No, VP, get out of my IRL!

[Punisher]

So, on vacation, I happen upon a Tron Legacy at my resort. I never cared too much for Sterns, as they never really made things bombastic as Bally/Williams stuff did. I then noticed the Replay was at 6.5 mil. Eh, sounds low, but let's give it a shot, if I can get it from a ball bonus. (Trust me, my ears are pretty damn sensitive). First game, second ball drains. Ball bonus? THWACK. Actually, it was more of a POP. I did have the opportunity to cover my ears. Yes, I'm weak, like that. So I go headfirst into the free game I just got, didn't reach the doubled Replay score, but I happened to get a Match. Heard the "POP" as I was leaving the gameroom. Come back, get to working, again. This pin really wants me to stay on the grid, doesn't it? Ball 2. Lightcycle and Quorra Multiball both lit at the scoop. Start a double multiball. Play it a bit, suddenly, POP. a THIRD free game, in the form of a second Replay. Okay. Let's just pound away at jackpots, I guess. Multiball ends, and I lose my ball, ending the second one. Third one? TWO BALLS pop into the plunger lane. I NEVER saw this happen IRL! I just play it, one of the balls drain, but nothing happens. It lets me keep going. After that game, I play the free game. AGAIN, two balls come out. I give it a go, and this time, the game isn't as forgiving! When ONE of these balls drain, the ball... round ends! And it keeps doing this for the whole game. I got my money back for that setback, but still. That was really weird! I only ever saw that happen in Visual Pinball! Ever have something like this happen to you?

 

[shutyertrap]

Just happened 2 weeks back while playing Bram Stoker's Dracula. Exactly as you described too, where first ball drained and nothing changed. Next time though, as soon as one ball went down, it went into bonus collection mode and the other ball just drained. Just goes to show, even the real deal aint perfect!

 

[Sumez]

Happened several times on my own WH2O before I got it up to speed, there can be a lot of reasons for this, I guess most obviously if the plunger lane switch isn't working. I've also seen it happen on tables where some dofus put in one more ball than the game was made for, though in this case the table will always put two balls in the plunger lane.

I've never seen it happen on VP.

Just goes to show, even the real deal aint perfect!

This is the one defining rule of pinball. It's impossible to play a number of games in a row without experiencing some sort of fault in the game, and usually you just have to suck it up. And no matter how many games you play, you will probably always experience situations that you have never seen before.

 

[Captain B. Zarre]

Yes. I was playing Indiana Jones Pinball Adventure at a resort in Ogunquit and it had that problem. It's really sad to say that the game was really polished and had no wear at all. Granted, it had no LEDs

 

[SpiffyRob]

The appropriate word for the sound made for a Replay on modern Sterns is definitely SCREECH.

 

[Worf]

Hey, those double balls are a Farsight TPA patented feature!

 

[Espy]

It can happen. More often for me a ball gets stuck, the game gets bored searching for it and loads the next ball. The new ball knocks the old ball free, which drains and... end of ball.

 

[Slam23]

I just played a Tron at the Dutch Pinball Open, and had the same thing happening to me. Difference was that after it let me play with those two balls (which is pretty nice programming for contingencies I would say), it did not give any trouble. The extra ball just drained and I could continue playing, even after losing the 2nd ball. The problem I had was that somebody before me shot a post out of the table (broke it or something, but it was missing) and that meant that in every game I got a ball stuck at the back end of the spinning disc, and the only way to get it loose was to tilt the table. I hope this is not indicative of Stern table quality.... But in all fairness, I had a blast playing it, I liked the flow and the layout of the table. Did not play it enough to get a good feel for how deep the ruleset is.

 

[karl]

The plunger lane on Stern games can get a pretty good beating from the coil so I installed a smart little metal plate that pinball life is selling to protect Metallica and Lord Of The Rings. After that I have had the two balls in the plunger lane problem on Metallica from time to time. (never happened before that)

Every time it has happened, the game lets me keep playing when the first ball drains

 

[Punisher]

I was always fond of the Tron... er, what is it called? IP? Like, the movies and the stuff related to it? Whatever the case, that spurred me on to try the table. Strangely enough, on my redeemed credit, I find out that the disc targets were stuck, and when I opened up the recognizer, it was constantly registering hits, even if I was doing nothing, and when Disc Multiball started, it constantly gave me jackpots. I was banging away at the balls, but I should have kept a cradle separation as it did this. Game ended JUST under the Replay score.