[cricket]

I would love to hear this also...... [crickets]

bump

I have posted my thoughts in the PPE (WOZ video) thread... With the PF slope and coil power being what they were, it didn't stop me from going back to play it another nine times. What specific questions do you have? Was the game I played "floaty"? Yes. Did I still have fun? Yes. Does it play like TZSPP? No, it plays like WOZ.

Coils were weak or the pitch was off. Jack knocked it out of the park. Had a nice flow, lights were amazing as you get deeper in the game. The witch magnet was incredible. The left outlane with the pop bumper is invative as just cool. It equals fun. I would have kept coming back but I need to raise money to buy one.

I don't know if 'playing' it at the Seattle show counts, but I did and I was able to get up the ramp with ease a couple of times. Totally missed the house loop shot, though! I did not walk away feeling like the flippers were weak at all.

That's because at the time, no one had started a "WOZ flippers are weak" bandwagon yet.

Oh no you did not Rawley.

hehe.
yes that's right, I went there.

know anyone in bama who's getting a WOZ?
Roll Tide
PorkChopExpress

What was incredible about the witch magnet?

Its a cross between xmen magnets and TAF. It did a loopty loop. It was just different, Ive never really seen a ball do that before.

Is it two magnets close to the witch that causes that effect?
I played the $2 million beast and thought it was pretty cool improvements have been made since Seattle for sure.
The ramp was a problem but I'm pretty sure that no sold games will be send out like that. Plus there is still stuff left off the game.
What's funny is jack brings a PROTOTYPE to ppe and people are upset about a ramp on a prototype machine but stern sends me a game that doesn't work for weeks and no one (but me) is upset.
I think the game is coming along nicely and I'm looking forward to its finished release.
Woz didn't play like a stern nor a Williams.
Interpret that as you like...

Played it. Even with flipper power turned down, you could make all the shots pretty easily. I had no problems (and I'm not a very good player). I am confident that once the game is dialed in, it's going to be fast.

My only complaint is the same one I mentioned in another thread. Those mini playfield drain holes and playfield saucers are TOO SMALL and the ball spends too much time circling and not enough time just dropping in/through.

I guess I'm less concerned about the mini-playfield drains as those can potentially help delay ball return during multi-ball by a few seconds. The saucers though...

Although it's a niggling issue to me (might be a bigger annoyance for those flow addicts), it does pose a problem if you want to add a hole protector as I don't think that there is enough clearance around the holes to put one in.

All that said, it's a stunning game and I can't wait to see what they get done for Chicago!

Tony

Played it at E3. Was very bare bones, but I liked the feel of it.

I just played it and took it apart (fixing a problem with Rob Anthony.) I am most impressed. I was on the fence before. Didn't buy one staight up because it's a new thing, and frankly the theme isn't "me." But now I'm sorry I didn't get in at the beginning.

The flippers definitely need more zing. Yes you can make all the shots, but you really have to work at it. They need more power. Also the game is a mechanical amazement. After looking under the playfield I don't know how durable it will be though. But it's impressive to see this much "stuff" in a pinball machine. It makes Twilight Zone look like a Zizzle! well maybe not quite that bad, but I would say it's like Pinball 2000 and Twilight Zone morphed with an LCD screen. The workmanship and quality is the best of any game I've seen. Yea I see some things i would do to make it more robust, but hey, they are still in the "sample" mode.

As for game play, the game feels very nice. Very Williams like except for perhaps the flipper power (which does need to be stronger.) But that's a pretty easy twist. Software needs more "modes" as they say, but that will all come in time. (Frankly it felt more complete than the Xmen LE we had when that game was first available.)

This game is impressive. If Jack can stay with this quality/hardware/"stuff" level, I'm done buying any new Stern machines. But I'm having a hard time seeing how Jack can maintain this "level." It's like nothing I've ever seen, and frankly a complete bargain next to any of the Stern LE games, especially since it's about the same price as a Stern LE.

After getting some play on it I have to say I was impressed with the direction they are going with the pin. It really feels like they are trying to push pinball to the next level with simply amazing lighting all being color controlled and the LCD integration. The LEDs were toned down a little so they were the perfect intensity not too bright but definitely provided some 'pop' to the machine. This theme may not be for me but after playing it I find myself very impressed. I'm hoping that JJP is successful with this pin and make many more in the future. The pop bumper (balloon) on the left out lane is definitely unique if you hit all the targets you get a save which is a cool feature. The trees in the pop bumpers look great IMO just fit the pin perfectly. The LCD integration seems to be coming along as well which is nice.

Things that could of been better were: The flippers were weak but I highly doubt they will release the pin with the flipper/coils as they are in this example. Almost every person I talked to agreed that the flippers seemed to lack power. They need more pop and I think JJP will address that before release. It was difficult to get an idea on how the game flowed with limited flipper strength and almost no back leg elevation. It could use a few more shots on the main playfield with the gate up to the left it kind of cuts down on the amount of shots available right away. Right upper playfield was not my favorite with the loop design.

Playing it was a much different and better experience then just watching a video of it that is for sure. Impressive project overall that pushes pinball further then it has gone in the past. I can't wait to play this pin in it's finished form. Hope all the lucky buyers of this pin absolutely love it.

Thanks Clay. Good to know.

I am glad to hear Clay's initial, "on the surface" impressions of the game. Even more glad that they are positive.

Glad to see Clay weigh in here, I think his opinion is one we can all trust.

From Jack FWIW: "We set this game up to play at medium strength for all coils including
lower flippers. Even little kids get up the ramp, it's a skill shot
more at the moment although once tweaked up in strength, even a
halfway shot will get it up the ramp. It's going to kick!"

Dunno about the slings being on medium!?! They seem to kick!

Great right up btw Clay, very encouraging!

I will confirm the game was set up with the rear leg levelers all the way in (no elevation). There wasn't much time to experiment with the pitch so it was left that way since all the shots could be made with the current flipper strength settings.

I did get some time playing it (I'm the one playing in Martin's video). I will second Clay regarding fit and finish, just incredible! Photos and video don't do it justice. Here are my impressions regarding gameplay:

1)Right ramp - I like the way it feels. It seems like once the ball gets past a certain point it gets sucked up and goes around. I was surprised that some shots that didn't seem strong enough would make it all the way around. As is, the ramp could be made from either flipper and was very satisfying to hit.

2)Flipper strength - even though they could make all the shots I felt they needed a little more pop. Since the flipper strength will be adjustable this shouldn't be an issue.

3)Pitch - I would have liked a steeper pitch as the game does feel a little floaty with no elevation to the rear legs. Even so, there were times when the ball was flying around pretty quickly. I'm really looking forward to playing it once it gets dialed in.

4)Flow - hard to really judge since flipper strength and pitch have such a huge impact on flow. I think it's pretty clear from the playfield layout that it's more similar to TZ than it is to Spiderman.

5)Overall - I enjoyed playing the game even though it had very limited rules and wasn't dialed in. I liked that I didn't notice any consistent misses or made shots that lead to immediate drains. There is a good variety of satisfying shots and the sound system is pretty impressive.

I would say the art, playfield design (toys, shots, figures, etc..) and build quality are excellent IMHO. That's three down and two to go (rules and sound). With Keith and Chris taking care of the remaining items, I predict the game will be a masterpiece once they are finished working their magic .

Jim

Typing on a phone. Just gonna toss 2cents on right ramp. I hit that ramp a ton. I agree with the theory that you need to nail it in order to make it all the way through, but momentum *really* helped. Cradle dead on shots to that ramp still limped a little and sometimes still failed.

Physical layout overall has a lot of potential for fun rules. I had a good 15k game and didn't walk away feeling anything in the physical layout needed to change (outside of *possibly* tweaking that ramp). *shrug*

Btw: left ourlane is clever. Wish I knew what it actually does rules wise. Have to wait and see.

I really liked the stand ups in the left outlane. As the ball exits you can shake the machine to get some points (maybe there is a way to earn a ball save but I couldn't tell). Was the tilt even installed on that game? I shook it real hard and didn't get so much as a warning. I felt the RGB LEDs for lighting were awesome. The LCD in the back glass seemed kinda cheep and tacked on, didn't feel like it added anything to the excitement of the game but I was focused on playing. The game felt slow, like the pitch was off or the flipper coils were weak. I think they should have gone all out for the first machine released and used OLEDs for the inserts. Having each insert a small screen can have many possibilities. Although it would add a couple hundred $ to the cost.

Jack getting make up put on was classic!

Thanks for the video Clay. This game has some serious gutts in it.

You love it whenever Jack looks foolish, don't ya Rob?

Great vid. Interesting to see how they led's work underneath.

Anyone else notice, it looked to me like the coils are no longer soldered straight from the lugs to the wires, seems to be some sort of clips.

I'm surprised that no one has posted info on that upper right flipper. Its kinda like any other ball trapping upper flipper...but there is nothing behind it in WOZ. Behind the upper right flipper is a exit hole where the ball is fed directly back into the shooter lane. A very clever innovation on the "Spider-Sense" flipper raising trick, used in a new mechanical way.

I also liked how two events go on, during certain key moments. I was able to lock a ball. During the ball lock, on the LCD screen, spectators see a clip from the movie and a message that "Dorothy was captured". What you notice as the actual player is the monkey transporting the pinball to the upper playfield during the triggered movie clip. Really cool!

In the vid posted above, I did notice that right before "Dorothy was captured", the clip went all Neo from the Matrix for a second or two. That's pretty cool.

Cool seeing inside WOZ!

No wonder it is late - so much has been done that is new.

Carryover from WOZ PPE video thread on early gameplay...

What stands out for me is the fact that the right outlane is REALLY wide- if you aren't paying attention, the ball is gone before you know it.
The witch magnet(s) slung at least three of my (first) balls straight down Toto's gullet, while the left outlane was pretty tame by comparison. The pop bumper/target array is genius; with a little experimental nudging, you can walk/bounce the ball back up the lane and back into play. With all the games I played, I made it a point to shoot for different areas of the PF with each new turn. There is so much going on in the game it's tough to take in all in. The good news is, the castle PF is really addicting! I was worried that it was going to be a waste of space, in reality it was quite the opposite. The flipper cradles really well and it wasn't too difficult to recover the ball once it left the flipper. The house on the other hand, is pretty brutal with the timing. (Think AC/DC lower PF... With no saver.) It will really take a bit of practice to get the house to reveal the witches legs! The mid-right flipper took a bit of time to remember that it was even there- and once I did, it definitely opened things up; I'm trying to think back if I ever got that right side magnet to activate. Hmmm... The ramp to the house and ball lock is very satisfying; like Jvspin stated on the players thread, once the ball gets past a certain point on the ramp, it gets sucked around rather quickly. The VUK's are really well done and fire rather quickly to get the player's ball (up the wire-forms) where it needs to go. Even thought the game only has one physical ramp, it feels like it has three. The loop shot is well constructed and can be successfully linked if one chooses to do so. The trumper bumpers are not too hard to get past and they don't hold the ball for too long. (Unless you wanted them to.) The upper PF under the house was a bit of a quagmire, either it held the ball for (what seemed like) a ridiculous amount of time, or the monkey came and got it. There seemed to be no middle ground. A hard plunge did bypass the whole thing but, I was hoping for a bit more than that. The Winkie Guard did his duty by keeping the shot above the magnets, making it a good "risk/reward" kind of shot. I would have liked to have seen inline drops instead but, I can understand that the space for him was limited so he just simply "resets" until the third guard (possibly more?) is defeated. The witch should be one of the main focal points in the game but honestly, most of the shots to her were not deliberate. She melts down in progressive stages; it's more robotic than fluid right now. I would like to see her just melt all in one final shot with green flashers strobing around her during the process. I also really wanted to see the crystal ball in action but alas, it was sleeping...
Now that I've had some time to reflect on my games, (some good, some bad) I can confidently say to people that have pre-ordered it, you WILL have fun. The shots and gameplay can be as wide and deep as you want them to be. It will truly cater to a broad level of players. My favorite thing not mentioned about the game is the scoring- it's pretty damn low. EM low. (No more "billion+" scores!) In fact, I was really happy to get into the 10,000's!!! The second thing that strikes me about WOZ is how much more nudging is involved. The game just screams "NUDGE ME!" (Or at least it does with the PPE setup anyway...) All the PF's on WOZ require constant input from the players hands; I'm guessing most of us (at home) will either have the tilts extremely loose, or not installed at all.

Great post Nimble, well thought out.

One additional comment regarding the spinning house playfield. With such a limited time at the show it was hard to develop a rhythm with the shot. With more time it seems like it might get easy to make the loop over and over. It will be interesting to see what they do to keep this shot fun and challenging.

Jim

In the seminar, Jack said there are two witch magnets.

Realizing that I approach collections differently than most. With regard to pins, I am down to 38 . I wanted great examples from the 70s through current. WOZ , objectively , offers something , that is unique and in most cases better that than anything produced before. Quality of construction, innovative technology , basic fun for a majority that will ever play, is being revealed with each update. History will no doubt show , WOZ, as having a very positive impact , on the pinball industry. I look forward to the arrival of mine.