I'm an original owner,I'm pretty sure there is a bag of plastics in side my game

I don't think it shipped with a full set of replacement plastics, that would be unheard of. Spare slings and stuff like that are common for most games.

You get:

Slings, flipper covers, flipper alignment gauge, some purple rubbers etc.

No manual, but there was a preliminary setup guide and some very basic instructions.

All if that is still in my game untouched.

Im the original owner.

You can also order the big green planchette plastic separately.

I'll have to look I'm sure there are some sort of plastics,there is also some type of computer part in a bag , been a while since it's been played and even longer since I've been inside it, work and life get in the way

There's a small board that has a couple buttons with a cable to connect to the mini LCD to make adjustments to it.

Has anyone used this board. My greens on the mini LCD are almost black. Is this thingy what one would use to make that sort of adjustment?

I think it aligns the image, and you can adjust brightness and contrast..... I think.

That's exactly where mine sits as well, haha. Glad to hear you're liking Houdini, we love ours and play it daily. Just had to install a Cliffy on the Seance scoop the other day.

Need some tech help.

Left flipper, left sling, lower catapult have all stopped working. Fuses on the board that the flippers connect to are all good to go. Where else should I be looking?

Are the LEDs lit on the driver board for those solenoids when the game is on and the interlock switch closed?

It's probably one of the small fuses on the p roc boards. There are two boards that look the same under the playfield. They have fuses on both ends. Check those.

Do any of the rest of the "brown" solenoids work? If yes then you probably have a broken power wire that daisy-chains between the ones that aren't working, if no it's almost certainly a blown fuse on the PD-16 board or a that board is not getting power to it, etc.

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Thanks. I’ll check and report back

Does anyone know a source for "Houdini 8 Piece Easy Break Plastic Protector Set"? The 5 piece set doesn't have what I need and I'm not excited about shelling out $70 for the 16 piece set.

I believe it was through Little Shop of Games. I just purchased an NOS set from a Pinsider who thought it was sold out. Might be worth reaching out to to see if they have anything laying around or if they are going to make another run.

Found it… disconnected connector.

Interesting I haven't lifted my play field yet, but dismantled the head from body to move it old not as strong as I use to be, just thought the hard drive controlled all of it. Thanks

I had one of the ribbon cables get loose and fall off on the Houdini "chain" lamps pc board.

Thats about it.

Tha game has been SUPER robust.

Well the computer in the backbox does have all the programming, audio, visuals, etc. but it also interfaces via USB with the P3ROC board mounted to the left side of the cabinet, that interfaces via serial chain to the other P3ROC boards; SW-16s for switch inputs, PD-16s to drive coils and other lower-powered devices and PD-LED that drives LEDs. There are some other custom boards like the servo interface, aux-driver, Opto interface, etc. too. This is all documented pretty well in the service manual: http://s4.american-pinball.com/img/support/2021-10/API-Houdini-Service-Manual-10-6-21.pdf

Added a Q robot from thingaverse. Printed at 30%. Spray painted silver. No clearcoat as when I tried the silver color went matte finish.

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very cool, great find, just downloaded it, for those with 3d printers . . ..

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4595025

I printed it with a resin printer. Elegoo Mars 2.

I don’t have any fusion 360 skills or tinkercad. I would have put the pieces together and just printed the arms seperate.

The glue line for the torso could be eliminated with a one piece print.

Could also add a hole and peg system for the arms so they could be positioned how you’d like.

Very few games can bring me to the level of excitement and satisfaction that Houdini brings me over and over. The modes, shots, and visuals are a home run every time I play. Thank you so much AP for producing such a kick ass game.

Definitely second this!

I got it as a package together with OF (which was the game I was really after), but what a fantastic surprise this game's turned out to be for me. Awesome work AP!

+1

unfortunatley, i have only 1 place home, than i have to swap pins, but Houdini will remain high on my list (for now, only DI is rating above), its a very good pinball for sure, tribute AP !

Hey! I was cleaning out my pinball stuff closet, and realized I still have a new in box, never unwrapped Houdini shaker motor. I have no use for it since I sold my Houdini a while back - if anyone here needs one let me know.

The art blades that came on my my machine are pretty wasted and could do with replacing. I actually saw these on pingraffix and thought they could look amazing on Houdini (it would mesh well with the LCD and the stage). What are peoples thoughts - try these or just get standard ones?

https://www.pingraffix.com/product-page/theatre-of-magic-plain-pinball-inner-art-pinblades-bally-williams-pinball

edit: I also quite like the look of these tilt graphics ones:

https://www.tiltgraphicsinc.com/product-page/houdini-steam-punk-gameblades-1

The playfield will need to come out to do the art blades. Make sure you mark the 5v line and the 48v lines. The two connectors are interchangeable and you will fry things real fast if you don't pay attention. Ask me how I know....

Why take the playfield out? The wet method works fine, even with the PF still installed.

Yeah I've never taken the playfied out to install art blades I've done it 5 or 6 times and never even used the wet method.

I suck at installing art blades without removing the playfield. I have ruined a set or two over the years trying to install them. It is much easier for me to pull the playfield out. I will have to try the wet method on the next set.

As for the Houdini art blades, the originals are thin and easy to scratch or tear like paper stickers. The pingrafix or tiltgraphics are vinyl and hold up much better. I have the tilt version in my game (cut out and on mirror blades) but the pingrafix would look really good too.

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Because api's side blades suck. They are as thin as paper. And yes... I know some games can be installed without removing the playfield... But houdini is very busy and tight. I strongly recommend taking out the playfield.

Yeah, they are truly the worst-quality blades out there. The cheap, paper material they use is totally unsuitable for blades and is super-easily damaged by raising and lowering the playfield, even after install. I have no idea why they didn't use vinyl-type material like essentially everyone else.

That said, I had no problem installing them with the PF still in using the wet method. Taking the playfield out is a waste of time/effort to install blades, because the wet method is dead simple and effective.

Yeah actually I can see that lots of stuff would get in the way, and the playfield is pretty tight in there (others I've done have a bit of leeway you can use). The wet method should still work though. Also if these things are paper thin, are they gonna be a pain in the *ss to remove?

I didn't have much issue removing mine. I did use 93% alcohol to cut any residue. You do want to make sure to clean the surface. Prep is everything IMHO.

Might want to buy some art blade protectors.

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Yes... And these are a must on these games.

I think that this was due to the first run games having a cabinet that was manufactured too narrow. I don't know if later runs correct this but it meant that the blades had to be extra thin.

The unsuitable paper material was the problem. They could have used vinyl that was similar thickness and would have been much more durable. I had one of the first off the line. There was room for vinyl.

I’ve had my Houdini for quite a while. Very early in their initial run. Never had flipper issues until now. Getting weak, sort of collapsing and once in a while chattering and basically weak inconsistent play. Everything seemed fine until today when I had a reboot. I’ve reached out to API service, but so far they have only suggested that I purchase the coil power kit, which I have, and the power supply upgrade, which I also have. I also installed the EOS way back when.
Like I said, I had a reboot which reminded me about folks talking about issues with the capacitors in the original power supply. Josh suggested an upgraded set of capacitors, which have, but have not installed. Could this all be connected? Seems not, but….

Thoughts?

I thought it was just me. My art blades have some damage from raising and lowering the playfield. Honestly, it’s the only machine I’ve ever owned with art blades. I’m a bit of a purist. That being said, my game came with different art blades. I guess the old ones will pull off, clean up the residue with 93% alcohol and then apply the new blades?

That's what someone else said, I don't have any personal experience with removing the crappy paper AP ones, but post if you do it to verify!

Stern's blades are WAY more durable vinyl. The AP houdini blades are/were (are they still paper?) a joke.

It’s kinda surprising given the overall quality of the machine. I’m not a stern fan (sorry to those who are), and Houdini seems to be closest to the W/B machines.

Not really that surprising. The machine has great BoM overall, but lots of unforced errors with dumb mistakes that I chalk up to being their first machine. They came out of the gate hot. More went right than wrong, but the blades are definitely in the wrong column.

Houdini art blades were the only ones in paper. All the rest of their pins have come with much more durable vinyl.

I had to replace a damaged front cabinet decal on a Munsters once. I was surprised at how difficult it was to remove the glue without mucking up the paint - glue was very gummy. I needed to do some minor bondo work on some wood dings, so I need to paint that area regardless, but I didn't want a mess on my hands with the paint that was still fine.

Tried all the usual glue removers w/o success (maybe if I used more elbow grease they would have worked at the expense of the good paint). I stumbled on RapidTac's glue remover and I'm not sure what's in that stuff but it worked like magic and didn't damage the paint. Apply a tin coat, gently wipe of with a paper towel, done. Just a little 'black' on the paper towel, barely any.

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Unless you had the reboot happen because of the replay settings bug that was discussed a couple pages ago I'd suspect the power supply. Check to see if the caps are bulging at all on the original one, not the upgraded add-on one.

This makes sense and what I recall Josh suggesting. I have the beefed up caps and will give it a shot.

Finally finished my steampunk shooter rods. Made 8 of them, so send me a DM if you would like one. Ended up with 3 slightly different designs, not sure which one I prefer.

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