Picture of amp in backbox.

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Thats a great little amp.
Perfect for our use and inexpensive to replace if there are problems.
Nice picture.

Hi
I just got my Houdini yesterday. It looks incredible.
I have a problem with the API Theatre. I knock it 3 times, the curtains open but when the ball enters, it stucks inside the hole between the fake ball and the subway. The game stall and nothing happens. I have to wait for the fake ball motor to release it without starting the mode.

I searched a solution to test the ball motor without success. Any idea?

Thanks
Lou

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Of course I have an idea... Go into test>Utilities>Stage calibration. Run the calibration and it should work like a champ.

Go into switch test and check the stage opto switch. If that is fine then
try recalibrating the stage. Go to service menu then utilities then stage calibration.

If that does not solve it, report back the calibration result number and a photo of the stage when the ball is in it. I may then have you pull logs so I can see what the game thinks is happening

Magic!
It’s working!!

Thanks guy. Keep up the good work!

Run the stage calibration in the utilities.

Just put my deposit down a few hours ago. Can't wait to become a member of the club! Apparently the shaker motor is now available so I included that along with the picture blades with my order.

I just took the translite out of my game for the first time, just for curiosity's sake. It is really hard to get under the lip to lift it, I don't have finger nails so maybe that would make it easier but I had to use a plastic putty knife in order to lift it enough to get my fingers under it.

Yes it is. Put your open hand on the glass near the bottom lip and push up.. That's how I do it.

It is a pain to get the translite out. Thanks for the tip Barry!

It is a tight backglass, but it gives me comfort its in there secure. This Backglass is nice work of Art.

Come see us at MGC

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Great lineup!! I really hope this means more games are getting out to the bigger distributors

I've looked around but haven't found much, what is the magic glass? I think this would be a great home game and I'm considering getting one later this year.

Invisiglass = Magic Glass. Glare reduction and better visibility.

No it's Magic! it simply disappears!! lol Lets hope they shipped as many to the distributors as they are selling at these shows for walk ins......

I definitely need some of those Houdini posters for my game room!

Maybe I could download something that would fit in a 8x10 or bigger, frame?

Anyone play with the shaker? Is it integrated well?

Any update on Magic glass shipping?

Are there any settings on pop bumper sensitivity? There were a lot of times tonight where the ball bumps into the bumper put no action.

Also had lots of air balls. Can the targets be adjusted to cut down on those?

Pop Bumpers:
Adjust the leaf switches under the pop bumpers closer together (but not touching).

Airballs:
Turn your flipper strength down. We have the one here set at 21 right and left and it's plenty strong enough for everything. Might go down to 20 before long.

Also adjustable in the settings menu, however I adjusted one of the leaf switches on mine as well!

The Pop bumper settings menu isn't for sensitivity, it's for strength - how hard it pulls down when triggered. If they were having trouble with the pop bumper triggering, that wouldn't help the core problem, and it would put more wear and tear on the machine faster.

We will have a Houdini at the Pinball at the zoo show next week in Michigan. If anyone has a interest for a game give me a shout. We also will have a Potc and dialed in on free play.

After the crappy news on the JJPPOTC, I'm so excited to get my Houdini Wednesday!

Software is really coming along, too. There's now a "player's choice" card option in the Magic shop hat now that lets you pick your mode at the stage and the skill shot has different rewards for the target you hit. Some new "gag" pulls from the hat, too.

That's great to hear! I bought the game because its beautiful and challenging bought a pinsiders game that he received off the truck last week then the next day my shipping company picked it up and shipping to me. Bought to have something now as I waited for JJPPOTC and after news today I'm glad i did and also not looking good that i will be staying in on my CE but time will tell...Excited for my Houdini

The people that call Houdini hard need to spend more time with it. It's definitely a challenge, but I wouldn't call it hard. And there are funny things here and there, like when you do really well collecting jackpots, the callouts get more frantic until you get a "Holy <bleep>!" in a manic voice. Really cracked us up the first time it happened, and generates a smile even now.

Awesome anything straight away to check out of box?

The unpack checklist Houdini ships with is pretty spot-on. Basically just check coil strength for the lower catapult (that shoots to the chest), the upper VUK (that feeds to the lower catapult- it should BARELY make it up the VUK so the ball is slow enough not to fall off near the end), and the upper catapult (again, so it's slow enough that it barely makes it into the upper wireform that feeds to the right flipper). Maybe turn the ball serve to the shooter lane coil down and the flipper coils set to 21 or 20. They were a smidge too strong on ours and caused too many airballs until we turned them down. There's also a ball trap on the right side that AP is making a diverter for. No idea if it's done and shipping with the new pins or still coming, but if you get an airball on the right, the ball can get stuck under and to the left of the Spirit pointer.

If you're putting it on a route and install a dollar bill acceptor, note that it will be a pain to close the coin door because the DBA hits the coin box unless you push the front edge down slightly (like 1/8" - it's that close to being right) as you close the door. This is because the cabinet for this and AfMr are slightly out of spec to the small side (hence the plastic lockdown bar "bumpers" on the inside sides of the lockdown bar of AfMr to keep the lockdown bar centered because it's too big for the slightly-too-small-for-standard-Bally/Williams parts cabinet). It's an annoyance, but I blame Churchill for that since they knew they had a problem with AfMr and didn't correct it before they made the Houdini cabs.

Thanks!

Just a cool observation...looking at my POTO and the Art blades on Houdini...it is safe to say that the Phantom was a "Magician" as well...

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I think on Houdini the stuff on the art blades is traditional theatre plays and shows, and Phantom of the Opera fits in that box.

Thats some Great tips and advice. Thank you for sharing this! I love cheat sheets.

Had some local pinheads over to play Houdini last night and everyone seemed to really enjoy it. I think we only had one score over 500K which put kguenther6 on the leader board with ~640K until I can knock him off. I had planned to reset all the high scores and set the defaults really low for the party just so we'd see how everyone did but I was surprised to learn that you cannot do that in this game, in fact you can't even just reset the high scores without defaulting all the settings in the game unless I'm just missing it somehow. I assume this will be added as the software is finished out? We did have one stuck ball on the planchette and the mech for the diverter under the trunk came apart. Thankfully it was fairly easy to access the mech from the top-side by removing the plastic, however I noticed that the connector for the coil does not appear to fit through the hole in the playfield the wires are run through. It's possible I could have forced it and I assume it went through there during assembly but since I could put everything back together (with a little Locktite for good measure) without pulling it through I just did it in-game. The trunk catapult was 100% successful all night and otherwise everything worked as expected, I continue to be very pleased with this game so far.

I use the edge of a wood spatula get it lifted up.

I played about 20-25 games today at an arcade today. I found 2 shots to be extremely difficult, the milk jug and the lock loop for the chest. I feel like the lock loop for you have to have not only some skill but some luck. I want to know if it is really that hard even after you have played the game a couple hundred times. I had no games where i got 3 balls into the lock mechanism and to get into milk jug was luck. I guess you have to be perfect off the end of the right flipper. Someone post and let me know. I was thinking of purchasing it. Anyone unhappy with the purchase because it is too challenging or like with any pinball machine it gets easier as you play it more?

Played it for the first time last Sunday. After about 5-6 games I started backhanding the lock shot. It’s not something I could do every time but I would say it was close to 75% of the time. It’s very doable, but you have to be precise. As for the milk can shot, I really didn’t purposely try and make that shot.

The game has some interesting shots which require you to re-think how you play. There is a way to hit the milk jug fairly regularly, and it is not the usual way; you have to bank it a bit. Backhanding the lock shot works much better than a straight shot attempt from the left flipper.

But if you do go ahead and wait on your purchase, at least one more game will finally flow to the east coast. Hopefully AP has their distribution allocations straightened out finally.

I've had my machine for 4-5 weeks now. I'm a average player at best. I can hit the lock shot at least 33% of my attempts. I sometimes forget to re-light the lock and then I can't miss. You'll find that the magic shop awards you locked balls and that can improve your chance to get to trunk multiball. I have a Stern KISS sitting next to it and there are 2 shots on that game that, for me, are much harder to hit with any consistency (left orbit through the pops and the Star shot).

The Milkcan shot is almost impossible! I've never hit it on purpose yet. NEVER, not once. I've hit it accidentally dozens of times.

Lock lane is not that bad once you spend enough time with it. It reminds me of the KISS right ramp. More psychological than actually hard.

Milk can shot is demonically hard IMO. I still can't make that on demand. I tend to just start Seance multiball when I need to hit the milkcan lane and then just keep lobbing balls that direction OR just keep hitting the magic targets hoping to complete it that way with a lucky color draw.

Still one of my favorite pins. I like the pace of the machine, but it will be better when more stuff is flipper cancellable.

I have had my Houdini for about a month now. I have played it almost exclusively since I got it. It does get easier. I have gotten 3 balls into the trunk a few times. Usually only 2 though. The shot under the milk jug is still hard. It goes in by luck mostly. The only problem I have now is still the séance VUK. It is set to 7 now. Sometimes it will take 4 tries to get the ball out. It will work on the first try about 90%. Twice the ball has fallen off the right rail and down to the out lane. May need to set the coil a bit stronger so the ball goes around faster or need to bend the rail up more.

The lock / inner loop shoot is hard, but it's far from impossible. If I really want to start Trunk Multiball I usually can but since it's not worth that many points on it's own I usually focus on modes first and try to combine the MBs if possible. Personally I think that the alley shot is harder to hit than the inner loop, at least when it comes to completing the full shot to the stage.

Where exactly do you bank it?

It does get easier!
I simply love the game. I'm an average + player. This game will force you to play "IT" and play it a very specific way.
This is not a game where you step up casually to "just play some pinball". If you get on it and flail away, it will be a short game and probably not real fun.
It is a game for pinball players that want to control the ball, shoot accurately and progress thru the game.
I can hit the milkcan shot, it's off the end of the right flipper and best taken from a cradled ball. Not too hard on the flip or it will pop out. I would say I am about 2 out of 10 attempts (maybe 3 on a good day) and they are purposeful.
I can hit the center loop from the right flipper - it's tight but I can aim it and hit it about 4 out of 10 times maybe even better.
I have only recently tried to backhand and did that once but will work it some more this week.
The left orbit is easy, the right a tad harder
The key lane is easy, the alley shot to the left of it a tad harder
The ramp shot is about the same challenge as the right orbit - speed of the ball coming down the inlane vs a cradled shot makes the difference
Seance scoop is challenging (off tip of left flipper) but only because the speed of the ball will dictate how close to the very end of the flipper tip you should take the shot. To get high consistency, again, cradle/hold, then take the shot
You will learn very quickly with this game to control, control, control each and every shot
I almost GUARENTEE that you will play better on all other machines after playing Houdini!
Did I say I love it?

Added over 6 years ago: I mentioned in the post that I can hit the inner/center loop from the RIGHT flipper but actually meant the left flipper. Backhand is obviously done from the right

Check your subway opto assembly (the one that has 3 senders and receivers on each side of the trough leading up to the scoop VUK under the PF) and make sure the screws for it haven't come loose from the PF (from vibration or whatever) letting it hang a little too low.

Sorry, not bank it - wrong word. You shoot the orbit and when it comes around you let it bounce off the right flipper without flipping (“dead bounce” I guess) from there you can kind of nudge it in a lot of the time

I've tried to hit the backhand shot to the inner loop a number of times but just see it working. I assume you cradle then when the ball just starts down after you release the flipper you barely clear the sling and hit it. That's kind of a rhetorical question because that is the only way to backhand it I assume. I'll keep at it. I assume all the games are the same and a lot of you are able to do it...a little frustrated with the attempts right now.......................back downstairs!!!!

I’ve only played it on location and can hit it pretty regularly - maybe there’s some variation in the games(?)