Ah, those are 'teaser' lights - they light up to let you know where you will receive the feature /if/ the machine decides to award you the screen.

By default, positions A-D light on the screen, and before 4th. If you are pumping in nickels and not receiving the feature, the machine will tease you that you may receive an 'upgrade' when you finally get the feature. There are teasers under the screen positions on most games, too.

Episode 182 - 1975 Bally Miss Universe

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 183 - 1951 Bally Coney Island

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!

Thanks Vic - I agree - the three card layout is a good entry point to the bingos!

Episode 184 - 1960 Bally Circus Queen

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.

Both Cypress Gardens and Palm Beach are desirable games due to their features. Those prices are excellent, too, for fully working games!

Just read up on the Stop 'n Shop feature on Cypress Gardens. Oh man, I want one now!

I haven't met one yet, ha-ha!

Episode 185 - 1978 Bally Nashville

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!

Vic, I'd love to talk to someone that has a deep love and affection for the 20 hole games - I wonder often if there was a portion of the country where folks appreciated those games more due to restrictions on running the 25 hole games or other things that we would ordinarily have no concept of - interesting to think about.

Especially as I am knee-deep in yet another Double-Up tweak, haha.

I had a ton of fun playing that Dixieland at your home, Dixieland is truly incredible, with the Double-double feature. As far as I know, that is the largest payout possible on a single game for any of the Bally Bingos, though I really need to study the partially solid state games that came out in the 20 hole series.

Episode 186 - 1961 Bally Bikini with Steve Smith

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:

Thanks Vic! I'd be super excited to talk to John Robinette.

Double-Up is fixed fully and the reason it took precedence is that I am going to bring that to the show, too! Now there will be a 20 hole example at York as well. We're well on the way to an example of one of each of the major moving numbers features that Bally introduced making an appearance.

I'll explain the troubleshooting process in an episode airing in the next couple of days.

Episode 187 - 1962 Bally Golden Gate

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 188 - Double-Up is coming to the bingo row!

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!

Somewhere north of 12 - there's still a few that may come if I can help the collectors fix them in time! Hopefully everyone's able to bring their games and this all works out well!

I've got ... another 3-4 episodes after tonight's.

Some of these games may not make it to the show, but I'm really hopeful that we'll have a large number of bingos there. I think I need a couple of clones, though.

Regardless of the number of bingos, I'm really excited to get to meet some of my listeners, play some new games, make some new friends and generally have a great time.

Super excited!

For those like Vic that are planning to bring a game or thinking about it - thank you! I know it is a tremendous amount of work to pull off what we've been planning, and to have so many collectors participate is really amazing, humbling, and exciting all rolled into one.

It's hard not to be excited to see these games in action.

Also, that Tropics is so beautiful, Vic, wow!

Vic, good call - if someone has a game that they could/would bring to York, pm me and let's discuss.

Also, that Tropics is looking very nice! Love the United solution to lamp shields - similar to midway pitch and bat lighting.

Episode 189 - 1959 Bally County Fair

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!

way2wyrd - I've never played one, but the power of moving the center number with the much easier to hit #5? And the ability to increase your bet after starting the game? I'm sold.

Episode 190 - 1962 Bally Silver Sails

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.

Can you believe I've been doing this for almost 200 episodes and still can't figure out the time difference between the server and my local time?

Accidentally published this last night:

Episode 191 - 1978 Bally Dixieland

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.

Note that the podcast I mentioned in this epsiode has some/much foul language for those that care about such things, so be aware if you check it out.

Recording an interview tonight, so no extra episode. Accidental double dose yesterday will have to tide you over!

Episode 192 - ...and the rest

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!

New in box bingo alert! Another Tahiti has been uncovered and is for sale in Charleston, SC on Craigslist.

This game is a 20 hole with the odds and even ball drop feature (which hadn't been seen in years before Tahiti came out), but not extra balls. Some people love it, some people hate it.

A new in box bingo is an unlikely find in 2015!

Thanks btw75. Device wouldn't copy and paste the link for me earlier.

That's absolutely true. I've never played one, but I'm interested to do so one day. Whoever picks up this brand new bingo, let me know!

All you'd have to do is oil the motors (takes 2 seconds) and let 'er rip! You'd probably want to oil the clutches with neatsfoot after a few games, but other than that, nothing to adjust, everything clean(!) and beautiful. What a find!

Better than that, someone pick it up and bring it to York to share!

I've heard that a lot from the 25 hole guys - played a couple of 25 holes before, but my first bingo purchase was the double-up so I have a soft spot. I generally enjoy the gameplay of the 25 holes more myself, but the only 20 holes I've played were Double-Up, and border beauty (and a zodiac without a backglass).

How'd you like it MrBally? Do you still own it?

Episode 193 - 1956 United Caravan

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!