Durant had to concede to player demand (and therefore operator demand), and with United’s third bingo design, which almost mirrored the layout from Bally.īoth of these manufacturers started making money hand over fist. Bally’s playfield design was far superior, and allowed for a skilled player to make the numbers needed to win. It had a much shorter playfield comprised of a tub with 25 holes arrayed around a pop bumper, reminiscent of a roulette wheel, but this layout did not catch on due to the randomized nature of the play. Lyn Durant, another genius engineer from United Manufacturing Company, was the creator of a three card game. The playfield from Bally’s ‘Bright Lights’, the first bingo pinball Bally produced.Ī competitor was actually first to market with their version of the bingo pinball. 4 in a row earned about 4 times the amount for 3.
You only had to line up three numbers on the card to win a small amount of replays. The game proved extremely popular, and got around the primary issue with the one balls: on the new bingo pinball, a player could win with only 3 of 5 balls played properly. The first game from Bally had six cards – each card could be bought, in order, for one nickel. These holes corresponded to a bingo card on the backglass arranged in a seemingly random 5×5 grid. The playfield had a combination of spring steel, lamps hidden behind shields on the playfield, carefully positioned posts with two types of rubber, and 25 trap holes. Don Hooker invented the bingo pinball as we know it today. One of the final “one ball” games Bally produced – ‘Turf King’, which is the replay version of ‘Grandstand’.īally had to think fast – how would they be able to continue to sell games when they were suddenly illegal? Luckily, they employed a genius in the engineering department. In fact, each one ball game made in the 1940s was produced in two models: a “replay” version, which contained a three-digit replay counter (which could be zeroed out at whim), and a “payout” version, which paid the player in nickels, directly upon winning. The one balls allowed for multiple coin play, but the player only had one ball to achieve their goal and win some number of replays in return. These machines, known as “one balls” were themselves an evolution of the payout pinball created in the 1930s. This classified the machines manufactured by Bally, Universal, and others as gambling devices. I had no idea that such things existed before that day.īingo pinball machines were made as a reaction to the passing of the Johnson Act in 1950. This was my first meeting with a bingo pinball machine. “Flipper games are like checkers, these… these are chess. Steve’s beautifully restored ‘Golden Gate’ at the White Rose Gameroom show a few years ago. The head was so large, it appeared the playfields were a bit shorter than the flipper games I was used to playing. A very large backglass and an extremely large cabinet head. Each had a shooter rod, a playfield, a cabinet. Recognizable as pinball, but still different, unique. He flung open the door, and I saw two other machines. pinball machines around 2010 at my friend Steve’s house. “I’ve got a couple more machines out back.” Thanks so much to Nick for sharing some of his wealth of knowledge on Bingo Pinball.Ī Beginner’s Guide to Bingo Pinball by Nick Baldridge Go visit Nick at the White Rose Gameroom Show (York Show) this weekend, and play the machines on Bingo Row including the Multi-Bingo which is described below.
You can find Nick on his website ( here), on Facebook ( here) and on Twitter ( here). Nick hosts a podcast called For Amusement Only – The EM and Bingo Podcast and has recorded over 400 episodes. He has done absolutely brilliant work with Bingo pinball machines, which you will see in his story below.
Nick Baldridge is one of the great ambassadors for pinball, particularly for Electro Mechanical and Bingo pinball.
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