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Sticky balls

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May 2, 2015
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Got a right weird stuck ball on Funhouse tonight (the new flippers are causing crazy airballs!) which got me thinking about stuck balls on other tables. My most bizarre was losing a ball on TZ. Could not find it anywhere and ended up putting a new ball in the game. About a year later I found it stuck behind the magnaflip plastic. So what's your wierdest stuck ball?
 

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This one had me scratching my head for a while!! One. Minute it was there, the next it disappeared. Piff paff poof

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On Starship Troopers, a fairly uncommon problem can occur.

Under very specific conditions, if the ball is slamming into the brain bug, and exactly the same time as the brain bug mechanism is dropping down, you will hear a loud clunk, as the game eats the ball, and it falls into the bottom of the cab.

I've had that one twice in 10 years on mine
 
On my WOZ, the ball went up the ramp and did not come back down, odd I thought must have got caught up top, nothing, I could not find it anywhere, I was not going to be beaten anyway about ½ an hour later I lifted the playfield out expecting to hear a ball drop into the cabinet, nothing, then I saw it in the base of the cabinet, somehow it went up the ramp and made its way past the wood at the back and into the base of the cabinet!!

Either that or due to quantum physics uncertainty principles if past straight through the wood.:eek:
 
Lots and lots over the years. Here are a few:

JD - very top left corner of the playfield. Best put another ball in the game to stop it ending up there again.

Stargate - when the top of the plastic ramp breaks balls plunge straight in to the bottom of the cabinet.

BOP - when the head goes wrong it drops a ball under the playfield.

Too many games, ball under the sling shots. An old operator trick to stop that is to put a nail in that particular spot.

Tron - wire above the recogniser, like the OP's funhouse.

Metallica / IM - up post on the back loop, if it sits too low then the ball can come to a rest on the post.

CC - old mine moving arm, when it's not moving the ball can rest in the slot for the arm.

WH2O - behind the rubber under the mountain next to the right hand pop bumper.
 
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BoP - when the head goes wrong it drops a ball under the playfield.
I may be talking crap but I think my old BoP used to catch the balls in a trough and feed them to them to the small wheel scoop when the head messed up (maybe it depends on rotation direction) . I ended up with a few 3 ball multiballs because of it!
 
No, that is right about Bride of Pinbot - the metal box under the head unit has a hole to allow such a ball to enter the kick-out scoop, similar to the 'Thing' hand on Addams Family.

Another one was common when The Getaway was first launched; a ball exiting the supercharger could jump off the metal ramp, over the back panel of the playfield, and wind up in the cabinet. Later production had a metal shield fitted to the underside of the rear channel for the playfield glass, held by two of the screws. Williams/Deith Leisure provided these shields for early games.
 
No, that is right about Bride of Pinbot - the metal box under the head unit has a hole to allow such a ball to enter the kick-out scoop, similar to the 'Thing' hand on Addams Family.

Another one was common when The Getaway was first launched; a ball exiting the supercharger could jump off the metal ramp, over the back panel of the playfield, and wind up in the cabinet. Later production had a metal shield fitted to the underside of the rear channel for the playfield glass, held by two of the screws. Williams/Deith Leisure provided these shields for early games.

Yeah that happened to mine once or twice when i had it, i thought it was a bit of wood at the back that i had removed because it didnt look like it should be there...
 
No, that is right about Bride of Pinbot - the metal box under the head unit has a hole to allow such a ball to enter the kick-out scoop, similar to the 'Thing' hand on Addams Family.

It's interesting to think how this might have been incorporated into the game. The software always was a bit lacking on bop.
 
On Starship Troopers, a fairly uncommon problem can occur.

Under very specific conditions, if the ball is slamming into the brain bug, and exactly the same time as the brain bug mechanism is dropping down, you will hear a loud clunk, as the game eats the ball, and it falls into the bottom of the cab.

I've had that one twice in 10 years on mine
Hi mate I have a gottlieb victory I need repairing do you offer that service ? I'm only in St.Anne's 07813830616 cheers peter
 
While not a 'sticky' situation as such, Black Knight was still the newest sensation when I saw the three balls settle in a triangle between the lower flippers (with the lower corners resting on the anti-return wires) after the end of a timed 'Bonus Ball'. The odds must be high against balls arriving from each side and jamming together, and then the third landing on top.
 
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I may be talking crap but I think my old BoP used to catch the balls in a trough and feed them to them to the small wheel scoop when the head messed up (maybe it depends on rotation direction) . I ended up with a few 3 ball multiballs because of it!

In which case I suspect the machine we played was missing the trough catcher under the head....
 
I've had all 4 balls stuck on the Cross magnet on Met before now, makes it hard to hit the Super when you don't have a ball in play.

Have also had a trough switch problem which meant that 2 balls were kicked into play at once on Met. Continued playing and the hammer trigger to smash the ball under the playfield, at exactly the same time the other ball hit it and it ended up with one ball jammed between the cabinet and the magnet, while the other ball sat balanced on top of that as well
 
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