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Date: 13th May, 2013
The latest update from Jersey Jack Pinball has little more to reveal about The Wizard of Oz, but includes a new member of the JJP team and the first look at the playfield design of the company's next game - The Hobbit.
We'll start with that new team member and he's someone we've written about many times here at Pinball News, including this article to commemorate his 50,000th post to the reg.games.pinball newsgroup and the numerous pinball parties held at his SS Billiards arcade in Hopkins, Minnesota, USA.
Lloyd Olson
In their latest update e-mail, Jersey Jack Pinball says, "Lloyd Olson is known throughout the world of pinball as an expert in tech support. He has answered and posted thousands of service and support fixes for people and has gained a reputation at being the very best. That's what we want at JJP."
In reply, Lloyd said, "I want to thank Jack, and everyone at JJP for giving me the chance to be part of the team! I always hope great things for pinball. I never dreamed I'd get to be part of it. What a great day!"
Lloyd is not giving up his SS Billiards arcade, but will have a The Wizard of Oz machine there soon and provide service and support from his Hopkins location.
Meanwhile, the first glimpse of The Hobbit's playfield has been released. This CAD drawing shows the flipper area, the inlanes and outlanes, the playfield inserts and a kickback on the right outlane.
The bottom of The Hobbit's playfield
(click to enlarge)
The design by Joe Balcer features two inlanes on both sides, an outlane entrance on the left very much like The Wizard of Oz's but in place of the State Fair Balloon bumper, there is a more conventional kickback.
An axe is mounted on each slingshot kicker arm, with the activated position shown on the drawing in dotted outline. Anyone putting their hand onto a powered game's playfield had better beware.
Ramp returns feed both the inner inlanes, while the suggestion of a slight curve at the end of the ball shooter lane could mean a cross-playfield launch trajectory.
Thus far the design looks more conventional that The Wizard of Oz but we have only seen a small portion of the playfield, and Joe Balcer promises there is a lot still to reveal. He said, "This design is going together better than any layout I have ever done. It will include several different elements than my other games. It is a more expansive flowing game with fast shots and multiple ramps. The main mechanism is Smaug which will be very interactive. The game includes subways and a mountain-scape.. We are all having a lot of unexpected fun creating this game."
Here's the full update from Jersey Jack Pinball.
Greetings Pinball Fans,
Busy, busy at JJP! Every day we continue to build and ship games and here is a recent post in our Jersey Jack Pinball NewsGroup:
"I rolled mine out of the box tonight and it played perfectly. Had a few friends and family over - some pinheads, some not. We all had a really good time. Lots of oohs and ahhs. Lots of laughs. It played great right out of the box. However, given all the coil adjustment options, I won't be able to resist tinkering with the settings to see if my setup benefits from boosting or cutting power to various coils. Amazing to have this level of control.
The lighting is stellar. I especially love the color sweeps when hitting various switches. Its a brilliant effect that wasn't really coming across in some of the videos I saw. Great sound system. The LCD is an absolute game-changer. People had nearly as much fun watching the cool stuff on the display as they did playing the game. Best score put up tonight was just under 170K with Lights Out, Welcome to Munchkinland, Rescue, and Emerald City MB all played.
Its an absolutely gorgeous game seemingly built to the highest quality standards. I'm so thrilled to have it! Owner game #19"
 Tyler and Madison had a blast helping their Dad unbox their LE WOZ!
Hearing the reactions from WOZ Owners when they receive and set up their game will definitely NOT get old! When you receive your machine, if you'd like to email us a photo of you and your game we would love to put them up on our Jersey Jack Pinball Facebook Page.
Joe and the Team are going full out on The Hobbit Trilogy. Joe says "This design is going together better than any layout I have ever done. It will include several different elements than my other games. It is a more expansive flowing game with fast shots and multiple ramps. The main mechanism is Smaug which will be very interactive. The game includes subways and a mountain-scape. Aside from WOZ Joe has designed some of the best loved highest earning games including our own The Wizard of Oz, The Simpson's Pinball Party and South Park. Joe continued; "We are all having a lot of unexpected fun creating this game"
We are excited to reveal the lower portion of
The Hobbit Pinball Playfield - Click here to view the PDF
Lloyd Olsen is known throughout the world of Pinball as an expert in tech support. He has answered and posted thousands of service and support fixes for people and has gained a reputation at being the very best. That's what we want at JJP.
In the next couple of weeks Lloyd will be working with other JJP Technical staffers to get to know the WOZ game inside and out. Lloyd will also have a WOZ at his location and he can be reached after June 1, 2013 at [email protected] and at 888-730-5225. Much more on the support of JJP games will be announced within the next two weeks.
Lloyd - LTG said: "I want to thank Jack, and everyone at JJP for giving me the chance to be part of the team ! I always hope great things for pinball. I never dreamed I'd get to be part of it. What a great day!
Happy early Birthday to Keith Johnson whose birthday is on Wednesday! |
We'll be back with all the latest news from the Jersey Jack Pinball factory about The Wizard of Oz and The Hobbit right here at Pinball News.
© Pinball News 2013 |
