I've asked this before but figure I might try and annoy a group of TZ owners. Does anyone have tips for getting the slot machine to shoot out more to the right? I get a lot of SDTM straight from the slot machine and it can kill the enjoyment of a great game.

Your slot scoop probably just needs to be turned a bit more counter clockwise. When you go to remove and remount the scoop, clean away the wood bits that have "extruded" themselves from the level of the playfield's underside. It's these bits that have worked themselves into the shape of the larger holes of the scoops mounts, hereby only allowing it to be mounted in one location. Remove that stuff, and the gap between the size of the screw and the size of the mounting holes becomes usable again.

The scoop's mounted direction may only change a fraction of a degree, but the trajectory's end point will shift dramatically. It did on mine. Mine usually hits the right flipper just left of center and depending on what shot I'm going for, bounces over to the other flipper with reliable repeatability.

Also, make sure all your metal is square and true and that the kicker solenoid is mounted straight as well.

Proud to be a card carrying member of this club -- TZ is my favorite game!

I love TZ!

Check out mine here

http://www.aaarpinball.com/TwilightZone/TwilightZone.htm

Glad to see this thread up and running. Here is the scoop on my new TZ which I have paid for but yet to have shipped:

Was a routed pin for the first 6-8 weeks of its life and has been home use since

No cab fade
Excellent playfield
New Rottendog clock board a year ago
LEDs throughout
Upgraded sound/speakers
Invisiglass
Cliffy
some sort of a round glass mod
leg protectors

I paid $6700 for it. I'm concerned I may have paid too much but it does look like it is in really nice shape and has some decent upgrades.

I'm looking forward to playing TZ. I've only put a handful of games on location and have played on the pinball arcade.

I would like to hear your opinions on my pin specifically (only some decent low res photos) and any pointers for a TZ newb. (Sorry for the low res somewhat overexposed photos...that is all I have currently)

Thanks,

Darin

TZ_(3).JPG TZ_(1).JPG TZ_(2).JPG TZ_(5).JPG

few more:

TZ_(7).JPG

TZ is my all-time favorite pin (well it swaps the #1 spot with STTNG from time to time). Love the theme, layout, loaded with features and things to do. You can mod it out endlessly to keep it fresh. It's just an all-around great game and not all games need to have lightning flow to be great. This one is a permanent member of my collection for sure, it’s been there for 2.5 years now at still is the most played.

The must have mods:
Mirrored blades
Robby
Diverter magnet
LEDs
German Clock board w/blue housing
Gumballs and gumball lights
Door flashers
Cliffy protectors
Upgraded Speakers
Piano Mod (forgot this one)

The rest are per taste but, those are musts IMO.

Robby a must?

To me the only musts are the piano, and powerfield switch kit.

Robby is a must IMO (yours may differ) but, yah I forgot about the piano. I will edit.

Really? The kit that makes the switches look nicer? I have no interest in that.

I'm not really a mod guy, but TZ has several tasteful mods. Example: Gumballs.

I have a Robby and need to wire up his LEDs.

Yeah looks 100X better. No big ugly gray switch covers dominating the Powerfield.

Love my TZ
TZ is in my collection since 2005.
Early production, green lock, white clock-face, cut out stars translite, Posts with rubbers in the Town Square.

Mods in mine are :
Gumballs
Piano
El wire on wire-ramps (very dim at 6.3V)
RGB-LED strip behind Rod Sterling and the door.
Flashing leds behind the plastics of powerfield, activated by REED-switches.

Great theme with nice modes refering to the shows. And the Twilight Zone song of Golden Earring .
Love the stop and go type of game when accompanied with fast flow pins.

MM-tilttopper02.JPG

Darin... I'm not going to comment on price. Only you can tell if a price is a good value for you.

To the best of my ability with the low res pics, it looks like a nice machine. (Unfortunately, most games look nice with low res pictures!)

I just noticed there is something funky with the GUMBALL sign. Is the bulb missing? It should have a rubber cover on it but I don't see it. Maybe a result of getting LEDs?

Thanks! Good to hear it's useful... I only occasionally get feedback.

Here's some of mine...still my favorite machine...

GLM mini switches and post GI (blue) and Flashers(White) on mini pf

Blue clock housing, led clock board

Rocket ship, t bird, slot machine and piano toys

Backboard is a lit PDI piece

Glowing blue and seizure RGB flashers under cabinet

Just got the topper after a long quest...love it...

image.jpg image.jpg image.jpg

What gumballs did everyone buy? I bought a set from Pinball Life and they look nice, but they are what appears to be almost ceramic. Having a difficult time getting them into the pinball machine and worried about cracking an irreplaceable part. The other ones seem to be plastic and maybe have a bit more give to them and wondering if I should look at picking up those to be safe.

Mod wise I really have none. I do want the glowing slot scoop and the mod that lights up the clock. Maybe even the light shade that says Twilight Zone on it. But not going to add many that add toys to the playfield, I'm more a light guy.

MK6PIN - Love the lighting on that. I need to work on mine.

Oh yea...cliffs, camera mod...and if you can't tell, I don't take great pics .....I'll post again tomorrow

sturner....thanks..I'm one of the few that is not thrilled about Robby....might be that it sort of clutters the middle too much for me.....

Oops pinball side mirrors " black wet" gives a nice reflection, not as bright as the chrome mirrors..

It seems like a fair price. There are the price police who will tell you how you could wait 3 years scouring Craigslist, Ebay, and other sources for one at a lower price. But if it's a machine you want now, and you value your time, I don't think it's bad.

It's technically $6450 if you factor the invisiglass is a $250 add-on that can be used in other machines. After that the if the cabinet doesn't have fade, that has value since so many of them do. New decals alone are close to $300 and you're looking at an additional $700 to have a pro put them on or a few weekends of your time.

When it comes to machines like this, it's tough to put a fair value on because there are only so many out there, only so many for sale, only so many in that condition. Not to mention how much work you want to put in on it. I think you did fine, you got a great game in great condition (which is rare).

Just curious, have you tried that LED OCD thing being sold? I'm putting one on my TZ before switching over to LED. Supposedly gets rid of the strobe effect in the inserts.

Powerball orbit shot the with the spiral mode going. Best shot in the game Imo!

Thanks for the input. It helps fight the buyer's remorse and second guessing. Now I just need to get this baby in my home. I'm sure that will help quite a bit.

Funny you should ask this: I've got my LED OCD board downstairs and ready to go into my TZ. I initially completely LED'd it, but the door panels blinking/strobing was waaayyyy too much, so I ended up taking most of them out. I'm really hopeful the board does the job, because TZ needs to get a little more lit up-especially with all the different shots and lit inserts.
Unfortunately, I'm swamped with my kids right now, so who the hell knows when I'm going to get a chance to put it in. I'll report back once I get it in to let everyone know how it works.

Will post some pics of mine tomorrow.

My card is laminated.

zero fade and from what anyone can tell, the playfield seems to be in awesome shape. throw out 250 for the glass and the price seems to be pretty good, imho. what a great game!

just finished shopping mine out. second pin I have taken down to the play field and I used your site for the entire process. it was really really helpful!

My TZ gets delivered tomorrow. I know there is a clock issue and its dirty, but I can't wait. Trying to get it playing and looking perfect is half the fun.

Seriously, love the theme and gameplay has grown on me via my iPad.

Tz is my first pin. Bought it earlier this year in spring. I always wanted my own pin since I was a child, and was looking to buy one as my last purchase as an unmarried man. Took my fiancé (now wife) to the Texas pinball festival last year so we could play lots of different machines in person and see was i could afford. There were so many! We really got a good sense of what we liked.

When the night was over, TZ was not only my favorite but hers as well. She liked it so much she recommended I just save up more money and go big with TZ rather than settle for something we would just trade later. The wedding and honeymoon were already paid for at that point, and I already had a house for her to move into. A few paychecks later and some fiercely frugal living and I got a wonderfully clean and non-faded TZ for what I felt was a fair price. All it needed was a few tweaks, but was 100% functional. We got married a month later, and my wife takes pride in the fact I keep the machine in beautiful shape and working order.

Currently I'm working on a mod that will turn the 545 bulb slots into self-blinking led slots. That way I can stick any 555 replacement led into the slot and it will blink with a fade-in/fade out like real 545 bulbs (there seems to be no 545 LEDs with a fading function. Not even noflix plus). I have the circuit done and breadboarded, so all I have to do now is start building the PCB.

Btw, so anyone with incandescent 545 bulbs tell me the ballpark period at which they blink? My circuit is currently designed to a period of 3 secs more or less.

These are the gumballs I bought:

http://www.tgftoys.com/Pressman-Toy-Chinese-Checkers-1902-06A.htm

I didn't buy it from this online store, mind you. I managed to find it for sale at a local teacher's supply store. Same price, though. Plastic, not 100% shiny, they look the part perfectly. I removed the black ones(since I've never seen a black gumball) and evenly distributed each color into the two sides. Four bucks and 5 minutes later, blam! Cheapest TZ mod ever!

I think I'll be picking up a TZ this Sunday - unearthing it from a basement where it has been sitting, unused and not maintained for quite some time. Pretty excited and will post pictures if the deal happens!

I have the ceramic ones. First one is indeed scary.... You have to use a little force, and just when you think, owww the plastic is going to break....they pop in.
(not for the faint of heart )

Can I join the club? Here are a few more recent pics of my TZ, and here is a link to my TZ shop /show n' tell thread.

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/tz-shop-job-finally-complete

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Yay, Colorado TZ owners!

My first, only, and all time favorite game.

Sturner....I'm full on LEDs...non ghosters in crucial spots...going to try the OCD thing, but the strobing isn't so bad on the inserts ( or my eyes don't see it)...seems pretty stable, but anxious to play w that thing....

The only thing that ghosts is my $&@!$ Camera....love the Camera, hoping the board makes it go away....

My coolest find though.... ( besides the topper)...found at the same time on eBay w set for my TAF...I don't sit down when I play, but way cool accessory....

image.jpg image.jpg

Holy shit on the ceiling...that's awesome!!!

Thanks....I dig the "glow"....I'll try to shoot some video on the mini pf post flashers w under cab strobing during " the power".....close to seizure light show ( might not be a good thing)...

You just need to change it to MEMBERS ONLY..

Mine

IMG_0069.jpg

I'm ashamed to show mine because it has too many mods and I don't like them anymore

Mods are fine. I have plenty on mine and I love it.