How I would fix the Pokemon orbit

Don's Pinball Podcast (patreon feed)·podcast_episode·9m 36s·analyzed·Mar 13, 2026

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.023

TL;DR

Don explains Pokémon orbit defect and proposed manufacturing fix; reports issue being addressed with Stern.

Summary

Don discusses a manufacturing defect affecting Pokémon pinball machines where the right orbit ball guide was misaligned during production, causing balls to roll down the middle instead of properly feeding the flipper. He explains how ball guides are normally adjusted by relocating bolts by millimeters and proposes Stern should repress all affected playfields with corrected holes rather than requiring owner modifications. Don also reports that Kaneda of Kaneda's Pinball Podcast has negotiated a fix with designer George Gomez and previews his upcoming attendance at Pinball at the Beach (TPF) in Texas.

Key Claims

Pokémon pinball has a right orbit issue where balls go straight down the middle instead of feeding the flipper due to a misaligned guide hole pressed into the playfield
high confidence · Don describing the defect directly from his experience with the machine
Stern has already pressed approximately 1,000 playfields with the incorrect hole position
medium confidence · Don's estimate of production volume affected; not officially confirmed by Stern
The issue can be fixed by owners unscrewing and repositioning the ball guide bolt by millimeters, then drilling a new hole
high confidence · Don explaining the standard ball guide adjustment procedure used on multiple machines
Similar orbit/ball guide issues have occurred on Stranger Things, Big Lebowski, Foo Fighters, and Evil Dead machines
high confidence · Don citing his personal experience adjusting these machines
Kaneda from Kaneda's Pinball Podcast negotiated directly with George Gomez to address the Pokémon issue while on vacation in Dublin
medium confidence · Don reporting based on Kaneda's livestream announcement; details of fix method not yet confirmed
Spooky Pinball uses a manufacturing process that doesn't require a Hammerstein press to ensure ball guide hole consistency
medium confidence · Don referencing Spooky's alternative method, noting he doesn't want to give away industry secrets

Notable Quotes

“a $10,000 to $13,000 pinball machine that arrives in the box needing further adjustments”
Don @ opening — Sets up the core complaint about new machine quality expectations vs. reality
“it's tunable, okay? Now this is what you find on your orbit guides generally and other shots and things if Foo Fighters had a mid playfield and things. So there should be a way, and those of us that own and maintain pinball machines know this, that you can usually unscrew the bolt that's holding down the end of this thing, and there's a little bit of wiggle room, man, and all it is is millimeters”
Don @ mid-episode — Educational explanation of how ball guides work and why millimeter-level precision matters
“So in this case what we seeing is apparently by millimeters the little hole guide was put in the wrong spot or maybe there was more play expected in the ball guide but whatever People are having to unscrew move this thing to the proper position and then put a new hole in their playfield which absolutely sucks”
Don @ mid-episode — Identifies the core problem and owner frustration
“What I would do is come up with a new press with the pin in the correct position and just repress all those playfields, putting an additional dimple in the spot where the screw should be”
Don @ mid-episode — Don's proposed industry solution that would minimize owner impact
“You're making the LEs. Yeah, you did the pros, you caught this problem, fix it.”
Don @ mid-episode — Calling out expectation that Limited Edition units should have the corrected tooling
“Kaneda of Kaneda's Pinball Podcast, has the time. He's out over in Dublin, Ireland right now on vacation, but has time to intercede on all of our behalfs to George directly”
Don @ mid-episode — Acknowledges Kaneda's community advocacy role with George Gomez

Entities

DonpersonPokémongameStern PinballcompanyKanedaperson George GomezpersonSpooky PinballcompanyStranger Thingsgame Big Lebowskigame

Signals

?
product_concern: Pokémon pinball machines experiencing systematic right orbit ball guide misalignment affecting all recent production runs; balls routing straight down middle instead of feeding flipper
high · Don's direct experience with machine and confirmation of widespread issue among owners
?
manufacturing_signal: Stern's Godly Press used for guiding pinholes contains misaligned hole position; approximately 1,000 playfields estimated to be affected; press tooling error of millimeter-level precision
medium · Don's analysis of production volume and technical description of root cause; estimate not officially confirmed
?
product_concern: High-priced Limited Edition machines ($10,000-$13,000) arriving with manufacturing defects requiring owner remediation; community expectation that LE versions should have corrective tooling applied
high · Don's frustration with price point vs. condition; stated expectation that LE production should address defect
?
industry_signal: Spooky Pinball uses alternative playfield hole positioning method avoiding Hammerstein press issues; suggests competitive advantage in manufacturing consistency vs. Stern's approach
medium · Don's reference to Spooky's proprietary method as industry alternative; positioned as superior consistency solution
?
community_signal: Kaneda from Kaneda's Pinball Podcast acting as community advocate, negotiating directly with designer George Gomez during vacation to resolve Pokémon defect; community reliance on influencer intermediaries

Topics

Manufacturing Quality and Ball Guide DefectsprimaryPokémon Pinball Machine IssuesprimaryOwner Maintenance and Adjustment ProceduresprimaryStern's Response to Manufacturing DefectsprimaryPinball at the Beach (TPF) Event PlanningsecondaryCommunity Advocacy and George Gomez CommunicationsecondaryComparison of Manufacturing Processes Across ManufacturerssecondaryClassic Pinball Appreciationmentioned

Sentiment

neutral(0)

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.029

Oh, let me tell you what I do, Host. And that is buying a $10,000 to $13,000 pinball machine that arrives in the box needing further adjustments. Man, let me tell you on this episode of Don's Pinball Podcast, Patreon exclusive episode, what's going on and how I would fix the Pokemon right orbit issue that we have found. So this is not a new problem with pinball. We've had orbits that have had problems before, essentially to catch everybody up. If you fire a ball up, the right orbit is going to come around to the left. And it's been going straight down the middle because it looks like there was a slight error in one of the guiding pinholes that that Godly Press pushes into the brand new playfields that the workers on the line use for guides. Now, everybody does it a little bit differently. I don't want to give away some industry secrets, but Spooky's got a way that doesn't involve that Hammerstein press or whatever in order to ensure consistency with these. But a ball guide is a metal strap of metal, and it's tunable, okay? Now this is what you find on your orbit guides generally and other shots and things if Foo Fighters had a mid playfield and things. So there should be a way, and those of us that own and maintain pinball machines know this, that you can usually unscrew the bolt that's holding down the end of this thing, and there's a little bit of wiggle room, man, and all it is is millimeters, and it can be the difference between an orbit coming and hitting a sling versus coming square to the flipper versus going straight down the middle. Now, even despite the best efforts from companies, this can be problems. This was an issue with Stranger Things. I had to adjust that one. Once I did, it was fine. Big Lebowski required it on one of its wire forms. It was coming out of a scoop or something and was just like going down the middle because of like how a ball guide was arranged. Got that sorted. With Spooky Pinball's Evil Dead, the first one that I had, I had to tune that left same orbit guide because it was going, you know, down the middle a lot or I'd have to nudge the machine at the last second of that orbit. A little bit of a bend was all I needed there. So in this case what we seeing is apparently by millimeters the little hole guide was put in the wrong spot or maybe there was more play expected in the ball guide but whatever People are having to unscrew move this thing to the proper position and then put a new hole in their playfield which absolutely sucks So, the thing that sucks for Stern is they've probably already pressed a thousand of these playfields with the incorrect hole that's in there. And I'm, you know, people are calling they should just ditch them all and make new ones, delay the manufacturing by a couple of months just so the LE owners don't have to deal with this problem. I don't think it's as bad as that. And this is what I was doing, what I would be doing if I was just sitting in a decision chair at Stern right now. What I would do is come up with a new press with the pin in the correct position and just repress all those playfields, putting an additional dimple in the spot where the screw should be, and then go ahead and put it in there. And that's all we have for today. Thanks for watching. We'll see you next time. Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! And to prove this point, how many times do we have to tell new pinball people who were obsessed enough with pinball to go ahead and make the plunge and buy this machine that when they want to adjust their flippers, look down at the guidance dimples that are down there between at the end of the flipper bats. Those have been there. They're in every game. They cause no problems and most people don't know they're even there until you point them out. And then even then, they're so small as to be infinitesimal. So I don't think this is doom and gloom. All right. What I didn't want to happen though was for some aftermarket part to have to come out and then I've got to fix my machine. You're making the LEs. Yeah, you did the pros, you caught this problem, fix it. And you know, people can reach out to George Gomez directly on Pinside or text message or whatever. I just don't have the time for that. But you know who does? Mr. White Knight himself, Kaneda of Kaneda's Pinball Podcast, has the time. He's out over in Dublin, Ireland right now on vacation, but has time to intercede on All of our behalfs to George directly and he came back. He did a live stream today saying he was going to do it. Apparently he has and apparently the problem is now fixed with however method they came to fix it Still don know what that going to be just yet We going to gonna see in the next couple weeks when the LEs start coming out I can wait to go play these pros that will be unboxed here at TPF They're probably already shipped down there waiting. And so are these gonna have the problem? Are these gonna need a fix retroactively put in there? I'm gonna try to jump on run right away and fire for that right orbit and see what happens, buddy. But like that's what I would do to ascertain and address this issue directly. Guys, it's Friday. There's so much to be happy and thankful for, especially for me on this Friday. I am about seven hours away from my shift being over here in Maine, and I'll be making my way back to sunny Benton, Wisconsin. I can't wait. I'm gonna have four full, fun-filled days back at home. I'm gonna hang out with Spooky Luke. I'm gonna find out exactly what's going on with Jumpin' the Line. I am hoping to get the final things removed from my home so they can finally be put on the market, and then TPF will be upon us. I'll be down there on Thursday. I'll be flying in sometime in the late morning. There's supposed to be some event going on with media folks and things, but I haven't heard a peep from this in months. Nevertheless, I'll probably be wandering in there and wandering around. If you are in the Frisco, Texas region on a Thursday, hit me up. We'll hang out. Reach me through Facebook, reach me through Discord, message me somehow. I'll be posting on Facebook and stuff. I'll see if I can get in and post some behind-the-scenes content. Sometimes people get upset about that. Hashtag Pinball at the Beach. So I gotta be a little bit careful with it. But I'll be posting. Just reply and we'll connect. It'll be great. We should plan a Patreon meetup at some time. Right now the only thing I have penciled in is I think at 3pm to 4pm on Saturday I'm hanging out with some family in the Frisco area. Other than that man, let's party. Let's go to Wienerschnitzel, let's get some food, let's play some pinball, come by the booth, play the beetle tent. We're gonna have a tent with a Beetlejuice inside of it at our booth right next to Spooky. Shout out to Pinball Studio who's co-hosting with me. And the idea is that hopefully you can play in an environment that doesn't have quite the cacophony of commotion that's going on around the show floor. Just come in and play an intimate Beetlejuice experience. Try out the spooky speak maybe. It'll be super fun. I'm planning on bringing some t-shirts. I may bring my t-shirt printer. If you want to get a shirt and you're a TPF and you're on Patreon, you're gonna get a homie hookup. I'm a big fan of your stuff. Just let me know. You know, slip me something to cover costs. Typically I do and end up giving all the money to my daughter to go play with anyway So if you want a shirt I have WAP logos I have Don logos and I have some that are pre So come by and get some shirts Deplete my inventory, please, so we can go through hopefully a new season of new logos. I'm super looking forward to that. Man, this is going to be fun. This is going to be fun. I can't wait to walk around. I want to play some classic games. I know people have been reaching out saying, Don, do you like the classics at all? We never talk about them. And that's because I'm pretty much covering all the news and rumors and reviews of like the brand new games that are coming out. The ones that I would want to bring into my home. But let me tell you, I've got an appreciation for the classics and I've gotten to the point that I can't walk by a fire. I can't walk by a Roller Games. I can't walk by a Diamond Lady and not stop and play the game. Now do I want to own that game in my home with all the maintenance and everything it'll require? No. If Diamond Lady was being reproduced from Pedretti, would I rush out and pay 10 grand for a brand new one with new parts? No. But will I play it when I go to TPF or some of these other cool arcades? Of course, man. These games are fun. I was raised on pinball. I've loved pinball my whole life. I finally, you know, I was never able to tell you who the name of a designer or the name of a pinball artist or even, you know, the mechanics of code or anything until I got deep into the hobby. I'm not sure if you guys are familiar with the game, but I do have an appreciation for those. Space Shuttle? Hell of a lot of fun. Hollywood Heat? I'd take it over Spy Hunter. So there you go. I do like the classic games. I would like to play some more of them. If you've got some at home, let me know when I visit your area. Let's hang out. I want to play your classic games and stuff. So this is going to be super fun. I'm about to hit the road tonight, heading down to Portland, Maine, and then I'm flying directly home to Chicago. I can't wait. I'm going to get there and then I don't know. Does Interium have Pokemon yet? Maybe I'll swing by Interium and play a little game or two. Maybe I'll just sneak my butt home. I don't know. I'm just going to be happy to be out of the doldrums of this frozen place. And the Carl Weathers for Texas is looking like 80 degrees in the middle of the day. Shorts and flops. I know it's dad gear, but damn it, that's what I'm going to be wearing. So be cool, everybody. As I hear more stuff, of course, I'll drop it to you. It's always an exciting time in pinball. You never know what's going to happen. The electric playground is basically half of American pinball now. Who saw that coming? That was awesome. Am I ever going to quit this hobby? Here's your answer.