For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast Feed

Another Bally invention, the mushroom bumper is a really fancy target that feels very satisfying to hit. How they work and common problems.
Episode 148 - Mushroom Bumpers


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Bally's innovations continue with the Chicane Lane, a feature that slows the ball down and wiggles it back and forth to draw the player's attention. Amazingly simple in execution, two stacked plastics!
Episode 149 - The Chicane Lane


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Bally reintroduced the world to multiball through Balls-a-Poppin in 1956. They continued to produce multiball machines throughout the remainder of the EM era.
Episode 150 - Multiball


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Flip Flags are a unique feature found on only 3 Bally machines, beginning with Wizard! in 1975. The EM Dungeon did a treatise on this topic all the way back in episode 6 of the Spooky Pinball Podcast. A fun feature that was obliterated with the rise of solid state.
Episode 151 - Flip Flags


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Charles Rowland is a local (to the Richmond, VA area) operator who has been in the industry since the 1960s. Charles has fascinating stories about running bingos and EMs on location during their heyday. He currently runs Games People Play, a shop that sells to home game enthusiasts and runs games on location. Games People Play is on Dabney Rd is in the near West End in Richmond, VA.
Episode 152 - Interview with Charles Rowland 8-5-15


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Special guest host Fake Nick Baldridge joins us for a walkthrough of the 1973 Jubilee that he owns. FNB does an excellent job describing the features and gameplay on his game. Hopefully FNB comes back for an episode in the future - thanks FNB!
Episode 153 - Jubilee is the Shizzy


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I finally made the trip up to NJ and met Vic in person. Vic spent the whole day with me and shared his amazing collection and variety of gorgeous bingos. We talk about the day, his truly fantastic collection and the unique and wonderful bingo gameplay of the games in his collection. The best part: I drove home that night with two new bingos in my van - 1955 Gay Time and 1956 Night Club!
Episode 154 - Discussion with Vic Camp 8-7-15


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Bally thought long and hard about how the player would approach and play their bingo games, but they also thought about the poor guy who would have to maintain them! Learn some of the secrets of working on a bingo in this episode.
Episode 155 - Bally's Thoughtfulness


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Bally actually made it very easy to swap units in and out of a bingo. Today I talk about how to remove a control unit motor from a Bally bingo. I have a couple of photos of the removal up on the Facebook/Instagram/Twitter pages. But it is just about how you might imagine it. Once I have the new motor installed (hopefully by the end of the week), I will likely have a working game!
Episode 156 - Changing a Control Unit Motor


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I finished replacing the control unit motor on Gay Time, and the game roared to life! I only had two items that needed tweaking, then the game started playing perfectly. My first test game, when I wasn't really trying, I got a 5-in-a-line! I've been unable to replicate this feat thus far.
Episode 157 - Gay Time is Running


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I spent a bit of time tonight looking at my new Night Club project. I began shopping the units in the head, and have finished a good portion. This is what is needed to get the game going.
Episode 158 - Night Club Inspection


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Pinside user btw75 just picked up his first Bally bingo! A Circus Queen magic screen game. He also provided me with a great tech tip (or TekTip) that I just had to share. Thanks btw75!
Episode 159 - Btw75 TekTip


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Bingo playfields are not all created equal. I have a bingo playfield swap about 90% complete, and note some differences between solid state bingo playfields and their Bally counterparts.
Episode 160 - Bingo Playfield Swap - Night Club Progress


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Bally bingos have a button under the shooter rod that is only usable at certain times during gameplay. What is the function of this button? Why was it included? Is there any difference between the various games Bally produced with regard to this button?
Episode 161 - Bingo Ball Lift Button


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Had a productive evening. Finished cleaning and swapping parts that I had onto Night Club - enough to get the game to turn on. I have two of the motors moving appropriately, and various relays are doing the correct thing. Very exciting! I'm waiting on a few parts to get it fully working, but at the moment, it feels good to make progress.
Episode 162 - Night Club Lives! (Partially)


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Bingos have a special mechanism underneath the playfield which will trap or release the balls. This mechanism is pretty neat and actually controls quite a bit of the game logic depending on state (open or closed). Some issues that can occur with the shutter are discussed.
Episode 163 - The Shutter


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Bally Bingos have a special part underneath the playfield that is designed to return the balls to the trough. This part, despite its simplicity, is also an elegant solution to getting all the balls back into the trough without jamming.
Episode 164 - The Ball Return Board


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Bally's bingos had a ball lifter that would handle multiple tasks - chief among them, to serve a ball to the shooter lane to allow the player the chance to fire!
Episode 165 - The Ball Lifter


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The solid state bingos made by Wimi or GAA have a different type of ball return board - the design has one advantage over the Bally style of ball return, however, it also has a few disdvantages.
Episode 166 - Solid State Bingo Ball Returns


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Bally Bingos were big money. If the machines had a feature that allowed for skilled players to earn replays too quickly, some sly operators would disable that feature. Alternatively, they might make it come up much less frequently. Working on a hacked game can be difficult - some of the technicians were very clever. The ham-fisted ones are usually very obvious and easy to repair.
Episode 167 - Bingo Hacks


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In 1952, Williams put out a bingo-style game that encourages you to land in the four corners of the card to win the most replays. As with most woodrails, there are multiple ways to win replays. In this case, you win replays based on three or four in line on the bingo card. It looks like a very fun game!
Episode 168 - 1952 Williams Four Corners


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The bingo helpline lights up again tonight with a call about how to most effectively troubleshoot the scoring on a magic screen. I give my personal method for troubleshooting, and explain the (few) shortcuts I take. Troubleshooting a new game for me using this method takes only a few hours. Congratulations on getting your blue section working, btw75!
Episode 169 - Troubleshooting Magic Screen Scoring


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There are multiple ways to reglue inserts. In this episode, I give the method that I use. When inserts are loose, they must be removed and re-adhered to the game to prevent nasty playfield wear.
Episode 170 - Insert Leveling the Easy Way


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Insert cupping is much more difficult to fix than sunken inserts. There are several methods that can be used, and I give some of the pros and cons of each. Get ready for nerve-wracking sanding!
Episode 171 - Fixing Cupped Inserts


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Bally's Night Club (1956) was a heckuva game. Rotating numbers in the corners of the bingo card, changes to quadruple your wins in certain areas of the backglass, corners scoring, an extended time tree, and the Ballyhole! Whew! That's a lot of features! One of my all-time favorite bingos, and mine is running, so I'm a happy camper.
Episode 172 - 1956 Bally Night Club


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