Here below is something I wrote 13 years ago.
This six card bingo pinball is someway related to the last Bally six card bingo machine ever produced that was made in 1980 called the "Continental". It was Bally's first and only six card electronic bingo machine. All 10,000 Continental were sold and shipped to a company in Belgium where bingo pinball machines are very much alive and popular today. I guess you can say Bally's very last six card bingo produced the "Continental" paved the way for the European market.
Remember this, Bally's first bingo pinball machine ever produced on April 23, 1951 was a six card game called Bright lights (which I had the privilege of owning) and I guess it was only right that they end the six card bingo phenomenon with another six card game like the Continental in 1980. In 1979 Bally made their last six card electro-mechanical bingo pinball called Dixieland. The Dixieland was the king of all the six card electro-mechanical bingo pinball games and the Nashville ranks second on the big list of six card electro-mechanical that Bally produced in the 1970's.
Here is a list of all 21 six card electro-mechanical bingos that Bally made from the 50's, 60's, and 70's in order starting with Bright Lights, Frolics, Bright Spots, Fun Way, Lotta-a Fun, Fun Spot, Barrel-o-Fun, Lite-a-Line, Shoot-a-Line (28 hole),Hole in One, Stock Market, Ticker Tape, Wall Street, Blue Chip, Bull Market, High Flyer, Nashville and Dixieland. Almost all of the 1970's six card electro-mechanical bingo pinball machines had maximum coin limits, which did not exceed 11 coins. These maximum coin limits allowed players to play more complete games much quicker then the older 1950's and 1960's multi-coin games. Also with the six card bingos you always have a lot of winning numbered combinations in a single game which allowed players to collect the minimum 4 free replays or more every time. Even today there are some bingos being operated in Newark, N.J and in P.A. mostly six card games too.
The 21 six card bingo machines that Bally made from 1951' to 1980' had come a long way, but little did we bingo players know the best had yet to come with the electronic era of bingo games that would be produced from 1980' to 2003' So here is my pick for my "Very Top Coin Op". My choice is the New Continental Golden. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw some of the payouts on the electronic bingos. Imagine winning 5000 replays in a single game on the New Continental Golden bingo. Before I start my story about the electronic New Continental Golden, I would just like to say how great the electro- mechanical games are too.
The New Continental Golden was manufactured around 1990 or so by General Automatic Amusement (g.a.a.) almost ten years after Bally's made their first and last electronic six card bingo machine. One of the most important items needed to make this six card bingo operate correctly is the 'key pad'. The keypad will allow you to control all features and functions internally through out the electronic circuitry. The keypad plugs into a socket inside the coin door next to the ball lift motor assembly. There are about 40 different codes that make the New Continental Golden such a unique six card bingo pinball machine.
Before I get into the codes, functions and features I would like to describe the construction, artwork and design of this magnificent bingo pinball. The cabinet and backbox is made of solid wood with a dark colored stain finish and the cabinet and head is also carved with a nice beveled design through out the sides for a great look. The backbox has small brass plates riveted in the corners for a fancy look but also keeping the corners from coming apart. The metal legs and front coin door are painted with dark brown high gloss finish to match the cabinet stained color. The back glass is very colorful with a mixture of a mirror and pin stripe finish. The backglass is packed with the games features and odds explaining how and what to do to play this bingo machine. However because of the tremendous amounts of features plus the six cards, there wasn't any room for much! art work at all on the backglass. This was also true on the older six card games from the 1970's like Dixieland, Nashville etc..
The playfield does have some artwork. Starting at the top arch on the play field is a vintage Continental car and on the left and right sides of the play field just below the numbered holes 14 and 18 are two large beautiful looking lady's dressed in elegant gowns. The playfield is a fiberglass type material, which seems to get no wear at all on the surface. There is also a pleasant surprise about the New Continental Golden it doesn't weigh anywhere near the amount the old EM bingos did. No control unit motors, search disc, cams, stepping units etc. The head only has some electronic boards in it! The cabinet weighs more then the backbox, which is the opposite of the EM bingos.
The New Continental Golden has triple coin chutes and triple coin boxes. The coin slots are located on the coin door and not on the lock down bar like the older EM's. The New Continental Golden is so beautiful that they belong in a living room, dining room of finished rec room because of their nice wood stain finish. That’s right, no painted cabinet. Another great thing about the New Continental Golden is they are so much more quit than the EM's and operate much faster too. It can rack up 500 replays in seconds. Ok lets go over some features this six card bingo provides to the player and operator.
There is a really cool "lite attract mode" when the game is over and not being played. The game will flash and blink the word "SAFARI" on the backglass of the game. It does this by putting each letter in one of the cards. The "S" is in the 1st card ,the "A" is in the 2nd card, the "F" is in the 3rd card and so on. They do this by lighting up certain numbers in each card to form the letter need to spell the word SAFARI. The next feature is the BONUS line feature. The bonus line is the numbered holes 4,10,16,20,24 which are colored red and travel down almost the center of the playfield. You can set the bonus feature to pay out on any 4 of the 5 numbers or just all 5 numbers.
There is a separate led bonus display for that feature on the back glass for the amount of pay out which goes up as you deposit coins in the beginning of the start of the game. This bonus feature can pay out as much as 5000 replays. Next there is a feature called "playfield wins" this feature allows the player to make wins by making the balls in any numbered holes in a row on the playfield only (not the back glass card). Any numbered holes in a row like the 2 ,3 ,4, wins a 3 in a line pay out or 8, 9, 10, 11 wins a 4 in a line pay out.
The limit for balls in a row on the! ! play field only is five, so you can have nothing at all going on with your bingo cards on the backglass as far as in line wins ,but you can win on the play field if you have balls landing in a row. Another example would be 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 or 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 will pay as if you have 5 in a line. You can also set a max limit on the game for replays won not allowing more than 20,000 replays or no limit to how many replays you can win. There are coin value adjustments from 1 credit per coin or up to 16 credits per coin.
Here are a bunch of other features controlled by the key pad, Lamp Test, Super Reflex Action, Security System, Tilt Enable, Extra Ball Value, Magic Numbers, Double Double, Corners, Rollovers, Red Diagonals, and the list goes on. All of these features can be set up to make the game easier or more difficult. All Displays, Mechanical Counters, Electric Motors etc have a self test mode too.
The key pad tester makes the definition of the program of the various game options possible, as well as the operating parameters and also to realize a number of tests. This game can be played by dropping in one coin or hundreds of coins at the start of the game when you are building your odds and features up. Another great thing about this six card game is it allows players to buy up to 5 extra balls for a whopping total of 10 balls per one game. Yes that's right 5 extra balls, but it will cost you lots of cash to make that happen.
I know what your thinking. Wow five extra balls on a six card game what a feature to have as a player, but I have been saving the best and last feature to tell all you bingo players about because it is the greatest feature in my mind ever offered to the bingo player since the introduction of the OK screen games. It is called the "Super Score" game. This super score feature is a chance to shoot for 5 in a line! but it doesn't come cheap! ! .It will cost you plenty of cash or credits. Here how the super score feature works. After completing your normal six card game win or lose and the game is over, there is a button on the lock down bar to your right hand side. his button when pressed will display a automatic 5 in a line chance to win, but you must pay the amount of coins or credits required by the led displays that are on the back glass in order to shoot for the automatic 5 in a line. If you press the button again it will allow the player to select what card and number they would like to shoot for 5 in a line. The six card will cost you more money to shoot 5 in a line than the first card, but will pay your more replays.
After making your selection of what card you want to shoot for 5 in a line on and pay for it, the first of 3 balls pops up ready to be shot and the game begins. If you miss the 5 in a line shot with the first ball you then have to pay! again for the second of 3 balls! ! this super score feature gives you. If you miss the number you need for 5 in a line once more you will have to pay one last time for the final 3rd ball. I have to say again this a one of the greatest features a bingo pinball could have. I never thought the day would come when you could shoot for 5 in a line just by pressing a button.
Every bingo player knows the main objective on a bingo pinball machine is to try to make numbers in a row to give
yourself the chance to shoot for the big pay out and the big pay out is a 5 in a line most of the time. The electronics of the game automatically figures out how much each ball will cost depending on how much it will pay you out for the winning number needed. This game is so complex that it would take to much time to explain in words. I would like to close by saying that the newer models are even better with lasers and many many more features and than what I have written in this article.
There are people in other places now playing the newer bingo on the market. The bingo players of today that play these electronic master pieces have known to lose a 1000 dollars in less than a hour depending on what kind of gambler they are. Anyone interested in bingo pinball machines can go to www.bingo.cdyn.com and visit a truly great website.