For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast Feed

My replacement Night Club playfield came with a problem: the ball arch between the shooter lane to the rebound rubber, was routed down about 1/4 inch. I've thought about several methods for repair, and decided to try Varathane as I have a can here, and it holds up to ball travel normally... We will see how it holds up!
Episode 173 - Router on Ball Arch Repair


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Thanks to previous interviewee Phil Bogema for the subject of this episode. You can substitute a fuse for a circuit breaker temporarily to troubleshoot problems in any game. Using the link: https://www.bluesea.com/products/category/0/26/Push Button Reset-Only you can find the quick connect breaker of the size you need to troubleshoot your game. Typical breaker sizes are 5, 10 and 15 Amps for most EM games.
Episode 174 - Using Circuit Breakers Instead of Fuses for Troubleshooting


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Properly lubricated motors will ensure that your game functions properly for years and years to come. Some games have easy-fill tubes or wicks to allow you to lubricate their motors. Other games have sealed gearboxes. Techniques for lubing both are within!
Episode 175 - Motor Lubrication


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I've run into a couple of things I didn't know about at all this week, namely: Some Gottlieb games had a weird Jones Plug arrangement. Not all woodrails are created equal.
Episode 176 - EM Oddities Week of 9-1-15


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Vic Camp joins as co-host for tonight's episode - we talk about the payouts, features and gameplay of the six card bingos produced by Bally, starting with Bright Lights, all the way to Dixieland. My Ticker Tape: Some actual bingo gameplay:
Episode 177 - Strictly Six Cards with Vic Camp


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Stepper Units are crucial to the proper operation of an EM - in this episode, I talk about disassembling, cleaning and rebuilding the typical step up/reset unit - found on most EM games including the bingos!
Episode 178 - Rebuilding Stepper Units


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Gay Time is a fantastic player that has features and gameplay well ahead of its time. The Magic Pockets feature, which has always sounded so cool, is actually incredibly cool. The game will sense when there is a ball in the first row of holes, and allow or prevent you from moving based on the position. Aside from that, there are spotted numbers, corners scoring, and the magic lines. All explained in this episode!
Episode 179 - 1955 Bally Gay Time


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A special guest joins me tonight to talk about her favorite bingo: 1972's Bally Ticker Tape. As you heard on Episode 177, Ticker Tape is a 6 card bingo, with super lines, corner scoring and a 'Double or Nothing' feature.
Episode 180 - 1972 Bally Ticker Tape with Special Guest


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The Bounty - one of the most highly-prized magic screen games - is packed with features to keep players coming back. Triple-deck scoring, three separate OK features, Magic screen with two super sections and a blue section scoring, an extended time tree, and of course, the skill shot. Bounty was released only as an export game in 1963.
Episode 181 - 1963 Bally Bounty


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Bally's Miss Universe is a very unusual bingo - with only three balls, and the majority of the gameplay involved with spotted numbers. This is the only 18-hole bingo produced, made in 1975, five years before Bally closed down bingo production. A very interesting game, and I look forward to playing one at York, hopefully! Check out this video:
Episode 182 - 1975 Bally Miss Universe


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Coney Island is a fantastic game - the second bingo Bally produced, it came out in 1951 with three cards, and the first appearance of the extra ball feature. Up to 8 balls in play at once, and the game will discover and award replays on each of the three cards. The first bingo appearance of the reflex and mixer units, along with the automatic ball lifter. Max payout was 100. Great artwork, a nice small straightforward bingo!
Episode 183 - 1951 Bally Coney Island


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Bally's Circus Queen is a magic screen game with an unusual feature: three balls in the orange section, when the feature is lit, will score as three in the green! This was the first game with dedicated blue section scoring. This allows for 3 or 2 in the blue section to score 300 or 600 replays. Triple deck scoring, an extended time tree with the rollovers, and the OK game round out the package.
Episode 184 - 1960 Bally Circus Queen


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Nashville is a late-era 6 card game - it came out in 1978, with only one more 6 card to arrive after before Bally closed their production down in 1980. Nashville has all the features of Ticker Tape, but adds rollover buttons to achieve super lines and corner scoring on all 6 cards simultaneously, the magic number, which, when hit, will double all scores on each card, and the lovely red diagonals, which will allow for 8 additional scoring lines per card. I've never played a Nashville, and look forward to playing it at the show in October!
Episode 185 - 1978 Bally Nashville


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Bikini is the sister game to Circus Queen (as I learned tonight). It has all the features of Circus Queen, plus a new way to store your OK game for later play. You can build up this 'futurity' game to 12 different positions, each which give a different game. The normal red letter game has seven different positions. The 3 in the orange scores as green makes a return, normal magic screen gameplay, including the blue section scoring. Triple deck scoring, an extended time tree with rollovers rounds out the package. Great beach-themed artwork on the cabinet and backglass. Jeffrey Lawton describes Steve's Bikini here:
Episode 186 - 1961 Bally Bikini with Steve Smith


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Steve's back to talk about his other game, which will be making an appearance at this year's York show: 1962's Golden Gate. Golden Gate is a really fun magic screen game that has an entire game unique to only Golden Gate and Silver Sails (the sister game of Golden Gate) - the Golden Game. Qualifying this game by landing three in the purple section (the area surrounding the orange section for the OK qualifier), will cause the screen to shift and load 5 balls - you have 5 chances to land 3 in the appropriate sections to score the indicated number of replays - up to 600! Triple deck scoring, pick a play, the red letter game, up to three extra balls and the blue section all round out the package. This is one of my favorite cabinet stencils, and one of the most complex.
Episode 187 - 1962 Bally Golden Gate with Steve Smith


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A surprise for those who don't read the Pinside thread for the show - I managed to fix a pesky problem with Double-Up and it is ready for the show! It will be the only example of a 20 hole game there. I've discussed Double-Up's features and scoring on a previous episode, so I thought I'd go over the troubleshooting process on this episode. I got frustrated enough to reach out to Phil Hooper, and as soon as I sent the email, I found the problem and fixed it. The game is an awful lot friendlier with a working set of mixers!
Episode 188 - Double-Up is coming to the Bingo Row!


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The first game to feature the separate Red Letter Game or OK game, County Fair has some of the most impressive artwork of any Bally Bingo. It has the blue section scores as green, and triple deck scoring. A gorgeous game, I hope it comes to York so that I can play it!
Episode 189 - 1959 Bally County Fair


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Bally's Silver Sails is the sister game to Golden Gate, and contains all the features of Golden Gate, but has a completely different art package. In this episode, I talk about those differences, then stumble on the one minor electrical difference in the backbox. Aside from this, artwork and playability are discussed. In Jeffrey Lawton's Bally Bingo Pinball Machines, pg. 107, you can read about how the Golden Game works and what is involved in winning this special mode.
Episode 190 - 1962 Bally Silver Sails


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Dixieland was Bally's last and greatest EM six card game. It has all the features of Nashville, plus a randomly awarded Double-Double feature that will award you quadruple the replays if you make your hit on an indicated card and make the magic number. The maximum payout on card #6 is 300 ordinarily, but if you double that with a magic number win, you get 600, and if you quadruple that you get 1200. If you press the 'D' button on the lockbar when the game looks for winners, you will be awarded 2400 replays (or none at all)! Dixieland is challenging and exciting as your strategy has to shift multiple times during the game. You may start looking for a 5 in a row on card #6, but wind up working the super line on card #1. The game that may come to York is a 'Single Coin' conversion of Dixieland. All the features are intact, but the game starts fully off of a single coin drop or button press.
Episode 191 - 1978 Bally Dixieland


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These three games may make it to the York show: 1960-63 (Unknown) - Bally Spot 'Em 1950s Keeney (Converted to Single Coin) 1956 Bally Night Club - my own game is almost complete and may make the trip!
Episode 192 - ... and the rest


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I forgot one! And it's the one that I'm most excited about - a game I've made a deal on to pick up at York - 1956's Caravan by United. Way too many ways to win, gorgeous artwork, and the unique United moving numbers feature. What an excellent game. Confirmed for Saturday at York!
Episode 193 - 1956 United Caravan


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Gordon Hasse, the famous woodrail pinball collector, discusses his recollections playing these beautiful games on location, where he learned pinball repair and maintenance, some of his favorite games and his upcoming book on 1954 Gottlieb woodrails! To be put on the list for his book, please email hasse.gordon at gmail dot com Gordon made an incredibly generous donation to the Pacific Pinball Museum (see: http://www.pinballnews.com/news/ppmdonation.html). Please visit the Pacific Pinball Museum at : 1510 Webster Street Alameda, CA 94501 (510) 205-6959 Tues - Thurs: 2pm - 9pm Friday: 2pm - midnight Saturday: 11am - midnight Sunday: 11am - 9pm Monday: closed Also closed on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and New Year's Day. $15 for adults $7.50 for kids under 16 (and you can play all day and as late as midnight!) Please consider donating some time, money or even games to keep the machines we love alive for future generations. I hope to make it out there one day soon and play some of Gordon's great games! http://pacificpinball.org/
Episode 194 - Interview with Gordon Hasse 9-17-15


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Jack 'N Jill was manufactured by Gottlieb in 1948 as part of the 'fairy tale' series - the first games manufactured with flippers. This game's dominant feature is the amazing artwork. There are multiple ways to earn replays, and the flippers allow you to move the ball back and forth across the playfield as you descend. Jack's eyes at the bottom flash when you hit various items rapidly. The backglass animation is also very cool, and in the style of the other early backglass animations on Gottlieb games. A great overall package, and I hope to play one again one day!
Episode 195 - 1948 Gottlieb Jack 'N Jill


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Bally reprised the name Ballyhoo in 1947 with this super fun layout. This flipperless game has a unique feature - two diamond shapes on the playfield with a total of seven kickout holes arranged in those diamonds. The ball will travel from hole to hole and around a bottom arch back into another kickout hole (hopefully). You win on score, and the only sequence opportunity is to hit one of the side rollovers to light super special at the lower passive bumpers.
Episode 196 - 1947 Bally Ballyhoo


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Criss Cross has an interesting gameplay feature - make three in a line or four corners to earn replays... sound familiar? This game has a unique roto target with colored standups that light the bumpers of corresponding color. Lighting four corners lights the gobble holes for special! Really fun gameplay with very interesting artwork.
Episode 197 - 1958 Gottlieb Criss Cross


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