I voted yes. Good idea. Bingos are not EM.

Bingos have their own special world. Spend a little time listening to Vic Camp if you're not convinced. The topic needs a sub-forum.

My thought would be to add a separate forum for bingos, one for one ball games, and maintain the one for flipperless.

Some of these games (bingo and one ball), to jlm's point, are solid state.

So much bingo activity! I'm excited!

The games are a lot of fun and mine is a keeper. I hope the recent bingo activity continues thanks to Nick and Vic but have some doubt. Pinball is a small hobby anyway with sub EM offshoots like Bingo's and US based baseball games much less. Other global bingo forums are not well supported either. Saying that Pinside may be one of the few places that could support a global sub forum that could grow, certainly needs one.

I am usually a positive guy and hope the guys voting yes are bingo guys and not pinball purists that then would be able to choose ignore and remove any traces of bingo's on their PC.

Steve J.

You already have a flipperless subforum that is barely used. Why add another one?

Because "flipperless" is for flipperless pinball games, and "bingo machines" would be for bingos. There are distinctly different enthusiasts for both. Obviously, they won't be as heavily used as the other sub-forums, but it would make it easier to check on bingo activity for the guys who are into those games.

yup especially as it seems to either be a growing interest around here , that or a bigger bingo community.

--Jeff

Well, bingos certainly are EM, although there are some solid-state models as well. They are in many ways much more complex than EM flipper games.

And contrary to popular belief solid state games and beyond are also EM. But somebody else may have to explain that one..

True.

And I, for one, would like to be able to see at a glance if I am talking about a prewar or mechanical game vs. a bingo. Why not subdivide? It makes everything easier to find. Though the search is useful, being able to filter down to the appropriate level just to see bingo activity would be helpful.

This is the subtitle of the flipperless forum:

Games with balls, but no flippers! Bingo machines and Bagatelles can be discussed here too!

Why not also add one for bagatelles and one with balls but no flippers and eliminate that forum, then? It doesn't make too much difference, I suppose, but as this site sits, as someone relatively new to the site, there are way too many forums and subforums to navigate, IMO and it gets frustrating at times to try to figure out what should go where and where to go for what.

Absolutely not. There's little to no Bingo discussion around here, and there's little to no people *I* know who collect bingos. I don't think I've never even seen a working bingo and I've been in the hobby for 15 years trading EMs and seen probably 100 game rooms.

That stuff is fine in the EM forum and anybody who cares about Bingos is gonna be there anyway. I fear a bingo subforum would be a desolate wasteland.

Have you really thought about this? I prefer you leave it alone if this is the direction.

I would absolutely agree with Steve. Saying that bingos are not 'pinball' is an interesting distinction and there's already the setup you're describing except with a tech section (the flipperless forum). Might as well keep the status quo with that setup.

Bingos are absolutely pinball. Of course, my opinion only, but it's a strong one!

The thought is that you can more easily click into the content you want to see if you are a new pinside user or old timer that wants to see bingo stuff. If you don't, turn it off. Remember, this also makes the site more accessible for bingo folks coming in (new users) that don't like flipper stuff. Yes, they exist. Makes the site friendlier for those folks.

Yeah, it is all EM for the most part, but being able to see all the bingo things would be convenient. I know I love seeing the purely mechanical and early EM stuff in a separate area now for flipperless. Maybe I'm the only one.

Flipperless would remain. Bagatelles and pure mechanical and early EM would still reside there. And arcade machines (sure, why not)?

Levi, bingos are at the York show every year. If you have time, come check them out. I know quite a few people that collect them, but I'm in that world. You have to devote some time and head space to understanding them. I'm not saying that you'll love them or that they're for everyone, but if you want to see some working ones, that's a great place to go.

I had to think about you observation and why I was uncomfortable with it when it is a fact.

It's because I think Pinside is always evolving and some people get a little uncomfortable with change but thats probably why Pinside is still growing. In the early Pinside days from people's posts it had quite a small following similar to the flipper less sub forum. I like flipper games and base ball games and my bingo. They are all pinballs to me. This site is so easy to navigate you could have a bunch more sub forums and understand it in your first visit, please.

Levi sees things from his view point, doesn't see money in bingos so doesn't see bingos. There is bingo chat here and has been for a while otherwise in early 2014 why would I have joined as I started with a bingo not a flipper game. Also I read his posts which I enjoy on another forum and he admits to being a little bit of a devil over here.

What's the harm in a bingo sub forum so we can see where it goes? Also what's the harm in a baseball sub forum. There is a lot of EM guys out there that have games as well as ones with flippers that don't visit here, Robin may be onto something here.

Just saying.
Steve J.

Yeah, a pitch and bat forum would be neat as well. Otherwise you rely on specific search terms to try to find topics of interest. Some days I want to read about pitch and bats. Play them a lot when I can, but don't have any friends with them, and I've never devoted the space. Gotta rely on searches or favorites. That works but it could be much more elegant. Ditto for bingos.

I see no need to create a whole new forum. Just change flipperless to "Flipperless/Bingo". After all, that is what bingo's are, flipperless. Very few topics get created in that category as is, might as well add to it.

Sounds like a reasonable compromise to me. Bingo lovers would easily find where to find appropriate material.

I don't see the difference between an old pre-flipper pinball machine and a Bingo. Other than the former tend to be bigger, and some had backglasses, what makes Bingos not fit in Flipperless subforum?

Merge it with the Flipperless subforum. It's barely used and I think the fanbase for those flipperless pinball machines is pretty non-existant besides a select few, and that those people wouldn't mind the merger. I don't mean to sound morbid but I think if there was a big fanbase of flipperless games (which are pretty old), they've passed already or at least are not online.

I say this after a discussion with another Pinsider while doing a pickup of a few machines, about him trying to sell them, buy them, and seeing them at shows decades ago when the people they called the "old timers" brought them, and those "old timers" are now unfortunately gone since they were already older then, and compared those times to now and how prices have changed over the years because of this unfortunate fact. It's certainly not a large fanbase and isn't getting any larger.

You don't often come across bingos in NY. The only one I ever saw actually operating on location was in Memphis Tennessee, and that was about twenty years ago. That doesn't mean they aren't big in other parts of the country. I've seen a large increase in the interest of players and collectors in these games recently, hence my proposal for a separate sub-forum. Much of this interest has been generated through the efforts and enthusiasm of Vic Camp and Nick of "bingopodcast". Did anyone see the "bingo row" at last year's York, PA show? It was a substantial number of machines, and they got a good workout all weekend. This year's York show will feature another, probably larger row of bingo machines.
There has also been a noticeable increase in the number of bingos up for auction on eBay, as well as a market for reproduction backglasses. Flipper pinball enthusiasts are often turned off by bingos (what, no powered playfield components!), but that's a bias that is often reversed when one takes the time to explore the intricacies and strategies of their gameplay.
Having a separate area where all the bingo talk can take place seems like an idea who's time has come.

The Flipperless subforum currently gets quite a mixture of things, ranging from actual pre-flipper pinball games, arcade games, related game room 'toys' and bingos.

If it were me, I'd replace 'Flipperless' with 'EM Arcade', 'EM Pre-WWII', and 'Bingos' and see how it goes. P&B's would be arcade.

Those seem to be the three categories that get any traffic, and would possibly provide more clear guidance on where to post stuff. I'm not sure folks have really understood how to use 'Flipperless' as a category, as that's not typically how we refer to the games in those various categories.

The early pre-WWII games have some resurging cult interest...

But that's just me.

Yep! I see it too!

As far as the collectors of flipperless games dying off... I'm still breathing.

I love flipperless (Pre-1947) games as well as bingos and flipper games.

I do think pitch and bats could be their own category, there's lots of pnb talk on here, would be nice to group it.

I do have a question, and this is just a curiosity thing (computer guy here) - is it more difficult to maintain new categories as they come up? Is there a big tradeoff in speed for splitting this out? Not sure why the hesitancy - could it not be merged back into another category if it didn't work out? I understand that this could be a lot of work, but if the forum will be as underutilized as non-bingo folks are saying, it might be pretty trivial.

It seems like it would just aid discussion on these topics - but I don't understand nor claim to understand the architecture of the Pinside DB or backend.

Im with Dirt. Those 3 categories are the main topics and would make it easier to find what im looking for.

Whats the harm?

--Jeff

There has definitely been an influx of Bingo talk, both on Pinside and off. I'd agree with way2wyrd:

It also appears as though there's an overwhelming majority of folks in favor of it:

YesToBingos_(resized).jpg

I guess I'm a little fuzzy on the critera for adding a sub-forum category.

Is it fear of lack of interest? If so, worst case scenario; try it out and if there are zero posts in the Bingo Sub-Forum after a determined amount of time, sure...pull it. But I'd be willing to wager there will be some activity in there.

Is it the assumption that Bingo Pinball is not "pinball" enough to be a part of the Pinside discussion board? That just seems downright ignorant. Bingo and Flipper pinball history are integrally related, they share many mechanism/manufacturers/form with one another, and they both have "pinball" in their name for goodness sakes. They are such close cousins that flipper and bingo pinball would probably be ill-advised to procreate with one another.

Is it an interest in maintaining a honed and concise list of sub-forms?

subforums_(resized).jpg

Here's hoping we can add another area of pinball-interest to this growing hobby of ours.

Sincerely,
Ryan

I vote for a new Bingo sub-forum. Characterizing bingo games as flipperless is to miss their main point, IMO - they are primarily gambing games, a true sub-species in the EM world.

Any definitive answer on this request?

The bingos have finally earned their place in the pinball hobby and the time is now for a Sub Forum. Lets do it!

Yes!

Tarnation!

Now get those gambl'in fangled bingo machines out of my dern EM pinball section and in dar own EM sub form grab nabit dabit!

Signed,

Old Codger

old_fart_(resized).png

missed the vote,. I never go to the fliipperless or bingo threads, games do not interest me. I have played some cool woodrails, but they had flippers. For that matter I never go anywhere but EM tech and EM General Discussion. I owned ONE, ONE SS pin, hated the mofo, didn't last very long, traded it for a Palace Guard, that was more my speed and liking. And to dive the knife deeper into my wallet., I stand to lose 300 or more on the deal. Lesson learned, I was born in the 50's and should stick to what I like. I actually stopped playing pinball in the early 80's when the SS pins pushed out the EM games and the Pac Mans took out the rifle games. Selfishly, I wish the SS pins were not invented until 5-7 years later, giving us more EM classics and more rifle games

And while I can't say I own one yet Vic, I am proud to say I was schooled by you. Some day I'll squeeze one in my place, and I'll be loving every minute of it.

Brian

A Bingo Category would be nice.

50 people interested in a bingo subforum as of 3/14/16! Very impressive.

Only 17 that want to keep it as is.

Sure, why not? Can't hurt... Annd I need a nice condition Bally "Beauty" BG

My bingo machine actually gets the most play when people are over, it's weird, but people love it.

I'll keep my eye out for you - in the mean-time, you may want to periodically check in this thread since I post machines and hard to find parts:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/some-nice-looking-bingo-pinballs-came-up-on-cl

There were a couple of Beauties over the last month or so, but no NOS glasses.

Would be a bit easier to find the thread with a dedicated subforum.

Is this still not a thing? Robin, can we make this a thing, please?

Yay!

Hi Chrisbee - any update? I've found some more bingo threads that I didn't realize were bingo threads.

I'm looking forward to the new sub forums, as I'd like to be able to help people more easily.

Ditto - what Nick says. I have found a few Bingo threads I missed . They would be easier to find in a dedicated spot. In Bingo language it's like playing without enough features lit - tough to score all the Bingo threads. I'd really be pleased to see a new sub forum for Bingos. That would be a 5 in a row in my book !

Today! Working on it as we speak...

Update: done!

Sweet

Thank you Robin! Much appreciated!

Yes - Thanks. Very helpful to have this done ! Two thumbs up.

Lots of new features on Pinside. Thanks for the bingo sub-forum and the other neat stuff.