Twilight Zone Pinball Machine Coming To You in Black and White
Remember the good old days when you watched TV in black and white? Well, probably not. Most of us have seen black and white TV shows, but there was a day when color TV did not exist. Ah, the simpler times in life! Some of the all-time classic TV shows were in black in white: Gunsmoke, Lost in Space, The Andy Griffith Show, The Munsters , The Addams Family, I Love Lucy, Leave it to Beaver, and then there was everyone’s Sci-Fi favorite: The Twilight Zone.
The first season opening lines start out: “There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Twilight Zone.”
Key the background music, do, di doo doo , do di doo doo, do di doo doo.
I hope I got that right.
Today you are about to unlock Great American Pinball’s door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension - a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. A dimension without color. You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas of a simpler times. You've just crossed over into The Pinball World of the first Black and White Twilight Zone pinball machine.
We started this Sci-fi project almost 5 years ago, taking a standard Bally Twilight Zone, stripping it of all its parts and graphics and transforming it into the first ever Black and White Twilight Zone pinball machine. You’re about to ask, “Why is it taking so long?” Well, I am doing this in my spare time and the hardest part of this whole process is getting the playfield made in Black and White. Trying to find someone to make the playfield was the easy part, it was having them create it on their own time, which proved challenging. We do have a manufacturer that has said they would make us one. Going on three years now, we have decided to move ahead and use the existing playfield. We’ve striped the graphics and inserts and will repopulate that playfield with clear inserts and direct print the Black and White playfield image back onto the playfield. A long and tedious process!
Within the past 3 months I have revived this project with a new found passion.
The cabinet is complete.
We have the Black and White DMD installed and displaying the game images in black and white on the screen.
We have put the clear inserts in the playfield, which we plan to sand flat with the playfield and then direct print the Black and White image of the playfield back on the original playfield.
We are waiting on the Black and White plastics to be printed and laser cut in the coming weeks.
Hopefully we will be able to reassemble this game in the next few months.
We will update this blog with more detailed pics as we continue to progress with this project and we hope you stay tuned!
Check out our update to this project here.