Rule sheet for Bally's Party Zone. Compiled by Mario Moeller. Dec 1, 1994
===========================================================================
* Based on the original rules by Colin McHale (colinm@compnews.co.uk) *
Corrections? Updates? Comments? Send them to: mars@suburbia.apana.org.au
Playfield Description (clockwise from lower right)
--------------------------------------------------
Plunger - One standard mechanical plunger.
Flippers - Two standard flippers (Black flipper, yellow rubber)
Slingshots - Two standard slingshots.
Inlanes - Light End Zone target.
Outlanes - Score End Zone Bonus (when lit).
Eat, Drink, B.Merry - five green plastic targets, facing right. Complete
to light Eat.
Ramp - Awards and advances Ozone Bonus. Also used to score Big Bang,
Jackpots, Extra Ball, and Eat.
B-O-P - Advances Bonus X. Lights Dance Contest when completed.
Left lane (Back-2-Bop) - Awards Back-2-Bop value, and starts Dance Contest
when lit. Increases Rocket Fuel during Multiball.
Boppers - Three bumpers. Score 100K each during Dance Contest.
Dancin' Dummy - Dances during Dance Contest.
Captain B. Zarre (DJ)- Spins around and watches ball, also talks.
DJ Eject - Hole below Captain B. Zarre. Used to Make Request, score Party
Saver and B. Merry.
Request Time - Two targets, to the left and right of DJ Eject. Hit both
targets to light Request Time.
Comic eject - Awards Comic when lit, scores Drink when lit, increases
Rocket Fuel during Multiball.
Comic - Talks during Comic award. Lit by hitting HA-HA-HA targets.
HA-HA-HA - below Comic eject. Complete to light Comic.
Cosmic Cottage - the right lane, which locks a ball towards Multiball.
Way Out of Control targets - Four standup targets; lights W-O-O-C lane.
Way Out of Control lane - awards incremental millions when unlit, W-O-O-C
award when lit.
Skill Shot (Door Prize)
-----------------------
The Skill Shot is hitting the "?" roll-over (directly to the right of the
B-O-P lanes) from the plunger. It awards incremental millions. There is
no maximum, although the display will corrupt at 10M and above.
If you make the Skill Shot, the ball-saver will be inactive.
Request Time
------------
This shot is lit at the start of the game, although later times you must
hit the two targets on either side of the DJ Eject to light Request Time.
Hit DJ Eject to score 250K, plus a choice of music (Chicken Feet, Pinball
Wizard, De-funkt, Safe Sax). Unfortunately, there is no award for choosing
all four songs.
Occasionally, the DJ will play one of his faves (Feelings or Come Fly with
Me), and the music will change. You have a limited time to shoot the DJ
to "make a request", awarding the Party Saver bonus.
(Initially 5M, increment 5M, no maximum).
End Zone Bonus
--------------
Incremented by 100K for each hit of the lit End Zone target, which becomes
lit when the ball passes through either inlane. Awarded when an outlane
drain occurs.
Bonus Booster / Dance Contest
-----------------------------
Complete B-O-P to advance the Bonus Booster, as well as to light the
Dance Contest. Completing B-O-P after the Bonus Booster has maxed at 8X
awards the Bop Bonus (Initially 100K, increment 100K).
Shooting an unlit Back-2-Bop will award the Back-2-Bop award, which begins
at 50K, increments with 50K, with no maximum. It is held over from ball
to ball.
If the Dance Contest is lit, shooting Back-2-Bop will also begin the
Dance Contest. This is a round where every Bopper scores 100K, and the
Dancin' Dummy frantically dances. It lasts until the Boppers have not
been hit for about eight seconds.
Eat, Drink & B. Merry
---------------------
Hitting the five standup targets lights Eat on the ramp for 1M.
Collect Eat to light Drink at the Comic eject for 2M. Collect Drink
to light B. Merry at DJ Eject for 3M. Drink and B. Merry are on an
adjustable timer.
W-O-O-C Targets
---------------
Hitting the four standup targets lights the W-O-O-C payoff lane for one
of these four awards, in order:
- 5 Million
- Boppers 1 Million per bop (lasts until end of ball)
- 10X Playfield values (last for an adjustable time, usually ten seconds)
- Special (may award either a credit, extra ball, or 50M depending on
game settings).
Awards stay lit until collected, although Special will be exchanged for
one of the other awards if not collected on the current ball.
On standard difficulty, if you have been through all 4 awards, or collected
Big Bang a time limit of 10 seconds is allowed to collect each award.
W-O-O-C payoff Lane
-------------------
If no awards are lit, this will award incremental millions.
(initially 1M, increment 1M, maximum 10M)
Rocket Ramp
-----------
Awards incremental Ozone Bonus.
(initially 100K, increment 100K, maximum 2M)
Awards an Extra Ball after a certain amount of ramps (adjustable).
Subsequent Extra Balls can be collected after an incremental number of ramps.
The Supersonic Robotic Comic
----------------------------
The Comic is lit at the start of the first ball. To light the Comic,
hit the HA-HA-HA targets.
An unlit Comic gives a small amount of points and instructs you that
"HA-HA-HA lights Comic".
A lit Comic gives you either: Bonus Booster, Laff Attack, or Surprise.
The Laff Attack is a frenzy mode during which all targets are worth 100K.
It lasts for an adjustable amount of time The only other points that can
be collected during Laff Attack are Eat, Drink, B.Merry, and the Ozone Bonus.
Hitting a lit Comic when Drink is lit scores a Comic Score of between
100K - 900K, awards Drink, and makes the Comic unlit.
Multiball (Happy Hour)
----------------------
Multiball can be either started by locking three balls, or as Surprise
from the Comic. Each lock scores 250K.
1st Multiball - Shoot 3 balls into the Cosmic Cottage.
2nd Multiball - Make Request, then shoot 3 balls into Cottage.
3rd Multiball - Make Request before each ball is shot into Cottage.
If it is necessary to Make a Request, Da Big Bouncer will appear when
you shoot the Cottage, advising you to "get a pass from the Captain".
Multiball is 2 ball, and the aim is to shoot the ramp for jackpots, and
subsequently for the Big Bang (super jackpot). Shooting the ramp awards the
current jackpot, which is a value from 1-7 million, based on the current
Rocket Fuel value (seen by lights on playfield). Shoot either the
Comic or Back-2-Bop to increase your rocket fuel by 1M each shot.
Multiball begins with an adjustable Fuel level, usually about 5M.
When sufficient fuel has been collected, the Big Bang will be lit at
the ramp and will award 10M for the first ramp shot, and the Big Bang
value for the second ramp shot. The Big Bang ranges from between 20M and
99,999,999. On collecting the Big Bang award the game goes into a frenzy
mode with all targets worth 250K; this lasts until a ball drains.
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.
(See Tricks section for a way to stop the timer). After draining one of the
balls, 2X Playfield is lit for the duration of the remaining ball.
Tournament Mode
---------------
During Tournament Mode, the Comic no longer awards randomly, but instead
in the following order: 100K, Laff Attack, Advance Bonus X, Surprise
(Multiball), 200K, Laff Attack, Advance Bonus X, 300K, 400K, Laff Attack,
Advance Bonus X, 500K, 600K . .
Other features are that the Extra Ball is always lit at nine ramps, the
Rocket Fuel starts at 1M, and the Big Bang has a constant value of 20M.
Strategy
--------
Go for the Comic if it's lit, as many points can be made during Multiball,
and also afterwards, utilising the 2X playfield values mode. Multiball
seems on average to be awarded once every three Comics.
During Multiball, either shoot for the ramp or the Comic, as any ball shot
to the Comic will stay there for a few handy seconds, and increase your
Rocket Fuel level whilst giving you the chance to shoot for jackpots with
the right flipper.
The W-O-O-C payoff lane can be very lucrative, especially during 2X
playfield values. If you can get 10X playfield values . . see below.
If Drink and the Comic are both lit, I generally try to let Drink time
out to collect the Comic award (unless I have 2X playfield values and
replay is imminent). If you have at least 6X bonus, the Comic will no
longer award bonus X, giving you more chance for Surprise.
Tricks
------
There is a major bug in Party Zone, and it's best executed on machines with
tolerable tilt. During any timed mode (Laff Attack, 10X playfield values,
Jackpot countdown), nudge the game enough to produce a tilt "warning". The
timer will stop until you make a "major" shot (ie. ramp, Comic, DJ Eject,
Cottage), but not if you're simply hitting the W-O-O-C payoff lane, or
smaller targets such as bumpers, standups, etc. This can lead to huge
scores during the 10X playfield values mode, as well as a decent jackpot
even if you drain a ball during Multiball.
Another trick is if you hit the ball halfway up the Cottage, but it rolls
out again, hit the Comic quickly, and you will score the Cottage lock.
This is useful only if you were specifically aiming for the Cottage, and
miss.
Operator adjustable features
----------------------------
The following feature adjustments can be implemented:
01 Special % (1 - 25) Factory: 2
02 Multiball % (10 - 90) Factory: 35
03 Extra Ball % (5 - 50) Factory: 10
04 Fuel Start Level (1 - 8) [jackpot] Factory: 5
05 W-O-O-C difficulty (Easy/Medium/Hard) [controls timer] Factory: Medium
06 W-O-O-C timer (5 - 30) Factory: 15
07 Comic difficulty (ExEasy/Easy/Medium/Hard) [when timed?] Factory: Medium
08 Comic timer (5 - 30) Factory: 10
09 Laff Attack timer (10 - 40) Factory: 15
10 Drink timer (5 - 30) Factory: 12
11 B. Merry Timer (5 - 30) Factory: 13
12 10X playfield values timer (5 - 30) Factory: 10
13 Light Extra Ball (4 - 15) [# of ramps needed] Factory: 5
ROMs
----
The following game ROMs have been confirmed:
L - 3
F - 4 [features new Solid State Flipper system]
Availability
------------
This rules sheet is available from the Pinball Archive by anonymous FTP to:
ftp.rahul.net:/pub/sigma/pinball/Rules
(192.160.13.1)
