Hello All -

I'm writing here because I recently met a Father/Son duo near me that have recently purchased a bingo machine (Bally Single Coin) that is nearly there, but not quite fully working. I went over and did a whole host of tests, and while most of the machine is functioning, I can't seem to get it to score or step up when a bingo line is made. I'm a pinball guy and have never been in a bingo machine before - so I'm pretty familiar with the pieces (switches/steppers/motors/coils/etc), but the actual operation of the game is brand new.

I've attached a picture for reference... These six large discs at the bottom do absolutely nothing and the game will not 'score' or add to the credit window. Here is what I know so far (coupled with my understanding of the functionality). If anyone has any idea of what to look at, I'd greatly appreciate the assist.

- The game starts fine when a coin is dropped (or start relay triggered)
- The arch switch starts the timer stepper. The customer asked for this timer to be disabled for home use, so I slightly bent the switch on the motor that triggers the timer set up. Scoring was not working before this modification
- The balls trigger a little switch in each hole which then lights the bingo cards (all switches are working)
- When a button is pressed on the lock down bar, it initiates a search function. This kicks both the 1-2-3 scanner and 4-5-6 scanner sequentially. If held, it keeps scanning
- As it scans - there are 5 smaller coils/switch stacks that are all functioning, checked for proper gaps, and making contact when balls are in various holes.

However - at this point, the machine does nothing else. If the timer motor is engaged, it just sits until the timer stops it. Otherwise, it'll keep going until turned off.

- I checked all six bottom mechs and wipers - all steppers work when manually activated to step up - if they are not at the zero position, the coin drop/start up sequence does engage the other coil to zero all six out.
- All other steppers function as expected when manually moved
- Credits will decrement on start up (6 of them for the six cards) if credits are on the wheel on start up.

Bingo Head (resized).jpeg

Ok... I know it went to 28, and only cards 4-6 had 26, 27, 28. It must be a shoot a Line then.

You also mentioned a search index relay. So even when we put balls in a five in a line (or three or four or like 13 balls at once even), the search would run a full rotation of the 1-2-3, then the 4-5-6 and then stop. Maybe that's the issue right there - but how different is the theory of op on Shoot a Line?

I'm glad you mentioned there isn't a D or R (I'd have to check the right side to even see what's there. They are building a new cab for it as the original was pretty rough. The head is in good shape, so none of that was shifted around.

I can get the timer back into play if it's needed. I noticed when the timer kicked around to reset, it may not have been resetting the whole way, so if the timer is needed, that stepper will need removed and cleaned.

Thank you again in advance - I really appreciate your help on this and I'm sure my client will as well.

This definitely gives me enough to head over and give it another hour or two to test further. Thank you both so much for the detailed analysis!

One thing I did wonder - Would there be any major concern regarding Voltage that is too high? I did measure (albeit at the fuse block) when I was there - and I remember all of them reading high. Some weren't too bad (like 121 instead of 115), but others were really high (I think the 50 was in the low to mid 60s, 17 was around 28, and 5v was at around 12 I think. I had the customer write it down since I wasn't 100% sure I'd be back - but I remembered taking note of that. I used earth ground in a plug strip to confirm the voltages as correct as the machine has not had grounding mods done yet.

Looking good Bingo412 - I'm extremely glad to see it's coming together with the general disc cleaning and you're not rooting out the gremlins. The finished cabinet paint looks awesome as well!