The Party Zone

> "I'm Captain B. Zarr! Almost live from the Party Zone!"
>
> - Captain B. Zarr

***The Party Zone*** is one of the tables included in Zen Studios' Williams pinball collection. The table takes place in a crazy alternate dimension, where the characters of three of Dennis Nordman's prior Williams pinball tables meet at the Cosmic Cottage for the ultimate get-together, hosted by Captain B. Zarr.

Alongside *Hurricane*, this is one of the earliest pinball machines to have a DMD display.

## Objective

The goal of *The Party Zone* is to unite the characters from *Party Animal*, *Elvira and the Party Monsters* and *Dr. Dude and His Excellent Ray* for a party in an alternate universe, then blast off to the O-Zone during multiball by collecting the **Big Bang**.

### Cosmic Cottage Locks

Each shot to the Cosmic Cottage lane that enters the VUK sends an invitation to one of the three groups; these are lit by default for the first multiball during a game, and must be lit by collecting **Request Time** on subsequent attempts. Progress towards the lock is saved across balls. Multiball can also be started instantly by scoring "Surprise!" off the **Supersonic Robotic Comic**.

### Multiball & The Big Bang

Once the ball has been locked, Captain B. Zarr will start the festivities, challenging the player to blast off to the O-Zone by filling up the Rock-It Meter. A new ball will then manually be plunged into play, starting a 2-ball multiball where shooting the Rock-It Ramp awards a jackpot worth 1 million times the current level of the Rock-It Meter, which starts at 5 (1 on subsequent multiballs after the Big Bang is collected) and is increased by 1 with shots to either the left lane or the VUK.

When the Rock-It Meter level is at 7, shooting the Rock-It Ramp with one ball will lock it, and allow the other ball to be locked with another ramp shot. Locking both balls will award the **Big Bang**, worth 20 million points, then eject both balls out of the ramp. For the remainder of multiball after scoring the Big Bang, all switches will score 250,000 points, and the ramp will score a set 1 million points until the player returns to single-ball play.

If the player fails to score the Big Bang before either ball is lost, the Rock-It Meter will begin to deplete rapidly and the player can shoot the ramp to earn a jackpot before the meter empties. When the player exits multiball, double scoring activates for the duration of the current ball.

### Request Time

After the first multiball during a game, Request Time has to be collected at the lit center sinkhole to light invitations at the Cosmic Cottage. This is lit at the start of each session, and can be relit by completing the two yellow standup targets that surround the sinkhole. Request Time lights all three invitations for the second multiball, and only lights one invitation for all subsequent multiballs.

Request Time also allows the player to choose between four songs with the left flipper and confirm their choice with the right flipper. The songs are simply cosmetic and don't impact gameplay.

## Perks

* **Skill Shot**: Plunge into the "?" lane to the right of the BOP lanes to score 1 million + 1 million per skill shot, to a max of 10 million.
* **Ball Saver**: At the start of each ball, if the player has scored less than 200,000 points and the ball drains, the ball will be saved. This means that making a **skill shot** will disable the ball saver.
* **Bonus Multiplier**: The bonus multiplier can be advanced by +2x up to 8x by spelling BOP at the bumper rollovers.
* **Dance Contest**: Completing BOP, along with advancing the **bonus multiplier**, lights the left lane for **Dance Contest**. All bumper hits during this mode score 100,000 points. The mode ends if more than 5 seconds pass after a bumper hit. Only one Dance Contest can be lit at a time.
* **Eat, Drink & B. Merry**: If the player completes the left standup target bank, the left ramp will light to start this 3-shot combo sequence. The left ramp scores 1 million points, then the Comic VUK must be made for 2 million, and lastly, the center sinkhole must be shot for 3 million points. The latter two shots are only lit for 12 seconds each.
* **Supersonic Robotic Comic**: The Comic VUK will be lit at the start of each session, and can be lit again for 7 seconds when the Ha-Ha-Ha target bank is completed. If the Comic VUK is lit and shot as the second shot during the **Eat, Drink & B. Merry** sequence, a random score between 100,000 - 900,000 points will be awarded in place of the random award. The possible rewards are:
	+ Surprise! (instantly starts **multiball**)
	+ +2x **bonus multiplier**
	+ Laff Attack (15 seconds - all switches score 100,000)
	+ **Extra Ball**
* **Way Out of Control**: Shooting the Payoff Lane during normal play scores 1 million points + 1 million each time the shot has been made during the current session. If the player completes the Way Out of Control standup target bank, then shoots the Payoff Lane, one of a series of four rewards will be scored. After all three awards are collected once, the cycle will reset. The player has a strict 15 second time limit to claim awards in subsequent cycles once the target bank is completed. These awards are, in order:
	+ 5 million
	+ Bumpers worth 1 million points (for the rest of the ball)
	+ 10x playfield scoring (for 10 seconds)
	+ Special (can only be lit if all three have been collected, and only lights for 15 seconds)
* **Back-2-Bop**: Each shot to the left lane scores 50,000 points multiplied by the number of times it has been shot during the session.
* **Ozone Bonus**: Shooting the Rock-It Ramp scores 100,000 points multiplied by the number of times it has been shot during the session. The value maxes out at 2 million points. Making 5 (+1 per extra ball) shots to the Rock-It Ramp lights the **extra ball**.
* **End Zone Bonus**: The inlanes light the football player standup target between the Rock-It Ramp and the left lane to light the End Zone Bonus at both outlanes, for 100,000 points. If the lit target is hit while End Zone Bonus is already lit, 100,000 points will be added to the value.
* **Special**: Specials are worth 1 million points, and can be collected by lighting all three **Way Out of Control** awards on the same ball and shooting the Payoff Lane within 15 seconds.
* **Extra Ball**: Extra balls can be lit at the Rock-It Ramp by shooting it at least 5 times (with the number of ramp shots needed increasing by 1 for each extra ball earned this way), or instantly collected from the **Supersonic Robotic Comic**.

## Tips

* Multiball is the highest scoring mode in the game (besides a certain exploit), so go for it as soon as the invitations are lit. The center targets and sinkhole are very risky, so go for the Comic VUK instead to attempt to earn a Surprise on subsequent multiball attempts.
* The bumper area on this table is very dangerous - if you're not paying attention, they can throw the ball into the outlanes, or even straight down the middle. Try nudging when the ball exits the bumpers to avoid these drains.
* The 10x playfield scoring from the Way Out of Control awards has a serious exploit. If the player nudges the game and gets a tilt warning as soon as they start the multiplied scoring, the 10 second timer will freeze and result in the multiplier going for the entire rest of the ball if no "major shots" are hit - and the Payoff Lane doesn't count as a "major shot"! This can result in Payoff Lane shots for over 100 million points if you can consistently shoot it.

## Censorship

* The **Party Saver** feature is removed from the game, possibly due to its random nature and the fact that it uses licensed music.

## External links

* Table walkthrough by ShoryukenToTheChin (PDF)