I have all my games set on 5 ball until I master them, then I set them to 3.
Have a feeling WoZ will be on 5 forever.

5 ball unless you want to take a lifetime to learn WOZ. I'm an average player and don't see myself taking WOZ off 5 ball anytime soon. Deep rule-set, challenging game and 5 ball helps me learn it and improve gameplay over time

3 ball - default setup except for 7 second ball save and extra ball for special/replay. Originally I also had it set at 6.5 degrees and within 3 months had achieved SOTR 3 or 4 times and been close handful of other times. With this lower angle I really learned the game and focused on ball control. Now I've jacked up the angle to 8 degrees and I've got to improve my game for speed/reflexes, etc. Best I've done so far is 3 jewels.

I went with 5 balls, 7 second ball saver and extra balls for special/replay. Mine plays fast and I like to get some progress going, but I'm still a long way to SOTR. Knocked off the witch a few times, but she can be a bitch. I've had my WOZLE for a little less than 2 yrs and it's still awesome and fun. Most of my other games are 3 balls.

There is a 3 ball and 5 ball location by me, I go to the 5 ball one for obvious reasons. I like to think if I own one I'll have the willpower to set it to 3.

I've got all my pins set on 3 balls but I may rethink my WOZLE after reading this thread--definitely need help mastering it.

I have mine set to 3 balls, 7 degrees and a 5 second ball saver. Everything else is as it was from the factory.

3.

The only games I'd ever set on 5 ball are EMs. All my modern games are set to 3 ball.

However, in your house, set them up how you like them! If you like brutal games, set them up like that. If you want it easier to get to everything, set them up like that. It is very rare that I measure pitch of a game. You can tell playing it of that is correct or not. Too slow, more pitch. To fast or too straight on shots, less pitch. Set them up how you like to play. That is all that matters.

5, rarely get to SOTR at 3..... only kidding. Virtually never get to melt the witch by 3 so 5 it is
Actually had everything in Rescue Multiball done except for the stuff on the castle playfield for the first time the other day. Well I never got up there with 2 balls in play to even try to finish it. Maybe I will get to see that again in the next year or so.

Five balls for me (so my kids can have more fun, of course. Yeah, it's for the kids...that's the ticket).

3 ball, no ball save, 1 EB available, tournament settings, pitch is high. Nut up.

3 balls, factory settings. I was thinking of setting the specials and rewards as free balls and extending the ball save, but saw that new code was coming out and would likely have to reset it all. Waiting for the "easier play" of the 6.00 code with the fixes (currently on 4.something). If the easier play isn't easy enough to learn the system and better technics, I MAY change it to 5 ball to learn more about the game plots, then turn it back afterwards. Our WOZ machine was bought from the same Arcade that we played it and changing it to 5 ball would just feel like "cheating a bit". But if it is a temporary thing for "educational purposes" I can justify that. That's my story and sticking to it!

With some games, setting the machine to 5 balls runs the risk of reaching the wizard in one month of ownership. There is pretty much no risk of that with Wizard of Oz unless you are supremely good. You can give yourself 10 balls and still not see the final wizard.

The number of balls that you set it to will be limited by how long you are willing to play one game before fatigue sets in.

Mine's at 5 balls only because there is no 6 or 7 balls. I really stink. I might start an "I never melted the witch" club.

I would join that club. I didn't even know what to do in the game to do that until a week or so ago. The witch wasn't important - I wanted to and concentrated on smashing the witch with the house via tornados. Came close, but not yet. Now I know, it may get me further along at the beginning to try to melt the witch. That's the whole thing about this game and the challenge - figuring out the priorities and what gets you further along in what order. The "skill" of the game. The Hobbit will be that same kind of a challenge too. I love that!

I have it set to 3 balls, plus all my games are set to 10 second ball save (if they offer it) although some times I don't know if it works on WOZ. I have set for many extra balls, which must be earned i.e. 10 YBR's etc. . Originally I wanted to go 5 balls because I had such poor gameplay I couldn't get to 2nd base after ECMB. The new code has changed things I do much better and frankly the game is much more fun to play.

I have only melted the witch once and have had a chance about 5 times after the newest code.

5 ball here. Just tons to do/accomplish to get anywhere. Having said that, I only fire her up if I'm in the mood for a long game (if that makes sense).

3 balls, with a short ball saver. For what I paid, I'd rather this game take a long time to master!

5 balls because otherwise in the 2 years I've owned the machine I'd have never melted the witch and seen some of the really neat stuff. Frankly I know some think putting home games above 3 is feeble, but hey it's your game and so do what you enjoy!

Exactly!

No way do I want to see the end for at least 6 months if I can help it. I was a little disappointed that I got to Melt the Witch within the first week, but there is a lot more to do. I've gotten there 3 times since I bought it 3 weeks ago, but typically drain about 5 seconds later.

Funny, am I the only one that has it set at four balls? I have also increased the ball save some....forget exactly the number of seconds though.

With these changes, I can usually get a 1 in 4 chance of melting the witch.

One problem for me was the witch switch not adjusted correctly from the factory. There are 2 actual switches to the witch so make sure both are registering with light pressure next time the glass is off. This allowed me to at least get to the point where the witch can be melted though so far I've blown it at this point.

Getting to melt the witch is just not that difficult. I frankly don't know why people are having such a difficult time getting to it. Is it the witch Hurry ups or RESCUE MB.

I can't believe the number of 5 ball responses. You gotta go 3...otherwise, pull the glass and use your hands!

I get mine today (waiting for the truck) I'll start it off at 5

All of it Taylor! I suck and have only been to rescue MB twice. Never melted that bit..err witch.

Mine is set to 3 ball and 7 second ball save fwiw.

OK - I'll bite and take ANY help I can get to melt the witch. Best score to date is around 500M and (as far as I know) I've never melted the old hag. Can you give me the short, bullet point version of the steps you take to achieve that in the shortest manner?

I have (and can regularly get to) RESCUE MB so I would think I "could" melt her but honestly, not sure the steps to take ...

Personally I'll start by plunging to the pops to qualify monkey lock and start a HF mode. HF mode getting started feeds the ball back to the lower left and then shoot right orbit to lock Dorothy. Next ball shoot for witch hurry up and take her down with quick shots. At this point I'll either try to start ECMB or preferably Rescue. During rescue, if it's not qualified, start ECMB. With balls in play go for Witch Hurry ups to start FBF. I rarely shoot for rainbow letters unless I have one or two. I've melted the witch numerous times including on a single ball. Once in MTW I usually go for right orbits
And CB shots to qualify the final shots.

Do you have to make the 4 "blue" shots to melt or can you just keep bashing the witch?

To Start Melt the Witch you need to
Start ECMB
Start Rescue MB
Start a Munchkin Mode
Start Fireball Frenzy (by completing 3 witch hurry-ups and then starting another)
Then the big green insert below the witch will be lit and hitting her will start the mode which is a 2 ball multiball.

To then Melt the Witch you need to keep two balls in play and complete 4 shots (left VUK via spinner, left orbit, right orbit, wizard saucer - you can do all 4 separately or any mix of these (e.g. two orbits and two saucers)). Then you need to lock a ball in the castle VUK and while that is held shoot the other ball up the ramp where it goes around the house and drops in front of the upper flipper and you need to then hit the witch... and she is melted.

Then you get your award of Ding Dong the Witch is Dead multiball.

Personally I do go for the witch hurry-ups with my skill shots but then I actually ignore lighting ECMB locks (they just happen while I'm playing) and I try to get hurry-ups and YBRs... and when winkie is down (from the hurry up) I go for the castle to light rescue (as many times as I can so I have more balls during that multiball (though if speed is your goal only spell it 1x)). During the course of that RAINBOW gets spelled so I get my munchkin mode and the other MBs are qualified, locked, or achieved already so I'm good to go for the witch.

I've never seen an ECMB. How do you get one?

oops! Sorry - I didn't realize it was called ECMB.

Thanks a whole lot for the advice! I thought you had to complete 4 separate blue light specials and 'didn't realize you could repeat. I'm a bit weak on the left orbit but 4 right orbits is doable for me.

Switched to 5 ball last night with some friends over. After they left I put up almost 700,000 on the first game (had gotten within a few thousand of 400,000 on 3 ball. Got to melting the witch (but didn't - didn't even realize what was happening till it was too late). Might keep it on 5 a while but hard to say. 3 balls just feels more challenging and like you really earn your progress.

Thanks TaylorVA - sounds like a straightforward plan

Thanks tiesmasc - appreciate the details, time to go play!

After a few months of getting nowhere on it I tightened up the outlanes and increased the ball saver but left it at 3 balls. Now I can get to melt the witch about one out of every 10 games or so. What a great, great mini-wizard mode! My high scores were still just under 1M but the other day I had one great MB (ECMB, Rescue, CBMB and a Munchkin Mode) and put up about 2M which is the best I've done. When I first started playing pinball in bars (way before I was old enough to drink but they all knew my brother so they let me in to play the pins) seeing one on 5 ball was awesome, so I still set some games that way and don't judge others who do the same - it's all about having fun!

On a related note, I love the ability to back-up high scores and settings to the USB drive on WOZ. We're having family over for Christmas (only one of which is really a player) so I'm going to reset it to factory defaults, put it on easy settings with plenty of EB opportunities and see what kind of scores people can manage to put up.

5, so that I can get deeper into the game.

Holy christ, I'd be playing for an hour on five balls. TX.....I'm coming over to play, lol. Get a lawn chair ready.

To be honest Frax, I only play 5 ball when I'm alone for exactly that reason. 3 ball when there is another player. But when I'm alone, I want to see what is deeper in the game.

I switched mine to 5 today, and I seem to score worse. Lol. Does the scoring change when on 5 ball to a more conservative scoring or is it the same?

Same

The topic deserves a poll.

Am I considered a good player on WOZ if my most of my high scores out of the top 10 are in the million to million and a half range? 3 balls, everything standard except I made the ball save timer at the beginning 15 seconds.

I would say yes, but 15 sec ball save might be pushing it a bit.

I agree, 5 balls is nuts.

Had it on 5 ball for about 2 years and switched to 3 ball and still able to kill the witch a 2-3 times since which I've done maybe 5 times total as I'm not a great player. Latest software update is fun and such a great pin!