I know there are a bunch of owners and admirers of this underrated pin on pinside, so I thought it made sense to start a club to talk about issues, mods, parts, etc. I know in my one year of ownership, I've had a lot of questions which other Special Force owners have been able to help me with. A club devoted to users seems to make sense. So, let's go! Who's in?

I'll get the ball rolling by mentioning that my daughter had the somewhat unique idea of modding the pin to add a camouflaged spinner. I haven't quite thought this through yet, but my initial idea is the entrance to the helicopter ramp. I'm not sure it will fit in with the swing gate, and I need to see how the electronics will work if I replace the swing gate with a spinner. Right now, I'm still in the thinking stages . . . .

Hey! A second member of the club. I was about ready to give up hope.

Your lighting looks great. I really like the blue LEDs.

I have used some of the same settings as yours. Getting an extra ball for 1.2 and 2.5 million definitely makes the game more fun. Otherwise, it is quite difficult to get the really high scores.

Hey there. The helicopter ramp combined with the "bombs" is one of the coolest features of the game. It is also one of the strategies I use to earn points. You earn bombs by lighting the bomb targets. Once you have bombs, you "load" them near the ramp with the load bomb target. You can load up to three bombs at once. If you have bombs loaded and hit the ramp, the bombs are dropped on the pop bumper huts. While this is not exactly politically correct, it is a really cool effect as when the bombs are dropped, the pop bumpers thump repeatedly a few times to make it sound like an explosion. It is really cool if you have three bombs loaded and they all drop one after the other. With each dropped bomb, a hut gets lighted. Lighted huts are worth more on the pops, and blinking lighted huts are worth the most.

Rockets are earned by lighting the rocket targets. You also get 2 with each new ball. The rockets can take out the tank drop targets, so you often don't need to clear those targets with regular shots.

While the game doesn't have a huge amount of depth, there are a couple of strategies I use besides increasing the points of the pops by dropping bombs. One is getting multiball. Unlike most modern games, multiball is extremely difficult to get on Special Force, and it is even harder to get the jackpot. I can do it somewhat consistently now, but that was after a lot of work. First, you need to lock (or "capture") your ball ("hostage") behind the hostage target. You can capture up to two hostages. Then you need to shoot the ball all the way up the left most alley, past the three drop targets. Then you need to hit the road shot (right most ramp). This starts multiball. The object then is to set explosives by getting any ball up any ramp. Once explosives are set, you need to hit the helicopter ramp to "escape" and collect the jackpot. The jackpot value I believe increases the longer you play in multiball, but I'm not good enough so I try to escape as soon as I can.

The other strategy I use is to keep hitting the weapons ramp. This is one of the tightest and most difficult shots. Each time you hit it, you increase the weapon bonus which is earned by hitting the road ramp.

If you can play long enough, the point values just increase, and you have a decent payback the more you play.

Again, not a lot of depth, but still fun and plenty challenging.

Ditto what e4mafia asked. Also, you may want to put this out there in a separate thread as you may get more responses. Try to give as much information as possible. There are lots of people on here who can help you.

Depends upon the condition, but they usually are fairly inexpensive. $400-800. I can see paying more than that for one that was in excellent condition. It is a great pin for the price.

Wow, Melbourne, I love the red trim on the cabinet. Looks great! Did you do that yourself?

My idea of putting the spinner in front of the helicopter ramp I don't think will work. It won't fit in with the game electronics if I try to tie it to the switch on the swing gate as that switch immediately shuts off the helicopter sounds and points. Maybe there is a way of making a delay, but that is beyond me. I also don't want to drill any holes into the playfield. So, now I'm thinking if I do anything, perhaps I'll put a dummy spinner somewhere on the helicopter ramp. I would have to clamp it on somehow, and it wouldn't do anything except spin, but it might look cool, especially in combination with the sounds from the ramp. Anyway, still thinking . . . .

Agree. You can get a lot of points that way. But that u turn ramp is the hardest shot in the game, at least for me. I brick it over 3/4 of the time.

I would love to see pictures of this if you make it happen. Sounds cool.

I was looking at the attract mode on Special Force and comparing it to my much newer and shinier Star Trek Pro, and I have to say that the attract on Special Force wins hands down. Absolutely beautiful display!

Welcome to the club!

I think both of my outlanes are about the same. I have noticed that the game can vary a bit based on how well balanced it is, with some ramps being easier to hit than others. IMO, this pin seems a bit more finicky that way than others. Perhaps it is the same with the lanes.

I've also noticed I can nudge with my right arm much better than my left. So, that affects me as well.

If you do this, definitely post some pictures. I wouldn't think puddy tack would be strong enough, and you don't want them to come loose and get flung all over the play field. I Haven't tried modding that much, but I would think you would want to screw or clamp it onto the plastics or ramps somehow, most likely using already existing screws. I wouldn't go overboard with this (or any) pin, but I think a couple of well placed toys might look ok.

That's great! Thanks. I'll send you a PM.

Agreed. That looks really good there. You won't get any air balls up there. I sometimes get airballs over the lower plastics though so watch out.

Quick tip: A friend just came over to help me diagnose a problem with the flashers on the left side of the playfield -- the ones that go off with the left rocket or tank drop target hits. All three were not working. Turns out that if one of the bulbs goes, all three will not work as you break the circuit. Just like old fashion Christmas lights. Replacing the one dead bulb brought all three back to life.

(I should have checked that on my own, but the bulb that was out was brand new, so I was sure that couldn't be the problem. )

How many flashes on the led in the back box do you get upon start up?

Sorry about the back glass. That sucks.

How powerful is everyone's slingshots? Mine seemed a little sluggish. But I checked the plungers, and they seem to move freely. I adjusted the switches to make them more sensitive, and that helped make them fire a bit more. But obviously that doesn't affect power. My other pin is a new Stern Star Trek where the slingshots are unbelievably strong, so perhaps Special Force just suffers by comparison. It just seems that unless the ball hits the direct center of the rubber on the slingshots, I don't get that great a reaction.