I guess it is possible they did not properly clear out all balls after doing final testing.

There is a captive ball inside the stage, but it is is screwed on, so while it is possible it somehow came loose, not likely and if it did, the stage would likely be behaving oddly. Plus one of the balls would have a hole in it . If you run through stage test, you should see the captive ball appear and disappear.

Can be easily done, there are speaker lugs for it on the amp.

Open the back box. Take the lcd down. You will now see the amp where you can hook the sub up directly. Google the amp model for directions on how to hook up the sub if you are not sure. This is what I did and it works great.

Do I need a powered or unpowered sub?

Powered, just turn it down before you turn it on the first time, and dial it up when you have the game going

Suspect either, depends on how much power you want. The amp does have a volume control for the subwoofer and a crossover adjustment

.

Shaker motors being installed for machines that will be at MGC. Should be available to order shortly thereafter. Takes four screws to mount to existing T-nuts, 2 screws to put the lid on and then the cable plugs into an existing board a foot or so away.

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Cost, shipped?

What he said lol

Will this game ever be available - or available this year - NIB without a wait?

Can you give details on your sub? Sounds like something I will put in.

Someone is (was?) selling theirs on the marketplace for what they had into it.

EDIT: Looks like WAS selling. Sold in one day:
https://pinside.com/pinball/market/classifieds/archive/62331

Polk 10" sub https://www.amazon.com/Polk-10-Inch-Powered-Subwoofer-Single/dp/B0002KVQBA

They are 100 right now, They go onsale for $80 often.

I like the fact that the Houdini Code version is actually the date so no guessing when it was released.
I enjoy reading the fixes, changes, additions made to the code as new versions are being released.

Will there a history of the release notes to made available for the earlier code releases so one can follow the progression?

Report on fb of one of these catching fire at level 257? Anyone hear about this?

Ruh-roh.

Can anyone confirm if the threads on the leg bolts are the same as regular type like Stern?
https://www.pinballlife.com/index.php?p=product&id=3391

While I see the Allen Head type they use fits with the theme, I would rather use regular types with nylon bushings.

Go with the ones they provide. Look much better on this cabinet then standard leg bolts.

What ?! Lol. Is there a link? Or is this one of those “heard from a friend of a friend” things?

You can't really link to facebook...

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Yes, besides looking better, these also use the same wrench as is used for the head -- one tool to do it all. I can understand the desire adding nylon bushing to it.

I was texted about it last night. My understanding is that it was Roger Sharpe 's fault, he tilted the game and Houdini has the ultimate death tilt. My guess is a toasted coil, but I'll know more once we send someone out to look at it.

I have found that traditional software release numbering did not make sense in pinball. first, people tend to tie version 1.0 as being 'complete code' or worse look at a .87 as 87% done, and neither of those is likely the case. I can buy an argument that when a game starts to ship it is 1.0, and then go from there (which I believe is what Scott did on TNA, not sure), and hard to see how machines could ever get such an upgrade as to justify then being a 2.0, unless the version 1 code was really sub-part when released, but since typically those are < 1.0 . . . _{Rosh now wonders if he just insulted people, since he does not keep track of releases from other companies}, but I decided early on, to the consternation of some, that I would be using release dates.

As far as version history, I did not include the history last time we published release notes, only what was in that release. Part of that is earlier release notes were not really written for public consumption, but including older release notes is something I will look at.

Actually the tool supplied does not work very well with the new bolts

The original batch of wrenches we had were not sized correctly when they were made, that has been corrected. They worked fine for the heads, but were slightly too big for the bolts. Games going out now have the corrected version.

Wondering how the shaker will be implemented into game play. The disappearing elephant is one ... Maybe somehow in seance mode...
?

Thanks Rosh. Last question, so are the bolts same diameter so I can use nylon bushings on the stock Houdini ones? That would be cool.

Pretty sure they are. I just grabbed some out of the parts bin (black ones) and they worked fine. Nylon bushings are pretty much mandatory since the coating is kind of fragile compared to normal powdercoating.

Shaker motor when available will be $99.95 + shipping, so the same price as every other shaker motor.

Who says we are actually going to implement into game play?, we are just selling them since some folks like having them. Yes, elephant is one place, but I think I'll let folks experience it at MGC before I talk more about how it is being used. I believe all of the games at MGC (in Kingpin and Pincades booths) will have the shaker motors. I believe they will all also have Magic Glass.

Yes, would have been pretty crappy of us to use a different size bolt. Given the narrow head, I guess it is possible if the inner diameter of the bushing is too big it won't sit right, but I think you will be okay.

. . .

Update on the smoke. We had someone go out to assess things and everything was operating correctly. Since we knew something happened, I took a trip out and we checked the resistance on the coils and did find one slightly out of spec. Once it was removed we could see that the wrapper had partially burned, so we replaced the coil. What is nice is that having all coils using a connector, it easy to test the coils out of circuit. After reviewing the logs, etc. it appears that Roger's violent play resulted in him tilting at just the right half second window where a missing flag in the code tied to a particular switch resulted in the diverter not being properly released when the tilt occurred. The code has being corrected and is being tested now, and will be in the next release.

Will this game(s) be at the Allentown show?

Yes, probably 4 at minimum.

I believe multiple American Pinball Distributors will be there with Houdini's. I suspect someone from American Pinball will also be there.

Picking Houdini #147 up now!

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Thanks for confirming, I'm going to order up some black ones from Pinball Life.

Ace hardware has them if you have one of those. Pretty much any good hardware store should have them. They're in the section of the store with all the drawers with miscellaneous screws, nuts, fittings, etc. That's where I get mine (black and white, both).

Congratulations, mine should be arriving tomorrow. How do you know that your game is #147 is there a serial number that shows it?

Yup, if you zoom in you can see it right on the box. It will also be several places on the machine.

You can see in my previous post that I drove to the freight yard and picked my Houdini up. What a blessing to have my dad here from NY to pick it up and unbox it with me. I asked him to play the first game ... here are some pics!

I played my first solo game and REALLY loved the gameplay. A beautifully made machine. Much heavier/solid than the competitors build. Art is stunning. Play field is like glass. Trunk shot is at 100%. Added a topper. I had mine shipped with art blades and they are just perfect.

First full game over 11 minutes and just plain fun!

Home run Josh, Joe and AP Team!

More detailed review and thoughts to follow

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Be VERY careful raising and lowering the PF with those art blades. They're much more paper-like than the Stern official ones and snag/tear VERY easily if something on either PF edge drags.

Thx for the heads up and will do.

Where do you order those nice toppers,please??

Joe at Laseriffic (sp?)

Best price is at Great American Pinball. Just got mine today.

https://www.greatamericanpinball.com/product-page/houdini-custom-pinball-topper-laseriffic

Thanks for the lead. Ordered the book. Interested to learn more about the man. Cool coffee-table version too. OK, it'll actually be sitting on the bar next to the machine but same concept.

I have a RED FLAG in SWITCH TEST on the WIRE RAMP EXIT. (see pic)
Where is this switch so I can see why it's stuck closed? I must be blind as I don't see a switch or opto
on either wire ramp exit.

Thanks.
CuJo

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That's where I ordered mine as well. Only issue was the 12volt plug/converter that supplies power. Worked intermittently and I had to crack open the plastic housing and re-solder the positive leg as it was just simply sliding back and forth in the thru hole of the circuit board. Solid now

Looks great too!

A few high rez pics of the Houdini playfield as I did not see a ton of these out there yet ...

Beautiful game!!

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Look at the fourth photo just posted by MT45

Happy to help even incidentally!

Really nice photos, thanks for sharing them

Thanks for the good high-res playfield pics. My wife and I really want to pick up one of these and the pictures aren't doing anything to help with my problem ha ha.

Might not be at the exit, might be on the way there. Like the optos I circled in MT45's picture.

LTG : )

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Stopped by JJ’s after work today and got to play Houdini without a million other pinballs going off (I’ve only played it at expo and TPF). It’s such an awesome game / scratch that it’s truly a work of art. I’m so impressed and soon as my room is complete I can pick mine up. Can’t wait!