Quoted from Coyote:So, now that I have been able to light up the inserts, let me show off my new acquisition. Twilight Zone has always been 'my' game - I own the very same game that got me my first arcade job, and it has been in my personal care since 1996 when I secretly swapped another TZ out in its place. (Long, unrelated story.) When 9.4H was in betatest, check_switch_26 offered one of his Prototype TZ's up for sale. I really wanted it, but I was JUST out of college, and had too much debt, so my 'bid' was beat out by another tester. Recently, someone here on Pinside posted that they had an 'unsual' playfield that they wanted to restore and put into their game. I saw the pictures, and... couldn't let them do that.
Pictured below is - for lack of a better term - a
pre-prototype
Twilight Zone playfield. (maybe 'Marketing Sample' fits better?)
[quoted image]
As I understand it, in doing research over the last 25+ years, at the start of the design phase the team needed to get artwork done for the playfield so that the marketing images (flyers, PR releases, etc) could be taken and sent to the publisher. The team wasn't ready yet, so some things were thrown together and art was sent to the PF manufacturer. I believe 2 or 3 of these were made. One had prototype toys installed (clock, gumball, etc) and put into a cabinet for the flyer. That one had the 'Clock Millions' insert hand-drilled in. (You can see it in the flyer, it has NO artwork/text on it.) Either another, or the same, playfield was used for the PR photos.
This one had nothing installed on it, ever. So this was ordered and put into storage.
While it IS neat to look at, there is no point in looking at things (like the "Player Piano" award) and going, "I wonder what that did?", since at this stage, the game wasn't yet a game.
More pics and closeups can be found here: https://imgur.com/a/mZ2qmYB
Plan on getting the art touched up as best as possible, and getting the field clearcoated to save and protect this little piece of history.
Quakertown, PA
Paris
Barrie, ON
