From: wesselak@sunb0.cs.uiuc.edu (Erik Wesselak)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: WANTED: Info on Party Zone by Bally...
Date: 16 Oct 92 15:41:49 GMT
Article-I.D.: sunb10.1992Oct16.154149.10920
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

dkelly@news.weeg.uiowa.edu (Dave Kelly) writes:

>Please post in this newsgroup info/tips/tricks/opinions about the game
>"Party Zone" by Bally.  Thanx.

The host of the party is Captain B. Zarr; he resides in the Cosmic Cottage,
where the partying goes on...
Great sound effects; average to good playing quality.  The object of the game
is to get the Big Bang, a cumulative jackpot that I've never seen over 100M.
Here's some highlights of the game:

Supersonic Robotic Comic:
He's lit at the beginning of every (?) ball.  Shoot the upper right dish to hit
him.  At this time, the little robotic comic on the lower right backboard will
tell a supersonic joke, and you will be awarded with one of:  Bonus X increase,
Laff Attack (sp?) --approx. 10 seconds of so-many-points per target, instant
multiball, or (these are on the info sheet; I've never seen them gotten) points
or an extra ball.
To re-light the comic, hit all three of the 'ha' targets just to the below-
right of the dish.

Hole in the Ozone:
The one and only ramp in the game, this is to the upper left.  Hit this any
time to get the ozone bonus, which increases by 100K.  Every so many ozone
shots give you an extra ball.  You could play the game successfully by hitting
nothing but this ramp.  During multiball, the ramp awards the current Rocket
Fuel bonus, which starts at 7M and decreases by 1M.  You can refuel the rocket
by hitting through one of two alleys leading up to the pop bumpers.  The third
ozone shot in multiball awards 10M, and the fourth is the Big Bang.  After the
Big Bang, all targets are worth 250K until you lose one of the two balls (?).
If you lose one ball before you get the Big Bang, you have a few seconds for a
last shot at the rocket fuel bonus.  After this, 2X playfield is lit until you
lose the second ball.

Cosmic Cottage:
This is reached through an alley to the upper right; balls hit through the
cottage end up in the same dish as the comic.  The cottage is lit at the begin-
ning of every ball (?).  The cottage hits give you, in order:  Party Animals
(250K), Party Monsters (250K), and Party Dudes, which begins Happy Hour.  Happy
Hour fills up the rocket fuel and begins multiball.  After multiball, shots to
the cottage will be reprimanded by Da Big Bouncer, who will instruct you to
"Get a pass from the Captain."  This is the one that took me a while to figure
out--Request a song to get a pass; this will re-light the cottage.

Request Time:
Light the request dish by hitting the two targets to either side of it.  Hit
the dish (platter?) to request a song for 250K.

Eat, Drink, and B. Merry:
Hit all the targets to the middle left to light this.  Hit, in succession, the
Ozone Hole for 1M, the Comic for 2M, and the Request Dish for 3M, where you
discover that B. Merry is none other than Captain B. Zarr himself in drag.

Way Out of Control:
Light this by hitting the four targets to the middle right.  Hit this by shoot-
ing up through the alley just to the right of the targets.  Way Out of Control
awards, in succession, 5M, pop bumpers 1M, 10X playfield, and special.  When
not lit, shots through this alley award 1M increasing by 1M.

That's about it.  This game is almost as fun to watch as it is to play...every-
thing has it's own sound, many shots have multiple sound effects.  The outlanes
are somewhat unreasonable, however there are sympathy balls for balls which are
in play for very short periods of time (or score few points...I haven't figured
this one out yet).  Alas, you can only get one sympathy ball per ball, even if
both balls instantly drain with no points (this will happen).  The big problem
with our game is the flipper angle.  They are oriented about 10 degrees to low;
in the up position they are barely angled above the horizontal which makes it
nearly impossible to trap a ball.  Also, when down, balls rolling on the flip-
pers from the inlanes will take a slight hop when they reach the fippers due
to the angle; this makes shots from the inlane that much more difficult (of
course, you can't trap a ball rolling in from the inlanes).  Also, the flippers
are very slow to return to the down position which makes the old two-flipper
ball save nearly impossible.

All in all, it was fun for the first few weeks I played it, now it aggravates
me more than anything.

Erik
-- 
"'Yup' was a word that that skirted confusion and bared its      __| /  |__
friendly soul without the slightest hint of foul play.  'You     __|<  /|__
want another beer?' asked Krut.  'Yup,' Mojo replied without       | \/ |
hesitation."--Krut & Mojo the aliens, BSFUC.   Erik: wesselak@suna0.cs.uiuc.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball