Jersey Jack

Wizard of Oz

Pinside Rating

This game received 910 approved Pinsider ratings and currently rates 8.425 _/10

8.425

Top 100 ranking

This game ranks #41 in the Pinside Pinball Top 100.

Score breakdown

Score breakdown in the 4 main categories:

Game Design: 8.314

Artwork: 8.876

Sounds/Music: 8.213

Other Aspects: 8.225

Pinside staff rating

This is how we, the very knowledgeable (wink wink) Pinside.com staff & moderators rate this game. 8 of us have rated this game.

8.125

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This title is part of group: "Wizard of Oz"

Wizard of Oz

Wizard of Oz
(Yellow Brick Road LE)

Found 541 ratings (with comment) on this game

There are 541 ratings (that include a comment) on this game.
Currently showing results page 16 of 22.

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7.814/10

9 years ago

SMB

Concretehardt

Pinside+ Frequent

Eugene, OR

11y 145K 10,075 2 27

I owned it, I played it and I sold it... The game is stunningly beautiful!
My issues with WOZ are... Repetitive sound and music that grated my nerves, a lack of satisfying / fun shots, lack of GI lighting (fixable I know but is a poor design), a theme that just ended up not working for me & lastly concerns over all the board issues and what that will mean for game maintenance years down the road.

Concretehardt edited previous rating on June 14, 2014.

2 Pinsiders flagged this.

9.676/10

9 years ago

???

RinPinPin

Inactive member

Unknown

9y 5,000 6

Just an excellent Pin!!! I´m completely amazed!!!

7.071/10

9 years ago

FLE

flecom

Pinside member

Miami, FL

12y 53,650 852 44 36

I have played this game many times, in many places, while visually very appealing it's just not fun to play, it's slow, it's impossible to figure out whats happening when every single insert is either blinking or changing colors, the LCD is completely unhelpful in telling you what to do, they really missed the ball (har har) on playability... it sure is pretty though!

3 Pinsiders flagged this.

6.101/10

9 years ago

BOY

vid1900

Pinside member

Sana'a

12y 169K 40,234 18

WOZ is an amazing game that needs better GI lighting and better sound (that "zing" sound gets on my nerves like nothing else in pinball.

A great start from JJP!

5 Pinsiders flagged this.

8.644/10

9 years ago

NTR

TheFamilyArcade

Pinside+ Frequent

New City, NY

11y 104K 9,960 5 37

I’ve revised my rating - increased it - to reflect my better understanding of the game. Understanding the rules and game objectives greatly enhances the fun, gameplay and lastability of this game. Developing and refining strategies ups the ante even more. This is a really good - and stunningly beautiful - game with great rules. Can’t wait to play it more and see if it can retain my current level of interest and enthusiasm.

TheFamilyArcade edited previous rating on December 17, 2017.
TheFamilyArcade has this game on the wishlist.

5.801/10

9 years ago

JJO

yoyoma

Pinside member

Owatonna, MN

12y 26,150 38 4 7

Really disappointed overall. Slow and minimal flow.

4 Pinsiders flagged this.

9.940/10

10 years ago

JJM

jsrfo

Inactive member

Monaca, PA

11y 22,150 65 2 12

I've had this game in my house for about 2 months. It is something that takes time to learn, as the game has many, many levels and depths of scoring. It will take a year or better of steady play to see all that this game has to offer, and, it's not easy to see some of it once, let alone twice...

People complain about the theme. OK, it is the Wizard of Oz. What's terrible about that, and who, at some point in their life did not like the Wizard of Oz. Be honest. The theme makes perfect sense for a family game room, mixed audience. I have three daughters, and a wife. If the exact same game was say, Metallica, or Star Trek, Harley Davidson themed, auto racing, etc, I can pretty much state that it would see far less use by my family than WOZ does, so whatever you think about a universally known and recognized title is your opinion, but have an open mind and appreciate the game.

Other than some issues with playfield being a bit dark in spots, the game is an absolute beauty to behold, both turned off and turned on. The light show is beyond anything that you have seen. And the quality of the components and toys makes you think of the quality of a 1990's game.

Shots are challenging, and yes, there are some hiccups that you may have to tweak, like a slow ramp shot hanging on the switch, or the reject on the search loop, but those are easily tweaked. There are complaints about having limited shots, etc. I can see that to an extent, however, the shots are not easy, and they have to be taken within the context of the rules, and how the shots build. The game is also really not a "flow" game. If you like the ball to be in constant motion, then maybe it's not your thing. However, for someone that prefers a little stop and go, the game is great. My personal taste is for a game that has some pauses, so WOZ is a good fit for me.

Other stuff. The audio is very good. The best I've heard in a game. The LCD screen is informative and fun to watch. Call outs are pretty clear, at least to me. Things like the TOTO save and There's No Place Like Home games, well, you have to look at those for what they are. The game gives you an opportunity to earn a chance to save a ball, or to gain another mode or game to play, instead of just draining. TOTO rollovers allow the player to have two chances to save an otherwise drained ball, and TNPLH is a sub game to play for hitting all the drop targets. Extra opportunities. Consider it like a DMD game on other pins. Those break flow as well, if that's what you want to call it.

All in all, it is a really good game, and I don't see it getting boring in the near future.

EDIT: The game needs played with 3.00 software. The jump to 2.00 was big, and 3.00 has pulled even more together with better callouts, animations, and some different toy functions. As I have progressed, I am finding there's more and more to the game than I thought. Every animation needs to be seen, but it's tough to earn the modes. It looks like a child's game, being Wizard of Oz, but it will keep the most die hard player busy for a good year.

Now, I know I rate this game high, and I do so after living with it for nearly 3 months. During that time, I have experienced just about every high and low that the WOZ can provide an owner, from various LED boards that needed some work, to the amazing game play. I can state with certainty that in the end, Jack Guanieri and JJP have been there and truly want an owner to experience the WOZ as envisioned. With JJP, you seem to be buying more than the game. You get the people behind it.

Version 4.10 of the software totally kills it. It would be very hard to upgrade the software for better play. A lot of the little nuance had been added in the latest update. Sweet.

jsrfo edited previous rating on June 16, 2015.
jsrfo currently owns this game.

2 Pinsiders starred this!

10.000/10

10 years ago

HJB

Hjbondar

Pinside member

10y 57,550 481 8

AWESOME GAME - CAN'T UNDERSTAND WHY IT IS ONLY 17TH!

9.120/10

10 years ago

NOO

Noodlebox

Inactive member

Wantirna South

10y 15,650 232 6

A beautiful game, pity about the delays in delivery with lack of planning and QC. Love the light show and the sound effects, great choice of callouts. Excellent design and colour coordination, let down by QC in manufacturing but still has great potential when made well.

8.012/10

10 years ago

ACE

2FlippedOut41Mo

Pinside member

Sour Lake, TX

10y 49,900 331 5 18

I've only played it at 2 shows so far. It looks great, and is a great theme, but the rules are not as clear to me at this point. For the record, I'm not a big fan of the ruby-red flippers, either.

5.660/10

10 years ago

???

locksmith

Pinside member

10y 90,300 818 53 1

Sold WOZ less than 2 months after buying NIB.Beautiful game but there is no flow to this playfield.It was no fun to play.

9.720/10

10 years ago

???

plinde1

Pinside member

Jackson Twp., OH

12y 39,050 88 20 27

WOZ is a sight to behold in any home game room or location. It begs to be played and it is a fantastic game. It does take a while to learn the rules and to begin to formulate a general strategy of attack. As being very familiar with the depth of games like TSPP and LOTR, this game has a step up on both in terms of game rules. It will take quite a feat to get to Somewhere over the Rainbow, which will keep this games lastability in any collection. I also enjoy how know two games are ever exactly alike and the sayings are varied and the sound is fantastic. The modes (Fireball Frenzy, Melt the Witch, Munchkin sequences) and various multi balls are perfectly executed. I have seen WOZ from the beginning and am just amazed how far it has come. I still believe there will be more updates that will make this game even better. This was an amazing effort from a great pinball team/company and it will continue to set the standard for future pinball for years to come.

plinde1 has owned this game in the past.

8.679/10

10 years ago

CDM

TheDarkKnight68

Inactive member

Lincoln, NE

10y 57,800 353 10 10

Holy crap, finally played one and is it ever a beauty. Nice work JJP. Not my theme, but even with that said it knocked my socks off. Amazing.

9.620/10

10 years ago

BAW

neurokinetik

Inactive member

10y 67,900 693 3 15

Have about 60-70 plays on version 2.0. Impressed right out of the gate on the visuals alone. It can be dark at first, but I've gotten used to it. The rules are very challenging, and it seems like it would be daunting for a beginner. It helps to watch others play so you can pick up on some of the things you need to do on the LCD. I love the stacking of the multiple multiballs and munchkin modes (on the rare occasion I can get enough loops to get one started) and the various callouts of the witch.

What I don't love is "There's No Place Like Home". I've yet to do it, or see anybody else get it either, and that includes some good players who have already been to the "witch battle". It's incredibly difficult.

There are some mechanical quirks that need to be addressed, the worst of which is the ramp switch that catches a slow ball and can't be dislodged without tilting. A slow ramp shot (usually when attempting the ramp shot from the right flipper) is usually what does it. I've had it happen six times so far, and last night when I arrived onsite, there was already a ball stuck there. The other thing is the little loop to the right of the castle door. It seems to reject shots about 75% of the time. The shooter lane bump is also kind of annoying, but I often go for one of the other three skill shots available instead, so it's not that big of an issue for me.

These criticisms aside, I like the game the more I play it. I have been playing it on location, and it is sitting next to a Star Trek Pro. Since it arrived, I end up spending most of my time on WOZ and only a couple of games of ST.

9.360/10

10 years ago

SWH

Spencer

Pinside member

Okotoks, AB

10y 86,300 2,561 7 10

Ive owned this game for 2 weeks now and Im thinking of what I should sell to buy JJP next game and the game after that. This is exactly what I would expect for a 2013 game, gameplay is smooth, fun and entertaining. Everyone who plays it, loves it and wants to keep playing. This game changes everything for what the future of pinball holds and id bet if it wasnt the Wizard of Oz theme, this game would be top 5 easy.

Spencer currently owns this game.

6.726/10

10 years ago

TSM

darkfaith

Inactive member

Iaeger, WV

12y 56,400 360 1 130

Looks good, really forward thinking, theme sucks, caint wzit to see jjp future gzmes

3 Pinsiders flagged this.

8.756/10

10 years ago

DEC

Don333

Inactive member

O.p., KS

10y 6,250 2 17

Light variations are very cool. Game is fun but I wish the shots were more obvious. Overall a very solid feeling machine that I will play again and again.

Don333 edited previous rating on April 11, 2014.

9.380/10

10 years ago

TGB

Thunder424

Inactive member

Angola, IN

10y 24,150 294 1 67

Very well may be the best pinball machine I have ever played on. Great layout, consistent shots are rewarded, and the toys really make this a fun game. The LCD screen showing clips from the original movie are great and timeless. The only downside is the scoring... kind of odd to win a free game at only 65,000 points (what the machine was set to).

8.384/10

10 years ago

NML

NickBuffaloPinball

Buffalo Pinball

Buffalo, NY

13y 98,550 1,465 18 53

It's taken me well over a year and a couple of dozen plays to finally get to the point of liking this machine, but now I'm sold. It took me this long, because frankly, it's confusing what the heck to do in this game (I'm playing pre-3.0). For example, I don't know how many games I played before someone finally told me that to get to rescue multi-ball, the winged monkey has to grab the ball, otherwise hitting the rescue targets is futile. Before that, I just kept hitting the rescue targets not understanding why multi-ball never started. Would have been nice if it was more obvious. This game simply just isn't intuitive.

This game kind of reminds me of how long it took me to like Twilight Zone, and that's because it took so long for me to understand the game. As more people get a feel for the rules, I'm sure this will be in the top 10.

It's a beauty though, really. I think after every game I just examined the machine marveling at it's beauty, and how it puts the look of Stern games to shame.

The other problem that I think keeps it lower in the rankings, is that the game, at least for me, just doesn't have satisfying shots. They're not bad per se, and I don't think the game is clunky. It's just that I can't think of any shot that gives me that satisfying feeling. Take for example the warp ramp on Stern's Star Trek. Anytime you hit that shot, its' hard not to feel satisfied, whether it's once or several times in a row. I never got that feeling with WOZ. Nor did I get any sort of rush, like in playing Iron Man. Granted, these are very different games in terms of style, but WOZ fails to provoke any sort of feeling while I play.

With that all said, I think this is destined to be a classic. It's beautiful, interesting, and something completely different.

Update: Spent more time on this game and have gotten to the point where I can consistently put up some good scores.... I have to say, once that happened, the game has started to become boring.. I'm worried about lastability.

NickBuffaloPinball edited previous rating on May 01, 2014.

9.476/10

10 years ago

JIM

karmalord

Inactive member

Vancouver, WA

10y 52,050 676 2 27

Only played a couple of games as it was a buck a credit where I was,but this was enough to open my eyes on what Pinball can be. The fact this game is not #1 and is not even in the top 5 is baffling. WOZ breathes fresh air into the design in a new innovative way. To me this is called a benchmark and can only be outdone it seems by themselves.

karmalord has this game on the wishlist.

6.283/10

10 years ago

PAZ

tktlwyr

Pinside member

Pembroke Pines, FL

15y 104K 1,163 14 28

Played 5 different machines and just can't get into this game. Hoping for more from The Hobbit.

tktlwyr edited previous rating on May 06, 2014.

5 Pinsiders flagged this. 2 Pinsiders starred this!

9.820/10

10 years ago

TPV

gearheaddropping

Pinside member

Macomb, MI

12y 67,300 2,042 16 20

My current rating is with 3.0 code. Best looking pinball machine ever made IMHO. Best theme integration as well. Gameplay is coming across nicely. I will revisit in 6 months after new code releases.

I just updated my rating. After a year of ownership, I can tell you that this is one of the greatest games ever made. Deep, deep, deep and the lightshow still amazes me.

Another update after three years of ownership. This game is the best pinball game I have ever played.

gearheaddropping edited previous rating on October 31, 2016.
gearheaddropping currently owns this game.

9.700/10

10 years ago

JIM

Jvspin

Pinside+ Addict

Redwood City, CA

11y 95,050 3,368 15

I've owned WOZ for about 6 months now and with the latest 3.0 release believe I can finally give it a rating.

My marks may seem high but after going through the description in each category, I believe they are accurate with respect to my preferences.

The backglass category is a little difficult to rate since the LCD (which is great) is essentially the backglass, though the surround (which is just okay) does play a part.

"Game Lighting" is another category that's a little difficult to rate. Others have complained that the playfield doesn't have enough general illumination. If I played in the dark, I would agree, but I play in a room with some overhead lighting so it is fine. The rest of the flashers and light shows are amazing.

In my opinion, WOZ is a work of art!

2 Pinsiders starred this!

9.880/10

10 years ago

LKD

Luckydogg420

Pinside member

Kitchener, ON

11y 115K 5,861 14

Easily the most fun that I've had at a pinball machine.

5.265/10

10 years ago

AMD

Ilthuain

Inactive member

Oakland, CA

11y 22,650 100 1 20

I've played the game at 3 locations, the PHoF, Free Gold Watch, and Hi-Life.

First, the good. The game feels solid. The toys are interesting to look at, and many of them are interactive. The LCD display is very clear, and the sound fidelity is excellent. Playfield art is vibrant and interesting to look at. Theme-wise, the game is very strong. Although I'm not crazy about Wizard of Oz, there was a lot of thought that went into creating toys and art that reinforced the theme.

Now, the bad. The rules are terrible for a location player. They might be super-sweet for someone who can spend hours on the game and reading forums to discern what's going on, but all I see are flashing lights, gently strobing lights of many colors, and, out of the corner of my eye, I scry a monitor informing me that I should be shooting for some target that isn't properly labeled. I have been told that the game is very easy to learn if you merely study the included flowchart (no kidding), but I'm not aware of any other pinball that requires a Powerpoint presentation to explain the arcana of how to start a mode.

Want to lock a ball? This is how I -think- it works. Well, you need to hit some rollovers (which are very difficult to pick out of the other flashing circular inserts) a certain number of times and then shoot the ramp that is also used for the house mini-playfield which also starts a Munchkin mode if you do something else. Of course! There's nothing intuitive or natural about the presentation of the rules. The constantly strobing playfield inserts do nothing to help teach the player how to succeed.

Above my issues with the presentation of the rules, there's the issue of "fun". YMMV and all that, but the decisions made with layout, lighting, and software severely limit my enjoyment of this game.

The layout promotes slow play. None of the shots are particularly speedy, nor do they feel "awesome" to hit. It's more like a "well I shot the right ramp again. Eh." feeling than the whizzy speed of a nailed Metallica or AC/DC ramp.

Much has been said about the uneven lighting, and I agree. In a dim setting, like Hi-Life, it's easy to lose the ball. The game has a 'Christmas tree in a dark room' effect, where you can see the lights and you can somewhat make out surfaces reflecting the lights, but it's difficult to focus.

Back to the software. Even more than the playfield, the software slows the game to a crawl. Example: If you lose a ball down the left outlane you can get it back if you hit some targets, hit some other shots, and then some other shots, and then some other shots. During this mode, it appears that you are earning no points (I might be wrong). It's confusing, It's a total flow-killer, and it feels like work. I'd rather just let the ball drain and try to get some real score on the next one.

I didn't expect the game to live up to the hype, but this was still a big letdown. I can't think of a modern game I dislike playing more than WoZ.

6 Pinsiders flagged this. 2 Pinsiders starred this!

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There are 541 ratings (that include a comment) on this game. Currently showing results page 16 of 22.

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