- but those 555 bulbs have gotta change, that would annoy me and is just poor QA and design - I'm stunned....

There really is only one answer that can be arrived at - the machines just aren't being play tested properly at any stage of the design/build process prior to general release. The minute the ball started bouncing off the slingshots and the led's started falling out (from multiple areas on the playfield) would be the immediate sign that something is wrong.

The end consumer is now the play tester -the only part that keeps the "sales engine" running smoothly is the backup service from the local distributor(s) when the machine develops (or arrives with) a fault.