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.

Goals in Wizard of Oz

Every goal below is tracked step-by-step, with shot paths drawn on the playfield map, inside the app.

• Oz Lanes Skill Shot skillshot · Easy

  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

• Three More Ways To Start progression · Medium

  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

• Build The Oz Multiplier multiplier · Easy

  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

• Inlane Hurry-Ups progression · Medium

  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

• Glinda's Awards mode · Medium

  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

• Spell The Wizard mode · Medium

  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

• Horse Of A Different Color progression · Hard

  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

• Light The Ramp combo · Easy

  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

• Spin The House mode · Medium

  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

• The Munchkin Modes progression · Medium

  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

• Emerald City Multiball multiball · Medium

  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

• Collect All Three Gifts combo · Hard

  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

• Wicked Witch Hurry-Up mode · Medium

  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

• Fireball Frenzy mode · Hard

  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

• Battle The Wicked Witch wizard · Hard

  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

• Capture And Rescue Dorothy multiball · Hard

  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

• Rescue Multiball Jackpots combo · Hard

  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

• Yellow Brick Road progression · Medium

  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

• Haunted Forest Modes mode · Medium

  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

• Crystal Ball Modes mode · Medium

  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

• Somewhere Over The Rainbow wizard · Hard

  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

• Toto Escape strategy · Medium

  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

• There's No Place Like Home strategy · Medium

  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