I believe you're talking about "Man From Beyoud". Once you're in mode you'll hit the stage twice to break Houdini from the ice and then hit any orbit for multiball and playfield goes dark into black and white dem light mode

Lights seem to flicker as if it was a fault. Ok will test and report back!

Still sounds like Man from Beyond

My first time in "Man From Beyond" I got kind of confused myself thinking is their a fault with lights or some kind of cool light effect in this mode. It's just the way the mode is suppose to look like in the time being.. Hopefully with a new code update it'll look even better!

I think that’s intentional and if you get it going long enough, it’s very cool. I for one don’t think it needs any changes.

Man From Beyond is the best mode in pinball! It is completely insane and it should stay that way. Unless to make it more insane.

The only complaint I have with MFB, which is definitely one of the best ever in pinball, is to fix the audio call-outs that just say shoot for the orbits even when it's actually the stage door that's lit to "Find Houdini". If you have SEANCE MB going at the same time (which is definitely a good thing) you can't see which shot is lit for MFB so the call-outs are even more important then.

Curious about the Houdini stage finale, reached after playing all 10 stage modes. Does it matter how long it takes you to shoot the stage? There doesnt seem to be a countdown, and even if you drain first, the mode is still live on your next ball. So wondering if the bonus score is higher if you hit the stage faster? Or if it helps to hit the escape targets first, which are flashing red?

Houdini owners, does your game (running latest code) often time the ball launch and scoop eject so that the two hit each other when starting Seance? This happens almost every time on mine, I'm not sure which actually launches first but the one from the shooter lane very often hits the one coming out of the scoop and so it's instant chaos with very little chance to start in control. Not that control is real easy anyway with the magnets firing like crazy but I'm just curious if others are seeing this too?

Not on mine. I do have stage eject turned on.

The Encore Bonus value is unaffected by how long it takes for you to shoot the stage. You just either collect it at normal value by shooting the stage directly, or double value if you make it through the Stage Alley shot.

Oh dude, is that legit? Stage alley doubles the payout on the finale? Bee-yewtiful. Now I gotta go for a 20 million score or something ridiculous.

Great to know, thanks!

On the fence for stuff for your Houdini ?

LTG : )

AP (resized).jpg

The discount is on parts and merch not the games, there is another promo for the games!

LTG : )

ap2 (resized).jpg

It's legit! Important to note, however, that if you have Milkcan Multipliers running, they will not increase the Encore Bonus.

Here's an example of an *undoubled* Encore Bonus I once got.

I dunno if when you go around to a second Encore Bonus, the value of the previous one carriers over to the new one? If so, that could be monstrous value.

Screenshot_20191121-135123 (resized).png

I didn't know American Pinball admired Kohl's so much...

Time for a real knocker!

I love knockers...

Just as funny as the 40,000 other times that joke has been cracked on here... originality in pinball is alive and well!

Finally after almost 2000 games, I'm getting off my ass to tear her down, clean her up shop her out. Amazing how much dirt and grime can collect in the cracks and crevices. I find the whole process kind of relaxing - my pinball therapy. So far Houdini has been a lot easier to tear down than some I've done.

I need to correct something I surmised above. I now do think it is necessary to spell SEANCE, in order, as instructed. To do this with reversed and inverted flippers with multiball running is beyond possibility, so I don't think any of us will be crowned master magician unless someone hacks the code or Josh revises it. I think ti would be reasonably to collect three hits per seance letter in ANY order, to complete that requirement in the mode.

Never gets old, does it?....

I’m wondering if anyone has any recommendations for best pinballs to use in Houdini? I got an invoice for the machine today. This is my first game with magnets, so I’d welcome any recommendations anyone may have.

Thanks!

I just buy bulk carbon on ebay. Some people treat the balls like the hifi enhuesitics treat speaker wire (i.e. some exotic thing). No reason to replace what came w/the pin.

I agree and disagree. There is no magic formula for the best pinballs, carbon for magnets.
But balls from the factory can suck, their in large boxes at 2 to 5,000, they get dinged up.inspect the balls carefully when you open the game.

No disagreement there!

I buy balls in bulk.
Throw them away every 400 to 500 plays.

WOZ and TH, every 350 plays.
They are long playing games.

On my Houdini the balls were noticeably worn at 350 plays.

I've been screwing around with the lower catapult, trying to get it on target and not clipping the plastic ramp it flys over, shimmed the mech, etc.
Finally installed new coil stop, measured the new/old, and new was 2mm longer, totally changed the arch of the throw, I'm on the money now.

This is interesting news...

I'm curious what the correct coil stop length is supposed to be.

Had Last night a League night and we played Houdini. The flipper Power was now a Lot better, but the coils were extrem hot after 30 games. And thex lost alot of power. I installed the blue wpc coils 11-629.

now i will try to Install a new bushing, coilstop, and crank to solve it.

is it possible that someone can make a picture from the EOS in Endposition? I'm Not Happy with Mine.

Also the coil from the Power catapult lost the presicion during longer Games.

Thank you and best regards

IMG-20191017-WA0070 (resized).jpg

And where did you get this new coil stop? Exact length of stop nub?

I'm happy I was finally able to update my code on my new Houdini. Turned out, I think, is that I wasn't renaming the update code to remove any of the version numbers (which is required if updating from one of the oldest codes). Now was able to install the new code and it's a big improvement from the old. Does anyone do a lot of adjustments with the coil settings or anything else? So far, I've changed the sling settings from the Giggles (which I hated), to kicker, and also increased the POPS strength by 1 pt.

I'm planning on buying the shaker and installing that. Anyone else think there are other must do's?

Shaker/Knocker/upgraded power supply...I recommend all 3 Highly!
There is a Black Friday sale this weekend, save 20%.

hmm, what will an upgraded power supply do?

As I recall from the beginning. It provides a more balanced and consistent power to the game, most noticeably the flippers.

LTG : )

Cool. Gonna check out the sales then

I got the new coil stops from Pinball Life, just last week, they were listed as the standard bally/stern stops, I think there is only one kind.
My original stop extends 6.5mm (about 400 games on it) new one is 8.5mm. had to drop the coil power to 24.

coilstop (resized).jpg

I think you broke the code.
Thank you for posting great intel!

OMG go get it right now. Key to stabilising your game. If you don’t notice a power issue occasionally, consider yourself lucky, but a buyer will ask.

The original supply is unregulated. If your mains (i.e. 120 or 240V) drops 20% in voltage...so does the flipper voltage. Power is even less since it is the square of voltage. The new supply is a switcher supply, which is fairly immune to the line voltage (within reason) since it is regulated. It can work down to 90V AC (but at a 10% reduction in power output).

Link: https://www.trcelectronics.com/ecomm/pdf/rsp750.pdf

Sorry, probably more info than you wanted to know. But replacing it makes the catapult and flippers more consistent. Despite not having any issues with my pin, I replaced anyways so it would become a non-issue. I think some of the later pins might already have it installed.
pasted_image (resized).pngpasted_image (resized).png

There are 3 different length stops. The question is, which one is stock for houdini.

Your picture looks like an early bally style next to a later Williams/bally.

Shorter stops will absolutely give you more throw!

I wonder if this is a fix for poorly performing catapults in general.

It certainly has a lot of merit.

What a great find!

Well guys it's been fun but my Houdini was picked up last night. She went for $A9000 ($US6000) in the end.

Machine - For Sale

Houdini Archived

As new - New out of box (first owner) - “Selling my Houdini to make way for JP3 Premium which I've just paid deposit on. Has very low plays. All factory options, Magic Glass, shaker, art blades, and topper kit (not instal...”

2019-11-25

Thirroul, NSW

Our_Man_in_Oz

9,500 (OBO)

Archived after: 7 days

Viewed: 441 times

Status: Didn't sell to Pinsider

Well that was some disappearing act. First you see him now you don't

Watch out for the velecer raptor

Starting to feel like the Stern KISS buyers back in the day. At least all the modes and inserts will start on Houdini, I guess.

It's been a long wait for a meaningful update, thats for sure!

Please, the code on this game when it first shipped was WAY better than Kiss code even a year after release. The game is about 100x a better game as well.

while I see your point, I actually don’t agree. When it shipped it was mostly playable but would reboot and crash under certain conditions. I’m not knocking Josh, he got that stuff fixed up pretty fast - but it wasn't the most stable game in the world as shipped. The KISS comparison is obviously an exaggeration, but we know Josh has new code he’s worked on, and the last update was in April.

As the time goes by, it seems less and less likely we’d see an update.