This guy.

LTG : )

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Maybe some Houdini code update announcements!

Is there anything you American Pinball guys can say in regards to changes made since the Jack Danger stream.

I re-watched it last night trying to get psyched up .

Will there be any funny references to other manufacturers like Houdini? I love that stuff.

The market survives on excitement and throwing money at things based on theme alone; most often a licensed theme that people will buy sight 'and game' unseen (and unplayed) .

Your games will survive on word of mouth and innovative ideas.

***Beer in one hand, flip with other tournament at my house!***

Back in my college days with my buddies, if we had an odd credit left over on a game we would partner flip, two guys each with one button. I never thought of doing it with bees in hand....

Poor bees, but good for making honey hands.

Maybe

From a code standpoint, not really the same game, given that we only showed, I think, 4 of 14 tent modes at that point, not sure if the food stand modes were fully implemented, none of the various wizard modes were done, neither of the outlane modes, and only a few audio tracks. The list goes on and on and you will soon get to see it. There are also a few playfield changes as well art package changes.

I certainly want to get a lot of humor in the game, and we are not close to where I want that to be, but we will eventually get there. Not sure we will do jokes about other companies, we want things to be new and fresh. However, the monkey will certainly be popping up here and there in Oktoberfest. Certainly Houdini owners could see a new joke or two at the expense of other companies at some point in the future.

I think you need to look for steins that have measurements on the side, stein is filled X way up before the ball is played, based on how much beer is left at end of ball, equates to points be deducted from the players score, e.g. you need to drink while playing, but can't drink while cradling or a ball is the scoop, etc. This is similar to a mode in the game, Stein Racing, but works the opposite, the value of the shots is based on how much beer is in the stein when the shot is made, the amount of beer (and shot value) reduces when wrong shots are made, which spills beer out of your stein, and yes, this is a mode you play one handed.

Most likely a tournament style of play. Something like pingolf? Definitely challenging and have epi-pens on hand....

Have the screen graphics been overhauled? They were the biggest problem with the last version you showed, IMO. Super-inconsistent and amateurish art direction and implementation.

I really like the game"s look and it's concept. But, the animations kill it for me. I agree with virtually everything that Kaneda said about Oktoberfest in his recent podcast. AP needs to do much better in it's cartoonish animations and call outs if it wants me to buy the game. Otherwise, I will most likely await JJP'S Toy Story. But, I really do hope that AP can step up their game.

That's the weird thing, the playfield art and backglass have been so nice!

This game sounds like it will have another great set of innovations like Houdini has - the one handed mode! I am super interested to see how that flies -

I don’t really care about the stuff on the LCD that much, since you hardly can see it while you’re playing, ( and I like the Houdini graphics), but as a JJP owner as well, I agree that is a TALL bar

Official stein race beta testing bjsilverballs

Really looking forward to seeing what API has done with this theme. This will be a big year for API and TPF show should be a Huge opportunity for a solo launch. This game is looking good!

I received my Oktoberfest today... and while I may be totally biased, I am very impressed at the quality of the production hardware. The team at the API factory has built a rock-solid machine. And I'm loving the playfield refinements that Joe Balcer has made, compared to the prototype games that have appeared at shows over the past few months. It just shoots better.

Software-wise, as rosh said, it's really not comparable to the game that was shown at the Chicago Expo. Code, art, and audio have all progressed immensely in the past few months. Game rules are pretty much done now (though I'll still be tweaking score balance obsessively). We've been getting new art and audio assets pretty much daily. And now we're at the point of adding in more lighting effects, shaker effects, knocker effects, all that fun icing on the cake.

And had several friends over to break it in... I believe everyone had a ton of fun. We aimed to create a game that was joyous and festive and silly and fun, with great shots and interesting strategic choices, and I think we nailed it. I couldn't be happier with the overall product, and I hope y'all love it too.

Cheers to everyone's hard work! This is most excellent news!

Hey uh.. I’d be happy to come by and field test it for you Can’t wait to see this next great release!

Thanks - really looking forward to seeing the finished game!

This is great news Joe. There is no feeling like playing the real machine after working on it for months remotely and virtually. Awesome!

I am curious how far your friends made it through the game last night. I ask this this because 14 tents is alot of modes to cover (and sound really cool) and I'm going through difficulty balancing with something I'm working on too. I'm curious if your friends found it too much content or they made it half way and it would be possible to go all the way through on a killer game?

What were some other comments they gave the game last night when playing? First impressions say alot! Were they able to follow the rules of the game with the callouts and screen messages? Did they like some particular feature the most? Personally I think the locking barrel sounds cool as I love physical locks and I love the idea of flipper button controlled magnets.

The Chicken Dance is more American Oktoberfest vs German...of the 11 Munich Oktoberfests that I have attended I think I only heard the Chicken Dance twice...IMO, I find it extremely annoying...sorry.

I found the original heavy music awesome , especially during Juggling , so i am hoping that is still there along with some oompah style chugging music.

While one member of the design team, who I shall not name, wanted this, I did something I rarely do, and outright vetoed it and our sound guy Matt Kern rejoiced.

Our goal has always been for a mix. Just like on Houdini, we spend a lot of time trying to find the right musical feel for each mode. I think you will find there is great variety in the sound track. I suspect Matt will continue to tweak the tunes after we get them all implemented.

Ferret and I have worked hard to get features, modes and strategic elements for the casual player, the enthusiast and the hard core tournament player, there are so many different aspects to strategy that every player can find opportunities that fit their style of play (I personally care little about collecting a stein that will give me extra tilt warnings, but some certainly will, I prefer ones that will make it easier to get ducks, so I can get to duck derby, or spell OKTOBERFEST). Ferret is certainly making sure this game will be "Tournament friendly".

Are you not allowed to post pictures and a vid?

It looks like octoberfest

His particular example is not a 'final' version of the game.. so cabinet/etc are not representative of the shipping product. So from that angle photos are pretty anti-climatic. But the playable portion of the game is all production level stuff.

Would like to hold off on videos for a bit longer. I suspect some machines will make it out into public view soon. But we will share more stuff soon.

His is a bit of a Frankenstein, some of the armor is the the powdered coat color we rejected, not sure what legs he got, his backglass is either the original prototype or a temporary one we did at one point, but certainly not the final one, I think the cabinet has prototype art, not sure if it has the inside art, the playfield is missing some of the toys.

Cant wait to see how this turns out. when I trade my Alien this is one of the pins I want to get

Totally possible. One friend, certainly a good player, got through 11 of the 14 tent features and one mini-wiz, then the game crashed. (Doh! Mea culpa. But this is beta testing, so that’s the point here: let me find the crashes so y’all don’t.) Several players played about half the tents in a game, which I think is fine for day 1 play. For reference, everyone was a very experienced player, though a range of skill levels.

I think so. I made a point of mostly shutting up and watching and taking notes, not telling people what to do, because API is not shipping me with every game sold. I didn’t notice any persistent confusion... folks seemed to get the general idea of most features within a couple games. Perhaps most importantly for me, since it’s a major hook of the game, people seemed to quickly catch on to the stein power-ups and started choosing them with purpose. There are some subtle rules that seemed to confuse folks, I’ll ponder whether to document them better or leave them subtle. I admit that I like having some subtle/quasi-secret rules so that players can have the joy of discovery... IMHO it’s kinda boring if everything is just laid out for you. As long as those rules don’t prevent anyone from having a good time even if they don’t study up, of course.

Also, this machine was running week-old code (since that’s when it shipped) and we’ve improved a bunch of things since then... we’re really in refinement mode. So I’ll put on the latest and greatest and we’ll try it all again tonight.

Overall it seemed like people had a lot of fun. Didn’t hear many complaints about anything. Hardest shot might be the Beer Barrel ramp/lock, which is an upper flipper shot... took folks a few games to find that, but by the end of the evening Beer Barrel MB was played many times, so I think that’ll be fine.

Prost!

You heard it here first, AP's next game is Frankenstein!

Going to be exciting when videos do appear. Can't wait.

LTG : )

Qualifying modes is easy.. and the mode start shot is readily available to the players. So if you kept the ball alive, you could go deep in the tents. Finishing modes is a different story

THAT'S IT! I'm out!!!!

Thanks for saying that, I think it is pretty easy and been debating with Ferret if we should change the stein that makes it easier to spell TENT to something else that I feel could benefit from a 'stein boost'. Curious to see what he thinks after he gets to play it more. Of course for someone who has no issue with spelling TENT, they would likely not take that stein, at least until they need it to complete the set, but the question is, is there some other aspect of the game that could benefit from the boost or is it better to have it so someone who does not know how to use the flippers to lane change . . .

Excellent news! That's good to hear.

I may be willing to make exceptions for our customers in Hawaii.

As it stands.. I wouldn't say change is 'needed' at this point.. tho maybe there could be some 'fun' boosts in its place. I didn't track it per say... but it looked like tent was enabled at game start.. possibly even ball start (which one assumes is just a easy/hard/etc setting). But whatever it is about the geometry of the game, the ball was always finding the inlanes, so I never had the "how do I get the ball over there!!" moment trying to qualify the tent.

Things I found more challenging were shooting otto except from the plunge... shooting the barrel ramp and getting a clean shot at the center food shot. We would still get some interesting ball spin outs on the tent scoop.. and I found myself avoiding shooting from the right flipper because hitting the post on the back-right of the tent shot was deadly.

A theme in my feedback was I wanted more player feedback to what was happening. Things specifically stood out were things like hitting the food drop target.. the ball saves.. or prost letters (especially in the mode where you shot for those.. missing by hitting the wrong letter should provide some feedback).

I'd also like to see more audible feedback to the player guiding them to something if they aren't really getting it. IE the 'taunt' or 'lead them to something' callout. If you aren't in a mode - it can be a little barren in knowing "what should I be doing?". More visual feedback when progress is made on a qualifier could help there as well (Example: think hitting aerosmith letters.. or spelling theatre.. you get audio and video feedback on what that progress is and what it does for you). So you don't always have to tell me what to do.. but if you give me hints about progress made during my flailing... seeing/hearing something interesting may make me go 'ooo.. I want more of that!'

Things like knowing the blue lights guide you through the modes was a concept that once explained, helped greatly, but that wasn't necessarily obvious upon walking up to the game. The magnet nabs, collects, and features aren't necessarily obvious when playing a few games either.

I walked up 'cold'.. not having watched any of the previous gameplay (just a few minutes worth..) to have an objective take on it. The items like responses and feedback I know will mature as ferret now has his unlimited live play time with the game

Agree with many of Flynnibus' comments. As I mentioned above, we're getting additional visual and audio assets almost daily, so a lot of the player feedback items are either already done (but not in the build that was on the game last night) or coming soon. For example, we're expecting to get several hundred new callout lines in the next few days. Fun stuff.

Congratulations AP.....again

I have to say, ever since playing #tna I am obsessed with he missed shot feedback. The way that it is handled in that game is awesome.

This sounds pretty exciting, I need to stop reading these and just wait to play it.

I like the idea of call outs that direct us to what we should shot at. I can play multiple games on a new (to me) machine and still have little clue. Once you know the goals it gets much more fun. but for experienced players they can duel flip out of some text at the beginning of certain modes.

And with lighting the concept of using different colors for different modes is brilliant and helps direct us. I love the way it works with Houdini.

SIAP, but when is Oktoberfest going to be available for purchase? I see it's listed as a 2018 game. Is there a new target date/season? I have $$ earmarked but am starting to get antsy lol. If it will be a while, I'll get something to satisfy me in the meantime.

Thanks!

I would guess soon since they will have production ones at TPF.

Call your distributor now.

LTG : )

I did; the distributor had no clue. I would also guess soon, but I saw mention that the humor isn't near where they want it to be (or something like that lol).

Oktoberfest is one of the top games i am looking forward to at TPF.

Well, the pin is probably going to sell more games in America, vs Munich. Try to be just annoyed, not extremely annoyed.

Try Chris at Kingpin games or Jesse at Pincades.

LTG : )

There are tons or distributors that will take your pre-order. Given AP's history with Houdini and where they appear to be with Oktoberfest's development, you should be able to take deliver on the latter by May, if not sooner.

I'll second the recommendation for Jesse at Pincades, he's great to work with and is pretty tight with the A.P. guys.

Getting real. From American Pinball on Facebook :

"We're getting close! Games are starting to come off the line for location testing before we commence shipment to customers. This is the first Oktoberfest production game - it’s leaving and is on its way to the Louisville Arcade Expo! "

LTG : )

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Come to the Louisville Arcade and Pinball Expo this weekend and play the first production Oktoberfest: Pinball On Tap pinball machine by American Pinball. Game is being presented by Flip N Out Pinball, authorized distributor. Code is still in beta testing, likely until TPF. Gonna be a lot of fun. We are also taking a list of interested buyers for Oktoberfest machines and they should start shipping after TPF. Let us know how we can help!

Zach Meny
Flip N Out Pinball LLC
847.778.4876
[email protected]

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Note - this is the proto art....before you comment "I thought they were changing the cabinet art".

Zach you saving me a place in front of the line to play it??? Your van is going to be full.....going to need a bigger van!!