For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast Feed

In 1963, Bally was hunting around for a replacement for their bingo business in the U.S. Things were looking rather bleak, until they hired Ted Zale, the designer that would add multiball, chicane lanes, etc. to later games. For his first effort, Moon Shot, he made a 100% carbon copy of Gottlieb's Tropic Isle from the year before. I've had the pleasure of playing Tropic Isle, but I've never seen a Moon Shot. Tropic Isle has two sets of two pop bumpers, and an A-B-C-D sequence to make a monkey climb a tree on the backglass. Once you get three monkeys up the tree (this is a carryover feature), the game will award specials! You can also light special by completing 1-5 at the top rollovers. Moon Shot is very much the same with a space theme. Tropic Isle: Moon Shot: http://ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=1627
Episode 348 - 1962 Gottlieb Tropic Isle and 1963 Bally Moon Shot


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Moon Shot is a neat game with a unique set of ball return gates (shaped like metal flipper bats) on the left and right outlanes. The layout looks like a skilled player can really rack up points easily by running up the rocket values to 500 points and collecting. Extra balls, two separate bonus steppers and cool Christian Marche artwork complete the package. http://ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=1628
Episode 349 - 1969 Chicago Coin Moon Shot


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What if the game you purchased accepted nickels from the factory, but you want to put it on route and collect quarters to match other games that you may have in various locations? You have to add extra switches or change adjustments to accept the new denomination. If you wish to just do a one-for-one coin exchange, you just change out the coin mech, but if you want to provide some extra value for higher denominations, you have to add additional circuitry. This gets more complex in Bally bingos, since you have multiple systems that are already working together in the start circuit.
Episode 350 - Multiple Plays for One Coin


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A unique mechanism in later Bally bingos, the auto-mission coin divider allowed operators to automatically set aside a portion of the game earnings in a special cashbox for the bar owner.
Episode 351 - The Auto-Mission Coin Divider


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Bally bingos made after 1960 had multiple tilt states - a 'hard' state, from which the game could not be revived without additional money or credits, and a 'soft' state or 'sleeping' state that would allow the player to revive the game by pressing the 'R' button, or playing for extra balls.
Episode 352 - Hard Tilt vs. Soft Tilt


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Nags is a unique game from Williams with two interesting features - It is one of a small handful of horse racing themed games that Williams made with a horse racing unit with six horses that can move independently along a track, until one finishes. This game is also the only game from the 'big three' manufacturers that had a rotating platter of six pop bumpers. Each bumper hit would advance one horse toward the prize. 25 cents on 'Stinky' for me! http://ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=1654
Episode 353 - 1960 Williams Nags


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My 1947 Mystery started blowing fuses - it was time to pull it out from the wall and troubleshoot. Here's the story of how I corrected the issues and what went wrong.
Episode 354 - Mystery Troubleshooting


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My interviewee tonight is Chris Dade, a man who has done quite a bit for the bingo hobby! He has scanned, touched up, and reproduced many of the Bally bingo backglasses, as well as several of the bingo playfields. He also started the Bally Bingos in Britain forums, located at - this is an excellent resource, with many clever people providing help and information. It also gives a neat window into the UK bingo scene for us folks in the US! Take a moment and look over Chris' collection at - click 'My Machines' to see his beauties. He also has some great stories and other information on his website. He notes that whereas in the US, 20 replays would be a dollar, to earn a pound, you needed 80 replays! That's quite a jump! Thank you to Chris for his patience and time answering my questions.
Episode 355 - Email Interview with Chris Dade 2-28-16


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Spirit of '76 came in three flavors: The four player was Spirit of '76. The two player version was Pioneer and the add-a-ball version was New York. Spirit of '76 is all about increasing your bonus, but the player can double the bonus on each ball, earn extra balls or replays by completing the A-E sequence, hitting all 8 drop targets and landing in the kickout hole. Fun game! Chicago Coin Rapid Transit Restoration: Ryan Claytor's Latest Pinball Artwork: Pinball at the Zoo: Stern pinball shirt: http://costore.com/sternpinball/productenlarged.asp?ProductId=5516824
Episode 356 - 1975 Gottlieb Spirit of '76


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Freedom is a fun game from the bicentennial. Bally's take has some more interesting artwork and a fun ruleset. This was one of the changeover games that was made in both EM and solid state versions. The early production had 1776 and 1976 on the backglass, but operators asked that this be removed as it would make the machine 'dated'. Kind of funny for a game themed on the bicentennial. http://ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=952
Episode 357 - 1976 Bally Freedom


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Galaxy and other Sega games used several interesting mechanisms: Slings that work via pressure from the ball hitting a large piece of plastic instead of ganged switches, and pop bumpers that are a single piece of plastic rather than using a rod and ring assembly. On top of that, Galaxy has an under-playfield magnet that will move the ball from left to right, similar to the Mist ball on Bram Stoker's Dracula. Neat stuff! Gameplay video:
Episode 358 - 1973 Sega Galaxy


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Derby Day is a neat take on a flipper game with a horse race theme. The upper playfield contains a single gobble hole and four passive bumpers that can advance one of four horses, whose position is displayed via inserts in the center of the playfield. The bottom portion contains a single pop bumper, which can pop the ball back up to the flippers (in the center portion). You main goal is to advance all four horses to the Win position, then roll over the center button to earn a replay. You can earn many multiple replays by lining up your horses in Show, Place or Win, then shooting into the gobble hole. http://ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=664
Episode 359 - 1956 Gottlieb Derby Day


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Gottlieb invented a new mechanism for launching balls in 1950 - the turret shooter. This launcher allowed designers more space on the playfield to add targets, and gave players the ability to choose their entry angle onto the playfield. A pretty nifty idea that was used by other manufacturers over the years.
Episode 360 - The Turret Shooter


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I missed one machine from the bicentennial - Liberty Bell is almost a carbon copy of Williams' own Grand Prix. Earning a special requires advancing the starts four times, then dropping all four drop targets. Tough! The spinners have rockets screened on them, to represent "the rockets' red glare". Gameplay Video:
Episode 362 - 1977 Williams Liberty Bell


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Duet is a very beautiful and interesting machine. There are three ways to win, and the player must select before playing, or put in another nickel to load the full ruleset of the game. Completing the sequence of 1-10 will award 20 replays, with the possibility of earning a 'reserve' set of replays - up to 200! http://ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=3065&picno=64416&zoom=1
Episode 363 - 1940 Bally Duet


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Pro Basketball is a cool mannikin arcade game. The basic premise is that it is a one-on-one basketball shootout - you play as the offense, and the defense will automatically move left and right, raising and lowering their arms. You have to watch the score board in the back to determine when you should shoot for maximum effectiveness. Gameplay video:
Episode 364 - 1961 Chicago Coin Pro Basketball


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Happy Birthday For Amusement Only! In this episode, I discuss how to try bingo pinball on your own computer. A big thank you to my wife for illustrating the Episode 365 artwork! A fellow named Joop in the Netherlands has been developing bingo emulators, and releasing on the web for Windows and Mac OS X. His simulations are fantastic! Go check them out and try them for yourself. If you have any questions about how to play, feel free to ask me at and I'll be happy to explain. Download here: A person on the Bally Bingos in Britain forums has been using Joop's emulator and putting it into a physical cabinet - pretty cool! Lastly, I've been working on a bingo emulator, fully programmed to change between Bally bingos. I will be using a lower cabinet from a real bingo. This will include the lifter hardware, shutter hardware, trough, tilt, etc. I will use an empty backbox, fit an LCD monitor in the back, and use a computer to both drive and keep track of the game state, and drive the monitor. Playfields will be swappable to allow for multiple games with different playfield features! The vast majority of the games will be playable with any 25 hole playfield. I will eventually release the code for the world to critique, but keep in mind that I am not a skilled programmer (in my own mind, at least). I am using the P-ROC framework due to familiarity with the Python programming language, and the ability of the P-ROC hardware to drive high power motors such as the ball lifter. I'm very excited about the potential for this system, and am looking forward to all the learning I have ahead of me, understanding the reflex and mixer documentation for each game! I've started with Night Club, but then dropped back to Coney Island as it is much simpler and has no backglass animation.
Episode 365 - Bingo Emulation


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In this episode, I talk about what is done and in progress for my Coney Island simulator/emulator, 1962's Williams Valiant 2-player EM, the 8 Ball ball trough from Pinball Life, a fun repair on a search disc, and some corrections, thank yous, and more! Links of interest: Phil Hooper's awesome bingo site: 1962 Williams Valiant: Pinball Life's 8 Ball ball trough: Elephant Eater Comics (Ryan Claytor's awesome artwork): And my new (small) podcast, Virtually Human, a show all about the Nintendo Virtual Boy:
Episode 366 - Progress, 1962 Williams Valiant, 8 Ball ball trough, Silver Solder, Thank yous


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I'm working on the artwork and integration of the artwork with the code for Coney Island. Special thanks to Chris Dade and Ryan Claytor for all the help! This episode is all about the 1950 Bally Turf King. I picked up this game back in January, and decided to have my eldest daughter do all the renovation/restoration on the game. Ava did a fantastic job, and unbelievably, she was interested every step of the way! The game is complete, and the only thing that really needs to be done one day is to polish the shooter rod housing and coin acceptor slot. Otherwise, it looks beautiful, and plays great! Ava discusses some of the things that she learned during this odyssey, and she and I discuss gameplay and the difference between her and my gameplay styles. Lastly, I discuss a deal on bingos in Baltimore, MD. Contact me at if you're interested in one of the bingos, or for more information.
Episode 367 - Artwork, 1950 Bally Turf King, Interview with Ava Baldridge, MD Bingos for Sale


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Sal Mazzeo is a slot machine collector and restorer, and joins me for this episode of For Amusement Only. He has a fantastic collection that has really sparked my new-found interest in slot machines! He has multiple articles in Gameroom Magazine, as well as the COCA magazine. Sal has made the generous offer for anyone looking for help with slots to shoot him an email at mazzeosa@fuse.net As an interview episode, I did not wish to add in the development update this time, but the development of my multi-bingo is going very well indeed! You can follow along here:
Episode 368 - Interview with Sal Mazzeo 4-02-16


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Game progress: my game is coming along very well! I have Coney Island, Bright Lights, Broadway '51, and United Zingo reasonably finished. Now, I am working on United's Leader and Bally's Spot-Lite. My code, to this point, has been released at I'll be keeping this updated as I add each new game. Today's game is 1964's Bally 2-in-1. Very fun looking game where you have to get a hand to 21, then hold. The trouble comes in that next ball, you will get a hit unless you hit a particular rebound switch off the skill shot. View the machine at http://ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=2698
Episode 369 - Game progress, 1964 Bally 2-in-1


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My multi-bingo has come along well - up to 8 completed games, and another two in progress. Many thanks to Dennis Dodel, Chris Dade and Bingo Butch and his son Mike! Next episode I should have the first hardware episode. This episode's game is 1965's Bally 50/50. Bally has made an interesting, low-production 2 player game here - 1/2 of the playfield is essentially not useful for scoring or progression at any given time. http://ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=842&picno=9964
Epsode 370 - Game progress, 1965 Bally 50-50


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The game is starting to become a physical reality now! I went on a road trip over the weekend to pick up hardware from Dennis Dodel. Had a great time, and Ava and I got to meet Dennis and his friend Jon. Now, I'm working on the hardware and wiring, and I am more excited than ever! Today's game is 1962's Williams 3 Coins. 3 Coins is the replay version of Jolly Jokers. The layout is unique and interesting to play, as well as a lot of fun. http://ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=2535
Epsode 371 - Game progress, 1962 Williams 3 Coins


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The game's schematic is complete and now I am beginning to wire it up! So exciting to see the game move from conceptual phases to physical reality. Much, much more work left to do, but things are coming along nicely! Today's game is 1967's Bally Boot-a-Ball. This is a head-to-head EM soccer game. Each player has three sets of flippers to attempt to get the ball into their opponent's goal. http://ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=356
Episode 372 - Progress, 1967 Bally Boot-A-Ball


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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?
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  • A (Guest) Alena:
    I’m looking for Contact (1933, Williams)
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  • A (Guest) Alena:
    (AI prompt) is contact available (1933 version)?
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  • 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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