Crazy Flipper Fingers

We fixed the ball guide on the left inlane of Dracula so now if rolls smooth, also adjusted the right ramp inlane on Hurricane. We figured out what was wrong with the right ramp on Dracula and will fix that tomorrow since Voodoo Donuts was closing early.

Fixed the right ramp on Dracula.

I think the drac is missing a gate to the spot where the mist ball rests on the left side of the machine. I had a funky bounce once and knocked the resting ball out. I also got a ball in there once (when it was empty) and had to wait for ball search for the machine to give me another one.

You can see the gate in this picture:
http://ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=3072&picno=35880&zoom=1

Oh yeah, I knocked that ball out once, too. So I drained one, then it shot it back out to lock back in there (which seemed like the correct thing to do, even though it confused me).

We fabricated a wire gate for Dracula until we can get a original one. Let us know if you have any problems with it.

Thanks everyone,
Trish

Gate seems to be working well. But tonight the Castle lock wasnt locking. Caused me to get 2 balls out once, but the game seemed to know what was going on.

I'm glad the gate seems to be working.I was there for a little bit last night and everything seemed OK on Dracula, but we'll take a look at the Castle lock next time we're there I'm sure it will probably be this evening.

Thanks,
Trish

We fixed a small problem with the ball release on Dracula. Now it doesn't drop into multiball at the wrong time.

We now have a Twitter account that you can follow us on. http://twitter.com/RicochetPinball

i have been really enjoying the games. been playing dracula a little bit, and i know that game has some funky things that are "normal" for it the only things that have been bothering me are that it seems like the center target for the 'light castle locks' bank is not registering. i've had a very hard time getting castle locks. i know with enough loop shots you can light a lock, i seem to be able to get that occasionally, but when i was there a few days ago, i was locking 1 or sometimes 2 balls, and then was repeatedly unable to lock a 3rd. something on that ramp didn't seem to be registering properly, as though the ball was diverting when it wasn't supposed to, or the game was treating every shot like a secret passage shot. in fact, while the center target bank didn't seem to be lighting the center target, i'm almost positive that the left bank WAS lighting up, and still not lighting the castle lock.

i could be wrong-- the game does some strange things and i'm not super familiar with it. all i know is this one is playing super mean, and it's tougher to hit the loop ramp on that drac than on some others i've played. not an awful thing, but a thing. i've had no trouble having very long balls, making me think multiple billions should be easy to get if that castle lock feature were working right. again, it could just be that i'm not playing well enough, so i'd like to hear if i'm wrong about the lock light issues.

We will head over to Voodoo late tonight to see what's going on with Dracula. Appreciate all feedback to help keep our games playing nice.

Trish

you guys are a magical dream come true. hooray. i'm sorry for kicking the leg on dracula! i stopped doing it. i read in the rulesheet that "deathsaves are easy, and bangbacks possible from either side" so i tried to save a few that way, but i stopped. i promise.

We found a broken wire on the 3 stand up targets for castle lock and tightened the screws on the launcher.

Thanks guys,
Trish

The upper left pop bumper is not firing on Dracula (and I think the light in it was out, too...).

Also, my experience is that the tilt is a bit sensitive. I was up at 250 million while rocking a four ball multiball - a lot of hand action on the machine, but zero jostling or moving of it - and it tilted. It's hard to say this without sounding like I'm just complaining, but I didn't move the machine at all - I was just going nuts hitting the balls, racking in 20 million shots! It seemed unfairly sensitive. It's not like I was finagling some movement out of the machine...

Oh, and on my next ball the machine completely reset. Now that I think about it, it's possible that this happened right when I hit the replay. I started that ball at 260 million, and the replay is 267. Might be worth looking into..

when I was 12 my parents got the time life books that explained the unexplained before the x-files. Anyhoo there was an article about 4 ball multiball and tilts that happen. If I recall correctly it was called the awesome effect. It happens randomly but only in 4 ball multiball.

oh dear god can we please leave those poor girls alone, how'd did I know this would happen. Sorry to take it out on you Rom but jesus. Everytime a slingshot fires twice instead of once it has to be fixed. Every morning I wake up there is a new very very very minor issue that we hound ricochet about. There has been at least 15 posts about Dracula, how many more times do you think they will keep fixing things daily before they just pack up their machines and tell us to kiss their ass.

I think there's a fine line to be walked. On one hand they probably want to know when things aren't functioning correctly on a machine. For instance - the INCREDIBLY sensitive tilt on Capcom Magic . . . After 1 game w/ 2 tilts from just hitting flippers, I walked away and wouldn't have put any more money into the machine if they hadn't fixed it. When the Dracula castle lock was spitting out multiple balls, I got a replay on every game I played - again, not putting any money into the machine.

I guess my point is . . . if something is wrong with a game, chances are it's going to effect it's earnings, by either being too easy or too hard/unplayable. If you let an operator know when something is wrong . . .they have a choice as to whether or not to fix it. If we let 'em know what's going on they can prioritize and deem it worthy of a repair trip or not. ROM reports a pop bumper not working - they don't have to fix it that night, if they don't want to. The game still plays - we'll still play it!

Ricochets games are my favorite ones on location because of the non standard titles they put out "bad cats, Magic, dr. dude, whirlwind etc". And they keep them it top shape. They're getting all my quarters and probably lot's of other folks too. . .

As long as we keep showing our gratitude (and quarters) I don't think a few too many notes for their repair logs are going to scare them away (I hope!)

yeah that's what i meant to say....or something along the fine line between the two

I will be stopping by tonight to take a look at Dracula and see what's going on. We do appreciate all the feedback on the machines. It helps us keep the machines playing correctly. If somethings wrong with one of our games please let us know.

if an op deems the issue too minor for a service call, at least they'll know to check on it next time they're at the location for something else. kudos to ricochet for fixing the small stuff.

dropshot, kiss my butt.

Even if Ricochet wasn't reading the message board, I would have still posted a complainy post (or txt msg to someone) about how I was on my way to kickback's score when I fell victim to a gyp tilt (no offense, all you gypsies out there). What's the fun in getting into a game if you're just going to get penalized for it? I don't have that heavy of a hand, and I pretty much never move machines any more. I don't expect them to loosen up the machine, but I still feel compelled to share my frustration, anyway. Plus I now live four blocks away from there, and will be there a lot. Plus! I was also posting about totally legit problems (pop bumper and random reset). Dropshot, a pop bumper not firing is a "very very very minor issue"? You're out of touch, bro - communicating with operators is totally vital. When operators neglect a game, so will users. We're working together here. (and I guess you already conceded that your post was stupid...)

In other Voodoo II news: I talked with the manager-guy yesterday, and the word up is that the layout is changing, and in a few weeks two more machines are going to be added. They want to host tournaments. And he also is up for a bigger tournament at some point in the future. Ricochet, he says, can bring in a load of machines for an awesome tournament. (as you may remember, this was talked about when Phil's machines were there - but it never happened. but now it will!)