The Party Zone

Bally, 1991 — shot-by-shot rules and strategy guide.

Open The Party Zone in the Pinball Genie app →

The Party Zone looks like chaos and plays like arithmetic. Under the rocket and the robot comic sits a clear structure: one lane pays a climbing million, one target bank hands out a 10x multiplier, and together they are worth more than everything else combined.

Start with the plunge

There is a Door just right of the B-O-P lanes, and plunging each new ball through it pays a Door Prize — a million the first time and another million every time after, reportedly to at least ten. It costs you nothing but plunge control and it means you have millions on the board before you have made a real shot. Do it on every ball.

The Payoff lane and Way Out Of Control

The Payoff lane sits behind the four Way Out Of Control targets on the right. When nothing is lit, it pays a million and climbs a million each time you make it, reportedly up to around ten million a shot. Clearing the Way Out Of Control targets lights one of four awards, and the Payoff lane is where you collect it.

• 5 Million — straightforward, and the least interesting.
• Millions Per Bop — every bopper is worth a million for the rest of the ball.
• 10x Playfield — about ten seconds where everything except the Big Bang is multiplied tenfold.
• Special — an extra game, and the only award swapped out if you drain before collecting it.

The important rule is that only one award can be waiting at a time. Once something is lit, further hits on those targets are wasted effort — go and collect. Then the loop that produces genuinely large scores: grind the Payoff lane to its ceiling first, light 10x playfield, and cash a maxed Payoff lane inside the multiplier. If Millions Per Bop is already running on the same ball, each bopper is worth ten million while 10x is up.

Eat, drink and be merry

The five green targets down the left side light EAT at the base of the ramp. Collect it on the ramp for a million and DRINK lights for about ten seconds; take the comic saucer through the comic entry for two million and BE MERRY lights for another ten; finish at the Captain Bizarre saucer in the middle of the playfield for three million. It is a genuine three-shot chain on a rolling clock, and the ramp doubles as Ozone Bonus and extra ball progress.

The ramp pays twice

The Ozone Bonus opens at 100,000 and climbs by 100,000 per ramp shot, capping at two million on most machines and five million on some. More usefully, ramp shots accumulate toward extra balls on a ladder that lengthens each time: six ramps for the first, then eight, eleven, fourteen and eighteen. Alternating ramp and comic saucer shots is a well-worn route, since the Ha-Ha-Ha targets that relight the comic sit on the way to his saucer.

The comic, and what he is worth

The comic starts every ball lit and goes dark once you use him. What his saucer pays depends entirely on two lights. With DRINK running it is two million, plus a Comic Award between 100,000 and 900,000 if he is lit as well. With the comic lit and no DRINK, you get one of three things: 2x on your bonus multiplier, a Laff Attack frenzy where every target is worth 100,000 for about twenty seconds, or a surprise two-ball multiball. With nothing lit at all it starts at a miserly 10,000 — which is the machine telling you to hit the Ha-Ha-Ha targets first.

Passes, Happy Hour and the Big Bang

Party passes come from the Captain. Light both Request targets, take the Captain Bizarre saucer, and you get a request — 250,000, the music selection, and a pass. Turn up at the Cosmic Cottage without one and the bouncer sends you away. With a pass flashing, run the Cottage and finish in the comic saucer for Party Animals, then Party Monsters, then Party Dudez, which brings the two-ball Happy Hour with it.

Happy Hour runs on rocket fuel. It opens with five million of it, or only one million if you have already collected a Big Bang. The comic saucer and the Back-2-Bop lane each add a million of fuel; the ramp cashes whatever the current value is, between one and seven million. Bank enough and the next ramp shot pays ten million and locks the first ball, leaving you to send the second one up the ramp for the Big Bang itself — worth anywhere from ten million to just under a hundred, depending on how long it has been since the last one. Collecting it drops the playfield into a frenzy at 250,000 a target until you lose a ball. Note that 10x playfield does not multiply the Big Bang, so save the multiplier for the frenzy that follows.

One for the patient

Leave the Captain alone long enough and he starts playing his own favourites. Make a request while that is happening and you collect the Party Saver: five million, and five million more every time you catch it again. There is no light for it — the only cue is the music changing — so have both Request targets already lit and listen. Some ROM revisions do not run it at all.

How The Party Zone plays

The Party Zone is a Bally cosmic house-party romp where two flippers and the plunger are all you get. Grind the Payoff lane and Rocket Ramp for climbing millions, run the party modes, and reach Happy Hour to set off the Big Bang.

The loop

1. Run every fresh ball through the Door instead of dropping it short into the lanes; the Door Prize pays a million and a little more each pass, so points stack up before you have aimed a real shot.
2. Grind the Payoff lane for a climbing million a pass, and clear the four Way Out Of Control targets to hang an award there, then collect it at that same lane.
3. Complete the B-O-P top lanes to build your bonus and arm the Dance Contest, and run the green targets into the Eat, Drink and Be Merry chain across the ramp, comic and Captain.
4. Coax party passes out of the Captain and carry them through the Cosmic Cottage to open Happy Hour, where rocket fuel is banked at the saucer and cashed up the Rocket Ramp.
5. With the Payoff lane maxed, light tenfold playfield from the Way Out Of Control targets, then cash that loaded lane while the multiplier runs for the game's biggest totals.

Reading the lights

• B-O-P Lanes (letters) — lit: Each lit letter over the three top rollovers is a B-O-P letter you still owe; roll the ones that glow, and the jets beneath keep batting the ball up to help finish the word. · then: Finishing B-O-P nudges your bonus multiplier two steps toward its eightfold top and readies the Dance Contest over at Back-2-Bop; start it from that lane and every jet hit pays a growing amount until the boppers go still for a breath and it ends.
• Way Out Of Control Awards (status) — lit: Clear the four Way Out Of Control targets and a single award lights at the Payoff lane -- five million, Millions Per Bop, a burst of tenfold playfield, or a Special; only one can wait at a time, so once one shows these targets do nothing until you collect. · then: Take the lit award at the Payoff lane, and with nothing lit that same lane pays a million that climbs a million every pass -- grinding it high, then lighting tenfold playfield and cashing the loaded lane, is the biggest scoring loop on the machine.
• Eat, Drink and Be Merry (shot arrows) — lit: Clearing the five green targets down the left lights EAT at the Rocket Ramp; each stage you collect lights the next for a short window before it lapses. · then: Send EAT up the ramp for a million, take DRINK in at the comic saucer by way of the comic entry for two, and close on BE MERRY at the Captain for three -- grab each off the return before the clock drops you back to the green targets.
• The Comic (status) — lit: He lights at the top of every ball and switches off the moment you cash him in; the three Ha-Ha-Ha targets, which fall on the way to his saucer, wake him again for a short spell. · then: With DRINK live the saucer pays in the millions; light him with DRINK off and he can drop a bonus bump, a Laff Attack, or an unexpected pair of balls into play; leave him dark and it opens at a stingy ten thousand -- the game's own nudge to bring him back first.
• Cosmic Cottage Passes (ladder) — lit: Light both Request targets and feed the ball to the Captain to draw a flashing party pass; roll up to the Cosmic Cottage empty-handed and the bouncer just waves you back to go make a request. · then: Carry a flashing pass through the Cosmic Cottage and finish at the comic saucer to bank it -- Party Animals, then Monsters, then Dudez, and the third pass swings Happy Hour open while Dudez brings a two-ball multiball of its own.
• Rocket Ramp (status) — lit: The busiest shot on the table lifts an Ozone Bonus a hundred thousand at a time and steps a lengthening extra-ball ladder, the collecting shot landing on the sixth ramp, then the eighth, and on up. · then: During Happy Hour this ramp is where banked rocket fuel is cashed for millions, and once enough is stored one more ramp locks a ball and sends the second up for the Big Bang -- the largest single award the machine offers.
• End Zone Bonus (status) — lit: Rolling the right inlane switches on the target at the foot of the ramp; strike it while it glows and it drops a hundred thousand onto a total that quietly grows all ball long. · then: Nothing else lights that target, so open the sequence at the right inlane every time; the total you have built is handed over the moment the ball drains down either outlane.

Lane change: not verified for this machine yet.

Start scoring

• Ball one — Take the safe, repeatable points: run every ball through the Door for its climbing million, learn the Payoff lane, and roll the right inlane into the End Zone Bonus target so a total is quietly building for the drain. Grow your bonus through the top lanes while you are up there. — Door Prize Skill Plunge, The Payoff Lane, End Zone Bonus, Light B-O-P
• Building — Work the modes for real millions: run Eat, Drink and Be Merry across the ramp, comic and Captain, keep the comic lit for his saucer awards, and coax party passes from the Captain toward the Cottage. Catch the Captain playing his own tune for a climbing Party Saver, and grab Millions Per Bop when you can, since it lasts the whole ball. — Eat, Drink And Be Merry, Comic Saucer Awards, Cosmic Cottage Party Passes, Party Saver, Way Out Of Control
• The big one — Open Happy Hour with the third party pass, bank rocket fuel at the saucer and Back-2-Bop, and cash it up the Rocket Ramp until a ball locks and the second one sets off the Big Bang, worth up to nearly a hundred million. The pro line is to max the Payoff lane first, then light tenfold playfield and cash that loaded lane while it runs. — The Big Bang, Happy Hour, The 10x Payoff Loop

Does The Party Zone have an action button?

Everything on the front of this cabinet is standard 1991 kit: two flippers, a mechanical plunger, and nothing else to press. All of your control over the machine happens through those two buttons, the pull of the plunger, and how hard you lean on the glass.

Goals in The Party Zone

Every goal below is tracked step-by-step, with shot paths drawn on the playfield map, inside the app.

• Door Prize Skill Plunge skillshot · Medium

  Plunge each new ball through the Door rather than letting it drop into the lanes. It pays a million the first time and another million every time after, up to at least ten — which makes it the cheapest big scoring habit on the machine.

  Reward: 1 million, climbing 1 million per collect

• End Zone Bonus strategy · Easy

  A quiet accumulator with a two-step setup. The right inlane lights the target at the base of the ramp; hitting it while lit adds 100,000. You are paid the total when the ball drains down either outlane.

  Reward: 100,000 per lit hit, paid on the drain

• Request Time mode · Medium

  Light both Request targets, then put the ball in the Captain Bizarre saucer. It pays 250,000 and hands you the music selection — and more usefully, it is how you get a party pass out of the Captain.

  Reward: 250,000 and control of the soundtrack

• Party Saver secret · Hard

  Leave the Captain alone too long and he starts playing his own favourites. Make a request while he is doing that and you collect the Party Saver — five million, and five million more every time you catch it again.

  Reward: 5 million, climbing 5 million per collect

• Light B-O-P multiplier · Easy

  Complete the three top lanes and you get 2x added to your bonus multiplier, which tops out at 8x. The same completion also arms the Dance Contest at the Back-2-Bop lane.

  Reward: +2x bonus multiplier, up to 8x, and the Dance Contest armed

• Dance Contest mode · Medium

  A bumper frenzy with no fixed timer. Every bopper hit adds a climbing amount to the dance total, and the mode only ends when the boppers have gone about ten seconds untouched — so keeping the ball anywhere near them is the entire skill.

  Reward: 50,000 per bopper, climbing 50,000 each time

• Back-2-Bop Award combo · Easy

  When the Dance Contest is not armed, the Back-2-Bop lane pays its own climbing award instead — 50,000 to start and 50,000 more each time. It is a good habit shot because it always feeds you back into the top of the playfield.

  Reward: 50,000, climbing 50,000 per shot

• Eat, Drink And Be Merry combo · Hard

  A three-shot chain on a rolling clock. Clear the green targets to light EAT, then each collect lights the next stage for about ten seconds. Done cleanly it is a million, then two, then three.

  Reward: 1 million, 2 million and 3 million in sequence

• Way Out Of Control mode · Medium

  Clear the four right-side targets and one of four awards lights. Only one can be waiting at a time, so once something is lit, stop shooting these targets and go collect — every further hit is wasted effort.

  Reward: 5 million, Millions Per Bop, 10x playfield, or a Special

• The Payoff Lane progression · Medium

  With nothing lit, the Payoff lane pays a million and climbs a million each time — reportedly to ten, which is the highest repeatable award on the machine. Learning this shot is the single biggest thing you can do for your score.

  Reward: 1 million, climbing to around 10 million a shot

• Ozone Bonus And The Extra Balls progression · Medium

  The ramp pays an Ozone Bonus that opens at 100,000 and rises by 100,000, capping at 2 million on most machines. More importantly, ramp shots stack toward extra balls on a ladder that gets longer each time.

  Reward: Ozone Bonus up to 2 million, plus repeatable extra balls

• Relight The Comic combo · Medium

  The comic starts every ball lit and goes dark once you use him. The three Ha-Ha-Ha targets bring him back for about ten seconds, and they sit directly on the path to his saucer — so the relight and the collect are almost the same shot.

  Reward: About ten seconds of a lit Comic

• Comic Saucer Awards mode · Medium

  What this saucer pays depends on two lights, and the difference is dramatic. With DRINK running it is worth millions; with the Comic lit and no DRINK it can hand you a multiball; with neither it is worth almost nothing.

  Reward: Anything from 10,000 to a surprise multiball

• Laff Attack mode · Medium

  A twenty-second frenzy where every target on the playfield is worth 100,000. There is nothing to aim at, so the right play is to stop aiming — keep the ball live and let it hit things.

  Reward: 100,000 per target for about 20 seconds

• Cosmic Cottage Party Passes progression · Hard

  Three passes, collected in order, each worth 250,000 — and the third one is what opens Happy Hour. Each collect needs a pass flashing, a run through the Cottage, and then the comic saucer.

  Reward: 250,000 each, and Happy Hour on the third

• Happy Hour multiball · Hard

  A two-ball multiball built around rocket fuel. It opens with five million of fuel, or only one million if you have already collected a Big Bang. Fuel is built on the comic saucer and Back-2-Bop, and cashed on the ramp.

  Reward: 1 to 7 million per ramp, then the Big Bang

• The Big Bang wizard · Hard

  The biggest single award on the machine, worth anywhere from ten million to just under a hundred million depending on how long it has been since the last one. Collecting it also drops the playfield into a frenzy that lasts until you lose a ball.

  Reward: 10 million to 99,999,999, then 250,000 a target

• The 10x Payoff Loop strategy · Hard

  The known high-score route on this machine, and it is a loop rather than a mode. Max out the Payoff lane first, then light 10x playfield off Way Out Of Control and cash that fully-built lane while the multiplier is live, for a hundred million.

  Reward: Up to 100 million per Payoff lane shot