For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast Feed

For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast

For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast

Detailing EM and Bingo pinball features, gameplay, and repair techniques.

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[For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast]

Disassembly and cleaning of the replay register is very important for correct operation of any multi-replay game (such as a bingo or upright arcade/slot). There are many small pieces to keep track of on this unit. Pay attention to the direction from which you remove the main shaft! Only one reel is keyed and you will break the reel if you are not paying attention.
Episode 223 - Replay Register Disassembly


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[For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast]

Now that you have the thing apart, you should be able to clean it! Be very careful of what and how you apply cleaning agents to the reels, the numbers like to move with the cleaner. Tomorrow we'll talk about how to put the whole thing back together.
Episode 224 - Replay Register Cleaning


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[For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast]

You've got the whole thing apart... now what? Follow these instructions and you'll get it back together quicker than you might think.
Episode 225 - Replay Register Reassembly


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[For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast]

Magic Squares units are a really neat moving numbers feature. After working on a few games with this feature, I really appreciate their simplicity in design.
Episode 226 - Magic Squares Units


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[For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast]

Exhibit's Mystery is a beautiful sequence game. A masquerade theme, with mystery kick out awards. Complete sequences 1-4, 5-8 and 9-12 to light three different playfield specials. Gorgeous backglass and playfield artwork with fantastic lightboard design and a great stencil round out the package.
Episode 227 - 1947 Exhibit Mystery


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[For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast]

Magic Screen Units, when misaligned, exhibit certain symptoms which will help you diagnose (and correct) the problem.
Episode 228 - Magic Screen Misalignment Symptoms


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[For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast]

In 1962, the Magic Screen games were kings of bingo production. During this time, Bally experimented with a new way to use the same mechanism - instead of sections that allow for different scoring, what if the player could control the makeup of the bingo card, one column at a time. Seemingly a natural evolution to the typical ways that a player can control the makeup of their cards, this method was never repeated by Bally. A single button game, another unusual feature of "The Twist" was that the player was notified what their next coin would do: advance one of the sets of odds or advance the 'magic cards' feature. Another game I'd love to play one day.
Episode 229 - 1962 Bally The Twist


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[For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast]

Run down of the items that had issues before/at York in Bounty and how I plan to correct. Disassembly and reassembly of magic screen, lubricating clutches, checking all steppers and re-cleaning them. Replay register tear down, clean and rebuild, and more. Basically, finishing the rest of the shop job that I started on this game when I got it.
Episode 230 - Bounty Shop Out List


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[For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast]

Bally's Yacht Club used a mechanism that was not used in any other bingo! The numbers on the backbox are arranged in a 9x5 grid. By default, the second through the sixth column of numbers are surrounded by a yellow border. This is the card you are playing for. If you earn the feature, you can move those yellow lines to surround a different set of 5x5 numbers! This changes the makeup of each row as you move the surrounds. In my mind this is the precursor to the Magic Screen - just less expensive! It was likely confusing for new players, which may have been why it was never used again.
Episode 231 - 1953 Bally Yacht Club


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[For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast]

Chad is a fellow EM collector with a Bally Beach Club bingo in his collection. After experiencing the bingo row, he is now looking for another great bingo game for his collection. He is a heck of a nice guy, with a love for the mechanical aspects of these fantastic machines. I hope he's playing a new bingo soon!
Episode 232 - Interview with Chad Dubovsky 10-27-15


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[For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast]

How do you put your wedgehead into free play? I have a few suggestions. My main recommendation does not require an additional switch, however, there are several ways, depending on the era and type of circuit used to count coin drops. A few are listed here!
Episode 233 - Gottlieb Wedgehead Free Play Mods


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[For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast]

Setting bingos on free play is actually relatively straightforward - there are really only two major differences during the entire Bally run. One thing I believe I forgot to fully flesh out: The 'anti-cheat' switch that I reference is also known as the anti free-play switch, and is located on the left (or numerically high) side of the replay register.
Episode 234 - Bingo Free Play Setup


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[For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast]

Happy Halloween everyone! Midway's Mystery Score is one of the few pitch and bat games that are not themed after baseball. It has a monster theme, with artwork filled with small jokes and interesting details. Two sets of score reels to keep track of a single player game? It's true, and unusual. Red and Green score separately, each with their own threshold for free games.
Episode 235 - 1965 Midway Mystery Score


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[For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast]

I worked on a customer's Bikini today, and spent some time cleaning and troubleshooting. The technician that worked on this game on location made a variety of interesting tweaks and apparently documented very well. Unfortunately, the documentation did not survive. Listen as I go through the troubleshooting process I used to figure out what was wrong and how to correct.
Episode 236 - Bikini Hacks and Fixes


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[For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast]

Bingo legs have a hidden feature that could save your game or your life - there is an extra plate welded in towards the top of the leg to add strength and prevent collapse. Inspect your metal bingo legs carefully to ensure that the extra plate is installed or the game could come crashing down!
Episode 237 - Bingo Leg Reinforcement Plates


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[For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast]

Acapulco is Bally's second (and last) Magic Numbers game. These games have a set of 2x6 numbers on a chain that operate in a similar fashion to Magic Squares. These are disabled before you shoot your fourth ball or via the extended time tree, before fifth or after fifth. On top of this feature, the game allows for up to 1200 replays on a single game, and brings back the Ballyhole (though it is not marked as such on the playfield). Several interesting and unique or almost unique features, a beautiful playfield, cabinet and backglass round out the package.
Episode 238 - 1961 Bally Acapulco


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[For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast]

Bally's Spot-Lite was the third bingo game that Bally produced after the one-ball era had ended in 1950. Spot-Lite has the first use of Pick-a-play in a Bally bingo (although the button colors are slightly different), and has the first use of spotted numbers in a bingo. The internals are unique for a bingo as well - the control unit and several steppers are contained in a board inside the cabinet, similar to the one-balls rather than Coney Island (the second bingo off the line). A beautiful single card game with extra balls and a corners feature. Yet another I'd love to play. Up to five numbers can be spotted independently - one of which is my favorite/least favorite number: 16, the center of the bingo card.
Episode 239 - 1951 Bally Spot-Lite


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[For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast]

Vic Camp, expert bingo pinball player, joins me to talk about the bingo row, new bingo players that are getting games, his latest acquisition, and more!
Episode 240 - Interview with Vic Camp 11-3-15


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[For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast]

Issues found and corrected in the Bounty. 1) General Cleaning 2) Skill shot not lighting in certain instances 3) Red letter game not awarding correctly in all cases 4) Magic screen unit dirty or misaligned causing extra number to spot on the backglass. Solutions to all these problems found within!
Episode 241 - Bounty Shop Out Complete


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[For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast]

New score and instruction cards are a great way to increase the attractiveness of your game. Instructions for how to print and cut out cards, and affix them to the apron (if there are not dedicated holders).
Episode 242 - Replacing Score and Instruction Cards


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[For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast]

Creditdotpinball asks why Williams went to using DC bumpers in their games. Stretching what I say in this episode out a bit - if you have a coil driven by DC, dirt and wear are masked a bit by the DC drivers.
Episode 243 - Williams DC Coils


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[For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast]

Replay games can all be set to free play very simply (pretty much). Find the switch or switches that tell the game you're at max credits and jump it out of the circuit.
Episode 244 - Replay Game Free Play Mods


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[For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast]

In 1947, Gottlieb made their last payout pinball - New Daily-Races. It was so named because it was the spiritual sequel to the Daily-Races that Gottlieb produced before the war. I'm highly intrigued by the gameplay and features on this machine, along with the unusual Parker artwork. There is one currently for sale in Ohio!
Episode 245 - 1947 Gottlieb New Daily-Races


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[For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast]

Ballerina was an interesting experiment in bingo history. A Magic Screen game with positions up to 'H' (the last with this feature), the game gets really interesting when you have the ability to increase the Magic Screen feature awarded by hitting rollovers on the playfield, and the ability to reverse the top row of holes (ex: 1 becomes 7 and 7 becomes 1). Beautiful artwork (another curtain!), and interesting gameplay make this game very unique.
Episode 246 - 1959 Bally Ballerina


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[For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast]

Miss America was an incredibly popular bingo produced by Bally starting in 1957. They brought this idea out several times throughout the years they were producing bingos. Magic Lines A-E will light to shift the numbers on each row horizontally, allowing for some interesting combinations. This game has two cards, and will light card #2 (also called the Extra Card) on a mystery interval (read: multiple coins). Corners scoring on the main card, quadruple deck scoring, and the best bingo curtains I've yet seen make this a game to remember.
Episode 247 - 1957 Bally Miss America


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