For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast

Special guest host Fake Nick Baldridge joins us for a walkthrough of the 1973 Jubilee that he owns. FNB does an excellent job describing the features and gameplay on his game. Hopefully FNB comes back for an episode in the future - thanks FNB!

Charles Rowland is a local (to the Richmond, VA area) operator who has been in the industry since the 1960s. Charles has fascinating stories about running bingos and EMs on location during their heyday. He currently runs Games People Play, a shop that sells to home game enthusiasts and runs games on location. Games People Play is on Dabney Rd is in the near West End in Richmond, VA.

Flip Flags are a unique feature found on only 3 Bally machines, beginning with Wizard! in 1975. The EM Dungeon did a treatise on this topic all the way back in episode 6 of the Spooky Pinball Podcast. A fun feature that was obliterated with the rise of solid state.

Bally reintroduced the world to multiball through Balls-a-Poppin in 1956. They continued to produce multiball machines throughout the remainder of the EM era.

Bally's innovations continue with the Chicane Lane, a feature that slows the ball down and wiggles it back and forth to draw the player's attention. Amazingly simple in execution, two stacked plastics!

Another Bally invention, the mushroom bumper is a really fancy target that feels very satisfying to hit. How they work and common problems.

Originally known as 'Flipper Zippers', this feature allows the flippers mounted on the playfield to 'zip' together, closing off the outhole. The feature is pretty simple under the hood. One of Bally's innovations during the EM era, pioneered by Ted Zale.

How to take apart a flipper and change them. The same basic rules apply to any EM pinball machine with flippers.

Flippers have undergone a bit of change since the beginning of the flipper era (1947). Different designers had different techniques for using the flippers, and they certainly changed the face of pinball. I also discuss the basic pieces of the flipper mechanism.

What is a transformer? What purpose does that heavy thing do in your game? These questions and more answered!

Wanye Neyens was a prolific designer through much of Gottlieb's woodrail and metal rail EM production. His career spanned at least 179 machines (according to the IPDB, 177 machines made it to production). He is 97 years old today, July 29, 2015. Happy Birthday, Mr. Neyens!

Some of the basics about how to construct a circuit, how the circuit actually functions, and how to measure and calculate the values of Votage, Amperage (current), and Resistance.

How to use a multimeter to troubleshoot various aspects of a game. A bit of a small electical/electronics crash course in how current flows, what to expect, how to change your settings appropriately, and how to zero out your meter.

The final set of switches on the control unit govern the search process. Everything from the release of the search disc to the lockout of footrail buttons happens here. The control unit is complete - from switch stack A to switch stack ZB!

In our next-to-last episode detailing the workings of a Bally bingo control unit, we examine the switches necessary for the operation of the payout. When a winner has been determined, the machine has to have some way of stepping up the replay meter in the backglass.

This is our continued series looking at the control unit on a Bally bingo - specifically the 1972 Double-Up. These switches are involved with normal gameplay, and only comprise a little over half of the switches and cams involved in making the game operate as per normal.

The first switches in the control unit are required for timing out the motor, thus saving wear and tear on the motor. It is crucial that these switches are adjusted properly or your motor will never stop running.

Bally's Control Unit was an ingenious design for several reasons - in the bingos, one of the most impressive designs was how very serviceable these units are. You take one part Bally score motor, add in some more power and clutches, and you have a rather simple design that allows for servicing from almost any angle. I love 'em!

The last (for now) in my score motors series detailing the differences between the various manfacturers and their approaches to the same problem. Williams score motors have a service plug that can be moved that will lock all the cams in place. I wish this option did not exist. Any Williams with this option constantly trips me up.

Bally's Score Motor design changed quite a bit over the years, depending on the style of game they were making. In a future episode, I'll dive into the control unit, which is a beautiful, complex electromechanical marvel. This episode, however, I talk about the relatively straightforward, no-frills Bally score motor, its ease of adjustment and common issues (really the same common issue that plagu...

Gottlieb used the same style of score motor for pretty much their entire EM life. Discussion on orientation, maintenance, advantages and disadvantages of this setup. I enjoy the compact setup of these motors.

Score motors are the 'brains' of any EM game. Tonight I discuss Exhibit's score motor orientation and function in the 1947 Exhibit 'Mystery' that I own. I also added a quick addendum to last night's simple 'hack' podcast.

Sometimes, you don't have the time or correct parts to fix a problem. If I am going to create a hack to fix a problem temporarily, I like to ensure that it is easily reversible and will cause a minimum of damage to the game in case it goes wrong. With a time crunch before a group of newcomers to pinball came over, I had to correct a flaky switch that incremented the score on an older machine. A fr...

The Magic Screen games between Sea Island and Bounty have a design flaw that will sometimes cause a coil to remain locked on during payout. The timer unit steps up in certain circumstances during payout and will shut off the motors. This causes a coil that is normally engaged during payout to remain on and fry. Fixing this problem is thankfully pretty easy! I would recommend that everyone make thi...

Sadly, my nickname is Coil Burner. Steve gave me that name after I blew up his Golden Gate. Now that I'm aware of that issue, I pay close attention to payouts. I'll be detailing the issue and remediation in a future episode.