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.

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 got my shaker motor installed this weekend and I really like the way it is incorporated into the game. The pop bumpers were already dramatic looking but this now puts them over the top. When installing the Shaker Motor, I found it a bit tough to mount the two screws that are located right against the left side of the cabinet until I remembered an old trick, put a tiny drop of super glue on the socket and lightly glue the fastener to it. This will keep the screw attached to the socket while you get it threaded. Afterwards, you just break it free (hence the TINY drop of super glue). Worked great for getting the two inside screws installed.

A suggestion for American Pinball would be to add a more detailed view in the installation instructions of the exact connection on the board where the Shaker Motor wiring harness plugs into. The view in the instructions was a photo taken from several feet away and wasn’t too clear. I was able to figure it out but it could have been a bit more detailed.

One additional idea for integrating the Shaker Motor into the game would be to tie it to the spinner shots (similar to how it is done with AC/DC). Maybe just during the waterwheel film mode if shaking for every spinner shot is too much.

These are just minor, nit-picky details and I really appreciate how hard the folks at American Pinball are working to sort out any small manufacturing and code adjustments. Keep up the great work.

I just got mine last week and I'm serial number 1245 (game #245).

Barry,
My instructions that came with the motor were in black and white but the color pictures in your post are definitely easier to make out the details. I was thinking a straight shot directly looking at the board or a line drawing (similar to what Rdoyle1978 was talking about) would have been handy to have. Between my old eyes, bad lighting and getting access to the inside of the cabinet, I was fighting an uphill battle

Well it finally happened... I broke a million in points. I was so excited that I had to drag my wife over to witness the spectacular event. Unfortunately a few games later my right flipper return spring also broke... After a bit of investigating, it appears that the flipper had too much up and down motion and was causing the plunger in the coil to bind a bit and the spring became over-stressed. Has anybody else had any issues like this?

The loop on one end the spring broke off. I dug around in my spare parts and found one that was close enough to get by for a bit but I want to change it out for the proper one. Thanks for the emergency work-around LTG in case I need to use it in the future. When I reset the flipper bat I used an official flipper spacer gauge (from Marco) to re-gap it. So far everything is working fine.

I'm really enjoying the game and have been playing the heck out of it for the past 2 weeks. Digging deeper and deeper into the rules and seeing new modes and animations that I haven't come across before has been a blast.

My favorite call-out (so far) is during the jail break where he threatens to beat you with his shillelagh. My wife and I have now adopted this phrase especially when the game is extra brutal.

Updated the code and now for two player and beyond, the game resets at the end of ball three. This has never happened before with the previous code. Has anyone else had this happen?

Yes. Single player works fine but 2 or more player games reset as it's going to the screen that shows the scores and times played.

I'll give the new code update a try a bit later today. Thanks for the quick response!

I updated the code with this new one and it is working as it should. I tried 1,2,3 & 4 player games and the rebooting after the last ball didn't occur at all. I played each game normally (eg I didn't just drain the ball as quickly as possible) to simulate actual gameplay as closely as possible. I also did not make any setting changes or mods before installing this new code.

Hats off to Josh for taking care of this so quickly on a Sunday morning. This rapid, personal Pinside attention that API demonstrates was one of the deciding factors that made me feel confident about buying a game from a new company.

I think part of the problem is that the plastic spoon is too flexible.

My understanding is that it is the same part that was used for Williams catapults but these were for shorter or less demanding shots. Perhaps the spoon could be redesigned to have a thicker or reinforced arm and thus be more rigid (side-to-side) to assist with left or right misses. Additionally, rather than relying on the loose plastic pivot, a tighter toleranced bronze bushing could be installed that would fit the pivot shaft more closely and thus also assist the left-right misses.

There are many 3D printer materials that are now readily available (metalic as well as plastics) that the spoon could be made from and this manufacturing process wouldn't require new, expensive injection molds.

Perhaps this would be a good area for a creative third party modder to investigate.

I've been considering this modification as well. My catapult has been missing to the left and I believe part of the problem is the ball hitting the edge of the ramp when launched. There was also a post a while back about the catapult scoop hitting the edge of the playfield cutout (on the upper left edge of the scoop). The poster trimmed of a little bit of the scoop to allow more clearance between it and the cutout. I don't recall if this totally fixed his problem but this may also be a contributing factor.

Check out post #5727. At first my catapult shot was making the trunk shot 95% of the time. Then, seemingly for no reason, it started becoming more inconsistent and shooting to the left. I tried moving the catapult assembly around, cleaning etc but it didn't help for more than a game or two. I downloaded a "slow motion" app for my phone and noticed that the ball seemed to be deflecting off the side of the ramp. I drilled new holes in the ramp (per post #5727) and the ramp easily moved 1/8" - 3/16" to the right. As a matter of fact, when the ramp was in its original location it was under load and when unscrewed it sprung over to its new location.

It took 10-15 minutes to correct after I diagnosed the problem and since moving the ramp (aprox 150 games ago) I don't think it has missed more than once or twice.

Barry,
Just curious but what will the total production number be for Houdini?

I checked my Houdini stats yesterday and since mid-May I've got 1480 games on my home-use Houdini. I got to wondering if this was more, less or about average with everyone else.

Looking ahead, when will API (or someone else) start offering a rubber kit for Houdini. I probably have enough extras laying around but I like the convenience of having everything in one package.

I just typed the handwritten code that was included with the power supply into the "code" area of the API website (when checking out) and it deducted the price of the knocker. I still had to kick in a few bucks for shipping to complete the transaction.

My cat always liked to lay on the glass. Bally's were his favorite since there wasn't too much slope but I think Houdini would be a bit too steep for proper cat sleeping. Unfortunately, he's not around anymore for me to ask.

Ike_on_pinball (resized).jpg

I get excited when I make 3 stage acts so I guess It'll be a long time before I hear any chanting. That's one of the reasons I like Houdini for the home - I won't run out of new stuff to complete for ages and ages.

I didn't know there was an adjustment on the new power supply. This is good to know in case I start having issues like you describe (so far my trunk shot has been 100% reliable since the upgrade).

That would be nice. I've found that some of the coil strength adjustments could use a bit more incremental fine-tuning (especially on the trunk catapult, up-kickers etc.)

Thanks for the info Josh. This was definitely something that I hadn't considered. Yet again another example of why I purchased Houdini, the excellent and fast customer service.

I'm not 100% sure but I think that ball is permanently mounted there. If my memory serves, it was supposed to be part of an illusion where the ball would appear at the stage and then disappear. The illusion was changed but the ball is still part of the stage assembly.

The power supply upgrade wasn't too hard to do except that the API supplied connector (wall nut) was crap.

I stripped the wire insulation back just as instructed but the stranded wire kept bunching up and not going properly into the connector (the wire gauge is too small - the wall nut would have worked great for heavier gauge wire). When I did get the wires into the wall nut, they didn't grip well and would easily come out with just a little bit of pulling. Not great for the main power supply for the game. I wound up soldering the leads together and then shrink-wrapping the bundle.

BTW, if you are going to install the knocker do it at the same time as the power supply upgrade as this is where the knocker gets its power. I didn't realize this until after I got the power supply wiring all buttoned up. I then had to remove the shrink-wrap and solder the knocker lead to the bundle. If the wall nut had worked out this would have been easy but such is pinball...

For what it's worth, the knocker has proven to be a great addition so it was ultimately worth the effort.

Here's a bad pic but I moved the new power supply a little forward and rotated it slightly. This allowed me to get three brackets screwed to the bottom of the cabinet (circled in red in the pic). Not the prettiest install but it's solid.

To get access to the back of the cabinet I stacked boxes in front of the coin door and pulled the playfield as far as it would go to rest the yellow stands on the boxes. This gave me just enough room to work.

IMG_20190204_182706 (resized).jpg

Yet again another reason I’m so happy with API and Houdini.

Last night I was playing Houdini and one of the pop bumpers fell over. Turned off the game and popped the hood to investigate. Turned out that the 2 screws that attach the pop bumper top to the mechanism had broken. Not a big deal, stuff happens.

Contacted Barry at API this morning and within minutes he responded back and the parts are on their way to me. Outstanding service yet again from API and Barry! This is one of the reasons my wife and I are really looking forward to checking out Oktoberfest at TPF and perhaps picking up one.

Houdini broken pop bumper rods (resized).jpg

Haven't changed the pop coil strength from factory (can't recall the setting off hand). Everything was working fine until the top of the pop went plop (good rhyming skills here). Probably have about 2000 games on it at this point. No complaints here. It'll be an easy fix once the new parts show up. BTW, these were the chains I was considering replacing the plastic ones with. Do you see any problem with them?

chains (resized).jpg

Yet another example of API's commitment to their games and the community. Way to go Josh!

Good advice to check the other pop bumper plunger rings. After fixing my broken one, I checked the other two and 3 of the 4 screws were loose. I pulled each one apart, polished the underside of the ring and put a small dab of blue Loctite (#242) where the hex shaft meets the pop bumper "nail". Be careful not to over tighten them as the threaded end is a little delicate. Thanks again to Barry and API for getting my replacement parts sent out so quickly.

Houdini_Pop_Bumper_Ring (resized).jpg

You don't need to own a 3D printer. You can use a company like shapeways (https://www.shapeways.com/) to print it for you. The cost is pretty reasonable for a one-off item when you provide the 3D model.

I agree, the wall nuts were crap. I wound up soldering the wires together and shrink wrapping them. Didn't want any issues with the main power to the game.

I installed these a while back and they worked great. One of the easiest mod's you'll ever install. Find a cylindrical item that's about the same diameter as the hole to set them firmly up against the insert (I used a 1/4" drive socket that was pretty close in diameter).

That's what I did. The wall nuts were crap.

BTW, if you are going to add the knocker, do it before soldering the wires together as this is where it gets it's power from.

I can't recall offhand and I don't have any pics handy but essentially I eliminated the wall nuts and soldered any of the wires together that would have been connected at the wall nuts. I shrink wrapped each group of wires after soldering them.

:-)I didn't realize I was so fluent in French! (I didn't know that Pinside would translate posts)

I've never had this problem even after leaving the game on for hours. Usually it's just me and the wife so the game doesn't get constant play the whole time though.

This has been addressed in previous posts. I found the wall nuts to be worthless so see my post #9289 for my solution. Others have done it differently.

That's what mine looks like after almost 2000 plays. I really didn't think it would last as long as it has given its location on the playfield.

Finally after almost 2000 games, I'm getting off my ass to tear her down, clean her up shop her out. Amazing how much dirt and grime can collect in the cracks and crevices. I find the whole process kind of relaxing - my pinball therapy. So far Houdini has been a lot easier to tear down than some I've done.

My recommendation is not to use the provided wall nuts to attach the power supply wires. The wires wouldn't stay attached so I wound up soldering everything together. If you're going to do the knocker, do it at this time since one of the knocker wires runs to the power supply.

I wipe them down with naptha when they start looking dirty. If they start looking a bit beat up, I'll pull them and rotate to get to a new(er) area.

Looking forward to the new code coming out. Keep up the great work Josh.

Originally I had a lot of trouble with the catapult missing (it was shooting to the left of the trunk). I fixed the problem by drilling a new bottom hole in the ramp and shifting it to the right (only took a few minutes without having to remove the ramp). Since then it rarely misses the shot except during multiball frenzies when many coils are simultaneously firing. Your problem may be a combination of the ball barely hitting the ramp and then deflecting off the bottom of the glass. It's either that or the arc of the throw is such that it hits the glass.

To check this, you could cut a piece of wood or plastic that is the width of the glass and 4"-6" long and slide it up and down the channel while catapulting the ball to find out where in the arc the ball is hitting the glass. To eliminate the ramp from the equation, loosen it up and slide it out of the way during the tests. This would help sort out the glass-on, glass-off different success rate.

Have you turned on the knocker in the game settings?

Make sure that the cable that goes from the USB receptacle next to the coin door is fully seated into the computer in the backbox. When I first got my Houdini, it had worked itself loose from the computer during shipping and wouldn't see the remote USB receptacle (by the coin door). Just needed a reseating to work. I've heard that others have had a formatting issue with the type of USB drive but I personally haven't had an issue with this.

Congratulations on your new game and the hours of fun ahead!

I had a flipper spring break too. Got a replacement from my distributor ASAP (plus a few spares). It's nice to get a softball fix now and again.

I soldered my wires together and skipped the crappy Wal nuts. I've only noticed a few cases where the flippers act up and then only under stacked, crazy multiballs with a lot of stuff going on.

This is purchased from API.
https://store.american-pinball.com/products/houdini-power-supply-upgrade

Mine is in great shape for a game with 2500+ plays on it. I just recently stripped it to the bare playfield for a thorough cleaning, waxing and shopping and was really impressed with the quality. You can see in the picture that there's some dimpling but honestly, I never notice it when the glass is on. I've seen some recent Stern games that look like the surface of the moon.

Houdini after waxing (resized).jpg

I'm figuring that API (as well as many others) are hurting from this Corona virus slowdown. To help them get a bit of cash flow during this time, I'm going to be ordering some replacement Houdini parts that I may need down the road. Things like the pop bumper standoff's (one of which already broke on mine), rubber kit, decals, shirts, things like that.

One item I would buy is the plastic ramp for Houdini. I don't see the wire ones wearing out anytime soon but it'd be nice to have the plastic ramp in reserve. It's not shown on their website but maybe Josh can chime in on the availability of this.

Stay safe everyone and we'll get through this together.

Haven't played Dialed In enough to be able to compare the two but as a Houdini owner for quite a while now I think this game is ideal for a home environment. I personally don't think it would be as good on location as it takes a while to figure out the rules and shots but once you do, it's a blast. Additionally, it is really good looking and solidly built. For a few minor issues that I've had, API's tech support was second to none (you can see their support and visibility all over this thread). For the right price, I don't think you can beat it.

I'm installing the beta code tonight. Curious to see what the changes are.

The new code has a great lightshow. It's hypnotic...

I just saw it today. Learn something new everyday with this game. Another reason to enjoy playing it.

I've been running the beta code for a few weeks now. No issues to report so far but the ball seems to eject from the scoop with less delay (which is good). Also, the light show is fantastic!

That's a nice installation. Very clean looking.

Unless API has changed the kit since I got it, it's really just some instructions and a 3/16" black rubber. Sorry for the bad pics but that's the best I can do for now but hopefully it'll be legible. Essentially you remove the 7/16 ring that is around the 2 posts by the guide, bend the guide to touch the first post and put the 3/16 ring on the remaining post. If you don't have a 3/16" rubber ring, shoot me a PM and I'll send you one for free.

Houdini_skill_shot_1 (resized).jpg

Houdini_skill_shot_2 (resized).jpg

I'd pick up an extra set while you are at it as I can see these breaking again down the road. Even with a bit of blue Loctite, I've noticed that mine will loosen a bit and require re-tightening.

Check out post 10335 for the fix. Not much involved with the fix except for one new rubber and a bit of bending.

Had a great game going last night (at least for me) and racked up more than 2 mil points. I'm running the beta code and have noticed more issues with the game keeping track of the balls. Twice, I got an extra ball but when I drained, the game sat for about 15 seconds and then kicked a locked ball into play instead of into the shooter lane. This ball tracking issue seems to be prevalent with the beta code than previous versions. I'm really liking the light show but am considering switching back to the previous code

You might want to check that the connectors are firmly seated into the CPU in the head. On my game, the weight of the wiring harness kept pulling the connector out of the computer. I fixed this by installing a nylon wire harness clamp to hold the wiring in place. Only took a couple of minutes to do.

I've been a bit absent from pinside lately and just caught up on the latest Houdini talk.

Just ordered the capacitor kit and a few other goodies from API. Interested in getting the kit installed and seeing how it changes things. Overall, I haven't had too much problem with power/ coil strength fluctuations but occasionally it rears its ugly head.

The beta code is an improvement but it still seems to struggle with keeping track of the balls. Frustrating, but not to the point that I want to get rid of this fun game.

This is the one that I have. Really nice looking and lights up too. My wife gets a kick out of his little feet sticking out of the top. The installation was pretty straightforward as best I can recall.

Thanks for the heads up on this. I received my coil improvement kit yesterday and just checked the standoffs. They were backwards but easy enough to swap around. I probably wouldn't have noticed otherwise so, yet again, pinsiders have kept me on the right path. Thanks to everyone for their diligence .

I agree. For certain settings (catapult, right scoop) more setting steps would be really helpful. My catapult makes it 95% of the time but on its current setting it just clips the top edge of the trunk but one higher bounces it off the lid and onto the playfield. Curious to see how the coil upgrade kit effects this.

I was playing the other night and had an unusual air-ball. This was a first for me and Houdini. Sorry for the bad pic...

IMG_20200906_203143640 (resized).jpg

My wife likes the pin but is frustrated by her short ball times v/s my longer ball times. It's not that I'm a great player but I play quite a bit more than she does so I know the shots and rules better. She won't practice on her own so that's out. This got me to thinking the other day...

It would be nice to be able to preload a few people into the machine, like me, my wife, son, a friend or two (perhaps a limit of 10 people). You could then select one of these people for Player One and and another person for Player Two and so on. For each preloaded name, the rules could be tweaked as far as total number of extra balls, ease of completing missions, ball save times etc. This would let my wife to (more) easily complete missions while keeping it harder for me to do the same. This would allow her to have more fun on the game and even out the ball times between us. I know it is just wishful thinking at this point but you never know (hint Josh).

Not sure about the shape but I'd think that the thickness would be a problem. The gap between the playfield and the cabinet is very tight. The art blades are paper thin.

I've been too busy playing it to notice a change to the attract mode. I'll have to check it out later today.

This is exactly the kind of hands on, involved approach that API has demonstrated to their customers that has convinced me to start looking for an Oktoberfest for sale in my area. Keep up the great support Josh!

That's an impressive score! Beats the hell out of mine, that's for sure. Looking at the completion stats, it shows how hard it is to pick up the combo modes. Two is my usual number with occasional foreys into three. The times that I cleanly shoot the perfect combo only to realize I didn't have it lit really is crushing to my pinball spirit and drives me to "one more game".

I've had it happen once. As best I can recall, the ball rebounded off the targets and landed there. Had to slide the glass down, knock it free and take the drain. I'm positive that this is the only reason that I didn't get 25 million for that game. Yeah, that sounds plausible.

Joking aside, for the next round of code updates, Josh might want to add a cycling of the pops to the the ball search function as I don't think it currently does that.

IMG_20200906_203143640 (resized).jpg

I can confirm that these are working with the latest code. I got Return from Beyond last night but unfortunately I still wound up pushing up daisies...

How about the seance multiball "shoot the targets in order". I've only come close one time (at least that I'm aware of). Anybody ever get this one?

Just ordered some spare parts for Houdini. The Magic Trunk, Pop Bumper Caps and the complete Plastic Ramp assembly are now heading my way. Always good to have some game-specific parts for the future. What other parts might be good to stock up on now while they're easy to get?

I bought and installed these too. One of the cheapest and easiest to install mods in pinball. Once you see the difference, it really stands out. Not sure if he's still making them but you could make your own set too.

What's a FOMO?

I know what FOMOCO is even though my dad was a GM guy...

Is there one beyond the lady on the plastic above the E S C targets? If so, I haven't noticed her even with a complete playfield teardown and shop job.

Houdini_Plastic (resized).jpg

The scoop eject is adjustable. As for the Cliffy scoop protector, after over a thousand games I didn't see any wear but I installed it anyway while I was shopping the playfield.

Yep, rare for me but so satisfying when I nail it.

That's why I reduced the time of the mode. I think I reduced it about 20 seconds.

If I recall correctly, Josh said that initially there was concern about the trunk not being open when the catapult fired so they added a switch to confirm it was open. This turned out not to be a problem but the switch is still there but not really needed.

Have you checked for magnetized balls? I've had issues in the past where the balls were"locking" together in the outhole trough and not registering the switches correctly.

I'll have to try the modification for mine as well. The scoop ejects alright for the most part but often times it takes several attempts to get the ball out and even when it does it's a bit clunky. I would also buy a new, API modified one if you make them.

Just ordered 2 power supplies to keep on hand. They were 23.75 each plus free shipping. I hate to be down for the count waiting on parts when the pinball spirit is strong in me.

Man that would suck. You've been a really great asset to us fellow Houdini owners with all your tips and suggestions. I know what it's like to have to make these hard choices though...

Is this also available for Oktoberfest? Lately, my wife keeps accidentally hitting 3 player games.

I don't think I've ever seen a game at 14 deg slope. I'd be worried about it tipping over on me. Seriously, I'd confirm your slope and make game adjustments accordingly.

This was discussed at TPF. They are definitely making new Houdini's but I can't recall the dates mentioned. I'm sure the seminar was recorded so you should be able to find it on the web.

The longer the length of the level, the more accurate it'll be. Plus, you can sometimes align the longer level with sling posts, playfield text or playfield inserts for side-to-side leveling accuracy.

That's one of the reasons I have Houdini and Oktoberfest, top notch customer service.

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.

My understanding of the trunk lid switch was that there was some initial concern about the ball being launched while the lid was closed so the switch was added to prevent this. In practice, it turned out to not be an issue but the switch was already there.

My catapult shot was barely hitting the side of the wire ramp next to it so I drilled a new hole in the ramp mounting bracket and moved it to the right. Was pretty easy to do and the shot has been very consistent since. I don't have any pics of the modified bracket but it should be pretty obvious what to do when you look at the game.

There's actually a fair amount of adjustability to attaching the ramp onto the supports. Additionally, drill the hole a bit oversize and use a flat washer to cover the gap.