Quoted from wcbrandes:

What an absolute shame they cut out the cool ramps and diverter and reduced it down to make it less than what it should have been! Now I know why some people hate Stern getting their dream themes! I mean who would have paid for the additions if their was a choice? Who would sacrifice a $1000 crappy topper to make all these cool features into the game? Stern is all about money and its a damn shame as they are the best at manufacturing...so far.

Quoted from PinMonk:

The Houdini we had out really did well on location, but I had all the upgrades on it so it performed pretty well compared to stock. Top 5 earner for the whole route pretty consistently. The operator had no complaints - until his audits couldn't be cleared and AP blew off fixing it. I don't think Houdini is a home-only pin.

Quoted from bobukcat:

I agree, was somewhat surprised to hear David Fix talk pretty negatively about it on the podcast. Franchi said he really liked it and the art but didn't like how bad it kicked his ass which is a pretty common complaint and I think that's pretty fair at least.