WOZ Underside Tour | Episode 3

Jersey Jack Pinball·video·6m 9s·analyzed·Jan 28, 2017

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.016

TL;DR

JJP's Butch Peel explains Wizard of Oz playfield underside: LEDs, coils, magnets, motors, and switch systems.

Summary

Butch Peel from Jersey Jack Pinball provides an educational underside tour of The Wizard of Oz playfield, explaining the key mechanical and electronic systems including RGB LED lighting controlled by circuit boards, solenoids/coils that power mechanical actions, magnets for ball control and holding, motors for animated features (witch movement, Munchkinland house rotation), and various switch types (microswitches, target switches, rollover switches, optos) that detect ball position and impacts. The video is the third in a series intended to build foundational knowledge before deeper technical dives into specific systems.

Key Claims

Every insert on The Wizard of Oz playfield has its own RGB LED behind it, allowing independent color control, blinking, and intensity adjustment during gameplay.
high confidence · Butch Peel, direct explanation of RGB LED system on WOZ playfield
Coils/solenoids create magnetic fields that pull plungers, converting motion from below the playfield to mechanical action above (flippers, bumpers, etc.).
high confidence · Butch Peel, mechanical explanation of coil function
Large magnets positioned below the playfield surface (near the witch) create ball movement through magnetic attraction.
high confidence · Butch Peel, describing magnet placement under Wizard feature
Magnets with screws through their centers protrude through the playfield to grab and hold the ball (Munchkinland magnet catch, top of playfield monkey magnet).
high confidence · Butch Peel, describing magnet placement and ball-hold mechanics
A motor drives the witch up and down on the playfield via a screw mechanism.
high confidence · Butch Peel, explaining animated witch mechanics
A motor spins the Munchkinland house playfield feature through a hole in the main playfield.
high confidence · Butch Peel, explaining Munchkinland house rotation mechanics
Microswitch loops protrude through the playfield; when the ball rolls over them, it closes the switch below the playfield.
high confidence · Butch Peel, demonstrating microswitch operation
Target switches are leaf switches with two metal contacts that close when the ball strikes the target, allowing the game to register hits.
high confidence · Butch Peel, explaining target switch mechanics
Rollover switches use horizontal metal contacts that close when the ball rolls over them (used for character rollovers: Scarecrow, Lion, Tin Man, Toto).

Notable Quotes

“Every one of those has its own RGB LED right behind it so that we can make that insert, that one right there, whatever color we want it to be during gameplay.”
Butch Peel@ 1:07 — Explains the core lighting technology enabling dynamic, colorful playfield effects on modern JJP machines
“Think coils, you think kick. So when the coil kicks under here, it creates a magnetic field. It pulls these plungers inside the coil.”
Butch Peel@ 1:42 — Educational explanation of fundamental pinball mechanics using accessible language
“And when something moves between those and breaks that beam, it knows that the ball just passed through there. And so that's another way, with no moving parts, to tell when a ball has moved over an area.”
Butch Peel@ 5:09 — Highlights the non-mechanical advantage of opto switches in modern pinball design
“We're gonna have special videos just for looking at coils, just for looking at switches. But at this point we just need to kind of get you used to that terminology.”
Butch Peel@ 5:47 — Signals planned future episodes in the series with deeper technical focus

Entities

Butch Peelperson Jersey Jack PinballcompanyThe Wizard of Ozgame

Signals

?
community_signal: Jersey Jack Pinball producing educational technical video series explaining machine systems (underside tour) to support operator and owner understanding and maintenance.
high · Full video episode with Butch Peel explaining playfield systems in detail; explicit statement of intent to produce deeper technical videos on specific systems (coils, switches)
?
technology_signal: JJP employs RGB LED systems for all playfield inserts with individual control boards, representing modernization of lighting technology compared to traditional lamp-based systems.
high · Butch Peel's explanation of RGB LED implementation: 'every single one of these green boards here, some of them very small, some of them very large, have RGB LEDs on them'

Topics

LED Lighting Systems (RGB)primarySolenoids and Coil MechanicsprimaryMagnet Systems and Ball ControlprimarySwitch Types and Ball DetectionprimaryMotors and Animated FeaturesprimaryTechnical Education and Operator Supportsecondary

Sentiment

positive(0.85)— Educational, informative tone with enthusiasm for technical systems. No criticism or negative sentiment; content is instructional and supportive of machine operators/owners understanding their equipment.

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.018

Hi, Butch Peel with Jersey Jack Pinball again. Today we're going to talk about the underside of the Wizard of Oz play field. So I've got a game here with the play field put up against the backbox so we can see all the inner workings. It's powered up, it's running, and I've also got a play field on the side over here set up on a rotisserie device, more of a players type perspective. Now keep in mind as we go back and forth between these two that this is messing up our perspective by putting this playfield up like this. This is the bottom of the playfield, this is the top of the playfield because it's from the players perspective while they're playing right. Same thing here bottom of the playfield top of the playfield so things are going to get a little bit twisted as we go back and forth but hang with me I think we can get through this. So first thing you notice is all the blinking lights and the flashing the beautiful lights that's RGB LEDs so So every single one of these green boards here, some of them very small, some of them very large, have RGB LEDs on them. And where they go on the playfield surface, they're behind every one of these clear inserts. So every one of those has its own RGB LED right behind it so that we can make that insert, that two right there, whatever color we want it to be during gameplay. And we can blink it on and off, and we can control its intensity, all those other things. So remember that all these boards now are RGB LED system. That's lighting. notice a bunch of metal pieces here holding a bunch of these big drum looking things these are solenoids coils we call them so these coils now you think they the power in the game They what going to smack that silver ball around the playfield So we need a lot of strength, they're going to kick like crazy. So think coils, you think kick. So when the coil kicks under here, it creates a magnetic field. It pulls these plungers inside the coil. And this motion here, under the playfield, turns into this motion over here above the playfield. Another example of that, if you look at the flippers, the flipper mechanisms, they're a great big coil because they've got to be strong to knock that ball around the play field. Now we're going to suck this plunger inside the coil like that. That motion under the play field relates to this above the play field. That's how the flippers are kicked. Next thing you notice, there's a bunch of big round things under here. These are magnets. The magnets here, these two are right in front of the witch, which they're completely covered here, but they create all that movement because they're right below the playfield surface and pull the ball around. You also notice a couple of big magnets here with giant screws through the center of them. These actually protrude through the playfield so they can grab the ball and hold it. If you look over here on the playfield, you see this is a magnet here that grabs the ball when it falls out of the the Munchkinland playfield, and there's also at the very top of the play field, the magnet that grabs the ball when you're going to bring the monkey down to pick it up. So that these magnets here these giant magnets with the big old screw and bolt in them Lastly you notice there are some other things that look kind of strange here These are motors So this is a 12 motor that moves the witch up and down She goes up out of the playfield she comes back down It just going to turn this motor turns and pulls that screw and brings her up and down. This motor here spins the house on the Munchkinland playfield. So this big hole here goes up to the Munchkinland playfield and spins this house around and around and around. So that's what this motor right here does under the playfield. Another really important component underneath the playfield is a switch. That tells us where the ball is. It tells us when we hit something that we're aiming at. So if you look underneath here, you'll see a bunch of different types of switches. One type here is a micro switch. These micro switches have a loop on them that goes up through the playfield, and then when the ball rolls over that loop, it makes a micro switch switch over here. Now I can show you on the main playfield, if you come over here, that switch is right here on the main playfield. So the ball comes down and goes in this in lane here that's what's happening underneath the play field is all the happening is this little micro switch is being closed so the next type of switches will be a target switch these target switches actually protrude through the play field they go up through the play field surface so what you see on the ball targets here that's what you're seeing over on this portion in under the play field so these switches close and they are a leaf switch they have two metal contacts. When the ball hits the target in front, it forces the contacts together, and that makes the switch. And so we know you hit a ball target Another really important kind of switch is the rollover switch So we use those extensively in the Jersey Jack pinball games One of them is the character rollovers in this game So you notice the metal contacts are there again very similar to the way the target switch works but horizontal instead of vertical. So when the ball rolls over it, it makes the contact. Back on the playfield surface, this is what these look like. The scarecrow, the lion, the tin man, and the toto switch is over here in the right out lane. Lastly on switches, we have optos. Opto is a very special kind of switch. It's an infrared optical switch. So it transmits infrared light in one side, it receives it on the other side. And when something moves between those and breaks that beam, it knows that the ball just passed through there. And so that's another way with no moving parts to tell when a ball has moved over an area. An excellent example of that comes on the exit from the Castle play field up here. On the wire ramp we have mounted an opto pair, transmitter, receiver. When the ball falls off of here and breaks that beam, that tells the game that the ball just left the castle play field. And that's the way he knows how to turn off all the music and that sort of stuff. And just keep in mind as I've gone through this now, I'm trying to keep it a very high level. Because we want to look at this stuff in a lot more detail later on in this video series. We're gonna have special videos just for looking at coils, just for looking at switches. But at this point we just need to kind of get you used to that terminology and then we're gonna teach you how to fix and find problems with these and get your game working like it should be.