I half get the animation argument. Sure, I don’t want junk but I am not playing the animations. I looking at a playfield. If it’s up to me, I want more of a companies development money spent on playfield design, art and rules before animations.

I think people forget the price here too. If this was a $8500+ jjp game, I would expect amazing animations. Not knowing price, I assume this is a low $7k game. I think you are getting a lot of bang for your buck here. We can’t have everything and there are trade offs Pinball manufacturers need to make. This argument doesn’t just apply to AP but all manufacturers.

When all the big arcades died out in the late 80's early 90's the only place you could find pins where bars and pizza joints around here. Even in today's times a few arcades popped back up but if you're lucky they might have one beat up pin. The best place to play in Harrisburg is a bar. River City blues and Dart club. It's not a barcade. It's just a sports bar with a row of pins on one wall.

rvc1 (resized).jpg

Are you guys attending the Expo in Nashville next month? I really want to play this game.

I would still like to see an Alternate backglass available. Maybe more Women, and people facing me. Yes, a little adult.

The monkey in the lower right corner ? He'd have a woodie, that would be adult for sure.

LTG : )

Rosh

The game needs titties & better animations.

Other than that it really looks cool.

Kudos to all involved.

Flipnout pinball is trying to get an Oktoberfest for the show. Will just depend on availability and if it makes sense to AP to send one.

That would be great!

One of these pins is not like the others
One of these pins sure doesn't belong

Unlike some, I'm fine with the drawn Otto and Greta characters. It's the turning Otto head on the playfield that I'd like to see changed to another that better matches his drawn form.

I felt that the head on the PF was a rough prototype. I HOPE that's the case as it needs work. It's not JJP witch model bad, but still a pretty poor representation of the one from the art.

When it's not the Food Stand, the VUK is called the Sky Slide, and has a tent feature dedicated to it (although that tent was not enabled in the Expo build).

Game art looks good to me, now if I was going to hang it on my wall then maybe I would want more but I’m not going to hang it on my wall I’m going to play it. From what I seen the roller coaster ramp looked cool, maybe you can add a mode so you can shoot that ramp and see the ball jam all the way around without stopping at the coaster lock. Music sounds pretty good the guitar might be a little overwhelming just a bit, but it’s really cool sounding overall. Maybe add some art to the beer keg ramp,beer bubbles, maybe bar stools or even a bar table. The code seems to be promising and I can’t wait to play this and possibly have it in my game room, good job joe and AP.

Agreed, which is why the Alice Cooper approach is so great. They choreograph the static artwork in a way that looks extremely slick and expensive, but is way cheaper to animate than something like the American approach, where they have lots of scenes with lots of moving parts.

But I understand that it’s difficult for American in that if they did something simpler they’d have people complaining that it’s too basic for $7000. Hard to win.

Alright, here comes technical nitty-gritty.

The lock mechanism has a nice design that when a ball is released, it physically blocks the other balls in the lock so they don't slip by and cause an unintentional multiball. (Anyone remember Cirqus Voltaire high wire lock release glitches? Yeah, none of that in Oktoberfest.) What this means is that if there's already a ball in the coaster lock, we can do a "no stop" pass-through, kinda like LOTR's sword lock. We take advantage of this during the Looper tent, which rewards combo shots on the coaster ramp. However, if there isn't already a ball in the lock, we have to wait for an incoming ball to reach the "front" position before we can release it, which causes a brief stoppage. It'd be cooler if we could speed that stoppage in all situations, but I'm happy to accept that to get super-reliable ejects from the lock.

Fun pinball development trivia: the early whitewood had the coaster ramp but not the coaster lock device. We were shooting the coaster ramp with such speed that occasionally the ball would fly right on through the top stretch of the ramp so fast that it just smacked into the side of the cabinet, instead of following the coaster ramp wireform. Oops.

Hey Rosh/Ferret, two decals on the metal (bottom and side) where the ball falls out from the keg would be nice. Looks very naked and unfinished now.

Make it look like bier is flowing out from that keg!

Thanks for the background info!

Is there a watchdog circuit in this game that prevents continuous coil lock-on conditions in the case of shorts or transistor failure? Also are EOS switches standard on this release?

A keg-tap shaped nozzle instead would finish the look.

It could be also a mod in form of a tap?
Édit: answered without have read Vireland. We got the same idea.

Since we're talking about CV "issues" this would be kind of like a really, really good shot to the Acrobats wireform flying off at the top and rolling down the side of the cab. I haven't played it yet but the execution of the coaster lock looked really good in the stream I watched.

That's the plan

Okto's Lower flippers have EOS.

There is a watchdog to prevent a loss of communication between the computer and the control system from resulting in locked coils, but the system does not monitor individual drivers for failures if that is what you are asking

The Keg did look a Little naked....The only figure showing skin!....Now that's funny! LOL

The more rock style music seems well suited to multiball and hurry up modes. I'd like more tradition music during other sections.
A lot to take in on this pin. Can't wait to see one in person.

Yes, PD-16s have fuses on them.

Agree. The main theme currently being used doesn't say "Oktoberfest" to me but rather generic rock cover band. Seems out of place as the main theme.

There is (or was, not sure they're still around) a Polka-ish band here in Cincinnati that did a version of "Comfortably Numb", it was awesome in a "I've drank a lot of beer" way. Maybe they can get something similar for the game but with songs that wouldn't cost as much as Pink Floyd would.

I'm confident that with Joe and Rosh on the code front that everything is going to be well thought through. Good code and a layout that looks fun will always be a solid combination. I have no doubt this will be a fun game at all.

My criticisms are more aimed at companies really thinking about the package as a whole, because opening your wallet to the tune of $7000+ is a lot of money, and I think you've got to be able to find that good emotional connection to see that work. I think it's okay to ask for more for that kind of money.

Good news is everyone has different tastes, there's a team listening to feedback, and I'm sure the end result will be the better for it.

Yep, that's what I was asking. I know Houdini didn't have that, and after that early issue that would lock a coil and cause the coated paper to create a lot of smoke (very concerning for a location owner), I was hoping Oktoberfest had this ability.

Different than a watchdog circuit, and you can still melt a coil without popping the fuse. We did it on Houdini.

Is the left ramp lifting ramp? Can’t see clearly on pics.

Edit: got my answer on twip.

Yes, it's a lift ramp and I was a little worried when I first heard that because of some poor implementations of lift-ramps in other games. However those that played the game said it does not feel like a lift ramp when you hit it so I'm encouraged.

After seeing the Beatles Pin posted by SDTM; can we now relax on Oktoberfest’s art package and consider it a homerun?

Nope, two things can simultaneously suck.

(Insert joke here)

Yeah good call. With having adjustable flipper strengths I bet it won’t be like TWD and need lots of tweaking. At least I hope not.

Was just checking back in on this game as its been awhile since looking at it and went and watched the seminar from Chicago Expo on Pinball News and noticed that Joe and most of the team were not on stage or introduced, but seemed like alot of new faces were. The game looks much better than I expected as it wasn't a theme I thought I would like, but just wondering if the same team that did Houdini is still involved here or are there different designers and staff on this title?

Pretty much the same team.

The coder did Alien if I am correct

Ferret is now on the AP team. He did do code on Alien. He also isn’t doing the code solo on OF.

Side note - Ferret is a good dude!

Same team, with the addition of Joe Schober (Ferret), who did rules and coding on Alien, and is now collaborating on rules and code with me. The rest of the team were introduced in the audience, if they are on stage, they end up talking, and we wanted to keep it brief so we could get to the reveal, because that is what everyone came for. We also have a new marketing guy, who was wearing the Oktoberfest costume, who kicked things off.

Found this gambling machine on my recent trip, these guys fear no cleavage!

Hope someone sells a mod kit to bend #octoberfest more towards #seygirl

Bierhaus (resized).jpg

Wow, now I'm wondering what "Heidi's Jackpot" involves... Something magical I'd guess

Lot of cultural appropriation going on in this thread...

PS more cleavage!!

I play this machine every time i go out to Vegas! It's great. That's the Heidi we need in this pin!!!

Yeah, I like that overall art style of the slot machine. Stylistically, Oktoberfest (the pinball) is close in many respects but it's not too that level. The woman character in the slot is much nicer - not talking boobs here, just the look of Heidi is much more pleasant.

This is a pin for which API should offer also some alternative cleavage-art!
And a beer-keg mod, whose tap you can operate with the second flipper button!!!!

If they changed the art style to be similar to the slot I think it would quadruple sales. Hope they take the time necessary to rework it. They have so much going for them it would be a shame to have another game that misses its real potential. I know a lot of people like the current art but opinion is absolutely mixed.

We will be working on alternative art.. Backglass as well as cabinet that would be available as an add on.

Now we're talking! Did see some pictures from Illinois last weekend with a backbox that included a tap. Come on all you Mod Makers!