Finally got to play it at Hop Central in the Phoenix area. My wife and I really liked it. I got to the drunken flippers.aw3some. Some really cool things in this game. That snap pop noises during the target shooting. Ramps were too hard to make. Seems a little unpolished overall, but the creativity and theme integration are great. I will not buy one, but will play it any chance I get.

The operator can in fact do this... from page 29 of the manual:

HOW TO CREATE A CUSTOM MESSAGE
...................................................................
1. Create a PNG image, 1366x768 with whatever you want on it.
Name the file custom_message.png and put that file on a USB stick (with no game code) see the section “Oktoberfest Code Update” for information on how to format your USB stick.
2. Insert the USB stick into the USB extension cable inside the coin door on the right side, after several seconds you will get a screen with green type that says, ‘audits copied . . .’ Power Cycle Game.
3. After you power cycle, go into Settings->Standard and set ‘Custom Message’ to ‘On’.

Awesome! I'll definitely let them know that this is available.

I should note the brewery owner and the operator (who would likely have the manual) are two different guys so this wasn't a RTFM issue

A large array of numerous innuendo and other humerous callouts would shoot this game to the stars in my opinion... come on AP, pull all the stops out on this one!!!

more & more thinking to be part of this club, than...

Just sold my ACDC Luci to join this club. Should have it in a few weeks, definitely in time for October.

That's funny because I also had AC/DC Luci up for sale to fund the purchase of my Oktoberfest! I think there'll be so much more to get out of this game than the AC/DC!!

I got one Prototyp Oktoberfest.
And I love the machine.

I have only one problem. After I take a coin in the machine. The pinball crash and reset.

I will place the machine in Stuttgart, between the canstatter Wasen for public play.

Im very happy, anyone habe a idea for me.
Thank you bye Marco

I make a little video:

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That's a rare find! I see you've got the prototype cabinet art, moustache lady plastic and beer barrel exit, but not the backglass and bumper car occupants... pity you didn't get the backglass!! I have no idea why moustache lady was relocated to be in a place where you can hardly see her!!! Much better than the Otto-esque characters that took her place!!

What happens if you switch it to free play the service menu? Maybe there is a bug in the coin play code that was addressed with an update you are missing. I'd try free play.

I will place the pinball in public, in a cinema between the canstatter Wasen. So free play, is Not Good for me

But I’m in contact with josh from AP

I have one from 3 prototypes, he will help me to make the update compatible to my prototype.

it's just a try, but i still find a great action from american pinball

I played this game at Helicon today. What a great game. It's now on my short list!

I joined the club! Game is legit fun.

My bar door hit switch only registers on a slow ball hit, if you nail the door fast with the flipper it doesn't register, the switch works across the entire length with ball in hand, obviously the ball is acting as a conductor between the two metal peices. I'm assuming this is a bit of a design issue? Anyone else have this problem?

Same here, but I get bunch of hits through bumper interaction. Only the banked shot that is supposed to open it immediately doesn't work most of the time unfortunately because it's too fast.

Cross share to the club.... Prost!

oktoberfest (resized).jpg

(because of stairs) how easy is to remove the backbox, including cables connexion ?

Not too bad relative to most machines, maybe a half dozen wires or connectors.

tanx Rosh, will see anyway, as too late to change my mind (why i would do that !?), i now have a deal for a nice HUO
soon coming in this club...

If it's anything like Houdini, it is THE easiest game to remove the head that I've ever come across (playfield too; very efficient use of connections)

I have removed the backbox to move it down a flight of stairs and it is not bad at all. I did this back in November/December, I remember removing a few philips screws to remove the monitor, this made it easier to remove some of the cables such as the hdmi and power. There may have been one more connector for the audio, I don't remember if that was in the backbox or in the cabinet, but it is pretty easy to find.

To remove the hinge bolts, just pull the playfield out a little bit and rest its rails on the cabinet where the lockbar would be.

Overall, it's pretty easy and can be disassembled/reassembled in 20 minutes or less.

ok tanx guys...
if all goes OK, tomorrow is the day

well, the day is here, OF has landed home
as a tournaments player, after DI which i enjoyed a lot & finished, i was mainly looking for another pin with some challenge
let's admit, with my son, that our 1st choice was JP PREM... but there were some others pins on my wishlist, including OF
and than, after searching my next pin for 2 monthes, looking vids & reading lots of things on internet (mostly about code), i know that going for OF (i had of course already played a few before) was a OK move (also because AP guys are here, being reactive & listening & sharing with the community, thats a very good point)

now, time to enjoy

(PS : Josh, you have a PM)

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I am having a really fun time w this pin. Things are starting to make sense now on how my play-style works well w what modes and what steins.
Good job AP!

ok, 19 games since we get the pin (while 8 not from me), and just reached WM...
but didnt beat it (i know it because it was that bad)

more infos/feedback later, i have few things to do now

but for sure i'm more than far for having seen all, simply because i "only" score 22M in 38 minutes, and Multibrawlr did 682M in a big hour

just made a 1st review, but is in french on french forum
all you have to know for now, its way positive
i like a lot of things on this pin, some really cool & clever ideas

already a bug report (last code of course) : my son was playing the video mode, did reach enough points for an extra ball, and get the EB screen animation "in front" of the tapper...

now, the secret 5th skillshot :

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about barrel ramp (and even the coaster one), i've waxed the playfield, of course its much more speed and hard to play/control, but way more easy to use this speed to climb these ramps (even with the back foot at 50%), here're the early statistics :

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WM... Wizard Mode? Which one? There are several.

Congrats on the game, glad you're liking it so far!

Oh, BTW, I think this is already fixed for the next code release... and if not, it will be.

hi Ferret

FLIPPER MEISTER of course
and OK about the bug...

(and you have a PM)

and again just re-read rules on "TILT"

i have played each modes at full (some nicely some poorely), except the duck one, as flipper meister was coming and these duck targets are dangerous (the left one lol)
than just grabbed the ball and wait the timer is off...

of course, doing like that is not good for points
than not sure how flipper meister will score if we reach it by just always playing that "time out" tactic !?
as all is linked together (clever of course), this makes you try/play all the modes at full...

Flipper Meister scoring is completely based on the scores you accumulated in the other tents, so if you just time out all the tents to get to FM, then FM scoring will be terrible.

And of course, if you have FM qualified or nearly so, consider grabbing one (or more!) Pin Wiz Pale Ale steins, which boost scoring in FM just like any other tent.

and more :

from factory, how is the "ball save hole to the shooterlane" ?
there're 2 positions for the upper metal post, mine is placed down (making the hole smaller), i suppose this is the original set up ?
will see the statistics later when much more games will be played, but i have the feeling that i drain so much on that right outlane...
meanwhile i have very few ball saved back in the shooterlane (OK, thats the purpose lol)
may be also because of the slope, i did set the back legs at +/- 50%

...

other feedback point : ball back on the left ramp, caming from the FOOD eject, is very speedy, and i already got few "jump ball" at the end of track
of course it was than in the drain, and 1 goes there :

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will see if i can do myself a small plastic/protector to put there (as example, DI did have one, else, it also get jump balls)

PS : i've read your old answer about this

stupid ask : which is the "OF club topic" ... ?

as this one have the name, but only 2 pages
and that one is bigger but didnt have the name : https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/oktoberfest-owners-10-

and/or may be we could have this 2 merged !?

The "Joe Balcer confirms Oktoberfest as American Pinball's next pin" thread has by far the most discussion of the game, although it's not "officially" designated as a club thread...

ok than, will next post there...

i get quite a few rogue jump balls too there.

Pinside doesn't allow clud threads until a game is released. So you sometimes end up with an announcement thread morphing into a club like thread. That's kinda what happened with Oktoberfest. Tons of info in that one compared to the other 2.

Just joined the club! Love the rules in this game!

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for sure ! one of the BIG positive points

Does this game have any mini wizard modes?

yup, duck derby

Several: Duck Derby, Calorie Coma, Flipper Meister, Stein Slinging.

It does not (currently) have a mega-wizard mode for completing all the other wizard modes.

I've been having great fun on the machine in Finland that is hooked up to play through the internet. Just got a "you big sausage" award that when I googled didn't come up anywhere.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/694204578?t=07h49m08s

Keep in mind that with the delay a 200K score is doing really well at present.

Played this the other day - the lag is REALLY tough to get used to, but I am so glad to be able to play a real Oktoberfest finally!

It was cool to be "playing" an Oktoberfest, but the lag killed the gameplay for me unfortunately.

..and this is how Surrogate connected Oktoberfest to the internet.

Wasn't planning on it but came home with one today. That side ramp is tricky.

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Im getting ready to pull the trigger on a used OF. The seller mentioned that he thought there was an issue with the beer barrel that it does not release the balls unless its loaded with 3 balls. This sound correct to me as its a lock right? Or are they sometimes supposed to come right out? Thanks!

If the lock is lit, it holds three balls. If the lock is not lit, the ball will pass through and come out the nozzle end. If there is an issue with the balls locking you can check the membrane switch inside.

Thank you.

With default settings, the Beer Barrel holds balls across players and even across games. It's a fun feature, especially in multiplayer games, where stealing other players' locked balls in the Barrel can be a good strategic choice. It's a fun multiball when you get it, too!

Enjoy your new game!