When you bend the loop over, have almost a full circle or more so it sticks through the hole a lot, even grab it with a small needle nose pliers and bend it over more once through the hole.

Then it can't pop out.

LTG : )

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If the end loops are a bit open, I just close them up with fine needle nose pliers.

They end up wrapping around a little.

For problematic springs, I have 2 loops going through on the problem side. No way those come loose.

If the end has broken off. I just spiral the spring up a bit. Then bend it down.

A little tighter spring just makes the flipper respond faster.

Just wanted to get an idea what the majority has their coil settings set to on the pops. I've had Houdini since September & have only been able to complete Handcuff Escape once. My coil settings was always on 17 throughout & the pops seemed lackluster weak. Last night I adjusted to 19 & that seemed too much. My Houdini is perfectly dialed in w/ the exception of this minor detail.

Are your pops gapped properly? If the leaf switches are too far apart it would make the pops less active. Has little to do with coil strength.

I have my right pop set higher than the others so it will make the stage shot once in awhile.
They dont all have to be the same power.

I also used an ohm meter to set the switch gaps. I have probably .05 mm or less of switch gap (they almost touch). Just enough that a firm slap on the playfield wont set them off but a hard slap will.

I also raised the pop power up from the default.

Yes, the switches are gapped just fine for there is absolutely no misfire or dead pop hit. I adjusted to 19 last night & seemed like there was too much pop action. At 17, too little. I have the pops at 18, so will try several games w/ this setting this evening.

I also will try a higher setting w/ the top pop to make the stage & magic shop more frequently.

Thanks guys.. you’d think I’d know how to do this properly by now... these springs had broken off before, I guess I didn’t give
Myself enough slack

I adjusted mine a bit to make them more
Sensitive - they seemed a little lackluster at first one mine as well. Now they are like rockets!

I had both springs break - the folks at American Pinball continued their record of excellent customer service and just sent me new springs....

Still loving Houdini in this house.

Agreed. +1

Wish I could up-vote more than once!

Handcuff mode requires x hits. It is a fair amount so is nothing to sneeze at. There may be a setting to adjust how many hits are required in the mode. Pretty sure I saw one once, but have left my setting alone. Sometimes I beat the mode, most times the mode wins but that is typical.

Yes there's an adjustment for this in the game settings. I dont think
The default number of settings is not super difficult IMO (for
This mode! Haha)

The default coil setting (green on the dashboard) for pops on my machine is 12. Sounds like default is higher on others' machines?

Which version are you on?

I have the latest December update. At least one of the pop bumpers has a green 12 in the settings, denoting that it is factory default.

This is a docu-series exposing Houdini's illusion methods. Bullet catch is included.
https://www.sciencechannel.com/tv-shows/houdinis-last-secrets/

'The Man From Beyond' is now on Amazon Prime. After watching it for ~40 min...no clue what it is about. I thought I did going in, but not sure afterwards. But it was interesting nonetheless to see the real Houdini 'alive' in a movie. Hard to believe it was almost 100 years ago since that movie was made...

The Houdini movie (staring Adrien Brody) on Netflix is much more entertaining. A LOT of the pin music is borrowed from that flick - very fun to watch and to tie it back into the game. Every time I start to watch it, I have to go play another game.

Terror Island is interesting, if you get a chance to see it. I like the Brody movie too. It shows how he "walked" through the wall. But the elephant vanish is unexplainable. And it buys into the spy rumors 100%.

The Houdini music was created by Matt Kern, none was taken from other places. We pointed him at multiple films and other sources that we felt carried the tone and feel we were looking for and he created music from there. Most of the mode music was created after the modes were written so the music could be patterned after that. This is pretty clear in things like Chinese Water Torture and Vanishing Elephant. Occasionally he would create a piece for one mode, but we would decide it was a better fit elsewhere.

As I have said, none of the Houdini movies are great (and I have watched most of them more than once), with the Grim Game the best of the lot. Of course, this was the early days of film, so, I'm sure at the time these were well received. They pretty much follow the same basic pattern of Houdini's character coming to the heroic rescue of a woman, escaping the clutches of the bad guys along the way.

I don't think the defaults have changed for 9 months. I personally have my pops higher then the defaults, with the upper right pop slightly stronger than the others. Higher settings, to a certain degree, may get some better pop action, and more feeds to the stage and the magic shop, but will increase the risk of damage to the lock toys. Like all coil settings you want to find the sweet spot of the 'power' to do what you want, but not over powering which can lead to airballs or other damage. I also have my left sling one notch stronger than the right, since that will help feed the ball into the scoop, which benefits less skilled players in getting to seance multiball.

Didn't mean 'borrowed' in the literal sense (as in 'copying'), more of the 'style'... Sorry Matt (if needed)!

Hey guys.
Loving the shit out of my game (can finally break six figures lol).
I was playing last night and I have no idea what I did but the light show was awesome! Play field was dark with minimal lights....it was phenomenal! Can I be so stupid as to ask what mode I was playing?
Sorry such a noob question!

It was a movie mode called Man From Beyond. I have no idea what’s going on but it is a helluva rush!

I thought my machine had crashed first time that happened. Suprises abound throughout. Just wish I was a better player. Still have not finished all the tricks in one game.

I have a Houdini coming in February
How come guys love this game and some hate it ? I’m stoked to get it ?

You would have to read through a lot of posts to get a good answer to that question. For me I like the shot layout and being they are tight it makes me a better player. Also theme is to my liking along with sound. I played it at a show and knew within two plays I'd give them (AP) and the game a shot. No regrets still love it a year later. SW,DP and AS all left and Houdini is still in the house.

If I were to change something on the game it would be high resolution cab art and fix my milk can shot bounce out. Other than that is good would buy again today one year later.

In Man from Beyond, you have to hit the stage door a few times to break Houdini out of an ice cocoon, where he's been trapped for decades. Then you have to hit a couple orbit shots to break him out of the asylum (he's strapped to an operating table). This is when you get a second ball, I think. When that happens, you get the spotlight effect, and you have to hit the orbits or stage to find him in the dark, so to speak. The video screen shows where he is, which tells you which shot to hit. But he moves around. And if you have Seance going too, it covers up this vital info. I don't know if I have ever "found" houdini in the mode, or if you can find him multiple times, because I lose the second ball and the mode ends without any sort of finale.

Good question. Haters will always hate.
Be stoked to get it! It is a killer machine especially for game number 1 from AP.
Just be ready to have a long ball...look up and not see outrageous scores! Lol. I swear my skill shot on AFMLE is a higher score than I get after 3 balls on HOU! (Not really but sure feels like it)!
Love this game.

Houdini has two shots that can be very clunky; the Key Lane and the Stage. You don't hit them cleanly and they rattle around. That bothers some people.

Next factor in the hater mentality... when I hear podcasters hate on Houdini, they've closen to play in a location where the machines are not setup properly and you can't hear the music and callouts - especially that tool on Buffalo Pinball who played one ball and decides he hated it and Kaneda to a lesser extent. If you are going to review a pinball machine, how about a little subjective evaluation criteria. Kaneda, whose podcast I like, criticizes the SDTM reviewers for giving overly positive grades but at least they have a grading system.

Lastly, the haters seem to think that the lock shot is the most narrow shot ever created in the history of pinball.

Then the Pinside mob mentality kicks in. There is comfort in the mob. They parrot what they've heard.

The criticisms are not without merit. It is a hard game... especially when first released the rules where pretty difficult. I think if one of these haters would give it a chance in a home environment they might find they like it.

It’s not a game for people that suck at pinball and quit easily. It’s a game for players that have patience and want to improve. It’s not a game you play casually a dozen times and then say this is crap. It’s super tough and I love that it is.

I’ve never judge a game on location
Or at a pinball show.I laugh when I read guys judge a game like the Munsters ?
As soon as it’s announced there out ?
Most of those clowns were never in .
I was told the build quality is beautiful
Which I really appreciate, also look forward to Oktoberfest!

I am an average player and I don’t think it’s that tough. It’s a fun game that is rewarding. The lock shot is no harder than some other pins. If there were two thing I would change, I wish the game played quicker meaning the start/stop with modes and some better animations. However, for the price, it wouldn’t stop be from buying again. It’s a ton of game with excellent code and excellent build quality. For their first game, AP produced a great product.

Who knows, really. The shots are different than a lot of games, and that's turned people off. The "tight" shots get inside people's heads and they say it's too hard. I mean, it is hard, but not really more than any other game when you're first learning it. The shots aren't any more tight than any other game - some of the shots in Iron Maiden are WAY harder.

IMO the big reason is that the first couple of releases of code (and I'm talking way back here) weren't all that polished up, it took a while to get the game figured out as far as how to get it leveled, what coil settings, etc. and the game didn't play as well as it does now. You know... like EVERY other game. The initial JPoop stink probably didn't help, but I am not sure that really has anything to do with the final AP result.

I can't think any other game with a theme I like more (but I loved Houdini as a kid). The modes music and rules all fit it well and provide a depth of discovery and surprises for continued enjoyment. The steam punk styling and artwork are too cool. I am most familiar with older machines, syst 11, WPS, the sophistication of this table is wild, I love the lighting.

The shots are indeed tight but that's a challenge not a deficit to me. There are still plenty of rewarding shots to make. Damn my 65 year old friend Mike who has played maybe 20 games of pinball in as many years hit 1.3mil on his second game. He had a blast!

Although we have maybe logged 300 plays on the machine in the last month since we got it, I believe Houdini has found a permanent home here.

Another funny story. My wife, who has top scores on all my machines, played a game with us on Christmas day, maybe her second or third play ever. my friend who had to leave for work couldn't finish his game since hers lasted 30 minutes. The following week I played several games every day to upset her high score to no avail. One day she comes in and asks if she can play too, of course, next thing I know is she is logging second high score, finishes and says "I'm done now" and walks off. If she keeps doing that I am going to turn the giggles back on the slings.

Pinballgoddess hit 1.2 mil on her first game of Houdini she ever played.
She really enjoyed the game and said it was easy, much easier than her WOZ, and a lot of fun.
Not once did she say the shots were tight or difficult.

I really have to agree that it's much easier than WOZ with its huge ball hungry outlanes, its a terror, and also a low scoring game by design. How she got 5.2 mil on it is a mystery to me lol.

Everyone who has played my game has had a blast and really enjoys it. Not a single person has said the shots were tight or difficult. My only criticism would be that the stage mech should have been set lower to reduce rejects from fast/hard shots.

For the home collection Houdini is the perfect fit, easy to play, hard to master with engaging tricks and stories.
Years of enjoyment for sure.

What if we put some foam in the back of the stage? Think that will help?

I left the second part of your quote in there because I couldn’t agree more. The haters are out to lunch on this game!

Maybe, but I suck at pinball, and I liked Houdini immediately. I knew it would be deeply engaging, and I took it home with a lot of hope that I would get some decent play time and hit most features with 5 ball games. And that has certainly come true. This is my only NIB machine ever. And, coincidentally, I am a much better aimer after 300 games on this table.

Is there a 2" square of thin dead drop foam that would work?

Id like to try it if it exists.

I like the power of my flippers where they are right now. But, I do get my fair share of stage rejects from a solid fast moving ball.

Loving the game. Have quite a few balls that hop the right flipper and end in the drain.

The dead drop foam from Pinbits. I may have some in a box; I am going to try that. IT works WONDERS on Indiana Jones...

I have no idea what happened tonight... a group of 4 leaguers were playing their game on software version 18.12.12. A series of problems manifested (sorry, I wasn't there at the time, so I'm working from anecdote here, being as clear as I can):

1) Player 1, ball 3 was in the middle of a (seance?) multiball, a ball wound up stuck in the trunk catapult, which didn't recognize it being there (the switch appears to work fine). The player then lost one of his two remaining balls naturally. He started a different multiball to see if it would return the captured ball into play, but it didn't so he drained the active balls deliberately to end the turn. Eventually the game ball searched and unstuck the trunk catapult's ball and he played that ball out.

2) A subsequent player had his flippers go dead in a multiball after one of them drained.

3) Eventually the game was over and player 1 entered his initials for a high score. Immediately after he finished, the game flashed a single blank score (picture below) as the last game, and they never got to write down their scores-- they're gone.

I dumped the logs but I have no idea what to make of what is apparently base64-encoded stuff?

Any help appreciated!

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Is it like 1/8" thick? Regular dead drop is like 1/4" and it would be way to thick.

Wow, serious game crash definitely send the logs in.

Nice job of documenting the fault.

Thanks, where should I send them?

Sorry you had he issue. Not sure why it did not immediately catapult the ball, keep an eye on that switch. The MB cutting out early also points to a potential switch issue with one of the locks, either the left or the one in the subway, but I'll see what the logs show. Other scenario would be if it somehow got into a 'lost ball situation', but I have to assume the other ball was hitting stuff (when the game thinks a ball is lost, after each drain it will wait 5 seconds to see if another switch gets hit, before it does end of ball). The last issue is quite bizarre, clearly something weird happened at end of game, can't say I have seen that occur in a very, very long time. Again, we shall see if the logs show anything, sometimes they do, and sometimes they don't.

Send logs to [email protected]

Sub Woofer question. I am planning to build a sub woofer to use with Houdini. what have some of the others of you done to route the wires out of the cabinet? I am thinking of mounting a phono plug on the bottom.

I just realized there is no cabinet speaker in Houdini.
I have hooked up my game to an external sub and really like it.
There are plenty of subwoofer post here to go on.
Houdini is a keeper for me.
Looking forward to seeing game 3 down the road.

Love the pin too, my favorite in my lineup, but so far no luck with the sub. Taking one more shot with a different powered sub, but so far nothing from an unpowered automobile intended sub and a small powered sub. I do note the the little LED on the game amp does not ever blink or lite no matter how I adjust the output and no matter if a speaker is hooked up or not. That seems odd to me.
Thoughts?