My wife and I have logged on 173 games in total with an average game time of 7 minutes, 6 seconds. We have had a few that went approximately 15 minutes but those are rare and a lot of fun. If you set the game difficulty to easy, you can expect long games if you have some skills (no surprise there). I hope you do not "walk away" because it is a fun game and a challenging game. I hope this helps you in your decision making.

if you are a skilled player and the game is in default settings its a long playing game. not sure what else needs to be said. i've still seen plenty of people step up and walk away in a handful of minutes if they aren't pinball players.

its extremely fun, the code is deep but if long playtimes aren't your bag.... then this one will likely rank up there with LOTR, Hobbit, Houdini, JJP Pirates, etc.

Shouldn't be anywhere close. Average game times that I've seen are in the neighborhood of 4-5 minutes. Of course a skilled player can blow it up, but that's true of any game.

Also, Oktoberfest has a LOT of adjustments, so you have lots of flexibility to adjust ball savers, extra balls, etc to help tune your game times.

It also depends if you are playing a 3 or 5 ball game. Our average of 7 minutes+ was with, embarrassing to say, 5 balls. So, not so long really.

I just set one up, have not played it yet. It is making a loud humming noise like a refrigerator, is this noise normal?
Thanks,
Johnny

To those playing the game and complaining about the BB lock. I just played 4 games and hit it 7 times. It is at the tip of the flipper and is easiest to hit when the magnet releases the ball. It is NOT like Dialed In where the ramp is the middle of the flipper.. It take some practice, the game is not easy to blow up period! Stop whining and practice

I found the answer to my question, it was minor.

Okay. It’s TOTALLY makable. Just got beer barrel twice in the same game. Once you’re used to when the magnet is gonna help and want not, it’s totally doable.

None yet in first 30 games. Upped the flipper power a tad before turning it off.
Hell, could not do anything at other games at first either, that is the fun part... learning a new game.

Not complaining about getting the ball into the beer barrel? I'm complaining about how difficult it is on top of that getting the lock is lit before getting it into the barrel.

It’s definitely not easy and I was specifically going for it. I compare it to whirlwind’s jackpot shot but a tad harder as it’s harder to set up the shot than whirlwind.

Thanks for the reassurance!

My game (default settings, except I have it set for 5-ball): after 417 games played, average game time is 8:24, average ball time is 1:52. I'm an "average" player (middle of the pack in tournaments). You guys are gonna love this pin.

Plans for my 40th next month are as follows:

1. Get Oktoberfest pin
2. Order Keg of German Beer
3. Buy brats
4. Invite my pinball friends over

1a. set family friendly to off(not that it matters much)
1b. set the barrel so that it holds balls after the game is over
1c. set the upper flipper power a tad higher.

I really hope American Pinball is successful. They make some awesome games, and are very helpful. I have not needed any help myself yet, but I see them all the time on pinside helping people. That is a main reason I just purchased a OKF.

Great plans ! Early Happy 40th !

LTG : )

Why would one want to hold balls in barrel after game ends? Please explain.

To keeps LOCKS for the following game... this cant be if pin is set in tournament of course...

I kinda figured as much, but isn't that cheating? Start game with 1-2 balls already locked?

Beer Barrel locks can be stolen, across players in a game, and/or across games... the latter only if you set the option to keep the balls in the lock between games. So for example, if you have the game set to hold Beer Barrel locks at end of game, and you end a game with two balls locked, then when you start the next game, you just have to light the BB lock (complete PROST), shoot the BB ramp, and you'll be in Beer Barrel Multiball, because you steal the locked balls.

If you set it to release the balls at end of game, you can still steal BB locks between players within a game, but not across games.

BTW, even in tournament mode, you can enable the option to retain BB locks between games. This can provide a strategic choice for a player with choice of play order to do something other than the traditional "last available"... perhaps you look in the Beer Barrel, see two balls lurking there, and decide to play first and try to steal those balls.

Dude. Excellent explanation.

Well I've just spent a very frustrating 45 minutes with the glass off adjusting the power of the upper right flipper up and down, trying to get it to make the beer barrel lock, but it appears impossible to do so.

I have tried everything from the default power, to a little higher, as AP recommends, to 27, 28, 29, 30, 33, 36, 40 etc, and even though it climbs up the ramp, the ball only gets about half way up the ramp. With the power on the highest setting possible I got a couple of shots that almost made it to the top of the ramp before falling back down. This can't be right, surely!!??

I understand that this is meant to be a difficult shot, but this seems ridiculous. I am a reasonable player and if I can't get the ball up the ramp trying the shot repeatedly with the glass off then what chance has a visitor or casual player during a normal game? Am I missing something? The leg levellers are all the way in and a digital inclinometer confirms that it is at 6.0 degrees at the bottom (although slightly more at the far end) and level to 0 degrees sideways. I am at a loss as to what can be wrong. It's a real shame as I am enjoying the game but I can't help feeling something is not right.

Any suggestions much appreciated!

Yep

And hard for me to write with my portable, but of course you CANT use this in tournament (until is a serious one)

But for sure must be more than fun when in friendly meeting

Maybe your power at the socket is too low? Are you getting a true 220 or 110 volts as appropriate?

I've not played the game so I'm guessing, but it has been said that the ball needs to be on the tip of the flipper... if this is the case, then maybe lowering the flipper 1/4 of an inch could help? I realise you'll have to elongate the hole in the playfield, but if it's just 1/4 inch it shouldn't be visible... just a thought...

Sounds like you're just missing the shot. Keep practicing and keep the strength stock. Once you find where to hit it, it'll make it up the ramp no problem.

I have a issue with the lockdown bar getting loose all the time. I constantly have to open the coin door and push on the lever again. Average of 5 balls played I have to do this.
Any tips/suggestions?
Thanks in advance.

Adjust the two brass screws on the lockdown bar receiver to tighten it ?

LTG : )

Maybe. Seems like a big ask for a casual player playing on location though.

One observation that has been made already I think that I agree with is that the corkscrew multiball experience is lacking a bit currently. The start and then the music etc that goes with it doesn't really ramp up the excitement yet. It could do with a bit more pizazz and fireworks imho.

Mustn't grumble though: still a great game!

I think the ideal way to start the multiball would be have a sound like a rollercoaster ride... first a brief sound of the clanking of the chain that lifts the carriages up the main lift followed by the rush of the wheels and, mainly, the screams as the balls are released... I was at an amusement park recently and was recording the sound of a large wooden coaster with the intension of capturing something that would suit this exact purpose with the plan to pass it to API for them to consider using, but there was too much background noise and it didn't come out as crisp as I hoped... I tried to attach the sound file here but I can't...

Here's a photo of it... you'll just have to imagine the sound.

20190831_121556 (resized).jpg

Had some goofy behavior right before Barry and Dan packed the game up at CLE PIN.

Started the game and hit the scoop to start a tent mode. After selecting duck hunt, the game gave me beer barrel lock 1, then served a ball into the shooter lane after the ball came out of the scoop. Then it had the ball start animation. Once I drained one of the balls it went to bonus count up.

Hard to know for sure just based on that description, but I'd at least be suspicious of a misadjusted switch (or wiggly connector) on the Beer Barrel lock switches.

If that machine is going back to the shop with BarryJ and @dandandan, perhaps they can pull the logs and/or try to repro the problem, so we can confirm.

Oh, and for pinballslave ... I for one am very, very familiar with the sound of the anti-rollback device on a roller coaster lift hill. We had actually considered that sound as the coaster ascended the hill in the Corkscrew start animation, but decided it might be kind of annoying to hear over and over, especially for people not accustomed to roller coasters. Being honest about it, it's not the most pleasant sound, even if it has positive connotations for coaster enthusiasts.

That said, audio is still getting polished in the game code, so who knows where we settle on that...

Both Houdini and Oktoberfest are very well built, reliable machines. There has been a lot of talk recently about other manufacturers playfield issues. Has anyone had playfield issues with their American Pinball pins?

That 'anti-rollback' sound, If used, would, in my mind, be relatively quiet... afterall, I imagine that part of the coaster in the game is right at the back of the playfield (where the balls are locked). It would also be a relatively short part of the audio... the main part would be the whooooosh of the wheels and the screams... there could even be a few different versions of the sound to reduce the repetition element, although I admit that the anti-fallback sound would be best to remain the same, since it's always the same in reality... mainly the screams would be best varied... it would be awesome IMHO!! I've got some other ideas for sounds in this game by the way... playing the 'birdi song' during a mode (annoying song, but also excellent in this game, and very funny to hear in a pin!!) And also having the sound of the Alpine Horn (shown on one of the plastics) continuously triggered when making the shot that helps complete the mode... that would be so cool!!!

Me and a couple of the other pin guys were playing in a tournament at the local brewery today and ‘playfield-gate’ was a topic of discussion.

We noticed absolutely no pooling on Oktoberfest. The playfield still looks pristine after hundreds of plays.

Guardians of The Galaxy and Ghostbusters weren’t fairing so well. Definitely some noticeable pools but nothing like JP2 or Wonka/POTC are seeing right out of the box. But still enough to notice.

And things like LOTR, Simpsons PBP and Fish Tales (diamond plate) are still in downright remarkable condition considering the thousands of games they have seen. They just built em better back in those days. Volatile chemicals be damned.

The game preformed great in the women's tournament, that said it was moved several times after the tournament so the wiggly connector may have been the culprit
We'll have to check the logs

We have had ZERO reports of the issues other companies are having with their playfields with either of our games

One feature I really like on this game is the use of the knocker. On many games its such a waste to use the knocker only to mark a match or free game award, so its great to see the knocker being used to generate a loud bang during modes, for example when hitting a duck in shooting one, and also in the bumper one.

I can only think of Addams and the use of the knocker in Seance mode as another example of games that use the knocker as part of the game, although there are probably more. Anyway, good work AP! I'm really glad I ordered the real knocker option.

I should probably know this already, but what's 'pooling'? Is it like ghosting off the inserts?

Well, some folks want a real knocker, but I felt what is the point does not get used a lot, and that if we were going to offer one, lets find more use for it. On Houdini we used it in Bullet Catch and based on how well that was received on Okto we took up another notch with use in at least four places: duck hunt, target shooting, bumper cars and beer barrel multiball, not sure if I am forgetting any others. When I play on Okto without one, if feels empty when in those modes.

I certainly prefer real knockers!

Go check out the ‘stern and jjp playfield issues’ thread for more detail.

Basically the clearcoat being used these days seems to be too soft or lacks the proper time to cure. So it’s pooling up around the posts being screwed into the playfield

rosh is the food drop target only pulled down by gravity? No spring?

The one here is not dropping unless pushed down. There is just no urge for the target to drop when hit

I don't have the game to check. I don't recall a drop target without a spring. There is a notch on the side for the spring to hook to the drop target and the assembly frame to snap it down.

LTG : )

If it's a normal drop target the spring would attach where the arrow points and follow the orange line going down.

LTG : )

DSC00072 (resized).JPG

Thx ltg... it seemed obvious there should be a spring... but I could not see one in the diagram in the assembly manual... and nothing was found in the game. Now to look and see if the tab on the drop actually broke

definitely has a spring, possible target is rubbing on something that is creating too much resistance?

Would anyone like the birdie song to be somewhere in this game?

With better sound quality than this of course!