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SDTM: Blowing up some Houdini - Check out that last game!

Straight Down the Middle·video·1h 12m·analyzed·Feb 3, 2018
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.027

TL;DR

SDTM streams Houdini Master of Mystery gameplay, praising depth and tight shots while discussing design and competitive appeal.

Summary

A Straight Down The Middle stream featuring extended gameplay of Houdini Master of Mystery, showcasing multiple modes including the challenging milk can escape, seance, trunk multiball, and various film modes. The host praises the game's depth, tight shot design, and mode variety while discussing build quality comparisons to other manufacturers and fielding viewer questions about gameplay mechanics and competitive viability.

Key Claims

  • Houdini Master of Mystery has tight shots that are satisfyingly challenging but sometimes too tight

    high confidence · Host describes milk can escape as the hardest mode with an extremely tight shot

  • The game has some bugs in the code but the overall code quality is good

    high confidence · Host explicitly states 'This thing has some bugs, but the code on it... sweet'

  • The game features mode stacking despite designer indicating it shouldn't be possible

    medium confidence · Host claims 'Google told me you cannot stack mode, but I promise you, I've done it plenty of times'

  • Houdini's build quality ranks below Jersey Jack Pinball but is solid overall

    high confidence · Host compares build quality across Stern, American Pinball, and Spooky, ranking JJP as sturdiest, Stern as light but well-built

  • The game is mode-based like The Wizard of Oz and Simpsons Pinball Party with extensive stacking potential

    high confidence · Host describes game structure and mode types to viewer question about competitive viability

  • There is a confusing design element where spelling three letters of HOUDINI acts as if a fourth is possible but isn't

    high confidence · Host states designer Coogler 'did it on purpose but I hate it' - clarifies no Z in HOUDINI

  • The game effectively functions with only one ramp, contrary to host's initial concerns

    high confidence · Host reflects on discovery that single-ramp design works despite initial skepticism

  • Houdini multiball modes do not feature ball saves like Stern games

    medium confidence · Host comments 'They don't have no Sam Stern ball saves on these multi-balls. That's for damn sure.'

  • The host has played approximately 150 games on Houdini Master of Mystery

    high confidence · Host states 'I've been playing the hell out of it' and estimates '150 maybe'

Notable Quotes

  • “This thing has some bugs, but the code on it... sweet”

    Host (Straight Down The Middle)@ 8:40 — Summarizes overall code quality assessment despite noting technical issues

  • “Shots are super tight, man. I've been saying they're satisfyingly tight.”

    Host@ 3:19 — Core design philosophy of game's shot difficulty

  • “I wouldn't mind getting to the video mode for you guys... this game is deep. Deep in there or similar interjection the best way possible.”

    Host@ 31:23 — Assessment of game's depth and content variety

  • “Spooky Pinball feels the sturdiest. Sam Stern's light. It's built well.”

    Host@ 22:17 — Comparative assessment of manufacturer build quality

  • “Guys this game is fucking awesome. There's just so much always going on. So many tasks to complete. And it's not confusing.”

    Host@ 50:25 — Strong endorsement of game design and mode complexity management

  • “I think this is as close as you're going to get... [to make a Tesla game with steampunk feel]”

    Greg (co-host/friend playing)@ 40:23 — Comparative design assessment relating Houdini to other games

  • “The one thing I didn't know when I was going to buy this game is, can I stand a game with only one ramp? Everybody's loving TNA with none, so I thought, I can't. But I don't even shoot for the ramp.”

Entities

Straight Down The MiddleorganizationHoudini Master of MysterygameAmerican PinballcompanyJoe CooglerpersonJoe BalzerpersonStern PinballcompanyJersey Jack PinballcompanySpooky PinballcompanyGregperson

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: American Pinball appears to have distribution challenges in Europe with host discussing potential road trip to deliver machine internationally

    medium · Host responds to European viewer interest with joke about needing to bring game on road trip, suggesting limited availability

  • ?

    community_signal: Straight Down The Middle actively soliciting community support through bits/donations for channel operation and content production (travel, filming, editing)

    high · Host thanks donors and explains need for support: 'we need everything we can get, guys... my wife would kill me if I was blowing hundreds or maybe a thousand dollars'

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Host assesses Houdini as potentially viable for competition due to mode-based structure with stacking potential, comparing to Wizard of Oz and Simpsons Pinball Party

    medium · Host responds to viewer question about competitive viability with positive assessment based on mode stacking and comparison to established competition games

  • ?

    design_philosophy: American Pinball emphasizes satisfyingly tight shots as core design element, requiring player precision and skill

    high · Host repeatedly comments on shot tightness throughout stream: 'Shots are super tight, man. I've been saying they're satisfyingly tight.'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Houdini Master of Mystery successfully achieves gameplay depth and variety with only one ramp, differentiating from typical multi-ramp pinball designs

    high · Host reflects on initial concern about single ramp but discovers game doesn't require it: 'The one thing I didn't know... can I stand a game with only one ramp... But I don't even shoot for the ramp.'

Topics

Houdini Master of Mystery gameplay and mechanicsprimaryShot design and difficulty balanceprimaryCode quality and bugsprimaryBuild quality comparison across manufacturersprimaryMode design, stacking, and complexityprimaryCompetitive viability and tournament playsecondaryStreaming technical setup and camera delay issuessecondaryChannel funding and community supportsecondary

Sentiment

positive(0.85)— Host expresses strong enthusiasm for Houdini Master of Mystery throughout the stream, praising depth, gameplay, and design philosophy despite noting some bugs and minor design quibbles. Tone is consistently upbeat and energetic with genuine enjoyment evident.

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.218

you you you Alright, alright, alright. Let's perform some magic. Let's. Happy Friday, everybody. Can't get enough of this game. Figured I was coming out here and playing anyway, might as well bring you guys along for the ride. The stage is now set for Houdini's unbelievable milk can escape. Milk can't escape, baby. Get out there. Get! Jack escape is open. Jell-O skip. There are my audio levels. What's up, Al? And turbo. Shots are super tight, man. I've been saying they're satisfyingly tight. Come on, Al. I know you like a uh, I know you like a challenge man. I've seen you play Speaking of tight shots, I've started milk can escape which is the hardest mode Never I've never completed this mode ever. It's this milk can shot right there. That is actually too tight Alright, you gotta focus on this one. Look at that. I'm not tight about that. Smooth. I am loving it though. Usually I just say to hell with that mode because it's nasty. As you can see. Really? Sometimes it can be too tight? I don't know. If you asked my buddy Greg, he would say no. It can never be too tight. 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Let's go. Add a little time there. 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. You have to hit it three times. Okay, screw that mode. We're going to try to go back up to stage. Get another mode going. We also, if I can get it on the right flipper constant, then we can try to lock some balls and catapult. Get up in that stage, baby. Okay. Get up there. Ah. Try to start metamorphosis here. Oh, in and out, though. In and out. Alright, so, what do I got going on here? I can lock the ball here as well as start a film mode. Or I can go up into the stage to start a main mode. Asola! Hey, Asola, I was watching the stream back last night, man. Thank you for those bits. The shitload of bits that you gave. Me lovey. Get up there. Oh, baby. I'll start the seance by shooting above the planchette. I want that mode started. I think the audio is a little loud. I turned it up because I like jamming out to it. Get up there. Get up there. There it is. All right. How many games have I played? We can check here in a minute. I'm betting like 150 maybe. I've been playing the hell out of it. Ow! Did you see that backhand that said a tight shot? Not too tight. No, they are tight. They are tight. I'm not going to lie. But, I like that. Alright so, gotta hit the orbits here. Uh oh, I'm about done here. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 6. Added a little time there with the orbit. Started seance. I wish I would have had a complete mode to start seance. I appreciate you helping the cause, man. We need all the help we can get. We're trying to be very ambitious with our channel, so we need some help. Alright, here we go. So I've got seance going now. I need the, uh... Whoa. The stand-up targets to spell seance. If you get all of them, you get a jackpot. If you get all of them in order, you get a super. I will say, though, guys, This thing's got some bugs, but the code on it Code on it, sweet Alright, so multiball's over I can take a direct shot to the main stage To start a mode It might bounce around up there and go Under the ramp into that hole Which I would get a mystery and a jail A jail hurry up mode Or I can try to go through stage alley And get two times That stage mode As well as lighting a lot Or I can go to the inside loop there and I can increase my jackpot and start a film look all kinds of options or I could go milk can ramp to get my multiplier don't die on me now. Alright, handcuff game. Ryan C, you're back! What time, like 2 in the morning over there? I do love some Houdini, man. Well, I had such a shitty performance last night. A monkey rabbit. I think it was a Rocky and Bullwinkle reference right there. There's nothing there, Houdini. That's what we call a bug. All right, so now I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to do. I'm still in this mode. Okay, so I need to get right through the key lane. Boom, just like that. I don't know how many times I've got to do it. Oh yeah, keep doing that. Alright, got jail opened up. I have to shoot a spinner as I hurry up to escape the London jail. Another time there. Oh baby. Keep it going. Milk can? Ooh, couldn't get that ring in. They're booing my ass, guys. They're booing my ass. All right, I've got a great game going on here. I'm on ball two. Hey, Buffalo Pinball, thanks for the host, man. Okay, is it a good game for competition? Hmm. I don't play in competition, so I don't know. No clue. I don't think you can exploit anything in particular, so maybe. It is very much stop and go for the most part. It's a mode based game. Think Wizard of Oz, kind of, Simpsons Pinball Party kind of stuff. There's a lot of stacking so that lines itself up nicely with competitions. Okay. We need to backhand that. Oh, hey! So we start a film mode here. You can always hold the flippers if you don't want to hear about the film modes. But, I like him. Alright, so we get a water wheel there. I've got to hit the spinner enough to spin that wheel off. I love this music. That's a little spinning. Here's another one. Almost there. Let's. And if you spin that spinner enough, that's how you qualify your mysteries. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, oh shitty, shitty, three, two, one. And there's really no grace period on these. I didn't complete it though. I don't know. I didn't complete it. Alright, combo mission two. I have to shoot the ramp, then the spinner, then the scoop. It goes up to five. You gotta go up to five of those. There's no freaking way. You know what? Alright, all kinds of shit lit here. Yeah, I'd hold out for the code, man. I was playing Guardians earlier today, and I'm like, it's still a fun game to play. Alright, so, see, that's exactly what you want to do there. Exactly. And then exactly. Alright, so this is the inverted flippers, right? So I can either do reverse flippers. I'm going to go reversed and inverted. They stay up. And I've got a... You can kind of get the hang of this. But it is crazy. Ah. Ah. How awesome is this? Oh baby, and I'm going up in the trunk. Good. You gonna get this shit on any other game? And I stacked Seance, alright. Alright. I can't see people doing this in a competition though. Oh, is that it? Oh, do I get ball save? Oh. Okay, I'm back. Okay. Woo! That was tough. Alright. So now I need to go back to my theater to try to start another mode. Or lie to lock through that stage alley. So I'm going to try to do both of them like that. I don't think I hit it perfectly. Okay. Okay. Inner orbit as well. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Get out of there. All right, so I at least have escape step. I've got a chance to save this ball. I've got to spell escape in 30 seconds. All right. Trying to get up in there. I heard nothing. This one's harder than return from beyond. Just gotta hit him around up there. Okay. Oh my god, there's no way! Oh, I need two more! Give me more time! That was fun. That was a lot of fun. oh my god I love you you ready to hang out so I'm coming down to to Florida we're gonna hang out Greg's got you back to Greg you want to go down to to Central Florida buddy we need to take a road trip and so is our biggest fan so we need to take him some flowers and you can take it some beer what do you think we love you so there I'd like to have a little orbit because I do have a film mode lit yet out I have a film mode and a lock ready to roll Bring it. Bring it. Ready? We're ready. Oh, this is my mode, guys. Okay, here we go. So, we do have trunk multiball as well as this mode. This mode you have to hit the trunk. All right, not to hit the trunk. Hit the theater a crap load of times and you guys are going to see a hell of a... Oh, really? I'm already done with drunk multiball. Okay, so it's going to add a ball. I'll show these people that. Come on, don't blow it. Ah, blew it, guys. So if I would have hit the orbit, then I would have lit the... I would have started that very special GI. It feels like a mini wizard that mode does whenever you get it going. Sorry about that. Damn it. Drain train. Woo! Fucking suck All right we still got a strong game going here though It It alright Let go back up into the theater Or to the theater Yeah to the theater Get out of there. I'll take that magic shell. Uh oh. What do we got? Seven times? Oh yeah. I've not seen that one yet. That's cool. Get out. Boom! Alright so this is a frenzy mode where I try to hit as many switches as I can. I always go for the spinner because it's super fun and I love the sound of it. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. All right, here we go. Spender time. Oh, I missed it. And then I guess you have to hit it so many times to complete the mode. I feel like I'm at the slot machine here. Get out of there! Center post love. Better step the game up. This is a good game, Gray. I was feeling it today. It's a good one. Alright, so I'm on ball three. 7.36 may get me on the leaderboard, so I'll take that. Alright, let's see what we got here. You can go to the progress map. I have gotten through five modes. Looks like five modes. I haven't got my seance jackpot. Trump multiball. I have three of the mysteries, two of the film modes, two of the jail modes of the five, and one secret mission. Look at that! So if you look at that progress map, this game is deep. Deep in the best way possible. Now I did, it has one of the Houdini letters lit. You have to get all of those things. Every single dot that you see you have to fill in in order to get to that ultimate wizard mode. So I've got the H. One letter. Alright. Okay, okay, okay. Let's lock a ball. Ow, anonymous. Shot's too tight. Shot's too tight. Alright, we're good. Oh shit! That was user error. He said I need Houdini like a fat kid needs cake. Notice again guys there's no Z. See? No Z. Now one of the things I did tell Coogler is that there's this weird confusing ass he did it on purpose but I hate it so when you do three letters it acts as if you can do a fourth one but you can't anything you enter here won't go in it but I told him it's confusing How's the build quality compared to on a scale from highway to JJP? That's mean, but true. But mean. Build quality? Listen to my stern. Shake. Houdini. Houdini. And then American's Most Haunted. Spooky. Spooky feels the sturdiest. Stern's light. It's built well. It really is. I haven't seen anything that I was like, I don't like that. I don't like the leg bolts. Balser put, he wanted one tool, like the wrench that you put the heads back on, right, that quarter turn. You put the bolts in with that, the leg bolts, and I don't like that. Let's perform some. I like my 5.8s. Okay. So I would rank it a little bit below JJP because those things are tanks. All right, lock a ball. This doesn't get old. I love it. I like watching. Whoop! That's cool. All right. So what do I need to be doing now? not draining get out of there so you can directly go for that theater but it takes you about four hits to open it up I'm at two more hits to open that stage up ooh I was trying to go up there to light my lock get up there all right so i did light my lock and i get it through the inner orbit got one more hit for the stage so who here is thinking about buying a houdini i know so you're uh you've got one coming all right so i've got chinese water torture ready to roll if i can get it up there Can you hold your breath as long as Houdini? Can you hold your breath as long as Houdini? Muse? Oh! You gotta move, you gotta move with it. All in and out, you dirty little biscuit. Get up there. Ooh, gotta be patient. Gotta be patient, Greg. I think you're going to get monster bash. Uh-oh. There it is. Hey, got it, 40. You can just come over to my house and play, man. You're too close. There's no need to buy it. All right. I'll come over and play some Twister At your place Oh, I thought I had that stage Like I say, I'm lit and ready too Now is not the time to drain Oh, it's in and out Get up there, get No, not down there No, no, no, no, no, no You use the center post a lot on this game Oh, it was in and out. Oh, it was in and out again. Damn. Oh, my God. I want some pirates too, man. Bad. Magic points. 5,000. Shit. Damn it. I was right there. Oh, it's coming back. Alright, let's settle it down here. Take a breath. I want some TNA too. I'd like to get some more time on that. I'm with you. Alright, so I'd like to get seance going. My ball won, so I'm doing well. Alright, so I need to get seance going. I'd like to open up a mode first. Maybe even a film mode if I can. But I don't have a lock lid there, so I might just go for the main stage. The other problem... Let's see here. Okay. No! What's everybody doing this weekend? I'm getting ready to go out to dinner with the fam. In about half an hour? Okay. So I've got my roving skill shot there. Stop laughing at me. I started the hurry up. New York. I got to hit the ramp it looks like. That was... That was... Y'all didn't see that. That was bad. Yeah, man. Pinewood Derby tonight? Hell yeah. That'd be awesome. Yeah, you're going to drop a shitload on that Disney trip, Greg. Maybe next time. A shitload. Don't give up your day job. I won't. Don't you dare. Alright, we blew ball two, but at least we got seance going. And you know what? Google told me you cannot stack mode, but I promise you, I've done it plenty of times. So I don't know if it's a bug or if it's not supposed to or if it's... I don't know. But it does stack. Those magnets are so mean! Like that. Drano! Alright, so that wasn't that great of a game. good. What'd I get on that one? Hey, Greg's always trying to make me go halfsies on a game. Let's perform some. Always. Okay. Woo. Okay, let's try to blow this baby up again. Blow up the baby. Magic shop is open. Steady. Steady. There we go. So again, you guys see me hit for that key lane. If you can get through the key lane and through the pop bumpers, it looks impossible. It's not bad though, it's Greg's favorite shot. You hit that back target, you're going to open up the theater automatically. Perfect. Perfect. I will now risk death as I am submerged in this torture chamber, hanging by the ankles with only a single breath. Okay. Keylane, first shot. Greg! Greg! There we go. Perfect. Now, orbit. Boom. Now stage for the win. Woo-hoo. Love that. Okay. And the modes are pretty lucrative. That gave me 60,000. Some of them will give you like 60 to 100,000. Okay. I can backhand it to lock a ball. Save it's probably my beautiful shiny balls that's making them glow. Shiny balls. Alright, where we at? So I wouldn't mind getting to the video mode for you guys. So my lock is lit through stage alley. I can also open up that theater if I can. The lock is lit again. Well, I kind of did that. So one more shot to the theater. Unless I take the shortcut. There's another lock. I love it. I love it, love it, love it. I say you didn't like it. Ball two is locked. Alright. Alright, Zach. Get your shots down. Secret mission opened up. My combos. I like them combos, man, but they are risky. Risky. Okay. Let's go Try to light along. Oh, baby. Oh Baby, all right, so I can lock my third ball to start trunk multiball, but I'd like to get that I'd like to get that That mode going first All right, so it's open Mystery mystery give me something good. Give me something good something good baby something good Enough can't multiply or keep some bugging on me Alright, so now I need to hit that stage. I need to hit it. Houdini's rather come at a hard jail. I need it. Alright, that's just ball one. That's it, babe. What are you talking shit, Greg? No, you're not going to talk me into shit. Megan and Dre saying, have these. Little happy love. Zach, get in the den. The ghost is kidding me. Oh, fuck off. Get up there. Get up there. I hope you wanted to go up there, didn't you? I'll take the ramp. The one thing I didn't know when I was going to buy this game is, can I stand a game with only one ramp? Everybody's loving TNA with none, so I thought, I can't. But I don't even shoot for the ramp. I really don't. That's what I shoot for. Okay. Okay, so I did start that impossible mode, but at least I can maybe get the, uh, the lock going or the, uh, trunk multiball going here. Backhand, Zach, you got this baby. Oh, I'm cute. Here we go. So a little trunk multiball mode. I still want to get that milk can. Even if I go for him. Oh, I already blew the multiball. They don't have no stern ball saves on these multi-balls. That's for damn sure. Adding time there. Now I can't go into seance if I was good. I'm not even going to go for milk. Oh, maybe once. Oh, I got it. Nice. Okay. Oh, don't boo me. Bring it. It's like when I say Barry Osler games suck. Boo. Boo. Bring it. Let the hate flow. Let it. Let it flow. Not like that. Alright, so what's the milk can have to do with Houdini? Yeah, he did something with the trick. With the milk can. Yeah, Greg's my best friend and I still wouldn't go half as with him. Now it is called a skill shot Houdini will next perform his famous swirling explosion So we were able to open that up I want Seance But I also need to start that mode I on ball three Decisions decisions I made a bad decision I want that mode starting. Get right there. Oh, so mean. Perfect. We got Indian Needle trick going. I want to get seance now before draining. monkey balls this game's all about some monkey balls okay God's seance I needed that there it is so we got frenzy mode going with seance that's good if I can have some time on this mode. You guys are here going nuts here. Who doesn't love that there. There it is, baby. Bam! Okay. There we go. All right. So you lock the ball there. I need S-E-A-C-N-D. That's 11. Let's see what this does. Okay. What do I need? Is this thing enough targets? Whoa. Whoa. God, the magnets, man. A couple more stand up targets. Okay. What do I need? A? I can do that. Checkbox. Oh, come on. Did you go? Oh, my goodness. Wow. Give me my ball. Give me. Come on, man. love the man these magnets are super active on this you guys see that shit like no zach you're lagging we didn't see any of it good so we did get the uh lit lock nice i am shark shooting today guys last night i was off Got that second catapult up there. Stay out. Ah! Alright, magnets over. Damn! Sorry guys, I was neglecting you. Alright, what do we got here? A milk can full of water and escape, really? Greg, what'd you think about that right there? That last five minutes? I think this is kind of the Tesla game with the steampunk feel. I think this is as close as you're going to get. Make a drain. I think Greg wants somebody to massage his little monkey balls. Alright, so I could get a film mode going. Or I could just totally choke on that. We got a gale. Oh, what is this? Look at that. It is. That's for Delt. That right there is for Delt. Alright, we need that extra ball. I want that. It's probably the last game I'm going to play tonight. So we want to finish strong here. Okay, so we got shoot ramp, theater's open, we got our extra ball here that I want so desperately bad. Okay. Backhand it, start that film mode. Alright, let's see what we gotta do here. Oh, this is the water wheel. Spinner. Spin-off. But I really want that extra ball. Oh. No. No. Don't you guys hate going for extra balls and you end up draining because of it? Needed that, needed it, needed it. Alright, now I gotta hit them spinners. Nine! Boom! Alright, did I? Oh, I need another spinner guys. Oh, I need another one. Alright, did I? Oh, I need another spinner, guys. Oh, I need another one. That's it. Damn. Did I not get it? Really? That's over. Oh, shit. It's okay, it's all right. Yeah, at Amesville? Yeah, it's really, really cool. Greg, where are you going? You going out to buy a Houdini from Larry? You're flipping out right now, huh? Jackass! What's up? All right. So we are on our last bowl here, unless I get an extra bowl. We got a pretty decent game going here. I need to get through another mode since it is opened up and she's primed and ready. Don't blow it. Get up there. Up the ring. Whoa. There it is. We start another mode here. paint cup change I see you shoot the pops all right so I can go for pops or brick it no no no no no no all right that's about the only thing that's lit right now so I'm gonna go for the pop little shake. Uh oh. What we got? I'll take a bonus multiplier. That's fine. Whatever. Alright, so. Still need some pops. I got an extra ball. That's good. Every time I get an extra ball, I freaking blow it. Freaking blow it. Son of a god. Streaming to 1080p. Damn! You know what? I don't know what I'm streaming. Because I'm the worst at setting up streams. This is Greg's job. He usually does this shit. Shout out to... Hold up. I need to do this. Carell. Carell or Carol. Oh, I'm going to botch your last name. I've already botched it first. Rougebrock. Karel Rougebrock he's a big fan of ours and he sent he sent us a couple of 4k Logitech brios so on the playfield is one of them but I can't I can't run 1080p at 60 frames a second or I have it like a strong delay if anybody knows how to fix that help a brother out because it's crystal clear it's just there's like a a five second delay. I don't know how to fix it. But yeah. Okay. So I did get the got that. Need to go for that. Good. Open it up, baby. Open it up. Risk his life as he catches a bullet with his teeth. I also have a lock going. Oh no. Oh, I got greedy. Alright, I think that's it That was a good game though Another good game USB 3 bus to pick a full 4K Okay I think it's going directly into my computer Getting games of Germany on location Hopefully Jackass hopefully drop some resolution yeah on the camera all right is it just a delay or inconsistent no it's straight up delay straight up consistent delay so what happens is um i'll play another quick game what happens is anyone else every other camera is synchronized works perfect it's just this playfield cam when i have it on 1080p at 60 um i'll put my hand out there and remove it And on the screen, it'll be like two seconds and then it'll come off. But everything else is synchronized, so I don't know. I don't know what it is. And I honestly have no clue. Chuck Work and Greg, they're good at streaming and setting it up and shit, but I just like playing that. I get lucky just to get the damn thing up and running, to be honest. Alright, start a mode. secret mission mode Oh gunna thanks for the bitties man thanks everybody in chat think think gunna yes Chuckie word would be able to do it real quick so set delay on OBS? Ugh. Feels dirty. I don't know. I don't know. Alright, so here's what's cool about this game. I can go straight up for that API grain starter mode or if I go through the stage alley to hit that theater then I get two times the value of it. Or I can backhand that lock shot. Or I can literally do none of it. I do love them more than so. Alright, let's try to go for that stage out. Oh, missed it. I mean, it's tight. You have to earn it. You have to earn that shot. That was not a good way to earn it. Oh, ripping it. Ripping it. Alright, let's start that Chinese water torture. Yeah, I'm thinking about switching from OBS to something else. It's just I literally... Whoa! I really have no clue how to work any of this shit. I'm not technologically savvy. All right. Two times. That'll work. All right, so I need my Orbits. Miss my Orbit. Oh, Zach. Come on, buddy. There it is. Gotta get that stage. Boom! Finish the mode. Finish the mode. Okay. Let's open that stage back up. Jail escape is open. Jail escape is open. Two more hits to the stage. Oh! That's a lock. My play for the USB is blue. Yeah, it is blue. I know that. That's a good call on that one. Because my dumbass wouldn't have thought of that. Alright. Oh, I wanted it. Oh, we got to be patient with this game wait for that cinder post bounce. Oh Now if I could have got that ramp real quick All right got my plate for most like since I hit the if you get that milk can you've got to get that rinse quick You can get that 2x going then 3x and 4x got my jail going Guys this game is fucking awesome. There's just so much always going on. So many tasks to complete. And it's not confusing. It's not like 40x multiplier bullshit. No. Straight up. You know your series of modes. Your multivolves. Got metamorphosis going here. I know that it's a stage mode. So stage modes are red. There's the multiplier again. See if I can get that ramp. Oh, there's another one. Get it! Nah. Right there. Damn it. Sorry, coming a little unhinged here, guys. A little unhinged. Sorry about that. Yeah, so I've got an iMac. I don't know how old it is. It might be like three years old. Yeah, that's no shit safe. Sometimes it does feel like voodoo. Hey, Gunnut, thanks again, man, for the bits. I really do appreciate that, brother. Okay. Bitty's gone wild today. We need everything we can get, guys. We got t-shirts for selling. We're not trying to be little whores out here, but... In order for us to drive to places like American Pinball, Texas Pinball Festival, film all the shit, edit, edit, edit all the videos, my wife would kill me if I was blowing hundreds or maybe a thousand dollars on that stuff. So you guys, y'all's support is super helpful and thankful. Oh, I need to get that seance going. Seance! Nope. Woo! Woo! Light up that bell. Love it, love it, love it. Ah. Oh, Zach. Nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Couldn't do it, couldn't do it. Shake it off. One. Shake it off. Go for something different. Now, I'm showing you what I feel. Okay. Who do you remember? I do have film mode licks. I want that stage alley again. There it is. Perfect. Bounce it. Okay. So I got two times if I go through there to hit the king of cards, but at this point, what ball am I on? I need to just get through it. I love this music. Uh-oh, I don't like it. There we go. This is a video mode, guys. Yeah, we're going to Texas, man. SDTM will be in Texas. We're going to do some cool stuff, too. All right. The longer you hold, the higher the toss. All right, so yeah, the longer you hold, the higher the toss. You've got to plan it just right. It's almost like that submarine game. We missed it twice. See if I can get this one. Nice. Got it. And if you get so many 25,000s, you can try to get an extra ball. That one's going too quick, Zack. Too quick! Ah, missed it. Eh, 60,000. Not bad. Awesome, man. We'd love to see you there. Say hi to us, too. That's a free ball lock because it popped up in there. Pew Not a bad game guys Not a bad game going here I could play this shit all night long All night long. Alright, Grim Game. Orbits. There's one. Now we got Ramp Shot. Saved it. It's a good save, Zach. Just a minute, buddy. Oh, man. That save was something special. Clip it. There we go. Oh, blew it. Okay. Alright. Alright. Can we lock the ball? Yeah, I'm stoked about Texas. I've never been. Never been. So Greg and I are going, alright, Trump multiball. Should have the mode going. Sorry. Damn Okay I'm going for Rampant Orbs That's That's neither one of them That was bad, guys. Turn away. That was ugly. At least they qualified a film mode. Ronald, what's happening? Welcome to the shit show, my friend. Larry can't ship over there? I might have to talk to Larry. Tell him Ron needs a Houdini. Guess Greg and I are going to go on a road trip. SDTM in Europe. We're going to bring you a Houdini, buddy. All right, let's try to get back into the theater. Perfect. Perfect, perfect, perfect. Handcuffs. I like that these modes, there's a lot of difference in them. Like, one of the modes is pops. You got some orbit modes. You got altering shots mode. I need some more pops. I mean, you guys have been watching me. Does it seem super tight to you? I mean, I've pretty much been hitting everything I'm wanting to hit. Oh, check this out. A cow. Lettuce gives me gas. Oh, I'll take that. Okay. I've got seance. Ready to. They're obliged not to deliver. They will. We'll get you, Houdini. Promise that. They're going over. They're going overseas. For sure. I saw a film that mode took a lot of all I want that extra ball. I want the Oh, haha. So my clip that that was too pretty not to clip with a little baby bounce off the I love it. Mwah. All right, Seon's going. Let's kick this thing's ass. You ready? There we go. Ah. Whoa. Too fast for me. Okay. We've got a film mode ready to roll. Man, I am shooting great today. Darian. Well, there's Darian. Gotta be Darian Houdini. Then left, then right. Then left. Then what do you do? Alright, where am I going? Magic Shop, thank you. Okay, alright. We'll check our status here after this ball, remind me. 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, save it! Yeah baby! Alright, now where are we going to go? Where's my ball? Thank you. This mode has got to be about done. Didn't get it. Oh, did I get it? There is literally... I wish there was like a, um... Like just a little bit of... extra time. Just a little bit of extra time. Get back up in there. Come on, baby, come on. No. There we go. Straight jacket mode. You guys ready for it? Reverse. And invert it. Here we go. This is... It's interesting. Oh, is that it? Did you hear that? That's the first time I heard that. He said, holy... Yeah! Yeah! Jackpot! Ha ha. That's going to give me a ball serve, I think. See? It's friendly. It's friendly. Let's go back up there. Alright, so we're on ball three. Let's check our status here. I've got to be getting some good shit, right? You guys going back to Batman sometime? Yeah, we are. Check out our episodes 50. We're going to review, kind of mini-review all of them again and catch up on them. So I've got through six modes. That's pretty damn good. Three magic shots, one jail, two film modes. All right. Still got some work to do. Bullet catch. I will now catch a bullet in my teeth. Oh, bad, bad, bad. I will now blow that bow. This is the last ball. This is it. My extra ball. Same magician. Shoot again. Same magician. Maybe next time. And if you consecutively or successfully get the skill shot, then it becomes faster over time. Oh, we're going to call not this guy. Let's try that again. How awesome is that? Come on, guys. Come on, guys. All right. I've got three letters. That's pretty good. I'm halfway to the master wizard mode. I'm going to be out of a Chicago jail when I put ketchup on my hot dog. In other words, never. Shoot the milk can. Does anybody like ketchup on their hot dog? I love ketchup on my hot dog. You know what I got to say? F mustard. Ain't nobody want no damn mustard. Oh! Got an extra ball? Woohoo! Woohoo! Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Alright. Alright, this is it. I think this is it. I've got the extra balls capped at three, I believe. See how fast the moving target is? Choo, choo, choo, choo, choo. Got it. Okay. Start another mode. Steady. Steady. Rip that spinner! Boom! Vanishing elephant? Alright, let's get through that. Gotta have the ramp. I hate that ramp shot, man. I can never get it. Magic shot. Okay. Ramp. Ramp. Ramp. I don't think I've ever beat that many. RIP. No. Alright, film mode. Oh my gosh, you guys. I've got four letters. This is the furthest I've gotten. Relish. Oh, hell no. I thought I hated mustard. I hate relish. Spinner. Spinner combo. Spinner. Oh, oh, oh. There we go. Spinner. Spinner. Spinner. That's got to be enough. Get that wheel off of there. Oh. I needed that one, guys. Damn it. Man, them boos are harsh, too. Alright, I'll take that extra ball. I don't think I have... Can you time out modes? Yeah. I don't know if you can time them out, but I know there's a timer on them. So, seance going? You guys, I'm killing it on this game. Killing it. Oh. Magnets are killer. They'll murder you. Now this is about the most fun that I have in pinball. I mean, getting this game going. Feeling good. You guys ever get in a zone where you can just feel like you can do no wrong? Like that save right there. Oh, my God. multiball skills. Here we go. Ah, save it baby. Sorry for this lack of chat guys. Ah! Ah! Okay. I think my high score on this game is 9 something. Houdini Obsession activated! Terra Island, we got this, here we go. Uh oh, didn't make that catapult up there, the top one. But we did get Trunk Multiball. Hell yeah we did, bam! Bazinga! Bazinga! Bazinga, you hear me? Bazinga! I bet I make Kugler proud right now. If anybody says the shots are too tight on this game, send them a link to this video. Wow. Okay. Let's get to our next mode. Alright, what do we got left? We're at 970, guys. We've got through eight modes. It's the real deal. Sweating and shit. Okay, we've got through four mystery. we've got through four of the five film modes lighten this bitch up so now i let both outlines if it goes in outline i have a chance to save it shoot the right in the loop don't mind if i do right there hurry up complete There we go. I love the staging on this game. Alright, light it up. No, no, no, no, no. Ah! Wait a second, folks. I think I've got another ball or I might have been capped. That might have been it. Oh, they're going to get it to me again. Oh, that's a GC, baby. That's a one minute. You get one million on this game. I'm feeling pretty good. Oh, milk can. Couldn't get that ramp, though. Get up there. Get up there. Ah. Now I don't think any of the mini wizards or the ultimate wizard are coded yet. So even if I got there, I wouldn't get there. Just think, let's see what, what's it take? You have to complete them all. So if I had one more film mode complete, then I could get to that mini wizard. Oh, that was dirty. That was so much fun. Thanks for being a part of that, guys. Thank you, thank you, thank you so much. Skipping at it, yes. I cracked a million. Got my GC, but I don't have my Z. That was awesome, guys. Shit, you know I could play this all night long. But I got responsibilities. So that was it. we'll look at the GC score and then I'll fade you guys out. How cool is that? And sorry for the quality. I know the screen is oversaturated and the small screen, but again, I'm not great at this. So see 919 was my last one. So you guys saw the GC on this. Thanks for hanging out. This is Zach from Straight Down the Middle of Pinball Show. You kick ass. I swear to God you do. Thanks for checking out our YouTube channel as well as Chuck Wart streaming for us, Greg Bone streaming for us. Greg Bone got that Lethal Weapon 3 that everybody wants to sink the teeth into. But you guys, every once in a while, are going to be stuck with me playing some Houdini, America's Most Haunted, or Guardians of the Galaxy. Next up, I think, is going to be America's Most Haunted. So stay tuned for that. Our next video on YouTube is going to be a This Month in Pinball. So check that out. And then we'll have a review, a machine review of a 1992 game. So check that out. Love you guys. Peace out. have a great weekend Zach is out and Houdini is in the house Houdini
  • The game has a deep progress map with wizard mode requiring completion of multiple specific objectives

    high confidence · Host displays progress map showing multiple modes, mysteries, and film modes to complete HOUDINI wizard mode

  • Host@ 34:00 — Design concern resolution and gameplay discovery

  • “There's a weird confusing ass... he did it on purpose but I hate it... when you do three letters it acts as if you can do a fourth one but you can't”

    Host@ 21:32 — Identifies specific intentional design quirk that creates confusion

  • Zach Sharpe
    person
    The Wizard of Ozgame
    Simpsons Pinball Partygame
    TNAgame
    Monster Bashgame
    Texas Pinball Festivalevent
    Karel Rougebrockperson
    Larryperson
  • ?

    product_concern: Host identifies specific bugs in code and a confusing design element (third-letter HOUDINI spelling acting as if a fourth is possible) that designer intentionally included but host dislikes

    high · Host states 'This thing has some bugs' and 'there's this weird confusing ass... he did it on purpose but I hate it'

  • ?

    technology_signal: Host experiencing 4K camera streaming delay issues with OBS setup - approximately 2-second consistent delay on playfield camera at 1080p/60fps despite other cameras synchronizing properly

    high · Extended discussion of technical streaming problem: 'straight up delay, straight up consistent delay' and detailed description of hand-in-frame sync test