during the annual Halloween “Treehouse of Horrors” special episodes. They are not friendly. It turns out though that they do “love humans” – to continue the joke “they just can’t eat a whole one by themselves”. (ba dum tsh)

Turns out the Simpsons writers were heavily influenced by the original Star Trek. The Kang and Kodos’s names come from two 1960’s Star Trek characters – one alien and one human. Kang was a Klingon captain portrayed by actor Michael Ansara in the 11th episode of season 3 called “Day of the Dove“. Kang would then reappear in Deep Space Nine’s “Blood Oath” and Voyager’s “Flashback”, though for me – there is only one Star Trek and that’s the original Shatner based series. Kodos the Executioner was a human bad guy from the 12th episode of the season titled “The Conscience of the King“.

It’s an unwritten writers rule that Kang and Kodos must appear in every Halloween episode. Again, according to Wikipedia, “the writers say the duo will often be forgotten and are added at the last second, leading to brief appearances.”

With the cultural significance solidified and my comfort level with a “plush topper” increased, I ordered the pair from Kidrobot. In the meantime, I started planning how to provide some light up there. Early on I got the idea to use ultraviolet light. I searched for a few minutes for a nice bright LED style light bar but could not find the one I would need at around 24″ to 27″ (max width is 27 1/2″ up there)

I finally settled on the simplest solution – a UV LED Light strip. I bough a nice aluminum channel to stick it to and waited (impatiently) for all the parts to arrive. The UV LED arrived first. Great. I could get that bit installed and plop the plush up there when they arrived. The LED strip install went smoothly:

• Cut the Muzata aluminum channel to length (27″ in my case)
• Cut the plastic diffusor to length with sharp scissors (27″)
• Wipe down inside of aluminum channel with alcohol
• Measure LED strip to best cut point – cut with scissors (around 26″ in this case)
• Peel LED strip backing and adhere to inside (45 degree) flat face of aluminum channel
• Wipe down underside of aluminum channel with alcohol
• Add a piece of 3M VHB RP-16 tape to underside of aluminum channel
• Fold the LED power supply cable back on itself and zip tie it into a short loop (see image)
• Do the above step so the power supply cable does not hang over AND so it does not begin to delaminated the LED strip from the aluminum channel (takes the “spring” out of it)
• Mount the aluminum channel with integrated LED strip right even with front edge of cabinet
• Add the controller unit to the power supply cable end of the LED strip
• I used some sticky velcro to hold the controller/LED supply cable junction to the cabinet top
• Plug in the power supply to 110volt outlet (mine is controlled by Alexa to come on with the game)

The remote that comes with the unit (like most remotes) would be confusing to an Electrical Engineer, with a degree in Physics and a Doctorate in Computer Science. Thankfully, I only have a 2 year degree in Fine Arts but it was still a struggle. The Brightness buttons also control the speed at which anything takes place and the “Jump” and “Fade” buttons are reversed.

The “100” button on the tiny remote will get you back to “just the lights thank you” and that last hint is worth reading this far! I tell you all that because you can set a pretty cool “fading effect” using the “Jump” setting and then use the Bright/Dim buttons to control the fade to your liking – see video of the whole thing in action

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYL62CdCwsc?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&w=500&h=281]

Overall a simple and relatively inexpensive topper for your TSSP. I was worried about the “plush” part but to be honest they look amazing. I was worried the UV LED might not be bright enough – actually, it’s just perfect. I was also concerned about them being too large – they are close but they look fine, especially if placed against a wall OR in a row of games with toppers already installed.

Simpsons Tree House of Horrors XV (aired in 2004). Kang and Kodos are cooking the Simpsons

Bart: Am I the only one in horrible pain?

Homer: You’re the only one who won’t shut up about it.

There were moments when playing Ultraman that the lower center of the playfield seemed dark to me. I wondered if adding spots would help. Problem is I don’t like all the exposed wiring, the strap ties that you have to add (and cut later to access/replace rubbers etc) and the fact that they are visible above the playfield. I forgot about the issue until I was on the Comet website ordering some LEDs and saw their “Star Post Light Kits“. These are the round shaped 4 LED wafers that fit UNDER the star posts of almost any game. I thought, why not try these. They are typically installed under the posts in your slings but can be used almost anywhere there is a star post. You can get them in a 2 post or 3 post kit – depending on whether you want to do all 3 posts in your slingshot area or just 2.

I ordered 2 sets of the 2 post kits. The kits come with everything you need to hook them up.

• LED light wafer
• Power harness that connects each wafer to a common power supply
• Dimmer to dial in the brightness
• Power supply alligator clips

The wiring order starting at the power supply side goes like this:

• Connect power supply to existing GI lamp
• Connect dimmer to the power supply cable
• Connect the splitter/power harness to the dimmer
• Connect each end of the splitter to each LED wafer (2 or 3)
• Effectively you are powering each wafer from a single power supply cable and one dimmer

Install is fast on these and requires (for Ultraman) that you remove the sling plastics and plastic protectors on the right side of the game. On the left side, you’ll need to loosen the ramp by removing the one nut holding it to the sling area.

Once the plastics are removed, you simply unscrew the star post using a 1/4″ hollow nut driver, place the wafer below with the LED’s facing up and tuck the thin wires (2 per wafer) down behind your sling switches. Reinstall all of the stuff you took off, then lift the playfield to finish up the wiring.

Underneath the playfield you’ll need to find the end of the LED wafer wires and plug your splitter/power harness into each of them. Connect the dimmer to that and you’re almost done. To make the final connection and supply the power, you simply find the closest GI lamp and use the alligator clips. I placed the red clip on the bulb center and the black on the body. Polarity does not matter so where you put the red vs the black is up to you. If polarity in the electrical sense is a new term to you, just do what I did and it will work fine.

Lucky me, I got to install these TWICE. I actually placed the 2 wafers on the inside 2 posts (toward center of game) on my first install and after turning on the game, discovered I had made a pretty big tactical error. The lower posts on each sling (again closest to the playfield center and closest to the player) are VERY visible and when lit from underneath, BLINDING! To be fair, I am using cool white under a crystal clear post – it’s going to be brighter than any other combo.

I quickly removed that lower/center LED wafer and swapped it to the outside most star post (not visible as it is buried under the plastics). It was the right call. I could now dial up the brightness (almost to max) with no issue of being blinded during gameplay.

The incremental light is just what I wanted and the character (and appearance) of the game is not changed. The star post lights are tied into the large LED lamp that sits just low and behind each sling so the game code behavior that is coded to that lamp, is the same behavior that you get with the newly installed star post light wafers.

You can see in the images that follow that the lowest star post on the slings has no light. That’s the one where I originally had one of the 2 LED wafers installed on each side but proved to be too bright and shined directly into your eyes during game play. Moving the 2nd LED wafer to the outermost star post on each sling was a perfect solution. I could then dial them both up to almost max brightness, enjoy all that light output but no glare. I used the Cool White LED option in order to match the GI and post colors (clear) that was installed in Ultraman. For aesthetics, Comet recommends that you color match where possible. In other words, if you have red posts, use the red LED color option when ordering. If you are trying to add significant lighting to the dark center of a playfield, I would recommend using one of the 3 white options they offer (cool, sunlight or warm).

Overall I extremely pleased with these lights and will be adding them to a few more games soon. Creature is the first on the list and I’m sure there will be more. The lights are effective, easy to install and inexpensive by any measure of “pinball mods” – try a set and enjoy better game lighting right where it’s often needed most.

Check out the previous post to see my thoughts on the new Ultraman here at the loft. Now that it’s been here a week, I feel even more strongly about how good of a game it is. To have this kind of shot variety requires that the game have some advanced engineering – and it does. Every time I get under or into the game to check something out I’m more and more impressed at what the Spooky team has accomplished.

Titan Pinball Website

Today I added some transparent rubber from Titan and thought I post a short commentary. The game comes standard with black rubber and to be honest, that looks just fine on this game. I thought about other colors like purple or red, but at the end chose transparent to allow a little more light onto the playfield as this is a darker game

I started up in the “Headquarters” area and right away discovered that the “kit” someone had built for Ultraman at Titan was not correct. They chose standard size post sleeves and Ultraman comes with the thinner and tapered ones. It’s a big deal. Up in the Headquarters area the ball paths are tight and you’ll need that extra millimeter of space created when the correct (thinner) post sleeves are in place. I chose to wait and order the correct ones and do that part later

While I was up there, I pulled the cover off the “bridge” at the top of the playfield to replace the single large rubber under the cover. You’ll need to remove the player facing opto as part of getting that cover off. You will also need to loosen the small metal ramp that connects to it as it is so tightly set against the bridge, you can’t squeeze the rubber in. Simply loosen the tiny ramp screws that hold the ramp base to the playfield and remove the single post nut in the rear right and that will be enough to move it out of the way. Take the opto screws out AFTER you have the post nuts off the clear bridge cap. This will give you some wiggle room to carefully hold onto the spacers that sit below the cover and between the opto. They are non magnetic so your magnet tool won’t work. I used some need nose pliers

While I was up there I pulled the metal cover off the headquarters and used my dremel to round the corner of that smoked piece of plastic. The pointed corner is VERY close to the edge of the playfield and can catch and damage the side art. The day prior I took the metal cover to my shop and ground that back as well

Next I moved to the right sling area. On this game you’ll need to remove the top (3D) plastics by using your fingernail to push in the single tab on each of the orange standoffs, then the plastic piece pops right off. Next remove the 6 nylock nuts with your nut driver. At this point, it’s pretty straightforward to remove the old rubber and replace it with the new. Make sure your switches are BEHIND the rubber after putting on the new one

Next I tackled the ball lock area to the right of the scoop. There are 5 nylock nuts and the entire plastic assembly comes off, including the orange plastic protector installed underneath. The only unusual part in this area is the install of the 1/2″ Data East/Stern post sleeves. These are short post sleeves used in various places on this game and are typically placed on a post and go UNDER the rubber ring that sits above them. There are 2 of them in this area – right at the edge of the right orbit.

I then moved on to the left sling area. All of the steps used in the right sling apply, but this spot is a tad more challenging. You have to deal with one ramp post due to the habitrail connection. Also, there is a rubber ring right under the habitrail that needs to be accessed. You don’t need to remove anything more than 2 nylock nuts from the plastic below the habitrail. Once the habitrail is loose from the sling, it will easily lift 1-2 inches and also move left and right to give you room to access those 2 nuts. Remove the nuts and the plastics can be lifted enough to easily access that rubber ring for replacement. Replace the sling rubber, then put it all back together and admire your work!

The last thing I tackled was to change out the flipper rubber. I ordered both purple and blue to try them out. Titan stocks the mini flipper rubber for those upper playfields and I ordered those as well. It’s hard to beat “black”. It just works. In the end I ruled out blue entirely and went into my parts cabinet to grab some Titan reds. I liked the red. I liked the purple. I liked both of them so they both stayed. The red matches the colors and the Kaiju on the left and the purple does the same for the right. That’s my plan and I’m sticking to it! While the game was open, I put a fresh coat of wax on it and took a few minutes to straighten the apron decal that had been installed crooked at the factory. I put away the tools, cleaned up the glass and dove back into the game – Shuwatch!

A few more pics follow

Just finished adding new T-molding to my Avengers Infinity Quest LE. Looks great! So I thought I document the process for others. Interesting to note that the T-Molding I received was 0.015 oversized AND some of the head dimension of the Stern machines have changed over the past few years – so understand that (at least with my AIQ) the 3/4″ molding from T-Molding.com installed in your new AIQ will be about 1 MM proud (sticks out) on both the inside and outside edges. Still looks great though!

After posting this, I saw another Pinsider mention using 11/16″ T-molding instead of the 3/4″ size. You most certainly can order that size and it’s exactly 1/16″ narrower than 3/4″ and will likely fit with less or no overhang.

This write up will be done in mostly images with captions. Total install time including clean-up was just at 45 mins. Buy materials at T-Molding.com. You will need to buy 20 feet because that is their minimum. It takes 6 feet per side to do a modern Stern head (12 feet total game) – so you will end up with some extra (8 feet or so). Save that extra piece for the next game (it’s enough to do one side)

This is not a review of the new Avengers Infinity Quest Pinball game from Stern. It’s more of the story of the obsessive “getting ready” process that happens every time I order a NIB game (review will come later). I’ve noticed that the process repeats itself, I learn something every time and enjoy it as much as the game itself. I thought I’d document it and share it.

I’ve got a nice mix of both old and new machines. Each purchase “type” follows a unique path. So far I’ve bought 10 “new in box” games. Each game was unique but the process during the wait was very much the same:

• Discovery
• Get excited, and fired up about the game
• Find a way to pay when your out of town
• Research the subject until you know it cold
• Buy some books on it as reference
• Find some autographed items to add
• Pre-order the mods to make it custom
• Endlessly watch the Twitch streams of gameplay

The very first thing that happens is finding out that there IS a game. Followed quickly by … “do I care”? I can usually remember where I was when I heard about the big title games. This was no exception.

So I was sitting in my home theater watching a movie when I got a text from my buddy – I heard the new Stern is awesome, and I’m getting an LE. You should too! At this point that game had not been announced but my friend knows pinball so I dropped a line to my distributor and asked to put my name on the list

I received a response back almost immediately (same night) with directions on how to make a deposit and was assured I was “on the list” – for what exactly I had no idea, but if it was good by gosh, I was going to get one. Talk about FOMO – I had it bad!

The following weekend, Tami and I planned a trip in the Carrera out to Highlands, NC. Man, if you haven’t been there, you’re missing out. It’s wonderful and one of our fav places to visit. Right in the middle of the mountains and away from all the bustle is this jewel of a town. Killer restaurants, stunning waterfalls, great hiking, amazing shopping. We love it and visit often – even though the trip takes us around 3 hours … the route brings us to Highlands via the infamous “Dragon”.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiUQxMTKyg4?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&w=500&h=281]

The huge benefit of getting there is the insane trip down both the Dragon (US 129) and the Moonshiner (US 28) both are what I would call a “roller coaster” built for cars. The Dragon has 318 curves in 11 miles … and to call them “curves” is a VAST understatement. Even to call them “hairpin curves” under describes the fact that some of them are even tighter – crap that road is fun to drive. Drifting the rear end of the Porsche and pulling “Gs” into the corners will get your pulse up and mind sharp.

The Dragon is populated by photographers on every weekend and our trip through it was no different. You can wave, smile or ignore them but your picture will be taken anyway. Later the next day, a trip to their website will reveal your image – ready for purchase and download. I buy one EVERY time. Support them and the images are a great memory.

On your way into Highlands, you will find amazing waterfalls and even more amazing roads and vistas. Just before getting to town there is a waterfall that you can literally drive your car under. Recently the road going under it has had a barrier installed but you can still pull over and walk under it if you wish.

Ahead of that (on route 28) you’ll find Dry Falls. This area has a large parking lot and is a highlight of any trip to Highlands. There is a dedicated walking path that directs you right UNDER a huge waterfall – it’s called Dry Falls but I’ve never seen it that way!

We arrived in Highlands, checked into our Hotel and started exploring the town. It’s beautiful with lots of high end shops (Rolex watches in the windows) but with a small mountain town feel (Ice cream shop on the corner). We walked a lot and enjoyed the cooler temperatures that the mountains provide

It’s September 2nd and within a few minutes my Facebook page lights up and I’m getting IM messages too. Here it is – official. It’s the new game and it’s called Avengers Infinity Quest. Holy cow it looks awesome. Perfect. Now my distro is going to (rightfully) want payment. ASAP. Especially because I wanted an LE. Sure enough, I start readying about them selling out is hours. I see posts on Pinside from folks that can’t find one. I’m in the middle of the mountains, 3 hours from home, it’s a holiday weekend and I couldn’t possible pay except by CC. Seems like every time a new game is announced the same thing happens – I’m out of town.

I heard back from my dsitrobutor and he assured me that I could pay when I got home (and the banks opened) on Tuesday. I’ve bought many games from him and I’m assuming he knew I was good for it

We returned from Highlands refreshed and on Tuesday I visited my local bank and got a cashiers check. Sent it via overnight FedEx and my distro confirmed he received it the next day. Boom – paid for.

It’s at this point there is a bit of a lull. A wait for the official reveal/gameplay stream. It was announced that this would take place on Sept 10th. When that day arrived, I made sure I was prepped and planned to get the Twitch stream by Deadflip up early. I checked on several of the Samsung Smart TVs we have only to find that Twitch was not available as an app – ugh. I could always stream it from my tablet but why not watch it on the big screen. I tried it in my home theater using Apple TV but struggled with buffering almost non-stop. After an hour – I gave up. When the stream was done, I downloaded the entire stream in HD (split into 5 parts due to size), dropped it on a USB hard drive and dragged it out to the OUTSIDE deck TV to watch. The inside (again SMART) TVs would not play the .MP4 files for some reason. The TV that sits outside is newer – worked like a champ. I sat there until midnight watching the stream in glorious – stutter free – HD!

OK – the gameplay looked KILLER. Keith Elwin had another winner on his hands and I was getting an LE – super excited now. But … I knew almost nothing about the Avengers storyline or history. Like most things I run into that I don’t know about I was determined to learn – quickly. I had heard that this game was based on the comics. It was also loosely based on the Infinity Gauntlet series (6 issues). This series was written by Jim Starlin and is revered by comic aficionados for it’s interesting and nuanced story line. I popped over to Amazon and bought the Kindle version. I read it it that night.

Key takeaways from the story is that the story is apocalyptic – so is the game “feel”. This was serious stuff and if not for Adam Worlock, Dr. Strange and the cast of the Avengers – the universe was going to “end”. Great story, easy and quick read. Highly recommend if you own the game

With a bit of knowledge under my belt, it was time to think about modding this new game. First, it was off to get the simple stuff. Like yellow T-molding. The LE game has bright yellow powder coat and needs something on the backbox to tie it together. $20 later and in a few days, I had my new T-molding in hand.

It’s no problem to switch out. Find the seam, use a small flat blade screwdriver to pop out one end and pull back at a sharp angle from the head. It will pull right out with a few bits/slivers of wood. I then save that old piece. Next I lay the old piece completely flat on the floor, then lay the new T molding next to it and cut go length. I use a sharp razor knife to cut the same angles into the new piece that allow it to fold around the head without binding. Now reinstall the new piece by starting where the old seam was and press fit it back in! 3/4″ is the size you need and the 20 foot minimum will be more than enough to do a game

Now it was on to what I would call the “peripherals” – things that are cool but are not critical to the game and can’t be called a mod either. In this case the very first thing I search out was something autographed by the original author of this Avengers story – The Infinity Gauntlet. I found the perfect item on Ebay and it will be displayed proudly next to the game when it arrives. A gauntlet coin bank signed by Jim Starlin. Perfect

I saw this goofy ring on Amazon and thought – why not. Ordered a large. Maybe I’ll mount it in the game. Maybe I’ll wear it to work and let everyone think I’m losing interest in being an adult.

After reading the Gauntlet back story, I ordered the Marvel Encyclopedia. I had wanted a copy for up in the loft (coffee table) for a while but didn’t have the deep interest to buy one. Now I wanted to more about the world that Stan Lee helped create. It’s a cool book – especially the visuals. It’s set up alphabetically so you can research any hero or villain that you stumble across without paging through its 448 pages and almost 6 pounds of heft!

We’ve arrived at the end of the story – at least the part that happens BEFORE I get the game. It plays out the same almost every time. Just before posting this to the blog, Stern announced that the LE versions of AIQ (Avengers Infinity Quest) were “on the line”, and I was the very first to post on their timeline – “looks like mine”. Soon it will be. Time to assemble!

I’m an audiophile. No, you can’t go to prison for that. Means I like good sound. Been that way since the late 70’s when my neighbor came over and asked if I would like to listen to some of his “records”. This was 1977 and I didn’t know music from a hole in the ground. I listened to what he had – Thin Lizzy, The Commodores, Toto, Steve Miller Band and Queen (he had good taste) and I fell in love with music and the gear. Before you know it I had purchased a Sears “all-in-one” record player, preamp, amp unit. It sounded terrible but I was (for a while) in heaven. I became interested in better sound and became friends with a guy that owned a stereo shop.

I spent hours helping him with installs (OK, getting in his way) and learning the “business” of Hi-Fi. The next summer I worked in the hay fields at $1.10 hour to earn enough cash to mail order a set of Kenwood LS-408B speakers from a company a thousand miles away – Wisconsin Discount Stereo. They were delivered via tractor trailer and I was again – in heaven.

I’ve spent an insane amount of money on audio equipment since then. In 1984 I had a little under $7,000 in a car stereo setup that won the first ever “sound off” car stereo event in Syracuse NY – in the unlimited wattage division (660 watts per channel at that time was unheard of). I won a radar detector and a plaque. 10 years later similar contests netted winners $10K and up!

Home system upgrades followed and in every house I’ve owned there has always been a form of a “listening room” in each house. I started collecting records again in the early 2000’s and by the time I sold the collection I had amassed over 7,000 lps. Today, I have a few hundred albums, thousands of CDs and a huge library of digital music. The albums are played on a JA Michell Gyrodec SE and are still my favorite way to listen. I’ve wired a half dozen cars, 2 large boats, 6-8 houses and at least 3 entire home theaters for sound. I know good sound when I hear it

So what on earth does all this have to do with Pinball? Everything. Pinball fidelity sucks – pretty much across the board. There are some exceptions. JJP’s Wizard of Oz for example is excellent. Nice crisp highs, mid range is smooth for voices and not “peaky” or strident and there is enough bass to satisfy (although a sub on that title is a must). Generally though, the sound quality, the frequency response and dynamic range on most pinballs is not good – OK at best. I had just bought a NIB Stern Jurassic Park Premium. I was impressed with the game to say the least. You can read about it on this blog. As good as the T-Rex sounds were, they still lacked impact – I wanted him to shake the room when he roared and to really be able to hear the nuances in “roar” – it should raise the hair on your arm if done right!!

So what to do about it? Well the short answer is “buy a Pinwoofer kit”! Why you say? Because it is a huge upgrade, it’s fully contained within the pinball (unlike adding a sub), it’s very affordable, it’s not a horrifically complicated install, it’s adjustable to your sound preferences and … it sounds fantastic!

Full disclosure here. I’m an external subwoofer guy. I normally buy a Pinnovators subwoofer output board, then wire up a Polk 10″ powered sub for almost all of my new pins. Adjust the sound a little – dial in the output and crossover of the sub and you are done. I’m up to 14 Polk subs in the Loft. I am also a “sound and brand snob”. My listening system would never include a sub, my home theater and party systems MUST have a sub (or two!) but no way will “just a Polk” do – those setups have dual SVS subs with big digital amps.

Back in the day (30 years ago) my fellow audiophiles wouldn’t be caught dead with Pyle or Jensen speakers installed in their cars – it was considered entry level gear for guys that didn’t know what they were doing (Alpine was the mid/high end brand at the time). Pyle may still be considered entry level gear but I can vouch for the fact that what Dan has done with these speakers and his custom amps simply works – whatever the label on the speaker says

I received my order pretty quickly and popped the box open. Packaging and sorting of the components was well done. The backbox speakers came in the original box – well protected of course. The sub/cabinet woofer came with the spacer ring pre-installed. This saves a bunch of time – thank you Dan. The amps were packed safely in bubble wrap and the wiring harnesses, bolts, washers, nuts and electrical connectors were all sorted into 5 bags as follows:

• Sub amp bag
• Backbox amp bag
• Power connector “A” bag
• Power connector “B” bag
• Glass shake tape bag

I had 2 small niggles on the entire Pinwoofer experience. First, there were extra small parts – nuts/bolts, etc. It’s hard to blame Pinwoofer for adding extra small parts because it’s probably easier to create a master small parts list and ship that instead of constantly trying to create a custom “nut & bolt” list for the dozens of variety of pinballs out there. Anyway, when there are extra parts – there is confusion.

Secondly, the way the install instructions are delivered is a little “unwieldy”. You must go to Google Drive to retrieve them AND they are supplied in 6 different (individual) documents – some of which don’t apply to your install. Way better (and way harder) to print and include (in the box) the install instructions specific to my game. This isn’t academic. I’m up in my Pinball Loft trying to install this kit and scrolling back and forth on an iPad screen while tabbing between docs. I got it done, the instructions were good AND accurate, but it could have been easier. You get it. Paper print-outs win every time – rant over

On the kudos to Pinwoofer side, is the fact that Dan reached out to me via email to offer any assistance I might need during the install. A gracious offer and one that he offers to ALL customers. Reviewing comments on Pinside would suggest that lots of people take him up on the offer – good on him as that is not an easy task.

Before I ordered the Pinwoofer kit, I spent the better part of 2 weeks convincing myself that the sound on my new pinball was “good enough” … I knew it could be better than it was, but there are so many paths to get there. I decided to start with an external sub like I had done 13 other times. Done – added a Polk sub using the Pinnovator board attachment. I could have simply left it at that but the mids and highs were never going to get any better. I considered replacing the backbox speakers (done it before) but the last time I did that the change was barely noticeable. So … off to the Pinside forums to see what others had done. The name Pinwoofer kept popping up and all the feedback was positive. Some reviews were downright glowing and others were over-the-top holy cow, you’ve got to buy this thing ’cause it’s the best mod I’ve ever bought! I discounted the latter but couldn’t ignore all the rest. After considering it for a few days, I pulled the trigger and ordered the entire “Super Kit”

• What you get in a Stern JJP “Pinwoofer Super Kit” is:
  • New 2 way Pyle backbox speaker pair
  • New Pyle cabinet woofer
  • Pin-Specific 12V Power Cable
  • Subwoofer Amp Kit 50W x 2
  • Backbox Amplifier Kit 50W x 2
  • 8″ Dual Voice Coil Subwoofer Driver
  • Playfield glass shake reduction tape
  • Mounting Hardware and Electrical Connectors

Some of the marketing verbiage on the Pyle products is neither relevant to the product nor “real” – this is no fault of Dan or Pinwoofer. This stuff has been going on forever. I was not shocked that the Pyle sub box said it was “rated” for 800 watts max power. Upon review of the Pyle website, it actually rated for 400 watts RMS. So what. It will likely never see more than 25-30 watts RMS from the little Pinwoofer amp because it simply doesn’t NEED it. I’ve got the amp in my game set to 30% of max and it shakes the game as hard as my shaker does! Like pinball games that have (over time) driven scores up into the “billions”, the wattage game played by speaker and amp makers continues. Here is what you need to know. Ignore the wattage rating – you will never “blow” that Pyle speaker unless you over-drive it with an amp that is TOO SMALL. That being said, there is a feature on the Pyle sub that is very useful for this application – the dual voice coils. When wired in dual mode, the sub presents a 2 ohm load (read easier to drive) and thus improves power output and lowers distortion throughout the amplifiers range.

The supplied “class D” amps from Dan are absolutely sufficient to drive both the backbox and cabinet speaker within their expected use range. The Wattage rating on these types (sizes) of amplifiers is always dependent upon supplied voltage but 50 watts running from 12 volts is in the hunt and it’s probably delivered with around 10% THD. Again, they work fantastic so it matters not.

How’s it sound? Fantastic. It really does. Not just better than factory – this is a HUGE improvement. Especially if you are going from “just factory” and do not have an external sub wired up. The difference is night and day. Voices and call-outs are clearer. The high/mid-range sounds are sharp/distinct and have impact (spinner sounds for instance). I am certainly hearing stuff I never heard before. The cabinet sub does something an external sub could not – it physically moves the cabinet.

• During the T-Rex Chase mode, you can feel the T-Rex footsteps and he runs you down.
• In the ball drain animation segment, where the jeep skids off the cliff you can hear the screams from people in the jeep – I never heard it with the factory set up.
• The timpani drums of the theme music as the game starts have punch and the crashing cymbals have the appropriate splash and high end – Dum, Dum dumdy-dumdy Dum Dum – Duh Duh Dum, Dum dumdy-Dum crrrrashhhhhhh! It sounds like your a hand full of rows back from the orchestra pit and dead center in the sweet spot. Love it.

Dan really put some thought into making certain that you can get the best sound out of his system. He includes output pots on his amps to allow you to dial down the output and reduce/remove noise in the system (should there be any). I did not have to use the adjustment pots at all. The sound was outstanding with the factory (Dan) adjustments.

Guess what – the Polk external subwoofer is unplugged. It’s off. Not needed. I pulled it because I was trying to get more clarity from the bass, more definition in the mid-range – voices specifically. It worked. It was pretty dramatic too – enough for me to leave it that way. Dan’s Pinwoofer Super Kit does the job BETTER by itself, than having an external sub alongside. I “might” be missing a tiny bit of the very bottom end … say around 50/60 Hz or so, but the sound just got cleaner and tighter. Now, as I look at the row of Stern machines sitting opposite JP, I wish I had found Pinwoofer sooner. The system sounds great!

So what settings did I use? I keep my master volume at 30. Then I use these settings for the backbox speakers – and I utilized the 10 band EQ that is included in the menu. No way would I ever set an EQ this way for a home listening setup but – hey, it sounds good this way so here you go. I set the “sliders” as follows:

• 31 Hz -15
• 62 Hz -7
• 125 Hz -2
• 250 Hz 0
• 500 Hz +2
• 1 kHz +6
• 2 kHz +7
• 4 kHz +8
• 8 kHz +8
• 16 kHz +13

Admittedly, these are “hot settings” on the mids and highs. I like it that way as my hearing around these frequencies has been dulled by a half century of walking the earth (and too many of those years listening to music much too loud!). As I made adjustments I noticed that there was not much impact at 250 Hz and below and … not much change in sound at the 16 kHz band either. If there is too much “sizzle” for your younger ears just drop the 1/2/4 kHz down to your liking. The cabinet speaker is still set to flat. I believe that Dan’s amplifier includes a built in low pass filter anyway to remove most of the highs so I just left that setting at factory.

The volume knobs on each amp have a roughly 270 degree range of motion. To mimic my output settings simply turn the amp on, then turn the output/power knob as far as you can toward “off” without actually shutting it down. For the backbox speakers, turn the knob 135 degrees (about halfway). The cabinet speaker setting was roughly 90 degrees (about 1/3rd of the total range of motion). These speaker outputs are a very personal setting and you may want it higher output or lower. The point is you can tune it just the way YOU like it. Want more bass? The amp can handle the power output needed. Trust me – it’s there if you need it. Feels like enough power to break the playfield glass. I found about 1/3rd of the available output was plenty.

Want to hear how it sounds? Check out the video and crank it up!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyXIct5pdAU?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&w=500&h=281]

I would be remiss to not at least throw in a plug for John Williams score for the movie that was used in this game. It’s an outstanding piece of music. John Williams was a “given” for Steven Spielberg even before the filming started – he knew he wanted John to score it. Thankfully Williams accepted the challenge and we are grateful for it. Here’s a great link to a review of the score where it is listed as one of the top 100 greatest movie scores of all time https://moviemusicuk.us/2019/02/25/jurassic-park-john-williams/

Final verdict? Buy it, buy several. I’m going to.

Buy your Pinwoofer kit here

There’s something magical about telling “Alexa” to do something and then watching it happen (or not). I’ve always been an early adopter so I tried the Echo right when it came out. I quickly found what most early adopters find – limited use for the tech. Fast forward a few years and the proliferation of “Smart things” has begun to make a huge difference in how the Alexa environment can play in the average household. Even, as you’ll see, in the “not-so-average” household.

Our home is long – really long and at the very end of it is essentially an 8 stall garage with one very large room above it. That’s my Pinball Loft. In the Loft sits 40 pinball games just begging for Alexa to help in some way. Remember that long house? That presents a problem if you’re trying to get a strong WiFi signal to run the Alexa device. So what to do? First – fix the WiFi. I started with an expensive tri-band router thinking that it would have the extra range with its daunting array of 6 external antennae – it didn’t. Next I popped in an old router I had laying around (last count I had 7 of them). It actually worked to provide a signal to the Loft but at the farthest end, the signal was spotty. Now what?

After thinking it through, I came to the conclusion that literally everything up in that room would be connected together so having another SSID wouldn’t be a problem. No need then for setting up a wired AP (remember all those extra routers?) I could simply buy a range extender and have it broadcast a unique-to-the-loft room SSID. I settled on the Netgear EX-6150 AC1200 Extender. It’s less than $100 and for my application has a pretty cool feature that I’ll share in a minute.

The most challenging part of the install is finding the best “midway” point to install any extender. I ran around the house with my iPhone using the app called “Network MM” and reading the WiFi signal strength as I moved about. I lucked out. The best location was actually in the bathroom up IN the Loft. Nice strong signal back to the origin router and, of course, no problem transmitting (repeating/extending) that signal into the room – cause it was on the same floor!

Now the cool part of this Netgear extender – it can link back to the router on either the 5 GHz or 2.4 GHz channels BUT extend ALL channels! Really important feature in that you can connect at 5 GHz for super fast connections to the router but still have devices connect to the 2.4 GHz band. Important because the speed I was showing connecting at 2.4 was just around 15 Mbps. When I switched to the 5 GHz connection (again, back to the router) my speeds popped up to 40 Mbps. Essentially, you connect in the room to 2.4 but enjoy speeds at 5.

I bought 40 pieces of the most inexpensive (but safe!) WiFi enabled smart plugs that I could find on Amazon. Even got a quantity discount. They all run off the 2.4 GHz channel and that is why I wanted to be able to broadcast that band from my Netgear extender. The box arrived from Amazon and I went to work. Set up the plug using the native app (Gosund), rename it, ask Alexa to discover it, then set it up in the Alexa app with a group and a routine (turn on Pinballs, etc.) Everything was going swimmingly until I hit around plug number 15 or 16. Full stop. I could NOT get the next plug to connect. I moved it closer – nothing. I moved it right next to the extender – still nothing. I reset it several times – still nothing. I tried a new one from the next box – nothing. Getting dangerously close to the definition of insane I finally just stopped trying.

Eager to discover why I had “hit a wall”, I grabbed my tablet to punch in the suspect word search “max connections Netgear routers”. Got hits right away and got my answer as well – it’s 32. Most routers have a limit to the number of connections you can make to each channel. If you are running a tri-band Netgear router, then it’s around a total of 100 connections. 32 per band, or in my case JUST 32 for the entire 2.4 GHz band that I was trying to connect 40 pinballs to. The same 2.4 GHz band that already had 15 or so devices that the family had attached to it (iPhone’s, iPad’s, TVs, etc.) Bummer. Without buying a commercial grade router or investing in a new mesh WiFi system, this simply was not going to work. Even with those hardware solutions, there would always be the issue of saturating a core router band with 40 plus devices. Now what? Don’t worry … the story ends well.

I did not want to originally mess with what I deemed to be complex protocols like Zwave or Zigbee. Now that I was backed into a corner, my stance changed and I started looking at them closer. It’s not that I did not know about them. I actually have some pretty in-depth experience with Zigbee and the Phillips Hue products. My last game room had a large selection of Hue products controlled by the Hue bridge and a physical Hue puck. I also had ordered some German made controllers to run my perimeter LED light strips and had learned how to integrate those into the Hue ecosystem, even though they are not native to Hue. Worked like a charm at the time so I did have a comfort level that success was within reach.

For my current application, I did not even need anything that complex. These were simply on/off plugs that I wanted to control with my voice using the Alexa app and an Echo device. I quickly settled on the Zigbee protocol. It was then that I discovered that I would need a new Echo device. The newest Echo Plus INCLUDES a built in Zigbee hub – no need for any additional hub to talk to the Zigbee enabled smart plugs, the Echo Plus could do it natively. I placed an order on Amazon right away for an open box Echo Plus.

Now … what smart plugs should I get? That turned out to be an easy answer BUT an expensive one. You see, the average WiFi smart plug is around $8 each. A little over $300 for my entire game room. The average Zigbee enabled plug is around $20 each … and that math is easy right? 40 pinballs at $20 each is around $800 bucks – ouch! I went on a mission to find the safest, UL listed durable Zigbee plug around. Amazon had the winner in the Innr branded Zigbee 3.0 enabled smart plugs at around $16.50 each. This dropped my total out of pocket by a few hundred bucks but still allowed me to justify the spend.

I put all 19 boxes of the Innr plugs into my Amazon cart. I let them sit there for a few days – unwilling to push the complete order button. Gosh that was a lot of money for something I could already do with my hands (turn the games on and off!) I finally sat down on a Sunday evening and looked over at Chris who was visiting and completed my order at a little over $600 in total. It hurt to see that total, but I was excited and hopeful this hardware solution would finally work.

The box from Amazon arrived on a Monday and after some ranch related chores and dinner, I ran upstairs to begin the install. I plugged in 4-6 of them at a time – sticking to one power strip at a time. I would then have Alexa discover them. Once discovered, a quick setup/renaming in Alex app and adding them to a group was all that was needed to get them functional. No need for any other 3 party apps. No need for any other hub (just the Echo Plus). I kept adding them until finished and the 40th one went as well as the first. I completed the last setup, stood back and used the words I had setup in Alexa as a routine “Alexa – Let’s Play Pinball” and like magic, and over a period of maybe 15-20 seconds, every single machine came on! I tested the entire thing in reverse with “Alexa – Game Over”.

This time the machines started shutting down, but at a staggered and slower pace. Enough slower that by the time the last 3 or so shut down I was holding my breath. No worries, they all went off. I’ve tested the system multiple times since then and all is still good. These plugs also “remember” their last state (on or off) and come back to that state when power is applied again. This is helpful for me because every single outlet in the room is on a switch and as a safety precaution (against surges and storms) I always cut the power to the outlets using these 8 switches. Now when I flip the switches back on, the outlets remain off until I give the command through Alexa.

The Innr smart plugs were working so well I decided to added more of them and ordered another half dozen. One controls my 4 channel receiver that delivers Sonos fed music to the Pinball loft. 2 more of them are controlling power to the SVS 13″ sealed subs that sit in opposite corners of the room. The subs are run wireless using the (fantastic) Parts Express Audio Wavelength “WLS” system. I bought a kit that consists of a transmitter and one receiver, then simply bought an extra receiver to run the second sub. I bought a short AC “Y” cord to hang off each Innr plug that feeds the subs in order to feed the sub with one end and plug in the WLS receiver into the other. That way the WLS isn’t “always on” and continually searching for a transmitter that is off at the time. Now, when I walk into the Loft and say “Alexa – Party Music!”, the receiver powers on, the transmitter powers on and the subs (and each subs receiver) come on as well. “Party’s Over” shuts the whole thing down just as fast.

It’s more that the simple coolness factor that drove me to do this (it IS cool though). I play pinball. A lot. Like every day. Walking into the room and not turning on 6 games at a time (like I have it wired to do now via a wall switch) is beneficial to both the machines and my electricity bill. Now I can walk into the Loft and ask Alexa to turn on just a SINGLE game, that I can then play and ask her to shut it off when I’m done. If I’m having a party, I can walk into the room and ask for all of them to come on with the simple phrase “Alexa – Let’s Play Pinball!”. Shutting them down is just as easy and if you’re not convinced take a peek at the videos for proof of just how well it works.

Now if only this command worked …. “Alexa – Make me a better pinball player!”

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8K33oikgQZo?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&w=500&h=281]

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZX1UG0_XsJQ?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&w=500&h=281]

Somebody posted a picture on Pinside of the coolest looking topper for a Stern Pirates of the Caribbean that I had ever seen! The problem was that they were a very infrequent poster and I couldn’t for the life of me, find the source of the parts they used to build it. I sent them a PM but got no response. So I began to search on my own. What the heck does Queen Victoria’s Royal Yacht have anything to do with Stern’s Pirates of the Caribbean? Arr … read on me hearties and discover for yerselves! 

I spent countless hours (yes, hours) crawling through Amazon and Ebay pages hoping to find what it would take to build my own version of this cool topper for my recently acquired POTC pinball. It appeared to be built from a wooden (Pirate style) ships wheel AND a skull and crossbones that looked to be of POTC Disneyesque origins.  Well, the skull and crossbones was found rather quickly on Ebay. Turns out it WAS from Disney and it was a licensed POTC wall hanger for kids to use in their rooms. It had a built in motion sensor, speech and eyes that lit up. The jaw also moved when it “talked”. It appears they made at least 2 versions of this “toy”. The one I bought that has bones crossed behind the skull and another version with swords crossed behind it. Assuming both are the same scale, then either would work. The whole thing runs on 3 AA batteries, and is constructed of hard plastic. I paid $32 on Ebay and it arrived in perfect working order a few days later. I took a few minutes the day it arrived to use some E6000 adhesive to glue the bottom plastic plate in place (it was hinged in its original design) as a future “mounting base” when fixing it to the top of the pinball machine. This saved time later on as you’ll soon see. 

The ships wheel wasn’t so easy. I simply could find no information on the wheel. After quickly finding the skull on EBay I figured I’d quickly be building my new custom topper BUT after exhaustively searching Google and Bing enginesI came up empty. I did image searches and a hundred variations of “Ships wheel”, “Pirates ship wheel”, “Wood ship wheel”, “Boat wheel”, you name it but … nothing. In all the years I’ve searched for things on the internet, I’ve never been completly stumped – this time I was. I went to Pinside for help and asked if anyone recognized the ships wheel behind the skull. Was it a:- Toy? – Beer sign? – Disney POTC item? – Handmade Etsy item? – Liquor advertising piece?  In the original image I can see it has 8 spokes and it’s probably plastic – but I’m not sure. I can see acorns and oak leaves and I see a crown and swords. Even zooming in I could see no other clues that might help me in finding it. A fellow Pinsider suggested it might be a clock or even a thermometer so … I went back to Ebay and searched hundreds of “ships wheel clocks”. Nothing.

I then thought about what another guy said and tried “ships wheel thermometers”. Still nothing. I was about to give up when I tried “ships wheel barometer”, and … a couple dozen hits later – BOOM! There is/was exactly ONE identical item on Ebay, and it was in the United Kingdom. Looks like it was made in the 50s or 60s. No wonder there were no Google images of it! The maker was listed as Rototherm. I bought it immediately for just under $90 delivered from the UK.  

When the package arrived (quickly BTW) it looked like it had gone through a meat grinder but the wheel was in perfect condition. Sure enough, right in the middle was a still functioning barometer. Along the bottom was a brass plaque stating “After the Ships Wheel on Queen Victoria’s Royal Yacht Osborne 1870-1908”.  

The barometer looks like wood but is made out of a material that is much more dense. It has the weight of concrete but the appearance of plastic close up. Maybe it is wood but I could not tell and I never needed to drill into it to discover its secrets. The rear of the unit is covered in green felt and has one brass keyhole at the top to hang it with. I was able to quickly pop the barometer out of the center. The only thing holding it all in there was some old hot melt glue that had browned with age and weakened to the point of failure.  

I put the wheel back in the box intending to build the entire topper the following weekend. Then life happened. Or, should I say “the move” happened. We were in the middle of building a house and it was time to “get going” – so the topper was put on temporary hold for 4 months. To shorten the story, we finally got moved. The house is beautiful and the new gameroom is awesome (SEE IT HERE). Now it was “time” to finish that topper. Sunday October 13th I set aside a few hours 

In a nutshell, I cut all the inside wiring and functionality of the original skull out and tossed it. In it’s place, I wired in 2 MUCH larger/brighter LED “eyes” and added 2 large LED effect lights that are mounted low on the skull and flash to light up each side of the “face”. I then glued the entire skull to the ships wheel and mounted that entire assembly on top of the pinball head and wired it to an existing flasher in the game. By plan, the moving jaw no longer functions What follows is a loosely documented step-by-step of how I first gutted the skull, rewired it and then mounted it to the wheel. Step one was to simply “get in there”. This involved unscrewing the backer which was held on by 6 to 8 screws. Once open, I cut the motion sensore out of the nose, then unscrewed and then removed the black smoked eyballs “visor”. Note that there are 2 pins in addtion to the screws that hold that visor on. One of the pins is glued, the other is not. I carefully but forcefully pulled and pried the visor to break the glued-in pin – it’s not structurally integral to the visor so no worries breaking it off. I then unscrewed and removed the existing (very, very tiny!) OEM eye LEDs 

The holes left by the original LEDs in the eyes were much too small so I grabbed my step drill bit to enlarge them to hold much larger LEDs. Those larger holes were used to accommodate Comet brand 8MD Red “flexi” style LEDs and wedge sockets (13 volt style – used as flashers in modern games).

I wired and soldered the wedge style socket in series using some 24 gauge speaker wire. I mixed up some 1 minute epoxy to glue in the whole eye assembly and wiring 

With the epoxy now dry, I popped in my big LEDs and stopped to admire the work so far! I needed a way to get the newly wired “eyes” power supply wire out of the skull so I drilled a tiny hole just below the battery compartment in the back. It was then that I decided to add a few more of the large LED around the base of the skull for dramatic effect. I mounted these using some LED wedge bases I had on hand that had some right angle mounts already attached. To power them, I would need another supply line so I tapped into the one I had just completed by soldering then adding heat shrink tubing to a “Y” connection on my 24 gauge wire. The additional 8SMD Orange flexi style LEDs were then mounted down low on the skull but with the LEDs bent to be facing up. Finally I would need to a way to disconnect the topper for when the game needs to be broke down for transport so I added a 2 pin Molex quick disconnect to the power supply wire 

Before I put it all together and mounted the skull to the wheel, I dragged it over to the machine and tested the LEDs to make certain all wiring was good. Taking the whole thing apart AFTER I had it mounted to the wheel would have been crazy painful so I wanted to make sure it would work first – it did. With the testing behind me, I used E6000 to mount the whole skull to the ships wheel and painters tape to hold it in place until the E6000 setOnce the glue was set, I needed to decide exactly how I would mount the whole thing. The skull came with a base of sorts. You’ll remember earlier that I had already glued that part in place a few months ago. That saved a step during the process and also alllowed me to complete the entire topper in just one day. 

When the wheel was added, the spokes actually stabilized the entire structure and it became apparent that just ONE screw, in the back of the skull base would be sufficient to anchor the entire assembly. I pre-drilled the base of the skull and the top of the pinball machine cabinet and mounted the entire assembly – I was getting close! All that remained was to feed the wire through the back screen of the cabinet head, down the right side into the larger base cabinet and choose a flasher to marry it to.I chose the pop bumpers as they are typically fired on every ball if you plunge to the top instead of a short plunge.  All in all I’m very please with how it turned out! It’s plenty bright and the addition of the 2 outside (and low mount) Orange flashers really enhance the entire look.   

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfaB2yvvttg?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&w=500&h=281]