Oktoberfest
American Pinball, 2018You're currently viewing posts by Pinsider arcadem.
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Quoted from LTG:This thread - post 1746 from Rosh :
"We will certainly bring a few production Oktoberfest machines to TPF, and be sure to attend our seminar to learn more about the changes we have made and about the rules. "
Be sure and hit their seminar. If you see them there, be sure and say hi !
LTG : )
Looking forward to seeing and playing Oktoberfest and, maybe ordering one. And, looking forward to meeting you too Lloyd and personally telling you thanks for all of your sage guidance.
Quoted from PinMonk: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.
Me too. I gotta "kick the tires" before I put down an order. It is one of the primary reasons I'm going to TPF.
Just finished watching the Twitch stream. Great job by AP; so much better than the prototype at EXPO. The animations and music are much improved upon and it looks like a lot of fun to play. Now AP, you just need to make certain it has a great topper, great cabinet pin blades, a monkey figure (for nostalgia's sake), and the bumper cap characters shown with the EXPO version and I'm going have to get me one. What fun!
Quoted from HOOKED:Question I'd like to ask ....how many of those on this thread are currently buying this machine?
Discussion is great but who is putting money down?
Until I see/play it at TPF , how can I say for certain. But, I am very interested.
The elimination of the bumper car figures is a classic case of stupid economics. In quantities, how much could they have cost? $5 each? As for buying "mods" later, the cost will be undoubtedly higher, a needless added cost to the consumer. The MOD guys are the winners here and the OKT buyers and AP? Not so much. This sure casts a new light on AP's mindset, It is as tight as JJP was in not including a print copy of the manual for the POTC LE. For $7000 for a plain OKT and $9500 for a POTC LE, such items previously shown/provided are not too much to expect. WTF, if margins are that tight, add $15 to the price of the game and do it right! Really poor behavior by a company that is trying to create a name and a niche for itself.
Lloyd, I understand your point. But, let's wait and see how much they will cost each individual buyer that still wants them. I will hazard a guess that if AP offered them as an add on item for even $50 per set, they would get a high take rate. And, I would also bet that a set as a mod will be at least $50 if not more. I just hope that AP does not nickle and dime other more important features and components. Could this be a harbinger of that? We shall see.
Quoted from Roostking:Soo, Im guessing you buy every single option available at any price for any product you buy? What AP is doing is offering a base model(think car, boat, SxS, tv , toaster, blender etc etc) at a reasonable price, with the ability to add on, for a price, different options. Its a business dude, and I bet there will not be ONE person who doesn't buy this pin, because of some small bumper car dude missing, but I bet a bunch will add this option if available.
Nope. You lose. I did not buy the POTC CE because I could not see spending 3k more for it. But, I am willing to spend for the LE because it is fairly priced next to the SE. Re. OKT's bumper car figures I am now informed that their omission had more to do with them hitting the wire forms than purely a cost issue; that makes sense to me just as the concentric discs for POTC were eliminated because of design problems. If the bumper cars figures become available later, via mod or via AP, yes, I will buy them because they are part of a theme that makes the game so appealing and not because I simply "want to buy everything" as you suggest. I might note that AP has offered other "upgrades" separately such as invisiglass, shaker motors, top signs, side blades, etc. so it is not without precedent. I have no problem with that as a business model. I hope that they can do it for the bumper cars. Please just don't give me an excuse that a budget cut was the reason for their elimination. Oh, and yes, I do agree with you that most will buy them if they can. Have a great day!
Quoted from Yelobird:Sorry, Totally don't understand your point or position? Looking at revision 2 API added a shit Ton of New code, art, effort, parts, staff, design, etc etc to continue to make the game great and at 0$ price increase to you. They omit a single meaningless plastic figure and you're up in arms that they are somehow cheating you or skimping on the game? Just doesn't make sense. And furthermore, they Are doing the right thing selling 1 great game at 1 affordable level. Please don't fall for the "if only you made a Premium" we would all buy it. BS! Everyone will be lining up to castrate API like a Monkey for pinching the market as they do with Stern and JJP. API nor any company will Ever make everyone happy. I for one and impressed they even acknowledged or shared why they omitted that meaningless part. Stand up honesty is rarely a bad sign for a companies future growth. And yes, many mod makers will probably make these and other parts. The difference is we are not forcing you to Buy them that is your decision. This game is API's decision and so far it appears to be a good one!
Dave, sorry if I touched a nerve by expressing my opinion that AP was cutting something for cost reasons that in my mind is part of the charm of the game. I was not denigrating AP as being a lousy company or dishonest. I simply thought, imho, that it was a poor place to find some savings. I am now informed that their omission had more to do with the figures hitting the wire forms rather than purely a cost issue; that makes sense to me just as the concentric discs for POTC were eliminated because of their design problems. Shi_ happens. But, if the bumper cars figures become available later, via a mod or via AP, yes, I will buy them because they really are part of a theme that makes the game so appealing. I might note that AP has offered other "upgrades" separately such as invisiglass, shaker motors, top signs, side blades, etc. so it is not without precedent that they might do it for the bumper cars as well. I just wish that Rosh's initial explanation of their elimination as being a budget issue was more complete and mentioned the design problem. Have a great day and hope to meet you at TPF.
Quoted from rosh:we are hoping to figure it out so we can offer them as an add-on. May not be possible to have all three. Regardless, they need will need to be re-designed
So glad to hear that they might be available in the future. Though seemingly 'small' (no pun intended), they are a big part of the game's theme and overall appeal. I hope that you will also find a way to offer a great light up topper like the one you did for Houdini and invisiglass as options. It seems like you are well on your way to creating a great game.
My wife and I played several games of OKTOBERFEST at TPF and we absolutely lovedit. Loads of fun and challenges that will keep the game fresh for a long time. We think it also will appeal greatly to our non pinball oriented friends and family (i.e., "bashers"). It has to be on our short list for certain. Also, we want to commend the AP team for their fine seminar which included a lot of insights into game play and, complimentary good food and drink; a job well done by AP.
I too thought that BKSR's animations looked great. But I thought the rest of the game was just OK and I do prefer OKT's uniqueness over it. But, in watching last night's stream I could not help thinking how much more OKT could have been and how much it's animations will hurt it. I hope that OKT succeeds but it truly has some stiff competition coming from a pin that is about $1400 less. I shudder to think what WONKA is going to do to it tomorrow night. Yes, WONKA will likely be about $1100 more than OKT but if it sets the new standard, people will gravitate to it. I for one, am keeping my powder dry until I see WONKA. I'm tempted to put my money on it instead of an OKT. I cannot wait until tomorrow's reveal so that I can make a final decision.
We saw the animated topper in Joe's Pingraffix's booth at TPF and, unless my memory is failing me, it was not animated in the sense that there was movement of some sort but rather the back lighting of it did change colors and it did look great. The power pin blades that were also displayed looked great too. If I get an OKT I think both the topper and pin blades would be great additions.
Is there an "adult" version of the game and if so, how does it differ and does it require a special order?
Thanks Lloyd and Ferret. I guess I have all I need now to confidently place an order with my distributor and join the queue.
Hope to have an 'unboxing' soon. My distributor told me my game will be shipping in the next couple of weeks. Yea! I will post pictures when it arrives. In the meantime, have you checked out the Mod Couples's excellent mods for the latest from JJP. If not, here's a link:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/jjp-willy-wonka-custom-mod-collection-by-themodcouple
I sure hope they put a bit of their creative genius to work for OKT and maybe give us some bumper car drivers and who knows what else. They really do superb work.
Me too. Mine is supposed to arrive at month's end. After playing it at TPF I knew I was going to buy one. So much fun, innovative rule sets, and it looked to be very well built. I wanted a game unlike any other that I already own and OKT fit that to a 'T'. Congrats to you, enjoy your game.
Quoted from cscmtp: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 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.
Well, it is official. It is now Oktober(fest) in Oregon. I just took delivery of game number 117 (I assume it is 117 because it has a serial number of 1117 but who knows? Maybe AP has made over 1100 already). And, my distributor even carried it upstairs for me. What a guy! Anyway, what a great game! Very fast, very challenging, very colorful, and I really like the art work AND the sound package. And, the much demeaned animations are fine by me. I loaded in the latest code and it is obvious that a lot of work has been done to improve the game from what I played at TPF. It is just pure, crazy fun. Beyond that, it is very well built. We did had one minor problem initially with the upper right flipper that stopped working. My wife, God bless her, found that the pin that attaches the coil to the flipper linkage was not fully seated. A quick fix and all is good again. We do have a problem with balls occasionally leaving the wireform from the scoop VUK but I am guessing an adjustment to its' coil power will solve that. A few other comments. The game came exceptionally well packed; my distributor told me that AP does the best job of anyone in shipping preparations. The game's goodies bag contained some spare plastics and a very nice guage/template for setting the lower flipper positions; a nice package. The manual is adequate but very cheaply done. Looks like a photocopy and not what I'd expect for a $7500+ machine; JJP continues to be the best at producing high quality, user friendly manuals. In the final analysis I expect this game will remain in our collection for a long, long time. And, all you OKTOBERFEST naysayers (yes, especially you Chris K.), need to take a fresh look at it. I think you would be pleasantly surprised at how well the game is developing.
P1060327 (resized).JPGP1060328 (resized).JPGP1060330 (resized).JPGP1060331 (resized).JPGP1060332 (resized).JPGP1060333 (resized).JPGHi DanDanDan. I too have met you. We talked at TPF and I asked you why AP was not showing Magic Glass as an option for OKT. I told you that it was offered with Houdini. You told me that it should be and you would make that happen. And, my just delivered OKT, thanks to your efforts, has Magic Glass.
I'm sharing this experience on Pinside so that others can know that you have the same excellent customer focus and follow through as the rest of the AP team that I have dealt with. You folks are doing a great job. Thanks.
Quoted from Aniraf:Oddly my VUK ramp issue has come back and the ball is once again firing off into the outlane. I guess my wireform bends didn’t stick. I am going to go back to tweaking it. I’ll let everyone know if I discover some secrets .
Aside from that, I wanted to call out how good all of music variation is. I know I was critical of the metal but the rest of the music is really great and fits the various modes.
I haven’t quite figured out all of the music triggers yet. A lot of times I go to shoot the ball and the default track (which sounds little Irish to me) is playing, then the ball bounces near Otto and the music flips to something more oom-pah. That one is a little strange, but completely tolerable.
I had the same problem with both the VUK and the scoop until I adjusted the coils for both. If you have not already done so, try tweaking them a bit at a time until you find the setting that works best for you. Mine are working smoothly now and I did not do anything to the wire forms.
I have had the same VUK problem and I have tried to remedy it via adjusting the coil strength; limited success with a failure rate at about 20%. I contacted AP support but no response yet. I sent a PM to Josh thinking maybe it needs a code solution like the lower right flipper but he also has not responded yet. I don't like the idea of bending the wire form for fear of messing it up. Hopefully someone at AP will provide an answer. It should be a minor problem for an otherwise great game.
Once again, the AP team proves to be the best you can hope to have. Those AP guys must never take time off. Both Josh and Barry of AP responded tonight to my support request and the problem was quickly solved. Barry sent me photos of where and how to tweak the wire forms and what level to adjust the VUK coil power to and all is good now. The solution might be different for someone else's machine but it was right on for mine. Many thanks to Barry and Josh (Rosh). And, I have to say it one more time, OKTOBERFEST is absolutely amazing! It is one of my all time favorite pins and I recommend playing it to all who get the chance but beware, you'll want one.
No kidding. When corkscrew multi ball started it seemed like the game jumped off the floor. Of course it just seemed like that and really startled us. Since our game is on a second floor we opted to dial down the shaker a bit.
I think EVERYTHING about game#2 is great (art, animations, sound, rule set, game play, the whole taco). Not sure how you can improve on it but can't wait to see.
Big improvements in the last code release. I am anxious to see what else you have, especially in the area of adult humor.
I did that as soon as it came and the registration was confirmed; no emails about anything yet from AP. Looks like, as DanDanDan said, it is an area that needs attention.
For what it's worth, I think Kaneda suffers from confirmation bias and will say anything that seems to buttress his assertion that OKT is a failed theme. Any fool should have known that the sale applied only to merchandise in AP's online store but Kaneda runs with a totally fallacious story that AP is having to discount OKT to get rid of them. That is goes right along with his saying that only 43 posts are on the OKT Owners string and so that proves his contention of low interest in the game while he omits mentioning the more than 3000 posts about OKT on the "Balcer thread". For some reason, unbeknownst to me, he seems to want to see OKT to be proven as a failure. Maybe because AP did not follow his 'perfect marketing formula'? Who knows but one thing is certain. His opinions are his alone and not to be instantly accepted. Despite Kaneda's fake news, my personal opinion about OKT is that it's great game and many of Kaneda's guests on his Podcast have told him the same thing. And yet, he continues his same old tired song.
Quoted from rosh:Sometimes the ball will be shifting side to side as it flies down the wiredorm. I suggest bending the left side of that entry bracket out to side the entrance
Ball search should kick in at around 30 seconds if no switches have been hit. Where was it stuck?
have not seen isssues with scoop kicking out with more than one ball, but I’ll take a look at it.
I had it happen to me also. I finally was able to eject the multiple balls by pushing the start button. Weird happenstance but it worked
Hey, I am used to it. She has the top score on all of our games. She is amazingly good and I am fine with that because she is fine with my buying new games, new mods, etc. I just wish I could say I let her win on purpose, lol, but nope. You know the saying about happy wife, happy life right? So good for your wife and good for you!
Me too. The rules are supposed to be in the manual that came with my game but all I got was an "abridged" version. Without Ferret's and Rosh's coaching posts this game would be a journey based on discoveries. I sure hiope they release a fully finished manual with the rules included soon.
Just downloaded 19-7-27 update. So far trouble free and even more fun to play. New animations are real improvements with better color and humor. We found the 'non family friendly ' version to be 'cute' with nothing at all offensive but we know we haven't heard all of them yet. Safe bet though that AP was cautious in their approach. The new attraction modes are very nice as are the upgrades in music. A job well done but we would really hope to see a complete manual with a rule set included in the next update. Carry on Josh, Ferret, Joe and all the AP Team. You just keep reinforcing our decision that Oktoberfest is a great game to have in our collection!
I already sent Rosh a PM about this but when I started Flipper Meister I lost all sound until my ball went stdm. Coincidence or more evidence of where there may be a bug in 7-27-19?
No issue other than total loss of all sounds. Same thing also happened once under 6-7-19
Code but I did not recall what else was occurring so when I informed Josh then about the happenstance, he asked me to tell what was occurring if it did it again. That is why I sent him the pm today.
Well, most of you will call me nuts but today I did it. I downloaded all of the OKT reference files (from AP's OKT support tab) and took them to FEDEX Kinko and had them make a hard copy, spiral bound manual of the same quality as JJP's in terms of print materials, etc. Boy, it was expensive at $100 but it came out great and will be an excellent reference for the life of my machine. Yes, I could have simply referred to the document(s) on line but for me the hard copy manual is just the way that I like to go. And, at $7500+, the manual now befits the great machine that OKT is. So thanks Barry J., Rosh, and Ferret for a very nice set of reference materials.
Thanks Josh. All good points but I prefer spiral over '3 ring loose leaf' binders because less chances of pages getting stuck/torn when flipping through them. Also, I can always get updated pages interlaced if necessary for just a few bucks. I have 3 JJP games now and I feel OKT 'deserves ' a manual as good as those. I do have a real appreciation now why JJP charges as much as they do for their manuals, a real bargain if you ask me. BTW, if any one else is thinking of doing the same thing, put a copy of the OKT color sales sheet in the front. It looks great.
There have been a few posts lately discussing the absence of the bumper car drivers. I too was disappointed that they had to be removed because of wire form issues. I thought they were great toys and I kind of subscribe to the 'more toys, the better ' school of thought. Any way, I want to share with you an idea my wife came up with. Using double sided tape we mounted a very inexpensive rubber duck bath toy in our game. It's durable, cheap, widely available and they come in many different styles as you can see. Maybe not as much fun as the originally planned bumper car drivers but we like the look. Just our contribution to this forum.
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20190830_131416.jpgNope, it's fine. What you are seeing is a bit of "router burn" in the wood. There is no damage to the play field itself whatsoever. I only have about 200 plays on the game and all is good.
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.
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.
Really loving the newest code. More fun call outs by Inga and even better animations and music choices. But, multiple balls in the VUK continues to be a problem. After several attempts by the game to eject the extra balls, I had to power down and restart the game. For some unknown reason, that gave the machine the oomph it was lacking to handle the 'overload'. Problem is, my wife lost her high score and with it, the opportunity to further enshrine me in the lower portals of the 'hall of shame'. Oh well, there is always another day. Great job nonetheless on the code update. Thanks!
I have to second the post about 'boot up times' being long, long, long. Maybe AP can do something on their next game to deal with that?
I just received the coil stop upgrade kit from AP and it included 2 pieces of clear plastic that have double sided tape on them. Unfortunately, no instructions were included and I have no idea what the plastic pieces are for or where they go. I tried asking AP for help but they have been unusually non-responsive to my phone and email requests so, can anyone here tell me? Thanks in advance.
Quoted from T3quila:There is a service bulletin on the API website under The Menu > Support > Resources and then on the Oktoberfest Tab. There is a PDF with pictures and explanation.
It's called lockdown bar spacer installation or something along the lines. You stick the tabs under the sides of the lockdown bar so it centers the bar across the machine. Got them too, but my machine has them already installed from the factory.
That's odd, that you have problems reaching them. When I write them, I get answers within a few hours, typically even at night and in weekends, as they don't seem to sleep at all, lol.
Thanks for your help. Pinside at its best. You're right about the oddity of no reply from AP because they have always been great when I have needed their help in the past. I am thinking that maybe they are in a bit of upheaval with the management changes going on. I hope they survive and thrive when its all said and done.
The AP WEB SITE support tab for OKT answers your question. As Lloyd says, they go on the inside corners of the lock down bar and are used to center the bar to the cabinet. They really helped mine. My lock down bar used to have some side to side slippage but no more. Nice improvement by AP.
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Dixon, CA