The Party Zone is a crossover solid-state pinball machine released in 1991 by Midway (under Bally) designed by Dennis Nordman and programmed by Jim Strompolis. It is in a single playfield format and collaborates characters from previous pinball machines. It is the second pinball machine released after the Bally-Midway division was sold, yet still operated under the "Bally" name.[6]
 Captain B. Zarr is the centre figurehead of The Party Zone. | |
| Manufacturer | Midway |
|---|---|
| Release date | August 1991[1][2] |
| System | Williams WPC (Dot Matrix) |
| Players | 1-4 |
| Design | Dennis Nordman[3] |
| Programming | Jim Strompolis[4] |
| Artwork | Greg Freres |
| Mechanics | Zaofia Bil, Win Schilling |
| Music | Dan Forden[5] |
| Sound | Dan Forden |
| Theme | Happiness |
| Marketing Slogan | "You are now entering: The Party Zone" "Big Bang, Big Bucks!" |
Backglass
editThe backglass as well as the playfield contain characters from previous games (who all meet up on this game at the Cosmic Cottage):[7]
- The Party Animal from Bally Midway's 1987 Party Animal
- The Party Monsters from Midway's 1989 Elvira and the Party Monsters
- The Party Dude from Midway's 1990 Dr. Dude And His Excellent Ray
- Beside the skeleton in the group of Party Monsters, a Trog caveman, from the 1990 Midway arcade game Trog, can be seen.
Reception
editThe Party Zone has received a total user rating of 7.490 on a scale of 10 and currently ranks #97 in the "Pinside Ranking".[8] One reviewer noted:
Almost criminally underrated because of its theme. Great ramp, lots to shoot for, funny sounds and animations, and great comedic art from Greg Freres. Major knock is only a two ball multiball, and its linear ruleset gets a little old for repeat plays, but for a fun and casual game it totally rocks!
— guymontag451, pinside
The knowledgeable staff and moderators of pinside have provided a rating of 8.317 out of 10, somewhat varying from the opinions of the public reviewers.
The Internet Pinball Database reviews of The Party Zone are divided into the categories: art, audio, playfield and gameplay. The average user rating given is 7.8/10. Individual ratings for the characters are 8.0/10 for art; 7.7/10 for audio; 7.9/10 for playfield and 7.8/10 for gameplay. 47% of users who reviewed the game gave it a rating of 9/10".[9] One user made this comment:
The Party Zone is a gem. A fantastic audio and visual pinball ride. Its unique and comical theme, coupled with a colorful, well-crafted and designed playing field, make 'The Party Zone' by Bally such an irresistible pinball machine.
— Laser Beam (Rating 9.8/10), ipdb
Digital version
editThis game was released by FarSight Studios as a licensed table for The Pinball Arcade as the 32nd Table Pack, with the exclusion of the songs "Come Fly with Me" and "Purple Haze" due to license issues, notably, when a player scores the "Big Bang", the soundtrack plays "Pinball Wizard". After Farsight Studios lost the license for Williams pinball tables in the summer of 2018, the table was removed from the game and later reappeared in the second wave of Williams tables available as downloadable content for Zen Studios' Pinball FX 3 in December of the same year after it obtained the license.
References
edit- ^ http://mirror2.ipdb.org/files/1764/Bally_1991_Party_Zone_Manual.pdf pg.1
- ^ "Pinball". Archived from the original on 2013-10-23. Retrieved 2012-10-06.
- ^ http://pinside.com/pinball/archive/dennis-Nordman"The Party Zone"
- ^ http://pinside.com/pinball/archive/jim-strompolis "The Party Zone"
- ^ http://pinside.com/pinball/archive/dan-forden "The Party Zone"
- ^ "MobyGames".
- ^ http://pinside.com/pinball/archive/party-zone/details "Trivia"
- ^ Pinside ratings
- ^ Internet Pinball Database ratings
External links
edit- The Party Zone at the Internet Pinball Database