Twilight Zone (pinball)

Description

• A working gumball machine, which holds three balls and can dispense them or receive others during play.
• A working, 12-hour analog clock that can display the current time and function as a timer during certain rounds.
• The Powerball, a white ceramic ball which is lighter than the other steel balls in the machine and unaffected by magnets.
• The Powerfield, a triangular mini-playfield whose underside contains magnets that propel the ball.

Gameplay

• 10 Million – Awards 10 million points. Can also be collected if a player makes a yellow Skill Shot.
• Lite Gumball – Lights the Gumball Machine; a shot to the right orbit will load the current ball into it and dispense the next one in line.
• Town Square Madness – Starts a timed mode in which all targets on the playfield increase a point total by a set amount, while the pop bumpers in Town Square increase the value for each target and cause townspeople to panic.
• Fast Lock – An AM radio plays clips from Pat Lawlor's previous pinball games, counting down a jackpot value as its "frequency". Shooting the Lock awards the current jackpot value and starts a three-ball multiball mode, where shooting the Lock awards the jackpot again. The background music played during this multi ball is the main multi ball music from the game whose clip was most recently played in single-ball mode. The games referenced are, in order, The Addams Family, FunHouse, Whirlwind, Earthshaker!, and Banzai Run.
• Super Skill Shot – Lights the Super Skill Shot. A shot to the left ramp will return the ball to the plunger, allowing the player to attempt a skill shot for one of three special bonuses: Red lights "Battle the Power", Orange lights the outlanes, and yellow lights "Extra Ball". Attempting the shot awards 10 million points, whether the player earns an award or not.
• Super Slot – Timed mode. Each shot to the Slot Machine awards a random point value.
• Lite Extra Ball – Lights "Extra Ball," which must be collected by shooting the Lock. Under the default settings, receiving an extra ball by any means will automatically mark this panel as "collected". If a player has earned five extra balls during the game, a score award is given for each one earned thereafter.
• The Camera – Lights the Camera. Shooting the Camera yields one of eight awards: "20 Million Points", "Lite Outlanes", "Clock 10 Millions", "Collect Bonus", "3X Town Square", "Hold Town Square", "10 Hitchhikers", and "Greed Targets". In normal play, the offered award remains the same from player to player, and from game to game, until it is collected. The Camera must go through all eight awards before it can offer any of them again; when the last award of the eight is collected, the Camera will not immediately offer it again.
• The Spiral – Timed mode. Shooting the orbits causes the ball to stop on the Spiral magnets for the first three shots, then awards 15 million "Breakthrough" points for each subsequent shot as the ball goes through the loop.
• Clock Millions – Timed mode. Shooting the clock target awards 1 million points times the position of the hour hand on the clock.
• Battle the Power – Lights the "Battle the Power" shot on the right ramp. Shooting the right ramp when this is lit starts "Battle the Power" mode, if the player is not using the Powerball at the time.
• Greed – Timed mode. All of the 5-million-point targets are initially lit; hitting one adds its value to the mode total and unlights it. After the last target is hit, all seven of them light up again.
• Hitch-Hiker – Awards 2 million points for each hitchhiker the player has picked up thus far in the game. Each additional hitchhiker picked up during the player's current ball scores another 2 million points.
• Clock Chaos – Timed mode. The clock starts at 6:00 and begins running slowly backwards, playing "Pop Goes the Weasel" throughout. Hitting the clock target awards 1 million points times the position of the hour hand, and the clock reverses direction and speeds up. The mode ends when the clock reaches 12:00. If the target is hit enough times Rudy complains, "Quit playin' with the clock!"

Multi-ball

• Standard Multiball – Started when the player locks two balls in the Lock, then either shoots the Lock a third time or shoots the left ramp. Jackpots are awarded for shooting the Player Piano when lit, and are re-lit by shooting the Camera. The player can increase the jackpot value by hitting the flashing 5-Million targets. If the Powerball is shot into the Player Piano, a double jackpot is awarded. On normal settings, the player can start this multiball for the first time by shooting the left ramp after locking one ball, but the jackpot's starting value will be reduced.
• Powerball Mania – Started when the player successfully loads the Powerball into the Gumball Machine. The clock begins to run, starting at 12:00; until it reaches 12:00 again, all targets award a set point value. "Battle the Power" is lit on the right ramp, and can be played while simultaneously making other shots. Defeating the Power awards 50 million points and requires the player to shoot the left ramp before another battle can take place.
• Fast Lock Multiball – See the description in single-ball modes.
• Lost in the Zone – The game's wizard mode, awarded for successfully lighting all of the door panels. The doorknob becomes lit, and the mode can be started by shooting the Player Piano or Slot Machine when lit, or by defeating the Power in normal play. The player has approximately 45 seconds to make an unlimited number of shots to all targets. Clock Millions, Town Square Madness, Greed, Super Slot, Dead End, Battle the Power, and Odd Change are all active, and shots to the Hitchhiker and left ramp award bonus points. Balls are automatically returned to play after being lost. Once time runs out, all targets and flippers go dead and all balls are allowed to drain. The total score is tallied while the machine refills the Gumball Machine, cycling the balls so that the Powerball goes in last. Gameplay then returns to normal, with all door panels unlit.

Connections to the TV series

• The door from the opening credits takes up most of the center of the playfield, and its sections are labelled with each of the game's modes.
• The blonde-haired artist's mannequin from the opening credits appears on the left slingshot.
• The zodiac clock from the opening credits appears as an actual, functioning clock on the playfield, which can show the current time and also act as a timer for various modes.
• An image of Henry Bemis, from the episode "Time Enough at Last", appears next to the "slot machine" cellar hole.
• The hitch-hiker from the episode of the same name appears on the playfield and in DMD animations, and one of the Door Panel awards is named after him.
• A slot machine used in "The Fever" and "The Prime Mover" appears on the playfield, labelling a cellar hole that triggers a slot machine animation on the DMD and starts a random mode.
• The camera from "A Most Unusual Camera" appears in front of a cellar hole that can give various awards.
• The tiny spacemen from "The Invaders" appear in the DMD animation for Clock Chaos, the "shoot again" prompt for an extra ball, and the match sequence.
• The radio from "Static" is referenced in the sound effects and DMD animation for the "Fast Lock" hurry-up countdown.
• The player piano from "A Piano in the House" labels a cellar hole that can start modes.
• Talky Tina from the episode "Living Doll" appears in the Extra Ball DMD animations.
• Robby the Robot, who appeared in the episodes "Uncle Simon" and "The Brain Center at Whipple's" is featured on the playfield and in a DMD animation.
• Various sound effects are taken from the episodes listed above, and several quotes from Serling's voice-overs are featured, including "You unlock this door with the key of imagination" from one of the show's opening sequences, plus, "Date with devil, at your own risk, in the Twilight Zone" if the player tilts.

Digital versions