Wizard of Oz. 2013.

I prefer pre-1980 pinball machines. I'm a big fan of EM and early solid state games. I enjoy newer games enough, but they seem too busy. The playfields are too complicated. With my preference for older games, I wasn't too interested in playing Jersey Jack's Wizard of Oz machine. It seemed to take what I dislike about modern games and amp it up.
Just take a look at the playfield:

The multicolored lights covering every inch of the playfield look neat, but there is just so much going on, so much to do. The first year this machine was at Pinball at the Zoo you couldn't play it without waiting in line. This last year I was working at Pinball at the Zoo, so I was there almost all day everyday. I eventually found time to try this pinball out during a break. No one was in line, and curiosity was getting the better of me.
Well, I loved it! This is a really good pinball. I was surprised at how fun it was, despite being so busy. It is really easy to play, and a lot of fun. One of my favorite features was the scoring. Many pins, most pins, seem to make getting scores in the millions the norm, but all the really do is add a lot of zeroes to the end of your score. This game cuts all that out, making five digits a good score. A six digit score is a real achievement on this game.
The scoring system gives it a real old school feel, which helps draw you in. The game plays super smooth, too. It helps that the games are brand new, and don't have years of wear and tear on them. I would love to see one of these ten or twenty years in.
Aurcade.com currently lists fifteen of these spread across the country. This game is worth seeking out. Every serious pinball player should try this at least once. Even if you don't think you'll like it, you might be surprised.
This is the the first machine from Jersey Jack Pinball, and it marks the end of the recent dark period of pinballs. For quite a while Stern was the only company left making pinball machines. This is the first normal commercial pinball machine not made by Stern since 1999. Jersey Jack is now well on their way to release their second pinball, this time based on the Hobbit.