Bally Twilight Zone
Twilight Zone was the next pinball game designed by Pat Lawlor after his very successful The Addams Family pinball machine. And it was almost as big a success as Addams Family.
But the reason Twilight Zone was so successful is completely opposite as why Addams was successful. TAF is a fun game, every novice pinball player likes it. Twilight Zone however was aimed at the experienced pinball players. Its rules are very complicated and the first games you play you probably won't enjoy.
Twilight Zone was for about ten years considered as the game with the most 'deep' ruleset. If you were a serious player you just had to have a Twilight Zone in your collection. Only when Stern created The Simpsons Pinball Party and Lord of the Rings, both games with also very deep and complicated rules, Twilight Zone disappeared from the spotlights. But it still is a very popular game.
Gameplay
The goal of the game is to light all door panels (shown in the middle of the playfield). If you can reach this, you start 'Lost in the Zone'. LITZ is a 6-ball multiball.
My game
I have my game since 2001. Saw an ad on a website for a pinball machine for sale. Emailed for more information, the seller said it was a Twilight Zone. I had never played this game before but had read that it was supposed to be one of the best games ever made. So the next day after work my wife and I went to look at the game. It was gorgeous ! So we didn't hesitate and bought it..
Playing was something else.. Twilight Zone was not a game I fell in love with from the first time I played it. In fact, the first 2 weeks I didn't enjoy playing it at all. But wasn't an expert player yet and didn't know the games rules well. So because I knew so many people like Twilight Zone, I did not gave up and continued to play this game every evening. After about a month I finally knew all the rules and started to appreciate the game more and more.
Things to look for when buying
Twilight Zone is very complicated.. lots of custom things on the playfield that can go wrong.
Check the gumball machine and run its selftest. It has a motor and a 'geneva switch' that sometimes has a problem.
The game uses 5 metal pinballs and one (white) ceramic ball. There are 2 sensors for this ceramic ball, on is in the ball trough (switch number 35). This switch is known to have problems: the connector becomes loose or the small coil breaks off because it has very thin wires.
Check if the clock works and detects correct what time it is. Heat buildup will damage the boards and opto switches. Many people install leds in the Twilight Zone clock.
Tech tips
Trivia
Sountrack of this pinball game is Golden Earring's Twilight Zone song.
Even though Rod Sterling was already dead when the machine was made, it's his voice that's used for all the speech samples.