Oh, the official code update posted! I didn't even get around to installing the beta rosh had posted a couple of weeks back - terrific!

I looked at adding more (and maybe I did), but, the reality is, already makes references and jokes about rock band themes, super hero themes, alien themes . . .

I saw a new one last night, really fun!

I installed the new code with ZERO issues. Went smoothly.

I used a kingston traveller 8gb usb 3.0 stick.

In my opinion, and as a computer specialist, the kingston RAM and USB sticks have the greatest compatibility between platforms and in general.

I wonder if there are any differences between what posted a couple of weeks ago and the new official version.

When we first got Houdini, I thought 250K was a great game and I was pretty proud of myself. Then 500K started showing up. Then a million became the norm. 1.5mil, maybe 2mil...2.6mil....

Then I ran out of steam.

Now I can't wait to find more of them. Fantastic job on a beautiful game.

Managed to drag myself into wizard mode a couple of times. All I can say is.......Josh....you are an evil wicked genius.Never been so rooted playing a pinball in my life...(Rooted is Aussie slang for tired)..

Changes from last beta are very few, mostly fixes of issues found in the beta. A few more things I wanted to get in, but as Ferret likes to remind me there is always one more thing so at some point you have to just draw a line and release.

Josh, The game is playing really well at this point, great job on this!

I would like to double flip out of the extra ball monkey animation, Its all I can think of for now.

I am pretty happy with where it is now. I have the ball management issues and the flow through different elements that are all happening at the same time, to be much smoother and correct. Filled in some missing things and added some new things that had been on my list for a while. My list of 'would still like to' is not quite empty, but a lot less on it now.

Taken 6+ months to finally get this release out the door and want to thank all those who tested and/or provided feedback, there were quite a few of you. I do want to give a special shoutout to @bobukcat, who spent a ton of time trying to replicate issues and sending me logs with detailed info so I could track it down. There are a few bugs not sure would have been squashed without his dedication to finding them and figuring out what sequence of events caused them.

Thanks for the release Josh, made a great game better.

Not sure you really know how much people appreciate your presence, openness and obvious dedication to your machine here on pinside rosh . But i'll say thanks for it.

I reckon you've started a trend too, and there is a JJP presence in the GnR thread as well.

Thank you Josh, it's my favorite game so of course I want it to be as perfect as possible. I'll admit there was a time or two I thought you might have blocked my e-mail address as spam but I'm happy to have been wrong.

Ditto on the appreciation. Your dedication is really above and beyond. Thanks!

lol

but this will cause a prob on just 1 situation : if you are playing KING CARDS and reaching the needeed points for an extra ball

than as reported already, let's hope Josh will simply remove that EB animation in that particular mode
because that EB screen takes priority over the video mode for few seconds... it was similar in OF if you were playing the TAPPER, than corrected in latest updates

Im talking about the monkey when you get served an extra ball.

Dont get me wrong, I love the poor bandaged monkey animation, Its just funny and perfect!

But when Im on a roll, I would like to be able to bypass it to hold my momentum and get back in the game as fast as possible.

But maybe its just me, lol.

Also updated. Easy Peesy. All wonderful.

Updated tonight without a hitch. No issues, played a 2 player game with my better half. Enjoyed the new sound effects rolling thru the inlanes.
Made a great game better...saw the mystery spinner bonus in the display..neat add in.

Updated this arvo, not a single problem. Plays like it’s been re-invigorated. Not as much waiting around for things to catch up. Well done...

✨It's MAGIC!✨ The wizards at American Pinball have conjured up a significant CODE UPDATE for Houdini "Master of Mystery" Pinball.✨

NEW CODE Version 21.01.21 can be downloaded here with Release Notes & Change Log: https://www.american-pinball.com/support/updates/

Version 21.01.21 includes the following Feature Updates:

Rules, Scoring Enhancements, NEW Light Shows & Sounds, Improved Choreography & Game Flow, and Bug Fixes.

Change Log:

Houdini
Latest Version: 21.01.21
Release Notes
Updating your Houdini machine is a simple process. During the update
process, none of your current settings will be changed.
To install the update . . .
1) Download the update code and copy it onto a USB stick (FAT32,
minimum 4 GB). Make sure the USB Stick does NOT have a space in the
name.
2) Turn on your Houdini machine.
3) Open the coin door and find the USB extension cable. It should be
anchored to the side wall of the cabinet.
4) Insert the USB stick into the extension cable.
5) After a few seconds, the display should indicate that code is being
updated. The code update process takes approximately 10 minutes.
6) An on-screen message will advise when the update process is
complete. Shut down the game, remove the USB stick, and power the
game back up.
7) Make some magic!

CHANGE LOG
21.01.21

New — Magic Spinner Bonus — after the magic shop is opened,
additional spins would collect towards a magic spinner bonus that is
collected at the magic shop. Bonus is 400 * spins * visits to the shop.
Accumulated bonus spins are zeroed out at end of ball.
New — King of Cards accuracy bonus — based on how many successful
throw are made, an accuracy scoring bonus is added to the total.

Accuracy is based on cards available to throw, not the number thrown. It
is possible to exceed 100% by making ‘doubleʼ shots. Example, making
5 of 10, will award an additional 50% of the points earned
New — Magic Stand-up targets can now help secret missions, missions
completed without magic target help score double.
New — During a jail escape, hitting an escape letter will add the original
hurry up value to the current hurry up value
New — During the Great Jail Escape hitting an unlit escape letter will
reset the hurry up value back to the start value and add 5 seconds.
New — Setting to allow play to continue after Master Magician, if you
have additional balls. The default setting is game ends after Master
Magician, which is the current behavior.
New — Second Houdini letters for escapes and secret missions (note
default settings around Houdini letters have been adjusted as part of
this release for escapes, missions, stage acts and magic shop visits, you
may want to change you Houdini letters in adjustments).
New — pricing plan. 4 units for 1 credit, 20 for 6, support for ‘Tokensʼ currency type
New — Sound effects on lower lanes and inner loop
New — Upper Catapult switch compensation
New — More ‘today in historyʼ added
Modified — Lots of new and improved light shows
Modified — Ball save adjustments on Trunk MB
Modified — Film Modes that start with Trunk Multiball will start even if catapult misses
Modified — Magic Shop hole ball handling and choreography
Modified — Catapult/Trunk lock and movie start processing
Modified — Can no longer start Trunk MB or Seance during Movie Binge
Modified — A missed catapult throw that drains while Movie is starting, will not end ball.
Modified — Start Button attract
Modified — Magnet behavior during Multiball
Modified — Can no longer start a mode once the Great Jail Escape has started
Modified — Movie Binge can no longer start if MB or a stage mode are running
Modified — Movie Binge now has a wrap-up screen, and more sound calls
Modified — Card detection at higher speeds in card king
Modified — Timer behavior during catapult sequences.
Modified — Main score screen to better show scores of 10,000,000 and up
Fixed — issue where an extra ball could be put in play on a catapult miss when Trunk MB or a movie was starting
Fixed — Movies will still start on a catapult miss
Fixed — Master Magician was requiring three hits per Seance letter not two, as the rules stated.
Fixed — Clearing balls could result in a game reset
Fixed — collecting the last Houdini letter will no longer say “collect Houdini letters . . . “
Fixed — Issue where the HOUDINI encore chat would not end even after collecting the Encore Bonus
Fixed — black screen that appears between high score entry and match
Fixed — display info when pricing is for 20 Kroner, it was incorrectly showing 15
Fixed — reset audits sometimes crashing the game and not resetting properly
Fixed — Tilt during film mode preventing future film modes from being started
Fixed — left and right lock releasing more than one ball when certain magnet or dimming activity was occurring
Fixed — Elephant shaker action playing during outlane modes
Fixed — Stage monitor not showing proper image when Master Magician is ready
Fixed — display issue on progress ribbon if 10 or more illusions performed
Fixed — position of commas on main screen when score is 10,000,000 or more
Fixed — left and right lock releasing more than one ball when certain magnet or dimming activity was occurring
Fixed — Tilt during film mode preventing future film modes from being started
Fixed — Incorrect game tip wording

houdini_code_release_21.01.21 (resized).png

New — Setting to allow play to continue after Master Magician, if you
have additional balls. The default setting is game ends after Master
Magician, which is the current behavior.

Very cool of Josh to add this in for the people who complained about it especially since I'm pretty sure he didn't really want to. Most of my high scores have been achieved without getting there but this should help jack up high scores for great games, though I'm a little undecided if I want to change it from default or not.

New code loaded, thanks AP!
So are you saying the current ball will still end if you don't get MM, then if any balls are remaining you can continue?

I've only gotten MM once (and failed) in 2 1/2 years, so I'm not even sure why I'm asking. I really should bump it up to 5 balls instead of 3 so I can see some of the stuff I've never experienced!

I went to 3 balls with a max of 4 extra balls. I am a so-so player, so I started to only make it half way through tasks on average and not getting all four extra balls. Play time was much more reasonable, but I missed the chant when completing all stage acts. So, I’m back to 5 balls with max 4 extra balls. Long games, but I get to enjoy most of what the game has to offer.

The typo is still there in the official announcement on the website.
Please correct it:

Accuracy is based on CARS available to throw

Love the new code. Had a 495k spinner bonus yesterday. Now if I can only get a bit more consistency with trunk ball lock (mine misses more than half the time). Perhaps I need to revisit the playfield pitch...

just installed, and reach for the 1st time the ULTIMATE SECRET MISSION
now i've seen all 3 mini wizard, only MM remain

yes, its just you (lol inside of course)

Can someone that dropped their flippers down pls take a picture?

I dropped mine. While it has opened up the shots, I’m still hitting the post on the milk can shot. So, hoping to benefit from a view of someone else’s dial-in and take the guess work out of further tweaks.

Played the new code and, after failing at master magician mode, the game reset. Sent logs to Josh. Second game I started bullet catch and added seance multiball and the mode went crazy, awarding dozens of bullet catches. Then the game reset. These were 5 ball games.

I've been reluctant to ever switch over to 5 because I didn't want to wipe out out my current score (despite only ever reaching 2.6M). Not sure about extra balls - haven't been in the settings for maybe a year.

I have been at 5 ball, but will try the new code at 3 ball, hoping it might be more stable that way since that is how people tested the beta, I assume.

Finally got to Master Magician. I love this game! Thanks rosh for the latest update.

CB10FAA5-8767-4DAB-85C9-7E0909DF7795 (resized).jpeg

So my board isn't registering the left lock one.. is there a simple solution to this? It does Thanks in advance

20210122_182108 (resized).jpg

So I'm having an issue with my inner loop. You can see the ball register the right and inner loop, it does hit the lock 1, but lock 1 and 3 don't stay lit. I have three balls in there when I took the attached picture.
This is causing my game to not realize when I drain a ball. Only 5 light green switches pop up, and is causing the game to cycle through thinking there's a live stuck ball somewhere on the board.. Any solutions? Thanks

16113651843595513035222951573953 (resized).jpg

I’m not sure a picture would be that helpful since it’s such a small distance and the perspective would change how it looked. The width of the flipper rubber is about 1/8”, so the way I have mine is that is you’re looking straight down the flipper rubber is as close to edge of the hole as it can get without overlapping.

Ok. And I dropped mine down, but not quite that far. I’ll play around with it

2mm droop is near perfect

Do the switches activate with a finger?

They might just need a very slight adjustment so the ball activates them.

I’ve experimented with drooping them a little more and a little less, and it makes a surprisingly big difference in how the game plays. I think you just have to mess around with it along with the pitch and flipper strength until you get it to play how you want it to. I love how mine plays on all of the shots except the inner loop, still trying to figure out how to make that a little more makeable. That’s part of the fun though.

nice ! and how to not love this game ?

more than busy, it was +/- 2 weeks that i havent played my Houdini
than yesterday did install the new code, played just 1 game, scored 4.6, and than get this cool feeling saying in my head : "oh dear, this pin is great !!!"

I moved the switches that bracket the inner loop lane, outward, 1/8" each.

I unscrewed them and elongated the holes in their mounting brackets to move them outwards a little with a dremel.

This effectively opens the lane by approximately 3/16" to 1/4"

I posted this tweak way early on.

It makes a huge difference.

So the top (long) edge of the flipper rubber is 2mm below the guide hole?

The flipper bat itself.

To correctly align flippers, you place a toothpick between the rubber and the bat.

There used to be a hole to lock the toothpick into, to hold it in place while tightening.

Nowadays you just visually see where it lined up with the dot.

So, 2mm below the dot for each side and adjust as necessary so the bats look even.

1/8" is too much in my opinion.

This is a crucial change IMO. You can also just bend the switches a bit laterally. It’s not quite as effective as drilling new holes but is certainly quicker!

First, be very careful it you adjust switches, very easy to make it worse or to damage them and need to replace them.

Put the three balls in the lock, go into switch test. See what movement it takes to get them to properly align -- often the issue is the down post is too low and the balls are too far forward. So with the three balls in there, see if pushing very, very slightly back gets them to properly register and if so, adjust the down post to be higher. The key is you want the down post, when down, to drop just low enough for the balls to pass.

The other possibility is the side to side alignment is off and its not on the top of the balls, the entire bracket should be adjusted, not individual switches to correct this. This rarely the issue and does require removing the ramp, etc. If it is to side to side you can try using some tape or velcro on one side of the lock to force the balls more center, but if you need the play so the balls flow through.

I initially just bent them sideways while testing this out, but didnt like the look lol.

For the 1/8" lateral move, there just isnt enough room to drill new holes in the playfield properly.

So, elongating the switch mounting bracket was easy enough with a 1/8" carbide side-cutting bit in the dremel.

Side cutting with just a drill bit would also work but more time consuming.