Halloween

Latest code: Halloween v1.13a

What’s changed

Installation instructions

Machine manual

Latest Version

We always recommend running the latest code as it will have more features and the best game experience.

v1.13a

download v1.13a

First Kill left ramp now registering.
Mac updates will work again AFTER this update. Apologies that Mac file updates got broken back in the v1.12 code when we added in an allowance for code files with a (1) at the end. Once you’ve installed v1.13a (either with a Windows machine or by cleaning off the hidden file using the dot_clean method on https://www.spookypinball.com/game-support/hwn-um-update-process/) future updates will just be a simple file copy again. We have also added in Mac testing for every update going forward so this doesn’t happen in the future.
You may have seen in Bug’s v1.13 gameplay stream, he demonstrated the feature of ball saves being turned off after reaching Boogeyman wizard mode (ouch!). That has now been changed and ball saves will continue to work as normal throughout the game.
Orbits to reset the triple drop bank after finishing a mode are now red.
Dirty pool shot looping is now working better. Hit the shot between the drop targets and up the center ramp and House won’t start. Keep looping the shot for an extra 100% multiplier, starting House (a benefit of hitting the shot) will occur if you knock either of the side drop targets down.
Menu Audits > coins and current losing streak (used for the dynamic option for replays) are now updating.
Drive The Evil Back will happen a bit more often now.
Drive The Evil Back blood is now worth 3% instead of 2%.
Drive The Evil Back ball eject now gives a bit more time to read the text on screen.
3 Blood lit from knocking down drops will now show correctly if you already have one or two lit from Drive The Evil Back.
The Blood Store becomes available after each 3, 4 then 5 blood you collect. This number of blood collected was being saved between balls which meant the store opened after only 1 or 2 on a new ball, it resets each ball now.
Blood drop multiplier icon now hidden for Stalker intro and on the mode select screen.
Blood was staying lit when starting modes, you need to collect it all before hitting the pumpkin scoop
Stalker lots of improvements to heads moving around and you can now hit an area as soon as Michael starts moving without getting caught.
Stalker ball save light is finally fixed!
Stalker flashing right scoop will now turn off after the mode.
Stalker can now be started after visiting OR completing a mode.
Stalker icon on the mode select screen will have the correct NOT READY or check or cross.
Stalker help text should now be correct.
Stalker mode total displayed on screen now includes ALL the points you earned, including hurryups.
Stalker “purple” lights now include 200% more purple.
Stalker middle playfield scoop will now always eject the ball (it would sometimes hold it before).
Skillshot: if you hit targets in the drop bank you’ll hear thunder and/or smashing glass SFXs.
Sometimes when starting a game the background was missing so it was a mainly black screen. This is fixed.
House, on restart if spinners were finished, the upper drop will now be purple.
Sanitarium start now has more thorough checking to make sure it can’t be sort-of started if you already “completed” it by getting a Super Jackpot and just happen to be in the scoop when something else ends.
CRASH FIX for help text in certain states of House
Hedge Michaels would sometimes stay out after a failed mode hurryup, they now hide again.
Flipper training won’t happen in Boogeyman wizard mode.
Boogeyman wizard mode help text is now removed after finishing the mode.
Boogeyman help text was showing during the intro video, now waits until it is done.
Boogeyman gun shot knocks are now in time with the video and all shots have a knock.
Boogeyman help text regarding ball save time earnt from spinners now updates correctly.
Boogeyman start will turn off the pumpkin scoop insert flashing correctly now.
Menu option for Attract Mode Volume has now been added to the Feature Settings.
Laurie Slashes Back middle ramp now registers.
Hitting the right scoop while a ball search is happening will still allow the scoop to work properly afterwards.

Previous Versions

v1.13

download v1.13

new mini-mode “Drive The Evil Back”. Bringing some more action when you’re not in other modes. Hitting the right scoop now has a big chance of lighting a new Blood target (blood can do more now – see below) OR a small chance revealing a Michael from behind a hedge – it depends on how much blood you are holding. You don’t have long to Drive Michael Back – if you can’t, he will steal some of your collected blood and next time he’ll be closer and more dangerous!
Collected blood now gives an extra scoring boost. You’ll see your active multiplier below the blood drop icon on the right of the screen
The “dirty pool” shot up through the middle of the drop bank can now be looped and repeated for extra-extra score multiplying!
The right scoop now flashes when it is lit to be hit, not after it’s hit. It can also flash multiple colors now if ready for mode select/blood store/pumpkin MB/extra ball etc
shop items have been tweaked slightly, not too much. Some things have more time and you’ll find extra balls costs more after the first one
6 blood will only appear if you successfully complete a mode. Including Stalker now too.
You can short plunge and skillshot is still valid
Once you’ve collected at least one Super Jackpot in Hedge MB and it’s no longer available, the hedge scoops won’t be lit green
Audio adjustments are now increments of 1% instead of 5% to allow finer tuning.
several other small lights tweaks, like Judith Tombstone lights being more immediate on a lock, upper drop lit for the crossover during Bob, etc.
attract mode – there’s an extra surprise that appears if you leave the machine idle, controllable by the menu setting FEATURE > ATTRACT MODE FREQ (OFF or 1,5,10 etc minutes)

v1.12

download v1.12

The effect where the Michael servos move a little bit when scoop targets hit has now been fixed so they go back to the correct position.
added new menu option “BUMP MIKES” to turn the above effect off.
Hedge Multiball restart: have tweaked the timing on this so both balls don’t arrive at your flippers at the exact same time.
extra white flashes removed between/during some videos and transitions. There’s still lightning and other effects, but the overall effect is now a lot smoother.
Some stuff that went missing is now back, including knife sound on launch, end orbit noise, match screen music, stalker mode start music, Bob and Lynda target “gong” noises, store prices, and orange speaker lights. Someone went on a slashing rampage there, oops.
extra ball eject issue: trough logic tweaked to wait a bit longer for a ball to arrive to the shooter lane before trying again.
ball search time after initial plunge has been increased, so you’ve got more time to ping away at that tricky Judith Tombstone Lock, not hitting any switches, time after time after time… before the coils all fire scaring the crap out of you.
ball search change: the judith tombstone drop will now be triggered on the second ball search (not the third).
ball search won’t trigger while you’re in the mode select area
if the mode select screen timed out and you had First Kill selected, the rainbow playfield lights didn’t disappear – now they do.
Bob and Lynda help text now just references pink shots (no purple)
lifter shake works on the right again
if you set the REPLAY AWARD to “extra ball” on the attract screen it will say “EXTRA BALL AT {score}” instead of “REPLAY AT…”
holding a ball during House or Sanitarium Multiball for double jackpots, now also doubles the Super Jackpots.
Hedge Multiball Super Jackpot has been increased to 2M x balls in play
House Multiball Super Jackpot limit of 5M has now been removed, you can boost it even higher before collecting it.
Skillshot drop targets now will register a hit faster
House MB qualification: the right spinner and middle playfield scoop now knock Michael’s health down a little bit faster.
First Kill has a ball save now when it starts.
The ball save light between the flippers should be better, on and off at the right times. This might still need some future tweaks.
if in Pumpkin Multiball and then start Tombstone Multiball, Don’t Fear The Reaper will keep playing and Tombstone jackpot callouts won’t duck The Reaper volume.
changed the limits on the menu option “MODES NEEDED FOR JACK MB” to allow 1-5.
hint text now clearing off the end of game screens.
Pumpkin Multiball help text now showing properly.
added more callouts when starting Sanitarium.
Stalker mode now displays the ball number.
Stalker mode is now startable when House or Sanitarium pre-modes are running.
added more callouts for hitting hedges you’ve already collected.
if you set the MATCH % to zero in the menu it won’t show the Match Screen at the end of a game
Blood store now has a sleeker look,with the faux walnut brown bar along the bottom removed
once this update is installed, if in future your computer adds some extra characters to your update file name such as “(1)” it won’t be fussy any more and the update will still work. Note this update will still want it exactly right, but you can be a bit more relaxed in the future
crash fix when playing Let Me In mode.

v1.11

download v1.11

remember Mac users who have already installed v1.10 don’t need to do anything special from now on, just copy the update file to a USB and plug it in to start the update as normal.
First Kill mode added – flashback to play as a young Michael on Halloween night 1963
audio overhaul, including all callouts and sounds have been re-balanced, there are new settings (see below) in the menu for tweaking things to get them just how you want.
New menu settings for audio under STANDARD:
- MUSIC VOLUME % (values: 0-100, default 30) this is the baseline for all other sounds to then be louder or quieter than.
- SFX MOD % (values -95 to +95, default 0) want your knife slashes and pumpkin smashes louder? This is the setting for you. You can make it up or down from the base music volume above.
- VOICE MOD % (values -95 to +95, default 10) voices include callouts and the sound that accompanies video clips
- MULTIBALL SONG MOD % (values -95 to +95, default 0) boost your Don’t Fear The Reaper so it’s extra loud! Or if streaming and don’t want to be dinged for copyright, you can turn this down.
- the recommended order for adjusting your audio is: use the coin door volume switches to set that halfway, set the master volume on the amp (furthest knob) so that it sounds about halfway of what you want, then use the menu settings above for fine tuning
video system overhaul. Faster transitions between videos for a smoother experience
ball eject system now more robust. If a ball doesn’t kick out correctly, retries are more effective and power is increased temporarily if necessary. If you see balls coming out too fast and bouncing back in, you need to go into the COIL SETTINGS menu and lower TROUGH (one notch at a time and retest is best)
after Boogeyman progress is reset so you can keep going with more modes and multiballs and really crank the points
ball trough test in menu, allows you to see trough switches, eject and launch balls
instructional text has been made easier to read and more consistent throughout the game. Lots of thing made more clear. More text still to come.
“flipper training” has been added. This is where once per game, when the lifters first bring up a ball, the flipper on that side will do a double flip to draw the player’s attention there. This can be turned on or off in the menu, default is on.
end of ball lightshow is back. Sorry about that.
house spinner lights now light downwards so it’s easier to see when you almost have enough to open that crossing shot
holding start to quick restart should now be working properly
Bob And Lynda mode fixed – oh boy. This one will get a whole pinside post one day. Anyway, now it plays and stacks as it should, the videos have been moved around a little bit, you’ll need to hit the optional crossing shot now for the “special” one.
end of ball audio not cut off any more
Sanitarium background animation has been changed
Judith MB tweaks, it now has animations as you qualify it and it’s own music when running
bonus screen text is bigger
skillshot at the drop bank is now a bit tougher – you have to get *only* the right one down, the one next to it as well won’t be good enough
during Jack-O-Lantern multiball the sounds now don’t cause the music to duck (go quieter) while they play, so it sounds much better
ball search won’t still trigger now if you are holding in either flipper
ball eject timings after starting a mode / watching a video are now better
lots of new light shows
crash fix: if the connection to the Nano board that drives the speaker and topper lights is unplugged, it is now fine.
crash fix: some users were reporting that games were crashing after being left on for a long time, that should be fixed now
crash fix: if you did really well in Laurie Slashes Back it might crash – not any more
crash fix: if you went into the menu immediately after an update
crash fix: at the end of Laurie Slashes Back once you got the hurryup it could sometimes crash, sorted now.

v1.10

download v1.10

Sanitarium mode
- added new menu option SANITARIUM TIMER
  - EASY: 30 second timer, targets increase time, access middle playfield via center ramp > upper playfield
  - MEDIUM: 30 second timer, only right ramp gets to middle playfield
  - HARD: no timer and only right ramp gets to middle playfield
Tombstone Multiball
- Tombstone Multiball is now a featured 2-ball multiball. Orange shots award jackpots. Tombstone target awards super jackpot and increases jackpot values.
- Tombsone Multiball is stackable with other modes and multiballs.
- 2x scoring when Tombstone Multiball is running.
- qualifying shots for Tombstone Multiball will spawn hurry-up orange shots at the knife handles to qualify upcoming expert mode. Right now they just award points.
- lights for this are red now so they show through orange plastic protectors
- skipping the “Young Michael” video doesn’t release the captured ball like it sometimes used to
Eye of the Needle aka Dirty Pool shot is back! Shoot between the drop targets and up the ramp for 2x scoring and to instantly open the House
when in House MB, you can hold a ball in the Sanitarium scoop for bigger jackpot scores
when in Sanitarium MB, you can hold a ball on the balcony for bigger jackpot scores
on screen instructions should display better, but these are still a work-in-progress, so bear with us
new film clips added to many places
moved the “active stack” info to the top left of screen
menu option to turn extra balls off (option to turn off ballsave coming soon)
when in pay-to-play mode, credits wont be used past four players (pesky kids won’t be such an issue any more)
double flipping no longer force skipping film clips that don’t hold up play
“speed kills” is louder
ball search now behaving better while you watch film clips, especially the long ones
extra knock removed when Michael gets stabbed with the coat hanger
Bob and Lynda “nail filing” video now plays properly with sound
save ball timers now start at the end of mode introduction videos, so you don’t have to skip
screen should look right after entering initials for a high score
fixed the tilt screen sometimes showing the scores UI
fixed the menu screens sometimes bleeding drops!
exiting the menu restarts the machine properly, shouldn’t be any extra text hanging around on screen
replay text can be turned off with menu option
your USBs will now be freed up from “empty” log files being copied every time you put them in. Now they’ll only appear if something actually went wrong. So if you see one, please email it to matt@spookypinball.com, thanks!
crash screen (hopefully you never see this!) has much more useful information, if you can take a photo and send it to matt@spookypinball.com that would be amazing. Lots of extra code robustness added, and better error handling throughout the game
cleaned out the menu option “servo settings” that didn’t do anything
lots more behind the scenes improvements and optimizations

Improvements AFTER this update is installed:

Mac users can update as easily as everyone else going forward (see new details on the update page https://www.spookypinball.com/game-support/hwn-um-update-process/ for how Mac users can install updates in the meantime)
Machine settings will be saved across updates in future (unless they’ve been moved or changed in some way)

v1.09

download v1.09

refreshed new player UI – characters, scores along the bottom, visible at all times
we now default to the best skillshot – still changeable with the flippers
hedge lock ball return timing tweaked
fixed high volume when Michael tilts his head
new movie clip for Death In The Driver’s Seat
two new movie clips for Escape The Kitchen mode
change the animation for Hedge mode jackpots
added sound effects when hitting the center drop targets
fixed typo in Settings
center ramp knife doesn’t overlap the score
awarding a credit now for new high score or grand champion
new ball save animation
tweaked timings of ball lifters after starting modes
standard settings now has option to turn shaker off
standard settings now has option to turn topper off
two new movie clips for Counting Bodies
removed black bar from asylum ‘Returned” animation
X’s on Jack O’Lantern mode select screen in the right place now
instructional text now on the left
no more blood drops from health bars showing when they shouldn’t
hold the start button to restart the game (if higher than ball one or player one)

v1.08a

download v1.08a

House mode ending didn’t force full game light update
House mode game feature added to adjust difficulty related to Lauries health decay
Blood store, extra ball was not awarding collection properly
“Skillshot Clear” option renamed to “Timed Plunge”
Blood mode text “get to scoop for award” was not being removed properly when going into
Boogeyman wizard mode
sling power was not applying the correct value at the right time
menu/start button added into switch test
outlane save store item feature changed a bit and also updates its lights properly
superjackput locations are a bit more colorful now
wizard mode was not stopping any existing ballsave timers that were currently running
Hedge mode progress saves up to the restart hurryup phase
Hedge videos were blocked off on mb restart, but never restored properly on super jackpot collection
If voice volume boost setting is 0, music ducking does not get used
store/mode select music changes