Nope. I thought that was what someone else was saying. I misunderstood them.

There are 128 owners shown on Pinside.

We know how many LE models are built. If you check "Owners" for LEs with a known number (say Godzilla at 1000) you usually see about 40% of that total reported.

If you apply the same ~40% number to Oktoberfest that is about 300 units.

Of course, only American knows for sure.

Around Expo is the rumor I hear reported most often.

Does this mean they’re going from Oktoberfest to HW? Are they skipping Houdini/will Houdini be made before the next new AP title?

I'm guessing he just neglected to mention the Houdini, which says to me that it might be a small run, as Hot Wheels is proven to be a much more popular game, with better curb appeal to all audiences, or simply put he just forgot.

Dear pinside member. Stop talking like you know everything and making statements like they are fact. Fake news
Hot wheels vs Houdini. "I drink your milkshake. I drink it up."

SmartSelect_20220703-005007_DuckDuckGo (resized).jpgSmartSelect_20220703-005127_DuckDuckGo (resized).jpg

I don't know everything, if I did, I'd be able to guess the next game

I wish I did too but I think it will be a Nordman. Hot wheels is not the best game they made,Houdini is where it is at. I had high hopes for hot wheels with the mode structure of building track etc but the shots aren't there for me to play it again. Got old quick.

The "hook" of Hot Wheels is maintaining your RPMs while achieving all the other goals of the game to maximize your score. It's a game where trap/hold/plan will kill ya -- you have to keep shooting. If you prefer to play slower and thoughtfully, then Houdini, Oktoberfest, or Valhalla might be better choices for you. And of course, that's why we make a variety of games.

I definitely go for stop and go games which is why Valhalla appealed to me. Since you make a variety of games mind filling us in, if the next game will be flowy or thoughtfully?

Houdini is easily one of the most underpriced pinballs in existence...which I find confounding to be honest. Its build quality, animations, sounds, mechs/toys, and fun level are all great.

It only ever really has 2 complaints against it:

1) Some people says it's too hard.

-This really doesn't make sense because pin owners like games with "staying power," i.e. games that are harder so they take longer to understand and beat.

2) Some don't like the theme.

-I suppose everyone has their opinion, but I find it tough not to enjoy a super unique theme of the greatest magician ever who had a very intriguing life (and death) and who left an undeniable legacy that inspired others.
I am sure if it were themed with the matrix or back to the future, however, it would be a 15000 game.

Houdini is amazing in a home environment. I had mine out on route for a bit and had tons of complaints about the difficulty. I wish I still had the machine. It was my go-to machine in my gameroom for awhile once I got it dialed in.

I was shopping for one more pinball machine this year for my future gameroom. Houdini looks super nice but I decided against it because it takes pinball too literally. It’s got way too many obstacles because there are too many ball paths for a non widebody playfield and therefore I mostly hit posts (“pins”) with the steel ball.

Now some like this challenge but I don’t enjoy it. This is one of the reasons why I also rarely play my IJTPA. The ramps are a bit too narrow and I hit posts 70% of the time.

With Houdini 90% of my shots hit a post. I neither have the skills nor the talent nor the patience to improve this. Almost every path is super narrow. So I buy a machine that has non frustrating shots and still isn’t too easy. This was the reason I wait for a GZ Premium over just buying a Houdini.

Fair enough but I will say that there are very few actual posts to hit in Houdini, the SEANCE stand-up targets are what seperate almost all the ball paths so it's those that you hit (and light SEANCE along the way) when you miss shots except for the Milkcan and Scoop for the most part.

Except there are almost no posts in Houdini, as they are typically targets. And when you can’t find those shots,, those standup get you to a cool multiball, of course once in multiball when you need to hit the targets, you will instead be making the shots. No doubt it is challenging to shoot and with plenty of depth and breadth to keep it challenging and interesting for a long time in a home environment, which is eventually we’re most games end up.

Yes, it’s targets that feel like posts/pins to me.

I just tried to say that for me, there’s “fun” difficult (e.g. having to shoot an orbit or a ramp multiple times in a row to achieve a goal, where the ball gets faster and faster) or “frustrating” difficult where I hit some pin/post/target to start a mode and then I have a few seconds to shoot some ramp/orbit combo but this, to me, is suuuuuuuuuuper difficult because I keep hitting the targets that guard the 1” or so wide ramp or orbit entrance and only hit the ramp or orbit perfectly enough on a day where I also hit the powerball jackpot in the lottery.

It would be nice to see what they come up with next. Its always nice to have another company out there making Pinballs. JJP are just getting too expensive. As long as American and keep their prices under what a Stern Pre costs. They should sell very well.

Huge White Water fan, and after getting some more time on EHOH recently I'm very excited to see what Nordman delivers for AP. Hoping his release is up next.

I have no doubt that someday Houdini will be as sought after as some of the greatest out there. I will go out on a limb and say I'd rather play Houdini over the Monster Bash, AFM, and maybe even IJ. It is that good.

I agree. Every time I think about trading/selling it off, I play a game and wonder: what was I thinking? Great player, great build and for me, a great looking game.

Mines gone, so is MM. AFM and IJ are staying.

I've owned AFMr and Houdini. AFMr eventual got boring and was sold. Still have Houdini after maybe 3 years and it's still the wife's favorite pin. In terms of a pin with 'stop 'n go' shots (really more about slowing down to aim for a shot) - still at the top of my list.

I wish Stern or JJP would have some original themes. I can understand that well known IPs make money

I had MB SE. I thought it was very simple. Houdini will never leave.

American seems to be the only company that has had original ideas. It should be nice to see what they come up with next

cough...cough... Maybe if you don't look too hard.

celts3 (resized).jpg

Excited to get those art blades, and really cool that they are providing them at no cost! AP keeps doing things that make me happy I have 2 of their games. But damn them, cause I will also want their next release and I have no space.

Oh i know they exist but they are not super common. I dont think them, Sppoky or brothers are on the same level as American yet. Hopefully one day they will be. I would hope they all would be on the same level as Stern or JJP. More competition brings more and better games. Not to mention the prices would hopefully drop a little bit.

what other game do you have?

Seems to be the opposite of what you said half an hour ago. Just trying to inform.

semantics. You then would have to count every homebrew or everyone off. Haggis had 1 game that was original. If they truly want to grow they need to make a new IP and be able to crank them out at a decent pace

Yes, you are absolutely right in both your opposing statements of course, how could you be anything else?

You are also right that i am talking semantics. Semantics is important for most people, it's how we define meaning. Don't let the fact that your statements contradict each other and your ridicule of the branch of science that places importance of the meaning of language stop you from feeling 100% correct.

And don't let the fact that it's another pinball company stop you from throwing in homebrews to stretch the point far enough to cover your contradictions either.

semantics;
the branch of linguistics and logic concerned with meaning. The two main areas are logical semantics, concerned with matters such as sense and reference and presupposition and implication, and lexical semantics, concerned with the analysis of word meanings and relations between them.

American pinball to me, is the most respectable company, they're honest with their customers, they make great games and they're not afraid to make original themes or rerun their backlog, they're giving new guys a chance to get in their business and their support is phenomenal, not to mention, I don't believe they've made a single flop, every game has been a thrill to play.

And I have to give it out to haggis for remaking those wonderful Bally's, if 8 Ball deluxe is on the list and at a reasonable price to import to America, gonna have to start pinching some pennies.

The fact that they do everything slowly but surely to check for quality tells you what you need to know about these manufacturers, although the anticipation is rough.

I would say American pinball and Spooky are on the same level As far as pin quality and after sale support. Of course America has deeper pockets so they can rerun their own pins or something like they did with Valhalla.

Love em all! Cept JJP, they can get fucked.

Yeah man, I worry about Sterns after sale service but they do put out some bad a** pinball machines, that cannot be denied.

2 of my top 5 are Sterns, Tron and deadpool. Walking dead isn't far off either. Can leave everything the've done since Deadpool behind without a second glance though.

I did like Stranger Things, but can't get past the big vag. Dunno why a modder hasn't made a replacement out of a fleshlight.

JJP always seems great to play whenever I run into, and stern has some hits and misses, with some of their PRO models to me being better than premium (I think Aerosmith, star wars, and Deadpool are SOLID bangs for your buck at the pro level).

But, I've not heard amazing things when it comes to owning a JJP, I'm sure you can find a thread for that.

thank God American had the sense to get away from Mirco.

I've never owned a Spooky game but I know people who owned Rob Zombie and others including one person with barcades who refuses to ever buy another game from them because of the constant issues they experienced and not being able to keep them running / earning. I was in a barcade in Jacksonville earlier this year that had a Holloween and Ultraman they were so frustrated with they were threatening to return them. I know that's fairly anecdotal but I've been leary of buying any Spooky except TNA based on those experiences.

Spooky's are quirky, no doubt. Not the best machines to have on site as both Rob Zombie and Alice have ball stick issues (there are workarounds thanks to Sonic ).

The OS crashes no and then or loses track of balls occasionally. I wouldn't buy one for location either. But they are wonderful at home here where i can tilt the playfield if i ever have to find a stuck ball. I like having machines from different modern manufacturers.

Thanks to Jason Knapp and Knapp Arcade's Facebook page for bringing this to my attention:

Lots of interesting information and commentary from Ryan McQuaid and David Fix in the latest Super Awesome Pinball show (adult language warning for anyone that's not familiar with the show): https://superawesomepinballshow.libsyn.com/the-super-awesome-pinball-show-ep-33-fixmcquaid

Apparently there was some crap that k-man put out there about API that was incorrect so at the very end they have a follow-up interview with David Fix to clarify those. Based on this conversation I will be surprised if anyone from API is on his podcast anytime soon if ever.

A few things that I took away from it:

Fix kinda threw a shot at Josh about coding speed when talking about the new guy but later had nothing but nice things to say about him so I don't think it was intentional. However he won't elaborate on why Josh is no longer there.

The Barry Ousler game they will be making is NOT Food Truck as they don't have the license for that or any other game he did while at Deeproot.

LOV is selling very well and there are lots of orders for the Classic Edition which they will release later this year.

It's well known that AP does not have the Sonic license even though they were in negotiations to get it but according to Fix Stern is NOT the company who does have it. He does not know who does and they are taking the approach that if the license expires because it doesn't get made they will take another shot at it and try to get Ryan's Spinball game made.

Franchi ate three mexican pizzas in one sitting and the results were not unexpected.

LOV is selling very well and there are lots of orders for the Classic Edition which they will release later this year.

Not sure how this is possible. There is no pricing, and any distro I’ve talked to has little to no interested lists for it.

But excited that they are releasing a classic version!

Yeah, I haven't talked to any distros about it and of course it's possible he's blowing smoke but that's what he said in this interview.

Operators complaining about keeping pins running are mental. You don’t want to fix stuff? Don’t operate pins. I have an ACNC on route and it’s great. Putting my Halloween in soon as today’s code update addressed a few of my concerns for location. Spooky has THE BEST tech support in the industry. You can literally call them on the phone six days a week and they’ll get you back up and running in NO TIME. Tell me about ANY other manufacturer that provide this level of service. None.

American Pinball. I've called them up myself with a problem and the tech stayed late to help me out before the long weekend. I will never forget how nice that was. I am glad to hear Spooky would do the same.

This is great to hear, I’ve yet to buy an AP for location or otherwise but I hope they put out something I can’t refuse in the near future as Sterns are starting to feel really homogenous to me.

https://www.knapparcade.org/post/trademark-search-reveals-american-pinball-s-next-theme
From Knapp arcade

It's seems we might be getting a space themed machine, and let me tell you, I like the sound of that.

Although, truth be told, bit saddened over the loss of Sherlock Holmes, hope that's a game we can sometime see.

Thanks to Knapp Arcade, what do you guys think about a space game? I think a space themed game is way overdue (if we're talking originals) and the possibilities have me excited.

Screenshot_20220711-204928 (resized).png