I have The Simpson Pinball Party and it is great. Purchase in 2004 brand new. However the ball gets stuck in the garage and it seems to be normal thing and it's not all the time. I contacted Stern pinball company and still waiting for a response. Anybody who is interested in purchasing a pinball machine there are maintenance concerns because of moving parts and can get very expensive. I know virtual pinball is not the same but less maintenance.
This is issue is very common for all Pinballs. Usually with this problem it's a switch issue. If it's a micro switch, then it needs to be adjusted or it's worn out and needs to be replaced. If it's a leaf contact, then it needs to be cleaned or adjusted. Sometimes it could be a loose wire or diode on the switch that needs to be resoldered. If it's an Opto switch then it needs to be cleaned, replaced or resoldered. If the switch is ok, then it could be a mechanical issue. Spring issue with coil, dirt build up in the coil, bad plastic coil sleeve, bad coil shaft, warped coil, or loose wire on coil. It can also be a blockage or broken item on the playfield that's hanging up the ball that needs to be inspected.
@@727PENGO Yes I had a Pinball maintenance company a couple of days ago and he replace the balls and removed the batteries and put a chip on the board. Check all switches thru the diagnostics and he saw the ball get stuck and hanging up. He said it was hanging up in the chute and fix the rough edge but it still gets stuck. I contacted Stern company couple of days ago about the ball getting stuck and maybe knows what's going on but haven't heard from them. It sounds like there customer service is not that good. So frustrated. Thanks for the reply.
To be honest Stern is not going to help with this situation since this is an older game with some common wear and tear plus there is no Service Bulletin on this game for that issue. I have contacted them myself on a four-year-old Stern game and they were no help for me either, but that was ok with me since I was not expecting much help from them since the issue was not a common problem that were experiencing. I always run into this intermittent type of problems with pins. In order to get the problem fixed it's going to take a good eye and to study the problem up close over and over again. It could take some tweaking or a matter of replacing parts one by one until the problem goes away. Even after doing some repair work and the problem seems to go away it can still come back if the main issue was not correctly found. Getting a tech on the phone or out on a home repair for a couple of hours does not always work for certain issues. I have had many games that haunt me where it takes me days to weeks to months of nonstop testing and investigating to solve a problem.
@@727PENGO Hi Doug Thanks for reaching out to me. I did however remove the glass and started to checking it out for myself. During a game I shot the ball into the garage and got stuck so I started to remove the three cap screws on the upper play field and the ball became unstuck after reviewing the play field I notice that the hole drill thru the playfield for the studs and on the other side of the playfield was counter bore maybe so the threaded standoff would come thru the playfield to extend the threads to be able to have a enough room to screw on the cap screws. I tried first with a bigger washer but it would not leave any threads. So I had some washers from the garage that match the outer diameter and inner diameter of the standoff and slip them over the threaded studs and and re-installed the upper playfield back on and threaded in the the cap screws back on. Started the machine back up and shot numerous times with the ball never got stuck in the garage. I know that every situation might be different on every Simpson Pinball Party. I also was having a problem with the couch not seeing the multi balls and I had all three balls on the couch and it was counting down to zero and started going thru searching for the balls. I inspected it to see why and pulled the whole playfield out and inspected the couch a little closer and checking the solenoid to see it was free and not hanging up and it was fine then took one of the balls and watched how they were activating the three leaf switches and notice very last switch was not throughly activating the switch tried to adjust which it did help a little but ultimately I had to bend the trough or straighten it so the ball would rest closer to the switch because it look like it was bent from Stern Pinball company and came that way. I had this problem when I got it brand new from Stern but didn't think nothing of it and thought that was normal. I read other people who owned this pinball machine are having similar problems with the couch releasing the multi balls. It might been a way for them to adjust the switch because in order to adjust any kind of micro switch it can't be bottom out because it can break the switch or weaken it. Started the Simpson Pinball Party and now the couch works with the Multi ball mode. Also the ball would get stuck at the itchy and scratchy targets and notice the targets need adjusting to bring the targets flush with the playfield. These Pinball machines come with flaws and are not perfect. Their a lot of moving parts. Thanks for helping me and giving me some confidence. Very happy owner now!
Excellent good to hear that it seems to be working better. To be a Pinball owner its best to dive into these machines to learn yourself how to fix them since you know more about what is going on with your machine than a repair person will know. I have owned two of these machines. I had one of them that had a couch problem. I had to replace the entire couch bracket some time ago since the coil stop bracket was cracked. This is a design flaw from Stern. Today there is couch weld fix bracket that can be purchased for the coil stop so that you can repair the old broken one instead of buying a new entire couch bracket. Pinballs take a beaten over time and things just wear out. When it comes to the Data East and Stern games, I find that they are not built quite as strong compared to the Williams/Bally games.
The battery backup on the CPU holds the high scores. You can also adjust the game to clear the high scores after so many games or you call reset the high scores manually.
Beautiful game..one of my favorites
They still have this at a check-e-cheese near my grandparents'
I screamed “CAROUSEEEEEEEEEEEEEELL!!!” (5-8)
Man, I would love to get one someday!
Me too!!!!!
downright mesmerizing game that was. great vid!
Hermosa mesa, gracias por compartir
I have The Simpson Pinball Party and it is great. Purchase in 2004 brand new. However the ball gets stuck in the garage and it seems to be normal thing and it's not all the time. I contacted Stern pinball company and still waiting for a response. Anybody who is interested in purchasing a pinball machine there are maintenance concerns because of moving parts and can get very expensive. I know virtual pinball is not the same but less maintenance.
This is issue is very common for all Pinballs. Usually with this problem it's a switch issue. If it's a micro switch, then it needs to be adjusted or it's worn out and needs to be replaced. If it's a leaf contact, then it needs to be cleaned or adjusted. Sometimes it could be a loose wire or diode on the switch that needs to be resoldered. If it's an Opto switch then it needs to be cleaned, replaced or resoldered. If the switch is ok, then it could be a mechanical issue. Spring issue with coil, dirt build up in the coil, bad plastic coil sleeve, bad coil shaft, warped coil, or loose wire on coil. It can also be a blockage or broken item on the playfield that's hanging up the ball that needs to be inspected.
@@727PENGO Yes I had a Pinball maintenance company a couple of days ago and he replace the balls and removed the batteries and put a chip on the board. Check all switches thru the diagnostics and he saw the ball get stuck and hanging up. He said it was hanging up in the chute and fix the rough edge but it still gets stuck. I contacted Stern company couple of days ago about the ball getting stuck and maybe knows what's going on but haven't heard from them. It sounds like there customer service is not that good. So frustrated. Thanks for the reply.
To be honest Stern is not going to help with this situation since this is an older game with some common wear and tear plus there is no Service Bulletin on this game for that issue. I have contacted them myself on a four-year-old Stern game and they were no help for me either, but that was ok with me since I was not expecting much help from them since the issue was not a common problem that were experiencing. I always run into this intermittent type of problems with pins. In order to get the problem fixed it's going to take a good eye and to study the problem up close over and over again. It could take some tweaking or a matter of replacing parts one by one until the problem goes away. Even after doing some repair work and the problem seems to go away it can still come back if the main issue was not correctly found. Getting a tech on the phone or out on a home repair for a couple of hours does not always work for certain issues. I have had many games that haunt me where it takes me days to weeks to months of nonstop testing and investigating to solve a problem.
@@727PENGO Hi Doug Thanks for reaching out to me. I did however remove the glass and started to checking it out for myself. During a game I shot the ball into the garage and got stuck so I started to remove the three cap screws on the upper play field and the ball became unstuck after reviewing the play field I notice that the hole drill thru the playfield for the studs and on the other side of the playfield was counter bore maybe so the threaded standoff would come thru the playfield to extend the threads to be able to have a enough room to screw on the cap screws. I tried first with a bigger washer but it would not leave any threads. So I had some washers from the garage that match the outer diameter and inner diameter of the standoff and slip them over the threaded studs and and re-installed the upper playfield back on and threaded in the the cap screws back on. Started the machine back up and shot numerous times with the ball never got stuck in the garage. I know that every situation might be different on every Simpson Pinball Party. I also was having a problem with the couch not seeing the multi balls and I had all three balls on the couch and it was counting down to zero and started going thru searching for the balls. I inspected it to see why and pulled the whole playfield out and inspected the couch a little closer and checking the solenoid to see it was free and not hanging up and it was fine then took one of the balls and watched how they were activating the three leaf switches and notice very last switch was not throughly activating the switch tried to adjust which it did help a little but ultimately I had to bend the trough or straighten it so the ball would rest closer to the switch because it look like it was bent from Stern Pinball company and came that way. I had this problem when I got it brand new from Stern but didn't think nothing of it and thought that was normal. I read other people who owned this pinball machine are having similar problems with the couch releasing the multi balls. It might been a way for them to adjust the switch because in order to adjust any kind of micro switch it can't be bottom out because it can break the switch or weaken it. Started the Simpson Pinball Party and now the couch works with the Multi ball mode. Also the ball would get stuck at the itchy and scratchy targets and notice the targets need adjusting to bring the targets flush with the playfield. These Pinball machines come with flaws and are not perfect. Their a lot of moving parts. Thanks for helping me and giving me some confidence. Very happy owner now!
Excellent good to hear that it seems to be working better. To be a Pinball owner its best to dive into these machines to learn yourself how to fix them since you know more about what is going on with your machine than a repair person will know. I have owned two of these machines. I had one of them that had a couch problem. I had to replace the entire couch bracket some time ago since the coil stop bracket was cracked. This is a design flaw from Stern. Today there is couch weld fix bracket that can be purchased for the coil stop so that you can repair the old broken one instead of buying a new entire couch bracket. Pinballs take a beaten over time and things just wear out. When it comes to the Data East and Stern games, I find that they are not built quite as strong compared to the Williams/Bally games.
I need to find a location in Ohio to play this game I think the game, rule set, and Toys look cool
How long does it take for the high scores to be stores in the system?
The battery backup on the CPU holds the high scores. You can also adjust the game to clear the high scores after so many games or you call reset the high scores manually.
fun pin