I like it tight, but not like this

On a serious note, there are games that shoot well and there are games that don't. I played the proto once at MGC last year and didn't feel the urge to wait in line for it again. It was tight then. If the production machine shoots like it did then, I'm gonna take a pass. I'll play a few if it happens to show up on location but I don't feel incredibly excited for it. This game doesn't appear to flow incredibly well and that's part of the fun of a good shooting machine.

I spent a good portion of the day trying Houdini and TNA at Pinball Gallery.

Houdini was really impressive as an early production game with no noticeable mechanical problems. Everything worked all day . No balls stuck either.

My review: ALL OPINION ZONE

-Display-

Best display integration with backglass. All animations and screens look like they belong there. Attention was paid to matching up with the curtains and steampunk elements throughout the presentation. No other company is doing that as well right now. IMO

Head and speaker design fits well with theme.

Clear instruction, both audible and visual , regarding game instructions and what needs to be shot. Great for beginners and pros alike.

Score display is tiny, along with the information for what ball you are on. Maybe magnify it for 10 seconds at the start of each ball and scale it back. Just way too small.

-Toys-

Trunk: Catapult launches into trunk. Never missed. Amazing.

Magnets: Well integrated , although i do not fully understand as to when and why they activate. Active during multiballs. When they are active in normal play its a cool effect without the downside of an insta-drain. Magnets provide effect right where Houdinis hands are placed on the playfield art when the nearby target is hit. Makes sense.

Stage: Nothing too high tech , but a cool toy that works and provides a different (fun) shot and ball path.

-Shots-

Lots of different challenging shots. Punishing for uncontrolled play. Playfield a bit crowded on left. Milk Can and Magic Shop hole stand out as original.

-Sound-

Audible "rewards" for making shots seem lacking or too subtle. Needs better mix overall. Magician voice and instructions sound a bit clinical and aren't very exciting.

-Lights-

The only cool lighting effect i can remember is for the trunk before it catches the ball. There is the strobe i have been begging Heighway to put on the Alien head. Playfield is well lit overall. Might need more lighting effects, as i just can't remember anything that stands out. Inserts near the stage / magic shop are hard to notice.

-Gameplay-

Smooth shooting game when the shots are accurate. This game played a bit slow , which made time for recovery after a bad shot. In that regard , it made you feel like you were getting your moneys worth, for a paid game on location. Full instructions at the start of each mode left almost no guessing on what to do or shoot. As mentioned , more polish to the sounds and code are needed to bring this to the next level. Fun shots with some confusion based on the subtle sounds and shot feedback.

Plenty of modes that seem to start in three or different places. Stage , Lock shot and Spirit. Has reverse or inverted reverse modes with a multiball. Seems like i might be sick of that gimmick, but to each his own. Multiballs will stack. Not sure which ones do, but you could be hunched over for a while playing reverse flipper! Someone call a chiropractor.

Flippers were incredibly responsive and i am pretty sure you can tap pass with em. Great for ball control. Not sure if there is a setting , but they seemed to be set a bit on the weaker side. The gameplay was a bit slow which works well with the difficult nature of the shots, but also; slow sometimes is not all that exciting. I am not a fan of the flipper art. The flipper art somehow takes away from them (hides them), while successfully achieving the goal of being integrated into the theme.

-Overall-

Great game with great toys and cool modes and shots. Needs improvement in sound , lighting and code polish for a more exciting experience.

Honorable mention : That seemingly-out-of-place green skull Spirit Plastic. Doesn't match anything but it is super cool and appreciated

Personally I found the two tightest shots (right inner loop and milk can loop) pretty easy to hit.

I'm no world beater.

Right inner loop looks extremely tight, but is a simple shot to make imo.

Nice review. Thanks for sharing that.

think 9 is bad? metallica has 11.

pf_metallica_11shots.jpg

There's a bunch of different pinball icons that get pulled out of the hat, I've seen the marshmallow man and I think we pulled an AFM alien too.

Houdini FLAT OUT SUCKS! It's a PIECE OF CRAP!

YES I'M JUST KIDDING!!! It looks friggin awesome!

Can't Wait to Play It! Most likely a buy for me!

I would like to play one. Any on location in Denver or Chicago?

1up on Colfax has one.

anywhere near pittsburgh?

No, but if you hear about one let me know. Closest I’ve found is Malvern Pa or possibly VUK in Bethesda Maryland.

In Chicago at 257 or visit #GAP he has one on his floor of toys with dozens of other fun titles. Loved Houdini, invested Several dollars into it a few times this past week. Once you focus on backhanding the right ramp and Milk lane the game almost feels like it opens up. Just takes several dollars to get that comfortable. lol

There are plenty of ways of making a playfield feel populated than just cramming it full of shots. AC/DC Pro is the undisputed master of 'less is more'.

We did have two early whitewoods for Alien; one was built to Dennis' original shot layout, and the second was used when we were trying to get a secondary magnet in the orbit to work well. There was a lot of revising on the fly going on though, and we'd never do it that way again.

The Houdini hat jokes make me laugh. "That's one ugly-looking alien."

I've got about three hours on it thus far, and when I first played it I was absolutely pissed off. (Mind you I'm nowhere nearly as good as most players on this forum.) But I couldn't stop playing the damn thing, and I've gotten pretty good at it. It's definitely got some seriously tight shots. I love the tidbits of history it tells you, but I agree that it goes by way to fast! My recommendation is to go somewhere where it's set on free play and just play the heck out of it. I still have 5 (all you can play for an hour) cards at level 257 and go when they first open so I'm not hogging the machine from anyone. I really, REALLY like the game. But I've come to realize that I like games that most don't. Love X-Men (Borg), Love GOTG (Borg) and I love Houdini. I hope to eventually add X-Men to my collection and Batman 66. The beauty of all of these machines is that their is something there for everyone. But I'd definitely recommend giving it some more flipping time.

The churn shot is tight because it's very low down and off to the side, and the angle of the opening is oblique compared to the trajectory of the ball going into it. It's definitely designed to be a challenge.

The right orbit should be less tight than it actually looks from the length of the leading edge that can catch the ball. The one between it and the ramp though, that's going to be the killer. If not for the targets to catch bricked shots, I could see that catching a lot of flak from here.

Played the Houdini at Marvin' s MMM and the first thing you noticed was it had the wrong legs - 2" shorter that made the whole game look 7/8th the size of the MMr and AFMr it sets between . Blew through $10. in quarters so fast I didn't get to see any thing . So - it would make a great home use pin on free play .

The should have correct legs in the next day or two.

For anyone everyone playing the games with the short legs, you can get a sense of what it is like when Todd MacCulloch plays, well, probably still not the same, but a little closer.

1024px-Todd_MacCulloch_playing_pinball (resized).jpg

Both I found easily repeatable. The milk orbit less so. It's definitely a way, way less difficult shot than shooting under the flipper in WOZ (to get horses) - another Balcer game.

I was prepared to find them impossible, but they were anything but IMO.

Pinball has evolved. The time of super large ramp entrances is long gone, like Congo's left ramp for example.

Compare Congo and Tron's left ramp. The ramp on Congo is so wide that is almost no fun after a while. You can hit it 3 times in a row easily. You need to be a skilled player to shoot Tron's ramp so many times in a row.

Sounds like this game is a game for me. :p

DMen Tap in Chicago has the only one so far that's in the city. Plays great.

Has there been any kaneda sightings around here lateley?

"Master of Trolls"???

Please.

so does the code really not let you pay for 1 credit?

The pricing section of service menu in the current code was missing the $1 for 1 Credit option, it had $1 for 1, $2 for 3 option. First locations with the game were either Swipe card, Free play or went with the $1 for 1, $2 for 3. Once it was reported, we have made the change and it will be in the code that will be released shortly. Some locations have a test version of that code, so you will see this on some machines already.

Someone posted an image of a screen showing $1.00 entered but no credits, I suspect they were given a credit, and then started the game, then tried to start another game, but there were no credits, which would show that screen, but at that point it was still showing $1.00 deposited towards a potential bonus credit. After a short time that would clear out and the bonus credit would no longer be available. I recently had a debate with another pinball manufacturer, where they chose to wipe that out and as soon as a game is started, so, if you want the bonus credit on their machine, you must put in all the money before you start a game.

okay cool, thanks for the explanation. I was thinking that meant you had to do the $2 for 3. (which I do in most cases anyways) Thought it was wild that you could not have just 1 credit tho

Well you can't count the Fuel stand ups as a ball path. Unless you really want to then you have to count the picks as well making it 15

He needs to watch a few more videos of gameplay first. Then he will get back to us in a month with what he considers a ball path. Stay tuned...

Where in Malvern?

Pinball gallery,

they posted that they are streaming Houdini tonight

Eastern side of Pennsylvania. It's about 4 and a half hours from Pittsburgh. I'm debating the merits of making the road trip to play Houdini and TNA but 9 hours round trip might be too much for me.

I got the reference. Just not the "master" association given certain other Pinsiders.

Back to Houdini ...

Not that I necessarily agree with your initial comments you have the right to make them. Stick to your guns and don't let a bunch of people down voting you change your mind. Sometimes your opinion is unpopular. Stick by it, learn from it, and move on but for god sakes don't feel the need to edit it in fear of offending the someone...

You only reconsidered because people challenged your POV. If no one said anything or joined you in the same manner, your first post would still be the same. You can question anything and everything who said you can't? You're probably not the first and you wont be the last. Know how many people (still) questioned JT's gap on GB?

Stick to my guns. For the record I don't apologize either...

I’m good with you changing your mind. In a couple of months, I hope this goes from “Houdini is Tough” to “Houdini is Awesome”!

You should run for Congress.

Very cool. We make the best decisions we can with the information we have at the time. Sometimes you get new information and it paints things in a different light. Doubling down in the face of new information leads to bad things...

So when you get new information or people give you new perspectives and opinions you just stubbornly stick to your first take, no matter what? And you never apologize?

Man, it's weird what some people are proud of.

I personally find it a sign of intelligence when you're able to change your mind when presented with new information.

I came down to meet Russell at the 1up Colfax when I heard that he drove up from Colorado Springs to give this game a shot. I was also there when they unboxed the game and set it up on location. Playing this table with Russell (a few doors down from Batman, The Dark Knight) was the second time I had played this game. This game will probably need some tuning as each copy right now is a hand crafted piece of work. Before I wrote my review on this game I came down to the 1up to play this copy of this deck. I did this only after I sessioned it out because I wanted to give an actual review after playing an actual game. Russell is my friend and an incredibly intelligent, considerate thoughtful and overall damn fine human being. I don't hang out with just anyone. I surround myself with the best people I can and do everything I can to earn my valuable time with them. I ended up reading this string twice because the format that we have here does not communicate emotional content very well. Friendly ribbing can be easily seen as more harsh intentions. People can say whatever they want to about his opinions and that is fine. People can like or not like whatever games they want to. That's allowed. The title of the string is "Houdini is tough!". This is an accurate description of this layout. It is a shooter's game. As in... it's a pinsniper's game. EVERY shot was 1 1/2 inch wide other than the ramp (which has a strange apex that leads to inconsistent paths when the ball does not make it all the way around the curve. All in all this game is really tough. The pin-masochists and the people who see more frames per. second (I spoke to Daniele Acciari on facecrack about this after I got to play the table) will have a great time with a layout that appeals to their mindset and talents. I'm don't see as many frames per. second as Daniele does, and my tolerance for pin-pain is relatively good. This game made me look SILLY! To summaraize:

"The Takeaway:
This is a great start that American Pinball has given us. Joe Balcer may be the dark horse that the industry of pinball that people may have to start to take notice of. Look at titles that he has worked on: The Simpsons Pinball Party, High Roller Casino, Starship Troopers, Godzilla and one of the best earning pinball games of all time (while not a fav) South Park (which led to TSPP). I understand that he is traditionally known as an engineer. Which is super old school. This is how designers of the past came to be. They learned how to build a pinball game AND THEN design pinball games. Congrats Joe. This game was originally laid out by John Popaduik. I would be interested in seeing the original layout for this design.

As this game stands right now. Playing Houdini is not fun. Pinball is supposed to be fun. If playing the game is not fun, people will not play it. You can have a weak theme/license, not so great art and a game that plays great (The Shadow, Tales from the Crypt, Laser Cue and for some players, the pointy people games of Marche and Kelley, intelligent) players can get past this and enjoy playing the game. But a game that does not play well is an unforgivable sin to go into production. I hope we have a better layout with Oktoberfest. I will be updating this review after more mileage. Best of luck to the entire team at American Pinball. This is a great start. I see them learning from their experiences and making better pinball in the future."

For me it is simple. Right now the layout is SO tighteous that is is not fun. Pinball is supposed to be fun. Will this opinion change after more mileage? It very well could. This table would probably be best in a larger location/collection where it's qualities can be compared and appreciated by those who enjoy being steeled into a better place playing pinball. I like many games like this (x-men again), but for me this game was not fun to play. Pinball is supposed to be fun and that is why we play it. When a pinball game is not fun, it does not get played. Maybe some more tourney players will dig it, but unless you have the funds to put one in your basement, you are probably not going to dollar/play a game on site (certainly most casual players will not) when you get pimped out in less than 2 minutes. This is shown right next to your score. Right after we played Houdini, we went to another location and played No Fear. No fear was a cakewalk compared to playing Houdini. For reals.

No amount of software will save a layout that isn't fun. For me, this game was not fun. It was a beatdown. I will also admit to the fact that I work on my aiming more than anything else playing pinball. You can't really backhand the light lock and lock shots with consistency. The layout is designed for dangerous across the playfield shots. I WILL be spending more time on it as I know it is going to turn up in tournaments and I must be able to perform well on it to win. I have to. Will I enjoy my time getting there, only time will tell. But right now. Houdini is tough! It is so tough to shoot that it is not fun. Who else wants to play a pinball game that is not fun?

opinion (resized).jpg

Sorry but this is incorrect. The AP Popadiuk design was completely discarded and Balcer began from scratch.

curious if anyone has a mock up of the Jpop Expo design shown vs the production Balcer one?

Would be nice to see side by side

Your points are more than valid when it comes to pinball and Houdini, but i have to disagree with this comment. Lyman Sheats, Dwight Sullivan, and Keith Johnson continue to prove time and time again that software is key to a good and fun machine, no matter the layout.

reading all this stuff about tight shots, are making me want to jump on the bandwagon. the games I like the best, are the ones that make you work for it. Games with easy shots get stale a lot faster, as the bulk of the features get revealed quickly. If I ever play a video game, I always set it to the hardest setting, (unless the hardest setting is some insane crazy mode). love challenges.