Hello ROSH, fresh new purchaser here (Put the deposit down at the beginning of the week) and I cannot tell you how excited I am. A little about me. I am a huge sci-fi fan and have been drooling over Alien since its inception. However, after reading through this entire thread, watching the videos of the game, and listening to your constant updates, attention to detail, and considerable time and effort you put into posting on this site, listening to your audience, and making changes that you feel will truly make this game something special. I decided to forgo a purchase of Aliens to buy your new machine. I wanted to make a post, which I rarely do, to offer my appreciate to your efforts and to tell you that, in my mind, there has been no other company or individual that has made me feel more secure in the quality of product I will be receiving and/or that my opinions, questions or concerns will be taken to heart and heard.

THANK YOU

Lastly, I had a few questions, if you don't mind. 1. I am concerned about playfield wear around bumpers, slings etc. Will there be playfield mylar placed in those spots? and could you speak a bit more on it. 2. You may have mentioned this earlier, but whenever you get an update about the upgrade costs for side art and shaker motor, will you please fill us in. I am on the side of wishing for the game to be shipped without needing to install anything and I hope that when my distributor says the orders are being place, I can have it ordered as I wish it to be when it arrives at my home. 3. I have owned a TFTC and the bumpers on data east were never very responsive. At times it would hit a few times and that's all, it would appear like the skirts were too thick and wouldn't really be as much action as you would hope. Have you found this to be an issue? Were the data east bumper skirts/disc w.e. used? or was it the Williams ones? Thanks for reading and I continue to await Houdini's release, and to see some awesome video that you send out to us!

P.S. I think if you guys put out a professional production video about the game, showing off all the features, etc etc, akin to JJP, it would really help your sales. Even as someone who has watched every video on youtube, I still feel like I haven't seen the playfield up close or had the game's features really explained and shown off.

-Dr. G

^ Protect your 6k investment. They are clear and shouldn't look like anything. just my 2 cents.

rosh can we get an update on code % and any idea on when the first production games will ship? Too freaking excited. I am number 15 from my distributor, but considering how many distributors this game has, I am afraid he won’t be getting 15 any time soon. How do you plan to address how many each different distributor gets?

Does anyone have some more extended gameplay videos? I am having withdrawal from seeing Houdini!! I can't wait for mine to come.

Hey Larry, it’s Sean. Thanks for the tip! I’ll check it out.

Hey @rosh, hope you had a nice Halloween. I had a few questions about the game I hope you could help answer. 1. Do the lights inside the chains near the mid/bottom portion of the playfield represent anything related to the gameplay or your journey through the game, or are they just for aesthetics? 2. What is the function of the second catapult? Lastly, and related to a different topic, the shop on your website appears to not be functioning correctly. I attempted to purchase a Houdini shirt, but no size option was available and after it showed 1 in the cart, when I went to check out it just says nothing is in the cart...

Cheers!

Here is a video about Houdini for all of you to enjoy. can’t wait till mine arrives.

I would hardly say it’s better, they discuss two completely different things. Lol.

Did anyone take videos?

All has gone quiet in the Houdini forums....

Everything looks and sounds great. I know some players may not like the verbosity of this game but personally I hate when I play a pin and get into modes and have no idea what I am suppose to do. I think it is absolutely fantastic how the voice acting explains every mode to you in detail. That is so nice for me personally. Also, I think it will be cool that once I own it for a while I can dial back some of the instructions when they become no longer needed. BRAVO. To a point made earlier, I never noticed the sling show giggling until now, perhaps it was a more recent addition, but I would probably silence that from day 1. Just not to my personal taste, but to each their own. Having total control over the settings, as it sounds like you have been working diligently on it really really amazing @rosh. Props to you and all your hard work. Cannot wait to have this in my home.

Seriously, I just want to congratulate you on this huge accomplishment. The game really does look fantastic and I cannot wait to play it.

Dilly Dilly to the Magician amongst us!

I like and second the ouija board idea! It also fits with the added piece inside the game!

I think you should have a set of keys hanging on the wall. One of them gets picked off the wall randomly and goes into a lock (one that looks like the ones on the pop bumpers) and unlocks it. Then when the key comes out of the lock it turns and shows a number on it. That number is the required match which has to equal a random match number that was placed in the top right of the screen at the beginning of the scene.

It is clearly the pinballs that go into the goodie bag.....always waiting on the pinballs. Just cant ship without any balls!

GAP we are awaiting your gameplay videos!!!

rosh if my game is shipping out next week to the distibutor, will it have the pinblades on it? Thanks.

Suppose to get mine Friday or next week.

I see my game!!!

Any chance you saw Cointaker on that list was told Friday would be delivery day!!! I can’t keep myself any calmer. Very excited!

Wow.... what a low blow. I’d totally support AP over that nonsense.

Like today
heh, I just like to push ya Zach!

How did the settings mission go in terms or reducing "Wordiness" now that you have learned the game more? Were you able to dial it down how you like? From what Rosh showed earlier, it seemed very easy to fully control the vocals on each kind of mission etc.

Mine wasn’t sent to CT.

I heard from a friend who was at vuk today that both Houdini and TNA are floaty, like game is almost flat floaty. Perhaps that did not help issues regarding gameplay enjoyment and ability to make shots properly?

Anyways, thank you for the review! I like hard, means having it at home won’t be a snooze fest

Hey guys! My Houdini arrives in 1 hour!!! Woohoo!

I also wanted to give my first experiences with Houdini, as mine was suppose to arrive Friday but shipping was delayed. Basically I needed to play it, so I went all the way from Richmond to Bethesda MD, to play at VUK all weekend.

Houdini was easily most beautiful game there, including TNA. The backglass is just gorgeous. The volume was originally so low you couldn’t hear it but the employee at VUK turned it up so it was easily the most audible of any games there. The game has been on route for a little over a week, to my knowledge. I checked over the entire game, I didn’t see a single spot of wear. Not on the shooter lane or the theater.

The game was a lot of fun. The modes are all very unique. The animations are high quality, the music is good and the voice instructions is good for the new players, I am happy I can just double tap out of em after I learned the game.

The shots in this game are tight, it will be perfect for a home game. With that said, all shots ARE MAKEABLE when you find your shots and get dialed in on the game.

I didn’t end up getting the GC but I did get 2nd high score which I am pretty happy about. Photo will be below.

Okay! So I have told you the good. So @rosh, here comes the bad and the ugly.

Bad:
1. the game was extremely shallow and felt very floaty. ( I had this fixed by the techs on Sunday. ) much better now.

2. From factory the pops were not very sensitive at all. It was extremely difficult to get good action and have the ball hit horizontally into the theatre or just pop in general, perhaps you could call them?

3. The game seemed to suffer from an auto plunger issue. It would auto plunge instantaneously on the 2,3,4 players turn or when I would get an extra ball and it would pop out to start again. This issue was totally random and would not happen every game but enough that it does screw you over.

4. The game had an issue where when you locked a ball in the trunk (catapult made 100% of the shots I saw in 2 days of playing), it would then need to ball search for the ball to shot the lower catapult down the wireform. So that sucked when you were in a mode and hit that lock shot.

The ugly:
The game had random resets where it would get a blue screen or kill people’s balls. I have 2 experiences to discuss that relate to this. 1. My friend was blowing up the machine, he was in seance mb and a mode, then brought in trunk mb and when it started (all on ball 1) the game turned black, and then killed his ball. Not only did it kill his ball but it then completely skipped my turn, and went to bonus instantly and then started his next ball. 2. When a mode started it went to a blue screen and the game just froze.

Alright. Well now that all that is said, I hope this helps @rosh.

Guys, this game is freaking fantastic. I am sure it will be in my collection longer than Dialed in. Btw, the comedy in the game and Easter eggs are fantastic!

rosh can I get a test code version from you? I’d love to help in any other way I can regarding bugs, issues or code testing in a home setting.

I’ll post some more tomorrow! Pinstadium kit is going in as well tonight. Game is beautifully lit but I haven’t seen a game that doesn’t look even better after I’ve added one.

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No offense, but I played for like 2 straight days. Lol. the reset only happened 2 times. The auto plunge, about 10 or more.

Got my game!!!!! Works 100 percent out of the box. Had to adjust the trunk shot down one. Having the game in my house, it is gorgeous. Played about 10 games and wow it plays so so much better then the one at VUK. My legs are quite a bit higher and the action from the pops is WORLDS better. Anyways, here are some photos. The packaging was awesome. The cabinet looks really good. That textured powder coating is really nice. The color is fantastic. The backglass is simply awesome. Best in Pinball.

The game does need some adjustments. they aren’t really issues just an adjustment needed. Perhaps you guys can help or @rosh. 1.When I plunge the ball, the ball rubs against the rubber posts on the way out of the shooter lane. I had it happen on my tspp but this game is also doing it. Not sure how to fix it, but it does screw up the plunge from time to time.
2. The seance scoop, shoots the ball out kinda squirrelly. It always comes out but sometimes it’s not exactly friendly, sometimes it hits the top of the sling, other times to try’s to go down the middle.

Okay, I’m going to go back to playing. Adios!!!!

Here are some photos. One is Houdini with no lights on in the house with normal game lighting, the other is with pinstadium on. Still gotta mess with the settings to get the color dialed in the way I like it. Right now it’s set to rust brown to match the rust tones in the playfield. Enjoy!

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Update: after playing another round of games. Maybe 15. The issues I seem to have are 1. The plunger not shooting the ball out well, hitting rubber and coming out wierd. 2. Seance scoops reliability is random. I sometimes get a straight shot, normal speed. Sometimes it shoots out and hits the top of sling, other times it barely rolls out and trickles down the pf.

In the code, when you are at the catch a bullet mode, and double tap out of the instructions, it gives you the ball back but the lights are all still off completely for like 5 seconds. I had one “autoplunge” on a game when I was playing both players 1, and 2. When it went to player 2 after I drained, it immediately plunged the ball. This was happening at VUK arcade as well.

Anyways, I’m going to bed, got work at 8am. Cheers!

I can’t get over the backglass it’s phenomenal!

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My first thought was to increase power. So I did by 1. It definitely made it worse. I just hope I can have someone figure out the ball plunger issue. The plunger is not centered on the ball. But I don’t think it will have enough wiggle room if I loosen to housing to make up that much of a difference. I hope I am wrong.

Honestly, I don’t even rememeber. I had so many issues with Alien and heighway it’s kinda all a blur. It’s been a long while. I hope you get yours soon! Now I just need TBL to start shipping lol.

Okay, let me see if I can run through this a little bit more to help respond to your questions.

"I have had a couple of reports of this, but haven't been able to replicate it, so while I have a change that might prevent it, I have not been able to confirm it resolves this. If it happens again, note the date/time (make sure you clock is correct on the machine) and send me the logs (insert empty USB key into USB extension cable in coin door and logs will be copied on to it). "

---- I will definitely attempt to do this whenever I get an autoplunge. It appears to be when more than 1 player is playing, however its not always, its pretty random. It has now happened on the VUK Houdini, and once last night on my home Houdini.

"Sounds like the upper catapult switch is out of adjustment, typically it will go to the upper catapult when a movie mode is lit (or if it got to the catapult by 'mistake'), so did the movie mode start? (do you know if it was lit?)."

I thought it may be the upper catapult switch as well. The ball would just sit in the catapult and not shoot. This was on the VUK Houdini, not my home game. May wish to call the owner to discuss.

"Have never heard or seen anything even remotely like this. So, were these two things consecutive, meaning the mode started on his next ball, after this odd blackness, is when it froze? When you say go black -- do you mean the display went black or all the lights on the game went off? Are you sure it skipped your turn vs being his end of bonus and start of an extra ball? Do you know the approximate date/time this occurred?"

This was only on the VUK Houdini, not my home game. The issue was so widely known that it was not allowed in the league or tournament this past Saturday. I may not be the best individual to speak to about it, I was just trying to report it so you would be aware. The one time it happened to me and my friend, all the gi and lights went dark in the middle of his MB. It killed the flippers and then ended his turn. It then went to my ball, and immediately ended the turn, showed my bonus, then it went to his turn and popped a ball into the shooter lane and let him continue the game as normal. The issue I just described happened on Feb 17th between 3 and 8. Sorry I cannot provide a smaller time frame. The issue with other resets like the blue screen apparently have been happening before the 17th and 18th as I was not present. However, I will mention that on Feb 18th during league, so after 430 pm. The game did have a reset in the middle of a league game which is why it was taken off the game list.

"Just checked this and does not do it for me, so wonder what else was going on."

This was on the VUK Houdini game. I will test mine at home to see if it also happens at mine.

Sounds like the snubber needs to be adjusted, hard to know which way from this description, I would try opening it up a bit. Next code release does have an optional ball save off the scoop for the occasional down the middle. Is it falling back into the scoop at all?

I adjusted the power up 1 attempting to fix this, however it made the issue worse. I will check the "snubber" although I am not sure what you mean. The ball will fall back into the hole very seldomly, usually the first is pretty strong. Like I said its very inconsistent and all over the place. Sometimes its very fast and strong, sometimes it barely kicks out the hole (although less frequently) and sometimes it shoots out normal but hits the top of slingshot, sometimes it pops out strangely and attempts to go down the middle.

"The rubber posts for the pass through back to the shooter lane? Not sure how that is happening, it should be hugging the right side at that point in the shooter lane. Is this on a manual plunge or an auto fire? What position are the posts at? "

When I manually plunge the ball. The shooter rod doesn't line up in the center of the ball. So when I plunge it, it doesn't go straight out the shooter lane. The ball ends up rubbing the right side of the rubber posts that are on the left side of the shooter lane as the ball exits the shooter lane. This causes extreme slow down, change in direction, or....it simply barely makes it out the shooter lane and falls down the middle due to the friction of hitting the rubber posts. Is there a way to move the plunger or something so that it correctly lines up with the middle of the ball? I am not a pinball tech, so I am not sure of how this would be done. I can post a photo of how the plunger is aligned to the left side of the ball.

In the scoop?
No, in the shooter lane, for the plunger. (However, due to the other issue of the scoop eject being inconsistent I suppose this could also be true for the scoop, however, I have not attempted to investigate that yet as I just got the game last night.)

"The latest code, which has a ton of changes, will be made available shortly."

Great.

Is there a way to turn the ball times back on during the score summary at the end of a game? I liked that feature but it didn’t come “on” with my game. I’m sure it’s in the settings and I likely just missed it, but I figured I’d ask. Also, will there be a setting for extending the ball save time in seance or trunk multiball. For my home setting I would like my family to be able to enjoy trunk multiball a bit more if it’s just us, or to be able to cut it down for league night.

Out of the box, mine was just barely low, and by low, I mean it hit the box right at the line where it opened. Moved it up 1 and now it hits it every time.

The inside of the box is all metal. No worries.

rosh here are the photos you asked for regarding my plunger issue. The auto plunge works fine. Only the manual plunge has issues

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Update: when in Trunk MB I had 2 balls left. I shot one off right flipper and it went into the magic hole, I used the left flipper to shoot the seance scoop because seance was lit and I wanted to bring that in. I suppose due to the subway it didn’t count and 2 balls were shot out of the scoop and play continued without seance. Not sure if any way to fix that so it notices or if it was just such perfect timing it didn’t count. Anyways, wanted to put it out there for you rosh.

I’ll try to log more stuff when I can. I’ve had a ball or too end prematurely due to a ball being released from the left post during play or after a trunk mb shot. Don’t have more specifics than that. Sorry!

Protip. Set up seance and trunk mb. Then use alleyway to start straight jacket mode with inverted for 4x jackpots and try to bring in both mb.... my score went

I truly love this game. If you think about what you’re doing and set things up you can really blow up your score. I am sure rosh has some more tips. Doing 2x Indian needles and bringing in the MB is also awesome. Back hand alleyway and inner loop lock shots. It’s way easier once you learn where it is.

UPDATE 2: 10:19pm
Alright, so it seems that I broke the game again lol. So when you set up multiballs together, different logic or code issues seems to come up. I had trunk mb, and then got into seance. After both were stacked I hit a magic hole and it gave me 20 second ball save time. Shortly after I drained out.... it didn’t shoot back the 2 balls I had, it only shot back 1. However, the seance mb kept going even though trunk didn’t. The ghost was continually on the screen and letters were flashing. At this point the stage opened back up and I could start modes. I finally drained after starting a mode in seance and then it ended seance and the ball. Lol.

I have my door open and I don’t see a usb extension or anything of the sort. I wanna send some logs over because little oddities like this seem to occur during stacking of different things and ending of others simultaneously. Here is a photo of the inside of the coin door box. rosh or others please help locate it so I can log it for all of us. I’d like to go back to playing soon.

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Thanks. I checked my cabinet for the elusive USB extension. I did not find anything laying in the bottom/back of the cabinet. I called AP support number but hit a voicemail which said this voicemail is not initialized and cannot accept messages FYI. Hoping to get that replaced. I only have an Alien (unworking), Dialed in, and Houdini so, with the addition of Houdini I basicall am playing that 100% of the time and would love to converse about different little quirks that pop up

Dunno how it happened, but I assure you it did, lol. Was attempting to shoot that games log over to you right when it ended. Thats when I posted the comment about not being able to find the usb extension cable. =/ womp womp

Here is my latest update/mod. Incase you like to play in the dark like I do, here is a photo from when I got the game and a photo of my game now. next up: I just gotta get those side blades and await my invsiglass

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Haha, @rosh, did you add a spinal tap Easter egg!? 11...

It’s already been raised once due to my request. It was much much worse a weekend ago. Totally flat. My scoop on my game is still unpredictable. I am struggling to get the upper catapult to hit its target to return to right flipper I think I gotta adjust the wireform.
I just broke 1 million for the first time. It was a fantastic game.

Best game of the weekend!

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How bout some Houdini, Dialed In, Alien? I know Greg would approve! Lol Those are my babies.

Btw, just booked TPF! Woot!

lol, Houdini? quite possibly. My score? Nah, I will beat that especially with 6x straight jacket.

I can literally backhand the right inner loop any time I try, literally about 95% accuracy. I think you need more time on the game. The milk can shot is tight but I still hit it and it’s only used for 1 mode and one jail and usually I hit the magic button to get credit for it easily anyways.

For the right inner loop it’s easier to backhand than forehand, although forehand is probably located on the flipper where you would originally think the ramp would be. The left shot stage alley is also backhandable but has a tougher time cleanly going into and through the bumpers. I only make that one about 50% of the time as it normally rattles at the entrance or goes into the magic hole and doesn’t hit the stage. I find that shot on the left easier to forehand at about 80% down on the right flipper. Hope that helps.

backhand is literally at the top of the flipper. After trapping, just release flipper and the rehit it. Only let go long enough so that it doesn't hit the bottom of the sling. Once you get it down, you will prefer the backhand over the forehand, everytime. Its like butter and hits the shot clearly, unlike my backhand to the left stage lane.

That’s cause he likes Stern Batman where every shot can be made drunk, blind and or one handed. So Houdini would be quite the challenge in comparison

I myself have had a few trunk MB with 2 balls, although it is rare. I have sent a game log to rosh after my most recent one, so hopefully he can see what may be happening.

First job Barry, call Heighway, explain how customer service and care works. Then twist their arm to hire 2 people for pinside lol.

Phone typo, been corrected.

I can sell you mine for 9k. Comes with inner art blades, invsiglass and a pinstadium kit too. lol jk

Just wanted to show off my GC game from TPF on the Houdini Machine located in front of Cointaker! Woot woot

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Thank you very much! My highest score at home is 1.7, but I was super proud to put up that GC in front of others at TPF! I hope you enjoy your game. It’s amazing!

Don’t give up on reverse inverted either! I nearly always start it with a 2x shot so it runs at 6x jackpots and I can now almost always hit atleast 3 or more Jackpots!

Care to take photos of the connection and cable used? Would love to do that same as I have my sub from a previous Alien machine just sitting around.

My I ask what the issues were?

Just figured I would add these photos for those that don’t think there is a need or would see much of a difference in a dark game room with pinstadium a on Houdini. Actually, to be perfectly honest, my kit had a bad powerplug and when playing with a league member and the pinstadium turned off, his first comment while playing was, man this game is super dark what happened to all the GI! Lol on Houdini, it’s especially noticeable between the flippers in the middle lower portion of the game.

Once you play with a kit, it is extremely hard to play on a game without em. I actually remember at TPF thinking all the games were terribly lit. Lol.

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Thanks bud! Hopefully a Iron Maiden LE or Premium and a MBrLE will be joining the lineup soon! It was great meeting ya at TPF, if you are ever in the Richmond area let me know, House is open to ya!

Don’t you mean all the down? I dunno I have mine raised a bit from stock. Just habit I suppose but I do like my games playing fast.

Your photos are edited because these were taken from my game pre and post Houdini pinstadium kit in a fully dark room at night. It looks very different than yours.... the bottom portion of the pf does need some help with no ambient light but it isn’t like your photo. Either way I approve of those kits on any machine.

Actual unedited photos below

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It plugs into the service port station, there is literally nothing that the kit can do to hurt the game. But anyways. Back to Houdini. I also have the random power issue with my scoop. It is just never really consistent. :/ seems wierd, I have that issue and now that I moved the shooter plunger over to try to center on the ball as it was way off the left, the autoplunger is now not centered and has some wierd plunges. :sigh: it’s playable and mostly all good, after the alien fiasco I went through this seems minor.

Can you please snap a photo of where you put it in the amp, the type of cord you used and where you put it in the sub? I am more of a visual learner. The explanations haven't really helped me.

rosh I love the game, I am having a wonderful time and consistently get over 700k. I do still continue to have a significant issue with the plunger in the game. I have loosened the housing and moved it all the way to the right, in an attempt to get the plunger to hit the center of the ball, however, even at the right most location, the ball is not stuck directly from behind and causes the plunged ball to hit the rubber posts on the left side of the shooter lane when coming out of the shooter lane before attempting to strike the skill shot. This causes missed skill shots, completely dead plunges that just fall into the outlane, or it contacts the rubber and then barely pops out of the shooter lane and goes sdtm. Very annoying. Looking for a fix, as it appears that either the playfield naturally sits to far to the right in my cabinet or the shooter assembly was installed too far to the left, making even the most extreme allowed adjustment of the housing, not adeqate enough to place the plunger behind the center of where the ball sits. (currently its off to the left a bit, originally it was WAY off to the left and barely stuck the ball.) Hope you can help