Not everyday you get an unboxing thread for a game from '93, eh? I sent my Twilight Zone to TNT for restoration, modification, and superification. So, it's new to me, and here's my unboxing!
It started with a Twilight Zone I bought from one of my best friends, who's wife made him clean out his office of all giant expensive space-hoggers. I knew it had a few issues, although not many, and so had it sent directly to TNT, along with 13 of my favorite mods. There, the following things were done to it: converted to LED, gumball sparkler, gumballs, slot-machine kickout light, Cliffy protectors, Rocket mod, Camera mod, Robby the Robot mod, Invader mod, Town Square Lamp mod, Mini-gumball Machine mod, Ultimate Slot Machine mod, T.V. mod version 2, Door mod, Power Pyramid mod, Piano mod, Red Thunderbird mod, Glow-in-the-dark mannequin mod, and added a third spiral magnet. Actually, I didn't add the third spiral magnet. By the time I thought about it, TNT was already done with the machine, and had it in the pipe for shipping. Oh well. It would have made a cool conversation piece to have that third magnet. TNT also did a few other things, like spiffied up the solder on the boards, and some other enhancements.
Anywho, it finally arrived, and then had to sit in my garage (the pic of it in the garage reveals a Jersey Jack box, which is just a recycled box) for a few weeks while I rounded up enough muscular friends with a loose grip on their will to live to help me haul this refrigerator up a full flight of steps without any rest-landings.
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It cost me more than just a case of beer, for the record, to get it carried up those steps.
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Once in place, I got it all unwrapped and put the legs on, and then spent an exorbitant amount of time trying to get the play-field level and angled at the correct 6.5 degrees. Three combined factors made this take way way too long.
Why do we even have that lever extra set of leg-holes? Seriously? Is anyone setting their TZ up on the side of a mountain? Seeing the leveling bubble forever smashed to the front and not even close to reading the correct angle despite having front legs screwed all the way in, and back legs screwed all the way out, and using shimmy after shimmy until I was like, this just can't be right. A quick Google revealed Midway had a sense of humor and said, "Let's add extra holes for no conceivable purpose. Best part is, once the legs are on, the extra holes get covered so they won't even know those other holes could have been an option *snick*." Love it. You got me, Midway. You got me. Then, after changing the leg-holes, because my game room is NOT on the side of a mountain, it still wasn't leveling even close. Oh, Todd (at TNT). You got me too. You got me. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, and I get a sore back from lifting my pinball machine a-hundred times. The leveling bubble was installed backwards. Was it put on April 1st? I'm thinking yes.
After flipping the leveler around, I did finally come to the conclusion this part of my game-room is in fact on the side of a mountain after all, needing a 1/2 inch shimmy on the right-hand side to both get the back high enough, and the right side level with the left, before the game was both level side-to-side and with a 6.5 degree play-field angle!
Call the kids back, who all lost interest, and finally turned this bad boy on! WoOT! Damn, she is fun to play. Awesome addition to my game-room. Eventually I realized the kids were up way past their bedtime, and so the inaugural fun had to come to end, and I turned it off for the rest of the night. I'm living vicariously through posting this unboxing thread, until morning, when I can fire up Rod and his friends again.
Cool pic of the glowing mannequin mod, which will really have its day should the power ever go out, and we're all sitting around in the dark... when there, in the blackness, will be this mod... glowing like a beacon of hope fopr all to see. It only glows in the actual dark, being glow-in-the-DARK!
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Oh. One more edit. TNT made a video reviewing the machine and it's restoration whcih you can view here: