The Machine
This Bally Twilight Zone (1993) came to me from Oklahoma City, where it had spent over two decades sitting in an outdoor shop. Years of red dust and grime had worked their way into every corner of the machine, and it needed serious attention before it could play again. Note the Oklahoma tax stamp from 1998 on the apron, and the owner said the game has essentially been kept in storage at his shop since. All the boards inside were numbers-matching original and had no work done prior which is pretty astonishing.
Before
Teardown & Cleaning
A full playfield teardown was necessary to clean properly. Every post, plastic, ramp, and lamp board came off so the playfield surface and lamp insert could be cleaned thoroughly. All hardware was cleaned and inspected before going back on. All lamps were swapped to Comet frosted 2SMD LEDs. The first picture shows the only functional issue, a broken wire connection on the commonly hit clock millions target between the ramps, which caused an entire column of switches in the game to not function including the mini playfield and piano opto, making the game nearly unplayable. I assume this is why the game was originally shelved nearly 25 years ago.
Opto Board Repair
The main 10 opto board needed a repair — a common failure point on WPC machines and critical to TZ, which relies heavily on optos throughout both playfields. The main C1 capacitor leaks and takes out components and traces; thankfully this board was savable with a new capacitor and resistor.
The Clock
The original clock boards were replaced with an aftermarket one as the originals are so prone to issues and even if repaired, they are likely to fail again soon after. Note the intense heat damage on the board from the original incandescent bulbs.
After
After everything was said and done, the machine plays perfect, and was kept in all-original condition. TZ is one of the most complex and rewarding WPC games to work on, and this one came back to life spectacularly. Now added to my personal collection, you can expect to see and play this beautiful game in DFW tournaments!
