(Topic ID: 183206)

American Pinball Houdini thread

By lllvjr

7 years ago


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There are 14,809 posts in this topic. You are on page 36 of 297.
#1751 6 years ago

slides from expo with info on rules is attached below. Thought these had been posted, but I guess not.

houdini rules.pdfhoudini rules.pdf

#1752 6 years ago

Thank-you Rosh!! Looking forward to owning this title!!!!

#1753 6 years ago
Quoted from konjurer:

I've been a little critical of the animations in this thread. Great American Pinball just posted probably the best video of the LCD animations and they look pretty fantastic. GAP's camera picks up a lot more detail and the colors are more clear and vivid than Josh's video. Looks great. More excited than ever to get Houdini.
» YouTube video

Great video. Love the pops - looks like it shoots pretty well but just not a fan of the clip art feel to it or the music/sound package especially the voices. Would love to play it in person.

#1754 6 years ago
Quoted from delt31:

Great video. Love the pops - looks like it shoots pretty well but just not a fan of the clip art feel to it or the music/sound package especially the voices. Would love to play it in person.

You’ll own one by Q2 2018, mark my words

#1755 6 years ago
Quoted from Rdoyle1978:

You’ll own one by Q2 2018, mark my words

haha ok. I'm always looking for fresh new pins! My gut is no unless I can get a very good price used.

#1756 6 years ago
Quoted from rosh:

slides from expo with info on rules is attached below. Thought these had been posted, but I guess not.

Thanks Rosh! This will help immensely. Need to study up and then stop out and get some more plays in!

I'll have to give the reverse/inverse another chance or two. I feel like I'm good at reverse based on TSPP and WOZ but haven't quite got the inverse part down. At least you give a ball save for when it switches back. It is a fun mode to try!

#1757 6 years ago

So I played 10 games on this machine at Level 257 and have a few concerns/comments. Multiple times the shot that goes into the magic box didn't work, and the ball would get stuck and then going into search mode on almost every game I've played. It also has gone down out of service at least 5 times in the few weeks I've played it. Is this just issues because its a prototype demo unit? It's a fun layout and I love the theme but am worried about the amount of time its been down.

#1758 6 years ago

Any pics from the inside of the backbox and under playfield.
I want to know what hardware is used and how it looks.
Pictures please.

#1759 6 years ago

I have a Houdini and the shot that goes into the magic trunk may need to be adjusted. The lower catapult coils strength will need to be adjusted. Its a simple adjustment which the operator should make. If it is going into the trunk and then going through ball search then its a switch adjustment. I have 71 plays on my game and had to make a few adjustment, but it is playing like a champ. Feels like a 90's Bally / Williams game! Very fun to play satisfying shot. not to difficult, great modes, movie modes and multiballs.

#1760 6 years ago
Quoted from Orko:

So I played 10 games on this machine at Level 257 and have a few concerns/comments. Multiple times the shot that goes into the magic box didn't work, and the ball would get stuck and then going into search mode on almost every game I've played. It also has gone down out of service at least 5 times in the few weeks I've played it. Is this just issues because its a prototype demo unit? It's a fun layout and I love the theme but am worried about the amount of time its been down.

I can speak for the out of service. I was there 1 week ago and it was out of service. Said heck no! Found the manager and he said they are having trouble with their card reader on the game. He claims they are getting a new one but no time frame. He somehow bypassed the card reader for us and added a dozen credits for us to play. The entire time we played it said out of service on the coin door. 257 issue not machine.

As for the shot to the box. We did notice it was just clipping the front edge but Did make it in every time. My take was it was Very noticeable they dialed down the flipper power or the row of 30 games was light on power? From the dozens of other times I have seen this game live I have personally never seen it miss that shot?

#1761 6 years ago

Any updates on shipping out more games?

#1762 6 years ago

It will be interesting to see how quickly the number of Houdini games shipped and on location outpaces Alien. I love that both of these games are happening right now, I played the prototypes of both at our Northwest Show this Summer and liked them a lot, but it seems like American really has their act together and will be producing in bigger numbers sooner.

#1763 6 years ago
Quoted from nwpinball:

It will be interesting to see how quickly the number of Houdini games shipped and on location outpaces Alien. I love that both of these games are happening right now, I played the prototypes of both at our Northwest Show this Summer and liked them a lot, but it seems like American really has their act together and will be producing in bigger numbers sooner.

At the absolute minimum, let's hope they ship games with a smaller number of issues than Heighway is

#1764 6 years ago
Quoted from GAP:

I have a Houdini and the shot that goes into the magic trunk may need to be adjusted. The lower catapult coils strength will need to be adjusted. Its a simple adjustment which the operator should make. If it is going into the trunk and then going through ball search then its a switch adjustment. I have 71 plays on my game and had to make a few adjustment, but it is playing like a champ. Feels like a 90's Bally / Williams game! Very fun to play satisfying shot. not to difficult, great modes, movie modes and multiballs.

Thanks for that information. I have one on order and wanted to make sure it’s somethinf that’s adjustable., etc. also thanks for the info about the swipe card being down. It was up last night when I played for about an hour. I also hate to say this, but Batman 66 is growing on me since it’s siting next to Houdini at Level 257.

#1765 6 years ago
Quoted from Orko:

Multiple times the shot that goes into the magic box didn't work, and the ball would get stuck and then going into search mode on almost every game I've played.

Quoted from Yelobird:

they are having trouble with their card reader on the game.

Game at 257 has had a pretty high accuracy rate, but, that will certainly vary with the variation of the power at varying times of activity there, and we are looking at some changes to mitigate that. There was also a code update that made a change and I don't think the catapult was adjusted after it, which was needed.

The left lock switches have been problematic and resulting in some of the ball searches and other issues. I was not seeing these issues at all on my dev machine. It turns out that we were shipped the wrong roll under switches, not sure if the order was wrong or supplier messed up. The ones we were sent are too 'stiff' (not sure of the correct term) and that can cause the balls to hang up and not roll under correctly after a bounce back and therefore they don't register correctly. The correct switches came in on Friday, and Joe was out at 257 today to install those and we will be getting these out to the owners of games that have already shipped.

Another issue at 257 was a trapped ball, and the key to the coin door that was kept there was misplaced, so that resulted in the machine being down for a day or so. It now has their standard lock on there so that should resolve them not having access in the future.

They had given us a card reader for testing and we installed that, and they just went with that one when we dropped off the machine, since it was already installed. Guessing it was one that was not quite right.

I did notice Saturday night when I swung by to pull logs that DI, WoZ, TAF, TZ, GOT and a couple of others were all turned off. So, guessing it depends on which techs are on duty if they look at issues on games or just power them down.

That machine there did get a code update on Friday. New code now has 'lost ball handling' so any future trapped balls should not create the same issue. There was also a new bracket added to remove a trapped ball location that was found. That code added the new progress map (although I did some improvements to that last night that will be in next update), some new sounds and some other bug fixes and improvements.

These first few locations have been doing a great job of giving us feedback and getting me logs to I can see what is happening on the machines. I really appreciate their support in working through these things and providing feedback. Some issues being found, but nothing too serious and pretty much where I expected we would be.

As far as the machine at Level257, just under 900 games played on that machine so far, Avg game time 3:48, avg score 79,732.

Quoted from transprtr4u:

Any updates on shipping out more games?

We held back shipping last week due to this switch issue as well as an issue with the GI bulbs. We are making a minor wiring change to the GI and switching bulbs, so they will be retrofitting the a dozen plus games that were in test, as well as those on the line. I would expect shipping to resume this week. I think the production team has set a goal for this week of around two dozen assuming they get the new bulbs tomorrow as expected. Bottleneck could be Joe and Jim doing their reviews of each machine.

#1766 6 years ago

Seems like I might be getting the chance to play the one at Level 257 in about 2 and a half weeks. Hope all is ship shape then.

Are any other arcades or barcades in Chicago due to get machines before the end of the month?

#1767 6 years ago

I would like to know if any machines will be going on location in Michigan that you know of as well. Really want to see this game in person.

#1768 6 years ago

rosh You may have already answered this, so if I'm asking a questions a second time I apologize, but once everything gets up and running do you have any guess on what your capacity is per week? I know it's not full steam ahead quite yet but trying to get a gauge on when mine could be ready.

#1769 6 years ago

Oh, American Pinball has it's own category on Pinside now! Gz!

#1770 6 years ago
Quoted from rubberducks:

Are any other arcades or barcades in Chicago due to get machines before the end of the month?

Since there are currently two on "location" in the Chicago area, not sure we would see another later this month, but, that is just me thinking out loud.

Quoted from swillie:

I would like to know if any machines will be going on location in Michigan that you know of as well. Really want to see this game in person.

I don't really know much on where the machines are going. As I said, unless something comes up, I expect two dozen to go out over the next week or so, I do not know how many of those are going to showrooms vs locations vs homes. Most of our distributors want to put them someplace where they can be played by the public so that they get exposure. I'm sure at least some of our distributors will post here when they know a machine is going on location, as we have seen with the first few that have gone out. If I learn of any, I will share. At this point I have been asking locations to send me game logs and audits once a week or so, so I can see if issues are popping up, if I should look at different default settings, what ball and games times are looking like, etc.

Quoted from Ericc123:

any guess on what your capacity is per week?

From what I have been told, the line should eventually be able to get up to 50 per week. They will probably have a better sense of that after the first 50 or more get out the door and they can see what the true time is at each station and whether the line needs to be adjusted. Due to the delays waiting on parts, we are way ahead on creating some sub-assemblies, so until we are in a normal flow, and in a just in time environment, a little hard for them to get the flow, staffing and timing nailed down.

Quoted from DS_Nadine:

Oh, American Pinball has it's own category on Pinside now! Gz!

Now that we are shipping I made the request to have one created. Will make it easier for me to keep an eye out for threads that pop up regarding Houdini

#1771 6 years ago

Any chance of posting when the shipping begins again ....

#1772 6 years ago
Quoted from swillie:

I would like to know if any machines will be going on location in Michigan that you know of as well. Really want to see this game in person.

When I talked to Abel Electronics (Saint Clair Shores Michigan) , they said they were going to have one in the store.

#1773 6 years ago

Will there be a Houdini at the EAG Expo next week in London? Would be nice.

#1774 6 years ago
Quoted from Scottn63:

When I talked to Abel Electronics (Saint Clair Shores Michigan) , they said they were going to have one in the store.

Thanks, that is great news! So they are a distributer? I will give them a call today.

#1775 6 years ago

Here is the video walkthrough of the API Cockpit, for those of you who are bored and desperate for something to watch . . .

#1776 6 years ago
Quoted from unigroove:

Will there be a Houdini at the EAG Expo next week in London? Would be nice.

It would have been nice, and we had hoped to, but we were not able to make it happen. We will find a way soon to get Houdini across the pond.

#1777 6 years ago

Before Christmas I had the chance to buy a Last Acton Hero (which was the second pinball I bought back in 1999). I watched "Last Action Hero" tonight to see how the game parallels the movie. It was interesting to see the Houdini references in this movie. Now I will continue to anxiously await my game....

#1778 6 years ago

Spoke to my distro .... Any chance more units going to new loving homes soon?

#1779 6 years ago
Quoted from transprtr4u:

Spoke to my distro .... Any chance more units going to new loving homes soon?

yeah, that'd be nice if we could have a few up here in canada.

#1780 6 years ago

It's got so silent...

...Calm before the storm?

#1781 6 years ago

Suppose to get mine Friday or next week.

#1782 6 years ago
Quoted from VividPsychosis:

Suppose to get mine Friday or next week.

Which distro did you go through?

19
#1783 6 years ago
Quoted from DS_Nadine:

It's got so silent...

I'm busy working on code . Plus, I posted something three days ago.

There are about 20 machines that have finished standard playfield testing, and are in the completed cabinets, and are going through a second set of inspection by Joe, Jim and to a lesser extend me (I did reject a machine yesterday). Joe is also spending time on each game to tune it. They are also going through burn-in. A few issues have been found that are being addressed (e.g. inconsistency in dressing/routing of wiring) and re-training happening as needed. As I've said, we don't plan to ship games until they are ready, but I expect all of these to be out of here this week. There are another 10 or so currently on the line. I do not know where these are heading, and I suspect our marketing/sales guy is being overly optimistic with shipping dates, so, take any dates from distributors with a grain of salt, it is not there fault if there are delays. We want machines to be right. Not saying that every machine will arrive perfectly, but that is the goal.

Quick photo from a couple of days ago.

IMG_2944 (resized).JPGIMG_2944 (resized).JPG

#1784 6 years ago
Quoted from rosh:

I'm busy working on code . Plus, I posted something three days ago.
There are about 20 machines that have finished standard playfield testing, and are in the completed cabinets, and are going through a second set of inspection by Joe, Jim and to a lesser extend me (I did reject a machine yesterday). Joe is also spending time on each game to tune it. They are also going through burn-in. A few issues have been found that are being addressed (e.g. inconsistency in dressing/routing of wiring) and re-training happening as needed. As I've said, we don't plan to ship games until they are ready, but I expect all of these to be out of here this week. There are another 10 or so currently on the line. I do not know where these are heading, and I suspect our marketing/sales guy is being overly optimistic with shipping dates, so, take any dates from distributors with a grain of salt, it is not there fault if there are delays. We want machines to be right. Not saying that every machine will arrive perfectly, but that is the goal.
Quick photo from a couple of days ago.

Yet another example of why I am happy to wait for these machines. (no I'm not!!!! )

It sort of sounds like you guys are doing the burn-in time in the factory instead of what's become common, where the first buyers become the final testers.

#1785 6 years ago
Quoted from Rdoyle1978:

Yet another example of why I am happy to wait for these machines. (no I'm not!!!! )
It sort of sounds like you guys are doing the burn-in time in the factory instead of what's become common, where the first buyers become the final testers.

I like that and the code in the test games seamed good (but missing a few modes) as well overall way better then stern games.

#1786 6 years ago
Quoted from rosh:

There are about 20 machines that have finished standard playfield testing, and are in the completed cabinets, and are going through a second set of inspection by Joe, Jim and to a lesser extend me

Are any machines shipping with Magic Glass?

#1787 6 years ago
Quoted from spfxted:

Are any machines shipping with Magic Glass?

I thought I read that they were doing those as add-ons, and not until the first couple of shipments go out. Did I get that wrong?

#1788 6 years ago

No magic glass or sideblades yet.
I think there a couple weeks out still.

#1789 6 years ago

Crickets.... What happened where did everyone go ?

#1790 6 years ago

Buddy Holly The Crickets (resized).jpgBuddy Holly The Crickets (resized).jpg

#1791 6 years ago

usa_BuddyHollyCricketsAlbum (resized).jpgusa_BuddyHollyCricketsAlbum (resized).jpg

#1792 6 years ago

I think Rosh has spoiled us with all of his updates. Look at 90% of pinball manufacturers, you wouldn't have heard a thing. I'm sure that he is just busy working hard to get us our games. Remember that the three that shipped were sort of a PR move to say that they shipped by the end of the year. Still absolutely amazing that they are this far along in such a short amount of time.

#1793 6 years ago

This is simply the calm before the storm...once American Pinball starts shipping these out, there will be a plethora of postings from joyful owners posting pictures and declaring their undying love for Houdini.

#1794 6 years ago

Rosh is still active on PS, I think it’s just he’s busy! Did you see the update where he is personally inspecting machines, and Joe is personally tweaking them! I want one of those MFers.

#1795 6 years ago

Houdini is in the House! Watch us unbox it and stay tuned for an upcoming review and interview with the American Pinball team!

#1796 6 years ago
Quoted from ZMeny:

Houdini is in the House! Watch us unbox it and stay tuned for an upcoming review and interview with the American Pinball team!
» YouTube video

Damn! I’m ready to PIF; where’s my Houdini!

#1797 6 years ago
Quoted from ZMeny:

Houdini is in the House! Watch us unbox it and stay tuned for an upcoming review and interview with the American Pinball team!
» YouTube video

man, this thing looks awesome! can't wait.

#1798 6 years ago
Quoted from ZMeny:

Houdini is in the House! Watch us unbox it and stay tuned for an upcoming review and interview with the American Pinball team!

Skip the awards show - I want to see your review.

#1799 6 years ago
Quoted from Burley9043:

Skip the awards show - I want to see your review.

Houdini all weekend for me

#1800 6 years ago

Nice Houdini Zach - I hope to own one as well someday! In the meantime, I'll just have to get by with playing my fabulous Shadow (wink wink).

Thanks for the unboxing video and I look forward to SDTM's Houdini review!

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