Had my cousin over working our beehive. Decided to let his kids play pinball. My bee-buddy cousin had never played Houdini. He absolutely loved it. He really liked the direction from the callouts, had a blast with the various modes he hit and thought the game was beautifully appointed.
rosh - glad to see you on this thread. The game is a winner due in large part (very large part) to your dedicated work on it. Always look forward to your knowledge of what’s what with the game.

I dropped the flippers a bit and that made a noticeable change in shot accuracy. Still cannot reliably backhand the lock shot inner loop though. Had a pinball night on Saturday and everyone enjoyed Houdini and we made it the tournament finals game.

Yesterday I watched the documentary, Houdini Unlocking the Mystery, and it made me understand more of the modes and callouts. Worth the watch for sure.

I've been trying to hit it, can either not get out of the shooter trough or goes and hits the regular skill shot targets. I need more practice I think!

I honestly don’t think it’s that accurate. I pulled my shooter apart and cleaned the snot out of everything. While silky smooth, it’s still not accurate enough to make the super skill shot with any level of consistency.

To add to that, I can’t hit the top skill shot letter (C). Not matter how hard I plunge, can’t hit it….

Bend out the end of the lane flat rail slightly to get it to hit higher up.

Sorry for the late reply. vacation.

If you have a large metal box (looks like a giant toaster), the 48v upgrade is already done.
You likely already have end of stroke switches.
The only thing you might not have is the capacitor kit. Depends what the previous owner installed.
Yes, Black- and Brown+ are parallel
Call if you're unsure or get stuck. 833-API-HELP

Trying to get my Houdini dialed in.
Added 48v power supply
EOS switches
Shaker
Knocker
Spooky capacitor board for Flipper coils and others on that row.
7” hole in cabinet for Pyle subwoofer
New curved scoop deflector
Cliffy protector on scoop
Ball lock post jammed. Enlarged 4 holes by 1/64” to enable alignment through playfield.

Now to the game play tweaks that I could use some guidance.

Loop shots should hit the middle of the flipper from either loop? Left loop hits the end of the flipper and makes for impossible repeat loops. Suspect I need to bend outter guide more flat.

Kick out from scoop should hit flipper or top of sling? Mine always kicks out but some go to flipper some hit top of sling.

Consensus on playfield pitch 6.2? I set all my games at 6.8, maybe this is causing me problems.

Is it normal to have to adjust coil strengths from suggested factory numbers after installing the updated 48v power supply?

Community,

Can anyone post picturs of how they've setup pinstadium? I've gone to the site and I'm still confused on my options.

Tim

I don't know if it's supposed to, but the catapult to the trunk shot, the ball rebounds off the left cabinet wall and into the trunk. I mean, it works, LOL, so I haven't messed with it. But is it supposed to be a straight shot into the trunk?

Should be a straight shot into the trunk.

Right there with ya...mine landed straight on for the first year now its hit or miss. I have the parts to rebuild the catapult mechanism minus the coil. Just need to find the time to do it. If all else fails I am going to build an acrylic landing board that rolls the ball into the trunk. Right now about 50% of the time it lands between the trunk and left blade and rolls onto the playfield.

Before you try anything though doublecheck your level left to right. It does make a big difference.

First set the pitch to 6.1 or 6.2.

I can get you some this weekend. Anything in particular you want pics of?

Mine hits the glass but always goes in!

In addition to checking left/right level, use the slow motion on your camera phone to watch the ball's flight path, check to be sure it is not hitting the plastic ramp, which will deflect it left.

This...and it's more common that people think. You can put washers under a few of the posts to help twist the ramp out of the direction. I also added a spacer on the white plunger to the trunk. What this does is physically opens the trunk lid higher so the ball will never hit the trunk lid lip when under higher power. You can use one of those footies that go under chairs to protect floors. I cut it out and put it on the bottom of the lid. And of course when closed...the lid closes perfectly. I'm still on the original power supply...and with those two simple additions my ball never misses.

Looking into picking up a Houdini, is there an easy way to tell which games have the updated power supply? Was it just the games run in 2017? Or after a certain serial #? Appreciate the help!

Also, if anyone has a Houdini in the Northeast they want to sell shoot me a message.

Round toriod power supply with a smaller silver box next to it (or not) is the old original.

Single big silver box is the new system.

I was just sent this (bad) photo by the seller. Is that the power supply in question? And is it the updated one?

D7235888-45A0-4F7A-A6B7-CA2D07360E1B (resized).jpeg

That is the updated power supply.

The ball was moving so fast I never noticed it until I slow motioned it. It absolutely is hitting the ramp on the shots that are going wide left. Now for the fix. I tried boosting the coil and the ball was hitting the glass or top of the trunk so that is out. I may try replacing the coil since the ramp hit is so random. Maybe lubricating the coil rod with graphite to get just a tiny more umph. Is that a thing? I got another response saying to put washers under the posts to adjust the aim of the shot, but I think this is a power and not and aim issue as it is not clearing the ramp. I am I the new power supply by the way HOU1572 Jan2018.
One more thing of note...when the trunk shot occurs during multi-ball with a lot of action going on, the trunk shot comes up short. I assume this is due to a decline in available power to the catapult coil. Was just wondering if this is a thing anyone else has experienced?

Slow motioned mine with an Iphone and the ball is hitting the clear plastic ramp. I assume the ball is supposed go over the left side of that ramp.
Give yours a video too and slow it down to see what's happening.

One more thing on the trunk shot hitting the clear plastic ramp....
I noticed in some 2 year old threads a mention of a coil improving capacitor kit.
Does anyone that's been around for awhile know if that was for the old power supply issues,
or of it was to help the new power supply also?
Currently it is sold out so I am thinking as most games are getting upgraded it was no longer relevant, but I could be wrong.

In my Case i moved the Ramp a Bit to the right and drilled a new hole at the Ramp Holding lip. With a washer between hexPost and Ramplip it works pretty well

Unless I'm mistaken, if you purchased the pin with the updated power supply, it should already have the coil capacitor upgrade. If your pin had the older power supply, then most likely did not have the upgrade which you purchase separately.

I would not assume that it has the capacitor board just because it has the updated PSU and yes, the capacitor board definitely helps during MBs.

Anyone have a photo of the updated capacitor board? It’s kinda hard to buy one of these that has all the factory upgrades…but I’m tryin!

You are mistaken

The capacitor upgrade came way after the new power supplies.

First post in probably the only pinside thread where i have read evey single post since the beginning. I'll try to make this as brief as possible.....

Bought a houdini used. Early production, outdated code, old power supply. Underforming coils. Flippers were weak, but i never completely lost power.

Upraded PS. Gameplay improved tremendously. Catapult hit everytime. However, flippers would lose power randomly and completely once magnets activate. Always at the beginning, so ball save would usually still be active, so gameplay would be minimally affected. Would always regain power after 5 seconds and function fine the rest of the game.

Added coil improvement board. Loses all power when magnets activate. Does not recover until magnets stop, and overall game plays pretty poorly with this board installed.

Any thoughts?

Should also mention that line voltage in house is low (116.5) which according to power company is normal for the neighborhood and technically is within spec.

Also, i re-installed everything fairly recently just to comfirm good connections and proper installation.

I have an original early build game, my power goes low all the time to 115v.

And mine dosent do that at all. In fact its playing better than it ever has.

Something seems wrong, or wired wrong.

That’s very wrong behavior. I still have the original power supply with the upgrade and the capacitor upgrade too. Never a problem, much less what you’ve got. What you describe is very odd. Call AP!

Possible a bad magnet or driver. Try disconnecting the magnets and see what happens, then re-connect one and test , repeat for other magnets and see if one is causing the issue.

Fixed!! 10 games, trunk shot hit every time. Some shots went right of center (but in) and that never happened before.
I still have to snip off the old holes to make it pretty. Also, there was a lot of torque on the ramp wanting to go back to
it's original position so I may order another ramp in case it cracks years down the road. Extra parts are always good to have!

IMG_0333 (resized).jpg

Tried each magnet and the behavior still occurred. The odd part of it all, sometimes it wouldnt occur at all....

Started game. Activated each seance by hand and the put the ball in the seance hole. Repeated this exact sequence 10 times, 3 times the flippers did not die. 7 times they died within seconds of the magnets starting, which puzzles me even more....

Disconnect the coil improvement board, wire it up the way it was before, see if the game improves.

Without the coil board, it definitely improves. But it still does it occasionally

I would check all the brown ground wires in the wal-nuts (there are a few).

It could be as simple as bad grounding, and possibly bad power connections.

I replaced all my wal-nuts with the lever-nut type. It only took about 25 mins.

Half the wires in the wal-nuts fell out when I lifted their harnesses.

Definitrely insufficient ground.

My game immediately brightened up and no longer does unexpected weird things.

I think that the wal-nuts were a bad idea.

One of my issues was that there were changes in game behavior after simply raising the playfield.

It was maddening.

https://www.amazon.com/LANGIR-Connectors-Electrical-Assortment-Wiring/dp/B0B19PV188/ref=sr_1_1_sspa

Also if you havent already get a set of side art protectors, you really need them on Houdini (the original cabinets were 1/4" too narrow):

https://www.pinballlife.com/interior-cabinet-protector-blade-set.html

Yep, thats where I started. Switched out to the Wigo lever nuts after my initial install last year. Since the symptoms kind of point to a shaky connection somewhere, last week i pulled the wires and re-did them just to confirm everything was secure.

If anyone needs the Coil Performance Improvement Kit its back up in stock now.
https://store.american-pinball.com/products/kit0006-00

Heck no, stick a mod in it!

Just to be clear....did any machines ship with this already installed?
If so, I should look between the "hands" magnets for it?
HOU1572 Jan2018. Already had the new power supply.

Maybe get a tiny lock 3D printed and spray them gold and glue them on?

or these sprayed gold...

https://www.featheredaddictions.com/Tiny-Plastic-Keys--50pc_p_10683.html

I bought mine in May 2021, and it came with the updated power supply and the flipper cap upgrade.

There is another post asking if people like video modes in their games. Immediately I thought of how great Oktoberfest and Houdini video modes are.

Just curious, has anyone gotten 10 out of 10 thrown cards in the video mode? I think my best is like 8. Maybe it's because I always try to go for extra ball. Anything special happen if you do?

* I just spent a few games trying to get 10 out of 10 and kept running out of time. It's tough!

Please send me a picture of your 48v power supply and connections along with the API store order#. [email protected]

I need pinstadium help. Please PM me if you are willing to help.

Tim

Increase your time on the mode...in settings. In order to get good at the card mode...I maxed out all the settings. I eventually got so good at it...I could throw and make every card...and usually got 2 to 3 extra balls doing so. Now I turned it back to stock and never miss.

wow !

in factory settings, i often get the EB, but nothing more

I just ordered the knocker. I bought my game NIB when it first came out. I sold it locally after a year, and then missed it and got it back this year. Looking forward to playing the rifle mode with the knocker. Speaking of knockers those cans on Bess add to the games replay value.