Lol, those caps are normal. The initial games had posts and a rubber there to prevent drains out the left side. My guess is that you have an early production game like June 93.

Those white caps are plugs that plug the holes for 2 optional posts that mount an add-on bubber ring that prevents LH drains from the pops

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Whoa. I own TZ but didn't know about this. My machine has no holes there. I would probably use the posts, too, because I consider the pop drain issue somewhat of a design flaw. Anyone know why they stopped putting the holes after the early production runs?

Jack

It's factory, but not necessarily sample game. What's your production date? Sticker on back of the game will have it if it's still there. Slows the game down and makes it easier, most people have it off.

My biggest complaint about TZ was the left drain. May have kept the machine if the posts were in and the left drain didn't seem so unfair.

Pretty sure you'd need t-nuts on bottom along with posts and rubbers for top..

I have them as well. May 93 production date.

Yes, early production game.

Yes, a few things, like green lock insert. Google TZ sample game and all will be revealed.

I don't have the posts and rubbers in place. I prefer the randomness of the pop area.

I have a playfield from a parted out early production game. It has the green lock and the holes in pop bumper area. I am pretty sure that one of my two regular production TZs has the holes in the pop bumper area (they both have orange lock inserts). I ll check it out later and post the pic.

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My pf has exactly the same "dots".... but.... didn't anyone notice the bigger pop bumper caps fail?

BTW.... I never had any problem with ball drains from the bumpers..... even if the ball falls through the left side....

It's just a change they made in production over the life of the game. For whatever reason when they restored it they chose to put plugs in there vs play it with the extra posts.

Nowhere, please! Never mind

My twilight zone is may 1993 and has the holes with caps. All my inserts are standard production...

Mine has the holes and subsequent plugs. I find the bumper area a challenge with the Outlane right there. I reduced the space in the out lane and with a nudge here and a slap there, I don't drain 60% of the time, probably closer to 30%.

For the record, the posts were removed because they were so aimed that balls would hit it, and end up going STDM between flippers at a rate worse than draining down left outlane.

Some games have the posts, some don't - there's a great story about some last minute issues they were having with the balls draining out of that area - and Pat L grabbed a drill and installed those posts on the test playfield. Some games have them, some worked without them for some reason.

TZs with the post holes that were plugged are not prototypes. They are not samples either. The post option was changed back during production around fourth months PAST the start (around July-August 93). The game could have made mid or late run. You need to look at your S/N and do a comparison because there was multiple playfield runs on this game, and this could have been a leftover as MANY playfields were predrilled, just the parts never installed as per design team directive and operator request.

Other threads can be researched to allow you to identify if your game is a prototype or sample.

Bullocks. I have a very early sample with the post holes in.

Posts (holes, no holes, plugs, or no plugs) are not the primary feature in regards to determining sample or prototype TZ games.
It is not even an indication.
I am not going through the entire list of features as their differences in both prototype and sample games, but posts or plugs are by no means "definitive".
There are at least a half dozen threads on PinSide and plenty of RGP background on how differences were defined.
Thousands of TZs went out with posts in the holes.
Other games simply had posts in the "goodie bags" for operator choice.

Protos and samples are not always one in the same.
In this case, they are most definitely not.
TZ was a convoluted production run based on the design history.
There were many changes during the testing of the game when it went out for player evaluations and even after production started by operator complaints.

People need to do their own game research and history, if they do not believe me.
There are actually people in the world that were around when the game was made at the factory, collecting pinball machines, and even buying them new.

Here is why I not going to argue with anyone on this point.

My game has POSTS IN (not plugs, and not in the "goodie bag") and it's not a sample or prototype, and it was bought NIB in 1994.
I cannot tell you why it happened, but maybe design team changed their minds again, maybe a tech $#@#ed up and put posts in and rings on the original schematic, maybe it was a request by a buyer and then I received the game by accident, or maybe it just occurred based on when it was "on the line" and nobody caught the change. It happens during production runs on something as mundane as this with PF blanks when assembled.

Why?
Because most playfields already had the holes from the multiple (meaning more than one) production playfield runs.
Rare prototype games did NOT have plugs, posts, or holes.

I have owned the game pictured below for over 22 years.
I certainly don't post ambiguous answers after 30 years collecting.

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Here is the story I read after buying my TZ..

http://gameroomblog.com/guides/twilight-zone-pinball-prototype-vs-production

Jet Bumper Posts – Some games have two posts with rubber rings installed in the jet bumpers. The history of these posts is a story of frustration for the design team. In designing Twilight Zone, Pat Lawlor wanted to try something a bit radical, and placed the jet bumpers very close to the bottom of the playfield. After experimenting with the jet bumper placement on the whitewoods, Pat decided that they weren’t too bad down there. Something changed (slight positioning differences of posts and jet bumpers, perhaps?) between the whitewoods and prototypes, however. The ball kept flying down the left drain any time it went into the bumpers. After a few weeks of listening to complaints, Pat came into work one morning, grabbed a drill, some T-nuts, posts, and rubbers, and installed the posts. The complaints died down until several thousand games into the production run. Now, people were complaining that the ball would fly out of the bumpers and straight between the flippers! Something else had changed (slight warp of the playfield, perhaps?). Pat decided to take out the posts, but leave the holes, and put the posts in the coin box for the operator to decide to use. Which setup should you use? Which ever makes your game play the best.

Same here, actually

Yeah, Blue. or Purple. whichever, it's not the correct color, whis is red, which is on the right pop, which should have orange/amber/grapefruit

DID I PASS THE TEST??!?

That was a tough one!

Dissapointing. Guy has a perfectly good Twilight Zone in the original factory box and then goes and ruins it by taking it out. What a shame.

*cool picture and story.