Vic, yes I am enjoying this as well. I have reached out to the overseas guys on the BBiB forums, but no response. If you are still in touch with anyone, send 'em my way.

I know of a couple of guys and will be trying to contact them as well. All in due time.

The response thus far to the bingo side of things has been really nice, and I've appreciated everyone's support (Vic, Phil, Jeffrey, Steve, Jim, Dennis and everyone I've talked to on or off the air).

Taylor, we will make this happen. I was excited to hear about a Roanoke museum opening up, and heard about the Dixieland yesterday, which just fueled my excitement even more.

-Nick

Danny, I would love to talk to you! I will send you a message here soon - let's chat!

I've been reading your site for years. Thank you for compiling the player stories and interesting happenings over the years.

-Nick

Episode 90 - The Super Card

The super card was an additional feature on bingo games with a single card. It allowed you to shoot for a smaller 3x3 grid of numbers instead of the normal 5x5 grid. The super card granted you 4-in-line scores instead of the normal 3-in-line for 3 in a row, so worth shooting for if it was lit.

Episode 91 - The Reflex

The Reflex Unit is shrouded in secrecy in bingos and horse racing games. It acts as an auto-portioning circuit. When you win on a bingo, it steps up, preventing the machine from granting you awards quickly. Conversely, when you press the button to play off credits or put in money, the machine steps down.

The connection between the hit Duran Duran song and this unit is also explained.

Episode 92 - Bowling Game Scoring with James Willing

James Willing of the Spooky Pinball Podcast's EM Dungeon segment (http://spookypinball.com/podcast) comes on to fill in my knowledge gaps on bowling games and their special modes and features, including ball bowlers and shuffle / puck bowlers.

James put up a photo of the United Skippy machine's glass on the EM Dungeon Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/emdungeon), which I have reshared on my Facebook as well. https://www.facebook.com/foramusementonlypodcast

Episode 93 - Bally Crosswords

In 1955, Bally experimented with their payout game formula, making an attractive and innovative game called "Crosswords".
Crosswords is an interesting game - you put in coins to light additional puzzles on the backglass (up to four), then play your game - if you spell a word (max of four letters), you win replays. You earn a multiplier-style reward if you also land a ball in one of two specially marked star holes.
It is a very attractive and interesting game, and looks like a lot of fun to play.

Episode 94 - EM Rifle Games - Smoke and Mirrors

Most of the big amusement manufacturers made EM rifle games, some early examples with lighted scoring, and most with score reels.

These games are very interesting in the way they present the targets to the player vs. what is actually happening inside the game.

Adjustments, game mechanics and cabinet style are discussed.

Episode 95 - Gottlieb Watch My Line

Gottlieb was famously against payout games, however in 1951, they produced a bingo style game with a throwback playfield.

There are several interesting and unusual features in this game, which are detailed within!

Episode 96 - Magic Pockets

Magic Pockets are a unique under playfield mechanism, only used on two Bally Bingos in 1955 - Gayety and Gay Time. These bingos allowed you to reposition balls in the top row of the bingo playfield (numbers 1-7).

If this wasn't enough, these machines also had the magic lines feature that allowed you to reposition numbers on the backglass. This allowed for the ability to make some great winning combinations.

Some of them did! Photo sensors worked kinda similar to optos in some games. A lot of shooting gallery games used that kind of sensor.

Episode 97 - Trade Stimulators

Trade Stimulators were small countertop amusement devices - typically modeled after slot machines.

These games would vend something similar to a gumball or other small trinket - to skirt gambling laws. The gameplay was typically gambling. If the slot came up a winner, you would notify the bar owner or shopkeep and win a free beer or other prize, or in some cases, a payout.

For amusement only, indeed!

Thanks Vic, what an excellent machine. Hope to add one to my collection some day!

Episode 98 - EM and Mechanical Slot Machines

EM and purely mechanical slot machines are very interesting creatures, mostly due to the way the mechanisms work together.
I am highly impressed with anything that is purely mechanical, though some of the EM machines have unusual or captivating features.
For this episode, I focus on two manufacturers, Bally and Mills.

Sorry for the delay, brought a machine back from the dead tonight for a customer. Expect to hear all about it soon.

For tonight, Episode 99 - the Roto Feature

The roto feature enabled the player to spin the innermost circle of numbers on a bingo card. This was only used by United, and used on three games between 1955 and 1956, never to be seen again.

Episode 100 tomorrow, check the website for something great.

Episode 100 - Interview with Ryan Claytor 5-25-15

Ryan Claytor, pinball illustrator extraordinaire comes on to talk about his EM resurrection project - a two player Williams called Swinger. Those who may be afraid of working on an EM should listen to this episode, as Ryan had never worked on an EM before this project.

Also: thanks to Ryan, we now have T-Shirts! See below!

I'm incredibly excited and honored to have worked with Ryan.

Ryan's Website: http://www.elephanteater.com/
Ryan's Swinger Restore: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/williams-swinger-restoration-and-eventual-retheme

And also: T-Shirts! They're available on our website http://foramusementonly.libsyn.com/t-shirts

Domestic and International shipping available, youth, ladies and normal sizes up to XS- 3XL

Note that this initial run will end on July 2nd to get these printed, so get 'em while they're hot.

The current price is 10% off, and will go up on July 2nd for the second run.

forAmusementOnly.jpg

Thank you Vic! Hope we are able to chat on the air again soon!

Episode 101 - Ball Troughs

Bally Bingo ball troughs are some of the best designed pinball mechanics ever produced. Working on a bingo, then switching to a modern solid state with trough issues always irks me.

Bingo ball troughs are bulletproof and another marvel of engineering.

Thank you for picking up my slack, Ryan! Looks like another bad switch to replace (in my mouse).

Happy Father's Day to all you Dads out there.

Tonight's episode - Episode 103 - 1975 Williams Satin Doll

I worked on a Satin Doll the other day, which is a 2 player EM, built in 1975.

I've never played one previously, and had never thought much of the layout. Once I saw the way the ball interacted with the various elements, I was sold. What a fun game!

A lesson that appearances can be deceiving!

I agree, Vic! Robert is a cool guy, and I hope to talk to him again as he gets them going.
I hope the remaining machines make their way out to be repaired or restored as well.

Thanks Muggle - you're always welcome to come and play it!
I'm gonna tell the story of the coil burner here soon, I think.

For tonight, though:
Episode 104 - 1947 Exhibit Treasure Chest

1947 was an interesting year for innovation in pinball. America was out of World War II, manufacturing was brought back to bear on amusement devices.

Exhibit came out with an interesting game called Treasure Chest, which contained a player-controlled magnet! This used a flipper button on the side of the cab to turn the magnet off an on to (potentially) achieve higher scores.

Years and years before such magnets would make a resurgence in solid state games in the 80s, Exhibit put one at the bottom middle of the playfield.

Interesting artwork, good use of the theme (dive down and back with the treasure to score up to 30 replays!), and of course, the magnet make this a really neat game.

Episode 105 - 1947 Chicago Coin Gold Ball

Here's an interesting game: Chicago Coin, a manufacturer with a terrible reputation (that I have not been able to fathom), created this game that automatically sensed a special 'golden ball' for double scoring.

This is fascinating for a couple of reasons:

1) There are no special mechanisms that I can see to sense the gold ball from the IPDB photos - it must use magnets or something similar.

2) It used a credit projection unit, which, though common for the time in Gottlieb games, was unusual to find in other games - especially as rigid and sturdy as this one.

The game has gorgeous Roy Parker artwork as well.

Vic, you've got eagle eyes, my man! I noticed that as well, but went with the info on the billboard ad. I don't see an adjustment for number of replays awarded on fathom completion, but I would wager that there is one. There are a few unlabeled (from the IPDB angle) adjustments that likely control replay frequency.

Also, the instruction card was worn away on that critical info, but it looks like it was set to 7 or 10 replays.

Most likely scenario is that the 30 number is comprised of winning all_ of the goals on the machine in the same round. If you examine the apron, you'll see that you can win anywhere from 1-7(?) replays by completing goals that were hidden by the operator sticker. That adds up to 28, so that's pretty close. Between that and the ad writer in Billboard possibly having incorrect information, or just rounding for convenience, we get 30.

The example on IPDB may have been set to novelty mode by the operator, which would have done away with replay award altogether. It is set to replay in the pics.

It's also likely that the designers realized that completing all of the goals on the machine to award those replays was not possible in 5 balls, thus the mechanical limit on the replay counter.

Episode 106 - Rocky Mountain Pinball Showdown Report and Feedback

Phil Bogema attended the Rocky Mountain Pinball Showdown earlier this month, and he reports on some of the games he played and enjoyed, and the overall EM availability.

He also responded to my show on slot machines a few days after that, and I've taken the liberty of posting both anecdotes here.

Vic Camp also posted a correction about my episode on Exhibit's Treasure Chest.

Thanks for the feedback, guys!

I've also posted the backglass files for my '47 Exhibit Mystery and '37 Genco Junior as promised to a listener. They are available on my site at http://foramusementonly.libsyn.com/1947-exhibit-mystery-and-1937-genco-junior-translite-files

They may not have been the final files that were sent to the printer, but they were pretty close. Forgive any issues with them, I'm not an artist, and had to recreate large portions of the artwork manually in a short period of time. Not perfect, but workable!

You need a special program to open/edit the files. If anyone needs the files for their game, and would prefer a PDF export to get it printed, just let me know. These source files will allow you to edit very easily, however, if desired.

Thank you Mk1Mod0, I've really enjoyed seeing your acrylic Super Straight come (back to) life. Cool idea and fantastic execution!

Episode 107 - Broken Switch Replacement

Replacing a broken switch is something that you'll have to do sooner or later. It's relatively simple, but keep track of the spacers and the order in case you have to reassemble from scratch.

Episode 108 - Mini - Lonnie Irving - Pinball Machine

Short one tonight - a bit of feedback had me check out a song available on Youtube - Lonnie Irving's 1960 song Pinball Machine discusses the evils of bingo pinball playing.

Episode 109 - Coil Tech

Need to know how to take basic care of your coils, listen here!

If you need to replace a coil - contact the Pinball Resource or John's Jukes to get the appropriate replacement.
They both carry various sizes of coils, stops, sleeves, etc.

Marcos also carries all these supplies.

Episode 110 - Interview with Brent Amrhein

Brent Amrhein is a friend of mine, younger than me, and I have successfully convinced him to play as much pinball as possible.

Based in Atlanta, he went to the Southern Fried Gameroom Expo, and I ask him what he thinks of the various machines and the show in general.

There is some Solid State talk in this one, as Brent is rather new to pinball.

He was able to play some classic EMs at the show, so I ask him questions about the various machines.

One day you'll beat that Egghead!

Thanks Vic, it's fun to encourage someone to attend their first show, and check out the unusual older games that you don't see everywhere. It's all new to Brent!

Episode 111 - Gottlieb 1960 Dancing Dolls

Dancing Dolls is a woodrail, has lighted scoring, and has a unique backglass animation.

Beyond the cool animation, the game has multiple pop bumpers, slings, rollovers, 2" flippers and some standup targets. Quite a bit to do, and the animation is incredibly neat.

Episode 112 - Interview with Don Walton

Don is one of the hosts of The Pinball Podcast (www.thepinballpodcast.com).
He recently attended the Rocky Mountain Pinball Showdown and found the elusive Scoregasm Master.

Topics range from Scoregasm gameplay, construction and features to bingos, general repair, and the unrealistic nudge physics of the Pinball Arcade.

Episode 113 - Miss America Tutorial

Ryan Claytor made his way to the Pinball Hall of Fame in Las Vegas, and wanted to try his first bingo.

He contacted me for a brief tutorial on the game.

In this case, it was one of the many Miss America games produced by Bally.

Miss America games are characterized by horizontal Magic Lines and high scoring potential.

I plan to put this writeup on my site as well.

Posting write-up a bit early, episode releases at 8pm Eastern (US).

Episode 114 - Clear coating playfield

My thoughts on clear coating playfields - I'm not a huge proponent, which I know is an unpopular stance.

Hear me out, though: ball travel is all important in any flipper game. Knowing how the ball will react is also critical. When the game is being played with a clear coated playfield, the ball reacts as if it is skating on a layer of ice above the wood. Spin and travel are not as they normally would be for that title. Ball travel is also critical for the bingo: one of your measures of control is knowing how the ball will react when striking a post or spring.

There are exceptions to my thought - if you do playfield touch-ups, you will want to clear coat over top of the touch-ups to help preserve the new artwork. The original artwork has a shellac or other lacquer finish that has preserved the artwork for 50-60 even 70 years - why mess with success?

I ensure that my games are waxed regularly, and this preserves their paint.