Shipping games always makes people nervous, as it should. You're basically trusting the other person to describe the game accurately and honestly and to ship you what you've seen. At any rate, one thing I've seen other folks do is post where the game is and then ask if any collectors in the area would be willing to go look at the game and make sure nothing obvious is wrong with the game. While that's not a guarantee that the game will arrive in the same condition as it was when it was inspected, it may give you a bit of confidence that the game is worth shipping and isn't a total lemon.

This piano toy arrived in the mail today. I was able to do a quick hack job over my lunch break, but I'll eventually take a Dremel to to get it shaped a bit better. I might also try to paint it black. Generally not a fan of cheap toys, but I also don't really like the looks of visibly mounted bulb sockets.

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Get good bright photos of the play field. Make sure there is no planking and that all of the inserts are good. Just about everything else listed can be fixed. The play Field is a major PITA.

Wow thanks for all the great info here. This is an amazing community. There is so much involved in this game that I may see if I can find a collector near them to take a look for me.

Where is the game at? Or to approach it the opposite way, I’m in Louisville, KY and can help if by chance the game is near me.

Hi from Italy. I finally found a good TZ to be restored. Completely original, all matching serial numbers. Has been unplayed for 15 years. Glad to be now in this club. Will be completely restoring the best I can. Really happy. Now I need to check all 182 pages of this thread

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Congratulazioni

I just noticed that my TZ is missing the F103 fuse. I have downloaded the manual from ipdb and it says that F103 drives the mini playfield magnets and two coils. I tested them and they actually works. Manual also says that F101 and F102 are not used but mine have them. Are there different fuse layouts?

If any one is interested, I’ve listed my spare clock assembly on eBay:

ebay.com link: Nearly Complete Twilight Zone Clock Assembly

Yes the manual is wrong - F101 is used for 3 of the magnets (Mini-PF left and 2 main PF magnets) and believe F103 has the 4th magnet (Mini-PF right magnet) and left ramp diverter on it. So maybe double check that the right min-PF magnet is actually working?

Yes, i checked all 4 magnets with a ball in test mode and they all work. And all diverter works. Only thing that doesn't work are the flasher on the plastic ramp. But I still had not the chance of checking for burnt bulbs or bad connectors on the playfield.

I might have got it wrong, it might be F101 does the 3 magnets and F102 does the 4th one - try pulling out F102 and seeing if this stops the Mini-PF right magnet and left ramp diverter

Been having a problem with my trough proximity (s26) since I bought mine, normally just needed to readjust the metal sensor. Adjusted it again but was getting a powerball with virtually every ball coming out, seemed the red led would flash as a ball went into the trough so I soldered the wires direct on both boards. No problem with led flashing now from vibration and is operating correctly with metal and powerball but now the game wasn’t recognising the powerball even though the red led was sensing correctly, from what I have read it seems the optocoupler u2 must be blown as the led is operating correctly and everything on the switch matrix is ok.
WTF faults on this game never surprise me, ordered some optocoupler IC’s to see if that’s at fault but also ordered a new board set from Tangles in Australia. I live in hope as I’ve fixed all the other faults that it came with.

Not stock of course, but I’ve always wondered what the game shoots like with this thing.. well, today I found out. It’s AWESOME!!

I have the other wire form to swap out if I want to, and I had to temporarily relocate the slot machine(might remove it, still think I can find a spot)

Needed something to pick up the game a bit (it’s been playing a little sluggish).. this is much less expensive than a whole new game!

Thanks to Davi for the hook up!

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Wow, very cool! Any vids?

Let’s wrk on that!

Will try once I mount the boards back. For now I did some searching. In the WPC schematic I see that fuse F103 goes to connector J107-1. TZ manual says that J107-1 is not used. Checking the wires I see that J107-1 is indeed not used. Now it's clear that my TZ does not use F103. Will be putting a fuse just for aesthetics

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The loop is this something that can be purchased somewhere? Looks cool

It made it very quickly, yes. Thank you again sir! Have played a few games on it already.

Anyone know if a 4n35 would be ok for u2 in the trough proximity board?
Just seen that Tangles board verision of this has a 4n25 on u2.
Listed as opto 100% CTR 4N.
Thanks.

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Just checked the part no. on Marco’s website and it is the 4n35.
Doh!

My TZ came without a manual. I see that there is a white and a red one. Is there a difference?

The color?

Sorry...

White is a preliminary manual. Red is the production.

If you don't have EITHER< get the Red one, as the white one is missing a LOT of information, and has a lot incorrect. (Again, preliminary.)

Great news!

(Of course, I am referring to OEM manuals. Reprints are up in the air. Preliminary manuals - the OEM white ones - WILL say "Preliminary" in the top rigth under the Part number on the cover.)

Ok, I search for the red one then. Thank you

Buona fortuna e benvenuto, compagno di Twilight Zone
Good luck and welcome, italian Twilight Zone mate

Need some quick advice from you guys. There is a routed TZ for sale near me, anything big i should look out for initially or know the estimated price for a pin like this? Thanks again.

I have almost completed my cabinet restore and playfield swap. I am looking for a new or nos clear clock housing that is sold in the us or a pinsider has. I am also looking for twilight zone mini playfield switch covers that are factory pre cut for twilight zone. Also I want a few yellow bulb covers that are the right color and thickness the ones from Marco and pinball life are thin and I got ones at the expo that had a orange tint to them so any original used or nos ones I would buy. Also I swapped j901 and j502 connectors by accident and blew my cpu blanking circuit my d19 light is stuck on and my game does not boot any ideas on chips to replace so I don’t have to send my cpu out?
Thank you, parker

Check the gumball machine dispense balls properly, the magnets in mini playfield and the orbit, clock should move (use clock test mode), maybe check the ramp diverter at mini pf entrance too.

About price, here in Sweden a good to nice condition TZ is around 50-65k SEK, no idea about US prices but maybe comparable? If it is heavily routed and needs work then much less I would say.

You are entering another dimension... a dimension not of sight and sound, but of mind... and money. So much money.

There’s not much on a TZ you can’t replace so that’s good. It will almost certainly have a dead clock or not recognize the Power Ball at both Eddy sensors and that will generally be the source of credit dots. They don’t seem to wear badly that I’ve seen, but cab fade happens for sure if that kind of thing bothers you. It’s a four flipper game so be ready for a lot of flipper rebuilding, and the various diverters can take some fussing around with, but once it all works it’s generally pretty solid.

Price wise... If you can get into a mostly working un-shopped player condition game for $6k I think you’re doing pretty well. Obviously the nicer the game the higher the dollar.

I've started my restoration. My mini playfield sadly has a lot of cracks. I will be clear coating it but first I want to clean it well. Is there a way to clean the dirt inside the cracks and make them less visible on white?

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Classic Playfield Reproductions also sells clear coated remakes if you want to go that route.

https://classicplayfields.com/shop/pinball-miscellaneous/tz-powerfield/

Frickin love this game. Fully working it is so fun. And FRUSTRATING! just repinned the GI connector finally.

I bought a proto one ( first 200?) and decided it was too unique to do a restore on with all my custom stuff so bought a second one to do the restore on. This is my 4th TZ btw! One of those ones you regret ever selling...
Hoping to get 10k+ Aus (~7k usd) for it soon.It is in very nice overall nick.

Want to add this forum topic has been great for checking back on info etc.

Cleaning will be difficult. I'd buy a remake if possible.

Clock question for you all....

Clock starts up perfectly every time but during game play will often stop working. Shut down and startup - clock works again but will stop again.

Is this a sign I need a new clock board?

I know Igo is the guy/ board to go with. Just wanted to ask if there was something to check on my existing clock before jumping to new board.

Thanks!

Could be a number of things - including a loose minute hand that occasionally missed interrupting the 12:00 opto, which will cause the game to do this. (If this IS the case - you do not need to reset the game. At the next game, hitting start, the game will try to reset the clock and use it again.)

Good point Coyote ... I feel like sometimes in a new game it will start working again, need to pay closer attention. All I know is that I'll start a mode, clock working and rarely do I finish a mode before the clock resets itself back to 12:00 and stops moving. I have seen during a multi game session a credit dot, with clock not working at all until game reset, so that suggests maybe its not the minute hand issue.

I've not broken into the clock... can I tighten up the minute hand?

Okay - you didn't mention this before.
No, this means it is an hour opto issue. When it 'hard faults' like this, starting a new game won't reset it. Only a power cycle (or entering and exiting test mode) will reset the clock in this case.

Does this mean new clock board? Or is there another fix?

Technically, ANYTHING can still be fixed. But, no - it's entirely possible that you have a failing IDC connector for the plugs, or, the pins between the minute & hour boards is dirty/corroded. I would take the boards out of the clock, clean the connecting pins, clean the optos. Then re-pin (re-crimp) the IDC connectors, and give that a shot.

Thought I would share that I am doing a full restoration on a TZ machine for a friend that he decided to have me install a set of RAD decals on it. Not sure if anyone has done this yet, but the decals were mostly easy to install and looks great! I have finished the cabinet and am going to start on the playfield restoration soon.

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Was TZ shipped with chrome legs? Mine has black legs and the manual says black legs but in the flyers picture I see chrome legs. ‍♂️

I’ve always seen TZ with chrome.

Chrome legs, yes. Lots of us have done powder coating to make them black

That looks outstanding! Hopefully I can get time to do another cabinet restore one day. It will be TZ for sure!