Date: 6th March, 2012

The latest news from Jersey Jack Pinball brings us a look inside the new factory being set up in New Jersey, more pictures of the playfield, a first look at the anti-glare glass included with the Emerald City Limited Edition model, and another video animation from Jean-Paul de Win.

First of all, we go inside the factory to see how the production line is taking shape.

The playfield production line so far

Although there's still plenty still to be done, these pictures will re-assure anyone who had doubts the game would ever go into production.

Jack Guarnieri poses with one of the prototype playfields

The right-angled line shown above could be the point where the mini-playfields are added.  JJP have also released images of the underside of the mini-playfields and the mounts upon which they will sit on the production line.

The underside of the Witch's Castle mini-playfield

If we compare this to the picture of the top side we brought you earlier, you can see that the two doors each have individual motors to control them, while the entry door has a third motor.  Here are the two side by side with the bottom side flipped.

The Witch's Castle mini-playfield

What is inside the metal box in front of the large arrow insert we don't yet know, though it could be a proximity sensor to detect hits on the doors.

As the mini-playfield makes its way down the production line to have the various mechanism attached, it will sit on one of these beds.

The holder for the Witch's Castle mini-playfield

JJP also released a picture of a prototype playfield in one of their cabinets.

The playfield in the cabinet

There are two large playfield slide rails to help slide the playfield out of the cabinet, but this picture also gives us a new look at the bottom of the main playfield.

This is a prototype playfield, but it does show the game having four magnets.

The bottom of a prototype playfield

One magnet is at the very top for the Flying Monkey mechanism, two are positioned in front of the Wicked Witch, while there is a fourth next to the upper right flipper to possibly give a Rollergames-like effect of lining-up the ball for the flipper.

We can also see how the State Fair balloon bumper has caused the main left flipper mechanism to be moved to the centre of the playfield above the drain.

This playfield is missing any feature lamps or general illumination, so the amount of wiring will increase significantly.

The final image shows JJP's new Invisiglass anti-glare glass which will be included with all Emerald City Limited Edition models and available to purchase for the regular models or other makes of game.  They have compared a reflection of a fluorescent ceiling lamp unit to show how the level of reflection varies with different types of glass, from regular playfield glass, Invisiglass and the so-called PDI glass.

JJP's comparison of different glass types

These are not comprehensive tests, of course, and no details of Invisiglass pricing are available yet.

Finally, we get to see an example animation from J-P de Win showing how three of the movie characters have been extracted from their original backgrounds and turned into animating loops for use within the game.

That's all for this latest update, but there's much more news to come about The Wizard of Oz, and you can read all the very latest right here at Pinball News.

© Pinball News 2012