The Party Zone
Encyclopedia
The Party Zone is a pinball machine
Pinball
Pinball is a type of arcade game, usually coin-operated, where a player attempts to score points by manipulating one or more metal balls on a playfield inside a glass-covered case called a pinball machine. The primary objective of the game is to score as many points as possible...

 created by the Bally Company in 1991.

Back Glass

The back glass as well as the playfield contain characters from previous games (who all meet up on this game at the Cosmic Cottage):
  • The Party Animals from Bally Midway's
    Bally
    Bally Technologies, Inc. is a manufacturer of slot machines and other gaming technology based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is the descendant and continuation of the original Bally Manufacturing Corporation of Chicago....

     1987 'Party Animal' and
  • The Party Monsters from Midway's
    Midway
    Midway may refer to:*Midway , a place at a fair or circus where rides, entertainment, and booths are concentrated-Midway Atoll and the Battle of Midway:...

     1989 'Elvira and the Party Monsters'
  • The Party Dudes from Midway's
    Midway
    Midway may refer to:*Midway , a place at a fair or circus where rides, entertainment, and booths are concentrated-Midway Atoll and the Battle of Midway:...

     1990 'Dr. Dude'


The back glass also contains a message by Captain B. Zarr that writes as follows:
You are about to enter another dimension with your host, pilot and D.J. - Captain B. Zarr! Fasten your seatbelt and escape to a parallel universe that's way beyond Wisconsin! Meet & greet pinballs greatest partiers at the most electro-flying club..."The Cosmic Cottage", where they really pump it! During "Happy Hour", fill up with "Rock-It" fuel, blast off and "Rock-It" through the "O-Zone" for some major scoring! You may even experience the "Big Bang!" (it's not just a theory any more!) So become a frequent flyer on a fantasy excursion that will take you way, way, way out there to...The Party Zone.

Landmarks

  • Capt. B. Zarr - the head that 'watches' where the ball is
  • Dancing (Crash-test) Dummy - the plastic 'body' that 'dances' during Dance Contest
  • Supersonic Robotic Comic - the robot head on the far top right of the playfield
  • Rocket - perched on the ramp
  • Cosmic Cottage - purple hut situated top right of the playfield

Notable Features

  • Kick-out saucer
  • Multiball
  • Clear and curving ramps
  • Player uses flipper buttons to select a choice of music when prompted
  • Achieving the "Big Bang" feature causes the playfield illumination to pulse entirely in a red color, accompanied by a 'sonic boom' sound effect

Awards

Most awards are incremental and values of these awards may vary from machine to machine

End Zone Bonus

Incremented by 100K for each hit of a lit Advance End Zone Bonus Target. This target becomes lit when the ball passes through the Right inlane. The points are awarded when the ball goes down either outlane.

Request Time

Both 'Request' targets must be lit, and the ball in the CB saucer to get a 250K award, plus the chance to select the music being played from the following: Chicken Feet, Pinball Wizard, Defunkt, and Safe Sax.

Party Saver

After a long spell without a request being made Captain B. Zarr may start playing "one of his faves" e.g. Feelings, Come Fly with Me ..... Making a request at this time awards the Party Saver award of 5M. The Party Saver is incremental and goes up 5M each time.

Door Prize

Awarded for each new ball plunged through the door. (Skill plunge) Initial value 1M, increment 1M, maximum at least 10M.

Lighting B-O-P

When all three light are lit adds 2x to bonus multiplier (Maximum 8x) This also lights the Dance Contest.

Back-2-BOP

Starts Dance Contest if lit
or
awards Back-2-Bop award

Initial value 50K, increment 50K.

Dance Contest

Accumulative award lasts until the Boppers have not been hit for 10-seconds. During this time each Bopper hit adds to the Dance Total. The amount added is incremental.

Initial value 50K, increment 50K.

Eat Drink & Be Merry Targets

Hitting all these lights EAT which can be then collected by shooting the ramp. This awards 1M and lights DRINK for 10 seconds (or so).
Hitting the Comic Saucer via the comic entry within this time awards 2M and lights BE MERRY for 10 seconds (or so). Hitting the CB Saucer within this time awards 3M.

Way Out Of Control Targets

Hitting all these lights one of the following awards which can be collected by passing through the PayOff lane.

5 Million
Millions Per Bop
Every Bopper is worth 1M for the duration of the ball
10 x Playfield
Lasts for approximately 10 seconds and affects everything on the playfield except The Big Bang
Special (Extra Game)
Once one award is lit, hitting the Way Out Of Control Targets is a waste of effort, until the first award has been collected. The award stays lit until collected, although the special will be exchanged for one of the other three awards if you drain a ball before collecting.

PayOff Lane

If no awards have been lit by hitting the Way Out Of Control Targets, then this will award an incremental score of Initial value 1M, increment 1M, maximum 10.

Rocket Ramp

Awards Ozone Bonus.
Initial value 100K, increment 100K, maximum 2M (or 5M on some machines)
Awards 1M if EAT lit.
Awards EXTRA BALL if lit.
Lights Extra Ball after a sequence of ramp shots have been made
Extra Ball Ramps Needed
First 5 + 1 = 6
Second 7 + 1 = 8
Third 10 + 1 = 11
Fourth 13 + 1 = 14
Fifth 17 + 1 = 18

Ha-Ha-Ha Targets

If the Comic is not currently lit then hitting all three Ha targets re-lights the comic for about 10 seconds. You may also hear something like
"Now appearing the robotic comic"

Comic Saucer

The Comic is always lit at the start of each ball.

If DRINK is lit
  • Awards 2M if DRINK lit.
  • If the Comic is lit as well then you get the Comic Award worth between 100K and 900K.


If DRINK is not lit
  • An unlit Comic gives an award of Initial value 10K, increment 10K.
  • A lit comic awards one of the following:
    • Adds 2x to bonus multiplier
    • Starts 'Its a Laff attack'
    • Surprise - two ball multiball (see Happy Hour)

Cottage

If Party Passes are flashing then passing through the Cosmic Cottage and into the Comic Saucer awards

Party Animals - 250K
Party Monsters - 250K
Party Dudez - 250K + Happy Hour Two Ball Multiball
if no passes available then you get "da big bouncer" who advises you to "get a pass from the captain", do this by making a request.

Happy Hour

2 Ball Multiball.

Usually starts with 5M's worth of Rocket Fuel, unless you have already had a Big Bang in which case it gives you 1M's worth.

Multiball always starts with one ball in the comic saucer and one in the plunger lane. The Comic Saucer ball is released only when the other ball has scored some points or during a ball search ;)

Shooting the ramp awards whatever the current rocket fuel value 1-7 Million. Shooting the Comic Saucer or Back-2-Bop lane increases your rocket fuel, by 1M each shot.

When sufficient fuel has been collected, "Big Bang" is lit, and a subsequent ramp shot will award 10M and lock the 1st ball, while inviting you to send the 2nd ball up the ramp to collect the Big Bang.

If the Big Bang is not collected before draining a ball, the remaining rocket fuel score can be collected by shooting the ramp. This score counts down 1M at a time whilst the game screams "Head For The Rocket" at you.

After draining one of the balls 2x Playfield is lit for the duration of the remaining ball, unless you get another Happy Hour.

After the 1st multiball, Request Time is lit and you only have to shoot the CB Saucer to relight the Cosmic Cottage passes.

After the 2nd multiball, Request Time is NOT lit, and needs re-lighting.

The Big Bang

An award between 10M and 99,999,999 The amount depends on how long since the last Big Bang was awarded. On collecting the Big Bang award the game goes into a frenzy mode with all targets worth 250K. This lasts until a ball is drained.

Sound Package

The Party Zone gives the ability to the player to select tunes by "making a request" (hitting the pinball into Captain B.Zarre). The tunes contained in The Party Zone include:
  • Pinball Wizard
    Pinball Wizard
    "Pinball Wizard" is a song written by Pete Townshend and performed by the English rock band The Who, and featured on their 1969 rock opera album Tommy. The original recording was released as a single in 1969 and reached No. 4 in the UK charts and No. 19 on the U.S...

  • Chicken Feet
  • Safe sax
  • De-funkt

Also, Captain B. Zarre can occasionally play one of "his faves" which include:
  • Feelings
  • Come Fly with Me
    Come Fly with Me (song)
    "Come Fly with Me" is a 1957 popular song composed by Jimmy Van Heusen, with lyrics by Sammy Cahn."Come Fly with Me" was written for Frank Sinatra, and was the title track of his 1958 album of the same name...


The Party Zone is made notable by obtaining the licensing rights to The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...

s' Pinball Wizard
Pinball Wizard
"Pinball Wizard" is a song written by Pete Townshend and performed by the English rock band The Who, and featured on their 1969 rock opera album Tommy. The original recording was released as a single in 1969 and reached No. 4 in the UK charts and No. 19 on the U.S...

, Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...

s' Come Fly with Me
Come Fly with Me (song)
"Come Fly with Me" is a 1957 popular song composed by Jimmy Van Heusen, with lyrics by Sammy Cahn."Come Fly with Me" was written for Frank Sinatra, and was the title track of his 1958 album of the same name...

 as well as Defunkt
Defunkt
Defunkt is a musical group founded by trombonist/singer Joseph Bowie 1978 in New York, United States, and still active. Their music touches on elements of punk rock, funk and jazz....

s' De'funkt

Reception

The Party Zone has received a total user rating of 7.490 on a scale of 10 and currently ranks #97 in the "Pinside Ranking".
One reviewer noted:

The knowledgeable staff and moderators of pinside have provided a rating of 8.317 out of 10, somewhat varying from the opinions of the public reviewers.

The Internet Pinball Database reviews of The Party Zone are divided into the categories: art, audio, playfield and gameplay. The average user rating given is 7.8/10. Individual ratings for the characters are 8.0/10 for art; 7.7/10 for audio; 7.9/10 for playfield and 7.8/10 for gameplay. 47% of users who reviewed the game gave it a rating of 9/10". One user made this comment:
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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