Don't forget to check side-to-side too, not just front-to-back.

Angling the bracket for the targets forward/down a few degrees worked wonders on Ghostbusters with that shapeways-printed target bracket mod. Probably work great here, too, but AP would have to change that at the manufacture level when the target assemblies are made.

Yes, dreaded insta-drain or launch over the flippers off Scolari bros targets! Lol.
I played a lot of GBle last night at the PPS party, tons of fun!

I bent my s e a targets forward a bit but they rapidly bent back to their original shape.

It's not a huge bother though with flippers set right.

And to get a free trunk ball once in awhile is a huge bonus in my book!

Yeah, bending doesn't work, the brackets have to be made and reinforced at the new angle and sitting a smidge lower in the manufacturing process. But those two changes in manufacture REALLY help airballs off targets. AP should adopt it for their manufacture moving forward.

'Pinguy' app. It does help to remove your phone from any case while using it.

Just got her in...what an amazing game!

65974BB4-76C5-4389-B5A7-F2840159896D (resized).jpeg

62778E49-1434-47F7-8ED0-6067A64BD75D (resized).jpeg

My pitch is 6.4

I do have balls roll back off the ramp. When I hit it right it flies up and over, so I don’t think it’s a power thing. I’ve also had a couple of balls stall at the apex of the ramp. Otherwise, it’s okay.

I tried to catch up on over 400 posts, so I apologize if this has been reported.

I just updated to the new version today. I have not broke 1 million yet.

We invited friends for dinner and pinball. My friend gets over 1 million, then over 1.5 million, then gets all Houdini letters.

He gets the ball into the right hole and gets the master magician multi ball. The screen shows a lot of text.

Multiball starts.

It appears that the flippers get reversed like in the straight jacket right side multi ball. I was trying to explain to him how to flip. He finally started getting the hang of how the flippers were inverted.

I looked up at the screen below the scores was blank. The score scores and shows at the very top. Green writing shows up when things are awarded. But the screen stays blank during this mode.

When he lost the ball, the ball was over and the ball ending screen appeared as normal. Then it let him enter his initials for high score.

I assume this will be fixed in a new version. I have a small video of this if needed. I thought I pressed the record button but didn't until he almost lost the ball. I can post the video if needed.

His final score was over 1.8 million.

Thanks

This is what is supposed to be on screen while scoring in MM mode. The green scoring appears in the circles until you earn a letter. Yours must be not rendering the static parts of the image. I'd send a service request to Barry at API.

Screenshot_20181222-133403_Video Player (resized).jpg

conclusion is : stop having your friends home to play your pins !!!

(lol inside of course, enjoy pinball with them)

for those of you who have knockers installed, how often does it knock? I have match play disabled and for replays I have extra ball awards. Is the knocker used outside of that?

My first few times of playing King of Cards mode i caught on real quick and hit 3 or 4 hoops. The last several times I have not for the life of me, been able to hit a single ring. I always seem to fall short although I hold the flipper for more strength.

It beats me... maybe I'll stick to the needles trick.

Has the Morris code msg on the start button been changed?I don't remember what the code said,but it seems different now???

Knocker whacks with extra balls, match (if on), and very effectively on bullet catch. The latter, if stacked with a multi-ball, can really give the knocker a workout. Pretty simple installation. Ultimately, it’s really very much worth the investment in time and money.

I just emailed video to Josh. I can’t attach video from phone.

I just watched it again.

My friend had several extra balls and was in ball 4 of 5.

I thought I turned on video but didn’t. Turned it on a few seconds before he lost the balls.

When he loses the last ball, the score appears and the curtain closes. Then it shows bonus for end of ball 4. It should have gone to ball 5. But it goes to entering initials for high score.

Mine does the same.

If you finish master magician the game is supposed to end.

Yes. Josh just email me and stated this.

He says he thought he fixed this but seems like another way to get into this state.

The great thing is I will probably never see master magician again in my lifetime ... unless I invite my friend back.

Sorry....am new to this machine. I was wondering whether there was a knocker or not. There isn't right? How do I get/install one?
Thanks!

The Knocker is an add on kit from the API store. I am just curious on how useful it is on a home use game?

I REALLY enjoy the Knocker. I keep my pin on quarters and credits.

Super useful! I love scaring the crap out of my kids when it goes off! (maybe they should be playing pinball too rather than Fortnite)!

I love the knocker too

I used coins for a while on my first pin. I have a big stash of Panama quarters that work (I drop them into friends machines when I visit)

One benefit to using coins is when the fatherless 12 year old from next door comes over to play I can tell home to go home when we run out of quarters. That worked only once until he said "but don't you have the key?"

I am back tracking through older posts in this thread, gosh there are a lot. I am back to 20 pages so far. Thanks Pbreno and Bobu for posting machine tweaks and to Rosh in explaining game code.

I am a tinkerer and expect to do the upgrades available. I already did some slight damage to my blade art. After the suggestion I went to PBLife to order there protectors but they are out of stock and coming from Germany who knows when they'll be back. So I am considering making my own. I have a good assortment of magnets, the issue is finding the right material.... I found a source for 1/16th" ldpe polyethylene in convenient sizing. What material do they use? Thickness?

https://www.tapplastics.com/product/plastics/plastic_sheets_rolls/ldpe_sheets/410

Couldn't find it on the API Store?

Also, trying to download the latest code from the API website. Seems to not be working?? Any ideas why not?

Maybe sold out again. Email them.

LTG : )

https://store.american-pinball.com/products/houdini-knocker-kit

It just gave me the option to download

https://www.american-pinball.com/support/updates/

Check out https://store.american-pinball.com/products/houdini-knocker-kit
Also consider the power supply. You’ll get a $150 credit. I applied it to a spare plastic set. I now have three spare kicker plastics and one each of the rest. Fun stuff if you think the game is a keeper.

Thanks everyone.
Code finally downloaded and I will order the shaker motor and knocker kit over the holidays.
Game is definitely a keeper - for the art alone! lol

Yep, heavy 1/20" plastic and one of those screen door, screen installer wheels for embossing the bends, a straight edge and your in business!

It's a simple thing but oh so necessary on houdini.

I was finally able to download the latest code this evening & I have a blue screen indicating "no signal". Since my daughter works in an IT coding department I had her download the code for me. When I inserted the USB, the screen went into a countdown, then almost instantly the code was completed. I turned off the machine then pulled the USB & turned the machine back on. Now there is absolutely nothing w/ the no signal. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Mac or windows PC for the download? What brand and size USB? Have you done a code update before?

The download was done on a laptop & the USB is a PNY 16 GB. I have performed a code update on GB w/ success, but I am not fluent in anything technology whatsoever. Should I use a different USB, or just redo the entire download?

When you say "laptop" you mean a windows machine (mac has laptops, too)?

I'd delete the download you have and try re-downloading it from scratch. Then if that doesn't work, try a different USB drive.

Same thing happened to me. I used another USB and downloaded again. It worked the second time.

My code downloaded....inserted the USB, got a message saying “files successfully transferred to USB” (or something to that effect). Code didn’t update. Perhaps I will have to try another USB? Any suggestions on type?

I'm not sure if the download was done on Windows or Mac, because my daughter took care of this for me. I will retry again tomorrow & I'm sure everything will be just fine. Thanks for your advice!

Per the API site:

“First you need a USB stick of at least 4 Gig, Formatted as FAT32. Download the game package from the website, copy onto the USB drive (make sure the package name doesn’t change) Plug into the game with power on and follow the onscreen directions.”

The size and formatting of the the thumb drive (USB stick) are critical. Once you have a large enough thumb drive/stick (I used a 40 GB), just erase it and reformat it to FAT32 and nothing else. I initially formatted it on a Mac to a different FAT (ExFAT) format, and it didn’t work. On a Mac it should display as:

“MS-DOS (FAT)”

Picture below.

Load the file onto the drive. You’ll see it there once loaded and it should have the same name as displayed on your computer.

Turn on the game and let it fully boot (ready to play). Plug it into the game. If correct, you’ll know. It will pulse and then display a message letting you know that it is downloading. Once the download is complete, it will direct you to turn off the game. Once off, just restart as usual and you should be good.

F8A47FE8-7DDD-4FCC-8A1D-A2CDFD345186 (resized).jpeg

Look at the filesize on your download when done-it should be around 1.5g.

Filesize was 1.5 gig, stick was large enough (8 gig), stick was formatted... but I think it was a 3.0 and the letter I received with Houdini suggested a 2.0.
I’ll figure it out!
AWESOME MACHINE!

Congratulations on finishing the upgrade and ditto on the awesomeness of the game. I’ve been collecting for 25 years and love this game. A 37th place ranking is out of whack IMHO.

The ranking is from the players that are conditioned to cookie-cutter fan and rehashed over and over Stern layouts. Their muscle memory makes them brick shots on Houdini, and they blame the machine rather than their conditioning. It's a great game that dares to do things differently, and the less conditioning to cookie-cutter fan and rehashed/reversed Stern layouts you have, the better you do with it. It's a very good pin, and amazing for AP's first.

The ONLY knock on it is the amateurish-in-places animation, but because of the era, it kind of works okay. The overall art package and direction is good. Things like TILT, EXTRA BALL and BALL SAVE screens need more polish (essentially something more than text), but I think they'll get there.

Have yet to totally figure the update out. And I whole heartedly agree. Once I get another week with the game, I will honestly rate the machine. For me, so far as what I’ve owned and played, it is definitely in my top 10 (and not simply because I have one now).

Couldn’t have said it better myself! Before I purchased I watched a TON of videos and read MANY reviews on this game. The Buffalo Pinball dudes on YouTube were complete idiots on their review and honestly I am not too sure they knew anything about Houdini (I’ll never watch their channel again). STDM with Zach and Greg and their interview with Balcer and Rosh 100% pushed me over the edge to purchase this amazing machine - that is one AWESOME pinball show!
The reviews on pinside hung me up for a little while (people complaining “should have been a widebody”, or “game is too hard”, or “the animations are inferior to its competition”). After one day with this machine I very quickly realized that either people had no idea what they were talking about, or they were just completely wrong.
This game is amazing. From the art, to the playfield, to the toys, to the shots, to the call outs, to the animations (which are perfect imho), this game is a WINNER. Like I said above, I have own(ed) a few pins in my time and this one would honestly be in my top 10...perhaps even knock on the door of my top 3....

Well, I’m going to open myself to ridicule and potential ostracization - I was so taken with the game that I sold my Twilight Zone to get the money and space for Houdini. Ultimately, I’m glad I did. After 15 years of the same shots and modes, it was time for a change and while I miss the theme (I am a big Zone series fan), I’m enjoying the heck out of Houdini.

Finally figuring out the right flipper backhand to the inner loop. From a dead trap it's just a microsecond after a post pass. Doesn't leave you too screwed if you beef it either. Also finding myself loving bullet catch after I read that advice to go for key lane as your jackpot shot.

I got those, and the left side bunched up on me, was a real mess. That's just me obviously. Haven't used them since...

The one guy was sort of objective but the other guy was a complete tool - the one Buffalo Pinball dude who said he flipped a ball or two on Houdini and immediately hated it and walked away. Complained he couldn’t hear the sound. Why are you reviewing pinball machines when you are too lazy to invest some serious time actually reviewing the various aspects of the game in an environment that is conducive to an objective review? Obviously he went into the experience not wanting to like Houdini.