I was hoping you were posting with some news

Since initial release? TONS of updates. Tons. I couldn’t even begin to list them all. The most significant one came in (I think?) November of last year - maybe it was later - it sped up loading/graphics/audio significantly, bringing it in line with expectations from DMD and modern games in Terms of how long you “wait” when playing. Delays are nonexistent

Milkcan is hard. Some folks have found adding the pinbits dead drop foam to help in cushioning the shot and making it easier. Others just practiced

I had a Roger Sharpe moment with one of my buddies where he bet me I couldn’t make the shot on demand. I did. It’s still hard as hell. 3 is almost impossible, just like it’s supposed to be (and the game rewards you for it)

No idea on price. Lots of people had predetermined expectations and won’t allow the game to get past those initial feelings. The original release was good, it wasn’t great. It was kinda fun, but needed a lot of tweaking. A lot of that’s been done. There are also not that many in the wild, so few people have played on in real life, so it’s up to owners to let their friends play. It shoots different than B/W Games, so shots don’t sink like you expect them to, it takes some practice. It’s fun as hell. Definitely makes you a better player because it’s not Munsters (meaning a beginner-friendly game with familiar shots)

Anyway whatever. Speculation is maybe there’s 600 of them. Check the owner’s thread - EVERY single new owner posts the same thing: “this game is awesome! Why is there such a backlash?”

Someone will come in here and post that it’s “clunky”, which is a euphemism for “my shots don’t sink like they do on Monster Bash so it sucks!”

Rdoyle1978 covered many of your questions but here's some more food for thought.

This is definitely a game that is ideal for a home environment instead of playing a few random games in a loud bar. It takes some time to figure out what to do and how to connect the shots but once you do it's really a blast to play. People complain about the tight inner loop shot or the milkcan shot but that's part of the skill challenge and when you do make them, it feels sooooo satisfying. It has many interesting, unique features (reversed, inverted flippers, return from the dead, loading the trunk for multiball, stage shot through the pops etc) and is perhaps the best looking pinball since Theatre of Magic.

If you haven't played Houdini since its initial release do yourself a favor and try and find a well set up example. Give it at least 10-15 games to really dig into the rules and shots (and to re-calibrate away from the typical "fan" layout). You just might be surprised.

The one on location near me must have updated the code recently because now you can double flip to skip the animations. Big improvement. I think the game is great and the inner loop shot that everyone cries about is a difficult shot, but not overly so.

You'll figure it out. Players will help, you'll learn.

Glad you located it ! A lot of great info and people there.

LTG : )

Lots of great info there, of course, and you might want to search out the user "pinballinreno" and his posts about how he set up Houdini. IIRC he dropped his flippers very slightly, which makes the milkcan shot more consistently makeable. He and others have contributed so much to making this a great game for home -- it's going on 18 months for me and I don't see getting rid of it anytime soon.

And if you're ever up in DC, there's one on location (along with a couple dozen other pins, all in superlative playing condition) at MOM's Organic Market in College Park.