As many of you know at last weeks Amusement Expo International in New Orleans, Hot Wheels Pinball machine made an appearance. We know this caught many of you by surprise as APIs past reveals were at pinball shows. As we are committed to growing pinball on location, this was an important audience to promote to that Pinball is alive and well. We had plans to have a big reveal at the Texas Pinball Festival, and while it was probably not realistic, we were hoping to keep things on the down low so as not take away from our TPF reveal, but this was a show pinball needed to be at and we felt it was important to have Hot Wheels™ there.

I’m sure you have noticed we have been slow to reveal details of the game, and there are a couple of reasons for that. First, we planned to have the official reveal at the Texas Pinball Festival (TPF) and for a while we wanted to hold back until then, second, given this is a licensed game, we needed to have all the necessary approvals before we could share content. While we have approvals for the physical machine, cabinet, art and playfield, we are still in the process of submitting game content (animations, voice calls, etc.). Since the playfield and cabinet have been approved we can share images of the machine at this time.

We are very disappointed we will not be able to give the game the reveal we had planned at TPF, we had a lot of cool stuff planned. In addition to a dozen games in our both, we had plans to include two life size Hot Wheels™ cars and a giant Hot Wheels™ track for kids and adults to play with.

Unfortunately TPF is not the only show that has been or will be cancelled, and since we won't be able to offer 'show specials' over the next couple of months, we are going to offer everyone a 'virtual show special'. For a limited time, all games leaving the factory, including Oktoberfest and Houdini, will include a shaker motor. Details will be posted soon on our website.

Obviously we have seen the various comments on pinside and elsewhere and we find some of the conjecture to be quite humorous. Now while we can't comment or respond to everything that has been posted, either for sake of brevity or things we are not yet able to talk about, we did want to provide clarity on a few things that have been brought up.

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1) Whats with the offset monitor?

Despite some suggesting we did that since we had to fit it into the provided art, I can tell you that is not even remotely close to the truth. It has been our goal to integrate the game display into the backglass when possible, in this case as a jumbotron or digital billboard. The team also felt we could do more with the backglass if we could create a larger canvas for our artist. We did testing of playing the game with the offset monitor and found that it takes very little time to adjust to the different position. After a game or two you don't think about it being offset. And we do believe that the larger canvas allows the theme of the game to come through, even when the machine is turned off.

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2) What's with the dinosaurs?

Thankfully there are still toys in the world that encourage kids to use their imagination. And over the years Hot Wheels™ has expanded its' universe to include playsets that allow kids to explore different worlds with their Hot Wheels™ cars. Using your car to battle dinosaurs, gorillas, sharks and other creatures is the norm for many kids now playing with Hot Wheels™. Given our goal was to capture all the different aspects of Hot Wheels™, collecting, track building, racing, the stuff may of us grew up up with, we also felt creature battles should be a part of it.

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3) What's with the spinning car?

Without context it easy to see how the spinning car seems a bit out of place. The car does respond to what is happening in the game. And while I won't go into a lot of detail on that in this first post, I will say that we are still adjusting how it is used in game play, regardless, there are settings to control how much it is used, a little, a lot or none at all. So for those who really don't like it, you can just turn it off. I will say that when you actually play the machine, it is not as distracting as it might look watching a cell phone camera video of game play, and it can be quite helpful in knowing when the tach value is dropping -- you will soon learn why this is important.

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4) What's the price?

Each of our games has been priced, based on what is in the game. Hot Wheels™ has a lower price than either of our first two games, with an MSRP of $6,295. This price reflects that the game has a little less in it feature wise. Also, as I indicated above, we want to grow location play and operators need a game at a price that works for them, so it was our goal on this machine to make it a little lower priced to better serve operators and to get more pinball on location. Given what is going on right now, there is little doubt that collectors won't mind paying a little less for a great new game.

Even with this lower price, the game is still loaded. Multiple ramps, drops targets, a vuk with loop ramp, a front facing kicker, staggered stand-up targets, real direct printed backglass and tons more. The game is 100% RGB LEDs for inserts and general illumination, using over 140 LEDs, including multiple LEDs in arrow inserts to allow better illumination and lighting effects. Cabinet inside art is included, the first of its kind, 3D Lenticular backpanel is included, art on the front of the apron included, powder coated rails included, and as mentioned above, for a limited time, the shaker motor is included. Oh, and the rules are designed to give you a lot of different objectives to pursue, which will keep this game challenging and entertaining for a long time.

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5) What's with the stop motion animation?

Mattel has created a youtube series called Hot Wheels City™ and when we watched it, it just grabbed us. We loved the world they created and just watching it makes you smile. It is about having fun and that is what pinball is supposed to be about, so after much discussion, we decided that we wanted that to be part of the game and our friends at Mattel were willing to let us do so. You will see we mix that bit with some other animations that we feel better capture other aspects of Hot Wheels™ that some of us grew up with, such as track building and car collecting.

This is already getting to be pretty long for a post, so I'll wrap it up here and Ferret and I will share more details soon.

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We obviously looked at putting a loop d loop in the game. Joe Balcer spent a lot of time trying to figure out a way to make it work. @vdojaq is very much on track. The size of the loop is pretty key, although does not have to be as big as a hot wheels loop, but it has to be big enough to work and to look right, and it does take up more space than you would think. Given the height requirements it has to go in the back portion of the machine, but then you have issues with flipper strength, so then you look at other ways to do fire the ball through hit, but then it is not a shot, it is gimmick, and then you find even trying to make that fit, it totally messes up the flow and speed of the game -- which was a priority. Also keep in mind, when a ball does not make it around it can end up in all sorts of places, airballs are not the friend of operators, so that was a consideration as well. There were other factors as well, so it was disappointing to all of us, but the best course of action was to not include it.

Obviously the whole world has been turned upside down. Our plan has been to start shipping games to distributors, for their show rooms and shows (not that there are going to be any of those for a while), the first week of April. Customer games would then start to ship two weeks after that. Normally those would be targeted for locations, but hard to know how that might be adjusted.

Now keep in mind, while we inventory a huge percentage of the parts, there are some parts that we get on a "Just In Time" basis. So, while right now things are on track, we could seee things outside our control mess with that.

As previous mentioned, we are still submitting content to Mattel for approval. They have been great to work with, and usually very quick to respond, but very hard to know how the virus is going to impact their operations and work flow.

As you can see, games are rolling down the line . . .

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Now that it is a summer show, I guess there is a shot. Hard for anyone to predict what will happen between now and then. I know we have a couple of great distributors who do that show, so if it happens, I'm sure we will have games there. I've been to that show two of the last three years and it is one of my favorites -- part of that is my love of Taco Mac's buffalo wings, having survived on those back in college. Just to show how old I am, back then we could get 50 wings delivered, for $9.99, of course wings were not nearly as popular then as they are now.

Thanks for all the comments and questions, I'll do my best to answer.

Not sure the newer ones are quite as robust as the old ones, but at $1 piece . . .

What I worth noting on this, is that the cars that are mounted in the game are done so with a click-lock type of velcro. This will allow you to easily swap out any of the cars in the game for ones in your collections or that you like. This was one of Balcer ideas from the start. Also, you will only find Hot Wheels originals in the game, as any thing else would require a separate license.

This is the old building, I guess impressive from the standpoint of how we squeezed everything in to be able to build machines. The line is being set up at the new location, but not sure how much the virus is impacting that, I've been juggling a million things and have not taken a trip out there to see. We have been moving stuff over there for a couple of weeks now, but not sure when they will make the big switch. I'm sure almost everyone will be happy when we move, things have been cramped here for a long time. I say 'almost' since for a few folks it will be a big change in commute time (for me it will be cut more than half)

I did upload the flyer yesterday, so it should be not he machine page. However, they do reduce the resolution I think on uploads.

Not every game is for everyone. Those who have played Houdini and Oktoberfest know they are very, very different games and Hot Wheels™ is very different from both of those and obviously was designed with families in mind. Our focus was not only to create a fast and flowing game, but a rule set that is very friendly to novices, with achievable goals that can be quite satisfying, but there are then the more challenging objectives for the enthusiast and advanced player.

We have not announced an event yet, but we are actively working on a few things to show off the game and talk about design, rules, features, etc. These were things we were originally planning for after TPF, so, we have had to adjust our plans. Also, as I've said previously, we are still submitting content to Mattel for approval, so that is factor in our timing. I would suspect that sometime next week I will have an update on when some of these things will be occurring.

I do want to mention that the machine that was at AEI had almost none of the music and basically no voice calls or SFX.

I'll post a high level overview of the rules shortly.

We are working on it, but will be at least another week before we can share something. We are still working on content that I'll have to submit for approval.

Some might say the monkey has now morphed into a very angry gorilla

The show the game was at, AEI, is not a car show, it is one of the two biggest coin op shows held in the USA (Stern, CGC were both there as well). While we would have liked to have held off showing Hot Wheels™ until TPF, missing that show would have been quite the mistake relative to marketing this game to customers outside the collector community.

Along those lines I'd like to clarify a few things. I've said we designed this game to be appealing to operators and location play. We have heard from many of you that our games are not at enough locations. We talked to operators, family entertainment centers, etc. to understand what we could do to make pinball appealing for them and we incorporated those things into this design and pricing. Having said that, we never said we did not design the game with collectors in mind as well. The design from the layout to the rules was done to create a game that can be a great experience for a novice on location, easy for an operator to maintain, but also be a great game for collectors and players. When you all finally get to play it, you will experience this for yourselves. The machine might have a little less bling, but it has it where it counts, a great shooter with a fun, entertaining and challenging rule set. Most people around here understand that judging a game by crappy cell phone footage is foolish at best, so I get the frustration of wanting high quality game play footage, especially since there is no way to touch the flipper buttons yet, which is obviously the best way to get to know a machine. As soon as we can post quality game play footage we will, and as soon as we can figure out how to get people to play it, we will.

I stop listening quite a while ago. His interviews could be interesting and informative, but his rants are just off the wall, as 95% of it is just so negative and so often he really does not know what he is talking about, although he certainly thinks he does. I really wonder at times if he actually likes pinball, since he spends so much of his energy tearing it down. If he is going hard on us, not sure why, he obviously has an unhealthy need for attention, which means putting out lots of podcasts and saying outrageous things, and I guess with not much else to talk about right now, and probably stuck at home, we are the target of month. I think most who listen to him, do it for the entertainment value of a 'shock jock', and understand that most of what he says is void of facts or truth. I'm sure he will read this, so I imagine his next podcast will be another attack on us or me, but will probably be entertaining for those who listen. Regardless of what might happen with the TWIPYS, there are so many better podcasts out there to listen to.

TigerLaw sorry, did not know there were rules around this. Happy to change the title, assuming I can figure out how. Wanted to start a thread so that folks reading it can spot the posts from me.

You guys asked, so here is an overview of the rules.

First, let me say we looked at all the ways you play with Hot Wheels™ and created game play around each. Each of the objectives areas are tied to "Hero Cars", collect all five Hero Cars and you can become a Hot Wheels™ Legend

Racing -- you start in 13th position (12th place flashing), you need to get to 1st to start Victory Lap Multiball, you can see the race positions/shots on the playfield image. Victory Lap multiball can be incredibly lucrative, if you have the skills to build the super jackpot all the way up before collecting it. The main 'out of mode' sound track is tied to racing, as you advance race positions, the music will advance with you.

Car Collecting -- leads to mystery awards and special modes.

Track Building -- you build increasingly more complex tracks, complete one and you are in Track Multiball. This is the easiest multiball to start, as it only takes four shots to get to it (the first time).

Creature Battles -- These are modes, with each being quite unique. All feature a 'fuel bonus' based on how much is left on the fuel gauge when you defeat the creature. Defeat all four creatures and then you battle the mad scientist Draven.

Loop Crash Multiball -- makes lots of loop shots, to start this Multiball that grabs the ball with the magnets when the super jackpot is ready, better crash that ball before the magnet lets go to collect the super. BTW, the only two MBs you can stack together are Loop Crash with Victory Lap -- but only if you start them at the same time! All MBs can stack with Battles and EPIC features, speaking of which . . .

EPIC Features -- spell EPIC at the lower lanes and then hit Start EPIC, where ramps and/or loops and/or car targets and/or orbits and/or the whole playfield builds up an EPIC jackpot. The more you start together the higher scoring, but the harder to qualify before you can collect, but be sure to collect it before you drain or it will be an EPIC Fail!

The Tachometer -- I've save the most important thing for last. This is very important, but very simple.
The higher the tach, the higher the scoring. This idea of a single feature affecting all scoring was something that Ferret had bouncing around his head for a long time and was a perfect fit for the theme. Scoring on everything is based on the tach.
The higher the tach, the higher the scoring. (just keep repeating that to yourself). The primary way to increase the tach is by shooting the RPM targets, which are the 'stepped' stand-ups right in the middle. If you can redline the tach, well, get ready, because Redline Mania is going to be coming at you (great objective for kids). BTW, there are inserts right by the flippers that show the tach levels (as well as on the display), but the spinning car will be quite helpful in helping you know when the tach is getting low. If you are not making shots, the tach will go down and down and down. If that car is not spinning, your scoring is probably lower than you would want, spinning slow, not bad, but when it is going fast . . .

The tach really adds a great dimension to game play for the enthusiast and for the tournament player who is focused on score. It creates a great risk/reward scenario relative to keeping the tach up, as it requires you to shoot the stepped standup targets that create random action.

Oh, there is also Turbo Boost -- use the pops to build up the boost, once lit, you can trigger it at the kicker, and that will then increase the tach value by 10X for a very brief period of time, so use it wisely.

We try for depth and breadth, where I think the latter is more important for most of us. Having multiple goals and objectives you can go after, different ways to approach the game keeps it interesting vs just some nearly impossible goal to reach. Sure the latter will keep you coming back for more, but, being able to approach the game and say, 'this game, I'm going for Victory Lap Multiball', or 'this game, I'm going to battle creatures and get to Draven' or 'this game, I'm going to be the car collecting king' and then work your way up to 'this game, I WILL be a Hot Wheels™ Legend!!"

Was done that way for both of those reasons.

And yes, both 'saucers' are blocked by drop targets. They are a controllable drops, so when you see them come down you know you want to shoot there, knocking them will progress your towards either a Creature Battle or Track Multiball.

Sorry, while it looks like 4, only three, the one on the far right is not a pop, just a plastic covering the kicker coil.

the stepped RPM targets are very interesting to shoot and feed into the risk/reward aspect of the RPM targets increasing the tach, which increases all scoring.

Given social distancing and the situation here in Illinois, it is possible first stream is me alone in my basement

too chilly to just be in shorts, so more of Daytime Jammies or Nighttime Jammies issue.

So what sounds did you make when you were playing them?

Well, there were some of me acting like a kid and making "brum brum" sounds, but thankfully our sound engineer Matt has now given us good "brum brum" sound effects.

It's a fun watch and you can see why the more we watched the more we saw the potential for it. Hot Wheels City is really well done, with a lot of attention to detail. At this point I have watched all of it multiple times as we slice and dice it for use in the game, well, not the Halloween episode since not much usable content there. I'm actually working on a new mode that I've decided to add to the game after re-watching an episode where the content also did not fit in with the 'creature battle' or 'racing' story, but the content is so good, that I knew I had to find a way to get it in the game.

Yancy, you know with Ferret and I doing rules there is going to be a lot of breadth and lots of ways to approach the game, so it will remain fresh and challenging. Plus who ever gets tired of watching an evil scientist getting crushed by his pet triceratops?

Production had started prior to the stay-at-home order, once that is lifted production will resume and games will start to ship not longer after.

I will be soon be emerging from basement, taking a break from final code testing, for two days! Although my daughter has been home from Penn State since spring break, I now have the joy of driving up there to actually get all of her belongings. Sad thing is that I originally planned that when I would go get her, in mid May, I'd be stopping by Helicon and possibly other locations to promote Hot Wheels™.

Once or twice a day, my wife and I will take the dog for a walk and get some fresh air, but yes, be nice to get some sun.

Nice to know that after getting to play it for it an hour, that you are looking forward to seeing more of it.

Me too! Looking forward to showing it off. Spent the last few days inspecting and testing games that have come off the line, had some great games while play testing, hopefully I play as well tonight when the cameras are on.

Always exciting to see the first machines going into boxes.

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yup, Deadflips twitch, 5PM Central Time

94.63%

Well, the code in on that machine was 94.63, dev code is much further along, 95.17.

A LOT more than a few cents, a LOT more. Between the cost for the bright RGB LEDs and the electronics to drive them. Which is why 100% RGB for inserts, GI, back panel is typically a premium thing.

All the Track building, car collecting, skill shot, match, jackpots, extra ball, hero car awards, redline mania, shoot again, and more were all created by AP.

Hitting a flashing letter with give a small increase to RPM and a brief hold before the tach starts to fall, completing the bank that gives a bigger increase and a sight longer hold, before it starts to fall. So, remember it is increasing the value of the tach, which is the value of the shots, but when it is not moving up in value, it is slowly moving back down.

Ferret likes to say it is a never ending hurry up. You are hitting RPM targets to build up the shot value, and then you hurry up and make shots, and then before the value falls too far, go back to RPM targets to build it back up.

You always want the three, since that will give you the biggest boost to the tach. We toyed with having the goal be different numbers, but we decided that would make things more complex, as the rev'ing the tach with the left flipper for a multiplier on skill shot added enough 'difficulty'

There is attract music when the rock band appears in attract, about every 15 minutes, but you will typically hear it in the first attract cycle after boot up and often after a game. No flipper button or other attract sounds, yet.

You may want to adjust the settings on the amp to your liking. I suggest putting the amps volume close to all the way up, so that the coin doors give you the full range. If bass is too high, the small knob at the top Control lets subwoofer volume. The speakers in the lower shaker panel, that were there for Okto and Houdini were removed. We found that now with the sub, we get solid bass and we felt the extra speakers were expendable. Even without those there are still 5 speakers in the machine.

No I'm not sure, I don't check every line of code you check in

I often like to think about it as breadth vs depth, where I want a lot of different stuff to do, and a lot of variety, but not necessarily layers to get through. This lets you focus on different aspects of the game when you play and/or just have more variety as in the paths you to get through the game to the wizard mode, if that is you goal. Use of the Tach/RPM, shifting gears and Turbo (and we are doing a few tweaks on that right now) are key to finding your strategy if points are you goal, and will take time to figure out.

With Hot Wheels we have talked a lot about accessibility, making it easy to know what to do, letting you get into the game quickly (a MB that is four shots away from the start button), objectives clearly identifiable, so you can quickly start to enjoy the game without having to figure a lot out, but that does not mean the game is not packed with a ton to do and a lot to figure out. When Ferret and I are doing a game, we have so many ideas between us, and we had plenty of other folks in the mix as well, in fact plenty of stuff does not make it in, as the challenge is not about getting enough in the game, it is figuring how best to get them to all to work together in a cohesive and balanced way.

You can't see it on a stream, nor does the 3d effect come through in photos, so that is something that until you see it . . .

Not a single person who has played it has mentioned it after playing. Once you play the game you realize it does not matter.

yes, default settings on Houdini are way too hard, 'easy' is a more appropriate set of values for 90% of players.

Beating bullet catch is just a matter of catching X bullets, I forget the number, so, possible you have done it without realizing it? I think milkcan is the toughest to accomplish in single ball play. Metamorphosis also not easy.

Thanks and some quick comments back at you . . .

Next release . . . the shots will be clearly indicated when active.

The main screen does show this when active, on the right side. It will show many shots remain to qualify that epic feature before you can collect. If multiple epic features are active, all need to be qualified before you can collect he epic jackpot. It also how the current value of the jackpot

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These have been modified for the next release. By the way that is a 'turbo' icon for the pops as that is how many pop hits until Turbo is lit. All off the icons are countdowns to a feature/mode/MB being qualified

If you had the tach way up close to redline, would be a big hit to go all they way back to 0, we drop you down three notches on the tach when you drain. If you then make the 3 on the skill shot, you are back where you were

There are no licensed cars in the game, we actually have had to spend a lot of time ensuring that. Pursuing those licenses was something we determined early on was not the right course, the cost and time involved just could not be justified not when there are so many other cars available to us.

We do have a few enhancements around car collecting planned.

We are certainly hearing from many pinball collectors how this theme has their kids excited, which is great to hear. Have you started the process of selecting which cars to put into the machine?

There are certainly Houdini and Oktoberfest updates planned. Although neither Ferret nor I are looking forward to going back to the slow boot up times on those machines vs HW, which boots in about 15 seconds. On the flip side, will be nice to be flipping them.

https://www.american-pinball.com/support/updates/

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Yes, mostly minor enhancements, rule tweaks, improved choreography and bug fixes. We did change volume of the spinner. More changes in the not too distant horizon as we continue to evaluate game play and make changes for scoring balance, add more music and SFX, etc.

we try to set the defaults to be what we feel is an good level of challenge for most players. Great players, that I have started to refer to as 'pinball mutants', will typically want to move to 'hard'. I suggest you play at default settings for the first few dozen games then adjust things based on the areas you are finding the most challenging.

We never change any of your settings on a code update, including pricing. Nor do we wipe out high scores. Occasionally we might change a default and will recommend you change your settings after an update, so it is always good to read the release notes. In this case, there is a minor wiring change that some games will need.

You can always see if you are on the default settings, by going into service->settings and look for any in the 'features' or 'standard' sections that are not green. You can also install a 'pre defined set' of settings for 'extra easy', 'easy', 'medium', 'hard' or 'extra hard'. We are continuing to tweak the rules around some of those pre-sets and other settings, and I expect that to continue through the next couple of code releases.

That is the thing about treasure hunt, you never know when and where.

I have to disagree on that, they come in many sizes, I think the original rally tire style had 12, then 16 and a few other sizes besides 30. Since they come in almost any size, we ultimately decided to set the cars to a round number that also balanced well with other game objectives.

Best laugh I've had in a while.

I'm sure if you focused on the race, you would get through it. You can't advance positions during multiball, so, if you typically focus on battles stacked with Track or Loop Crash multiball, it is then harder to get through the race.

I'm not at the factory often these days, as I am still working from home and only go in a for a couple of hours a couple of days a week, normally when there are issues they need help troubleshooting. But what can be a highlight is if I am there when games are being loaded up on trucks, knowing those games are going to someone who is chomping at the bit to rip open their new toy like it was Christmas morning. Sometimes I will recognize the name, as someone from this thread, which means it even better, knowing I will soon see their reaction to getting to play it.

I would have been talking about Hot Wheels at Southern Fried Gaming this weekend, instead they are doing a virtual event. I did an interview with them that was recorded a week or two ago that will premiere 3:00PM tomorrow. Don't really remember what we talked about, but pretty sure there was plenty of Hot Wheels talk

Looks like they have a lot of nice content being released throughout the weekend . . .

http://southernfriedgameroomexpo.com/virtual-sfge-schedule/

oh, and the Northwest Pinball Summer Camp is also this weekend. Ferret and I did some trivia questions for the Ultimate Pinball Game Show which is Sunday night.

They also have some interesting content this weekend . . .

https://www.nwpinballcamp.com

Glad you enjoyed it. Marlon was very prepared with his questions. I try not to forget when I am answering that it is going to be loosely translated, and the longer I talk the looser the translation will get. Occasionally I cut short what I am saying to not go too long, and don't quite get to fully answer, but overall I thought it worked.

I would expect anyone now getting a machine will find it has the wiring change and the latest 20.7.1 code.

For those interested, a few issues were due to the, fancy chrome balls he was using, which will magnetize surprisingly fast. We have seen this with two customers with just a few dozen plays.

Well, in the code on my machine right now, holding the right flipper will freeze the car collecting screen. I put that in while working on the 'car name' feature for the next release and based on doing this, there are a variety of reasons why it is doubtful this feature will remain in the bonus sequence, but we will continue to look at how to best show off the cars.

Not sure if any one looked at you like you were crazy, more about the challenge to get them and the effort to do so. As you know, took quite a bit of effort and time to get ones that would meet the need, and it is worth noting that when we got those ~450 cars, I did not see you volunteering to spend hours getting those all edited, processed, coded and loaded into the system.

I am curious to see when Mattel executives and employees start to get their games, if they are not seeing their favorite cars will they find us more to put in.

Scoring used to be all about the pops and spinners, so I loved your idea of making that a big focus in Loop CRASH multiball -- of course whenever I get loop/crash, suddenly ever loop shot makes it all the way through vs landing in the pops.

ifpapinball is testing some new code, with the score balancing changes, so don't let this score intimidate you. On current production code, this would have only been like 6.5 Billion.

In all seriousness, if you want big scores, take note of the last two items in the list. "Tach@7 or more + boost". Having the tach high when starting MB and during modes is key. Figuring out when to use Boost, (which in next code release is limited to once per gear, with subsequent boosts just boosting the tach), and then hopefully starting it when you want and making good use of it, is certainly key. All of those things, easier said than done (unless you are some pinball mutant, scoring 9 Billion)

Most of those active on pinside from American pinball probably had their pinside names first. I know Joe Schober, who does rules and programming, has been using Ferret for a long time and my nickname Rosh, goes back over 40 years. Oh, my real name is Josh Kugler, and I also do rules and programming as well as few other things.

as LTG mentioned vegas9 is Michael Grant who is sales and marketing and brenna98 is Dave Brennan, our technical service manager.

You won't find Joe Balcer on pinside too often.

We are active here since we all love pinball, we love to talk about our games, to educate, to answer questions and to help owners of our games any way we can.

well, if we are posting photos of things with LTG on it, I can play that game too . . .

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In all seriousness, LTG is one of the those people that make pinball great. And it is always a highlight getting to talk with Lloyd and shows (and I always appreciate when he cleans our glass). We very much appreciate his participation in this and other American Pinball machine threads.

In addition to what Ferret described, you can use the left flipper button to rev the tach and that will act as a multiplier on the skill shot points that are awarded. You want to rev the tach, but not redline it, and release the plunger at the highest point, basically the moment it turns red, but if you are slow, you redline, and get no multiplier. The skill shot screen will then show the multiplier and on the next code release the 'pie slice' will remain flashing so you know where it was when you released the plunger.

Okto certainly uses it more than either Houdini or HW or possibly any machine ever. Not that we are done with HW, but probably not as many opportunities to use it, as there were in Okto, just based on the themes of the modes.

Originally all battles would start there, but after shooting the whitewood I felt that was one of the more challenging shots in the game, and wanted it easier for novices to to be able to start battles. In addition Ferret was proposing that battles both start and end at the saucer, so that further pushed into making the track builder a secondary battle saucer for starting and finishing modes. The default setting does require the lower saucer to start the third, four and Draven battles, since if you are getting to those battles, than you are probably move than a novice, so time to step up and make the shot. But as ferret posted, you can always adjust the setting on that. The track builder for starting battles, also makes it a bit easier to stack that with a track MB.

We did that on okto so that the right flipper was not kept so strong all the time, when the ramp was only down part of the time. Having it stronger results in it heating up faster and also makes the near shots a lot deadlier or harder to make it.

Keeping Flippers being overly strong all the time can certainly lead to pre-mature over heating. Increasing the power in MB would probably not help matters, and could actually make it worse, given the far more rapid firing of flippers during MB, which makes Ferret's idea interesting, as it could help keep the strength up in a long multiball, but not sure the upside would be worth the downside..

You want your flippers to be strong enough to make the ramps, to feel solid when you make those shots, but no more than that, since at that point you are just making them work harder and heat up faster, and likely get more airballs, for no real benefit.

Not sure during Turbo you have any time to, or even want to be, looking up at the screen There is a lot on screen now, so we do want to be careful about putting more on it. But we will talk about.

We are discussing some ideas around the race, and we will be doing something, but you won't be seeing anything in that regard in the next release. Speaking of which, we are just about ready for the next phase of testing on it and we are looking for a few volunteers who would like to test out the latest code.

Thank you to all who are interested, but we now have enough beta testers

We will talk about it, and see what might make sense. Just not sure how much that helps you in this case -- do you really need even more pressure to execute during Turbo Boost?

There is a 'beep' when you are low on fuel, we have changed that, since the original one sounded too much like an old tilt sound and was confusing people. However, I don't recall which version is in the current released code.

FYI, this is on beta code where bonus is bigger in general AND gear is now a multiplier on bonus! Oh and fifth gear is just a tiny bit easier to get to it and redline.

I do find that when putting it back down often a ball will then escape

Enjoy . .. .

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https://www.american-pinball.com/support/updates/

CHANGE LOG

20.08.01

NEW -- added adjustments for "Boost Scoring Tach Advance" and "Boost Scoring Ready Memory" (under Settings > Game Features).
NEW -- added adjustment for "Loop Multiball Super Jackpot Timer" (under Settings > Game Features).
NEW -- added adjustment for "General Illumination Brightness" (under Settings > Standard). This allows playfield inserts and GI brightness to be adjusted separately.
NEW -- added several new pricing plans, improve token handling.
NEW -- added on-screen messaging at power-up if there is a problem communicating with the P-ROC controller.
NEW -- added support for incremental code updates in the future.
NEW -- added new display and lighting effects when advancing Gears when Redline ends.
NEW -- changed presentation for Tilt Warning and Tilt.
NEW -- added new display effect for Advance Bonus X.
NEW -- added new display effect when adding fuel during Battles (B-A-T-T-L-E targets).
NEW -- completing all B-A-T-T-L-E targets during a Battle now adds a significant extra amount of fuel.
NEW -- fuel consumption during Battles will be paused if there is no game activity for several seconds.
NEW -- Skill Shot now briefly flashes the Tach level reached from revving the engine with the left flipper.
NEW -- added knocker effect when awarding a credit.
NEW -- added new music track for Legend Multiball.
NEW -- added new music track when entering initials for a high score / champ record.
MODIFIED -- tweaked default strengths for several coils.
MODIFIED -- options now wrap around when editing Settings in service mode.
MODIFIED -- cleaned up some unused audits; correctly tally others that were not being updated.
MODIFIED -- adjusted scoring balance throughout.
MODIFIED -- enhanced rules for T-rex Battle. Spinners now build up value to be collected on the right ramp shot.
MODIFIED -- during Gorilla Battle ramps phase, the blue ramp will now be awarded from a left orbit shot if the ball is diverted for Race Start.
MODIFIED -- the "Advance Race Position" Collector Case Award will no longer be given during multiball.
MODIFIED -- improved end-of-ball Bonus choreography.
MODIFIED -- improved Extra Ball choreography.
MODIFIED -- improved Redline Jackpot choreography.
MODIFIED -- improved Loop Crash Multiball choreography.
MODIFIED -- improved choreography when starting a Battle and Car Chaos together.
MODIFIED -- improved presentation of on-screen Tach in higher gears and when Boost is active.
MODIFIED -- numerous enhancements to game lighting.
MODIFIED -- the shot/target lamps for completed Epic Features will now turn solid when it has been qualified for Epic Collect.
MODIFIED -- numerous changes and enhancements to sound effects.
MODIFIED -- in Track Multiball, Jackpot and Super Jackpot values now reset after Mega Jackpot is collected or times out.
MODIFIED -- animations no longer abort by double-flipping when the ball is actively in play.
MODIFIED -- status panel will now auto-hide when there are changes in game state.
FIXED -- resolved possible crash when entering service mode.
FIXED -- fixed service mode Utilities > Clear Balls sometimes not clearing all balls from the machine.
FIXED -- ensure system volume is correctly set at power-up.
FIXED -- fixed several edge-case bugs when starting Redline Mania.
FIXED -- Epic Cars no longer prevents collection of cars toward Case Awards and Car Chaos.
FIXED -- corrected scoring issues during Legend Multiball, including Legend Jackpot not actually being awarded.
FIXED -- resolved issue where GI would flicker when changing color due to tach changes

So you did update and then no power?

game attempts to start when you hit start but no ball served?

And can you go into service mode, correct?

If so have you tested ALL coils?

Do what LTG said and be sure the wires to the interlock are all connected. Possible something got knocked loose when you were getting the usb cable.

You can also check that 48 is reaching the interlock switch.

We never change your settings. If we do change a default setting of note in a code update, we will cover it in release notes so you can review and see if you want to change your settings.

on both sides I take it.

If no power there, then Next I'd check that the connectors coming out of the power supply are properly connected, and then check the voltages coming right off the supply.

You should be able to check the voltage on the connectors without opening up the case. Black wires will be your ground, you should see yellow (12v), red(5v) and I believe Brown (48v) wires. You can typically just push the test leads into the back of the connector (not at a machine right now). If not, remove the connectors, one at a time so as to be sure they go back into the right place and orientation), and stick the test leads into the jack on the power supply case.

Not to my knowledge, however, power supplies typically have a safety cut off, leaving the machine off for 15 minutes or so, would typically reset it, but suspect you have had it off for at least that at some point since this started, but if not, power down for a half hour, and then see.

This was fixed yesterday, but it was right after I released the code. Had never noticed it, but when I was investigating an issue relative to GI flicker thats was reported, which was fixed in this release, I did spot it. Did not want to hold off the release to investigate it. Likely other times it is either the wrong color or more likely just off when it should be on, but given its location no one had really noticed. Will be fixed in the next release.

The rules section of this may be of help . ..
https://www.thisweekinpinball.com/hot-wheels-pinball-deep-dive-in-depth-overview-of-the-machine-features-rules-and-more/

A rule sheet was started on tiltforums.com, but not much in it yet.

Feel free to ask questions

That is great, really well done, great humor. Looks like a ton of fun.

probably safer to say 'as crazy'.

I believe you can play it this weekend at the Toy And Hot Wheels Meetup, which will be outdoors, in South Beloit, not that far from you. Michael Grant will be there with one of our machines and I believe Joe Balcer will be there for part of the day as well . . . Vegas9 can you confirm if this is still happening?

https://www.facebook.com/events/291410375397786/

These were changed to 6.3 after production started. So the first X games went out with 5 amp.

Possible the parts department may not be aware of the change for HW or did not know it was for a HWs when it was sent out.

You can bend/push the end of the flatrail closer to the rubber to close the gap, just need to close that gap a bit.

That is the risk/reward nature of the RPM targets.

Key thing is you only get one full turbo per gear, use it wisely (and be sure to use it before redlining the gear). If you trigger turbo prematurely, before you have anything set up, best thing to do as to not to waste it, is to go for the track builder drop target, since that will 'bank' the turbo boosted jackpot value for the first set of jackpots when you start Track MB.

Thus the reason I gave the tip of "shoot the track builder",

You can adjust the height of the target so that it is flush. There is an adjustment screw for it. you need to loosen the nut, adjust the screw until the target is flush, then re-tighten the nut.

Not sure what you are describing, don't see the ball

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https://www.american-pinball.com/support/updates/

A smack on the left side of the cabinet should definitely get that loose, but how did it get there? Was it a slow roller up the inner loop or did it come out from the pops? Hard to see how it got stuck on that side of the switch, no matter how much I tried could not get a slow roller, from either side, to stick there. I finally just placed it there, which took a few tries, to test out the smack. Have seen balls come out of the pops and stick to the switch slot but on the pop side, not the outside.

make sure the USB stick is formatted FAT32 (not exfat)

Look to see if any logs were copied on to it, if so, send them to me [email protected]

That only applies to Houdini's on very old code, before we added having the version number as part of the file name.

Flashing epic shots means that part of the epic stack is not yet qualified, once all are solid it is qualified, so you can keep building it or collect.

Well, you have a opportunity to make it a great Christmas.

For those who may not have be following the Hot Wheels Streaming challenge Karl DeAngelo was the first to complete the race in under a minute . . .

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/732820482?t=01h44m30s

but it was Escher Lefkoff who finished the challenge with the fastest time, edging out Karl, with just minutes left in the challenge.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/733530352?t=02h55m16s

These guys mades hundreds of attempts to get to these times. They had some great runs, but just could not make that last shot or two. They also found some ways to shave off a few seconds here or there. I now need to go try a few of these things to see if I can improve my time.

This week is BATTLE week and there are four challenges one for each battle. Looking forward to seeing how the competitors approach these challenges in trying to maximize points for a single battle vs an entire game.

Twitch does work on a computer

for those interested in twitch streams . . .

https://www.neverdrains.com/hotwheels/playerIndex.php

if you go to the scores page, you can click at the top for each of the various competitions, you will see links to the twitch streams. The streams often link to the 'score' screen, but you can go back to get to the start of the game. Depending on the challenge there is a ton of 'set up' time, for example, some competitors in the battles will go for two or three redlines before even looking to start a battle. In the race challenge, with each passing day competitors were quicker and quicker to restart on runs where they knew they had no shot to better their race time.

This week it is track multiball

The streams have been great and I find it interesting to see how some of the players go about dissecting things. What I have enjoyed most is that each weeks challenge is just a narrow slice of the game, but yet you can see how it keeps the players challenged all week. Obviously the style of play and the strategy is very different when focusing on a single thing, like fastest race time vs normal game play. I'll be curious to see when we get to 'high score' how the players take all that they have learned about he different parts of the game to try to create a high score strategy. When and how best to use turbo, redline, shift gears . . .

Ferret and I are often in the stream chats (as is IFPA's Josh Sharpe who is very knowledgable on the rules and strategy) to help educate competitors and those watching on the rules and different strategies.

You can find a list of those streaming Hot Wheels here . . . .

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/api-amp-ifpa-announce-hot-wheels-pinballl-livestreaming-challenge-series#post-5825232

you broke a billion, which is pretty impressive given you were constantly holding the ball on the flipper, causing the tach to fall, while you read the twitch chat.

Check the coil strength, there was a period of time Balcer was setting them to 10 or 12 vs the 14 which I like and he ultimately agreed was better.

Yes, sorry I should have given the proper name.

There are many creatures in the Hot Wheels City show that have not made their way into the machine. We were not huge fans of the shark footage, but did find a way to get him into the game for the Tilt sequence (and including him was not universally loved by the design team). The bat was in the HWC art we got, so our artist used it, but we have not seen them appear in any episodes. Of course who knows what the future may bring.

dupe

I like to stack Track MB with the battles, especially the first track, since it is easy to start, and that helps in the battles.

Yup hit that a few times and it lights the Pit Stop ball save. Don't quote me on this, but I believe I made those bankable.

Actually it is not too bad, certainly a lot easier than games from the 90s. On HW in the lower cabinet there is as set of connectors for most of the wires going to the head, so disconnecting those and a couple cables from the computer and the display (2 Power, 2 USB that need to be dropped down into the cabinet) is all that is needed. It is possible the sub woofer disconnect is in the head. Back in the sparring I moved both a HW and an Okto into my basement with the heads off. So, while not a 5 minute thing, but not as bad as you might expect.

Pretty sure it is . . .

Game box size: 58” Height X 30” Wide X 31” Length

Pallet size: 33” x 35”

Actually, they were probably correct the way they were, the labels on the amps are not always correct. If you go into service -> test -> display/sound you can confirm the speakers are correct.

Usually a stuck pixel is a red, green or blue. Regardless open a ticket and Dave will work with you to get it swapped out.

Sometimes adjusting the wires in the head will resolve buzz.

It will be a swap of the monitor.

Looking for a few volunteers for a short Hot Wheels beta test.

Please only volunteer if you can put a decent amount of play on the machine over the next few days.

If interested, send me a PM, with your real email address.

UPDATED -- Looking at my inbox, looks like I have enough volunteers

I don’t know, that keefer guy has never come up with a good idea. Not a single one, ever!

My guess is the way you physically connected that strip, using what looks like a rivet or a screw, that you have shorted the wires in the strip.

You can confirm this, by changing the wire from the cabinet to go to the left strip instead of the bottom strip, and also remove the wire from the right strip to the bottom strip, and see if those left, top and right come back on.

seems like you have short someplace
then disconnect all but one of the strips and see what happens, it it lights, add each strip one at a time to see which one kills it,
if none of the strips work, check the voltage on the connector (first set backglass brightness to 10)

so you have 12V at the connector that goes to the strips, and none of the strips will work off the 12V from the cabinet when it is the only one connected? At a minimum you should have enough slack to test left and bottom.

Most of the time, the ball should come out of there and not go STDM, but it take some time to learn when you are in a trouble and need the nudge, which typically does not require much.

For the orbit issue, check that the ball is not nipping the 'E' standup target as it comes off the rail.

We will be doing a walk through of game rules, among other things, at 8PM ET tonight on the Pinball Virtual Expo.

It will be live and we will be doing Q&A if time permits.

pinballexpo.net

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https://www.american-pinball.com/support/updates/

Note there are now two different update packages. One is an incremental that is much quicker to download and install. It is still new, but so far we have not seen any issues in testing. This incremental version can be used regardless of which version you are currently on.

There is also a full update for those who like to play it safe or love the longer anticipation of the current code update

If you have any issues with either, you can always install the last full version.

This code introduces Treasure Hunt Cars. In the real world, Hot Wheels treasure hunters go to different places that cars are sold, when they get new shipments, to check if any are treasure hunt cars. Some even have arrangements with store managers to call them when new shipments come in. You can tell a treasure car by the special symbol on the car and on the packaging. They know that going back to the same location you have already checked, has no value, but it is up to them to know where they have gone and where they haven't, there is nothing that is going to indicate that to them. Some say, finding one, has magical powers, that can make the next cars you collect more valuable.