For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast

A large amount of surface rust can be a tell-tale sign that the mechanisms in the head or the cabinet are frozen in place. Evaluate any machine with rust carefully before purchasing. How to remove rust from your siderails, legs, and coin door, as well as smaller parts.

You've got a great new game, but your cabinet looks like it has been in a nicotene testing facility for the last 40 years... how to bring back the beauty, as well as how to protect it.

Vic Camp comes back on the podcast to talk about his current collection, bingos, and Gottlieb wedgeheads. Note that the package deal for 10 bingos is still available in New Jersey - contact Vic for the (100% working) bingo collection at campgames@yahoo.com.

Jeff is one of the co-hosts of 'The Pinball Podcast' located at thepinballpodcast.com We talk about EMs he enjoys, repair, and I try to talk him into a local Magic Squares bingo.

Bingo lamp shield springs are beautiful pieces that are difficult to remove, but very satisfying once cleaned. Removal requires a good degree of caution. Follow these instructions and you should be good!

The basics of how to disassemble the metal bits on the playfield of a typical game, and how to clean. I'm super cheap, so I hand polish these items - discussion of products used and any extra precautions needed. Next episode I will discuss the lamp springs on bingo playfields - they are conspicuous in their absence.

Our first caller with a question that pertains to cleaning of an EM with visible mold. Take it outside! Then clean/sand.

Here's what I do for any new game, strip it down, clean it and wax it. Tools used vary based on the dirt-level of any game that comes in. Games with more dirt will require more abrasive tools to clean. Cleaning should happen at a minimum of when you start seeing dirt, or when you change your rubbers/balls.

You've got your ball arch, posts, and plastics removed - now it's time to remove your pops/bumpers, flippers, slings and other mechanisms!

Discussion on how to disassemble the top of your playfield, including how to polish your plastics and posts.

Cleaning the bottom board in an EM machine is important, for any machine that has components mounted on a board beneath the playfield. This would include most any flipper game made in the 60s+.

Molly is my wife, and I finally talk with her about her thoughts on pinball in general, her favorite machines, and bingos. Molly holds the high score for Twinky, one of the toughest, fastest, most difficult machines that I own. Molly enjoys the social aspects of the hobby, but mostly does not play, so I was curious to record her perspective on the games.

Jay Stafford is one of the key members of the IPDB, who helps to accrue images and documentation on pinball machines to post for reference. The IPDB site provides an invaluable service to the collector community - I know, speaking for myself, that I would be absolutely lost without the availability of the images and information on the site. Jay provided his answers via e-mail. The Internet Pinball...

Danny runs the bingo history website located at http://danny.cdyn.com Danny has been collecting and archiving stories and history on all the bingo machines - Bally, United, and the solid states from overseas. The stories that have been archived at Danny's site are fascinating - he has lots of info on bingos and the law and various player stories and info on playing these great games. Note that the...

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 wo...

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 Magic Lines and high scoring potential. I plan to put this writeup on my site as well.

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.

Dancing Dolls was a game produced by Gottlieb in 1960. It 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.

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...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 2) It used a credit projection unit, which, though...

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 contianed 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...