Hack of the day: Bowling Queen bell arm

Here's the bell arm striker off the 0-9 unit in it's as found condition inside a 1964 Gottlieb Bowling Queen.

I guess someone didn't like the bell sound.

Fortunately, the metal is soft and the arm was massaged back to it's original shape.

Bally Bingo Border Beauty 1965

This is an awesome video. *Not my video*

It gives a good view of what's happening inside a bingo machine.

Enjoy!

Working on Bally On Beam

A shot of On Beam with it's guts hanging all out. I love Bally's of that era for their design: top glass frame, sturdy playfield and score motor panel that can prop up and out.

The problem was the outhole not registering. The cause was a switch on the trip bank carry over switch stack. A small switch blade adjustment did the trick.

Pinball lifestyle: Community and Bally Venice

Bally Venice is assembled in my workshop. To get it there, I needed the help of a few friends. I am grateful for their assistance.

1968 Bally Venice Bingo

When you're in a hobby like Bingo machines, you need a network of friends around you. Because bingo machines are few and far between, you need people on the lookout for you. Bingo machine heads are really heavy, you need help to move them. Also, you absolutely need the manual and schematic if you hope to being able to fix the game and usually, they're not inside the game.

Whether it's lending parts to a buddy that needs to get a game working asap OR riding shotgun for a seemingly dodgy pinball transaction. To appreciate pinball as a hobby, you need people around you.

I was thinking the other day about the difference between a "normal friend" and a "pinball friend". I keep a mental list of my normal friends who have given me help to move or assemble a pingame because it's unlikely they will do it a second time. On the other hand, I have a few pinball friends that are always ready to help move something big and heavy down the stairs, and myself, I will help them however I can.

bingo.cdyn.com has always been the source for bingo documentation. Until now, the website however did not have any good pictures of the Venice internals so I will gladly send the pictures to Phil so that bingo aficionados all over the interwebs can use for reference.

Now that Venice is assembled I will work on it when I have the time. I have other shop jobs to take care of. Most of the switch points in Venice need burnishing and the special game is a mystery, but all of the internals are sound and when I first put the power on to the game, the credits on the display knocked off to zero so the games isn't completely brain dead.

Special Thanks to:

R.A.B. For acting as a broker in the Venice transaction
James S. For letting me store the game at his place for the weekend and letting me crash there overnight.
Bob G (ShootAgain). For helping me lift the head into place.
Julie L. For general help and understanding.
Phil Hooper For his website http://bingo.cdyn.com/ the best and only place for bingo manuals and schematics

More pictures of this EM juggernaut

Bally Venice Head

Bally Venice door

Bally Venice special game panel

Pinball's influence in graphics design

Here is a picture of a box for a cat toy my Freundin bought a few weeks ago for her kitties.

Obviously, the graphics designer likes pinball. The design even features a coin slot on the front of the box.

Stuff like this keeps pinball alive in the public consciousness.

New Arrival: Bally Venice 20 hole Bingo machine

My newest arrival: Bally Venice 20 hole bingo machine with the "Super double-up" side game. When It was first released in 1968, Bally didnt even bother making a flyer for it. It's the second Bally Bingo machine with a side game, the first being Bally Orient. Bally Venice was followed by Bally London bingo.

OK.

As I write these words, I've had the game for 13 days already. Not exactly fresh news. I had a bit of writer's block. Sorta. I didnt feel like publishing anything. The game is still in two parts in the middle of my livingroom. I don't want to jump into it. I have other projects to wrap up first. Patience.

I read somewhere, on someone else's blog: "How to write a successful blog". I didn't actually click the link and read how to write a successful blog but It sure isn't by writing about old pinball machines and bingo machines. Aim for the lowest common denominator. Popular subjects: Eating, Travelling, Cars, Potty training toddlers, Not Bingo machines. Furthermore, people don't want to read anymore. It takes too long. Make a video and put it on youtube.

Luddite! Whatever!

I am what I am. I can't help it. I write about what I like.

I digress.

I'm relieved to finally have this extremely rare Bally Venice 20 hole bingo machine. I knew of the location of this particular game for almost 4 years. It took the help of a good friend to convince the owner to sell it. It was part of a bingo machine lot and the seller didn't want to sell me just that one game.

The backglass is broken but the mechanicals are pristine. This is one of the most complex bingo machines ever produced. So complex that it has a small transistorised circuit for the Odd / Even detector for the side game. Transistors! In a bingo machine from 1968! Predates other games by at least 5 years. The only EM flipper pinball machine with a transistorized circuit I know of is 1973 Williams Travel Time and it had ONE transistor.

My Carnival Queen: the game with issues

My Carnival Queen has broken down for the nth time.

Even my non-bingo pinball buddies recognize the Carnival Queen for being temperamental. A.K.A. Always broken. With good reason! This game is worn down to the whitewood. It was operated for 29 years continuously. In it's heyday it was played from opening to closing of the bar or tavern it was in. It's the first magic screen bingo I ever fixed. Since then, I've fixed a few!

 

 

It's most recent failure was the search wiper hub grenading. Probably due to the bad batch of neatsfoot oil I used when I last lubricated the clutch washers. Too much drag. The bakelite part just couldnt take the pressure anymore and broke.

Fortunately I had a spare hub. The replacement was simple enough. I re-lubed the search wiper clutch and it was good to go.

 

 

I remember the mood I was in when I first fixed that game. I was down. My marriage was falling apart. I was fixated on fixing that game. By the time I finally got the game working, my now ex-wife had already moved out.

 

Maybe it was the time of year. Maybe it was the red wine. But when I played the first game after this most recent repair. The machine all lit up and jaunty. It brought a shrinkwrap of tears to my eyes.