Help me convince myself I want a pinball machine.

[diskoboy]

I really, really, want to buy my first pinball machine (Bally's Twilight Zone).

But I know for a fact TZ pins can be quite troublesome. When our mall arcade had a TZ machine, it was usually out of order because one of the optics or magnets in the spiral would usually go out. Or sometimes, it would tell you the Powerball would be in play, when it wasn't.

Not to mention, Twilight Zone machines are still worth alot of money.

I really need a list of pro's and con's..

[Arcade Antics]

PROS: Pinball is cool

CONS: They're huge, difficult/expensive to maintain, pricey unless you luck out and/or go to an auction.

[DreamTR]

diskoboy: are there any other pins BESIDES TZ that you are looking to get? I have two of them, and they are only tough to maintain if they go through regular arcade use. I picked up Elvira and The Party Monsters and Black Knight 2000 for $1000 and $1500 apeice awhile back, and the other one I want (Demolition Man) is worth about the same.

[diskoboy]

diskoboy: are there any other pins BESIDES TZ that you are looking to get? I have two of them, and they are only tough to maintain if they go through regular arcade use. I picked up Elvira and The Party Monsters and Black Knight 2000 for $1000 and $1500 apeice awhile back, and the other one I want (Demolition Man) is worth about the same.

I'd consider a Williams Big Guns, depending on the price. But Twilight Zone is my all time fave.

I'd love a Hercules if they weren't so rare. And mammoth...


I did this when I bought my first video game, too... I just like to weigh everything out before I make a concrete decision. BTW - does anyone know the measurements on your run-of-the-mill, wide bodied pin?

[shawnbo42]

Don't have the measurements offhand, but I could get them for you. My TZ has been a ROYAL pain in the....you get the idea. Basically, the situation is this. TZ is one of those games, like Demo man, ST:TNG, etc that uses optical switches instead of regular leaf or mini-micro switches. This can make service more complicated off the bat, as everything uses common voltages on a switch matrix. However, I have found (sadly, through first-hand exp.) that Twilight Zone is VERY picky about what it gets for voltage.Case in point: Put mine on a variac, cranked the AC to like 135V, it runs great, go below 117, start a game, hit both flippers, it shuts down. At this point, anyone out there with Williams pin experience says to change the two bridge rectifiers that control the flippers. That was done, not once, but twice.(just in case) At that point, with the machine STILL not working, we changed out the entire power driver board. (Brand new). STILL not working. Now we've gone into checking the wiring, coils, etc. Maybe find a problem there? I have heard that both Twilight Zone and Dracula are the two pickiest pins out there for line voltage. So my suggestion to you would be to throw a meter on your wall line, and make sure your home will support a TZ before you are (Potentially) disappointed. I am not saying they are ALL like this, but my personal experience with this one has been a nightmare.

[boatofcar]

Don't have the measurements offhand, but I could get them for you. My TZ has been a ROYAL pain in the....you get the idea. Basically, the situation is this. TZ is one of those games, like Demo man, ST:TNG, etc that uses optical switches instead of regular leaf or mini-micro switches. This can make service more complicated off the bat, as everything uses common voltages on a switch matrix. However, I have found (sadly, through first-hand exp.) that Twilight Zone is VERY picky about what it gets for voltage.Case in point: Put mine on a variac, cranked the AC to like 135V, it runs great, go below 117, start a game, hit both flippers, it shuts down. At this point, anyone out there with Williams pin experience says to change the two bridge rectifiers that control the flippers. That was done, not once, but twice.(just in case) At that point, with the machine STILL not working, we changed out the entire power driver board. (Brand new). STILL not working. Now we've gone into checking the wiring, coils, etc. Maybe find a problem there? I have heard that both Twilight Zone and Dracula are the two pickiest pins out there for line voltage. So my suggestion to you would be to throw a meter on your wall line, and make sure your home will support a TZ before you are (Potentially) disappointed. I am not saying they are ALL like this, but my personal experience with this one has been a nightmare.

Well, that makes my choice between TZ and The Addams Family a lot easier...

[DogP]

Don't have the measurements offhand, but I could get them for you. My TZ has been a ROYAL pain in the....you get the idea. Basically, the situation is this. TZ is one of those games, like Demo man, ST:TNG, etc that uses optical switches instead of regular leaf or mini-micro switches. This can make service more complicated off the bat, as everything uses common voltages on a switch matrix. However, I have found (sadly, through first-hand exp.) that Twilight Zone is VERY picky about what it gets for voltage.Case in point: Put mine on a variac, cranked the AC to like 135V, it runs great, go below 117, start a game, hit both flippers, it shuts down. At this point, anyone out there with Williams pin experience says to change the two bridge rectifiers that control the flippers. That was done, not once, but twice.(just in case) At that point, with the machine STILL not working, we changed out the entire power driver board. (Brand new). STILL not working. Now we've gone into checking the wiring, coils, etc. Maybe find a problem there? I have heard that both Twilight Zone and Dracula are the two pickiest pins out there for line voltage. So my suggestion to you would be to throw a meter on your wall line, and make sure your home will support a TZ before you are (Potentially) disappointed. I am not saying they are ALL like this, but my personal experience with this one has been a nightmare.

Not to get off topic here, but if you haven't already, you may want to make sure your AC line is connected to the correct tap on the transformer. A lot of times you can set them for a higher or lower line voltage, and if someone connected it to the 125V tap when your wall is only outputting 115V, then you'll probably have problems. If it's already at 115V, you could probably get away with connecting it to the 105V tap to bump the voltage up a little (since you say bumping it up w/ the variac helps).

BTW, I don't usually hear of problems w/ getting TZ to play, the most common problem I hear about is the clock (I think the optos usually go bad).

DogP

[shawnbo42]

Well, it's worth a shot. Basically, this particular machine has been in for repaire several times by several people, and pretty much everyone has told me that TZ is a very, very picky machine as far as voltage goes. So, I don't think it's just my machine, but you gave me a new idea to try. Worst case scenario I end up with a machine that won't run (which is what I've got now, lol). Also, I had forgotten about the clock. Usually a common problem with those machines as well (like you said, bad optos). However, I have also had bad wires to the optos on other machines, possibly from movement of components? Just something else to check before you start replacing optos everywhere (if you ever run into a problem like that). Thanks for the idea, I'll give it a shot.

[nate1749]

Well this thread has talked me out of ever wanting TZ or dracula (which I was just looking at).

I guess your pro list will be limited it "lots of fun."

Nate