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Average Fun Rating: | 8.4/10 (765 ratings/507 comments) [ Add Your Rating! ] | |||||
Manufacturer: | Midway Manufacturing Company, a subsidiary of WMS Industries, Incorporated, of Chicago, Illinois, USA (1988-1999) [Trade Name: Bally] | |||||
Date Of Manufacture: | April 05, 1993 | |||||
Model Number: | 50020 | |||||
Common Abbreviations: | TZ | |||||
MPU: | Williams WPC (Fliptronics 2) | |||||
Type: | Solid State Electronic (SS) | |||||
Production: | 15,235 units (confirmed) | |||||
Serial Number Database: | View at The Internet Pinball Serial Number Database (IPSND.net) (External site) | |||||
Theme: | Adventure - Supernatural - Licensed Theme | |||||
Specialty: | Widebody | |||||
Notable Features: | Flippers (4), Pop bumpers (3), Ramps (2), Dual left inlanes, "Rocket" kicker. Dual autoplunger/manual plunger arrangement. Maximum 1 buy-in ball per player (operator option). Magnets on the main playfield are situated on the looping lane and catch the ball to aid in hitting shots into the camera and piano. They are not under player control. Magnets on the mini-playfield 'flip' the ball during "Battle the Power" mode when the player presses the flipper buttons. The "Powerball" is a ceramic pinball about 20% lighter than a steel pinball, much faster, and not affected by the game's magnets. Five possible multiball modes: "Powerball Mania", 3-ball; "Fast Lock", 3-ball; "Lost in the Zone", 6-ball wizard mode; "Regular Multiball", 3-ball sequential release, without 3rd magnet installed; "Regular Multiball", 3-ball simultaneous release, with 3rd magnet installed. | |||||
Toys: | Mini playfield that uses magnets for flipper-like action; Real working gumball machine on playfield that dispenses pinballs; Working analog clock; tells time in attract mode, times most modes during game play. | |||||
Concept by: | Pat Lawlor | |||||
Design by: | Pat Lawlor, Larry DeMar, Ted Estes | |||||
Art by: | John Youssi | |||||
Dots/Animation by: | Scott Slomiany, Eugene Geer | |||||
Mechanics by: | John Krutsch | |||||
Music by: | Chris Granner | |||||
Sound by: | Chris Granner, Rich Karstens | |||||
Software by: | Larry DeMar, Ted Estes | |||||
Notes: | This game was part of Williams/Midway's "SuperPin" line of widebody games. Voice-over artist Tim Kitzrow provided the voice of Rod Serling. Rod Serling's likeness had to be licensed separately from the "Twilight Zone" name. Retrofit instructions for third playfield magnet (removed in production games) available here. An article by Ted Estes about designing Twilight Zone is available at GameRoom Magazine. Another article shows differences between prototype and production games. Here is an Italian language translation. Twilight Zone was originally to be the first game to use Williams' then-new DCS Sound System (which would actually be introduced for Williams' 1993 'Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure'), but due to time constraints concerning the production of the DCS board, the music was recomposed for the Yamaha YM2151/Harris CVSD audio board. It is also therefore the last game to use that audio board. We asked Chris Granner to tell us about the music for this game. He replies: The main play tune for TZ is a WPC (synthesized) version of the loooonnnng guitar solo section from Golden Earring's "Twilight Zone". The Jackpot tune is a WPC version of the CHORUS of that song, where you hear the main melody of the song. There are snippets and takeoffs from dozens of TV show moments, way too many to list. The actual AUDIO from either of these sources is NOT reproduced in TZ pinball. In this listing is an image of a playfield under blacklighting, revealing a serial number. We asked Pat Lawlor why the manufacturer did this. He replies: The reason for the serial numbers seems strange by today's standards. In 1992, Williams' agreement with its distributors gave them exclusive sales right to a territory. They did not have the right to sell outside of their territory. But some were doing just that. In order to track the game's origin from a distributor into the wild, the blacklight number was added. Williams knew where the game was originally shipped. If the game turned up outside of that territory, it was assumed that the distributor had "Bootlegged" the game outside of his territory. Then it was up to management to decide what penalty to incur on the offender. Remember, this was during a time when it was PROFITABLE to sell and operate pinball machines. This practice would be laughable today because ANY sale of a pinball machine is a good sale. | |||||
Marketing Slogans: |
"Twilight Zone includes more features with patents pending than any other game in history!" "Enter Into a New Age of Pinball" "The Profit Zone. (with PlayMeter and Replay ratings)" "You have just crossed over... into the Twilight Zone" | |||||
Photos in: |
Arcade Treasures, page 132 The Complete Pinball Book, pages 238-239 The Pinball Compendium 1982 to Present, page 171 Mike Pacak's Pinball Flyer Reference Book S-Z | |||||
Rule Sheets: |
Twilight Zone Rulesheet, by Bowen Kerins Twilight Zone Episode Tie-Ins, by Brian A. Rudolph Twilight Zone Guide (Apr/18/94), by Sigma | |||||
Owners List URL: | http://www.pinballowners.com/owners/2684 (External site) | |||||
Easter Eggs: | Available at Cows and Easter Eggs (External site) | |||||
Additional Media: | Promotional Video (at YouTube) (External site) | |||||
ROMs: | 301 KB | ZIP | Revision 9.0 Game ROM (PAPA Tournament Version) | [Williams Electronic Games, Inc.] | ||
365 KB | ZIP | Revision 9.2 Game ROM | [Williams Electronic Games, Inc.] | |||
372 KB | ZIP | Revision 9.4H Game ROM (home version) | [Williams Electronic Games, Inc.] | |||
347 KB | ZIP | Revision H-8 Game ROM | [Williams Electronic Games, Inc.] | |||
163 KB | ZIP | Revision L-1 Sound ROM U14 | [Williams Electronic Games, Inc.] | |||
497 KB | ZIP | Revision L-1 Sound ROM U15 | [Williams Electronic Games, Inc.] | |||
493 KB | ZIP | Revision L-1 Sound ROM U18 | [Williams Electronic Games, Inc.] | |||
341 KB | ZIP | Revision L-2 Game ROM | [Williams Electronic Games, Inc.] | |||
1 MB | ZIP | Revision L-2 Sound ROMs | [Williams Electronic Games, Inc.] | |||
343 KB | ZIP | Revision L-3 Game ROM | [Williams Electronic Games, Inc.] | |||
343 KB | ZIP | Revision L-4 Game ROM | [Williams Electronic Games, Inc.] | |||
291 KB | ZIP | Revision L-5 Game ROM | [Williams Electronic Games, Inc.] | |||
330 KB | ZIP | Revision P-3 Game ROM (Prototype) | [Williams Electronic Games, Inc.] | |||
163 KB | ZIP | Revision P-3 Sound ROM U14 | [Williams Electronic Games, Inc.] | |||
497 KB | ZIP | Revision P-3 Sound ROM U15 | [Williams Electronic Games, Inc.] | |||
494 KB | ZIP | Revision P-3 Sound ROM U18 | [Williams Electronic Games, Inc.] | |||
340 KB | ZIP | Revision P-4 Game ROM (Prototype) | [Williams Electronic Games, Inc.] | |||
Documentation: | 2 MB | Einstell- und Bedienungs-Anleitung (German Manual, OCR durchsuchbar) | [NOVA Apparate GMBH & Co.] | |||
64 KB | Instruction and Pricing Cards | |||||
303 KB | Manual Amendment (16-50020-AMD-1) | [Midway Mfg. Co.] | ||||
52 KB | Manual Amendment (software revision 9.4H) | [Unofficial user contribution] | ||||
6 MB | Operations Manual (OCR searchable) | [Midway Mfg. Co.] | ||||
563 KB | Operator Handbook | [Midway Mfg. Co.] | ||||
949 KB | Spanish Manual (translated by Sente) | [Midway Mfg. Co.] | ||||
203 KB | TXT | TZ_parts.txt | [www.pinlist.org/parts] | |||
2 MB | WPC Schematic Manual (Revised May 17, 1993) | [Williams Electronic Games Inc.] | ||||
Multimedia Files: | 3 MB | MPG | Bang-Back video | |||
2 MB | MP3 | Main Play Tune | [Chris Granner] | |||
408 KB | MP3 | Pat Lawlor discussing Twilight Zone (Audio) | ||||
322 KB | MP3 | Shooter Tune | [Chris Granner] | |||
Files: | 2 MB | Anleitung fur den Ausnau von wichtigen Teilen zu Reparaturzwecken (German Addend | ||||
212 KB | AVI | Another BangBack video. | [Damien D.] | |||
59 KB | Bumper Caps Order | [Enver Haase] | ||||
412 KB | ZIP | Various Card Scans | ||||
Images: (click to zoom) |
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