Hope this info is helpful. I purchased this game in April [and checked the stats and have only played 156 times so far] and the plunger has been rough. I finally had time to replace the plunger and sleeve and align the plunger assembly that attaches to the cabinet slightly to the left (with the 3 bolts inside) so that the plunger works much better now.

Here is the before video (you only need to watch the first few seconds - sorry the thumbnails youtube allows me to select are not from Houdini):

Here is the after video:

I also bought the Pinball Universe blade protectors from Pinball Life that I used for the first time. Note that the photo shows an extra plunger lane gate that Barry sent me. (I had another from a Williams game I installed.) It broke after the first few games.
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https://www.american-pinball.com/

LTG : )

Now that I got the plunger working smoothly, here are my observations as I continue to play the game to want to like it:

1. In post #4610, I mentioned that my flippers would stop working. I realize now, that it is the issue with the flipper being pushed down and the conversation about adding the EOS switches (which I really do not want to do). So in multi-ball this just happens and now I know why.

2. I made getting Houdini letters easier today. For the first time I got 1 letter and 3 letters, which is 1 letter and 3 letters more than I ever got before. (It was nice to get a little bit higher bonus because of the letters finally.)

3. I have ball save on for the right scoop and the left milk can. Thankfully it saves the ball about 80% of the time when it drains it right down the middle from the scoop or it bounces to the outlane on the milk can. It does miss is several times, especially when I am about to do well (i think). I tried the scoop coil settings, nothing really helps.

4. Hitting the ball into the stage is like my (very poor) golf game. The ball circles around the hole and bounces out. During a typical game I will get two stage illusions and about 10 near misses. Very frustrating. Most of the stage shots are rebounds, never a direct shot in. If only they stayed in, I may be having better games.

5. I followed the recent hints about hitting the ball into the milk can loop from the edge of the right flipper "more softly". This seems to work better.

6. I set the stage to eject the ball. It seems in the milk can illusion, it opens the stage and the ball is behind the other ball. It raises or lowers a bit and the ball comes out and drains down the middle every time. So I may get rid of this setting.

7. When the ball comes down the key lane (slow, fast, in between), it usually drains down the middle. Others have suggested bending the right lane guide. I have seen it come down the center and drain down the middle.

8. To me, the outer loops are a disappointment. They do perform a function, but they could have been so much more if there was a magnet, or diverter or something.

9. Maybe it is me, but if I am pressing the flipper buttons and I get a little off, I can feel that kind of grinding as I press in (like I'm pressing off center) and the flipper is not responsive. Then I realign my fingers on the flipper and it works normal.

10. I'm waiting for the stage alley or key lane sign to break since the ball bounces into one of them at least once in a game.

11. Again, maybe it is me, but I may have to adjust switches like in the key lane since I am not sure if the switch is registering during a game. It registers using the ball in test mode. But I don't see the score increasing or hear a sound. On my other games, I know immediately if a switch is not working if I don't hear the associated sound. I may not be good yet, but I am not sure that all switches produce a sound (and score?) yet so I would know. (Obviously I know the ramp makes a noise, the spinner makes a noise, the two side switches correctly engage the magnet.) I think I have to test the two switches at the entrance of the left loop, key lane, stage lane more closely.

I guess I am a good player but not great. If I do well, my score is between 700,000 and 800,000. If some of the above drains and other issues did not happen, maybe I can get a little better game, get a little further and feel like I am improving and accomplishing something. I know this is a great game. I read about all the things everyone does. By making the letters easier, I hope this will help me to get further in the game.

What are your flippers set to? It sounds like they're a smidge too strong. Also, what angle is your PF? 6.0? 6.5?

I have not changed the flippers off the default settings. I can try to lower them
By one and try it. As the flippers are currently set, they sometimes feel spungy and listless on some shots. But I’ll try lowering.

I put all the leg levelers all the way down. I even bought a digital level which shows me 5.9 or 6.0 near the flippers and 6.1/6.2 near the top. So I assume this means I should be close to 6.

Some things I did to even out the gameplay:

Set the game pitch at 6.2 degrees. At 6.0 the game feels too floaty and lakes vibrance.

Do you have the shaker motor?
Oddly it affects gameplay.

Set the flippers to 26 left and 25 right or 27l 26r, to start with. Adjust as necessary.
You want a direct hit to the stage to stick, and clean ramp shots easily made.

Consider installing the EOS switches. I made up some instructions with pictures I can send you. PM me about this.
They take about 15-20 minutes to assemble and Install.

This really improved multiball performance during seance especially.

Set the flipper angle down 2 mm from the factory setting.

This makes the milkcan shot more acheiveable.

Move the c target over to the left as far as it will go, adjust the targets mounting holes as necessary (side drill or dremel it) so you can use the same screw hole in the playfield to reattach it.
This brings the inner loop into play instead of being a random shot.

Bend the adjustment tab in the keylane out another 3/32" to 1/8" from the stock setting.

I have listed a few tweaks you might want to try in earlier posts.

Does someone install a convolux protector set? If yes, which color?
Thanks

I don't think you need the bee protectors, but you can certainly get the clear ones.

The cabinet comes with superior protection for the legs using the steel guards.

My slings have steel washers already, but you can trade them out for clear ones if you wish.

I added the scoop and shooter lane cliffys.

There is a scoop adjust procedure on api site. i used it to make the scoop deliver ball to right flipper instead of the left. It takes a combo of coil power adustment and bending the scoop hood. i didnt need to bend the ball guide. Stage saucer bounce outs happen from strong flipper settings. be sure to calibrate stage. that might have some effect too.

Tom, why do we need shooter lane cliffys? i dont see any wear on the black wood side rail or thr playfield there.

The playfield is plywood. The balls are 2.8 oz carbon steel being dropped on it.

Just wait for 250 to 300 plays. The clear will start lifting on the corner edges and get much worse.

Multiball games eat up the shooter lane near the ejector. Same as the scoops, but more traffic.

The black wood rail can be easily touched up or covered with a thin stainless piece if needed.

The clearcoat in the shooter lane will start wearing thin and chipping pretty early-on from all the ball traffic and bouncing around.

Then black dust will settle in and that is difficult to sand out and re-clear. So in the end it looks like crap on a new game.

Cliffy's are the cheapest easiest way to keep your new game looking new.

Also a great way to bring new life to worn out areas in older games.

Every game should have a full set if available.

If not, Cliff will make custom pieces for you at no additional charge.

Yes, he's that kinda guy.

I hope this helps.

Yes thanks. I didnt realize the piece protected the grooved wood floor of the shooter lane. I thought mylar was the only option for that.

If you set them in right, the ball rolls on the steel edges instead of the bottom of the lane.

But even if the ball ends up rolling in the shooter lane, the edges that take the impact abuse should be protected if installed correctly.

This will stop the chipping and lifting of the clearcoat.

It's not magical. It's still possible to chip the clear with a Cliffy shooter lane protector from the repeated force of the ball impact, but it's much less likely. Turning down the trough eject force on machines that have that option also helps tremendously.

I was at 6.5 or so and went back to 6. I will try 6.2. It is floaty right now.

I do not have a shaker motor. Both flippers are set to 21 now. I just set them. I moved up the slings, back catapult, and jet bumpers by 1 to try to get more action on the playfield.

I saw your instructions on the EOS switches. Thanks. After additional playing, it appears that the EOS switches are really needed. Hopefully they'll add them to their future games.

I was trying to avoid adjusting the flippers down as you suggested, but it really seems to need it. So I will try this as well. I'll work on the other items as well.

Thank you. I will try to adjust the scoop so that it hits the right flipper.

Thanks everyone. Considering that my high score was previously about 900,000, I’m finally making progress on tweaking the game so I can enjoy it.

Flippers at 21 appear to get the ball into the stage more often. Bending the end of the key lane keeps my ball in play longer. Making the settings easier has allowed me to get more letters.

Still more adjustments to do. I don’t expect every game to be like this but after owning the game almost 6 months it is nice to feel I accomplished something.

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Nice score!
Once Houdini is dialed in, it can be brutal at times, wonderful and amazing at others!

In fact, this set is used as protector of course but it also allows to diffuse a colored light and then increase the general GI. I was wondering to install this set but i’m not sure that a special color (yellow, red, green, blue, orange) fits the game.
What do you think?

Probably Hytech but I'm keen to make happen by first week of Oct.

but what if Dialed In is Houdini !?

Gold

Maybe blue?

I was thinking yellow at first, but Blue might work as well

maybe green

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Well, the choice of the color is not obvious for me. So I wonder if it is not better to install any set.
Finally I won’t do it.

I still want to see Blue!

The bottom half playfield is more cold so blue, purple, green are the colors matching this part but the upper half playfield is more warm so I would prefer yellow or orange.
What do you think?

I moved the mount to the right and the ball will go straight some times and fall short of the trunk. Other balls are still going to the left and bouncing off the side into the trunk.

That’s what I meant - I would need to see it. Sometimes the “opposite” color can make the other colors pop, sometimes it is distracting. Non of the primary colors are really present on the playfield though, except if the inserts are lit

Is the catapult straight in the cutout?
Does anything in the catapult appear loose. The arm shouldn't have very much side play on the fulcrum at all, but should be fairly free and not binding on anything.

Some people have added a thin washer to keep the arm from moving sideways left or right on the shaft.

This would be a good starting point.

After that, maybe power fluctiations? Especially if it's working one day and not the next.

If the catapult is super straight in the cutout the ball should end up in the left half of the trunk just past center.
The rest is power settings.

Trunk accuracy quest update: I took the advice of helpful pinsiders and dremeled ovals in my catapult mounting bracket so I could pivot it slightly to the right to correct a very slight crookedness in the slot cutout. In pics you can see I only had to work on three holes. The 4th hole to the rear of the catapult mech can be left alone and acts as a pivot point. The dremel bit I used was perfect for this. The pic shows the alignment in the slot after adjustment. The saucer and arm ended up closer to the right side of the cutout, but parallel to the edge, and it doesnt rub. Since doing this, I have had 100% of about 18 trunks shots go dead-on straight into the middle of the trunk. So far so good. Maybe API should redesign the mountjng bracker with oval holes so owners and operators can adjust side to side aim?

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I put these in my Revenge from Mars and got very little diffused light at the edges of the plastics.Maybe because I still have incandescent bulbs in there?

Catapult is straight. Extra washer made it worse. It missed to the left twice and third time it went straight but fell short of going in. When it was new it never missed.

Well this is just maddening!
If everything is tight with no slop and the catapult arm is perfectly parallel to the cutout (this is important),
the catapult should reproduce its same action over and over again.

Start a game with glass off.
Take the ball in hand and drop it into the catapult.

When it fires take note of what it does.
Drop the ball 4 more times and it should do the exact same thing.

Make an adjustment.

Drop a ball see what it does. Keep adjusting until the ball makes it into the trunk.

Repeat the action 5 more times, it shouldn't change.

If there is a change, carefully look at the catapult action and arm to see if its loose, cracked, warped due to bad plastic forming or assembled incorrectly.

With a flashlight watch the catapults action. Film it with your phone possibly, this might tell you what is wrong.

During the time of an adjustment it should be stable.
If it changes a lot, something is loose, worn or out of sorts.

The next day is another story.
Power changes could be a factor.

This leads me to believe something mechanical has changed or power is up due to the fall season.

Great news!

It does seem that the catapult needs to be installed very square to the cutout at the factory.

I imagine this is why some are having alignment troubles.

I haven't had a miss either in the last 100 or so catapult shots.
So far. It's now 100%.

Sounds like your game is coming along nicely.

How is the latest code holding up for everyone?
I think Rosh said posted here was a bug release coming a couple weeks ago. Any news from the AP camp on this?

So far so good - there are some bugs in the latest release (the Master Magician mode causing a game reset being the biggest one!) but the majority of them are little things, sometimes shots not registering in certain modes, not starting things, etc

Yep. I was in a film mode, shooting the spinner lane during the countdown. At exactly zero, I locked the ball in the stage that was to start Bullet Catch. The stage door shut on the ball. Pin sat idle for maybe 10-13 seconds then shot a ball into play out of the scoop.

Isn’t the first shot in Bullet Catch to the inner loop? Or am I misunderstanding what you meant

In a post way back it was mentioned that the "key lane" wasn't making a sound , making him think the switch wasn't working.

That is still one of my issues with this game , that some made shots do not produce a sound that lets you know you did something. Lock shot also comes to mind. I know you have announcement that lock is lit , but the actual switch event seems like it should have a distinct sound (like most pinball games do) . If the sounds are there , they are getting lost. Overall i am happy with sounds and callouts.

Hope it doesn't come through as a complaint , i am loving this game more and more and am hoping to help improve it via feedback.

Yes!
Some of the sound volumes could definitely be adjusted.

I think Josh said they were being worked on in the next update.

I would like the extra ball call out to be louder and more exciting.

The Stage Door should be shut when a FILM mode is running, it is never a shot for any of the FILM modes except Man From Beyond which is a shot to the door and not into the stage. If it was open when you were in a FILM mode that's a completely different bug or failure (have never seen it happen on my game) and may explain why the game was "confused" as to the ball being in there.

What happened is the code got confused as when the countdown was just counting down past one, I looped the ball around adding 10 more seconds to the film mode. Then the Stage opened and BULLET CATCH lit up on the API screen. I made that shot just as the second countdown was at zero.
Stage Door then closed on the ball..and got the long delay.

In my continuing quest to make Houdini great again, I adjusted the flippers down a little as pinballinreno suggested. I tried to follow the directions on the API page to adjust the scoop. But I could not get a screwdriver to fit between the wood and the scoop and I really didn't like pushing it. I set the coil back to 6 (from 7) and watched where it was hitting the lane guide on the right side and added a felt dot (which is removable).

Here is the video:

That looks perfect Mike - I couldn’t understand where you put the felt dot though, and got a little vertigo from your video! Haha . But it looks like you nailed that scoop issue

Mike how thick is the felt dot? While I'm at it...what diameter?

Houdini Container Hits Australia
I know I invited someone from American Pinball to Come over, But who's this guy Hiding in the Container

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Congrats to American Pinball again!
Isnt the big show in a few weeks Wayne?
That kinda looks like Barry hiding back there?
Magical for all the owners in Oz!

Hope Not is Dec 1st and 2nd
But time flies, Its October soon so maybe a Fest will Head over