The issue is the random bounce out of the scoop.

Sometimes the ball follows the lane guide, sometimes it bounces off the lane guide, sometimes it just dead drops.

Angling the scoop either by bending the upper scoop or by adjusting the mounting position may help.

It also can make it worse.

I have been dead dropping the ball in the lane from in front of the scoop to check the lane behavior.

I haven't figured out anything that makes it consistant yet.

I have had some promising results from adding a thin washer under the upper left mounting hole.

One other concern is bounce outs from a strong hit to the scoop.

The ball hits the rear ledge of the scoop and rebounds out instead of dropping inside.

This started when I lowered the playfield pitch to 6.15 degrees.

This is probably from adding the cliffy. It firms up the rear ledge and makes it springy instead of the plywood edge absorbing the shock.

I'll have to see if bending the scoop forward or adding washers to the rear helps.

Let me know what you find out. I have the cliffy and havent had many bounces, but the inconsistency seemed worse after installing it. At pintastic in june, Joe Balcer said that Api was going to provide a scoop modification, to deal with the inconsistency, which was an issue then. But I havent heard more about it.

Has it been raised that there’s no indication of where the ball is going to be released from after it being staged either on the left, or the scoop or being flung from the trunk. I find that a little frustrating.

And I find I’m getting rejects from the milk can shot more often than not. It bounces back from well within the shot too

I believe this is intentional - the ball is “disappearing” and “reappearing”. None of the shots catch you entirely off guard though. Are you getting a lot of drains ?

This was brought up a long time ago right after the game started shipping and rosh (who wrote the code for the game) has stated it is on purpose as he feels it fits the theme.

Mine too; you have to hit that shot very delicately and the weird angle requires precision. This shot is way harder than the inner loop everyone complains about

Yep, I get them too mainly with really fast shots, slower ones will go through no problem. This is very similar to the behavior I get from the Crystal Ball shot on WOZ which is very similar though CB does have a spinner as well.

That is how it is intended... Where will the ball appear from?...Magic!

Does anyone know if new Houdini machines are now equipped with the better power supply? Tnx

I had to adjust my wire form under milk can.
Prior to doing this I almost avoided the shot but now its 50/50 bounce out.

How did you adjust it?

Lower the flipper's angle 1/8"

I make the milkcan 80% of the time with no bounce outs.

I lowered my flipper angle on my WOZ also about 1/8" for this issue.

I took Brass pliers and bent the exit side rail in slightly. I did not adjust flippers from factory positions but I would try that first.

Aah thx

I doubt it since not everyone is affected. However, even though the one here was pretty solid, we still ordered one to help with mushy flippers in multiball with the magnets and everything going at once.

I am curious about the power supply as well since I await the delivery of my machine any day now. Regarding the software issues, I just played the best game I have ever had on a distributor's demo model, which has the latest update, and it crashed after I finished [aka: "FAILED"] the Master mode - said mode being totally cool with inverted flippers and crossed arms and total chaos.
Prior to that, I was dealing with the Metamorphosis mode and completed it for the first time. As I progressed, it went into a very awesome strobe-dark-flashing multi-ball presentation that was great. Part of Metamorphosis?
Can't wait for mine to arrive. Such a great game. Hoping the software issue is resolved. Also eager to see how Oktoberfest is in person to compare American's efforts.

If so, will you be buying one?

The dark mode with the roving white inserts is actually a FILM mode called Man From Beyond, it's awesome. I haven't made it to Master Magician mode yet but it's a known fact that it crashes after that mode and the developers are working on that. The inverted and reversed flippers are an option you can choose to play in Straight Jacket Mode too (you choose either reversed or reversed and inverted).

Ah, The Man From Beyond, good to know. Sometimes it’s hard to know where you are in the game, probably because it is set on “easy,” and I get multiple things going all at once.

Being set on “easy” is no doubt the only reason I dumbed into the Master mode in the first place.

Thanks for the info.

No. Not my cup of tea. Didn't even play the one in Banning. I heard from others that it wasn't adjusted right (the total content of this thread now, eh?). I didn't have a coin door key to try to tweak it to play "right". So I played the other 536 pins & Battlezone of course.

Barry,

Is the topper switched on when the pin is turned on?

Looks light I need to replace the second switch for the left lock. Even though I have tried bending the metal arm of the switch, the switch stays closed and also the metal arm is very stiff and blocks the ball. Is the switch available as a general part from pinball parts shops or is this something I need to get specifically from American Pinball? If this part is available from pinball parts shops, what is the part number?

Thanks for any info!

Pretty sure it's just a standard trough switch with the roller. Like this:

https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/180-5119-02

Thanks - can you Barry please confirm?

My Distibutor will contact AP soon, to send me the powersupplyfix.
The wait is over and there is light at the end of the tunnel

You mean upper playfield lock, correct?
Mine did the same thing. Have you tried loosing it up with the 2 small screws? Once loose, but still attached, see if it works now, if so, now tighten back up slowly. Worked for me.

I know it's not "your cup of tea", just trying to figure out why you are so interested in bashing Houdini at every turn, eh?

As for the adjustment factor, Houdini is a total package game, deep rules and a "total" customizable playfield via solenoid adjustments, now throw in the 22" catapult shot (longest ever on a pin) and yes you need to give the table some attention.

No the Houdini topper uses a separate 12 volt supply.

Oktoberfest will have an integrated Topper that will switch on and off with the game and maybe turn on and off in game play (we have that ability).

That is correct... This is the switch.

There are people here who love this machine in spite of all the time they spend tweaking it, I'm just in the other camp. Fair, yes?

Also the ball throw was previously listed as 20" but has grown to 22". Feature inflation - maybe you measure diagonally now like TVs

Its the left lock. I can try it, but I had removed the switch altogether yesterday and fastened it again with the 2 screws and I tried to fasten it tightly and and also by keeping it loose - still the metal arm kept binding the ball. I think its best to change to switch altogether. Its only a 4 EUR part

Perhaps it was cold out during the first measurement.

Ok thats Dam funny there!!! lol Volley, serve, Home run Barry!

From your web page. Your marketing guys and gals must have thin scrotums!

HoudiniFeatures (resized).jpg

22 > 20, pretty basic math right there. I feel there is another scrotum joke I'm missing out on making here but I'm trying to be polite.

At this point you have made it clear you don't like Houdini, we all understand that. Just not sure why you spend so much time here. Which is basically owners and players learning and helping each other.

Can't argue your math technique, but I think most readers here know that if advertising says 'Over 20"' it usually means 20.1" or in there somewhere.

If it measured 22.01" you would advertise 'Over 22"' Each reader here can be their own judge on this. In any event both different numbers come from the same company which I question.

As for anatomy look up "undescended testis"

Quick update on the code that has been in beta test. I am working on a couple of bugs that were identified in last few days, and an enhancement or two, that I want to get into this release. I hope to be done with the last bits shortly.

I am disappointed with what AP has done so far and hope they do better in the future. Houdini is nice in some ways and a failure in others.

This is a time where no one or no thing is held accountable. I guess we're supposed to ignore negative things nowadays.

I guess if we had said 22 on everything instead of 'over 20', we would have sold hundreds more. Wait, maybe we should calculate the distance the ball travels side it does move along an arc, so maybe we could go even higher! Also good thing we said over 20, since I'm sure if we said 19, half the guys here would not have bought! Show of hands, who would not have bought if we had used a number under 20"_{wondering if I really need to put a sarcasm emoji}

Going forward I will address the length of the Catapult shot as "over 20 inches, exact length depends on the weather, your results may vary"

Think I covered it all..

AP - do an excellent job on O.F. Don't release it before it is thoroughly tested and ready. Don't update the code 40 times after it is shipping.

All the above could have been worded in the positive sense for O.F. but I feel the above applies to your first machine.

So you rip on them for the 22" and "over 20" stuff and then throw the 40 code update thing out there?? My GOTG has had way more code updates than Houdini has and the initial code on Houdini was WAY more baked than GOTG or most Sterns initially ship with. Neither are even close to approaching 40 or even 20 though.

The A.P. crew has also been very good about listening to feedback from customers and addressing legitimate issues in a very professional way, in my experience. Nothing is ever perfect and if manufacturers (of nearly any product) waited for code to be completely bug-free you'd see one new product every 25 years (I can do hyperbole too, yay!).

The ax you have to grind with these guys should be really, really sharp by now.

I'm just upset it's not listed as "over 508mm" to make it sound even more impressive and to cause all us Americans to convert mm to inches!

Dude, we get it, now you’re just coming off like a D-bag. Nobody is trolling you, just flush it.

And I dare say we should all show Rosh and Barry a lot of respect for coming into this thread and for ALL the support they are constantly providing, on top of their regular jobs where they also have to monitor the standard support channels.
Thanks guys!!

I know you're being hyperbolic, but WOZ is on its 45th post-release update, and probably not its last.

It seems to have sold pretty well.

The more complex the game, and the earlier in the company's product line, the more code updates it's going to take to get somewhere near the finish line .... which is also why it's particularly inexcusable that Stern machines often launch with bare, bug ridden code, and take ages to get to either a good or acceptable state. They're relatively simple and lacking in features, and Stern have been using the same or very similar software frameworks for years and years. Houdini and WOZ are far more complicated, and were the first releases.