I picked up an original run WOZ recently and an working through some issues as I discover them. Since I'm new to the game, I'm not always sure what behavior is normal. Is the game supposed to release locked balls at the end of the game? Mine does not release balls from the munchkinland lock at the end of the game. If I end a game with balls locked, start a new game and lock a ball it does not kick a new ball into the shooter lane. It goes into a ball search instead. What is normal/ what is wrong with this picture?

Figured it out. Not sure why but the problem seems to have been caused by the monkey not making it all the way to the top. I fixed that and now the game seems to work normally.

BTW - I was reading through the manual this morning and noticed that whether the game clears out locked balls at the end of a game or not is actually a setting. I just updated my machine to the latest code, so it is set to the default, which is "no". So not having the balls drain out of the locks is normal. I'm curious though whether anyone has an opinion as to whether there is any advantage to "yes" or "no" in this setting?

I agree. I was wondering more about it from a performance reliability standpoint.

I like the new backglass.

Having trouble with my lighting harness and wondering if anyone here has insights that might be helpful:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/woz-light-harness-problem#post-4898863

I'm looking for some advice on improving the overall GI illumination of WOZ. I know this has been discussed as nausea but the threads I found are scattered all over the place.

I'm looking to collect the opinions of folks who have already traveled this road. I started a thread with a poll here:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/what-s-your-favorite-gi-mod-for-woz#post-4903367

Thanks in advance for your input!

I'm thinking I'd like to add some Cliffys to my newly acquired WOZ. I know I read recommendations about this somewhere but can't seem to find it. I remember people saying the munchkinland playfield edge needs a protector. Seems like the scoops could use protection, too. That means a minimum order of the VUK/scoop set and munchkin edge. What is the general opinion on protection for the rollover buttons, magnets and castle playfield edge?

Thanks for the input. I think that's the route I'll take, too unless enough people chime in otherwise. I'm having a hard time seeing how the rollover button areas would need a cliffy given that there is an approximately 1/8" ring of clear plastic flush with the plywood edge between the button and the playfield. Plus I don't want three metal rings in the middle of that beautiful playfield. The magnets I worry about a little bit not as much as the saucers. I also have a hard time imagining the castle playfield taking a bad hit to the edge. Is this an actual problem area or just a protection option for the abundantly cautious?

That's okay. He's a one man shop making stuff in his garage. Sometimes you'll get lucky and he'll have stock on hand for what you need. Otherwise, I'm fine to wait. He's a great guy with a quality product.

I'm not sure that I've ever gotten an email response. A package just shows up one day....

Thanks. Munchkinland is definitely getting some Cliffy steel along with the VUKs and saucers. Magnets will get mylar rings. I'm on the fence about the shooter lane. The game serves a ball to the shooter lane SO gently, unlike my other games. Maybe just mylar for the ball serve area?

Thank you - EXACTLY the sort of real world test data I was looking for. I'll add the shooter lane cliffy to my order. I'll also give the balloon area some custom mylar before too long - it is a pop bumper nest after all. Makes sense that it should eventually wear without protection.

Sounds like an easy enough temporary solution that will be better than nothing while I await a proper cliffy.

Also make sure the lock arm is not rubbing on anything and that the end is pretty close to the centerline of the ball top to bottom.

I installed V7 and it caused my left sling to machine gun. Had to turn the game off to stop it. Rebooted and tested 3 times with the same result. Went back to V6.whatever and all is fine. I'll be waiting for a more mature version of 7 before trying it again.

Yup - I've moved 8 pins in and out of my place. WOZ is the only one I've needed help with. It's a beast.

I didn't know such a thing existed for WOZ. Where do you get them?

Why did you pull them out? Seems like a nice upgrade to have.

I like the look of that. What combination of lights did you use?

Checked out your videos. It looks good! Is it just me or does the two led version look more flickery compared to the single led? The 1 led video looks more like a blink than a flicker. Are these different bulbs (two diodes in one lamp) or two separate bulbs? I'm guessing the former since I assume these are mounted like standard pop bumper body lights with one socket threaded into the middle of the pop body.

Right, but when the wall nut connections go bad the slightest movement can have an effect. I experienced this myself, jiggling various wires under the playfield (not the main harness branches). Give each wire on the wall nuts a solid tug just to be sure. I ended up having so many wires pull out that I replaced most of the wall nuts with old fashioned twist nuts.

My family hosted a gathering at our house while I was away last weekend. Went out to the game room and discovered that WOZ no longer boots. I started a separate thread here:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/woz-won-t-boot-1#post-5062240

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Follow the wiring harness for the lights to the back of the playfield. You will find that the wires all come together in a group of wall nuts. One color is positive, the other is ground. Tug each wire in each wall nut. If a wire comes out of a nut or wiggles excessively, replace the wall nut with a twist connector or other suitable, strong connection. Make sure the wires are well connected and secured together as a group. Don't use another wall nut. They're not good with stranded wire.

Just curious - why would anyone actually want to update to 7.01? It seems pretty buggy.

I have read that and understand it. Unfortunately, my machine is not even playable with 7.01 (the slingshots machine gun and do not stop once triggered). I have read numerous other reports of various bugs that others have found which negatively affect gameplay. Given this, isn't waiting for 7.02 or whatever comes next better than installing a new, buggy platform which negatively affects gameplay (or even makes it literally unplayable)?

Visually check your new ring when you get it to be sure the rods are fully peened over where they attach to the ring. I've had quite a few in the past couple years that were barely peened over. Install those and you'll be doing the job all over again within six months.

I do miss the space shuttle start sound from the old code....

I put my 7.5v light boards up for sale for anyone who does not want to spend the $800 plus serious time on a 2.0 system. Get yourself a stash of backup boards now!

Parts - For Sale

Final Price Drop! 7.5v light boards with cables Archived

Used, good condition - “Priced to sell! Don't want to spend $800 plus 12-15 hours on a 2.0 conversion? Well here's the solution - a full set of 7.5v unbuffered light boards for woz! Includes a full set of...”

2019-10-21

Davis, CA

pinheadpierre

250

Archived after: 11 days

Viewed: 207 times

Status: Not sold

My 2c on the GI brightness of the 2.0 light conversion: I agree with others that have stated that the GI is noticeably less bright. Like others, I have double checked to ensure that all of the GI lights are centered over their tubes. I thought that maybe I had a cognitive bias since I had heard this from others in advance of doing the conversion, but I have had several non-pinhead people (who are totally unaware of this potential issue) play who had played it prior to the conversion and they ALL independently noticed that the game was darker.

That's the route I was thinking about taking but I didn't know about the Comet matrix system. Those are some fair priced handy components! What color did you go with for trough lighting? Red? Warm white?

Interesting idea - purple was not in my mental list of obvious choices! Thanks for the suggestion.

Looking through my stash of lights, I've got a bunch of Comet 7smd 6.3v strips. Unless I'm mistaken, the convenient tie-in places on woz (topper, coin door, spotlights) are all 12v. Am I correct in thinking that I would either need a step down unit or 12v led strips? Looks like the Comet matrix stuff is 6.3v?

Pay attention to that one screw above the orbit. Cliffy colors the hole with a marker to indicate that it gets the lower profile screw.

Found an error in my 2.0 light system last night. Either the castle cables were labeled wrong or the rgb cable map is printed wrong. Either way, it resulted in my wiring the lights for the search insert and the adjacent gi light backwards. This explains why my search insert had been lit constantly since the conversion! (Wasn't there someone else here who was having this issue?) Heads up to those who follow. I recommend holding off on fully reinstalling the castle playfield until you can test to ensure that everything is correct in test mode.

I ordered my 2.0 kit in May but didn't get around to installing it until just recently. Butch at JJP says this was an error in the instructions that he has since corrected. So if you're ordering a kit now it sounds like it probably won't be an issue, but if you ordered your kit awhile ago and are sitting on it you might run into this.

Just curious - can the buffered and unbuffered 7.5v boards be intermixed?

....or a set of used boards! (Insert shameless ad bump here.)

Parts - For Sale

Final Price Drop! 7.5v light boards with cables Archived

Used, good condition - “Priced to sell! Don't want to spend $800 plus 12-15 hours on a 2.0 conversion? Well here's the solution - a full set of 7.5v unbuffered light boards for woz! Includes a full set of...”

2019-10-21

Davis, CA

pinheadpierre

250

Archived after: 11 days

Viewed: 207 times

Status: Not sold

Plan on installing additional gi lighting along with the 2.0 kit (unless you always play with considerable light in your game room). The 2.0 conversion makes the game absurdly dark. The plastics are barely lit, let alone the playfield.

The insert lenses are fine. The general illumination, not so much. The following photos were taken in a very dimly lit room (so that they would show the playfield illumination from the game itself without much help from the room lights). This took some adjusting with my camera settings because modern cameras are really good at compensating for different light situations and making things look better than they really do. I feel that these are VERY close to what my game looks like in a dim room to the naked eye.

Here is a photo of the game in test mode with all of the leds (inserts and gi) set to white:

P9190106 (resized).JPG

See how all of the inserts are nice and bright? Good, right? But look at the slingshots and the other plastics that have the gi lights under them. They are barely lit. Barely any light transmits through the plastics (I had to look under the brown one at the lower left of the playfield to see if the light was actually working). Almost no light makes it onto the playfield from the gi.

For the next photo, I toggled the test mode into gi only, again set to white.

20190919_221637 (resized).jpg

Comparing the two, you can see that under the 2.0 system the game is really only lit by the ambient room lights and the inserts. Had I turned off the lights in my game room, you would not have been able to see the playfield art in the second photo at all.

I reached out to JJP about this. Butch looked into it and concluded that this is standard 2.0 light operation. He said that since the light tubes for the gi are not as efficient as the insert lenses at transmitting light, the gi lighting is always going to be dimmer than the inserts unless something can be done in code to allow the gi to be turned up. He said he would send a note to the code team about it.

Aside from the propensity to occasionally fail, I miss my original lighting.

My thought exactly.

My favorite part about the monkey is how it goes up and down and brings balls to the witch.

Has anyone reached out to JJP to ask what their plan is to address inevitable motherboard failure down the line? It worries me that we might be looking down the barrel of a situation like any old solid state game where motherboards have to be repaired on a component level or wait for a third party to build a custom replacement board.

I had this problem. There was an error in the instructions that caused me to use the wrong wires for the two single light boards at the rear of the castle playfield. Run a GI test. If the search insert is lit during the GI test, you need to swap the connections (castle light board ends only) between the GI light and the search insert.

I had that rubber break several times in a couple months. I tried regular black rubber and Titan rubber. They all broke. I finally turned down the strength of the slingshot kicker below the oz lanes and haven’t had a problem since.

I have a standard and don’t regret it at all. I love it. Toys can be added at will. All of the differences between JJP models are purely cosmetic (aside from 2.0 boards and the omission of the YBR monkey). I personally do not like any of the colored editions red, green or yellow. To each their own. It’s not like a Stern where different model levels actually affect gameplay.

I agree that the clear coated direct print cabinets are a nice cosmetic touch. Fun fact: some first run standard editions (mine included) have that same cleared direct print cabinet.

I think I’m giving up trying to sell my old 7.5v boards as a lot. At $250 it doesn’t seem like it’s a bad price point, right? So I’m guessing that it’s something else. Maybe that the one large board that’s not working is the fish shaped one in the middle? I dunno. If there’s still no movement in the next day or so, I’m going to put them on the market here and on EBay individually to make random, single board failures easy to fix and waaaay cheaper than buying a board from JJP or buying a complete used set.

Interesting - someone else suggested that it was a buffered/unbuffered issue making buyers shy. My understanding is different regarding buffered/unbuffered boards. Both are prone to failure. JJP started with the 5v system. When problems arose, they went to a 7.5v system. When the same problems continued, they tried the buffered 7.5v boards. When the same problems continued, they went to the 2.0 system. To my understanding, the reason JJP sells the buffered 7.5v boards in their online store is simply because that is the last model that was in production. 7.5v buffered and unbuffered are fully interchangeable and compatible. Both are prone to failure (as are the original 5v boards). The bigger issue is the flawed daisy chain design of all the pre-2.0 systems that wreak havoc with everything downstream in the event of just one single diode even partially going out. Frankly, given how much work installing the 2.0 system was AND having to pay $800 for a product that resulted in a dimmer game, I wish I had bought a couple used boards myself rather than investing so heavily in a full conversion.

Definitely disappointing and frustrating . I had to take a break from working on WOZ after my 2.0 conversion so I wouldn’t grow to hate a great game from working on it too much all at once. Now I’m picking up the tools again and adding spotlights and trough lighting because the game needs SOMETHING functional for GI.

Not an exaggeration. Pre-2.0 conversion, I was happy with the lighting (except for the fact that it was buggy as hell). Now I can’t see the ball well enough to play without pointing a light from the room at the machine.

Not bitching - just stating my experience so that others who are faced with the choice of replacing defective original older boards or converting to 2.0 know that not all is well after the investment. More time and money will be needed. Nothing is amiss with my installation. I reviewed it via email and photos with JJP. They confirmed that it was correct and that their sample machine looked the same in terms of gi brightness. They also confirmed that gi brightness with the conversion is an issue that others have raised. They said they would ask their software people to look into it but didn’t promise anything. So again, I’m speaking up here because had I known about this when I was faced with the 2.0 conversion decision, I might have made a different decision.

I would say the GI can be augmented (basically replaced) by spotlights (or stadium lighting, etc) but a big feature of a game like WOZ is rgb lighting that changes with the gameplay! Heck, for POTC JJP even made lack of rgb gi a downgrade for the standard models.

What you lack with a retrofitted 2.0 WOZ is effective/noticeable rgb gi. End of story unless JJP engineers yet another fix.

Yes, you can add spotlights without a lot of time if you buy a pre-made kit but soldering, shrink tubing, molex harness connectors and zip ties for a good diy job are going to take a hell of a lot longer than 30 minutes and guess what? No matter how you slice it, you'll still not have a machine that looks like it was supposed to. You'll have a machine where the inserts work (are we supposed to be super grateful about this???) and the rgb gi is barely visible. This after 12-16 hours of your time plus close to a thousand dollars ($830 + whatever on additional retrofit gi lights) poured into "fixing" the lighting. (Not to mention the fact that adding spotlights seriously obscures the artwork on the slingshots.)

Bottom line, JJP still hasn't gotten basic lighting engineered right for any of the original WOZ games. But the game itself is so good that some owners continue to defend them or minimize the insulting nature of the situation even after all this.

I have an original standard with the same unused holes. Always wondered what they are for.

I was fortunate to get to be the guinea pig for Lermods new lighting mod. That’s my game pictured above. The picture was taken is a dimly lit room. They really are a quick, easy and effective way to add some light to the lower playfield. They come with a pre-made harness with a splitter that makes tapping into the existing 12v spotlight power a breeze. I installed the whole mod in less than 10 minutes!

This happens to mine sometimes when my nine year old and his buddies have been playing unsupervised. I always suspect a mid-game frustration, too quick toggle of the power switch in an attempt to start over. Sometimes I have to do a full reinstall of the operating system to get it back in order. Sometimes I’m lucky and a few slow power cycles does the trick.

I’d like to make a switch controlled illuminated winkie target. I’ve got all the parts I think I need but, being more of a visual artist than an electronics tech, need some wiring advice. I’m thinking I make a molex splitter to tap into the 12v from the castle spotlight. After that, I’m thinking that the neutral wire goes to one leg of the new bulb socket while the positive wire goes through the micro switch and then to the other leg of the new lamp socket. Could someone please confirm or correct my wiring logic? Also, is there any need for a diode on the switch wiring? I’m thinking not but am unsure.

Never mind. I decided to trust my own thinking. What I described works.

Thanks, already done. I got longer #2 screws and mounted a secondary micro switch to the same mount as the factory drop target switch.

This was the last step in my post-2.0 conversion to get my lighting all modded. I went full diy on trough lighting, stadium lighting, balloon pop and winky target. I pulled off the spotlights and other stuff I experimented with. I just really didn’t like the uneven hot spots and visual obstruction of the spots and such.

I put the stadium lights on three separate controllers (1 for the rear, 1 for the sides and 1 for the trough) to control color and brightness independently. I also stopped the right side stadium lights short of the huts to avoid over lighting that area, especially the hut roofs. I’m happy with the results. (The rear of the game actually doesn’t look that blue/purple in person. That’s an odd artifact of the photo.)

I can now play in a dark room!

459AB344-716E-4E0A-B78D-8B3C29BA6A09 (resized).jpeg

What a great trick! I’ll have to give this a try next time I get sticky balls...pinballs, that is.

Ditto

Or make your own if you’re into that sort of thing. Easy enough and actually turns out better imo.

Is blurry supposed to be suspenseful?

I second this. I once had a switch on a game start to trigger from the shaker motor. Just needed to make a small adjustment.

Price is a reflection of two desires. How badly does one want to sell? How important is it for you to buy? It’s two opposing desires meeting at a mutually agreed point. If you want to see some incomplete, unverified data, look through the Pinside market archive for WOZ. Beyond that, asking strangers for their pinball price opinions is simply muddying the waters of your own judgement.

Looks like you might have gotten a good one. I looked at those about a year ago but didn’t buy one because many inserts still had bits of the casting arms visible, like they were installed without sanding them all the way off first.

2.0 gi is barely perceptible in a lit room. Pathetic. JJP claimed they were going to try to do something about it, but nothing so far.

Yeah - that looks more extreme than my experience of 2.0. I don’t know what to say about that.

That’s par for the course, unfortunately.

Frankly, I wouldn’t get all hung up on powder coating. Rr, emerald, standard... they all play exactly the same. I’d steer clear of YBR due to lack of a monkey but any of the other three are equally fine.

There lots of WOZ others who are very attached to their color of choice. Again. we’re talking mostly about powdercoat, not gameplay. WOZ is WOZ, except YBR which is a whole different monkey (or more specifically, lack thereof).

My best score is 3.2 million and change. Lots of huge mode stacking. Easily over a half hour of “work”. I don’t think an extra half hour of awesome would increase my score fifty fold.

Glad you’re stoked! It’s fun to read enthusiastic posts like yours. Lots of folks probably aren’t answering your “what was your first pin and do you still have it” question here because this is a club thread, reserved mainly for talking about WOZ. Answering a fun question like that here tends to derail the thread. Your question is perfectly suited for being its own topic. Start a new topic then circle back and post a link to it here!

Also, it’s not the connectors themselves in the pre-2.0 lights that are the problem. The problem is that all the boards are daisy chained together like cheap Christmas lights. One goes out, everything downstream goes out.

Probably right at the top of the shooter lane. There’s a slightly flat spot there that a slow rolling ball can come to rest on. Next time I take my munchkinland playfield off, I’m going to see if I can make an adjustment. In the meantime, get good at nudging it lose without tilting. Usually a forward/backward series of nudges does the trick.

Taste does vary wildly, but having owned a dozen games (7 currently) only WOZ and Stern ST premium are bolted to my floor. I also recommend playing in a league once the pandemic is over. Leagues are a great way to gain regular exposure to a wider variety of machines.

Yes. I have yet to put a slow motion camera in place to see why though.

Mine is the same way. Why would hitting the flipper button make the monkey drop the ball? Doesn't seem like nearly enough vibration.

Also, as long as we're talking magnets, my Glinda and Dorothy magnet under the house exit sometimes doesn't activate properly. For example, sometimes after saving the ball via completing TNPLH, the ball will just keep rolling after dropping through the spinning house exit hole. Not always, just sometimes. Any idea why?

Can someone make this a key post?

You don’t have to compete them to qualify battle of the wicked witch. You do have to complete them (plus others) to reach somewhere over the rainbow.

Trace the lighting harness back to the cluster of push-in wire connectors. Wiggle there. If that triggers/solves the issue, replace all of the push-in connectors with something better. JJP used quick connectors with stranded wire that were only rated for solid wire. Stranded wire eventually fails in these connectors, causing the exact issue you are describing. (Don’t ask me how I know).

Custom image for what exactly?

Interesting, thanks for clarifying. Does that replace the entire attract mode or add an image somewhere in the attract sequence?

Went to check my audits to play along and....dead as a door nail. Zip nada.

I made sure it was plugged into a functioning outlet. Check

Checked for power at the service outlet. Nothing.

Looking at the cabinet wiring diagram. It looks like the service outlet is ahead of the first fuse (next to the service outlet which also tested fine).

Is there something in the line filter box that could’ve blown and disrupted power there?

Thanks Lloyd that was it. Must’ve gotten tugged somehow.

Okay - back to the original mission of playing the audits game:

Games played: 932
Witch battles: 155
Witch battle wins: 24

Pretty much it’s just me and my nine year old playing. I’d say a good third to half of those witch battle wins belong to my kid!

You’re gonna love it. It’s awesome!

Over the years I’ve had intermittent issues with the SSD not booting. So far (knock on wood) reseating the cable has done the trick. I have a new drive waiting in the wings for the day when the original truly gives up. When that day comes, what exactly is the process?

I’m imagining that I remove the old drive, install the new one, plug a flash drive with the code on it into the update port and power up?

Thank you, kind Sir.

They must’ve learned a lesson from the first run. The ball on my original standard WOZ appears to be held on by little more than a repositionsble glue dot. I have to remember to take it off the base before lifting the playfield or it’ll fall right off!

Those are really good looking walls! Cauldron is cool, too. If you can’t get Gouveia’s witch, that cauldron would be pretty bad ass. Pretty steep tag though.

I would love to watch your wife play a game of WOZ. Maybe take a gameplay video sometime and share?

I can respect and appreciate that, plus that sentence ^^ is pinball poetry.

Yes.

Took your advice and picked one up that’s allegedly new. Wondering if I should take the time to swap it in now to verify that it works? If it was as simple as a swap out I’d do it for sure but I don’t really want to move the cpu chip for no other reason than to test the board.

I thought you would say that. I think I just needed to hear it to actually do it.

Right, like new Sterns? Pinside breaks these down within a group into the different trim models: pro, premium, and LE. Seems like there’s no reason there couldn’t be a single group for WOZ broken down into the various versions, though there would be a kinda ridiculous number of subcategories: original, emerald city, ruby red, green, yellow brick road. (Did I miss any?)

Weren’t the originals (“standards”) individually numbered releases as well or just some of them? I do remember they were pretty damn special at the time.

ALL of the daisy chained light systems, regardless of voltage, are garbage by design. 2.0 fixes the daisy chain disaster but comes at a monetary and brightness price. 2.0 with custom stadium style lights is the best solution, though a lot of work and money.

Yes - 1x then 2x then 3x, rinse and repeat if memory serves.

It is time consuming but not difficult. Break it up into as many comfortable sessions as suits you. There’s nothing technical that is particularly challenging.