Bally Venice: Fun in the workshop and rambling

There's something about working on a bingo machine in the workshop. With the Backglass and playfield glass off. Test playing the game. My fondest memories of Golden Gate and Sea Island are in my workshop. Once the machine is all fixed up, I lose interest. Suddenly, it's not as fun to play the game. Maybe it's the challenge, the flashing lights, the sounds, the ozone. Who knows?

Test playing Bally Venice with no glass

Someone called me a pinball junkie not too long ago. It was no great revelation, I admit it freely. I'm hooked on repairing and collecting old Bally's. There's just something about them. Their electromechanical complexity, the build quality, the artwork, their idiosyncrasies. They just turn my crank.

Just look at all the Bingo guts, steppers, relays, motors, trip bank, mixer and control unit. So much stuff! Looks like a Borg cube inside out. Maybe other trekkies will see the similarity. Maybe not.

Bally Venice Bingo Inside

Venice repair progress update:

The electrifying control unit was caused by one of the lugs of the search wiper lock magnet coil touching the frame.

Coil lug touching the frame

The blue odds not stepping up like they should was a purely mechanical problem. I took the stepper unit apart, cleaned, re-lubed and the problem was solved.

The timer unit not stepping up was a combination of an oxidized jones connector, cleaning a few switches under the playfield and taking apart the timer stepper unit, clean and re-lubricated.

The test playing continues