Quoted from Platypus:

I totally disagree with your accusations. Whats your beef really.
The power supply issue is hardly and issue with most owners. It is not necessary but it adds resiliency and consistency, In my case my house electrical voltage varies considerably. AP's offer to provide a regulated power supply at what is essentially half cost was generous considering the game works without it.
I am a second owner and have gotten great service from AP. While I have had no warranty issues I have received prompt service in other dealings with them. Barry has responded within a few hours whenever I contacted him.
Frankly I don't understand the point of this Houdini bashing. Most owners seem to really like it, my novice friends beg to come over and play it. For those of you who don't like the game Why do you have to be so hateful? I really dislike some of the modern Sterns but instead of publicly bashing Walking Dead and Iron Maiden I just don't bother playing them, keep my mouth shut and move on.
Not everybody is going to like every game but people don't have to be a whiny bitches about it.

Quoted from TheLaw:

Snarf is a character on Thundercats

Well a lot of times it's their first exposure to the game; so setting it up like shit doesn't do anyone any favors.

Quoted from Rdoyle1978:

Unfortunately this has greatly contributed to Houdini performance on location - there are 3 Houdini’s on location near me - and all 3 were set up poorly. Not levelled, but also set up too steep, and both obviously have a major effect on performance. I don’t doubt this is common.
AP tried to make the game perfectly set up when all levellers screwed all the way in - but as soon as you have an uneven floor, it gets out of whack. The game is also set up to play at 6 to 6.2 pitch - not 6.5, and that is kinda weird, so I think it gets overloooked by ops

Quoted from WW2GURU:

Houdini is a great game and better than IJTPA in my opinion. A lot of whining about tight shots, post hits and rejected shots and geometry. Every single shot can be made from the flippers so this geometry argument is halarious. Just words.
Now let’s take Indiana Jones where there are many many similarities. I’ll argue that the widebody frame that IJ is sitting in is wasted with only 7 real shots. The whole left side of the main playfield could have had another lane or even a cross shot to a subway. That’s another matter though. My point being that the playable area width is nearly identical or close to it. (Actually IJs is narrower than Houdini by quite a bit). The captive ball shot is nearly identical to the stage shot in length, angle and width. IJs right orbit shot is as tight, pop bumpers are pretty much in the same place and very little goes on there besides Indy rollovers. The shot behind the 3 drop target bank frequently gets rejected as well as the mode shot where people have had to modify it with foam and other things. The post hits in IJ are like skipping a rock off a pond where you hit multiples and at least Houdini lets you score points and advance a mode with the posts.
I find Houdini leaps and bounds more interesting yet Indy sits in the top 10. Maybe more that it’s a pop culture icon than a good pinball? Don’t even get me started on the disapointment that is AFM.

Quoted from rai:

Not sure if you’ve played a lot of AFM. I had not played a lot before buying AFM on reputation and recomdation.
Basically (many) games share a similar layout 2 loops, two side ramps. I mean AcDc, Met, IM etc. games differ in places but the orbits and ramps are fairly similar.
AFM seems nothing special but has a third ramp/diverter that effectively creates two different shots in place of typical one shot AFM thus has two scoops, three ramps, two orbits and center drop bank in a standard not crowded layout.
I’m not saying AFM is alone in making more shots fit in a standard game area other games like Tron fit a third ramp and inner loop shot into the mix by adding a third flipper.
Anyway the shots/geometry all work on AFM there’s not a bad feeling shot to be found. But the genius of AFM is the code, how it can make a simple 3 shots to the ramp or three shots to the orbit or 50 hits of the pop bumpers makes all these basic things seem important and eventful. If you’re not impressed with 3 shots to the ramp or orbits being that big of a deal (one shot hurry up) you can work on combining 2,3,4 shot hurry ups together into a grand hurry up. Heck even to make a 5-way conbo is important and something you notice every time you hit 2,3,4 way combo you are cognizant of the 5-way combo. That’s not all but there are countless ways to put a game of AFM together as you work towards Rule The Universe.
AFM is so basic, not cluttered like MM or some other pins. You can almost see everything in front of you. It’s a masterpiece of precision and simplicity.