You have 8 games in your collection, if 7 of them were to come out today.. you'd say the same thing.

Ferret Made Alien (Heighway Pinball) one of the best theme integration games ever, up there with Star Trek next generation. It's engaging, and a deep/fun ruleset that keeps you coming back for more. I keep thinking what would he be able to do with something like a Champion Pub only w/ more of an Oktoberfest twist. I can't wait to see it, and will be keeping a very close eye on what's to come. My only hope is that American Pinball takes a long hard look at what they could have done better with Houdini, and spend a little more time in the whitewood phase. For all those who think theme is everything, go buy a Houdini and don't complain about the shots

“Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.”

I for one am glad that there is a company willing to try something different and not so safe.. than the usual tired bands, movies, comic books, tv shows..

Wrong answer

Runs this year from sept 22-oct 7, 9 days in September, 7 in October.

Can we get back to talking about the Oktoberfest pin vs useless unrelated mods?

Will we see Oktoberfest at expo this year?

At expo! Looking forward to launch time!

Dead flip is setting up, the first part of the talk just started.

The most trustworthy vendors leak pictures early..

Ball/lock stealing for beer barrel multiball sounds cool!

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Yeah all of them are very much so intents

It was a dad joke.. all the modes are in “tents”

That would be Geert Koop and yes his work is awesome..

Ok enough with the “metal” references. It’s Polka music with a little bit of a rock twist. Go listen to some lamb of god, black dahlia murder, or cannibal corpse then come back and see if you still think it’s metal.

I don’t think authentic polka music is very exciting and energetic to play pinball to, and think it made sense to spice it up a little. But cmon, it isn’t metal.

Few more pictures from launch night. I was “Frist!” To play right after roger. In a group of four it was a blast. Player before me on ball one got a ball locked in the barrel (physical lock woot!). I spent the next two balls trying to perfect the left orbit to upper right flipper shot and locked another two balls stealing his lock to start multiball.

This game is going to be a lot of fun to drink beer with friends, play one handed, and fight over locked balls..

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Don’t forget about @ferret!

Our Okto on location has been operating since mid June, and received about 1500 plays. People seem to like it, but we have had a few issues. Posting below for others in case they experience something similar.

- People were reporting balls were hopping off the wireform from the food vuk. The wireform was missing a spot weld when it arrived and we needed a replacement which AP provided.
- The dollar bill validator was for 110v, and we needed to order a conversion harness for 12v which AP provided.
- A few months later the DBV stopped working, and we disconnected it. Could be the DBV, but suspect the harness.
- The membrane switch in the barrel lock was faulty, and needed to be replaced (lock 3 was always red in switch test)
- The membrane switch for the coaster lock 1 was intermittent. Fortunately AP service sent two membrane switches for the barrel lock issue.
- The coaster lock coil release coil stopped working, magic smoke, and coil tests with almost no resistance and needs replaced.
- The "Tap It" Tent LED on the Tent light board, is missing blue color and needs replaced.

Without the corkscrew coaster lock coil in the game, the game will not qualify the left ramp shot, even if the switches are working. The ability to enable virtual locks would be nice, so the game could still function if this coil were out. It would be even better if the shot could be qualified without this lock coil in place.

Re the DBV

No, not yet. We dropped the price to .75 a game.

Which reminds me, for other operators and location players out there. Currently the game “removes” partial credits after a game is played.

If you put $1 on a game that costs .75c, the 25c leftover cannot be used. The display shows the .25c partial credits remaining but when you add more money, it doesn’t increase to .50c. The display changes from “0.25” to “$0.25” when another credit is added.

Feature, Bug, Both? You decide.

I didn’t buy a used bill validator.

Thanks for that data point, I do wonder since that costed lock membrane switch was randomly showing ghost locks if this maybe made that coil fail.

I’m not sure I understand the design decision to use those membrane switches.

My biggest heartburn with this game so far, is the need to go to the manufacturer for parts. So all these speciality parts are a pain in the ass, made worse by their unreliability.

It takes a little bit longer to go through warranty service/ticketing/support. As a location operator, I’d rather just buy the part from somewhere that can get it to me fast.

Downtime is money, and this game has been down a lot recently.

Do you operate games? Do you know what an extra 2-3 days of downtime means in terms of earnings? On a 7500 game, every dollar counts. Downtime on location also diminishes clients and location owners perceptions.

Of course I work through a distro. It takes a few days longer and my time to go through a distributor, file a ticket, talk to a support person to determine if it can be fixed and do their own troubleshooting..where I have to drive to the location 40 minutes away when they are available.. Then they send a part, RMA that I sometimes have to send back at my expense. It’s easily 3-4x more of MY time that I NEED to spend elsewhere.

I’d rather just CC order a $10 part, vs deal with all that. But with AP I don’t have that option. Using things like these membrane switches and having AP part numbers on everything is a pain in the ass and unnecessary. I get it for legitimate game specific parts (light boards, whatever), but these switches are an application where a standard set of switches would be fine. The fact that they have both failed so quickly doesn’t give me confidence that this is a reliable part.

To the normal collector or someone in their home, this sort of turnaround time is probably acceptable. To me, it's not. Here's the comparison.

Marco Order Submitted 7:27am (Day 1)
Marco Shipment Notification 11:32am (same day)
In-Transit (Day 2)
Marco Product Arrives (Day 3)

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American Pinball Ticket Submitted About a Coil and Lightboard Issue - Tue, Nov 12, 3:06 PM (Day 1)
Radio Silence (Day 2)
I have to email customer support - (Day 3)
Barry Responds with Tracking information about the prior switch issue.
Barry then responds with "That is boxed and is going out today."

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Also, your website to order isn't user friendly and there is an error in your documentation. The part number written on the coil and in the manual is "SUB0016-00A"

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You have the part labeled differently on the site..and cannot be found in search..
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So, I have to browse through all the pages.. hope I filter on the right thing to find it? There are 65 products on your page, there is no way to determine what parts are for houdini or oktoberfest.. can't wait for game 3. Of those 65 products, 10 of them are promotional products t-shirts, and stickers.. at least 23 other products are houdini specific. With a 39 page assembly manual for Oktoberfest, let's not pretend I can easily order whatever I need from the AP Store.

Now extrapolate this experience to all the issues we've had in only 4 months..

DBV Adapter/Harness
Wireform Weld Missing
Barrel Lock Switch
Coaster Lock Switch
Coaster Lock Coil
Tent Light Board

Buy membrane switches.. in bulk..

LOL “Promotion”