Wizard of Oz
Jersey Jack Pinball, 2013 — shot-by-shot rules and strategy guide.
Open Wizard of Oz in the Pinball Genie app →Wizard of Oz was Jersey Jack Pinball's first release, and it plays like a company trying to prove a point: a widebody table stuffed with two upper mini-playfields, a captive Witch toy, and a ruleset that stacks a genuine RPG's worth of side-systems under one long climb toward a single wizard mode. Every shot on the table does at least two jobs. Learning it is less about memorizing one path and more about learning which of eight features you're currently neglecting.
Starting strong
Every ball opens with a choice. The lazy skill shot is a plunge into the flashing Oz lane, worth 5,000 climbing with each one you collect. The better options all share one requirement: feed the ball to the upper right flipper first, then take a real shot with it. From there you can hit the Witch target to bank points and start a hurry-up immediately, hit the standup near the left pop bumpers to launch a Haunted Forest mode on the spot, or — if you clock which letter is flashing on the B-A-L-L bank before you plunge — hit that exact target to spot the whole word at once. None of the three pay off unless the ball reaches that upper flipper clean, so a soft, controlled plunge beats a hard one here.
Once the ball is rolling, keep an eye on the Oz lanes at the very top. They don't do much alone, but every completed O-Z pair adds a full multiple to your end-of-ball bonus, up to 10x, and that bonus adds up fast on a long ball.
The six horses
Horse of a Different Color is Wizard of Oz's quiet scoring engine, and it rewards a very specific kind of greed: sameness. Six shots — the Crystal Ball spinner, left orbit, Castle Entrance kicker, ramp, right orbit, and Throne Room — light for a random colored horse, and landing one adds it to a running stack. Hit the same color again and it just gets more valuable instead of adding a new horse. Once you've built a stack of four to seven horses (the target shifts by one after every payout), the hidden Collect Lane behind a raised right flipper is where you cash in. All matching colors, or all completely different colors, multiplies your total by the horse count; anything in between cuts it in half. Land an all-rainbow set and that multiplier jumps to 5x.
Two roads from the ramp
The ramp is the busiest shot on the table, and where it sends the ball depends on what you've done beforehand. Roll one of the three character lanes — Lion, Tin Man, Scarecrow — scattered around the playfield and follow it immediately with a ramp shot, and you lock that character toward Emerald City Multiball; do that for all three and the multiball starts on its own. Ignore the character lanes, and spelling R-A-I-N-B-O-W on the seven colored standups instead lights the ramp for the Twister mini-playfield, where looping the small orbit ten times spins the house and drops you into a random Munchkin Mode. Both systems run through the same shot, so know which one you're building before you send the ball up.
Once Emerald City Multiball is running, the payoff is in the details: pair a qualified character's rollover with a Throne Room shot to collect that character's gift — a diploma, a medal, a heart — and getting all three earns a jewel toward the wizard mode plus a run of victory laps that climb in value every trip.
The Witch, and rescuing Dorothy
Three hits on the Witch target arm a hurry-up; land two more before it times out and you bank it. Do that three times across a game and the Fireball insert lights — one more Witch hit starts Fireball Frenzy, where you chase a roving blue arrow and avoid the red ones for a climbing jackpot. Ten of those earns a jewel and an extra ball, with more waiting every five jackpots after.
Rescuing Dorothy is the other major thread. Capture her by working the Winged Monkey targets, then send the ball around the right orbit so the Monkey toy can carry the locked ball up to the castle. From there it's a fight on the Witch's Castle mini-playfield: spell R-E-S-C-U-E through direct hits, a Search Orbit shot, or the Rescue Saucer for double credit, and breaking through the castle doors starts Rescue Multiball outright. Once it's running, six shots pay an escalating jackpot before falling to half value, and getting any one to its third hit lights a letter and arms the Super Jackpot at the doors.
Chasing the jewels
Battle the Wicked Witch and Somewhere Over the Rainbow both sit at the top of the ladder, and both demand you've actually played the rest of the machine — Emerald City, Rescue Multiball, a Munchkin Mode, and Fireball Frenzy all have to run once before the Witch target will even start the fight. The full wizard mode wants all eight jewels: everything above, plus fifty Yellow Brick Road advances and a completed run through the five Crystal Ball and five Haunted Forest modes. None of it comes from grinding one shot — it comes from treating Wizard of Oz as eight small games running in parallel, and never letting one of them go stale for too long.
How Wizard of Oz plays
Wizard of Oz is Jersey Jack's sprawling debut, packed with mini-playfields and eight jewels to collect, one from each major feature. Work the Emerald City, Rescue, Munchkin, and Haunted Forest features, liquidate the Witch, and gather all eight jewels to reach Somewhere Over the Rainbow.
The loop
- Plunge the flashing Oz lane for the skill shot, then complete O-Z pairs up top to build the end-of-ball bonus multiplier toward 10x.
- Pair a character rollover with an immediate ramp shot to qualify Scarecrow, Lion, and Tin Man for Emerald City Multiball.
- Spell R-A-I-N-B-O-W to light the ramp for the Twister mini-playfield, and loop its orbit to spin the house into a Munchkin Mode.
- Capture Dorothy at the Winged Monkey targets and spell R-E-S-C-U-E on the castle mini-playfield to start Rescue Multiball.
- Bank a jewel from each feature, and complete Battle the Wicked Witch, to light Somewhere Over the Rainbow at the ramp.
Reading the lights
- Oz Lanes (lanes) — lit: Two lanes at the very top spell O and Z, the flashing one is the lane the ball will score as it rolls through, and each completed O-Z pair banks toward the bonus multiplier. · then: Land the default skill shot in whatever lane is lit, then keep completing O-Z pairs, since every pair adds one full multiple to the end-of-ball bonus up to a 10x cap. That multiplier is the single biggest lever on your carry-over score, so feed the top lanes whenever the ball is up there.
- RAINBOW & Twister (letters) — lit: Seven colored standups spell R-A-I-N-B-O-W, so a lit standup is a letter left, and finishing the word opens the ramp into the Twister mini-playfield. · then: Take the lit ramp to divert onto the Twister deck, then loop its mini-flipper orbit ten times to spin the house and drop out into a random Munchkin Mode. The Munchkin ladder ends in a multiball that banks a jewel, and each Twister visit afterward needs five more loops than the last.
- Emerald City Characters (shot arrows) — lit: The Lion, Tin Man, and Scarecrow rollovers light to be qualified, and a rolled one stays qualified only if the ramp is your very next shot. · then: Pair each character rollover straight into the ramp -- touch another rollover in between and you lose it -- and the third lock starts Emerald City Multiball. Inside, pair each character with the Throne Room to collect their gift, and all three gifts bank a jewel and open climbing victory laps.
- Wicked Witch Target (mode) — lit: The Witch standup beside the Wicked Witch toy lights for hits, where three hits start a hurry-up and two more before it expires cash it in. · then: Complete three Witch hurry-ups to light Fireball Frenzy at the same target, whose jackpots build toward a jewel. Once Rescue Multiball, a Munchkin Mode, Fireball Frenzy, and Emerald City have each run once, the Witch target starts Battle the Wicked Witch, the mini-wizard that liquidates her for another jewel.
- Rescue the Castle (letters) — lit: The two blue Winged Monkey standups light to capture Dorothy, and enough hits lock a ball that the monkey toy carries up to the castle mini-playfield. · then: On the castle deck, spell R-E-S-C-U-E on its targets -- the Rescue Saucer counts double -- and break through the castle door to start Rescue Multiball. Its six jackpot shots each climb to 3x to arm the Super at the doors, and lighting all six arms the Mega Jackpot that banks a jewel.
- Crystal Ball Modes (letters) — lit: The Crystal Ball is fed two ways: spelling B-A-L-L on its four standups lights the VUK for a Crystal Ball scoring mode, and spelling H-A-U-N-T-E-D on the left bumpers queues a Haunted Forest mode. · then: Shoot the VUK through the spinner for a two- or three-times scoring Crystal Ball mode, of which Flipper Frenzy with its reversed flippers is always the fifth and banks a jewel. For a Haunted mode, drop into the same hole from the bumper area, since a feed through the spinner lane does not count, and its fifth mode is a multiball that banks another jewel.
- Yellow Brick Road (ladder) — lit: Whichever of the ramp or the left orbit is flashing yellow is the shot advancing the Yellow Brick Road right now. · flashing: The flashing yellow shot is the live advance -- take it, and the light hops to the other shot. · then: Bank advances toward fixed milestones: an Extra Ball at the Throne Room at ten, a Special at thirty, and a jewel with a second Extra Ball at fifty. The road carries all game, so every advance is progress you keep.
- Horse of a Different Color (status) — lit: Six shots -- the Throne Room, the ramp, both orbits, the Crystal Ball spinner, and the Castle Entrance kicker -- each carry a randomly lit horse color, and hitting one banks that color or raises it if you already hold it. · then: Stack a set chasing all matching or all different colors, since a mixed bag halves the payout, then bank it at the hidden Collect Lane tucked behind that raised upper-right flipper, which never cashes on its own. An all-rainbow set multiplies by five, and an all-one-color set by three.
Lane change: the lit lane cannot be moved by the buttons. The flippers cannot steer which Oz lane is lit -- the ball scores whatever lane is flashing when it rolls through, so you complete O-Z pairs as they come rather than sliding a lit lane under the ball. Only plunge strength and timing decide the skill-shot lane.
Start scoring
- Ball one — Take the flashing Oz-lane skill shot, then keep completing O-Z pairs to climb the bonus multiplier that magnifies your whole end-of-ball total. Light the T-O-T-O and There's No Place Like Home outlane saves early so a drain becomes a second chance. — Oz Lanes Skill Shot, Build The Oz Multiplier, Toto Escape, There's No Place Like Home
- Building — Qualify Scarecrow, Lion, and Tin Man into Emerald City Multiball, capture Dorothy for Rescue Multiball, and spin the house on the Twister deck for the Munchkin ladder. Bank a jewel from each feature while chipping the Yellow Brick Road and the Witch hurry-ups toward Fireball Frenzy. — Emerald City Multiball, Capture And Rescue Dorothy, The Munchkin Modes, Yellow Brick Road
- The big one — Somewhere Over the Rainbow is the top wizard mode, reached only by gathering a jewel from every one of the eight major features, at which point the ramp lights for its three simultaneous rainbows of climbing value. Battle the Wicked Witch is the mini-wizard gate just below it, itself needing Rescue Multiball, a Munchkin Mode, Fireball Frenzy, and Emerald City first. — Somewhere Over The Rainbow, Battle The Wicked Witch
Does Wizard of Oz have an action button?
Jersey Jack's first machine keeps the cabinet plain — a normal manual plunger and the two flipper buttons run everything. There is one hidden trick worth knowing: squeeze both flippers to stop the pop bumpers firing, and a well-timed hold drops the ball straight into the Crystal Ball hole.
Goals in Wizard of Oz
Every goal below is tracked step-by-step, with shot paths drawn on the playfield map, inside the app.
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The default skill shot at the start of every ball. Plunge into the flashing lane at the very top and it pays 5,000 points, climbing 1,000 with every skill shot you collect afterward — and it lights an Oz multiplier besides.
Reward: 5,000 climbing by 1,000, plus an Oz multiplier
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The Oz Lanes are the default skill shot, but three harder options pay more and jump-start a feature — all three route the ball to the upper right flipper first.
Reward: 7,500-10,000 to start, plus a jump-started feature
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Every completed O-Z pair at the top lanes adds one full multiple to your end-of-ball bonus, up to the 10x cap.
Reward: +1x bonus multiplier per pair, up to 10x
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Rolling either inlane arms one of five hurry-up shots elsewhere on the table. The value counts down fast, but whatever you collect becomes the new starting floor next time that hurry-up comes around.
Reward: A fast-decaying hurry-up, with a climbing floor on repeat
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Hit the rubber between the spinner and the bumpers to relight Glinda, then hit her pink standup for whatever the game decides you need most right now.
Reward: Context-sensitive: add-a-ball, timer extension, hurry-up reset, or points
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Every hit on the Throne Room saucer adds a letter toward W-I-Z-A-R-D. Finish the word and the Wizard hands you a random prize from a short, all-useful list.
Reward: Extra ball, Emerald City lock, special, points, or a tilt warning
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Six shots around the table are randomly lit for a colored horse. Stack a full set and cash them in at the hidden Collect Lane behind the upper right flipper for a payout that rewards matching colors far more than a mixed bag.
Reward: Base value x horse count x up to a 5x color bonus
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Complete R-A-I-N-B-O-W on the seven colored standups and the ramp lights for the Twister mini-playfield — an Emerald City lock waiting there normally takes priority instead, except for a short grace window right after an early Twister exit, when the ramp itself stays lit.
Reward: Ramp lit for Twister
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Once the ramp diverts you onto the Twister mini-playfield, loop the mini-flipper orbit to spin the house. Ten loops sends the ball back out into a random Munchkin Mode on your first visit — every visit after needs five more.
Reward: A random Munchkin Mode, plus progress toward Battle the Wicked Witch
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Four modes come one at a time, each unlocked by a fresh Twister visit, and each scores differently — the fourth is always a multiball.
Reward: Escalating scoring modes, then Munchkin Multiball
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Qualify Scarecrow, Lion and Tin Man by pairing their rollover with an immediate ramp shot, and the third lock starts the multiball outright.
Reward: Multiball, plus progress toward Battle the Wicked Witch
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Once Emerald City Multiball is running, pair each character's rollover with a Throne Room shot to collect their gift. All three earns a jewel toward the final wizard mode and opens up rising victory laps.
Reward: A jewel toward the wizard mode, then escalating victory laps
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Three hits on the Witch target start a hurry-up; two more hits before it expires cashes it in. Do that three times in a game and the Fireball insert lights for good.
Reward: Hurry-up value, building toward Fireball Frenzy
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After three completed Witch hurry-ups, one more hit on the Witch target ignites Fireball Frenzy. Chase the blue arrow around the table and stay off the red ones.
Reward: Jackpots that build toward a jewel at 10, extra balls beyond that
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The mini-wizard mode. Run Emerald City Multiball, Fireball Frenzy, a Munchkin Mode, and Rescue Multiball each at least once, and it becomes available — a two-ball fight to liquidate the Witch for good.
Reward: A jewel, plus a multiball payout sized by how you played it
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Capture Dorothy at the Winged Monkey targets, then fight through the castle mini-playfield, spelling out R-E-S-C-U-E and breaking down the doors.
Reward: Rescue Multiball
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Six shots pay an escalating jackpot during Rescue Multiball — 1x, then 2x, then 3x — before dropping to half value. Getting any one shot to 3x lights its own R-E-S-C-U-E letter and arms a Super Jackpot at the castle doors; getting all six lit instead arms the bigger Mega Jackpot, collected with a search orbit into the castle door.
Reward: 200/400/600 per shot, then a Super and Mega Jackpot
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The ramp and the left orbit both carry a Yellow Brick Road light from time to time. Every advance counts toward a running total with rewards at fixed milestones.
Reward: Extra ball at 10, points at 20 and 40, special at 30, a jewel at 50
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Spell H-A-U-N-T-E-D on the left pop bumpers, then drop into the Crystal Ball from the bumper area to start whichever timed mode is queued up. Five modes deep, the last is always a multiball.
Reward: Bonus-multiplied scoring, then Haunted Forest Multiball
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Spell B-A-L-L to light the Crystal Ball VUK, then shoot it through the spinner for a two-ball scoring mode with a scoring curse attached. Five modes rotate through, and Flipper Frenzy always comes last.
Reward: 2x or 3x scoring for the mode's duration
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The main wizard mode. Collect all eight jewels — one from each major feature on the table — and the ramp lights to start it.
Reward: Three simultaneous rainbows of escalating shot value
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Light all four T-O-T-O rollovers in the right outlane and a drain there becomes a second chance instead of a loss — plunge again into a short timed rescue.
Reward: Ball saved, if you make the timed shots
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Light all five targets around the State Fair Balloon Bumper and a left outlane drain launches a four-stage timed run instead of ending your ball.
Reward: Ball saved across four timed stages
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