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Bally's party zone

neilljj

neilljj

Registered
Joined
Nov 3, 2023
Messages
180
Location
North wales
I see Williams amusement have on of these for sale at just under £3000 is that a good price for one of these?
Their description says it's in Very good condition.
 
It's a C grade pin IMO.

Fair price for a business sale. Privately I'd expect 2-2.5k
 
I would also take their description with a pinch of salt, others on the forum have had issues with pins bought from this company.
 
Williams were superb with me after the HLD fiasco I had with a Family Guy.
 
thanks guys for the info it's all helpful and looking at the for sale forum on here everyday when i get a chance and there are lots of table going up all the time. I think it's right what one of the guys said on my other thread about once you do finally get the first one that will be it you'll want another, and so on and so on.
 
@neilljj I don't know how new you are to this madhouse, so forgive me if you know this stuff.

You generally get what you pay for, especially with titles over say 10 years old where the market has "settled". Price tends to be determined by how much fun they are to play, how pretty they are and how nice they sound. You will have a lot more fun with a MM than with a GI and prices reflect this.

WPC games vary enormously in their design, quality and price. I find games like Gilligan's Island, Hurricane and Party Zone great fun at shows for a few games. But they have always been at the bottom end of the WPC food chain and prices reflect this.

There are loads on the internet who watch the market like hawks and will commit to buying a game within seconds if it is cheap. A subset will get in a vehicle and drive 100 miles or more that day to collect - I have done this myself.

If you see something on a regular selling platform that looks cheap and noone has snapped it up, chances are it will be a weak title I am afraid. If it is genuinely cheap the seller will be machine gunned with emails from folk desperate to buy it and the sale may get cancelled when real value becomes apparent.

It was a much better world 7 yrs ago when you could buy a perfectly good WPC game like Fish Tales, Terminator 2, BSD, WCS for around a grand. Or a B list Bally classic SS for around £600 but things have moved on.

Best bet is to buy on here from a known enthusiast/ pinball show type guy/ league player. Prices are falling so I suspect that buying games will get easier.
 
2.5k minimum privately IMO, 3k from Williams seems like a fair price. I had one for a while it's a fun shooter, its one of the more underrated pins.
 
My recollection of Party Zone is the grief one of the two that work owned brought; the rear ball popper, out of sight (pun not intended) behind the back panel of the playfield, liked to break the diode on its switch. Since the playfield slide mechanism was yet to be introduced, lifting the playfield on the pivots saw this switch almost touching the floor of the cabinet when it was visible at all. I decided to lift the playfield out completely to replace the diode, each time it broke, and it did so more than once.

The plus side of the game, though (to me, anyway) was the rendition of Purple Haze which started up on reaching the multi-ball 'Big Bang' payoff, which had usually built up to 99,999,990 by the time it was collected.

Pz is one of the few WMS (Williams/Bally's company name) games with a dot-matrix display and traditional high-current switching flippers; the solid state Fliptronic system was in development, and apparently was tried out in a small development batch of Party Zones.
 
DRD said:
@neilljj I don't know how new you are to this madhouse, so forgive me if you know this stuff.

You generally get what you pay for, especially with titles over say 10 years old where the market has "settled". Price tends to be determined by how much fun they are to play, how pretty they are and how nice they sound. You will have a lot more fun with a MM than with a GI and prices reflect this.

WPC games vary enormously in their design, quality and price. I find games like Gilligan's Island, Hurricane and Party Zone great fun at shows for a few games. But they have always been at the bottom end of the WPC food chain and prices reflect this.

There are loads on the internet who watch the market like hawks and will commit to buying a game within seconds if it is cheap. A subset will get in a vehicle and drive 100 miles or more that day to collect - I have done this myself.

If you see something on a regular selling platform that looks cheap and noone has snapped it up, chances are it will be a weak title I am afraid. If it is genuinely cheap the seller will be machine gunned with emails from folk desperate to buy it and the sale may get cancelled when real value becomes apparent.

It was a much better world 7 yrs ago when you could buy a perfectly good WPC game like Fish Tales, Terminator 2, BSD, WCS for around a grand. Or a B list Bally classic SS for around £600 but things have moved on.

Best bet is to buy on here from a known enthusiast/ pinball show type guy/ league player. Prices are falling so I suspect that buying games will get easier.
Click to expand...
Thanks DRD yes i am very new to real pinball machines and i'm looking forward to getting my first real one and spending my time getting it up to the condition i want, i see looking after them as much fun as playing them.
 
Jay Walker said:
My recollection of Party Zone is the grief one of the two that work owned brought; the rear ball popper, out of sight (pun not intended) behind the back panel of the playfield, liked to break the diode on its switch. Since the playfield slide mechanism was yet to be introduced, lifting the playfield on the pivots saw this switch almost touching the floor of the cabinet when it was visible at all. I decided to lift the playfield out completely to replace the diode, each time it broke, and it did so more than once.

The plus side of the game, though (to me, anyway) was the rendition of Purple Haze which started up on reaching the multi-ball 'Big Bang' payoff, which had usually built up to 99,999,990 by the time it was collected.

Pz is one of the few WMS (Williams/Bally's company name) games with a dot-matrix display and traditional high-current switching flippers; the solid state Fliptronic system was in development, and apparently was tried out in a small development batch of Party Zones.
Click to expand...
Thanks Jay, is that the only real problem with this machine then? otherwise its pretty good yes? I have been looking at lots of videos of it on youtube and also been watching lots of videos from the TNT company on there as they seem to know lots and they put out some lovely machines after they have worked on them for customers.
 
No knowledge of this particular game, or Williams amusements, but sure I saw this game listed on eBay a few times back in the summer when I was looking for a new pickup.
Checked metadata of the pics on their site which indicate its been on sale for well over a year, perhaps they would be open to some negotiation on price?
 
That may have been an isolated example, as far as I recall the other one we had didn't suffer from that. Another problem was as mentioned in the comments on ipdb.com with the D.J. head, as the machines aged; moving back and forth damaged the wiring for the small coil which operates the jaw. Speaking of wiring, the newer Wpc board-set still had problems with burnt connectors for the General Illumination circuits.

In keeping with its name, the game's fun. It isn't a do-or-die caper like its contemporary, Terminator 2. There are references to some of designer Dennis Nordman's earlier games like Party Animal, Elvira & The Party Monsters and Dr. Dude, as the guests who arrive in the build-up to multi-ball.
 
Hi Neil.

I don't know this game at all, I think I played it once and I was very, very drunk.

Fair play to you for doing your due diligence before buying your first game . . . the temptation to just spend can be wicked. However, it is good to be patient and make the right decision.

Most pinball machines are great fun and I'm sure you'll get a lot of joy out of this.

BUT . . . My advice would be to hold onto that 3k for a little bit longer. You'll kick yourself if you buy it and something better pops up for sale on here next week . . . and it most likely will. You should be able to get a High Speed 2 or similar for less than £3k and I think you'd get a bit more out of a more established title.
 
I didnt check the test report on my last party zone and after about a week got all excited lighting the big bang only to find the second rocket lock switch didnt work. gutted. its not a bad game just overshadowed by the next line of games that came after it
 
Gonzo said:
Hi Neil.

I don't know this game at all, I think I played it once and I was very, very drunk.

Fair play to you for doing your due diligence before buying your first game . . . the temptation to just spend can be wicked. However, it is good to be patient and make the right decision.

Most pinball machines are great fun and I'm sure you'll get a lot of joy out of this.

BUT . . . My advice would be to hold onto that 3k for a little bit longer. You'll kick yourself if you buy it and something better pops up for sale on here next week . . . and it most likely will. You should be able to get a High Speed 2 or similar for less than £3k and I think you'd get a bit more out of a more established title.
Click to expand...
Yes that, and the fact i am away at the moment as well until after the first week of december also helps with not buying straight away! :) but i have been reading up and will take as long as I need, whichever Pin i buy as my first i will be keeping. so if it's a cheaper one or more expensive it doesn't matter i'll be happy either way.
 
Kenny Taylor said:
Yes, that’s mine. Has pinsound, speakers and colour dmd. Had it 7 years. It’s not the longest pin I’ve owned. BOP was my very first pin, then Creech. Still have both of them too..
Click to expand...
I was going to say is that a Pinsound board in there, very nice i would definitely have to look into how you do that once or if i do go for one of these
 
Here’s a few photos of my PZ :)
Hard to believe 30+ years old and nice original playfield and decals!
 

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Wow, looks like new. I love the ramps on this Pin i saw one of these on youtube and it was being rebuilt, the guy was using a blowtorch on the ramps to bring them back to life as they were all hazed up. Is it true that the cabinet artwork is all UV/Blacklight Reflective as well?
 
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