Thanks

Loving my game

I’ve owned mine for a few months and I still can’t get a respectable score. Any advice on strategy, how to attack the game?

Finish the modes.
Make the ramp/milk can combo for playfield multipliers.

Play slower - you have to be pretty precise to finish the modes and hit the right shots. The stage modes appear to give the best points

Thinking about getting a Houdini.
Beautiful pin with a great theme, and I hear great reviews. I also understand there are several hard shots.
Would you guys consider this overall a difficult game that amateurs wouldn't enjoy?
Im not a great player but am always looking for games that noobs can enjoy when they are at my house. I also have 4 little kids that like to whack the flippers.
Ghostbusters left, TNA left because casual people didn’t enjoy it.
Should I look elsewhere? Just looking for a couple of opinions.

Thanks.

Well... yes there are some shots you need to be precise with. I would not compare it to Ghostbusters, which always feels to me like I'm just rolling the dice every time I hit the flipper button. But you do need to practice with Houdini. If you set it up with a generous ball save, I think people will enjoy it. But it's definitely not a casual player's favorite game. The kids may enjoy the catapult, but they will have a bit of a challenge getting a ball in there.

so that's the reality take on it.

Also good: build incredibly thoroughly. Powder coat on legs/armor is outstanding. Backbox is unreal - looks great, has very good audio. Shots are REALLY fun after you get them down - they are not traditional "pinball shots" where you feel like you have it dialed in in 5 minutes.

Four quick tips for high scoring . . .

1) Shoot the open Stage via Stage Alley for 2X on stage modes
2) Aways make sure FILM is lit before starting TrunkMB so you start both together
3) When Seance is lit, start a mode or movie first, preferably Needles or Handcuff or Haldane
4) Reverse and Inverted Flippers, with 2X stage for Straitjacket gives 6X Jackpots, well worth the extra difficulty of the inverted

I’m also not a great player and love Houdini, especially for home use where tough but makeable shots keep me coming back. And I’m definitely improving my skills bc of the game.

But ... the guy I bought it from specifically said his wife and kids were frustrated with so many bricked shots, and that’s why he got rid of it.

And it’s amazing how quickly one adjusts to the reversed inverted flippers. After a handful of games it weirdly comes together.

Me too, but got it and a TON of extras for a phenomenal price, making it an incredible value. I am also convinced it is making me a better pinball player. Casual guests like the theme and total package and don't seem to mind the difficulty, so overall very happy with it. Looking forward to the upcoming software upgrade

Thanks for the insight. I’ll give it a shot.

I for one don't like many of the themes out there, horror, rock bands and most movie themes. Houdini had a personal interest to me as a child magician. I think the many modes between film, stage, Jail and seance are not only fun to play but for others to watch with the on screen antics. With the depth of all of the modes it can take many games to discover them all yet alone master them. It does shoot very tight. If you can't hit any of the lanes you can still easily enter seance multiball. You can adjust the settings to make the rewards easier which might be good for a family.

I'm not a good player but am constantly challenged to make those tough shots. 1 out of 5 games are pretty good for me, 1 out of 40 are great. A hard game can make you a better player.

The depth of this game and how hard it plays, I believe, makes it an ideal home game, you don't have to plug it with quarters. Just start another game and eventually you get a great score.

I love my Houdini.

Glad to see so many people finally getting it.

Hi Rosh,
How far away is the update?

The beta has been progressing well. A couple of minor issues have been found but overall its appears the testers are quite pleased with the udpate. To set expectations, this update is heavily about ball management, overall 'choreography' and bug fixes, with just a handful of enhancements. I do want to address the minor issues that have been identified, so there will be one more round of beta tests. Challenge right now is that time is a very scarce resource. Work on G3 is keeping me more than busy and a few weeks ago my wife broke her arm in three places, so, that threw a bunch more stuff on my plate. Hopefully I will finish up these fixes soon and get the third round of beta going, and then can map out a release.

Sorry to hear. I hope she's better and a fast healer.

LTG : )

See what happens when someone threatens to leak the title of Game 3??

Just kidding of course and I certainly hope she's healing quickly and as painlessly as possible!

Yes, hope she is recovering, that is the important thing and the update will come when it comes. Quite frankly its nice just knowing an update is on the way.

It is a slow healing process and she is pretty frustrated by the limitations. Not being able to just jump in the car and run errands, not being able to shower by yourself, stuff we all take for granted that when suddenly you can't, well, very frustrating. Sort of like we you take the keys away from an elderly person who is not longer able to safely drive, but by doing so you have now taken away that freedom. Hopefully in a couple of more weeks she will be out of the sling and ready to start re-hab. Then we will see how much range of motion she will have lost.

I'll have your wife in my thoughts and prayers for a full recovery with re-hab. Hard and painful. But part of the process.

LTG : )

Wishing her the best. Hope she gets well soon.
Add a 2nd flipper button to the side not broken.

Just saw this. What a drag. Hope she recuperates quickly and retains full range of motion.

Man, I am sorry to hear that - it is definitely frustrating! Lots of things have to change, and fast, and it’s hard to juggle everything. I’m definitely a poor shadow of my wife when it comes to the day to day stuff. You guys will get through it.

http://www.openculture.com/2018/02/female-prize-fights-were-a-thing-during-the-18th-century.html

Rosh,
No problems. Appreciate the work you are doing on this..

AP game 3 confirmed!

You're not supposed to talk about it!

Topless, womens bare knuckle champions pub....

Now is the time ! Lol

They could do an Olympics pin, based on the original games. Where the athletes were nude.

LTG : )
Disclaimer : Guys, be damn careful jumping the hurdles. Go high. Real high.

Of course the necessity to go high will vary greatly depending on ambient temperature and other factors, including genetics.

...and your age.

Weird glitch at mynlocal watering hole...

A beautiful new looking Houdini just showed up in place of the code deficient Munsters that was previously there.

First time on the machine and instantly loved it however I noticed a few code quirks. Then on ball 3 all of a sudden the machine did a complete shut down and reboot in the middle of play.

I kept playing through the night and managed a pretty respectable GC however I managed to get the machine to reset another 5 times and in the process of doing so I have narrowed down what is causing it to happen via gameplay

Turns out the main catalyst is spelling out SEANCE while in SEANCE multiball. - I thought I actually did spell it out one game and that it kept playing but I also speculate it may be happening when spelling SEANCE while in multiball WITH another mode also running. However, it could just be spelling SEANCE for jackpot with or without the mode as I got the machine to reboot by doing this the last 3 games in a row.

I'm not certain if another mode needs to be started or not for the hard reset to occur but it is definitely when spelling SEANCE for jackpot during SEANCE multiball. It happens the moment you hit the last letter.

Has anyone else seen, heard or experienced this before?

Thanks,
F

Needs a code update.

Maybe the power supply upgrade if the power is low on location.

It is on the Beta code and it has done this at two different locations according to owner.

The current code is lightyears ahead of the beta.

Its a shame they put it on location with that code.

please have them send me the logs [email protected] so I can confirm what code this is running, and investigate the issue.

Rosh,

I just had the owner meet me on site. We updated it to latest version and we have been unable to replicate the issue since. Maybe related to magic shop+multiball issue you fixed in latest code.

I am not sure what version it was on before updating other than the owner stating "Beta." (He just bought them.) Can we retrieve logs post update? If so I will ask him to do so.

Updated the code to the latest release and happy to report not a single problem since doing so.

Thank you both for your help!

I beta tested the last code release (not the current one Rosh is working on). The game would reset when the REPLAY score was reached and the Audio Knocker fired. That was fixed in the last official release though. Odd if that issue would have snuck back in on the latest Beta however.

If possible, I would still like to see the logs that got pulled off when the code updates was done, as I would like to know what code was on there. Curious as to where the owner got them that they had 'beta' code on them.

I'll ask him to send me the files and if I get them I will reach out with a PM

Winter games would make a fun machine. Pinball bobsled, shoot the hockey goal and get it past Tretiak, A slalom wireform....

For me to poop on!

But seriously, I'd find that old kind of fast but to each their own.

I just downloaded the files. I will send them to you tonight. The machine(s) were on version 19.12.23B

Thats the new beta code in review right now.

Whatever it was it was causing hard resets everytime Seance was spelled with magic shop and/or right scoop being hit during multiball.

Have not had the issue since going to the latest full code available on website

Josh,

Care to DM me your email address? I will send the logs over later if you are able.

See post #9937

Thanks for the logs. Issue is around the setting for earning a second Houdini Letter for Secret Missions. A setting of 'Off' right now will cause the crash, this will get fixed in the next Beta code release. Guessing none of the beta testers have that setting as 'Off', as the defaults are 4 for the first and 5 for the second.