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SDTM: Houdini pinball Stream

Straight Down the Middle·video·1h 1m·analyzed·Jan 22, 2018
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.030

TL;DR

SDTM streams Houdini Master of Mystery, previews factory review with designer and coder.

Summary

Stream of Straight Down the Middle host playing newly-acquired Houdini Master of Mystery from American Pinball, providing gameplay commentary and rules explanation. Host visited American Pinball factory, secured early production unit, and previews upcoming comprehensive review with designer Joe Balzer and code lead Josh Kugler. Emphasizes game depth, mechanic complexity, and positive first impressions despite initial manufacturing concerns.

Key Claims

  • Houdini Master of Mystery is approximately 95% coded, with three mini wizard modes and one ultimate wizard mode remaining

    high confidence · Josh Kugler (code designer) told host; host relaying information during gameplay

  • The game costs $7,000 and is 'more loaded than a Sam Stern machine' despite lower price point

    high confidence · Host directly comparing value during stream commentary

  • Joe Balzer went through the machine himself and tested everything out before shipping

    high confidence · Host quoting what Joe Balzer told him; confirmed through personal communication at factory

  • The game has 13 modes total across multiple categories (10 main modes, 5 jail modes, 4 secret modes, seance multiball)

    medium confidence · Host enumerating modes during gameplay; some counts approximate ('or something like that')

  • Only minor voltage/coil adjustment needed out of box; flipper strength dialed down from factory settings

    high confidence · Host describing adjustments made post-unboxing based on Joe Balzer's guidance

  • American Pinball designers intentionally include friendly poke-fun at other manufacturers (e.g., alien shot referencing Heighway)

    medium confidence · Josh Kugler told host; host relaying as anecdote, verified with example sighting during gameplay

  • Game weight is 'comparable to right in between' Sam Stern and Jersey Jack; 'definitely heavier than a Sam Stern but not an elephant like a Jersey Jack'

    medium confidence · Host's subjective comparison based on handling the machine

  • All major toys (trunk, planchette, milk can hand-designed wood) are from Back Alley Creations

    high confidence · Host providing technical details about manufacturing/sourcing

  • There is a bug where the game allows entering a fourth initial letter despite claiming three-letter max, and another bug involving auto-plunge

Notable Quotes

  • “There's so much to do in this game.”

    Host (Straight Down the Middle) @ Early in stream — Establishes initial reaction to game complexity and depth

  • “Everything I play in this game is just fun.”

    Host @ Mid-stream during seance mode — Core positive sentiment about overall game design and gameplay experience

  • “I was worried, guys. I'm not going to lie. I was worried whenever they announced this, especially when they announced it with those who we don't speak of.”

    Host @ Mid-stream rules explanation — References concerns about original designer John Popadiuk's removal and game redesign; suggests skepticism was overcome

  • “This thing is more loaded than a Sam Stern machine. You know how much you're paying for those? More than $7,000.”

    Host @ During gameplay — Directly addresses value proposition and pricing comparison in industry context

  • “I think it's brave for a manufacturer to invite us up there for a review. I like it.”

    Host @ Mid-stream commentary — Acknowledges American Pinball's confidence in product and willingness to invite critical media coverage

  • “The object of the game is to spell out Houdini Master of Mystery... it's very much like The Walking Dead... you have to do certain tasks if you complete certain tasks you get a letter.”

    Host relaying Josh Kugler's design philosophy @ Rules explanation section — Explains core wizard mode progression mechanic and design inspiration

  • “Magnets are insane like... Dialed In!”

    Host @ During seance multiball — Reaction to magnet intensity; comparison to another title (likely Dialed In by Stern)

  • “The electronic boards... some of the LEDs or the RGBs are on little light boards... to keep it at $7,000, they said they had to cut it somewhere.”

    Host relaying American Pinball's design decisions — Reveals cost-management approach: RGB LEDs on some machines, standard bulbs on others like Gilligan's Island

Entities

Houdini Master of MysterygameJoe BalzerpersonJosh KuglerpersonAmerican PinballcompanyStraight Down the Middle (SDTM)organizationBack Alley CreationscompanyZach Sharpeperson

Signals

  • ?

    community_signal: Straight Down the Middle secured early production unit and factory visit from American Pinball; planning comprehensive review with designer and code lead interviews

    high · Host states 'We went up to the factory. We have a huge review coming up. An overview of gameplay with the designer himself, Joe Balser, as well as a code overview by Josh Kugler.'

  • ?

    community_signal: Content creator (SDTM) played significant role in American Pinball's launch strategy; factory invited review coverage despite potential for critical feedback

    high · PR guy told host 'why don't you review it right here at the factory? He's like, man, you're ballsy. You could tear it up.' Host notes 'I think it's brave for a manufacturer to invite us up there'

  • ?

    community_signal: Host (SDTM) coordinating with operator network (Larry/Flipping Out Pinball) for game distribution and customer attribution

    medium · 'If you guys do end up buying one of these... hopefully Larry from Flipping Out Pinball tell him that it's from Straight Down The Middle'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Game includes potentially controversial sound/audio elements (referenced as 'girls laughing or creepy') that community initially complained about but host defends

    medium · 'Everybody's crying about the... what's it called, the girls laughing or the creepy. It's actually awesome. You don't want to do away with that.'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: American Pinball intentionally includes friendly manufacturer cross-references/poke-fun elements in game design (e.g., alien shot referencing Heighway)

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.184

0:00
You seem to be sitting here for a month of Sundays. Shoot or get off! Thank you. You seem to be sitting here for a month of Sundays.
1:49
What's up, guys? Can you hear me okay? We're going to be starting shortly here. I'm going to do one more thing.
2:00
How's everybody doing today? Anybody watching some football? That's what I should be doing. Alright, let me update the pin side and then we'll rock and roll here.
2:36
Who's all up in chat? Say hello. All right. What's up guys? Alright. Let's put some warm up games on here.
3:18
Alright. Any drop frames? Everything look good? Yeah. Maybe. Mellowed muscle, thanks a lot man. That was, I wish it was easy but it wasn't. We had a couple hiccups but that was not easy at all.
3:44

high confidence · Host discovered bugs during gameplay and states Josh Kugler will review them

  • The catapult launches balls 22 inches into the air into the trunk (similar to Aerosmith top catapult design)

    high confidence · Host providing specific measurement and technical comparison to another game

    • @ Technical Q&A section
    John Popadiuk
    person
    Heighway Pinballcompany
    Sam Sternperson
    Jersey Jack Pinballcompany
    The Walking Deadgame
    Stern Pinballcompany
    Dialed Ingame
    Aerosmithgame
    Gilligan's Islandgame
    Larryperson
    Carlperson

    medium · Josh Kugler told host 'they poke fun at other manufacturers in a very friendly way... he's Kugler's friends with Matt Scott and others, so they go back and forth with them'

  • $

    market_signal: $7,000 base price positions Houdini Master of Mystery as significantly lower-cost entry than Stern equivalent machines despite comparative feature set

    high · Host: '$7,000 is crazy for a pinball machine, but you guys, This thing is more loaded than a Sam Stern machine. You know how much you're paying for those? More than $7,000.'

  • ?

    community_signal: Joe Balzer appears to have taken over primary design responsibility from original designer John Popadiuk; complete redesign occurred

    high · Host references 'those who we don't speak of' being cleared out, all associated content removed; Balzer listed as designer of final product

  • ?

    announcement: Houdini Master of Mystery officially released/shipping with early units reaching content creators; factory visit suggests pre-launch media coordination

    high · Host has physical machine, unit is fourth from factory, setup required for location play, Joe Balzer performed QA testing

  • ?

    product_concern: Early build units required voltage/coil tuning and flipper strength adjustment post-shipment, though minor and expected

    medium · 'When you get it into the location, it's going to be... the voltages will change. So when I got it home... you just tune it in... I raised my coil... I dialed those back actually too'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Code completion is 95% with remaining work focused on three mini wizard modes and one ultimate wizard mode

    high · Josh Kugler told host code is '95% coded. The only thing he said he doesn't have coded... is there's three mini Wizard modes and there is an ultimate Wizard mode.'

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Host's skepticism about Houdini overcome by hands-on experience; initially worried about designer change but now positive

    high · 'I was worried, guys. I'm not going to lie... And then I thought, okay, I'm warming up to the idea... Everything I play in this game is just fun.'

  • ?

    technology_signal: American Pinball balancing RGB LED implementation with cost constraints; some games (Houdini) use RGB, others (Gilligan's Island) use standard bulbs at $7,000 price point

    medium · 'Some of the LEDs or the RGBs are on little light boards... on Gilligan's Island as well, but to keep it at $7,000, they said they had to cut it somewhere.'

    • Alright. So I'm still learning this game. It's one of those things, like when you get a new game you just kind of flip around on it a little bit. Josh Kugler walking me through all the rules and stuff but uh wow it's it's super deep so and I know the stage is open I don't know if you guys can see it down there but it is it's open and it's blinking so I want to hit that to start a mode but it's not always a direct hit ah in and out
    4:22
    Get up there, baby. Get up there. Come on. There's so much to do in this game. Oh, Orbitz love him. Stay down.
    4:50
    Oh, Zach. The Infidel. What's happening? What's happening, Infidel? Spinner's lit. Yeah. Got my Houdini. We went up to the factory. We've got a huge review coming up. An overview of gameplay with the designer himself, Joe Balser, as well as a code overview by Josh Coogler. So that review is coming up. Hopefully, it's a lot of editing, but hopefully this week we'll get that up and Greg and I will sit down and review all that is Houdini. And the code is already, it's full. Full. A lot of stuff to do.
    5:33
    Yeah, Matt Lode, I appreciate it, man. We, man, I can't tell you how much work went into that. But, yeah, yeah, there's big things coming for 2018, but we just wanted to get off the ground and show you guys what we were capable of. so okay they don't label them they don't label the tables on this so I know this was the fourth one that left the factory but other than that I don't know just one model no le's or anything so they don't they don't label them all right we'll get into let me get a warm-up game and then I'll tell you what rules I do know. I haven't had, with the Twiffies and stuff, I just, I haven't had much time to play, to play this. So I do know if I hit the scoop there, that's the planchette, I can start seance. You start seance by hitting all the stand-up targets, those little bitty skinny stand-up targets. I missed that. Now you can stack seance with something as well, So it might be smart for me to try to hit that main stage, open it up, and get a good mode going.
    6:57
    Alright, can everybody hear me okay? Audio on the game, audio from my food hole. Is that alright? Thanks for hanging out today, guys.
    7:09
    Alright, so I'm on ball three here. I'm not doing worth a diddly shit. Ooh, there's a magnet. What's cool about this game is... Well, a shitload of stuff is cool, but there are two stand-up targets over here called Magic. And you hit those, and they spot you. They spot you progress towards whatever mode you're on. But they also initiate that magnet under his hand.
    7:36
    And that's pretty cool. I've yet to start a mode. There we go. So I got it up in the stage. We're starting King of Cards.
    7:47
    Scaling the art of throwing cards. It's so cool. I'm tossing them through these moving hoops. What the hell is this? Hold down the flippers, then release. Oh, nice. The higher you hold, the higher the toss. I have not seen this video mode. Okay. Cool. All right. Left flipper holding. Let go. Oh, okay. It's a timing thing. I got you. Watch this. Ready? Get it. Nice. 10,000. 25,000 coming quick. It's kind of like, get it. Oh, nice. Okay, this is cool. I like this. The longer you hold it, the faster it goes, maybe. Nope, I didn't get that one. I'll try to hit it with the right. Get it. Nope. Okay, so this is, this video mode is badass. I like this. I think I got one. That was cool. That was the first time I played that. Okay. Googler. Nice video mode, man. I like that.
    8:48
    There's all kinds of surprises in this. Okay. Alright. What's up, Turbo? Audio's good. Thanks. Spinner's lit.
    9:02
    You give it four sevens attack? Okay. Hey, Neil McCray, thanks for the host, man. Thank you so much for the host. All right, so I just seen the video mode for the first time. That was cool. I didn't stack it, though. You can't stack that with the Seance. But Seance is blinking. It wants me to start that multiball. or I could start Chinese water torture you guys see on the API gram screen. I think I'm going to drain.
    9:41
    All right, now you have to hit the stage so many times to open up the stage, enter it for a mode stroke. But if you can hit the stage alley perfectly and it goes up through the pops and hits that stage once, it'll open automatically for you. So that's really cool. jail is lit as well under the ramp that little gobble hole under the ramp and that's another whole set of modes key lane is blinking like crazy right now that is right through here you go through the pops you hit that stand up target really satisfying shot but I'm gonna try say else listen music
    10:28
    Oh no. Let's see if we can't get something going. I can't hit that scoop, guys. There it is. The seance is going to start now. As well as the secret mission modes, which are combo modes. Man, there's like so many series of modes. There's your regular 10 modes. You've got your five jail modes or something. You've got four secret modes or something like that. and now I've got seance. Now, for super jackpot, you've got to spell them in order. S-E-A-N-C-E. Like, uh, kind of like, um, and I messed it up already.
    11:09
    Kind of like centaur, where you've got to spell this shit in order. I mean, there's stuff for novices in here. There are things for the most competitive players and that was multiball.
    11:23
    Alright. Oh well. That's over. That was cool though. Everything I play in this game is just fun. Alright, this is a warm-up game.
    11:37
    Now you've started Chicago Jail. There's different cities of jail that you play as well. So the milk can is what it wants me to go for. But that is this tight little inner orbit. It's impossible to hit. Watch this.
    11:52
    Oh, see? They're impossible for me. Stage is open, so I'm going to hit that stage to start handcuff king.
    12:00
    Again, you can stack stuff in this. What am I doing here? Shoot the pops. Alright, good. Hit them pops. Get them up there.
    12:13
    Okay, so what am I supposed to do? Shoot pops still. Get up there. Okay, shooting the pops still. There they are, there's one more I don't know how many times you have to hit it to Complete the mode Whoa, look at that magnet Did you guys see that? It's awesome Hitting them pops again, get up there I will uh I'll answer, if you guys have any questions Or anything, I'll answer them after this ball Three, two, one How many times am I going to get them?
    12:54
    They're booing me? I can't hit that milk can. Get up there! Alright, here's the shot right here. Ready? Here it goes. Watch close.
    13:14
    I mean, really? That makes me happy right there. I've also started a film load, I believe. Oh shit, it's coming out.
    13:29
    Here it comes. If you guys saw that, that was the top catapult. Nine. What's lit? The top catapult? I don't know how to get there. I got my orbit flashing, so maybe I'll hit that.
    13:57
    Oh, chill out. Oh, chill. Get up there. It's a ramp. Alright, locked another ball in the trunk there. I love this effect.
    14:16
    I'm having a pretty good game here, actually. Yeah. This is good. Sorry about the chat. Alright.
    14:26
    Sit here. I will get to chat here very soon. Oh my gosh. This layout is unbelievable. Did you guys just see that stage alley? It was blinking. It went right into the theater there.
    14:46
    Okay, so it wants me to shoot the key lane. which key lane is straight through the pops not easy and you see the timer up there
    14:58
    you gotta get it to that right flipper get up there no that's not it how many things this hat can hold oh cool that is one ugly alien
    15:12
    you guys see that that was a uh that was a little stab at highway pinball right there I like that Did you see that Wow I never seen that either So I think I hit it Orbit orbit orbit That like Lord of the Rings where it counts There one Oh my god I killing it Look at this
    15:44
    Get it in there baby. Boom. That thing don't miss. Alright shoot the stage now. Okay. Where's my ball? Oh we got a multi ball going now. Trunk multi ball.
    15:59
    And again I don't know really what I'm shooting for but I'm just shooting. I got the ramp is kind of lit so maybe I'll go for that.
    16:14
    Okay. Missed. I can't get that ramp, can I? Woo! Okay, ramp is wanting... It's wanting me to hit that ramp. And the ramp is... I'm telling you guys, it is not easy to hit that ramp. I almost find it easier to hit the tight little orbit shot.
    16:52
    Pretty good ball skills here. Just not good shooting. Get up, Harry. And the cool thing Kugler was telling me, there's like easier shots than some. So if you hit it halfway up that ramp on some modes and on some settings, depending if you have it on easy or hard, it'll give you credit for it. Zach.
    17:12
    Okay, it's still, man I got all kinds of stuff loaded up here. There's that shot again. And it also has a physical ball lock right back here. It won't hit up that buck, it'll lock to the left of that orbit, or right of that orbit rather. Okay. Roof, okay, scoop and then ramp. Okay.
    17:39
    Roof. Okay, scoop and then ramp. Scoop and then ramp. Okay. And I won't be able to hang out too long tonight, guys. But I just... Everybody's been saying we need some Houdini, so...
    17:55
    I need some Houdini, so why not... Why not play? Get out. Oh, god. The add time orbits? That's cool.
    18:06
    There's that milk can. I did bad on that one. Okay. Go back up to the main stage. Get up there. There it is. Let's start another mode.
    18:32
    Ryan C., what's up buddy? Congratulations on the Twippy stuff, man. Bam! If this is Ryan C. from head to head.
    18:48
    Right in the loop shot! Bullet! Here we go! Now watch the DMD as well. Alright, what's that say? Shoot the milk can loop.
    19:02
    I can't backhand that. So the bullet catch, you're looking to catch. Okay, you're following the roving red shot, I suppose.
    19:14
    Extra ball. Look at that, catapult up top. This is the best game that I've had on this so far, guys. So, again, sorry about the chat, but I don't do this well ever on this game. So I'm just going to kick his ass, especially for archive footage. Look at this shit.
    19:38
    Yeah, baby. Magnets are going crazy. The ramp didn't make it all the way up, so it fell into the pops. Oh, you magnet. Now you can backhand that shot that everybody whines about right there. See, I hit that more than the ramp. But you can backhand that.
    20:06
    Get back in that trunk. Oh my gosh. So, I'm progressing. I'm doing good. I've lit two of the Houdini letters. If you light them all, you get to that ultimate wizard mode.
    20:23
    Lighten this thing up. If you guys want to see Houdini, this is it. I'm seeing all kinds of stuff here. And everybody's crying about the, what's it called, the girls laughing or the creepy. It's actually awesome. You don't want to do away with that.
    20:46
    I can't wait until you guys see the review on this. It's going to be a good one. So anybody else check out the Twippies?
    20:58
    All right, I think I got an extra ball there. All right, let's get through this chat. My bad. I'm sorry.
    21:08
    All right, audio's good. Thank you. Neil McCrae, great gig last week. Thank you so much. Okay.
    21:19
    How did game survive the ride home? Attack, actually, it survived damn well because it was boxed up. I got to see it boxed up in the factory, and then I got to unbox it when I got home. So it was good.
    21:36
    Just on the picture, the top end is really bright, and the small screen is hard to see. Thank you, Neil McCray.
    21:42
    Yeah, it is with those flashes especially. I'm going to have to adjust that, especially on the next time I stream this. This is just kind of, yeah, you're right. It's just kind of an impromptu screen. First screen. Okay. Any issues out of the box that need to be fixed? Turbo says no, actually not. Um, the cool thing was Joe Balser, uh, went through this himself and tested everything out. Uh, the only thing he told me, which was true is that when you get it into the location, it's going to be at, um, the voltages will change. So when I got it home, he said, the first thing you need to do just, uh, and there's a setting up there. I'll show you guys in a minute, but you just tune it in and
    22:28
    Once it's tuned in it should be fine. So I raised my coil Both catapults. I think I had to raise the coil one and it's been fine ever since the only other adjustment that I made turbo was the flippers Frickin strong man. They're still strong, but they're like stern flippers. They're just super snappy So I dialed those back actually too And I've been happy with that Yeah, how funny was that with the alien? They pulled the alien out of the hat to poke fun? They told me that they poke fun at other... In a very friendly way. Like, he's Coogler's friends with Scott and Anissi, so they go back and forth with T&A and stuff.
    23:10
    It's after midnight and speeding? Hey, thanks for the congratulations. I appreciate that. thanks attack yeah yeah so you guys watch that's awesome yeah it sucks because when we uploaded it onto youtube afterwards and even twitch afterwards it screwed us on the audio like it took out eight minutes worth of audio for no freaking reason i made sure to use the um royalty free tunes and stuff screwed us so we're appealing that right now but man We did way too well to get screwed on To get screwed on that Alright, we're going to start the mode called Walks through wall One of the right shots Then one of the left Stay out That was a killer score though guys And I got two of the Houdini levels man this game's awesome all right so i did find i think it's a bug i gotta tell coogler about so there's no z on this unless there's no z on a ouija board but entering your initials with a ouija board come on that's cool that is cool i'm a green And then the other bug is this.
    24:39
    So it says three letters max, but it acts like it lets you put in a fourth one. But when you put in a fourth, I don't think it enters. I think it's just regardless of what you enter, it'll be ZLM, I think. We'll check it out.
    24:53
    So there's going to be little, like he said, there's going to be little bugs here and there. But for the most part, he said 95% coded. The only thing he said he doesn't have Kodak, with the exception of little bugs and stuff, is there's three mini wizard modes and there is an ultimate wizard mode. So that's all he doesn't have. All right, so you guys want to see the menu on this thing?
    25:16
    There's an invisible Z. I know, right? Oh, really? He had an Aussie friend in Germany who couldn't listen to any of the audio? Dude.
    25:29
    Freaking Twitch. I don't know. This sucks. okay and then there was one other little bug that i saw uh that coogler said he's going to look at it on the code like every once in a while it'll auto plunge a ball i'm like ball two or three all right so can you guys see that yeah api cockpit so you get uh menu you got tests settings stats and utilities okay so like test of course you can test your switches coils leds display cabinet stage etc settings coils features pricing replay sound standard settings stats let's see so that's kind of like your jersey jacket tells you total games played see i've only played 26 games um average game time four minutes average ball time a minute 20 total balls played etc Hold up. Let's go back in the set. So you can get earnings, features, game times. This thing is loaded, man. And then utilities. Clear Houdini. Clear Houdini's balls. Yes. Clear audits, restore stage calibration, etc.
    26:43
    So. I'll tell you what I know about the rules of Houdini. Okay. So what I know about this thing. If anybody cares. Oh my god, this game is... I was worried, guys. I'm not going to lie. I was worried whenever they announced this, especially when they announced it with those who we don't speak of. And then they cleared his ass out. Every little thing associated with him is cleared. Everything.
    27:14
    And then I thought, okay, I'm warming up to the idea of Houdini here. And then I thought, at Expo, they had some voltage issues in the room so they were there's balls stuck and they're fixing stuff and etc so i was like oh my my friends and stuff were jockeying my balls and they were like man you're gonna buy one of the first ones of those because i was in at the beginning setting up a relationship so that we could get you guys this game to the world so we could stream it review it etc um but i thought now you know sdtm fans they deserve this they need this so i'm gonna try to take one of the earlier ones it's caused no issues so far coogler told me you know if it has any resets or anything like that let him know uh and i'm i've been trying to help him on that code so what do i know about this game real quick because i know you guys want to see the game um let's see yeah the attract mode this is how crazy is this so all these lights and stuff he said kugler was like the attract mode shit right now he was like i'm still working on coding that a little bit and i was like it looks like was to me it looks pretty damn good but he was like no no that's nothing i haven't started that look that's cool all right so shots on this game you got the inner orbit for the milk can you got left right orbit you've got the stage alley now Stage alley goes through this. Oh my God, so cool. Stage alley goes through there, and it's designed in a way that it's going to, a lot of times, hit that main stage. If you do that, you get to open up the main stage immediately. If not, you have to bash that main stage three or four times. Key lane goes into the pops, but if you hit it perfectly, there's a stand-up target back there that's responsible for different arrows and different things into the modes. The pop bumpers are individually driven, So they go up and down by themselves instead of that top cap just staying stable. They do have chains on them as well as hand-designed locks, milk can hand-designed wood, blanchette, whatever, the trunk is handmade, all by Back Alley Creations. All right, you've got your main stage. That's your bash toy that you open up the curtains, insert it in there for a mode start. What's cool about that is it'll close the curtain. It'll open it back up, no ball there because it falls through a subway. there's multiple subway system in here really cool there's a hole a little gobble hole under that ramp you can't hit it directly which i love i hate that everything's always fan layout so that there's no fan layout about that because you can only hit it off of bounce passes there's a rubber back there that you can bounce it into really cool the ramp goes up top if it doesn't go strong enough it will go through the pops and if not it will come to your left flipper inner orbit goes back up there. It has a rod that will stop it into the buck. The buck will put it into the catapult. Catapult will throw it 22 inches. That's right, 22 inches into the air landing in the trunk. The trunk can then do one of two things. It can put it into the subway or it can put it into the top catapult. The top catapult will shoot it up into the air just like on Aerosmith into the top wire form which will come down safely to your right flipper. You have the right scoop that's responsible for seance as well as the secret missions as well as extra balls as well as combo shots as well as blah blah blah blah blah blah blah Okay another cool thing right down here I don know if you guys can see it but see this look weep weep weep you can bounce it in there safely so there like three lanes here the middle lane being the I'm F'ed lane. Alright sorry for explaining I know this in the tutorial but well why not why not make it a tutorial. All right, so what I know about Kugler rules.
    31:02
    Magnet in the stage or a scoop or a hole. So in the stage, it's kind of like a scoop, but then it like gives away so that it goes under. I don't know what it is. There are three magnets in the game, one under each hand and one under his head. Those go crazy during hitting the targets or through the multi balls.
    31:22
    All right, the object of the game. kugler told me you guys will see in the review every color is for a reason your green colors are for escape your red colors are for something your um was it pink colors i think are for secret missions so when you see colors they are for a reason it's not just uh for puking up clown vomit all over uh the all over the play field which is beautiful clown vomit i might add um so each color is designated i haven't learned all those yet the object of the game is to spell out houdini that's right all seven letters if you get all seven letters you get to the ultimate wizard mode but here is why it's so difficult okay so it's so difficult because it is very much like the walking dead which who doesn't love that it's not you start your 10 modes you get to the wizard mode no no you have to do certain tasks if you complete certain tasks you get a letter in houdini how cool is that so if you complete all 10 modes you get a letter if you complete all secret missions you get a letter if you complete all jail modes you get a letter if you complete i think if you get a jackpot or a super jackpot on each of the uh on each of the multi balls you get a letter so you're trying to build up houdini just like you're trying to do weapons wise on the walking dead which we all freaking love all right sorry i've chased you guys away so other features The back glass you guys are so beautiful You can't really see it right now but It's nice it's a natural back glass Okay let's play another game Anyone else want in?
    33:02
    Anyone else want in? Alright so right off the bat I can switch through the Modes milk it, can it skate, handcuff king Finger cards, metamorphosis Bullet catch See all of them are up there Chinese water torture, walk through walls Indian Needle Trick Vanishing Elephant.
    33:24
    That was good. I don't think I'm going to top that last game, honestly. Alright, so 3-2. I have to bash that stage.
    33:38
    Oh, look at that magnet. $7,000. I know $7,000 American is crazy for a pinball machine, but you guys, This thing is more loaded than a Stern LA. You know how much you're paying for those? More than $7,000. Alright, main stage is open. I'm going to try to hit that to start a mode. There it is. This is bullet catch. I will now catch a bullet with my teeth. Powerful! No, not right in the hole. Alright. Right in a loop. Moving target area. Game is still. See if we can't right in her loop
    34:28
    There it is got right in her loop complete Nice Alright, so I got a multiball going here for something.
    34:54
    I still need that right inner orbit. Did I get it? I think I did. Jail escape. You guys know you want one of these. if you guys do end up buying one of these from whoever you buy it from hopefully larry from flipping out pinball tell him that uh is that from straight down the middle center it would help me out and you say how do you get any money no i don't get any money but it still helps me out okay so now i've got a couple things that mode is done and i don't think i got well i might have got I don't know if I got letters Oh how cool is this So I asked Josh Kugler The coder I was like I don't know what ball it is And he was like just look a little bit closer This is cool So up here there's light bulbs that are blinking One two and three and that's your ball It's cool I like that Rossman what's up man What is happening Attack your planet Still mine why don't you come out and hang out and play mine that'll that'll be cool too all right how heavy is the game compared to a stern or jjp um i would say it is comparable to right in between uh it's definitely heavier than a stern but it's not an elephant like a jjp and i love the weight of a jjp not when i'm carrying it so much but it's built well this thing this thing's built good. You guys seen in the, in the unboxing video. So it's, it's built good. But nonetheless, it is still, it's still a new manufacturer. I'm not going to bullshit you guys. I'm not going to bullshit them. So we went up there and they were kind enough to show us around and all of this. And they were excited for our review. And the PR guy was even like, why don't you review it right here in the factory? He's like, man, you're ballsy. You could tear it up.
    37:10
    Alright, so we've got multi-ball going. Seance. You watch the magnets on this multi-ball like that. Good lord. Ah! Oh my god.
    37:22
    Magnets are insane like I'm dialed in. Oh, in and out. I love it. All right, so I do know also with the code, damn, damn, there's that loop.
    37:40
    So for tournament players, this milk can is essential. You want to hit in that, and then I think hit the ramp, so milk can ramp, and that'll get your two, three, and four times multiplier going. So it says shoot moving red lit target. That is your skill shot. And shoot the green flashing target for super skill shot. Oh
    38:03
    Cool flashing green target, so you're gonna hobbit it over there Yeah attack isn't I mean that's ballsy that is ballsy Because they know we don't bullshit so I
    38:24
    Think it's brave for a manufacturer to invite us up there for a review. I like it right right well this is like um the industrial look back here um this was the fourth bay of my garage and i don't have four cars so i built a wall here and added a door and insulation heating and air and this is my pinball parlor as you can hear the water running right now so i've got america's most haunted right there guardians of the galaxy right there Um, yeah.
    39:01
    Alright. Let's get a mode rolling here, guys. Oh, no. Get up there. Damn it! See, that first game, don't expect that. That was awesome.
    39:23
    I knew that wasn't going to happen again. Alright. Water heater for the win! Oh. You guys ready? love this he's just going to sit right there oh you guys can't even sit right there can you love it I love it I love you guys for voting us best YouTube now this is not ours we just got a blank one for show purposes but damn I'm keeping this and I'm making him send us that label he's going to send us that label but for now it's all mine attack you have a zero huh alright Zach stop bullshitting let's get this mode going baby oh no
    40:42
    Oh, robbed, robbed. Stay down. And we were in the top three for pinball streamers. So for that, thanks.
    41:03
    Ah, I'll have to admit that streaming thing, that's old Chuck work, man. That guy is awesome. Thanks man, appreciate it Rossman. Are the electronic boards open source generic like TNA or more proprietary like Stern? I don't know. Clear winner for YouTube thanks to tech. The electronic boards. I don't know because I'm not smart enough to know that. I do know that some of the LEDs or the RGBs are on little light boards. A lot of the GI is just regular bulbs.
    41:47
    They said they would have liked to go RGB on the GI as well, but to keep it at $7,000, they said they had to cut it somewhere.
    41:58
    Okay, let's play another game. Okay, Rubber Duck, yeah, so P-Rock. See, did you see, I went through that stage alley, went through the stage alley and hit the, ah, ah, ah, I went through the stage alley to hit that so it opens up right away. So I'm going to try to start Chinese water torture real quick.
    42:31
    Missed it, oh no. These stand up targets are killer too, they will, they'll murder you. Whoa. Get up there.
    42:50
    I'm not getting my theater shot down. Oh, in and out. There it is. It's a Chinese water torture. Let's see what we got here.
    43:02
    I love this. I'm going to go right up this key lane. Go. That's bad. They don't use the full P-Rock? Okay.
    43:29
    Yeah, Tech, I would love to do that for you guys. I've got to go pick up my little one from cheer practice here in about 20 minutes. I've got to leave, but yeah.
    43:38
    Absolutely. If you do go watch our unboxing video, I do lift up the playfield and show you the underside as well as behind the back glass. So in the meantime, make sure to do that. Okay. And this thing shoots good too guys. Ah, let's try going back up there. Whoa, baby.
    44:14
    So what do you guys think? I mean, as we're looking at this and hanging out and you guys are watching this, you see the magnets, you see the catapults, you see the stage open up. What do you guys think about this? Give me some feedback. All right, shoot the milk can.
    44:29
    Milk can is impossible. It's got a spinner on it. And if you get, there's one mode called, what is it? Anyway, one of the modes is like a frenzy, like every switch you hit. But if you hit that spinner, oh, it's awesome. It's so cool. Damn it. That theater is killing me.
    44:59
    Careful, Zach. Ah, shoot. Get up. What's up, crowd? Yeah, they're going to worry a lot of people. That seems to be what everybody's doing. Zintron, thanks for the compliments, man. We busted our ass for that awards show.
    45:25
    And we still had some hiccups, so that's all I'm focusing on. But when people say they enjoyed it and it was a good surprise to them, that makes me really freaking happy inside. I shit you not, that night, I could not sleep. I came out here, I relaxed, I had some sweatpants on, played some Houdini until like 2 or 3 in the morning because I was so freaking elated.
    45:47
    Greg was so elated, he didn't sleep. And that son of a bitch goes to sleep at 8 p.m. every night. Yeah Penn Stadium going on this thing I got them all set up I need a power cord Because every time I have a damn Penn Stadium set and I have them in a machine and I go sell that machine, the person's like, no, you've got to keep the Penn Stadiums in there. So I end up losing them. I have to get another set. So yeah, it's well lit, especially with these custom spotlights. That's another handmade thing by Back Alley. But yeah, it's definitely going to get them. I've not seen a machine I didn't like at home. But I love the use of customization, LEDs, and all that.
    46:29
    But without a doubt, they're going on there. Plus, our boy Scott, man, he won Best Mod. That was cool. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. I know he rubs people the wrong way with his marketing, but man, he's toned down on that a lot because he's got feedback from you guys. He's just a cool, kick-ass guy. Alright, so I get to shoot the milk can loop three times and a half of them. Watch, I'll try to shoot it once. Watch this. There's one! And this isn't just a shoot the flashing lights kind of game either. I mean you got different things you gotta do. That thing is... That thing is a dick. Yeah, God in and out
    47:31
    The house in and out I don't know that's even possible I'm trying Damn it. Alright, if you shoot the magic shot, remember, that spots you one as well, but you can only hit it once per mode, I believe.
    47:55
    There it is. Did I get it? I don't think so. Okay. You guys want to see it? I want to see that catapult shot again.
    48:07
    Alright. Rossman come on down and hang out Skip Natty what's happening Yeah Tech Overall Everybody did pretty good It got a little nasty People were busting our balls For like the winning YouTube And for being in top 3 on streams I thought That's not nice But better us than anybody else because Greg and I don't do shit, but I just thought, damn,
    48:41
    some of these people are nuts. And I will say that even some of the people talking shit were people that won prizes in our holiday happy giveaway. And I thought, what a set of balls, man, but bring it. Bring it. Greg and I, we can take anything for the most part.
    49:05
    Yeah, people are ballsy, But I love people right here. All right, generally speaking you can backhand that
    49:14
    That inner orbit, I'm not having luck right now. I want it though Get in there I'm glad everybody liked the twippies man. I wanted to surprise everybody by the quality of it, so I think that was achieved. Nice. I love this. Check it out, guys. For those of you who haven't seen it before, ready? Set.
    49:44
    Boom. So cool. It never gets old. That thing has happened I don't know how many times. It doesn't get old at all. All right. What do we got? In The Man From Beyond, Houdini plays a man frozen in ice. Okay. It's like a history lesson too Ah There's no rubber on this side But there is on this side The pin side forms must have been Yeah Ross and I agree dicks.
    50:34
    Thanks, Yacht. Yeah, we tried. We tried. Alright, we're going to play one more game and then we're going to call it a night. Again, just usually I do late night streams once my kiddos and stuff go to bed. So just stay tuned for that.
    50:52
    Alright, again, I hit the stage rally so I can go directly into that mode. Right there. Love it. Oh, you like my shirt? So I got this as a gift. I love MC Escher stuff. And it's MC Escher's illustration.
    51:08
    But it has pinball machines in the back. So it is MC Escher's art print, but it has pinball machines in the back. I thought it was perfect.
    51:18
    All right. Got that shot. Now I got to shoot my orbits. Ah. Stay down. There's more of the shot. Now I've got to shoot the stage again. Let's get this mode complete.
    51:38
    Got it. Now I've got to shoot the stage again. I think I completed that mode. Did I? I think so. This is a mystery shot. So your magic shot was mystery. What are we getting? Ball lock. I'll take it. Okay.
    52:03
    I've got all kinds of stuff lit here. Get out there. Okay, it wants me to take the key lane or light a lock through stage alley.
    52:16
    Ah, couldn't get it. And even the guys at American Pinball, super cool. And again, I'm not going to lie. I mean, if they were dicks, I'd tell you. I mean, their machine's cool, but they're assholes. They weren't. I wanted to hang out with them. Well, Joe Bolster. Everybody knows Joey. Joey B.
    52:37
    That's what I'm going to call them. I'll call them Joey B and Jay Coog. Josh Coogler. All right. All right, Zach. You need one more shot to get that stage open. Go for that. Next, be suiting up in a straight shimmy.
    52:55
    Spinner. rip that spinner there we go straight jacket escape now i beat the first mode oh here it is so reversed and inverted flippers check this out oh my god you guys are seeing some good shit here look they stay up and they're backwards oh my god
    53:16
    insane ah it's too impossible dude all right so they're backwards in and spurted and he did say if you uh oh my god that's so cool he did say if you uh well shit if you penguin them too much when they're just inverted, like your score goes down or something like that. So it knows if you're, if you're doing the whole double flip. How cool was that guys? Come on now. That was awesome.
    53:59
    And listen to this music. What was it? The last ball here? I'm going to turn the music up a steampunk
    54:15
    watch out for this in the twippies 2018 man I think this is got a good shot to do some special things
    54:34
    Anybody else have any questions regarding the Houdini machine here maybe I can answer? Look at this. You know a game is cool whenever you don't even worry about the ramp. Look at the cow. That's another throwback.
    55:11
    Love that. All right, so that's cool, right? So that's going to be your outlands. And if you go through those,
    55:19
    if you go through the outlands during that, you have to do something to save your ball. Kind of like on Wizard's Ball.
    55:34
    Absolutely brilliant. You may now start the seance. Seance is ready. Above the planchette. I tried to backhand that.
    55:46
    Seance started. How many modes? There's 10 regular modes, 4 modes, 5 modes, 19. 19, over 20. Or 19. 19 or 20. Maybe more.
    55:59
    Seance. If I get them all, all those stand-up cards, I get a jackpot. If I spell them in order, like on Centaur, then you get a super jackpot.
    56:13
    This game is loaded. Ah! Boom! Oh, in and out, baby. In and out. I love this game. Metamorphosis.
    57:07
    Wizard mode is the only thing that's not coded yet. Alright, inner loop. There's inner loop. Now go orbit. And this game stages balls. So when you think it's going to go one spot, it doesn't. It tricks you, and it goes another.
    57:31
    All right, return. Here it is. So how awesome is this? I've got 30 flips. God, I can't even hear myself think. All right, so I've got 30 flips. That's it. To hit all seance targets to save my ball.
    57:59
    I got some of them here. Oh! Got it! Did you see that? 17 flips left. I need S, A, and E. There's... Oh, I thought I had S. 15 flips. Nice. Use them wisely. All I got is E left and I have how many flips? Eight. Okay, E, backhand. Oh, I missed it. Alright.
    58:33
    I want it. Conserve your flips. Just that this time. Just that. Oh, Dirty Sanchez Greg's in here. What's up Gregory?
    59:03
    Hey you're going to meet me at Flying Jake? Hey man you're good. No bullshit. Come down anytime to play. I'll do a late night or something.
    59:10
    Do they plan to update with more modes later Turbo? I have no clue. I know that they're going to code the Wizard modes. They don't need any more modes. Each of these modes is unique as you're seeing here. They don't need any.
    59:24
    Send for profit. What's up? Pavey! How's it going? Alright, what are we on? We're on ball three. Well, that sucks.
    59:35
    Really? Callouts are cool in this game. Get down. Alright. We got all kinds of shit lit here. I'm going to try to get that catapult shot again. Because I love it so much. Damn it I want to keep playing Not a bad game though Not a bad game You guys have been freaking fantastic Thanks for checking out Straight Down the Middle of Pinball Show I love each and every one of you I promise I do I want you guys to subscribe to our YouTube If you can Watch Chuck Wirtz stream Watch Greg's stream.
    60:20
    Support us by buying a t-shirt or anything to support us. Say hi to us at the shows. And what you can do is share our videos. Let other people know we're out there so that we can get bigger. So the bigger we get, the more resources we get from manufacturers and different things. We've got some really, really cool stuff coming. I can't talk about it, but we've got two new t-shirt designs coming out. One of them is designed by a pinball artist. That's all I'm going to say. The other one's going to be designed by a gray guy and an accomplice. But that's going to be really cool as well.
    60:56
    I can sit here and play all night. Catch me on another stream of Houdini. That should be here soon. Catch our SDTM review of this thing. Talk to the coder and the designer, Joe Bolser and Josh Kugler. They're going to give you a rundown of this entire machine. Until then, love you guys. This is Straight Down the Middle, a pinball show.
    61:16
    Damn, I love this game. Thank you.