So Sorry Larry... my Bad! I've purchased many of your ramps before.

We are so happy You are in the hobby for us!

Kerry

G'day... something I was wondering about and thought maybe one of you fine folks would know what the deal is...

I have seen images of a few Party Zone's that have a different backbox top portion than mine does. Or most of them do I think. In between the speakers at the top, there is a screen that lights up to say "REPLAY". At least I think that is what it says. I don't get the feeling it is another DMD, but instead is just that single message and gets lit up of course when you earn a replay.

Anyone know what these were all about? Prototypes or something? I have seen a similar thing on a Bally The Game Show where that top banner light thing says "APPLAUSE" which is really cool in my opinion.

Would love to know more about these and whether they were or still are available somehow/somewhere. Thanks!!

Can someone please measure how far up and down the dummy moves. Ours was missing the mech, and I'm modifying another mech to function, but it's throw is way too much.

I'm guessing it should move only about 1/2 in.

Thank you!
-Paul

Maybe this might help ??

https://www.absolutepinball.com/?s=Dummy&x=0&y=0

I've owed many PZ's thru out the years. I currently have one. They all have had just the speakers & ~4" Bally logo, in/on the upper speaker panel. I've never seen any that have had what you are describing. Can you provide any picts?

I too have Game Show. Yes, it has an "Applause" red plastic light up in between the speakers there. That mimics the "Applause" signs you'd see in the audience of a live TV show. It's very cool when it comes on!

Thanks for that! I didn't know they made that stuff. What I'm looking for is the 'throw' of the coil.. How much the dummy moves vertically.

-Paul

Right on. Thanks for replying. I think that applause sign on the Game Show machine is a great idea and looks totally right for that theme. I don't have a Game Show, but have been considering one. There is one for sale here in Ontario, but it is up there in price at $5,000 so I'm not convinced I'm going to spend that much. Prices have gone absolutely berserk here in Ontario since covid, but that's even more than I would think is ok right now for this game. Who knows.

Anywho, yea, that PZ with the REPLAY sign was in a photo from the Pinball Compendium volume 3 book. It is an amazing book and I highly recommend getting a copy if you don't already. No copyright infringement intended as I took a photo of the page for PZ. I wonder if this might have been a prototype of some kind? It doesn't say that in the footnotes, but it might be. Any ideas?

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Thanks for sharing that "RePlay" pict from the book. I've never seen in the wild.

I actually own (2) Game Shows. I'd consider selling one. PM if you'd like more info.

Thanks
Kerry

Can someone confirm for me the correct positioning of the back ramp switch? This is identified as switch #31 on the switch location diagram in the manual (part # A-14860).

The reason I ask is that my game is not realizing the second ball has been sent into the Ozone ramp and so it won't give you the Big Bang Jackpot. I replaced my switch the other day as the old one had too much slop in the arm and was missing ramp shots intermittently. It still fired the ball back out because the switch (#41 on the switch diagram) under the VUK is working fine.

What I am wondering is if that ramp switch is supposed to be HELD closed by the second ball, and it is that extended signal that tells the game that indeed the second ball is back there and the Big Bang Jackpot has been won. I suspect when I go back there and look, it is going to be positioned just off enough that the ball goes past the switch and doesn't keep it engaged.

Is this how it is supposed to work? Thanks.

I just went through the same thing.
The trick is that the switch must be positioned such that when one ball is in the VUK the 2nd ball rests on it. (big bang set)
But you have to be carful that after the VUK kicks out the 1st ball that the switch is not holding the 2nd from only gravity rolling it into the VUK.
If the switch is down too far down the 2nd ball gets stuck at the switch and stays there. (not enough gravity to get past the switch arm)
I had to pull the PF out away so I could see behind the back panel. (I also replaced both switches while I was back there)
So, just enough switch clearance to trip the switch, but not so tight as to keep the 2nd ball from rolling into the VUK by gravity.

That's perfect, thanks. I followed everything you said there. When I was adjusting the switch before putting the new one in, I saw what you meant about it getting stuck and not rolling through with just gravity alone. Finicky. Pretty straight forward except the awkward place to work! I've tried that trick to pull the PF forward off the pivot points and then have it rest on a piece of foam. Works well enough to get in there and reach things at least. Looks like I have something to do today!

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Such an awkward place and a tricky adjustment to boot.
To me it was worth replacing the switches so I do not have to do that again anytime soon.
With the glass off practice the big bang to make sure everything is right before declaring victory.

Does anyone know what kind of screw driver or bit is needed for the screws that attach the bottom of the speaker panel at the top of the back box? They must be some kind of security heads because it seems like they’re a star pattern but with a little raised dimple in the middle and you need a bit with the star pattern on the outer edge but hollow in the middle.

I am getting the occasional rattle from my speakers and I thought I would make sure all the screws are snug but these ones I can’t do anything with without the right tool.

Yes they are star security.

https://www.amazon.com/HORUSDY-14-Piece-Tamper-Resistant-Steel/dp/B07Q21RPS2/ref=sr_1_2_sspa

Beauty. That's what I was looking for. Thanks.

Hi there! As a Party zone owner I feel myself as a member of the club I have one question for you, my captain head gets stuck on left position (position 6) right after going in the left lane. It doesn't get stuck if it goes to the bop section. Has anyone else experienced this and found a solution? thanks in advance!

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Take the glass off and go into switch test. Print out a copy of the switch matrix and mark it up as you go. Hit every switch one at a time and look at the results on the DMD. I bet some of your switches will show more than one switch being hit and some might not work. Look at those switches closely. You might have a short or a bad diode. Same thing happened to me.

Hi! I have checked that and seems like everything works fine. Here is a pic of the microswitch/diode of the ball popper, can you advise something?

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Is there a piece of masking tape on the end of the switch arm? What for?

yes, it's just for adding some thickness. Sometimes the ball is not "heavy enough" to activate the microswitch (don't know how to explain it correctly!). Easy hack but it works!

Hi together, I have just restored a party zone and did spent a lot of time in optimizing the pinball and I would like to share my findings.

1) Bouncing balls from the rocket ramp return line.
I have solved the problem by renewing the springs of the kick out assembly at the back of the playfield. Over the time the springs became weak, hence the power of the catapult is to high an the ball falls of the return ramp.

2) Bouncing balls out of the saucer.
I put a piece of plastic (about 1/10 inch tick (3mm) between the saucer and the lower side of the playfield. I did the same with the kick out assembly and the switch. As a result the hole of the saucer is about 1/10 inch deeper and the ball stays in the saucer when hit. Still a difficult shot, but a lot easier.

3) I like captain B Zarr, but I think he is to dark. I thought about illuminating his face. But how? The final solution was to create a headset microphone with an integrated LED and connect it to the GI
You can see it at the picture. Cost of material less than 1 Dollar. Time to build about 30 Minutes

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the headset microphone is cool! Could you go into a little more detail on how you made it and with what parts?

Hey Party Zone Club! I enjoy my Party Zone so much I took it upon myself to create Pin2DMD colour files for it. Check it out and if you have questions PM me. I spent a TON of hours on this project with a lot of testing as well. Both virtual and real pin files are tested and complete.

https://vpuniverse.com/forums/files/file/7583-party-zone/

Hope the club enjoys!
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Just wanted to give a shout out to Larry at Starship Fantasy to say thanks for a great new set of ramps for my Party Zone. Well made and really well packed for shipping. Installed now and looking good.

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Looks nice. I still have mine in the box for when I have some time to replace.

Hey pz club, should the right flipper coil be fl-11630 or fl-11629? Also, did anybody ever remake a cosmic cottage plastic sign and post, mine missing.

Both flipper coils are FL-11630 (red label). And I need that same cosmic cottage sign and post... been missing on mine since I got it too. Seems like unobtanium that thing!

Is the left sling supposed to fire when you hit the standup target on the upper left side of the playfield?

No. Need to check to see if either one of the two left slingshot swich contacts are touching. Quite possible that the switch is making conact below the surface of the playfield.

I had changed that target but I had it wired wrong, I just wired it like it was wired.

Are you saying the problem is fixed now?

Yes

The yellow capacitors were missing on my flippers so I ordered a couple. Can anybody tell me what wires gets soldered where? Thanks

Here are a few pics of mine. I actually replaced the entire assembly soon after I got my game with new ones from Pinball Wizards in Utah.

...Although looking at my pics, it seems I never took any photos afterwards when I had the rest of the wires soldered in place.

Let me know if these are good enough or whether you need better ones.

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Thanks, can I just solder each end of the capacitor to the 2 coil lugs and let it hang there?

I think the idea is you just zip tie them to the EOS switch bracket.

Ok, but to be clear, do the 2 leads go to the coil lugs and does it matter which lead of the capacitor go to the 2 lugs?

The capacitor is connected to the two EOS switch solder points.

OK, does anyone have any advice on how to get those tabs off to replace the dancing dummy legs? And are those little tabs reusable?

No they are 1 way push on clips. Cut off with side cutters and hopefully your local hardware store has the right size.

Missing some lights on the backboard. Anyone know which connector I should be looking at?

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What ever happened with this? I've got the same issue -- popped up outta nowhere tonight.

Thx

I carefully pulled them off with pliers, and yep I reused them. All is well.

What brand LEDS have people used in the backbox? I gave up on my Comet 2SMDs after 1 of like 10 sockets worked with them. These bulbs are finicky in general...not impressed so far. I put the 555s back in.

All 3 - J115, J120 and J121

It was J120. Got it sorted, it was cooked!

I like the Comet bulbs and I am currently running them in Party Zone. On the 555 led style bulbs you always have to widen the gap of the wires at the base of the bulb before inserting (on all LED brands really). After you do that you are golden.

I tried to purchase new ones and they didn’t fit so I wound up carefully removing them and reusing them after all.

You need to close out your repair thread on this.

Here's our new officially licensed Party Zone Topper.
Cfengravingservices.com

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