Just moved my POTC deposit to Houdini. Just wasn’t feeling it for POTC. Houdini looks interesting and I like the idea of supporting a new pin manufacturer.

VUK would be good

+1. Plus timing. I’m much further down on the pre-order list though, so I suspect the options will be available before my number comes up.

I’m really looking forward to getting this game.

This makes sense to me. I definitely want the magic glass.

Thanks for the write up. I’m going to save one of the pin stadium lights I just got for Houdini.

Also east coast... I was told they’re still going out maybe 1-2/day.

I do like the way spooky gives you your game # shortly after you order - direct or via a distributor. They don’t ship in strict order, but it does give you an idea of where you are in the queue.

Received a ship notice today. Don’t have tracking just yet, but I’m guessing mid-next week. I’m looking forward to it.

I’m running out of room for pins though, and I don’t think the HOA is going to let me build a new structure. Pinball problems.

Houdini is coming to dinner at my place this Wednesday.

Surprisingly, I don’t see a sticky with the exact dimensions with the backbox attached. The cabinet is 75"H x 29"W x 55"D. Anyone know the width of the backbox? Has anyone taken it off to go through a door and want to share how difficult it was (how many wires?).

Thanks.

Did you ultimately determine the key size? I still have 2 days to order one if I don’t have it.

Thanks!

Houdini is in the house!

Had a small scare. The pair of keys wire tied to the plunger were for the backbox, and the keys for the coin door were not there. Called AP and they said both pairs of keys are supposed to wire tied to the plunger. Looked around and I found them on the street where we had unboxed it. It would have been really bad because to get it into the house I had to take off the backbox. No keys = it’s stuck outside.

There are only a handful of wires between the backbox and the playfield so I thought it would be super easy. It turns out that you either need to disconnect the wires going to the power supply which are wire tied 6x, or you have to disconnect the USB and video cables from the CPU. Unfortunately to do that requires dismounting or removing most of the screws holding in the display and pivoting it. I like how JJP has the display on an arm for servicing. It would have made it much easier.

On the second game I had a ball in the lock, but the machine couldn’t find it. Even after a few ball searches it never released it. I looked at extending the coil hold time, but as best I can tell that setting doesn’t actually affect the timing when you’re in test mode. I saw no difference from the default setting of 5 vs. 20.

Updated the software to 18.5.4. Note: Houdini doesn’t like USB 3.x fobs. An older USB 2 fob worked. It wants MBR partitioning and FAT32 formatting which isn’t in the instructions.

I’m looking forward to exploring this game. I love the humor.

Edit: my coin door is really tight. I haven’t tried to figure out why yet. Anyone else?

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Let me know what you figure out. This is on my to-do list for Sunday.

I get frustrated the other way- software upgrades that clear high scores. I know some pins have a way to export/import scores. I don’t understand why they don’t make that part of the regular upgrade process. Inevitably I forget and end up with factory scores

Stuck ball, and Pin Stadium lights installed (independent unrelated events).

A

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I installed pin stadium on my Houdini a few days ago as well. I didn’t wire the UV or the flashers. Wiring it to the shaker is an interesting idea. I may try that.

Voltage is definitely a problem with Houdini. I haven’t measured it yet, but I suspect a few volts is enough for the lower catapult and VUK to miss/fail. Just having one other pin on the same circuit is enough. I’ve not seen a pin this sensitive to voltage changes before.

Actually, the opposite. I’ve got 600A service and 10kW of solar... which might actually be a factor. When the sun is out the voltage in the house goes up a few volts. It’s likely I set the catapult etc during the day, and at night with another pin on the same circuit is probably a 8-10V change. I’ll go measure it.

The solar inverters must operate at a voltage slightly above the voltage coming in from the grid transformer. That’s how you force the current to flow away from the inverters and use the power from solar first before drawing current from the grid. When I upgraded my service to 600A, the utility also upgraded the transformer. As a result the voltage coming into the house is slightly hot (244-245v). I’ll take some measurements.

Imho, it should be configurable.