For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast Feed

Gottlieb made a variety of payout games from 1932-1947. Today's sample is their first payout game - 1932's Cloverleaf. Cloverleaf has a neat looping playfield design - shooting a marble around this playfield, your goal is to shake the ball into a center trough at the bottom. Doing so will pay you some number of pennies. Cool!
Episode 273 - 1932 Gottlieb Cloverleaf


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Match play is a payout game (Gottlieb's first EM payout game) that had an intriguing concept: fire one ball into a special playfield, then match the value of that ball on a special lower playfield with your second ball. If the values match, the game will pay out! Based on the point value matched, you will earn up to 20 coins!
Episode 274 - 1935 Gottlieb Match Play


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Gottlieb's Liberty Bell was a good study in 'firsts'. This was Gottlieb's first game with a mint vendor attached (to skirt the illegality of payout pinball), and also was the beginning of the 'Liberty Bell' series that Gottlieb used to describe other payout games.
Episode 275 - 1935 Gottlieb Liberty Bell


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Plus and Minus is another Gottlieb payout game from 1935! This game features the same Liberty Bell graphic on the playfield, and liberty bell mint vendor on the front of the cab, which led to confusion about the title of the game. Plus and Minus has multiple trap holes, each of which is labeled with a picture and a point value - either positive or negative!
Episode 276 - 1935 Gottlieb Plus and Minus


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A couple of quick techniques for figuring out wire colors when they are faded or covered with goo/junk.
Episode 277 - Determining Dirty Wire Colors


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Adam is one of the hosts of the One and Done Pinball Podcast, and picked up his first EM a few months ago, a Williams Grand Prix. We talk about what was needed to bring it back to life, gameplay, bingos, and general pinball.
Episode 278 - Interview with Adam Godfrey 12-06-15


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Here's some stuff that's been going on in my pinball world recently (really more than a month, been holding onto this stuff for almost a month!) If you haven't listened to 'This Flippin' Podcast' yet, be sure to check that out. They discuss new machines and various other things in their pinball lives (including EMs).
Episode 279 - My EM Happenings For the Week of 12-12-15


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Bright Spot is a six card bingo, made as a follow-on to Frolics, which had come out earlier in 1952. Whereas Frolics introduced some new features and ideas to six card players, Bright Spot brings players back to basics: a spotted number which lights one center number (a mystery to the player until the first ball is shot), the manual ball lifter is back, and fixed payouts for each card make this a quick, clear six card game. Beautiful artwork (love the cityscape on the curvature of the Earth beneath)!
Episode 280 - 1952 Bally Bright Spot


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Bally's Beauty is a really fantastic looking three card bingo with advancing odds, extra balls, spotted numbers and ... the first game to feature select-a-spot! By turning a knob on the front door, you can choose one of five numbers to spot across all the bingo cards. If you need more (for some reason), this game also offered corner scoring on the center card. Beautiful, fun, thought-provoking game!
Episode 281 - 1952 Bally Beauty


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Beach Club has a single main card and two 'super cards' - 3x3 sets of numbers that score 3 in a rows as 4! The game also features corners scoring on both the main card and the super cards, up to seven spotted numbers using the select-a-spot dial on the front of the cab, extra balls, and amazing artwork.
Episode 282 - 1953 Bally Beach Club


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Dude Ranch is a highly-regarded bingo. A two card bingo with a super card, super lines, select-a-spot, extra balls and corners scoring! Advancing odds, and rollover spotted numbers round out the package. More fantastic bingo artwork!
Episode 283 - 1953 Bally Dude Ranch


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Palm Springs is one of only a small number of Bally bingos with the 'hold' feature. This allowed you to hold only the odd numbers, only the even numbers, or hold all. The rest of the balls would drop back down, allowing you to shoot again! This game has two super cards, corners scoring, advancing odds, extra balls, and select-a-spot. Fantastic looking player. Backglass: Playfield: Cabinet: Technical Information: http://bingo.cdyn.com/machines/bally/palm_springs/
Episode 284 - 1953 Bally Palm Springs


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Ice Frolics has the super score system of Frolics (one card scores based on advancing odds, the rest are fixed payout), but adds the Hold feature used on Palm Springs. Corners, Extra Balls, three cards, rollovers, and the ability to choose your Super Score card (with an extended time tree) make this a very deep bingo experience. Backglass: Playfield: Cabinet: Technical Info: http://bingo.cdyn.com/machines/bally/ice_frolics/
Episode 285 - 1953 Bally Ice Frolics


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Variety is a single card bingo - the first with moving numbers! In this case, Magic Lines. Magic Lines allow you to move the first three columns of numbers (on this game) up or down one position. This increased the winning potential for players, and really opened up Bally to experiment with different designs and player-friendly features. The fixed numbers on earlier games of course allowed for complex gameplay, but this innovation really took things to another level. Backglass: Cabinet: Playfield: Flyer describing Magic Lines: http://bingo.cdyn.com/machines/bally/variety/resources/fly-variety-2.jpg
Episode 288 - 1954 Bally Variety


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Big Time is a Magic Lines moving numbers game that allows you to move each column of numbers up or down one position! The catch is that you earn that feature at mystery intervals. Between advancing odds and this feature, the game has spotted number rollovers, extra balls, and corners scoring, along with two super cards. Great game, beautiful artwork! I was very happy to see and play this game at York this year. Big thanks to the person who brought the game. Backglass: Cabinet: Playfield: http://bingo.cdyn.com/machines/bally/big_time/resources/pf-big_time-2.jpg
Episode 289 - 1954 Bally Big Time


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A special holiday episode with repeat guest host, Fake Nick Baldridge, who once again joins the For Amusement Only podcast to discuss esoteric pingame manufacturer, Nantucket Nickel, and their second production release. Thanks, FNB!
Episode 290 - Nantucket Nickel's Second Effort


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Gayety is one of only two games with the Magic Pockets feature. This feature allows you to kick the balls physically from hole number 1 to number 7 and back again, stopping anywhere along the way. The game will spot numbers at mystery intervals, has corners scoring, three columns of Magic Lines, and has the "3 scores as 4" feature. Extra balls allow you to have up to 8 chances at getting a 5 in a row. I hope everyone had a great Christmas or happy holidays. :-) Backglass: Cabinet: Playfield: Flier explaining Magic Pockets: http://bingo.cdyn.com/machines/bally/gayety/resources/fly-gayety-1.jpg
Episode 291 - 1955 Bally Gayety


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Miami Beach was another experiment by Bally. In this case, they tried a feature called "Magic Curtains". The bingo card is actually 9x5. By default, only a 5x5 card is shown, and as you insert coins, you may reveal additional sections of the card. As you do this, other features may be revealed. Advancing odds, extra balls, 'corners scoring' (not exactly), 3 scores as 4 or 5, and great artwork. Backglass (Curtain in default position): Backglass (Curtain in expanded position): Cabinet: Playfield: http://bingo.cdyn.com/machines/bally/miami_beach/resources/pf-miami_beach-1.jpg
Episode 292 - 1955 Bally Miami Beach


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Beach Beauty is another Bally one-off game - this game's unique feature is 'Wild Pockets'. Based on the machine qualifying green or red, you have to sink a ball into one of 7 holes to qualify the feature. From there, you can move that ball into another position! The backglass is split basically in half, one side red, the other green. Corners scoring, advancing odds, extra balls, super cards, and more fantastic beach-themed artwork. Backglass: Cabinet: Playfield: http://bingo.cdyn.com/machines/bally/beach_beauty/resources/pf-beach_beauty-1.jpg
Episode 293 - 1955 Bally Beach Beauty


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Parade is another unique game in the Bally bingo pantheon: the Extra Lines feature allows you two extra rows of repeated numbers to try to put together a winner. Advancing odds, up to quadruple replays awarded for a winner, magic squares and extra balls. There are no spotted numbers on this game, but the Ballyhole returns to award first extra ball. Backglass: Backglass with second extra line exposed: Playfield:
Episode 295 - 1956 Bally Parade


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Double Header is another unique game! Bally made two separate games in one - the first game is a static bingo card with multiple spotted numbers and select-a-spot. Red yellow and green lines can score double or triple. The second game is a Magic Squares game. It does not have the double, triple or quadruple scoring, but it has multiple spotted numbers. Beautiful baseball-themed artwork round out this real bingo rarity! Backglass: Cabinet: Playfield: http://bingo.cdyn.com/machines/bally/double_header/resources/pf-double_header-1.jpg
Episode 296 - 1956 Bally Double Header


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General chit-chat
Help Users
You can interact with the ChatGPT Bot in any Chat Room and there is a dedicated room. The command is /ai followed by a space and then your ? or inquiry.
ie: /ai What is a EM Pinball Machine?
  • No one is chatting at the moment.
  • ChatGPT @ ChatGPT:
    @, As of my knowledge cutoff in 2023, the 1933 version of the film "Contact" does not exist. It seems there might be a confusion with the title or the year. The well-known film "Contact" is a science fiction drama released in 1997, directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Jodie Foster and Matthew McConaughey. It is based on the 1985 novel of the same name by Carl Sagan.

    If you are looking for a different film from 1933 or a film with a similar title, please provide more details so I can assist you better. If you are indeed referring to the 1997 film "Contact," it is widely available on various streaming platforms, DVD, and Blu-ray.
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  • A (Guest) Alena:
    No I mean the 1933 version of the pinball Contact
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  • D @ DLWood:
    New to FP. I'm on Linux and using Lutris. Have installed FP from the Lutris repo. It does not have BAM support so I can only play non-BAM tables. Some of the tables show up w/o a playfield image...how do I fix that?
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