@OP: your experience is similar to mine. I had several opportunities to play WOZ on location when it first came out. I never really enjoyed it and even left walked away from some unused credits on the machine.

More than a year later, I watched a video explaining the rules. After that, I couldn't get enough and now I am an owner.

I think the breadth and depth of the rules is simply too much to figure out on the fly. But with just a little bit of knowledge, everything begins to make sense. I suggest ignoring the old rule of "aim for the blinky light". The monitor is where a player needs to look to see what is happening among the many stackable modes.

This gets to a marginal utility question. There is no rational answer to that because the incremental cost is always higher for any incremental improvement.

Put another way, is a single Mercedes S-class is as much as fun as a Porsche and a Lexus sitting side by side? Using a pinball analogy, is a Lord of the Rings more fun than a Shadow and Judge Dredd sitting side by side?

I suspect the answer to both is "no", but that doesn't mean no one should buy a Lord or the Rings or a Mercedes S-class.

I'm not trying to change your mind. We all have our different preferences. But for those who care and may not know:

Both lanes have adjustable posts. The one on the left is not very well known - you have to take the screw out to see the alternate screw hole for the ball guide.

In my opinion, you have just summarized what separates the fans from the haters, but I would state it differently.

I would say there is a good reason why Steve Ritchie (father of the fan layout) is so popular and that isn't changing anytime soon. I am also a great fan of Ritchie and have owned many Ritchie games. I also crave originality but not everyone does - don't fix something that is not broken.

Some parts of the game such as the upper right flipper are not obvious in their purpose. For example, there is not a giant arrow from the flipper pointing to the witch for dumbasses like me. I must have played the game dozens of times before I figured out that I should be hitting the witch with that flipper.

I was also confused about what to aim for. It was only after reading the rules that I realized that I need to stop aiming for the blinking light and start looking at the monitor for the current progress.

Stop looking at the blinking lights and look at the monitor. I realize it's difficult to take your eyes off the playfield, but the rules make a ton more sense once you do that. This single change turned me from a hater to a fan.

@Law. Your confusion reflects my initial confusion and my initial lukewarm response. I realize that the following advice may seem like a lot to demand of a player, especially for a machine on route. But like some other things in life, if you are willing to invest a little bit up front, you will discover there is more underneath.

1) Stop paying attention to the playfield insert lights. The general rule "aim for the blinky thing" doesn't work for WOZ because this is not a linear mode-based game. At any given time, several objectives are active which results in everything blinking.

Pay attention to the screen which keeps you apprised of the status of the main active items. To simplify things, you may want to play a game where you pay attention only to the upper right quadrant of the screen. See how far you can get with that. Then do another game you pay attention only to the upper left quadrant. Continue until you are comfortable with all four quadrants.

2) For a short cut to the above, download the WOZ owners manual, which is publicly available (http://www.jerseyjackpinball.com/game-specific-downloads/). There are pages explaining these rules in basic form. This 10 minute step turned me from a WOZ hater to a WOZ fan.

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Yes, this is a lot to ask of a player. This is what you get with such a deep rule set. It's not even necessarily unique to WOZ. Spend 10 minutes studying the rule set and you'll discover one of the deepest (if not THE deepest) pinball machines ever made. Good luck.

Pinball has never seen a game with this much DEPTH and BREADTH. It is deep because there are many objectives and modes to complete. It has breadth because several of these can be done simultaneously. It is the breadth that causes the excessive number of blinky lights. There is, quite literally, a dozen things you could aim for. Rather than one or two shots being the one "best" shot at amy given time, with WOZ there are a dozen shots to choose from at amy given time, each with its own risk-reward balance.

This breadth is what is so new and in violation of expectations, which throws people off.

I find it fun. But this is not the fun of having a one night stand with a hot chick. WOZ is more like dating a respectable quiet librarian for a few weeks and then discovering that she is totally into S&M. At that point, you are either repulsed or you realize you have found a keeper.