Quoted from rosh:Posted this in the Allentown thread but wanted to post here as well.
What a great and exhausting show
want to thank all of you who came by to play Houdini. I know the line was often long, but I think most found it was well worth the wait. And clearly some of you did since you kept coming back to wait and play it again and again.
It has been a lot of work to get it to this point and seeing people's expressions when seeing the catapult throw the ball close to two feet in the air into the trunk or playing straitjacket multi-ball with both reversed and inverted flippers was quite rewarding. Joe balcer thought I was insane when I came up with reverse and inverted, but seems those "brave" enough to try it have really enjoyed it.
The grand champion score was set four times, the last time being the third to last game of the show, which was a great way to finish.
Was really impressed with a couple young kids who had skills better than 90% of the adults. One made four straight shots to the inner loop that some say is "too tight".
I want to thank Joe Newhart and the team from pinballStar. They did an amazing job in hosting us and did everything they could to make it a great show for Houdini -- well except for killing the power before I could pull off the final audiits, but I'll get them at some point. The last time I had looked the catapult throw was succcesful 94% of the time and there was around 450 games played (was set to two ball play play to help keep the line moving).
Was great meeting so many if you and thanks again for playing.
Rosh
I didn't have a GC score but did keep ball 1 in play for 7 minutes. Quite proud of myself. That inner loop shot is almost impossible. However that said my vote is absolutely to keep it. You don't want too easy a pin. And just because I can't shoot straight is no reason to widen it. Keep some challenges on the playfield, just don't make earlier modes depend on making that shot.