The ball guide has a bend in it neant to send thr ball to the right flipper. But I think slow balls are not affected by it. It may be possible to bend it out further. A forum member posted about that 19 or so oages ago. I am thinking of trying it

Yeah bend out the tab at the bottom a bit until it deflects onto the flipper.
Slow balls, just nudge a bit to get the tab to hit the ball.

Alternative is to play SDTM Chicken! Will the ball bounce clean off the post or slip down on the left of the post and into oblivion? Can it be tipped with the left flipper? Can I time a nudge just right? I win the chicken game about 55% of the time. Sort of fun in a frustrating way. Grrr.

Was thinking almost the same. Sure have become dependant on that center post. A good nudge from the left side has been my go to for a while on key lane drains.

I love when I trust the center post and don't panic. I hate when I trust the center post and it drools into th' toilet.

Update:
I read some other comments since this post and my GF sometimes will hit start button twice when the new code is like 50% or more loaded so she gets a kick out of the pin "remembering" she pressed START twice for two players. That's when I noticed all the INSERT lights on very bright until Player One First Ball is played.

Delaying start after power-up will avoid the wacky lighting. Not sure if Josh is addressing this or not.

Holy Harry Houdini!!!
Not sure what is going on with the game, but It is acting like it has lost its mind....Oh no , possible AI.

Got home late last night, and played a couple games. No issues. Started the game today and it is unplayable. There is no animation at all- just very slow changes between scenes, and music starts and stops sporadically.Sometimes no sound at all, everything is lagging. I turned it off and back on waited for the game to boot up, but the same results every time. Reseated all the connections on the computer and display, and no change. I found an allen set screw and lock washer in the bottom of the cabinet. It was a coils stop set screw for the upper catapult. No obvious char marks anywhere at the power supply, that I could see

Any thoughts on the next course of action? I am tempted to install the latest code, but will wait to speak with Barry in the morning ,before I try anything else.

A little disappointed, but really only because I was hoping to try and improve my score and maybe successfully finish a film mode. The game is addicting for sure. Hoping it something simple, so the game can go on.

I haven't had any issues with my small LCD on the playfield, but I just played a game and it went blank during the first ball. Do I just need to check connections?

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Usually black screen is connection issues. White seems like something else.

My screen will go black sometimes when going from one mode to another or when changing over to another act.

It's always done this.

I think its computer or software related.

I mean if it's staying black.

It stayed white for the next 2 balls and didnt come back til I rebooted. Seems fine now

email me [email protected]

Ok, I was having a great game, and kept getting extra balls. Then I drained and started return from beyond, which I spelled out Seance and continued my ball. Then master magician started And I played that until I was left with one ball. Once I drained the last ball from that multi ball the game ended even though I think I had a couple extra balls and I never played ball 2 or 3. Is this a bug ?

Master magician is the “end” of the game - all balls end. you may want to make
Your settings a bit harder!

Not sure what I would need to change. Maybe my game was just that good.

You can change how the Houdini letters are awarded to give you more time to work on the stage acts and other modes.

Thanks Barry! Catapult shot Fixed. Hit 5-5 in test mode

What was your score? after playing 600 games I am no where close to master magician. four letters is my best. I am yet to complete all movies in one game. And am lucky to get 6 illusions.

but I keep trying.

I bought it 2 weeks ago, put a little under 100 games. Settings are how I got it, not sure if they are set easy because I haven't gotten there before. My score was 3,394,889. I was actually lighting chain links this time. I think I had 3 combos, 2 films, and 2 escapes.

You can definitely make the game harder - sounds like you were being awarded lots of letters for what are normally a bit harder

In settings, check to see how many tasks you have to complete to earn a letter. Each individual task has the ability to have the number of completions set as low as two (2) to earn a letter to spell Houdini. Obviously there are many tasks, such as the escapes, films, etc. If they are set to, say, completing two (2) tasks to get a letter, you can burn through spelling Houdini pretty quick. I set it that way just to get to magician mode to check to see how the update affected the screen going blank during the master magician mode. I only had about half of the stage challenges done and only a couple of escapes. I had to them bump it up again to make getting the magician mode a bit more challenging.

The code has also built-in multifeature setting selections that range from very easy to very hard. You could try those. It accessed in the dashboard as a small circle at the bottom, so it is easy to overlook.

I have a couple questions after going through some settings.

1. I found a setting for stage eject that was off. When I turned it on and tested it, it did not eject a ball. Should it?

2. I noticed the metal guide under the trunk moves. When would the ball not be sent to the upper catapult? Seems like mine always goes to the catapult.

1. Not all games let the ball come back out. Mine just rolls the ball around on set ball underneath. Originally rosh and co were working to make that a feature. Never really worked. After a moment, stage door closes and ball comes to subway. Best to just turn it off. I had it on for months with ball never coming out, just a visual.
2. The plate under trunk will move during trunk shot to let it go into subway. All other times it stays there for airballs and such to guide it to upper catapult.
3. Ya, your settings are way to easy. Also, are you on 5 ball? I suspect you are. To each his own on ball count, ive had the game on both. I was on 3 ball for 9 months to test code.

FWIW mine works perfectly, and I love the occasional times when the game ejects a ball from there. It sort of pops lazily out, but you still have to be ready! You may try leaving it on during a game and seeing if it will come out then

Table pitch could have a lot to do with it to.
Im at about 6.4 deg. I find the game to be at that sweet spot with coil strengths.

So your saying it should go to the subway on a trunk shot? Mine always go trunk shot to upper catapult.
I am on 3 ball, but original owner must have set it to easy. What should the factory settings be on this game?

I'd recommend the medium setting to start with. Got service, settings and then go the small settings icon to install are pre-set.

The ball should go to the subway anytime it throws to the catapult except if a movie mode is ready to start or you are in bullet catch. I suggest going into service->test->coils and see if it the mech is working correctly.

Many thanks to Barry and team API. He walked me through how to remove the hard drive from the game to send back . Looks like a corrupt file was causing the game to go nutz on me. He though he could turn it around in a day, once he received the drive.

Can't wait to my luck at this game again. I was in Portland over the weekend , and found an arcade/museum called Next Level Pinball in Hillsboro Oregon.Had a great time there, and could not resist the lure of Houdini. I played at least 10 games on it. There are at least 250 pins and at least 100 arcade games there.I was there for over 4 hours and tine went by far too quickly. I spent at least an hour talking to one of the owners. $15 get you in for a day, I think they are open Friday-Sunday.

Oh yeah, back to Houdini- I think this game is awesome!

Thank you for this, I never noticed the small settings preset. It was on extra easy.

does not really show you what it is set to, was probably just highlighting the first option. Either way, Medium is a good place to start, 'factory' is way too hard for most players, and that was a mistake on my part being my first commercial game. Some might prefer Easy to start, but then is getting to Master Magician going to give you the same sense of accomplishment? Of course you can always then just move up a step and see if you can do it at the next level. Keep in mind that even at easier settings, for the mini-wizard modes or the encore bonus you still need to start all 5 movies, or complete all 5 escapes or all 5 missions or perform all 10 stage acts. So, I like to start a game and whichever area I start having success with, I'll focus bit more on that to try to get the mini-wizard mode. Starting all five movie modes is not that hard, if you focus on it. Escapes a bit tougher, and well, missions very tough, although a touch easier now with the latest code (also the least interesting of the mini-wizard modes).

I have A 6 degree pitch and stage ball eject works about 60 percent of the time. The eject only is supposed to happen at certain modes, like milkcan escape. I think it all happens after card tossing.

Trip to Houdini museum in NYC today. It is biggest collection other than Copperfield's. Q is a repro. Metamorphosis trunk is original. Burned bits are from water torture tank. Body bag is "punishment suit." Bess dress is original. The owner knows about the pinball but doesnt have one.
http://www.houdinimuseumny.com/
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"A throbbing photo love drama"

Thanks for sharing, I have to go to the museum looks cool.

Awesome, I'll have to visit it next time.

I second that!
Thanks for sharing trip and pics #PhantomO.

That’s pretty impressive. Love the posters. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for sharing. Too bad the Chinese Water Torture tank was burned up. I wonder how and who did that?

Rosh- Was there a new code update coming soon?

I know everyone is not into mods, but I thought this was kind of cool and didn't know anywhere else that would appreciate it.

I had an extra Eddie figure from Iron Maiden and decided to re-purpose his torso for my new-to-me Houdini playfield. I need to find some sort of small stand to mount it on but I am planning on putting it on the next flat surface behind the milk can. I snapped a photo post operation with the coping saw. Lol.
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Always into this kind of creativity. Depending on how thick your figure is from front to back, you might also mount it on the horizontal plastic to the right of the trunk. The upper catapult that throws the ball into the right wireform easily clears an object pushed up snug against the backboard. I have a straightjacket torso velcroed there. It doesnt get hit or trap the ball. BTW, if you are looking for an iron maiden topper, check out all the Eddie masks offered by Trick or Treat Studios. https://www.trickortreatstudios.com/licensed-designs/iron-maiden.html

Terrific idea! That is an even better spot than what I was considering.

Thanks for the mask link. Those are incredible.

Please post a pic of your mod when finished.

Is your straitjacket also from the Eddie figure ?

No, I bought the Hooked on Pinball version.

I too have the hookedonpinball.com version.
I tried it here but it blocked the peep show. Now it is next to the trunk. Shots of trunk location on our site

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Request:

Add ball save to stage acts that launch ball from the shooter.

Or ball save at the beginning of each act for a few seconds to at least try and start the mode.

Even AFM has ball saves built in here and there to keep the game flowing.

I hate it when the ball outlanes without flipping it, off the shooter launch and it loses the ball and kills the act.

Or bounces off the slings and drains before you can flip it.

The game is challenging enough without the cheap drains.

A liberal ball save at the beginning of the encore after completing the 10 acts would be a nice touch incase you cant get control of the ball due to stage bounceouts.

This has nothing to do with making the game easier, just more fun.