For Amusement Only Em And Bingo Pinball Podcast

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 Database is available at http://ipdb.org.   A sidenote: don't forget to register your serial numbers at http://ipsnd.net

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 The stories that have been archived at Danny's site are fascinating - he has lots of info on bingos and the law and various player stories and info on playing these great games.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 there's a couple of bad words, if you care about such things.

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 would be for that title.  Ball travel is also critical for the bingo: one of your measures of control is knowing how the ball will react when striking a post or spring.  There are exceptions to my thought - if you do playfield touch-ups, you will want to clear coat over top of the touch-ups to help preserve the new artwork.  The original artwork has a shellac or other lacquer finish that has preserved the artwork for 50-60 even 70 years - why mess with success?   I ensure that my games are waxed regularly, and this preserves their paint.

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 I ask him questions about the various machines. One day you'll beat that Egghead!

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 common for the time in Gottlieb games, was unusual to find in other games. The game has gorgeous Roy Parker artwork as well.

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 such magnets would make a resurgence in solid state games in the 80s, Exhibit put one at the bottom middle of the playfield. Interesting artwork, good use of the theme (dive down and back with the treasure to score up to 30 replays!), and of course, the magnet make this a really neat game.

I worked on a Satin Doll the other day, which is a 2 player EM, built in 1975. I've never played one previously, and had never thought much of the layout.  Once I saw the way the ball interacted with the various elements, I was sold.  What a fun game!  A lesson that appearances can be deceiving!

I interviewed Robert Medl, a bingo collector and enthusiast who has just purchased many machines. Robert discusses his first experience and purchase, his current lineup, and some of the games in his restoration queue.   The bingo repair videos discussed are available at the following sources:     The first is a direct download for $15. The second is $30 + shipping.   I have not reviewed these myself, but Robert is the third person who has told me that they are very good.

Bally Bingo ball troughs are some of the best designed pinball mechanics ever produced.  Working on a bingo, then switching to a modern solid state with trough issues always irks me.   Bingo ball troughs are bulletproof and another marvel of engineering.

Ryan Claytor, pinball illustrator extraordinaire comes on to talk about his EM resurrection project - a two player Williams called Swinger.  Those who may be afraid of working on an EM should listen to this episode, as Ryan had never worked on an EM before this project. Also: thanks to Ryan, we now have T-Shirts!  See our post above to order.  I'm incredibly excited and honored to have worked with Ryan. Ryan's Website: Ryan's Swinger Restore: 

The roto feature enabled the player to spin the innermost circle of numbers on a bingo card.  This was only used by United, and used on three games between 1955 and 1956, never to be seen again.