Letter to our Twilight Zone
Dear Twilight Zone,
I want you to know (and you probably already know this) that you can be very difficult to get along with. But between the sad times, which are generally expansive, there are good times. No, great times. When I’m on your good side it’s like being on top of the world. You light up and make all manner of sounds and my heart races with excitement, hoping it will never end. We paid for your rehab and had you made beautiful again. A model member of society. So why is it that you have come to hate me so much?
I still remember when I first saw you. You were covered in dirt, and some disgruntled individual had bashed in your coin door. You were not beautiful then, but the man who, er, sold you to us was very skilled in beautification of pinball machines, and I knew that you would soon shine as brightly as you did back in 1993 when you were born in Chicago. We were very excited about adopting you, and I remember the day you arrived very fondly. We had waited more than a month for you, and you were finally here.
But then it came time to sell our house, and one by one we sent your brothers and sisters away to live with friends and family for a while. We elected to keep you with us through this difficult time. You must have grown lonely as our only one, and I suppose that my affections are no substitute for the deep camaraderie of siblings.
Is this why, day after day, you punish me? Do you deprive me of LITZ in hopes that I might bring back the others? Because, quite frankly, it makes me furious with you, furious to the point of plotting to expel you from this household. Why, just this past evening I was so enraged that after I left you I began a letter to find another place for you to live, and bring in a kinder, more loving machine to stay with us for a while. Thankfully for you, Jessica stopped me.
On some unfortunate morning when she has gone to work and I engage you before I myself leave, I hope that you do not incite me again, for she will not be here to stop me. And I will have you out of here before dinnertime, Mister.
Sincerely yours,
ASP (Grand Champion, 1-4th places, Buy-In 1-4th places)
Update, 7/10/07: As of 6pm last night, RAY now occupies the Grand Champion position with 1.1 Billion. We can now safely assume that every single aspect of the game is working.
August 16th, 2007 at 9:03 am
Funny read. I think many TZ owners feel the same love/hate thing. Several of my favorite machines evoke the same feelings from time to time, but TZ certainly belongs in a category by itself for intensity and frequency.
It should be noted that my GC score was set with 5 ball settings and outlane posts in the middle position. Also, I must have been in one of those TZ eps that allows time travel in order to get the GC on the date you listed g
August 16th, 2007 at 9:12 am
Don’t forget the add-a-ball setting at 350M or so. ;)
Also.. oops. Who knew August was the 8th month and not the 7th?
August 16th, 2007 at 10:59 pm
There ya go…5 regular balls…one add-a-ball..one extra ball from the door panel…one extra ball from the robot. Less than 150m per ball. Not all that hard to do when TZ is smiling, but not all that easy to do when it’s frowning.
If your camera(s) aren’t packed away, please take some pics of CV. I wound up getting one of those LinkTheater toys and apparently there’s a way to stream photos from Flickr to it. But, keep in mind if you take a pic showing the Cirqus members, the date and the day of the week don’t agree. Parallel universe I guess. :o)