For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast

Troubleshooting a game of your own creation can be very difficult; especially when you are marrying the worlds of electro-mechanical and solid state! Join me as I track down a misadjusted switch and a bug in my lifter logic. Also, I discuss several of the games gracing the multi, along with today's featured game, Bally's Hole-In-One. Only one unit is known to exist, but no paperwork is available,...

Getting ready for the York Show in just a few weeks! I'm still working hard on the Multi-Bingo. As of this recording, I have 24 games complete. This year should be a lot of fun! York is always fantastic - I did many episodes last year detailing some of the great games I've seen there in previous years, but just know that York is more than bingos, it's more than solid state, it's more than EM - it'...

Steve Young is the owner of the Pinball Resource, and he is a wealth of knowledge. We discuss his start in the hobby, some of his best-loved games, thoughts on specific games, the business of pinball, and much more! Visit http://www.pbresource.com to see some of the parts that are available. Steve is constantly working to bring us new parts, and you can see some of his work at http://pbresource.co...

The Multi-Bingo is working very well! I am having a lot of fun losing on a variety of games in a single cabinet. Right now I have (mostly) working: Bright Lights (100%) Broadway '51 (100%) Coney Island Spot-Lite Palm Beach Leader Zingo Circus Stars Atlantic City Barrel 'O Fun Barrel O' Fun 61 Fun Way Lotta Fun Stock Market Ticker Tape I have lots of bugfixing to do, and some cosmetic work to do be...

The Multi-Bingo is alive!!! I've been playtesting and enjoying the gameplay of Bright Lights and Broadway '51. All 13 games currently implemented have changes that were required once the actual hardware was plugged in. I'm working on a new game! For tonight's featured game, I learned about 1952's Bally Miss California this week: http://ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=4753 Miss California is a re-themed At...

The game is just about ready to test! I have a switch issue, and a couple of computer issues that I have resolved, then I should be playing a ton of new bingos. :-D There's a solid state magic screen game called Palm Beach Turbo for sale by the operator near Baltimore, MD. Please contact me if you are interested in an inexpensive solid state bingo! http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=5495 Today's f...

The game's schematic is complete and now I am beginning to wire it up! So exciting to see the game move from conceptual phases to physical reality. Much, much more work left to do, but things are coming along nicely! Today's game is 1967's Bally Boot-a-Ball. This is a head-to-head EM soccer game. Each player has three sets of flippers to attempt to get the ball into their opponent's goal. http://i...

The game is starting to become a physical reality now! I went on a road trip over the weekend to pick up hardware from Dennis Dodel. Had a great time, and Ava and I got to meet Dennis and his friend Jon. Now, I'm working on the hardware and wiring, and I am more excited than ever! Today's game is 1962's Williams 3 Coins. 3 Coins is the replay version of Jolly Jokers. The layout is unique and inter...

My multi-bingo has come along well - up to 8 completed games, and another two in progress. Many thanks to Dennis Dodel, Chris Dade and Bingo Butch and his son Mike! Next episode I should have the first hardware episode. This episode's game is 1965's Bally 50/50. Bally has made an interesting, low-production 2 player game here - 1/2 of the playfield is essentially not useful for scoring or progress...

Game progress: my game is coming along very well! I have Coney Island, Bright Lights, Broadway '51, and United Zingo reasonably finished. Now, I am working on United's Leader and Bally's Spot-Lite. My code, to this point, has been released at https://github.com/bingopodcast/bingos I'll be keeping this updated as I add each new game. Today's game is 1964's Bally 2-in-1. Very fun looking game where...

Sal Mazzeo is a slot machine collector and restorer, and joins me for this episode of For Amusement Only. He has a fantastic collection that has really sparked my new-found interest in slot machines! He has multiple articles in Gameroom Magazine, as well as the COCA magazine. Sal has made the generous offer for anyone looking for help with slots to shoot him an email at mazzeosa@fuse.net As an int...

I'm working on the artwork and integration of the artwork with the code for Coney Island. Special thanks to Chris Dade and Ryan Claytor for all the help! This episode is all about the 1950 Bally Turf King. I picked up this game back in January, and decided to have my eldest daughter do all the renovation/restoration on the game. Ava did a fantastic job, and unbelievably, she was interested every s...

In this episode, I talk about what is done and in progress for my Coney Island simulator/emulator, 1962's Williams Valiant 2-player EM, the 8 Ball ball trough from Pinball Life, a fun repair on a search disc, and some corrections, thank yous, and more! Links of interest: Phil Hooper's awesome bingo site: http://bingo.cdyn.com 1962 Williams Valiant: http://ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=2715 Pinball Life'...

Happy Birthday For Amusement Only! In this episode, I discuss how to try bingo pinball on your own computer. A big thank you to my wife for illustrating the Episode 365 artwork! A fellow named Joop in the Netherlands has been developing bingo emulators, and releasing on the web for Windows and Mac OS X. His simulations are fantastic! Go check them out and try them for yourself. If you have any que...

Pro Basketball is a cool mannikin arcade game. The basic premise is that it is a one-on-one basketball shootout - you play as the offense, and the defense will automatically move left and right, raising and lowering their arms. You have to watch the score board in the back to determine when you should shoot for maximum effectiveness. Gameplay video: https://youtu.be/0DyIAot5VX0

Duet is a very beautiful and interesting machine. There are three ways to win, and the player must select before playing, or put in another nickel to load the full ruleset of the game. Completing the sequence of 1-10 will award 20 replays, with the possibility of earning a 'reserve' set of replays - up to 200! http://ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=3065&picno=64416&zoom=1

I missed one machine from the bicentennial - Liberty Bell is almost a carbon copy of Williams' own Grand Prix. Earning a special requires advancing the starts four times, then dropping all four drop targets. Tough! The spinners have rockets screened on them, to represent "the rockets' red glare". Gameplay Video: https://youtu.be/zWsUZ-bxfjo http://ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=1436

I'm not big on after-factory modifications with few exceptions, but these are very interesting. Also, I saw LEDs used in a way behind a very faded backglass that appeared to work well! Bingo Chime Units: http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Old-Stock-Bally-Bingo-Game-Sound-Chime-Kit-with-Add-on-Factory-Kit-/231849933979?hash=item35fb553c9b:g:IoUAAOSwDuJWxg4W Chris Howard's "Golden Gates" - truly masterful!...

Gottlieb invented a new mechanism for launching balls in 1950 - the turret shooter. This launcher allowed designers more space on the playfield to add targets, and gave players the ability to choose their entry angle onto the playfield. A pretty nifty idea that was used by other manufacturers over the years.

Derby Day is a neat take on a flipper game with a horse race theme. The upper playfield contains a single gobble hole and four passive bumpers that can advance one of four horses, whose position is displayed via inserts in the center of the playfield. The bottom portion contains a single pop bumper, which can pop the ball back up to the flippers (in the center portion). You main goal is to advance...

Galaxy and other Sega games used several interesting mechanisms: Slings that work via pressure from the ball hitting a large piece of plastic instead of ganged switches, and pop bumpers that are a single piece of plastic rather than using a rod and ring assembly. On top of that, Galaxy has an under-playfield magnet that will move the ball from left to right, similar to the Mist ball on Bram Stoker...

Freedom is a fun game from the bicentennial. Bally's take has some more interesting artwork and a fun ruleset. This was one of the changeover games that was made in both EM and solid state versions. The early production had 1776 and 1976 on the backglass, but operators asked that this be removed as it would make the machine 'dated'. Kind of funny for a game themed on the bicentennial. http://ipdb....

Spirit of '76 came in three flavors: The four player was Spirit of '76. The two player version was Pioneer and the add-a-ball version was New York. Spirit of '76 is all about increasing your bonus, but the player can double the bonus on each ball, earn extra balls or replays by completing the A-E sequence, hitting all 8 drop targets and landing in the kickout hole. Fun game! http://ipdb.org/machin...

My interviewee tonight is Chris Dade, a man who has done quite a bit for the bingo hobby! He has scanned, touched up, and reproduced many of the Bally bingo backglasses, as well as several of the bingo playfields. He also started the Bally Bingos in Britain forums, located at http://ballybingo.fff.yuku.com/ - this is an excellent resource, with many clever people providing help and information. It...

My 1947 Mystery started blowing fuses - it was time to pull it out from the wall and troubleshoot. Here's the story of how I corrected the issues and what went wrong.