Yeah, of the trademarks they've registered, Sherlock Holmes seems to have the most potential. Really looking forward to seeing what they can do with it (and hoping they have hired a good artist/art director).

Finally got to play some games on Oktoberfest at the NW Show today. Such a fun and great looking game - lived up to all my expectations!

Got to meet Josh too! Here he is with some bum at the show:
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Sounds fishy to me.

LTG : )

I like unique pinball themes. It seems like things can easily "jump the shark" when studios have to stay within the confines of a specific theme. That said, I imagine it is somewhat relieving for them as it reduces infinity in terms of ideas and directions.

Having issue with code update.

Game won't update per instructions. FAT32 drive with plenty of storage.

Is there an alternative on the backbox?

What (if anything) does it say when you try to update?

USB 2 memory stick ? At least 4GB ( maybe not too huge ? some companies games don't like above 16GB ) USB cable by cash box you plug it into, is it plugged into something ( motherboard or something - I don't have an AP game to check ) ? Maybe reseat it, or unplug the cable and plug the memory stick in there, in case the USB cable is bad.

LTG : )

Picked up Oktoberfest Friday !Great game and build quality is beautiful

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I'm in!!!!!!

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Anyone else with the game having problem with the "Food" standup target with the VUK up top? Mine won't stay up, constantly firing and dropping. I looked at the mech and nothing stands out as an issue although the ledge thing that holds it up seems really small. Tried adjusting coil power, loosened the spring, nothing helped.

Yes, mine "bounced" a lot (took a few tries to stay up). Adjusting coil power did the trick for me.

Specifically, in my game, Drop Target = 20 (default was 16).

I'm using a SanDisk 16GB Ultra Fit USB 3.1 thumb drive. Works great, about 7 bucks on Amazon. I'm pretty sure the USB extension port in Oktoberfest is USB 2.0 (so no speed benefit there), but it's a good choice if your home computer has a USB 3.0 port.

Anybody figured out the secret flipper code ?

LTG : )

Sandisk worked for me. Thx!

Got some good time on it yesterday.

Love this pin guys. Shoots great and a ton of stuff to do and conquer

Nope! But only played it once!! I hope someone in the PHX area gets one, and wants to share!!

Btw, the build quality is exceptional

The PF and clear job is as good or better than any pin I’ve purchased. Not many air balls or clunky shots

I’ve gotten use to the music and it seems more varied on this latest Beta code update

It is. Upcoming code release includes lots of new music, callouts, and sound effects, with yet more to come.

Oktoberfest version 19.6.5 is now available for download from our website. https://www.american-pinball.com/support/updates

IMPORTANT!!! The new code will automatically increase flipper strength of the right flipper when the coaster ramp is down, this requires you to lower the current power setting on the right flipper coil. This change result in less overheating and also make the duck target less deadly, since the flipper will be at lower power most of the time. It is very important to adjust the current settings after the update, so please read the release notes when installing this update.

tried new code now game does not work at all says login pinix

Loving the music mix Ferret. Huge difference for the better.

Fud Frenzy cracks me up

New magnet action is fun, i noticed it from the top several times!

I'm seeing instances where the magnet dome LEDs are yellow, but the Magnab button does nothing (when I think it should activate and grab the ball). Happens frequently and impacts gameplay. Checked the Magnab button in Switch Test (works perfectly). I'm running the latest code. Typical scenario is this: I have one magnab left, the frosted domes are yellow, I make a shot from the left flipper (without going through an inlane first), through the spinner, and the Magnab button is totally unresponsive. Not always though. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Anyone else notice this?

Did a bunch of improvements to magnab and possible when I updated the lamp code logic I missed a rule. I'll look into it.

BTW, typically if someone is having issues loading code, we will contact them via PM, so don't think that someone posted an issue and was ignored. Obviously we don't live on pinside, so always good to open a support ticket if you are having issues.

Apparently mine is being made next week - one of only two to be shipped to the UK. Can't wait for it to make its way over here!

I'm having part of my collarbone removed soon which will mean left arm in a sling for a while, but I am hoping that I will be able to play it anyway using my right hand to control both flippers. Can this be done, or do the two buttons on the right only work for certain modes rather than the whole game?

Ouch, talk about adding insult to injury! I believe the current code has a way to start the game in one-handed only mode, search Ferret's posts in this thread as it's definitely mentioned. If you play that way for a significant period of time you'll get good at it I'd bet and then you'll kill that mode during regular games later, great way to beat others during league or tourney I'd think. I wish you a speedy recovery and shipment of your game.

Would love to get some opinions on this pin. I have thought about trading my WOZLE for something new and have an offer to trade it for this pin and would appreciate thoughts. Is it pretty challenging (which I tend to like vs something really easy)? Does it seem reasonably deep code wise?

I was talking to Josh at the Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show last weekend about the one-handed playing feature. I can't recall the exact details off-hand about how to start it but it was something like holding down both right buttons while pressing start. This puts the game in single handed mode for all players for the entire game.

Correct, but the settings for one handed play needs to be set to 'Player Selected', the original default was 'No', so existing owners will need to change the setting to 'Player Selected'. When holding in both right side flippers for a couple of seconds, the display will change to indicate to press start for one handed play. There is only the extra button on the machine, so one handed play is right handed.

I have a OKT being delivered tomorrow so I can tell you more after that but I do have a WOZRR and I played a lot of OKT at TPF previously and I really liked it, enough so to buy one. It really has some innovative game rules, fun shots that have some difficulty but are make able, and fun toys. And for me, it looks great. But, having said that, there is no way I would trade my WOZ for it or any other machine. The 2 games are completely different which is what I like in my collection. So, if you can afford it and still enjoy your WOZ, can you keep it and buy an OKT? But, if you really want to move the WOZ, the OKT is a great game and great choice to replace it with. Best of luck in your decision.

Yes, you can set the adjustment so the game is always in one-handed mode, not even needing to hold the right-side buttons when starting the game.

Best wishes for a quick and complete recovery.

Thanks for your responses rosh and@Ferret.

Lucky for me its right handed only play that's possible as its the left that will be out of action!

This is one of the best new games games you can get. It’s packed full of high quality toys and features. It’s pretty challenging. It’s not Iron Man / bksor hard, but it’s no Hobbit. Game times are similar to WOZ or Houdini, maybe even a bit shorter. It depends how you set it up. Don’t have the Outlane saves set to easy and you should be fine. Code wise, there’s a *lot* to do, and WAY more to come. There’s so many strategies and I’m still figuring out the best way to play it after a month of owning it. To me, the theme is more like a carnival with all the tent modes. WOZ is a great game, but Oktoberfest is just special

Awesome way to play, But when you try to play this way every time you push bottom flipper button to flip left flipper it uses your mag stops! I'm I'm not sure if this is intended, or another way that the mag could be energized with only one hand....... ( would have to switch that function to the left flipper button ) So I guess I'm just asking what is intended for this problem? It could be I have set something wrong.....

P.S. You guys made an amazing game and not complaining at all just asking....

The intention is that when playing in one-handed mode, basically the left flipper button and the MagNab button swap, so the left flipper button is MagNab and the lower right button is the left flipper. The normal right flipper button remains unchanged.

I'll test to make sure this is indeed what's happening and we're not incorrectly using MagNabs on that button when playing one-handed... hopefully we didn't introduce a bug.

(BTW, the above description should apply regardless of how you get into one-handed mode: whether it's during Stein Race, or by player-initiated one-handed mode, or by "permanent" one-handed mode by adjustment.)

I use the Magnab button, lower right, to lock the shot from the right flipper around to the magnet so I can set up the Beer Barrel lock?

That’s my limited knowledge now and not sure if I’m correct but it works?

nvm, yes Stein race which is really cool!

Finally got to the Flipper Meister mode. Pretty cool! Not going to spoil it for anyone. Just have a few rule questions.

- what determines the value of each of the shots? Is it related to your mode scores? I had one pin wiz ale stein going into this also.

-It would be nice if there were some instruction text before the mode starts since it’s a bit confusing.

-I got all the shots and went into what seemed like victory laps for 2 million a shot (the first one was a million, maybe a completion bonus?). Anyway, seems like a tad too valuable. The beginning shots seem well balanced.

-Anything special happen with the tent modes afterwards? I drained before I could start another one. (Here’s a quick idea: Have a super Flipper Meister mode if you complete all the modes and not just start them. Try to get all the tents green. Just a thought

-Sorry if it’s been mentioned before, but what are the current wizard modes in the game and what’s still to come?

Thanks!

I just unpacked mine today and unfortunately I have a lot of problems. I really feel like my game must have missed soothe play testing phase because some of these are pretty egregious.

For context, all legs are screwed all the way in (setting at 6 degrees per the manual). I have 6 balls installed, and when going directly into switch test after boot, I see the attached arrangement of lights. I also updated to the latest code after about an hour of messing with it out of the box.

-Out of the box, the corkscrew switches would not work. They failed the switch test so I reseated all of the plugs. That didn’t work, so I decided to be brave and reversed the ribbon cable connector (since it isn’t keyed). Doing that caused one of the switches to work. Then I flipped it back around and they all started working. So this one is a win.
-The ball jumps off the end of the wire ramp from the VUK and drains nearly every time.
-About 70% of the time, the balls fail to exit the ball trough. After the solenoid fires ~10 time, the game just sits until it does a ball search. Often after doing the ball search it will trigger a drain sequence.
-Starting a new game will sometimes immediately fire a ball out and into the play field with no plunge. This happens if it succeeds in getting the ball out of the trough (last bullet) then with zero warning it blasts it into play. When this happens the whole cycle takes about 1/2 a second from start button press to ball launch.
-Ball drains are frequently not registered. All trough IR switches seem to be working per tests.
-Drop target will not stay up which causes ver rapid cycling. It stays up about once ever 15 tries, but it is random. I have no idea how to adjust this without removing a lot of hardware, I will consider that tomorrow.
-Pre-installed Mylar is bubbly and rough to the touch.
-All pop bumpers fire at the same time regardless of which pop bumper is the first to be hit.

I really wanted to love this game, but all of these issues have really crushed my excitement . I expect a few issues out of the box, but this seems a bit excessive. I will research filing for appropriate support with AP tomorrow. I just wanted to get this documented in case someone has a suggestion.

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Congrats! That's quite a tough mode to reach.

Yes... each lit shot made gives an award based on your performance in tent modes, in the order you played those tent modes. And of course, Pin Wiz Pale Ale multiplies these shot values, same way steins boost all tent modes. (Wanna defer Flipper Meister while you stack a couple Pin Wiz Pale Ales? Risky strategy, but quite lucrative if you pull it off...)

Totally agree, I'm on that.

Thank you for that feedback. 'tis true, if you get to the Victory Laps phase of Flipper Meister, the shots are very valuable, as it's very difficult to even reach Flipper Meister, let alone complete it... but if I overdid it, I'm glad to evaluate and adjust.

Not specifically, you kind of start over. Of course, since all tent mode scoring is based on ducks, you'll certainly have a decent number of ducks at that point, so every tent should be much more valuable the second time through. You will likely also have more steins, so those will also boost tent scoring.

There's no separate award planned for this, but since Flipper Meister scoring is based on your total points in each tent mode, if you actually won every tent before playing Flipper Meister, the Flipper Meister shot values would be insanely high.

The code we just released (19.6.5) has Flipper Meister and Duck Derby enabled. Calorie Coma (5th Food Stand feature) and Stein Slinging (collect all 14 distinct steins) should be in the next code release. There should be a final FINAL wizard mode for conquering everything else in the game, still to come.

I hope you had a great time playing through to Flipper Meister! What was your final score on that game?

Hi @aniraf ...

I'm so sorry that you've had a bad out-of-box experience with your game. Of course that is not acceptable, we want you to be able to enjoy your new game right away. Although I'm not API Customer Service, I'm up at this silly hour so I'll take a crack at whatever I can...

Try reducing the power of the Food Stand VUK via the operator menu: Settings > Coils > VUK.

So for all of these, I'm worried about your photo that appears to show the Ball Trough Jam switch active. If the Trough Jam opto is being triggered when there's no ball there, weird stuff is gonna happen. My first thought would be to try re-seating the trough board connectors (with the game powered off, please!) to see if that helps.

You can try strengthening the drop target reset via the adjustments: Settings > Coils > Drop Target. It may just need a little extra "oomph" to have it securely reset.

Ack, that's pretty scary. If you go into Tests > Switches and trigger one of the pop bumper rings with your finger, does the screen show all the bumpers activating, or just the one you touched?

Again, I'm very sorry to hear you're having problems with your game, but I'm sure between myself and other API staff here, we can get you fixed up soon.

This is why there is going to be an Oktoberfest in the house soon. Day 1 Houdini owner, AP has only raised the bar

I love Oktoberfest, hoping to be an owner soon as well. I wonder if there is a way to order the original "controversial" backglass as well. Might be a cool conversation piece.

Thanks @ferret! I will test some of these things out. I was exhausted last night after unpacking this and another machine. What is the best way to contact AP support? Sorry, that is a lazy question…I’ll go find out.

I believe you can order the Houdini back glass with the monkey doing his little inappropriate thing.

sorry you are having issues, lets see if we can get some of this taken care of, and then Barry can help with what is left.

As Ferret said, lower the power, also, their are two 'tines' on the wire form right when at the top of the VUK feed to the wireworm, you can bend those down so the ball is just able to pass under it, this way if it comes out too hot that will slow it down a touch.

A few machines shipped with an incorrect dip Switch setting on one of the boards, that could be the cause of this. Open a ticket on our website and Barry can get you the instructions to adjust it.

On the switches. Are you sure you didn't have a stacked ball in the trough? that would explain what is on the switch screen. If it is having trouble kicking out a ball, which can result in a stack, try adjusting the coil strength (it not getting out raise it, if bouncing back in lower it).

Also check both connections on the trough boards to be sure they are fully seated.

Drop target, increase the coil strength, in most cases that will resolve that issue.

Again sorry you are having issues, seems this game might have been rattled pretty good in shipping. We will get it all figured out.

Final score was 16.5 million. Little over half that was from flipper Meister

Phone: 833-API-HELP
Email: [email protected]
Web: https://www.american-pinball.com/support/service/

Good luck, I hope you get these glitches worked out quickly, and then have a blast with the game.

Nice score, even without the Meister points.

Agreed though, that feels a bit too rich, I’ll tweak it. Thanks for the info.

What would be interesting about this is, once you have visited 13 you could skip Flipper Meister (don't recall if we allow that or not, if I have flipper meister lit, I'm going for it) to go back and 'win' a mode you did not win, but that becomes quite the risk/reward decision depending on how many tents you needed to finish vs the potential bump in scoring. I could see some sort of a multiplier of the scoring in the mode if you have won them all. Hard to see the risk/reward of it worth it unless that was a big multiplier of some kind, unless it was not your last ball.

Another possibility is a one time bonus at start of flipper meister if you have won them all.

Hard enough to visit all 13 tents, let alone beat them. There are a couple of tents I have yet to beat on a single visit.

Ferret I'll be sure to play flipper meister a few times next week while you are gone, I'll make notes on scores, obviously stein count can make a huge difference. Maybe a 1 mil on first victory lap, then a 250/500/750/1 mil, progressive that resets ever four shots.

You’re not forced to play Flipper Meister unless you’ve won all 13 other tents, so yes, you could do this.

There are? Which ones? Ring Toss used to be nigh impossible, but that’s been improved in this code update. The rest should be reasonable to win in one attempt.

Strangely enough I don’t think I’ve finished juggling on a single visit at least not that I can recall with glass on. I don’t play it often.

Can’t say for certain on Ring toss, or stein race as far as a single visit.

Target shooting, duck hunt, fud frenzy, bumper cars, tap it, rotor, rockin express, sky slide and chugging are all winnable on a single visit, especially if stacked with a multiball, (obviously can’t stack tapit)

Looper i either win easily or stink it up, depending on if I can find the rhythm when the ball comes down the coaster ramp.

Of course always helpful to collect the TENT letters during tent modes to add time. Obviously there is a stein for that too, but not one i tend to take early.