Notes and Disclaimers

This rule compilation and tips sheet is, to the extent possible (in light of the subject matter being the property of Bally/Williams), freeware. It can be modified, updated, or revised, provided only that credit to the original author(s) remains intact. It can be published or otherwise distributed, provided only that such distribution is effectively free. Another Rules Sheet for Twilight Zone has been written by Bowen Kerins, who can be reached as bowen@cardinal.stanford.edu.

This sheet is written and maintained by Kevin Martin, sigma@mcs.com. If you have any questions or comments or additions or corrections, send 'em along to me.

Twilight Zone the pinball machine is the property of Williams/Bally, and a trademark of the licensor. The author(s) disclaim all interest in any trademarks or other intellectual property referenced herein.

I use the abbreviations "K" for a thousand points, "M" for a million points, "B" for a billion points, and "LITZ" for Lost In The Zone.

This version of the Guide should be considered final.

Important Things

This is a glossary of the shots and features that will be referred to during the discussion of the game. Because Twilight Zone is a rather cluttered widebody design, this section is quite lengthy. The features are, in general, described starting from the lower right and proceeding counter-clockwise.

Flippers

There are four flippers - the usual two lower ones (full-length), a second full-length right flipper less than halfway up the playfield, and a much shorter flipper high on the left side of the playfield. Two-stage action is provided for both sets of flippers. The computer has control of the flippers, but this is only used for ball searches.

Manual Plunger

This is a normal plunger. Its lane is fairly short and leads to a gate, beyond which there are three rollover switches for the Skill Shot.

Automatic Plunger

This kicker is beneath the ball trough eject and has its own plunger lane to the left of the normal plunger lane. A small rotating diverter guides balls ejected from the trough into either the manual plunger lane or the automatic plunger. The automatic plunger lane fires the ball through a gate and onto the playfield such that it should complete the Right Orbit.

Skill Shot Rollovers

These are three rollover switches at the end of the manual plunger lane, between the gate and a scoop that feeds the ball to the Slot Machine kickout. The lowest switch is the Red Zone, the middle is the Orange Zone, and the highest is the Yellow Zone.

Right Orbit

This lane leads past the upper right flipper around the back of the playfield to the upper left flipper, exiting down the Left Orbit. The automatic plunger fires the ball around the Right Orbit (hopefully). When Gumball is lit, the Right Orbit is used to load the Gumball Machine. When the Right Spiral is lit, shooting the Right Orbit collects it. There is a Spiral Helper magnet on the Right Orbit, near the back of the playfield. There is a red light on a sign above the upper right flipper, indicating when Gumball is lit. The Orbit itself has a large white triangle indicating when Powerball Loop is lit, and beyond that there is a smaller orange triangle indicating when the Right Spiral is lit.

Slot Machine

This scoop is just above the upper right flipper and just to the left of the Right Orbit. It is protected on the right by a rubber post, and on the left by a narrow Greed Target. This is the most frequently used kickout in Twilight Zone, and ejected balls should come directly to the middle of the lower right flipper, if properly adjusted. A yellow light above and to the right of the scoop indicates when the Slot Machine is available.

Hidden Lane

This is a narrow passageway behind the Slot Machine. Balls which pass through here should feed neatly to the upper right flipper.

Power Payoff

These are two red round standup targets above the Hidden Lane and at the bottom of the Player Piano entrance. No distinction is made between the two targets. A lightning bolt light in front of these targets indicates when they are lit.

Player Piano

This is a sinkhole that faces left directly towards the upper left flipper. There is a round Greed Target above it and a rubber post below it, just above the Power Payoff targets. There is a yellow light above the sinkhole, indicating when the Player Piano is available. There is also a red light which indicates that a Jackpot is lit at the Player Piano.

Clock

This cube-shaped plastic Clock is mounted above the Player Piano. In Attract Mode, it can indicate the current time. During gameplay, it counts down timers for various rounds and modes, and is used in special ways in some rounds. On older machines, the Clock is rather plain and white; newer machines have a much more colorful Clock.

Lock Lane

This Lane is above the Player Piano and has a narrow line of sight to the lower left flipper. The Lane turns tightly to feed to a stack of locked balls, and unfortunately this causes balls to sometimes mysteriously bounce out of the Lock and directly towards the center drain. There is a amber light here to indicate when an Extra Ball is lit, and a orange light to indicate when a Lock is lit (older machines have a green Lock light). Balls are kicked out of the Lock at the Right Spiral Helper, such that they come down the Right Orbit to the upper right flipper.

Right Ramp

This is a short metal ramp to the left of the Lock Lane. It leads steeply to a tight turn behind the Clock, where it feeds a habitrail that leads to the Bridge Diverter above the upper left flipper. Beyond the Bridge Diverter, the habitrail feeds into the left side of the Powerfield. The Right Ramp uses an opto switch behind the Clock; there is no sensor in the Bridge Diverter itself. There is an orange light at the entrance to the Right Ramp, indicating when Battle The Power is lit or the Powerfield is available for any other reason.

Clock Target

This is a small green standup target between the Left and Right Ramps. There is a round white light in front of it, indicating when the Clock Target is lit for any reason. There are several modes which make special use of the Clock Target.

Left Ramp

This is a shallow plastic ramp to the left of the Clock Target and to the right of the Left Orbit. It has a swinging gate and sensor at its entrance, and uses a roll-under switch in the back right corner of the machine to register a completed Ramp shot. There is a diverter further along the Ramp which is normally in an extended position. Normally, balls feed to a habitrail which crosses the entire playfield and deposits them in the innermost Left Inlane. When the diverter is retracted, balls are fed into the automatic plunger lane, where they may fall into the automatic plunger or to the manual plunger, depending on the situation. There are three lamps in front of the Left Ramp. The lowest lamp is orange and indicates that the Super Skill Shot is available. The middle lamp is white and indicates that the Left Ramp will start Multiball. The highest lamp is white and indicates that the Left Ramp will award Bonus X and two Robots rather than one.

Left Orbit

This is a narrow and short lane above the upper left flipper, leading around the back of the playfield and down the Right Orbit to the upper right flipper. When the Left Spiral is lit, shooting the Left Orbit collects it. There is a Spiral Helper magnet on the Left Orbit, just above the Bridge Diverter. There is a yellow light on the corner of the Powerfield next to the Bridge Diverter, indicating when the Left Spiral is lit. The Orbit itself has a large white triangle indicating when Powerball Loop is lit.

Bridge Diverter

This is a metal cage on the habitrail that is fed by the Right Ramp. When the Powerfield is not available, balls are caught by the Bridge Diverter and dropped onto the playfield above the upper left flipper.

Gumball Machine

The Gumball Machine is in the far upper left corner of the playfield. It should normally hold three of the six balls installed in the machine. Balls are loaded into the Gumball Machine by a vertical kicker (known as the Gumball Popper) that is fed by the Right Orbit when the Gumball Diverter is active. Balls are fed out of the Gumball Machine one at a time, where they roll over a switch and fall into the Camera sinkhole.

Camera

This is a large sinkhole behind the upper left flipper. It is almost impossible to reach without holding that flipper up. The Camera feeds into the Slot Machine kickout.

Hitchhiker Lane

This lane is beneath the Camera shot and just above the Jet Bumpers. When completed, it feeds the ball into the Jet Bumpers.

Powerfield

This is a raised mini-playfield to the left of the upper left flipper. When the Powerfield is available, shoot the Right Ramp to reach it. Balls enter the Powerfield from the upper left corner. There are four scoring switches on the lower walls of the Powerfield, and an opto near the upper exit. In the lower corners are player-controlled magnets, called Magna-Flip(TM). When a ball is on the active Powerfield, use the flipper buttons to control Magna-Flip(TM). The upper exit feeds into the Camera sinkhole, and the lower exit drops the ball into the Jet Bumpers.

Dead End

This is a small sinkhole above and to the left of the Jet Bumpers, underneath the Powerfield. It awards the Town Square or Dead End value, and feeds to the Slot Machine kickout.

Jet Bumpers

These three Jet Bumpers are also known as Town Square. They are arranged in the usual triangular fashion, but dangerously close to the Left Outlane. On early machines, there is a rubber bar preventing balls from going towards the Left Outlane directly from the Jet Bumpers, while encouraging balls towards the center drain. This bar is not present on newer machines.

Left Outlane

The Left Outlane can be lit for Extra Ball. There is an adjustable post above the left side of this Outlane. The rubber post on the right side is considerably lower than the Inlane posts.

Far Left Inlane

This Inlane lights the Right Spiral during normal play.

Near Left Inlane

This Inlane temporarily lights the Slot Machine if it is unlit. The Left Ramp deposits the ball in this Inlane, on the switch.

Slingshots

Normal configuration.

Right Inlane

This Inlane lights Dead End, the Left Spiral (during normal play), and the Left Ramp. The right side of the Inlane is a low metal rail with no rubber.

Right Outlane

The Right Outlane can be lit for Special. There is an adjustable rubber post above the right side of this Outlane.

Rocket

This is a catch area beneath the upper right flipper. A successful Skill Shot deposits the ball here. Whenever a ball lands in the Rocket, it is fired at high speed across the playfield, where it should go through the Hitchhiker and into the Jet Bumpers.

Greed Targets

There are seven of these yellow standup targets scattered across the playfield. A narrow one stands to the left of the Slot Machine. Two stand along the left side of the Slot Machine, facing the upper left flipper. One stands above the Player Piano, facing the upper left flipper. One stands at the bottom edge of the Hitchhiker, facing the upper right flipper. Another stands just below this, facing the center drain. The last stands above the Near Left Inlane, facing along the left Slingshot towards the lower left flipper.

Balls

Six balls should be installed in Twilight Zone, with one of them being a white ceramic Powerball. Early machines had seven balls installed, and newer machines may still have seven indicated in their manuals. If the Powerball is missing, a menu adjustment provides full compensation.

Skill Shot

The normal Skill Shot from the manual plunger lane is to plunge gently, such that the ball trips one or more of the rollover switches, without landing in the scoop at the end of the plunger lane. Hitting the scoop feeds the ball to the Slot Machine kickout and scores 1M (plus 100K for the Slot Machine kickout itself). Hitting the lowest rollover switch (Red) scores 2M and advances one Jet Bumper (see "Town Square"). Hitting the middle rollover switch (Orange) scores 5M and advances two Jet Bumpers. Hitting the highest rollover switch (Yellow) scores 10M and advances three Jet Bumpers. It is possible to hit the lowest rollover switch and have the ball fall back to the manual plunger lane, in which case it is best to plunge the ball into the scoop. Normal Skill Shots feed the ball to the Rocket, which should fire it through the Hitchhiker lane and into the Jet Bumpers.

The ball easily gets stuck under or in front of the gate at the bottom of the rollover switches. A light tap on the side of the cabinet is the easiest way to handle this.

Greed Targets

The seven Greed Targets in Twilight Zone are unlit at the beginning of each ball. During normal play, hitting the unlit Clock Target will light one of the Greed Targets (starting from the lower left and working upwards). These can also be lit by a Camera Award or the Extra Ball Buy-In. Hitting a lit Greed Target awards 5M and unlights that Target. However, due to a bug in the software, 10M is actually awarded whenever you see this "5 Million" animation! This is true through at least L-4 revisions, and applies regardless of how the target was lit.

Once per ball and only during normal play, hitting the unlit Clock Target when all seven Greed Targets are already lit will award a Clock Bonus of 10M, with an excellent sound effect and animation.

During Multiball modes, or when the 10M Clock Bonus has already been collected and all seven Greed Targets are lit, hitting the unlit Clock Target will generate a cuckoo noise. This can be helpful by letting you know there is a ball in that area of the playfield during Multiball modes.

The Greed Targets can all be lit automatically by the Camera: Lite Greed Targets award, and are also used during the Door Panel Greed Round, during Multiball, and when the Gumball Machine is lit for Powerball Mania (see "Powerball"). When the Extra Ball Buy-In is used, all seven Greed Targets are automatically lit and the 10M Clock Bonus is immediately available.

These Targets are also referred to as the 5 Million Targets.

Clock

The Clock, if working properly, is used to count down various rounds and modes (this is handled by software if the Clock is believed to be malfunctioning). In general, the most recently started round has control of the Clock. The most common use of the Clock is to count forward from noon to midnight at a moderate pace; the amount of time this requires represents the duration of a typical round or mode. A distinctive sound is made at the end of any such round or mode; there is a grace period during and briefly after this sound for almost every such round or mode.

Note that the Clock can only move forward or backwards in a normal fashion; its arms cannot be moved in any fashion other than the normal progression of time in either direction.

Town Square

The three Jet Bumpers form Town Square. Town Square has a current value, which is normally reset to 7.5M at the beginning of each ball. Unlit Jet Bumpers advance the Town Square value by 100K. Lit Jet Bumpers advance the value by 200K. Flashing Jet Bumpers advance the value by 300K. The normal Skill Shot awards advance one, two, or all three Jet Bumpers by one step, from unlit to lit to flashing. Shooting the unlit Camera at any time will advance one Jet Bumper. When all three Jet Bumpers are flashing, the next unlit Camera shot will display "Jets At Max" and no further message will be displayed for the rest of the current ball. At the beginning of each ball, all three Jet Bumpers are unlit.

To collect the current Town Square value, shoot the unlit Dead End sinkhole. Doing this when Dead End is lit collects double the Town Square value (see "Dead End"). The Camera: 3X Town Square award is worth three times the current Town Square value.

The maximum Town Square value is 25M. The Town Square value can only be held over to the next ball by the Camera: Hold Town Square award; otherwise it is always reset to the starting value of 7.5M.

Every Jet Bumper hit rotates the currently flashing Door Panel clockwise. This of course skips any Panels that are already lit.

See also "Town Square Madness".

Dead End

The Right Inlane (at any time) lights the Dead End sinkhole until it is collected or the current ball ends. The lit Dead End is worth double the current Town Square value. Lit Dead End shots are counted over the course of the game. On normal settings, an Extra Ball is lit when you collect the third Dead End; this value is operator adjustable between two to seven.

The Dead End Extra Ball is normally temporary. If you already have the maximum number of Extra Balls stacked when you collect your third Dead End, no Extra Ball is lit from Dead End, then or in the future. For details, see "Extra Balls".

See also "Easter Eggs".

Robots

The number of Robots you collect is counted over the course of the game. You begin the game with one Robot. The Left Ramp normally awards one Robot at any time. The Lock Lane also always awards one Robot. While the Left Ramp is temporarily lit by the Right Inlane, it will award two Robots.

On normal settings, a certain number of Robots will light an Extra Ball. This value reflexes and is typically between 6 and 14 Robots. A second Extra Ball is normally lit at 45 Robots, and this value does not reflex. See "Extra Balls".

After you collect the 98th Robot, Robots are no longer counted, and every Robot is worth a Super Robot bonus of 5M. The Right Inlane has no effect on this award.

At every multiple of 10 Robots (8 on Easy settings), the Camera is lit. Lit Cameras are stacked. See "Camera".

See also "Easter Eggs"

Camera

The Camera is lit at every multiple of 10 Robots (8 on Easy settings), or by the Camera Door Panel, which actually lights the Camera twice. There are eight possible Camera awards. The next Camera award is determined randomly, except that the entire set of eight must be completed before any of the awards can be repeated. Also, the same award will never appear twice in a row. The next award is randomly pre-determined and preserved between balls, players, games, and power cycles. The next Camera award is part of the status report. Also, whenever you collect a Camera award, the next Camera award is displayed.

The eight Camera awards are described in the following sections.

See also "Tournament Mode"

Camera: 20,000,000
This is the simplest Camera award - just 20M, no questions asked.

Camera: Hold Town Square
This award prevents the Town Square value from being reset at the beginning of the next ball. This is the only way to do so. It does not, technically speaking, hold the Town Square value to its current value.

Camera: 3X Town Square
This awards three times the current Town Square value, from a minimum of 22.5M to a maximum of 75M.

Camera: Lite Greed Targets
This award lights all of the Greed Targets for 5M each, as if the unlit Clock Target had been hit the appropriate number of times. If you have not collected the 10M Clock Bonus on the current ball, this effectively lights the Clock Target for that Bonus.

See also "Greed Targets"

Camera: Clock 10 Millions
This award starts a timed round of normal length, using the Clock as the timer if possible. During this time, the Clock Target adds 10M to the Clock Millions Total, regardless of other modes or rounds. Starting Clock 10 Millions credits a base value of 10M to the Clock Millions Total.

Scoring at least six hits on the Clock Target during this round will award a special 20M Clock Damage Bonus (and animation) when the round ends, unless the sixth hit was scored during the ending grace period.

See also "Door Panel: Clock Millions".

Camera: 10 Hitchhikers
This award awards 10 Hitchhikers as if they had been collected normally, unless you already have 100 Hitchhikers. Because Battle The Power is lit at every multiple of 10 Hitchhikers, this will normally light Battle The Power as well. If you have between 90 and 100 Hitchhikers, this award will set your total to 100 Hitchhikers, never any higher.

If the Hitchhiker Door Panel has been awarded on the current ball, this award is worth an immediate 20M.

See also "Hitchhikers" and "Door Panel: Hitchhiker".

Camera: Lite Outlanes
This award lights the Outlanes (see "Lit Outlanes"). If the Outlanes are already lit, this award has no effect. If they are partially lit, this award will reset them to normally lit.

Camera: Collect Bonus
This award awards your current End-of-Ball Bonus exactly as if you had just drained, except that there is no quote for a Bonus of 100M or more. It does not change or reset any part of your Bonus, however. This is obviously the most valuable award, if used properly.

See also "End-of-Ball Bonus".

Hitchhikers

The number of Hitchhikers you collect is counted over the course of the game. You begin the game with one Hitchhiker. At all times except during Lost In The Zone, the Hitchhiker Lane will award at least one Hitchhiker (Hitchhikers awarded during Lost In The Zone do not count towards your normal total, although Robots do). During normal play, hitting the Hitchhiker Lane switch twice in very quick succession will only award one Hitchhiker, on the correct assumption that the ball has tripped the switch once in each direction and not fallen into the Jet Bumpers as it should. During Multiball modes, every trip of the switch awards a Hitchhiker. Shooting the Left Orbit and then the Hitchhiker Lane within the next second or two will award a Triple Pickup, which is three Hitchhikers. This is true during all modes, including Lost In The Zone.

At the award of the third Hitchhiker and at every multiple of 10 Hitchhikers, Battle The Power is lit on the Right Ramp. Lit Battle The Power's are stacked. See "Battle The Power"

After the Hitchhiker Door Panel has been awarded, every Hitchhiker for the rest of the current ball is worth 2M. The Triple Pickup is then worth 6M. The Camera 10 Hitchhikers award is then worth 20M.

During Lost In The Zone, Hitchhikers are worth 2M towards the Lost In The Zone Total.

See also "Easter Eggs"

Battle The Power

There are many ways to light Battle The Power on the Right Ramp. Battle The Power is lit at the third and every multiple of 10 Hitchhikers. It is also lit by a Door Panel. It is also lit by every other Spiral award. It is also lit by the Red award of the Super Skill Shot. It can also be automatically lit at the beginning of the game if this option has been set in the menus.

When Battle The Power is lit, the Bridge Diverter will move aside to let the ball onto the Powerfield. The Magna-Flip&tm; flippers are then active. You have at least 10 seconds in which to attempt to defeat the Power, which is done by magnetically propelling the ball through the upper exit from the Powerfield. The Powerfield value starts at 5M, and is increased by all four scoring switches and the opto at the top of the Powerfield. The value of these switches starts at 500K. After you first defeat the Power, the switch value is 750K for the rest of the game. After the second defeat, the switch value is 1M. The switch value goes no higher. The opto at the upper exit of the Powerfield counts as two switch closures for this purpose.

Defeating the Power doubles the Powerfield value and awards the currently flashing Door Panel (and advances the flashing light as if you had hit the Player Piano), leaving the Player Piano in its current lit or unlit state (the Slot Machine will always be lit, because you just hit the Right Ramp).

Defeating the Power also lights the Power Payoff targets for 10M. This is not stacked.

The cumulative Powerfield values are part of your Bonus, to no known maximum.

Defeating the Power is detected by the combination of tripping the upper playfield opto followed by the Camera sensor in the next few seconds. During Powerball Mania and Lost In The Zone, this provides a way to "cheat" Mania Jackpots by shooting the Camera while a ball is on the Powerfield.

Note that there is a grace period during which you can get a few more shots at defeating the Power before Magna-Flip&tm; is truly disabled. However, it is possible to defeat the Power so late that you will only be given credit for shooting the Camera.

After any use of the Powerfield, a special ball search takes place to try to make sure that all balls have exited the Powerfield. This special ball search pulses Magna-Flip&tm; twice, and is of course only noticeable when a metal ball has actually become stuck on the Powerfield.

If the Powerfield is not properly leveled, the ball will frequently become stuck in either corner. The special ball search will then take effect. Regardless of what dislodges the ball, you cannot defeat the Power at this point - a lucky shot through the upper exit will behave as if you had simply shot the Camera.

Sometimes after a Multiball mode has ended, the Battle The Power light will not be lit even if Battle The Power is available. I am not referring only to the case in which the Powerball was involved in the previous Multiball and the software is unsure where it now resides. I am also at a loss to explain why the software sometimes stops balls on Spiral Helpers after a round such as Fast Lock. Perhaps the Powerball was spuriously detected during the round and now the software would like to make sure it's not on the playfield.

Gumball

Spell GUMBALL by hitting both ramps in normal play; the Left Ramp awards GUM and the Right Ramp awards BALL. Spelling GUMBALL lights a Lock and the Gumball Machine. Lit Gumball Machines are stacked, but you cannot spell GUMBALL again until you have used the lit Lock or completed Multiball.

See also "Combo Shots"

Gumball Machine

The Gumball Machine can be lit by spelling GUMBALL or by the Lite Gumball Door Panel. When it is lit, shoot the Right Orbit during normal play to load the Gumball Machine. The Gumball Diverter will activate and the ball will be kicked into the Gumball Machine. Another ball will then be fed from the bottom of the Gumball Machine to the Slot Machine kickout by way of the Camera sinkhole. In normal play, there should be three balls in the Gumball Machine, and typically one of them is the Powerball, such that every third load of the Gumball Machine will release the Powerball.

Loading the Gumball Machine the first time in a game (for each player) is worth 15M, the second time is worth 20M, and all subsequent loads are worth 25M. These points are awarded immediately.

Note that on newer ROMs, an automatic plunge (as from a ball saver) will not load the Gumball Machine (or start Powerball Mania).

Older machines lack a plastic piece in the Gumball Machine that keeps the balls stacked vertically. In these machines, it is possible for the balls to rotate as a ball is fed out, such that one ball is never let out of the Gumball Machine. You should probably complain to your operator if you run into this problem.

Powerball

The Powerball is a ceramic ball much like a steel pinball. It is very slightly lighter and very slightly larger. It plays very differently from a steel pinball partly for these reasons and partly because it tends to spin and bounce differently. The Powerball is, of course, completely immune to magnets.

There are two Powerball Sensors (called Proximity Sensors) in Twilight Zone; one is in the trough at the next ball to be served, and the other is just above and to the left of the Slot Machine kickout, such that the Sensor is crossed by balls coming from the Player Piano, Camera, Gumball Machine, Powerfield upper exit, and Dead End, but not by balls that enter the plunger lane scoop or the Slot Machine itself.

When the Powerball is on the playfield during normal play and has been detected by at least one of the Powerball Sensors, the Gumball Machine is lit for Powerball Mania, and the Greed Targets are flashing. There is a Powerball Payoff value which always starts at a base of 10M. The Greed Targets increase the Powerball Payoff value (by 5M each) while the Powerball is known to be the only ball on the playfield. All game features which do not involve the use of magnets are still available at this time. Spiral Helper magnets are disabled and Battle The Power is temporarily unavailable, but you may still collect Door Panels, spell GUMBALL, light and use Locks, start Multiball, collect Combos, etc.

Whenever the Powerball completes an Orbit, a Powerball Loop is awarded, which is worth an immediate 10M. This can be done with the left Orbit when Powerball Mania is lit, or with either Orbit during any Multiball mode except Powerball Mania itself.

Shooting the Right Orbit to the Gumball Diverter awards the current Powerball Payoff value and starts Powerball Mania. See "Powerball Mania".

Note that on newer ROMs, an automatic plunge (as from a ball saver) will not start Powerball Mania.

If the Powerball is missing from the machine, there is software compensation to simulate it. When the Powerball is being simulated by software, the "Powerball" display is in reverse video.

If the Powerball has not been detected after a certain number of consecutive loads of the Gumball Machine (five or six?), it is simulated and Powerball Mania begins immediately (there is no round in which to build up the Payoff value). It is possible to encounter this form of compensation while the Powerball is resting in the trough (rather than truly missing), by using stacked Gumball's from previous spellings of GUMBALL. This form of compensation only happens when the Trough Proximity Sensor is faulty.

This simulation of the Powerball may also be dictated by a menu adjustment, which will cause the Powerball sensors to be ignored. In this case, the Powerball is simulated for every second ball released from the Gumball Machine, and a normal Powerball Payoff round is available while Powerball Mania is lit.

Note that if the powerball is being simulated (normally as the result of a menu adjustment), every other ball dispensed by the Gumball Machine for each player will be designated a Powerball.

The software attempts to deduce which ball is the Powerball by keeping track of which balls are not the Powerball, although it is difficult to make good use of this knowledge. The most helpful consequence of this is that the Powerball is kept track of in the Lock Lane even though there is no Proximity Sensor there. However, I have seen this lead to unusual behavior on some machines, where a steel ball is released from the Lock and identified as the Powerball.

The software also keeps virtual track of where it thinks the Powerball is in the Gumball Machine, as additional but not necessarily helpful verification that the Machine and Proximity Sensors are working properly.

Powerball Mania

Powerball Mania can only be started by loading the Powerball into the Gumball Machine when the game knows the Powerball is the only ball on the playfield, or by every second load of the Gumball Machine when software compensation is active as described under "Powerball".

Starting Powerball Mania immediately awards the current Powerball Payoff value, which starts at 10M (5M on prototype ROMs) and is increased by the Greed Targets before Powerball Mania. The Powerball is loaded back into the Gumball Machine, one ball is fed from the Gumball Machine, and two other balls are put into play. These other balls come from the Lock if possible, otherwise from the trough by way of the automatic plunger.

The Clock counts down at the beginning of Powerball Mania. Until it reaches the end of its cycle, all targets credit 250K to the Powerball Mania Total, which is part of your End-of-Ball Bonus. The Powerball Mania Total begins at 5M. The Clock never pauses when timing this initial Frenzy, even when all balls are out of play (that is, locked or being launched).

There is a short grace period at the beginning of Powerball Mania, during which balls that drain will be relaunched into play by the automatic plunger. It is possible for all three balls to drain and be relaunched into play.

During Powerball Mania, the Right Ramp is flashing for a special version of Battle The Power. You can shoot any number of balls up the Right Ramp to enter the Powerfield, where Magna-Flip&tm; is active while the real flippers are also active. Each ball that enters the Powerfield resets the timer for Magna-Flip&tm;. The Powerfield switch value is always 750K during Powerball Mania, and this is credited to your Powerball Mania Total. Therefore, during the initial Frenzy, Powerfield switches credit a total of 1M each to the Powerball Mania Total.

Defeating the Power during Powerball Mania awards a Mania Jackpot, which is always 50M. This value is credited towards your Powerball Mania Total. After defeating the Power, the timer continues for any balls remaining on the Powerfield, but the Right Ramp no longer feeds the Powerfield. Hit the Left Ramp to relight the Right Ramp to reach the Powerfield. After each Mania Jackpot, the Powerfield timer becomes shorter, to a minimum of roughly four seconds. This shorter timer applies to all subsequent Powerball Manias. It also seems that a very quick drain from the Powerfield will make the next Powerfield timer more generous.

You can collect "cheat" Mania Jackpots during Powerball Mania by shooting the Camera after a ball has tripped the upper opto on the Powerfield. This can be used to collect several Mania Jackpots with only one ball on the Powerfield.

It is possible to defeat the Power twice in very quick succession, such that only one ball will be detected and only one Mania Jackpot awarded. This was corrected in ROM revision L-4. The corrected version also makes it easier to "cheat" multiple jackpots as a result.

As in all other Multiball modes, Door Panels, Combos, Spiral Values, and the Camera are unavailable during Powerball Mania.

Powerball Mania ends when you drain at least two of the three balls in play.

The Low Line menu option applies to Powerball Mania. This option disables the upper flippers during this mode, which provides more power to the Magna-Flip&tm; magnets. These magnets invariably have less power while the flippers are active.

Locks

Locks are lit at the Lock Lane by spelling GUMBALL (see "Gumball"). Locks cannot be stacked, as you cannot spell GUMBALL until you have used the currently lit Lock.

On normal settings, only one Lock is needed to light the Left Ramp for the first Multiball, and the second and third Locks are effectively lit for free. For the second Multiball, locking the second ball will leave the Lock Lane lit for the third Lock without spelling GUMBALL again. Menu adjustments can affect these rules. Specifically, it is possible to allow Multiball to be started from the Left Ramp after the first time, and to allow the third Lock to be lit for free after the second time.

The Super Skill Shot on the Left Ramp takes precedence over starting Multiball. See "Door Panel: Super Skill Shot".

Locking the third ball or hitting the Left Ramp when lit for Multiball immediately starts Multiball. Multiball cannot be started during any other Multiball mode or when the Fast Lock countdown is running. However, it is compatible with all other rounds.

Multiball

When Multiball starts, the Jackpot is immediately lit at the Player Piano. Its starting value is 15M if only one ball was locked before starting Multiball (this is normally only possible for the first Multiball); otherwise it starts at 40M. On prototype ROMs, these values are each 5M less.

During Multiball, the Greed Targets are always flashing, lit to increase the Jackpot value by 5M each. When a Greed Target is hit, it remains unlit until all seven Targets have been hit or until a Jackpot has been collected, which resets all seven Targets. When all seven Targets have been hit and the Jackpot has still not been collected, one Target is lit at a time, proceeding in order from the lower left set of three, to the far upper right, then from top to bottom in the set of three at the Slot Machine. The Jackpot can be increased to a maximum of 255M by hitting the Greed Targets.

Greed Targets which were lit by the unlit Clock Target during normal play before Multiball remain lit during all Multiball modes but this is unrelated to the Jackpot value.

Hit the Player Piano to collect the Jackpot. This resets the Jackpot to its previous base value plus 10M. It also resets the Greed Targets and leaves the Jackpot unlit. Relight the Jackpot by shooting the Camera. This sequence proceeds as long as at least two balls are in play. There is a grace period for shooting the Jackpot, during which a Door Panel will also be awarded from the Player Piano after the Jackpot animation (if the Player Piano is in fact lit).

The base Jackpot value will only increase five times. This limits the base Jackpot value to 65M or 90M, depending on how many balls were locked before starting Multiball.

During the Jackpot animation, no balls are kicked out from the Slot Machine or automatic plunger.

Spiral Helpers will help you with both the Jackpot and Camera shots as appropriate, unless the Door Panel Spiral Round is running, in which case its rules take precedence (see "Spiral Helpers"). When the Jackpot is lit, the left Spiral Helper is active. When the Camera is lit to relight the Jackpot, the right Spiral Helper is active. Note that during Multiball, both Spiral Helpers will always be reachable from either Orbit. When the Spiral Helpers are active (they can only be overridden by Spiral Breakthrus), a completed Orbit will be credited as a Powerball Loop for 10M, on the assumption that the Powerball completed an Orbit and was of course unaffected by the Spiral Helpers.

The Right Ramp will also neatly present the ball to the upper left flipper for a shot at the Jackpot. When the Right Ramp is hit and the Jackpot is lit, other kickouts will be delayed until you've been given a brief but clean shot at the Jackpot. In fact, given a choice between dropping a ball from the Bridge Diverter and activating other kickouts, the Bridge Diverter will take precedence regardless of whether the Jackpot is lit or not. This is somewhat unfortunate. However, when there is a ball in the Lock Lane or on the Right Spiral Helper and the Camera is lit to relight the Jackpot, the Slot Machine kickout will be delayed until you've been given a very brief but clean shot at the Camera.

Shooting the Jackpot with the Powerball (if properly detected) will award double the Jackpot value. This value is displayed as doubled without regard to internal 8-bit overflow, such that a 255M Jackpot becomes 254M when doubled, 140M becomes 25M, etc. This is merely a display error, however; the correct value is still added to your score.

Double Jackpots depend entirely on the Powerball Sensor at the Slot Machine; they can be awarded even when the Powerball is obviously somewhere else. This most commonly happens when a ball falls into the Slot Machine immediately after a Jackpot registers; the software sees the ball at the Slot Machine before the intervening Proximity Sensor detects a metal ball, so it assumes that the Powerball passed from the Jackpot switch to the Slot Machine switch.

Double Jackpots are not available when menu adjustments indicate that the Powerball is missing, because the Powerball Sensors are then categorically ignored.

There is no grace period for relaunching balls during Multiball. If you drain two of the three balls without collecting any Jackpots, the Lock Lane will be lit for a Multiball Restart for 15 seconds. The Restart will resume Multiball as it was before, with the Jackpot value as it was before, although subsequent Jackpots will progress as if Multiball had been started with only one ball locked; that is, the second Jackpot is 25M, and the maximum base value is 65M.

There is no grace period on the Multiball Restart, even though the music runs for a second or two after the timer expires. There is, however, a lead-in grace period. That is, if the last thing you shot was the Lock Lane when the other balls drained, you may be given credit for the Restart immediately, even though the ball has already been ejected from the Lock Lane. This is much appreciated.

In all Multiball modes (normal, Fast Lock, and Powerball Mania), Door Panels, Combos, Spiral Values, and the Camera are unavailable. During the Multiball Restart period, the only difference is that Combos are available.

Multiball ends when you drain at least two of the three balls in play, with the exception of Multiball Restart as described above.

Spiral Values

Spiral Values are represented by a row of six lights directly above the lower flippers. The Spiral Values are, in order:

• 2 Million
• 3 Million + Battle The Power
• 4 Million
• 5 Million + Battle The Power
• 10 Million
• Lite Extra Ball + 10 Million + Battle The Power

On normal settings, the first two lights are lit at the beginning of the game, and the third light is flashing. The flashing light represents the next Spiral Value to be awarded. Collect a Spiral Value by shooting a lit Orbit. The Right Orbit is lit by the Far Left Inlane, while the Left Orbit is lit by the Right Inlane. Also, shooting either Orbit when unlit will light that Orbit. Orbits only remain lit for a few seconds, and the timers do not ever pause. Shooting a lit Orbit does not leave it lit for an additional Spiral Value.

Shooting an unlit Orbit does not light that Orbit for a Spiral Value if the Spiral Helper on the near side was active, as this would make Spiral Values too easy to collect under certain conditions (such as when the Camera is lit in normal play). See "Spiral Helpers".

Normally, the Extra Ball lit by the last Spiral Value is a temporary Extra Ball. See "Extra Balls".

On prototype machines, lighting Battle The Power was not part of the Spiral Values.

Here's a truly bizarre case: If the Right Spiral is lit and you shoot the Lock Lane but the ball jumps leftwards and over the divider that separates the Lock Lane from the Gumball Diverter sinkhole, the Gumball Machine will be loaded (with points awarded if the Gumball Machine was lit), and the next Spiral Value will be awarded as compensation!

Spiral Helpers

The Spiral Helpers are magnets located on either Orbit. These magnets are triggered by accompanying opto sensors and activated when appropriate. The exact conditions for each Spiral Helper to be active are complex, and this section attempts to describe all possible situations. Thanks go to Mark Phaedrus, phaedrus@halcyon.com, for the format of this explanation. The conditions are listed below, with precedence from top to bottom. If no information is presented for one Orbit under a given condition, that condition does not affect Helpers on that Orbit shot.

Powerball is known to be the only ball on the playfield (obvious case):

• left Orbit: no Helper
• right Orbit: no Helper

Spiral Round running, fourth and later Orbits for Spiral Breakthru:

• left Orbit: no Helper
• right Orbit: no Helper

Lost In The Zone running:

• left Orbit: no Helper
• right Orbit: no Helper

Gumball Machine lit for GUMBALL or Powerball Mania:

• right Orbit: no Helper

Automatic plunger during Multiball:

• right Orbit: no Helper (left Helper on slow balls if Jackpot lit)

Automatic plunger for ball saver:

• right Orbit: left Helper active if Right Spiral is lit, but right Helper is always disabled

Jackpot lit during Multiball:

• left Orbit: left Helper
• right Orbit: left Helper

Camera lit during Multiball:

• left Orbit: right Helper
• right Orbit: right Helper

Town Square Madness running:

• left Orbit: right Helper
• right Orbit: right Helper

Camera lit during normal play:

• left Orbit: right Helper
• right Orbit: right Helper

Spiral Round running, first Orbit:

• left Orbit: left Helper
• right Orbit: right Helper

Spiral Round running, second Orbit:

• left Orbit: left Helper
• right Orbit: right Helper if first Orbit was on left
• right Orbit: left Helper if first Orbit was on right

Spiral Round running, third Orbit:

• left Orbit: right Helper
• right Orbit: right Helper if first two Orbits were on left left Helper if Orbit has been made on right

Spiral Value lit on left Orbit:

• left Orbit: right Helper

Spiral Value lit on right Orbit:

• right Orbit: left Helper

Normal play:

• left Orbit: no Helper
• right Orbit: no Helper

Note that none of the Helper behaviors prevent the award of lit Spiral Values, although some cases make it easier to collect a Spiral Value. Specifically, if a Spiral Helper is active on the near side of a lit Spiral, credit is given for the entire Spiral shot when the ball reaches the near Spiral Helper, provided that the ball appears to reach that Spiral Helper before the opposite Helper. For example, when the Camera is lit in normal play, a weak Right Orbit shot can collect a lit Spiral Value by only reaching the right Spiral Helper, rather than having to go all the way around to the left Spiral Helper.

Credit is given for the lit right Spiral whenever a ball is loaded into the Gumball Machine.

Also, shooting the Left Orbit to the right Spiral Helper when Town Square Madness is running or the Camera is lit (in normal play) does not disallow collecting the Triple Pickup by shooting the Hitchhiker Lane.

When Spiral Helpers are lit during any Multiball mode and a ball completes an Orbit without being properly caught, a Powerball Loop will be awarded for 10M, on the assumption that the Powerball has just rightfully ignored the Spiral Helper magnets. Note that in order to detect legitimate Powerball Loops, the Spiral Helpers are enabled when the Powerball is known to be the only ball in play.

The Spiral Round can be very confusing. The basic idea is that the left Spiral Helper is used no more than twice and the right Spiral Helper is used no more than once. When shooting an Orbit, if the near Spiral Helper is still available according to these specifications, it will be activated; otherwise, the far Spiral Helper will be activated. After three Spirals have been collected, Helpers are deactivated for the remainder of the Spiral round.

During the Spiral Round, loading the Gumball Machine behaves as if a normal right Orbit was completed, counting as one use of the right Helper if it had not been used previously, otherwise counting as a use of the left Helper. Also, a ball ejected from the Lock Lane can trip the right Helper and give credit for a Spiral award if the right Helper had not yet been used.

If fewer than two Spirals have been collected during the Spiral Round and a ball is automatically plunged, two Spiral values are awarded, one for each Spiral Helper.

Similarly, if the Powerball is used to complete an Orbit during the Spiral Round (before two Spirals have been collected), two Spiral awards will be given, plus the 10M Powerball Loop. This is usually only possible on the left loop when Powerball Mania is lit, although it could also theoretically be done during Multiball if the autoplunger failed to collect more than one Spiral award automatically.

If the ball is launched from the automatic plunger when this is not expected (due to some hardware failure), the overrides described above for the automatic plunger do not apply. In particular, the ball can be launched directly onto the active Right Spiral Helper, which does a very impressive job of decelerating it.

In general, the right Spiral Helper gets more use than the left one.

Lit Outlanes

The Outlanes can be lit by a Camera award or by the Orange award of the Super Skill Shot. The Left Outlane lights for an Extra Ball (the only Extra Ball which is not awarded from the Lock Lane), and the Right Outlane lights for Special. On normal settings, Outlanes are "hard", which means that only one Outlane is lit at a time (starting with the left for Extra Ball), and the lit Outlane is steered by the slingshots. Hitting either slingshot moves the light to the opposite Outlane. When one lit Outlane has been collected, the other will be lit on every second slingshot hit.

Strangely, the light is also moved to the opposite Outlane when you collect an Extra Ball, either at the Lock Lane or from the Left Outlane itself.

When the Outlanes are set to "easy", both Outlanes are lit at once and the slingshots and Lock Lane have no effect on the Outlanes.

Lighting the Outlanes when they are already lit has no effect unless one Outlane has already been collected, in which case the Outlanes are reset to normally lit. You cannot have both Outlanes simultaneously lit on the default "hard" settings.

The Door

The Door is arguably the most central feature of Twilight Zone. The Door is a large collection of lights in the lower middle of the playfield, representing a grid of awards and progress towards Multiball. The four large red lights indicate progress in spelling GUMBALL and locking balls. The yellow lights on the perimeter of the Door represent Door Panels, which are awards and rounds described in later sections. The small white Door handle represents Lost In The Zone, which also has its own section.

On normal settings, collecting the Yellow award from a normal skill shot will spot the 10 Million Door Panel. Menu adjustments also allow the free spotting of the Battle The Power and Lite Gumball Door Panels whenever that award has been accomplished in some other fashion. These rather unusual settings are intended to make it easier to reach Lost In The Zone by reducing the number of times one must shoot the Player Piano or the Slot Machine or defeat the Power.

Collecting any Extra Ball disables the Lite Extra Ball Door Panel on the current Door, regardless of settings. Also, if you have the maximum number of Extra Balls stacked when you begin a new Door, the Lite Extra Ball Door Panel will be spotted. See "Extra Balls".

Starting Multiball makes many noisy references to the Door. See "Quotes".

Player Piano

During normal play and when lit (yellow light), the Player Piano awards the currently flashing Door Panel. The flashing light then advances clockwise to the next available Door Panel (or to the Door Handle), and the Player Piano remains unlit unless Lost In The Zone is the next award. The Player Piano is lit by the Left Ramp. On normal settings, the Player Piano is automatically lit at the beginning of each ball. This is not true on hard settings or for five ball play.

During Multiball, the lit Player Piano (red light) awards the Jackpot.

Odd Change

When the Player Piano is unlit or unavailable because of a running Multiball mode, it awards Odd Change. This is a random value between 10 and 9,999,990, inclusive. The distribution of these values is certainly not even. It seems most likely that a random number of digits (two to seven) is selected and then the digits are generated. During Lost In The Zone, however, Odd Change values are always seven digits.

An Odd Change value of 10M is not possible.

Slot Machine

During normal play and when lit, the Slot Machine awards a random Door Panel. If at all possible, this is not the currently flashing Door Panel or the Lite Extra Ball Door Panel. Unless the currently flashing Door Panel was awarded, the flashing light is not affected by this award. The Slot Machine remains unlit until relit indefinitely by the Right Ramp or temporarily by the Near Left Inlane. On normal settings, the Slot Machine is automatically lit at the beginning of each ball. On hard settings or for five ball play, this is not the case.

The unlit Slot Machine awards 100K.

Hitting the Slot Machine immediately after a kickout from the Slot Machine awards nothing, on the assumption that the ball was not properly kicked out. The timing for this is flawless and it should be impossible to hit the ball back in quickly enough to have a problem with this.

The Slot Machine tends to favor the weaker awards, such as 10 Million, Lite Gumball, Battle The Power, and Super Slot.

Door Panels

There are fifteen Door Panels, counting the Handle. During normal play, the currently flashing Door Panel is awarded by the lit Player Piano or by defeating the Power, and a random Door Panel is awarded by the lit Slot Machine. There is no other way to collect Door Panels.

Lit Door Panels have already been collected or spotted, and cannot be collected again until after Lost In The Zone has been completed. The flashing Door Panel is rotated clockwise by the Jet Bumpers.

At the beginning of the game, one of four Door Panels will be the currently flashing award: Town Square Madness, Clock Millions, Camera, or Clock Chaos. This is not necessarily the same for each player in a multi-player game.

The Door Panels are described here in clockwise order, starting in the upper left corner.

Door Panel: Town Square Madness
This is a timed round of normal length, during which all targets increase the Town Square Madness Total, which is part of the End-of-Ball Bonus. Starting Town Square Madness credits 3M to the Town Square Madness Total. Every switch in the game increases that Total by 350K. Each hit of the Jet Bumpers credits the current switch value and increases that switch value by 25K. The maximum switch value during Town Square Madness is 1M.

When Town Square Madness is running, the right Spiral Helper will catch balls to allow a shot at the Hitchhiker Lane, subject to various conditions. See "Spiral Helpers".

Door Panel: Lite Extra Ball
This award immediately lights an Extra Ball, provided that you do not currently have too many Extra Balls. Collecting any Extra Ball will disable this award on the current Door. If Extra Balls have been completely disabled by menu adjustments, this Door Panel will always be lit and does not need to be collected in order to reach Lost In The Zone. If you begin a new Door and already have the maximum number of Extra Balls stacked, this Door Panel will be lit and unavailable.

See also "Extra Balls".

Door Panel: Super Slot
This is a timed round of normal length, during which the Slot Machine's yellow light is rapidly flashing, and the Slot Machine is worth a random value of 10M to 20M (by millions) in addition to its usual behavior. These points are awarded immediately. In order to collect Door Panels from the Slot Machine during this round, you must light it in the usual fashion.

Door Panel: Clock Millions
This is a timed round of normal length, during which the Clock Target is worth the current position of the Clock's hour hand, in millions. Because the Clock runs from noon to midnight, this means that there is a brief initial period during which the Clock Target is worth 12M. Values awarded by the Clock Target are credited to the Clock Millions Total, which is part of the End-of-Ball Bonus. Starting Clock Millions credits 5M to this Total. During the brief grace period, the Clock Target's value is 12M. This grace period is actually long enough to hit the Clock Target twice.

Scoring at least six hits on the Clock Target during this round will award a special 10M Clock Damage Bonus (and animation) when the round ends, unless the sixth hit was scored during the ending grace period.

Door Panel: The Spiral
This is a timed round of normal length, during which all Orbit shots are worth a special value in addition to normal behavior, and during which most typical Spiral Helper behavior is overridden (for an exact description of behavior, see "Spiral Helpers"). The first two Orbit shots are worth 10M each, the third is worth 15M, and all subsequent Orbit shots during this round award a Spiral Breakthru for 15M. These points are awarded immediately, in addition to other awards, and there is no grace period for collecting these values.

Door Panel: Battle The Power
This Door Panel lights Battle The Power on the Right Ramp (these can be stacked). If the Powerfield is currently unavailable (for example, the Powerball is on the playfield), lit Battle The Power's are remembered.

This Door Panel can be spotted by lighting Battle The Power in any other fashion, if the appropriate menu adjustment has been made.

Door Panel: 10 Million
This Door Panel immediately awards 10M. Big Points ;-)

This Door Panel is spotted by the Yellow award from the normal skill shot on normal settings.

Door Panel: Greed
This is a timed round of normal length, during which all seven Greed Targets are flashing. In addition to their normal behavior, these Targets credit 5M to the Greed Total, which is part of the End-of-Ball Bonus. Starting the Greed round credits 5M to this Total. Hitting a flashing Target unlights it. When all seven Targets have been hit, all of the Targets will return to flashing status.

A Greed Total of 25M or more will earn a familiar quote from Rod: "There, see what Greed will get you?"

Door Panel: Camera
This Door Panel lights the Camera twice. Lit Cameras are stacked, of course. See "Camera".

Door Panel: Hitchhiker
This Door Panel awards an immediate 2M for each Hitchhiker that you currently have, and makes every Hitchhiker collected for the rest of the current ball worth an immediate 2M (Triple Pickup awards 6M, Camera: 10 Hitchhikers awards 20M). The points count down slowly at first but soon become gunfire. Collecting this Door Panel twice on a single ball does not increase this value, unfortunately.

Because the maximum number of Hitchhikers is 100, the maximum value of this award is a pleasant 200M.

On L-4 ROMs, the volume is turned down considerably during this award.

Door Panel: Clock Chaos
This is a timed round of potentially unlimited length. A base of 5M is credited to the Clock Chaos Total, which is part of your End-of-Ball Bonus. The Clock winds itself to 6 o'clock and starts slowly winding backwards towards noon. Hitting the Clock Target credits the current value of the Clock's hour hand in millions to the Clock Chaos Total, and reverses the direction of the Clock's winding. When this happens, the music ("Pop Goes The Weasel") and the winding become faster.

Scoring at least six hits on the Clock Target during this round will get you a special quote and adds 25M to the Clock Chaos Total; see "Easter Eggs".

Hitting the Clock Target during the grace period will credit 12M to the Clock Chaos Total and resume the Clock Chaos round! At least once, however, I have received a mysterious 63M towards my Clock Chaos Total for doing this.

Clock Chaos is undoubtedly the worst time for the physical Clock to be disabled because the software believes it is malfunctioning. It is much, much easier to read the current time and direction of time from the real Clock than it is from the display, especially during Multiball modes.

The good news is that if the Clock is indeed working, Clock Chaos will always take precedence over any other round that wants to use the Clock.

Door Panel: Super Skill Shot
This Door Panel lights the Left Ramp for the Super Skill Shot, which takes precedence over Multiball on the Ramp. Hitting the Left Ramp during normal play (including when the Powerball is on the playfield) will divert the ball into the manual plunger lane, where the Skill Shot Rollovers are lit for very attractive awards.

For the Super Skill Shot, all three awards and the scoop award 10M, regardless of skill. The Red award lights Battle The Power (see "Battle The Power"). The Orange award lights the Outlanes (see "Lit Outlanes"). The Yellow award lights a temporary Extra Ball (see "Extra Balls"). Missing simply awards 10M and ejects the ball from the Slot Machine Kickout.

Super Skill Shots cannot be stacked.

Door Panel: Fast Lock
This is a timed round of normal length, during which a radio tunes itself down from 17.3M to 5.3M before the round ends. During this time, the Lock Lane is lit to award the current value and start Fast Lock Multiball. The gimmick here is that the sound effects, quotes, and music during this round and the (optional) ensuing Multiball correspond to previous games of Pat Lawlor design. These effects, quotes, and music are listed here in the order they are presented during the round (with thanks and credit to Bowen Kerins, bowen@cardinal.stanford.edu):

• The Addams Family: Sounds of Cousin It mumbling. When hit, Cousin It yelps. During Multiball, Jackpot lit music from The Addams Family.
• Funhouse: Rudy says, "Hey, it's only pinball!" When hit, Rudy says, "Gulp... bleaagggh!" During Multiball, Jackpot lit music from Funhouse.
• Whirlwind: "Return to your homes." When hit, "Do not panic." During Multiball, post-Jackpot music from Whirlwind.
• Earthshaker: "It's sunny drive time!" When hit, "Ooh, gimme shelter!" During Multiball, normal Earthshaker theme music.
• Banzai Run: "Welcome race fans!" When hit, "Go for the hill!" During Multiball, normal Banzai Run theme music.

Sometimes you will hear a spurious quote from a previous machine just as FasDuring Fast Lock Multiball, the Lock Lane is lit for the same value that was collected at the beginning of the Multiball. As in all other Multiball modes, Door Panels, Combos, Spiral Values, the Camera, and other Multiball modes are unavailable during Fast Lock Multiball. Strangely enough, however, the Lock Lane will no longer award Robots during this round.

Fast Lock Multiball ends when you drain at least two of the three balls in play. There is no grace period at all for relaunching balls. However, there is a brief grace period for collecting one last Fast Lock value.

Door Panel: Lite Gumball
This Door Panel lights the Gumball Machine on the Right Orbit (these can be stacked).

This Door Panel can be spotted by lighting the Gumball Machine in the usual fashion (by spelling GUMBALL), if the appropriate menu adjustment has been made.

Lost In The Zone

The last Door Panel is the Handle. When the Handle is flashing, the Player Piano and Slot Machine should automatically be lit (although there are some strange cases on machines that do not automatically relight both at the beginning of each ball). The Handle can also be awarded by defeating the Power during Battle The Power.

The Door Handle awards Lost In The Zone. This is a slow timed round (total duration is 45 seconds) during which almost every playfield feature is active and all six balls are kept in play by the automatic plunger (the Gumball Machine is emptied at the beginning of the round). During this round:

• Clock Millions is running, adding to the current Clock Millions Total.
• Town Square Madness is running, adding to the current Town Square Madness Total. However, only the Jet Bumpers appear to award the current switch value, as typical Town Square Madness values are impossibly low.
• Powerball Mania is running, adding to the current Powerball Mania Total. This means that the Powerfield is lit and defeating the Power is worth 50M. The Left Ramp relights the Right Ramp to reach the Powerfield. The detection of Mania Jackpots seems to be extremely forgiving during Lost In The Zone, and shooting the Camera while a ball is on the Powerfield almost guarantees that you will receive credit for a Mania Jackpot.
• The Greed round is running, with all seven Greed Targets flashing all of the time. This adds to the current Greed Total.
• Odd Change is always lit at the Player Piano and is always a seven digit value. An Odd Change Total is tracked, with an initial value of 10M.
• Super Slot is always lit at the Slot Machine. A Super Slot Total is tracked, which has an initial value of 20M.
• Hitchhikers are worth 2M, but are not remembered after Lost In The Zone ends (that is to say, they are not added to your running total). You are given credit for 5 Hitchhikers at the start of LITZ, guaranteeing a total of at least 10M.
• Dead End behaves normally, although the screen indicates that it "is lit". You must still light and relight Dead End as in normal play.
• The Left Ramp is worth 10M (and Extra Balls can be lit by Robots).

When the round ends, the flippers go dead and your Lost In The Zone Total is computed:

• 2M per Hitchhiker collected during LITZ
• Odd Change Total
• Super Slot Total
• Town Square Madness Total (includes total from current ball)
• Greed Total (includes total from current ball)
• Clock Millions Total (includes total from current ball)
• Powerball Mania (includes total from current ball)
• 10M per Left Ramp collected during this round

All values which are part of the Lost In The Zone Total are reset to zero. The only values which will remain for your current End-Of-Ball Bonus (other than the base) are Clock Chaos and Powerfield.

While this total is being computed, the automatic plunger attempts to reload the Gumball Machine.

With the exception of Fast Lock, rounds that are running at the beginning of Lost In The Zone continue to run throughout the round. This is especially nice in certain cases:

• Camera: Clock 10 Millions will greatly improve your Clock Millions Total, as many balls will be hitting the Clock Target.
• Door Panel: Spiral will award numerous Spiral Breakthrus at 15M each, although these do not count towards the Lost In The Zone Total.
• Clock Chaos is also handy but does not count towards the Total.

However, rounds which are automatically started as part of Lost In The Zone do not run twice, so to speak, if they are running when Lost In The Zone is started. It is better to maximize the points from that round before starting Lost In The Zone, as those points will then go towards your Lost In The Zone Total.

Combos, Spiral Values, the Camera, and of course Door Panels are unavailable during Lost In The Zone. Lit Outlanes can be collected, however, as can lit Extra Balls from the Lock Lane.

The Town Square value is increased normally during Lost In The Zone (to its usual maximum of 25M), and the unlit Camera will advance a Jet Bumper if the Jets are not at maximum.

Collecting a Special from the lit Right Outlane during Lost In The Zone will delay its animation until Lost In The Zone has ended. Strangely, the animation will display REPLAY rather than SPECIAL.

Extra Balls

There are many ways to get Extra Balls in Twilight Zone, and there are some unusual interactions to be noted. Almost all Extra Balls are lit at the Lock Lane, and almost the only way to collect an Extra Ball is to shoot the Lock Lane. There are only two exceptions - see "Extra Ball Buy-In" and "Lit Outlanes".

The most obvious Extra Ball is lit by a Door Panel award. However, collecting any Extra Ball will disable this Panel on the current Door, robbing you of one potential Extra Ball. This cannot be prevented by any menu adjustment. Also, the Slot Machine will not give out the Lite Extra Ball Door Panel unless it has no choice (which is an unlikely situation, to say the least).

An Extra Ball is lit by Robots; typically between 6 and 14 Robots are required (this value reflexes). Another Extra Ball is lit at 45 Robots.

All other Extra Balls are temporary; that is, if they are not collected on the current ball, they will no longer be lit. This also applies with the Extra Ball Buy-In; any temporary Extra Balls that are lit will disappear when you use the Buy-In.

The sixth Spiral Value lights an Extra Ball. This can only be achieved once per ball, and the Spiral Value is fully reset to the first award at the beginning of every ball after lighting the Extra Ball in this fashion.

The left Outlane awards an Extra Ball when lit. See "Lit Outlanes".

A temporary Extra Ball is lit at a certain number of Dead Ends, typically 3, but menu adjustable between 2 and 7, inclusive.

The Yellow award of the Super Skill Shot lights a temporary Extra Ball. This is the only temporary Extra Ball which cannot be made permanent by any menu adjustments.

There is normally a limit on the number of Extra Balls you can collect at any one time. When you have reached this limit, no more Extra Balls will be lit; instead, they are simply skipped. This is particularly rude when you consider that most such Extra Balls cannot then be lit at some later time. The normal limit is to allow no more than four Extra Balls to be collected at any one time. If you do manage to light Extra Balls such that you can collect more than four at once, you will still only have four Extra Balls, although the only way to verify this is by examining the Status Report (that is, the animations proceed normally).

If you have the maximum number of Extra Balls stacked when you complete Lost In The Zone, the Lite Extra Ball Door Panel will be lit and therefore unavailable on the new Door. If you have the maximum number of Extra Balls stacked when you hit the Super Skill Shot, the Yellow award will be only 10M. Lighting Outlanes when you have the maximum number of Extra Balls stacked will only light the right Outlane (on the default "hard" settings, this means it is lit only for every second slingshot hit).

During Multiball modes, including Lost In The Zone, lighting an Extra Ball while a ball is being briefly held in the Lock Lane will award the Extra Ball immediately. Collecting an Extra Ball during Lost In The Zone does not necessarily (but see above) spot the Lite Extra Ball Door Panel on the next Door.

Combo Shots

Most of this information comes from Bowen Kerins and other netters, as I have personally made limited use of Combo Shots in Twilight Zone. There are plenty of these shots, however.

The only 2-way Combo is the Gum-Ball Combo, which is Left Ramp followed by Right Ramp, when neither GUM nor BALL has been spelled for the next Lock. This is worth 5M and if Battle The Power is not lit, you can proceed to 3-way or 4-way Combos. It is possible (but extremely rare) to collect this Combo by shooting both ramps just as a Multiball mode ends, and find that only BALL has been spelled. This is very strange, of course.

These are the 3-way Combos, each worth 10M:

• Left Ramp -> Right Ramp -> Player Piano (regardless of GUMBALL)
• Left Ramp -> Lock Lane (unlit) -> Camera
• Left Ramp -> Lock Lane (unlit) -> Hitchhiker Lane

These are the 4-way Combos, each worth 20M:

• Left Ramp -> Right Ramp -> Hidden Lane -> Camera
• Left Ramp -> Right Ramp -> Hidden Lane -> Hitchhiker Lane
• Left Ramp -> Right Spiral (without Spiral Helpers) -> Hidden Lane -> Hitchhiker Lane
• Left Ramp -> Right Spiral (without Spiral Helpers) -> Hidden Lane -> Camera

These Combos do not actually exist, but have been listed here previously in error:

• Right Ramp -> Hidden Lane -> Camera
• Right Ramp -> Hidden Lane -> Hitchhiker Lane
• Left Ramp -> Right Spiral (with right Spiral Helper) -> Camera
• Left Ramp -> Right Spiral (with right Spiral Helper) -> Hitchhiker Lane

Note that in non-prototype machines, there is no opto sensor in the Hidden Lane (and even when present, such a sensor is ignored by newer software); Combos which involve the Hidden Lane can actually be scored without passing through it, usually through a very strange bounce. However, a certain delay seems to be necessary in order to receive credit. Also, Combos are sometimes mysteriously not awarded, for no apparent reason. For the most part, hitting miscellaneous targets while completing a Combo does not interfere with collecting that Combo.

Combo Shots are unavailable during all Multiball modes. However, they are available during the 15 second Multiball restart (except the Gumball Combo, of course).

Collecting a Replay while the ball is sitting in the Bridge Diverter will prevent you from completing any Combos you were working on.

Bonus Multiplier

The Bonus Multiplier is increased by the Left Ramp when briefly lit by the Right Inlane. It progresses to 2X, 3X, 4X, and a maximum of 5X. This is available at all times. The Bonus Multiplier is never held over between balls.

Whenever the Bonus Multiplier is increased, the Left Ramp also awards two Robots rather than one (unless, of course, you have reached Super Robots). After reaching 5X, the Left Ramp will only award one Robot.

End-of-Ball Bonus

End-of-Ball Bonus is the sum of many different things. Some of these subtotals are also part of the Lost In The Zone total, which resets such subtotals to zero. Your entire current End-of-Ball Bonus is awarded (but not reset) by the Camera: Collect Bonus award.

The base upon which End-of-Ball Bonus is built is:

• ((500K * Hitchhikers) + (500K * Door Panels)) * Bonus Multiplier

The subtotals from all appropriate rounds are then added to this base. A grand total of 100M or more earns a quote from Rod: "Big risk, big reward... in the Twilight Zone". You can speed up the Bonus countdown by holding both flippers; doing so will also eliminate the quote.

Other elements of the End-of-Ball Bonus are: