Jersey Jack Repair Guides
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For history of Jersey Jack Pinball see Jersey Jack Pinball.
1 Introduction
Jersey Jack Pinball was established by Jack Guarnieri in 2011, and was originally located in Lakewood, New Jersey. JJP's first game, Wizard of Oz, was released in 2013. This was the first modern game to feature a large color LCD display instead of a DMD, and the first widebody game since the late 1990's. JJP's first release was followed by several other editions of WOZ, as well as other licensed and unlicensed game titles. In 2015, JJP established an engineering team and satellite office in Bensenville, Illinois. In Feburary 2020, a press release was published that announced the relocation of the entire company to Elk Grove Village, Illinois.
2 Games
2.1 Wizard of Oz
The first production games of Wizard of Oz (or, WOZ) shipped in April 2013. It is a widebody pinball machine with a 26" HD LCD screen in place of a traditional backglass and DMD. The playfield is lit by RGB LEDs.
2.1.1 Standard Edition
2.1.2 Emerald City Limited Edition
2.1.3 75th Anniversary Limited Edition
This edition was also previously referred to as the "Red Ruby" Edition.
2.1.4 Green Edition
This edition was listed on the pinballs.com distributor website in Fall 2015, and was not directly assembled by JJP. Less than 100 machines were planned for production, according to the website. It differs from the original Emerald City LE machine in that the cabinet is not direct print and it does not have the wooden apron. The apron on this machine is metal and features the four characters on their way to Oz. These machines include a factory-installed shaker motor and Invisiglass. A custom topper was being designed for the Green Edition.
2.1.5 Yellow Brick Road Limited Edition
This edition was announced in March 2019 at the Texas Pinball Festival. It featured sparkle yellow trim and wire ramps, invisiglass, and a new topper design. While most other prior game editions were mainly limited to cosmetic differences, there was one functional difference in this edition: the flying monkey mechanism at the rear of the playfield was removed. It was later commented that it was removed for reliability reasons. The boardset and computer were moved from the lower cabinet into the backbox.
2.1.6 Other Unique/Special/Limited Editions
2.1.6.1 Rescue Edition
The Rescue Edition was a limited run of 22 machines that were donated by JJP, and the proceeds went to reimburse customers who pre-ordered from the Australian distributor, Bumper Amusements, which folded in mid-2014 before orders were fulfilled.
2.1.6.2 Riche Knucklez Arcade Games Limited Edition
This Emerald City Limited Edition game was prepared for Riche Knucklez Arcade Games
2.2 The Hobbit
2.2.1 Limited Edition
2.2.2 Smaug Gold Special Edition
2.2.3 Black Arrow Edition
2.3 Dialed In
2.3.1 Standard Edition
2.3.2 Limited Edition
2.3.3 Collector's Edition
2.4 Pirates of the Caribbean
2.4.1 Standard Edition
2.4.2 Limited Edition
2.4.3 Collector's Edition
2.5 Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
2.5.1 Standard Edition
2.5.2 Limited Edition
2.5.3 Collector's Edition
2.6 Guns n Roses
2.6.1 Standard Edition
2.6.2 Limited Edition
2.6.3 Collector's Edition
3 Pindemption
Pindemption is JJP’s trademarked name for their patented pinball redemption technology. As of October 2015, it was released and available for purchase.
These games have modified software and rules that can be enabled in the game menus, as well as a modified wiring harness to accommodate a ticket dispenser.
Pindemption Prototype
Pindemption Topper
Pindemption Ticket Dispenser
4 Technical Info
4.1 Boardset
4.2 MPU
4.3 Driver Board
4.4 Sound Board
4.5 Power Supply
4.6 Lamp Boards
4.7 Lamp Matrix
4.8 Switch Matrix
4.9 Diagnostics & Bookeeping
5 Problems & Solutions
5.1 Flippers
See Common Flipper Troubleshooting. JJP is using Williams-styled flipper mechanisms, which have great parts availability and are easily understood.
5.2 Lamp Boards
Early production WOZ machines had lamp boards that were plagued by failures. This led to the development of 5 significant versions of lamp boards.
- Original 5v lamp boards. The boards are daisy chained, so when one board fails, other boards down the chain either cease working, or receive corrupted data and don't light up normally.
- Updated 7.5v boards. Board failures were reduced, but like with the 5v boards, when one board fails, all subsequent boards downstream on the chain were affected until the failed board was either replaced or bypassed.
- Updated 7.5v buffer boards. Similar to the 7.5v, with some reliability improvements. Daughter boards included an additional circuit board attached to the female connectors that included a buffer chip. These buffer boards were reported to be incorporated into games as early as April 2014.
- Updated 5v buffer boards. Improvements on the 5v board system, similar to the daughter board improvements that appeared in the 7.5v buffer boards.
- Updated 2.0 or Generation 2 boards. The lamp boards were completely redesigned. One significant improvement was that they were no longer daisy chained, so if one lamp board failed, the failure didn't also prevent other lamp boards from operating. WOZ games built after 12/15/16 incorporated this lamp board system into the game.
JJP offers a 2.0 lighting upgrade kit for WOZ, which includes a Controller Board, LED Light Boards, Cables & Connectors, Power Supply, Hardware, and installation instructions. As of fall 2021, the kit was listed for $849.99. Currently out of stock.
The Hobbit, Dialed In, Pirates of the Caribbean, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and Guns n Roses were manufactured with the 2.0 lamp board system.