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For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast

Detailing EM and Bingo pinball features, gameplay, and repair techniques.
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Now displaying: 2018
Aug 2, 2018

I am back from a very special vacation - Dennis Dodel was willing to open his gameroom to a few of us traveling to Wayne Neyens' 100th birthday celebration!

I had an excellent time and discuss some of the games and what makes them special.

Thank you Dennis!

Next, I traveled to Wayne's home to help him ring in his 100th year  and discuss some of what made that special event so extremely special to me.

Thank you Wayne, for being such an amazing man - you are an inspiration, and I am so honored and humbled to have been one of the people cheering you on at your party.

The citation presented to Wayne:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/6kw1iPfvtwxx5caa6

The man himself, finishing a ball on his "Spirit of '76":

https://photos.app.goo.gl/oCTcPUDaEQ9fU6yRA

And finally, a photo of us together, in front of the toolbox he used at Gottlieb(!):

https://photos.app.goo.gl/CxzwHu8CC4oDr9BK7

Jul 18, 2018

United's coin flash animations are in process - I discuss the mechanical differences between Bally and United games from the perspective of coin flash, then give some simple updates on Robo-Frenzy and Multi Races.

Jones Plugs are fantastic for allowing simple connection/disconnection of the head of a game or a coin door from the cabinet body, but it's important to double check these plugs when your game is having problems, especially if a new (to you) game, or a game that has recently been moved.

Lastly, the game for today is Gottlieb's "Double-Shuffle" from 1949.  Twin scoring, similar to Twin Bill, but with a simple, fun sequence on either side of the playfield.  Attractive artwork and backglass animation round out the package.

Extra special - 1/2 Million?  Sign me up.

https://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=722

Thank you, as always, for listening!

You can reach me at foramusementonlypodcast@gmail.com or via the bingos line at 724-BINGOS-1

You can listen to the show on iTunes, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Google Play Music, Spotify, Facebook, Twitter (bingopodcast) or follow me on Instagram (also bingopodcast).

The show's website is foramusementonly.libsyn.com

My friend Don (formerly of The Pinball Podcast) and I have started a new video-game focused podcast called Gaming on Ten Minutes a Week.  Join us there if you like at http://gamingontenminutesaweek.libsyn.com 

Thank you very much for listening, and I'll talk to you next time.

 

Jul 4, 2018

The biggest news for today's episode: the announcement of the Multi Races project.  Thanks to Dennis Dodel for the name!

The plan is to make another Multi-type game that will allow you to play all 49 of the one-ball horse race games.  Very excited to get started.  I've made a thread here: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/multi-races-the-multi-one-ball-horserace-game

The Multi-Bingo still needs some animations written for a handful of Bally games and almost all of the United games.

Robo-Frenzy - I decided a while ago upon a design for the timer unit - I had previously stacked too much on that one unit.  I'm moving certain circuits to trip relays instead, which will simplify the timer unit design.  Unfortunately, I ordered the wrong part.  After York, I'll get back to the game.

Two small updates to the last podcast, I talk about repairing the Bally Ballerina and going through the underside of the Williams Rag Mop that Ryan and I discussed.

Thank you, as always, for listening!

You can reach me at foramusementonlypodcast@gmail.com or via the bingos line at 724-BINGOS-1

You can listen to the show on iTunes, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Google Play Music, Spotify, Facebook, Twitter (bingopodcast) or follow me on Instagram (also bingopodcast).

The show's website is foramusementonly.libsyn.com

Thank you very much for listening, and I'll talk to you next time.

Jun 21, 2018

Ryan Claytor (http://www.elephanteater.com) joins me for a discussion of all things vacation:

Fixes for - 

1) Williams "Penny Pitch"

2) Gottlieb "Paul Bunyan" (https://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=1768)

3) Bally "Sheba" (https://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=2115)

4) Chicago Coin "Fox Hunt" (https://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=945)

5) United "Thunderbird"

Talk about

1) Williams "Rag Mop" (https://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=1905)

2) Bally Ballerina (https://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=140)

(After the show was recorded, I was able to go fix up Ballerina, and work through the playfield of Rag Mop. )

Discussion about Coos' backglass foils - beautiful work! http://www.coos.net/bingo_e/Backglasses.html

For the final "Year of Flipperless" game, we go over Genco's 1940 masterpiece, "Metro".  Multiple sequences, extremely challenging play, and my daughter's new favorite game.

Russ Jensen's writeup is here: http://www.pinballcollectorsresource.com/russ_files/metro.html

and is a great read on the ruleset.

We also talk about Ryan's thoughts on finishing his Williams "Swinger" (https://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=2485)

His Pinside thread is located here: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/williams-swinger-restoration-and-eventual-retheme

And the Flipperless buy/sell/trade thread: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/○some-flipperless-just-came-up-on-cl-e-bay○

 

Bingo Row is coming soon!  Ryan and I chat about the upcoming festivities.

Thank you, as always, for listening!

You can reach me at foramusementonlypodcast@gmail.com or via the bingos line at 724-BINGOS-1

You can listen to the show on iTunes, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Google Play Music, Spotify, Facebook, Twitter (@bingopodcast) or follow me on Instagram (also @bingopodcast).  

The show's website is foramusementonly.libsyn.com

Thank you very much for listening, and I'll talk to you next time.

Jun 6, 2018

A great story from Graham TerMarsch - three donated Bally Big Times were used to teach kids at his son's school about reverse engineering and they ended up restoring one of the games - congratulations everyone!

https://vancouverisland.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=1407769

https://www.comoxvalleyrecord.com/news/pinball-machine-comes-back-to-life-thanks-to-nides-students/

This week I also wanted to highlight a couple of interesting notes on the Pinside forum regarding bingos:

One person has trouble with their left and right buttons in a Magic Screen game, with a simple, but easy to overlook fix:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/move-magic-screen-right-problems

And second, another owner converts his beautiful Bally "Bikini" to have wooden rails - an interesting modification:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/wood-side-rails

The Rocky Mountain Pinball Showdown is this weekend, June 8-10 in Denver, CO.  Phil Bogema will be there this year and will be bringing two beautifully restored Bally bingos: Parade and Carnival Queen.  Phil does stunning work, and I look forward to hearing the show reports from players there.

https://www.pinballshowdown.com/index.html 

Today is the penultimate "Year of Flipperless" game: 1932's Amusement Corporation of America's "Ski-Doo 23":

http://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=2175

 

As always you can find me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/foramusementonlypodcast/

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/bingopodcast/

Twitter https://twitter.com/bingopodcast

Thank you for listening!

May 23, 2018

I just came across an announcement that the Canada Pincon is going to have a history of pinball booth with:

1932 Bally Goofy

1935 Bally Bumper

1932 Bally Ballyhoo

1939 Keeney Thriller

and a 1954 Bally Surf Club!

If you're in the area, check out the show at http://canadapincon.com - and let me know how you enjoy the history of pinball games!

Getting back to my roots a bit, thought I would talk a little about how to narrow down a backbox illumination problem in a Gottlieb woodrail, as a question came up on Pinside recently.

Lastly, we're headed towards the end of the Year of Flipperss - today's entry is 1935's Rockola "TNT": http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=2576

As always, if you'd like to get in touch, you can email me at foramusementonlypodcast@gmail.com or call me on the bingos line at (724) BINGOS-1 - (724-246-4671) - thank you for listening and I'll talk to you next time.

May 10, 2018

Allentown Pinfest was last weekend and it was a lot of fun.  Thank you to friends new and old that made it a huge success for the Multi and for me.

The Multi played well at Allentown, despite a pretty bone-headed mistake I made in coding before the show... lots of compliments and lots of help forthcoming or received at the show.

I did sneak away and play the beautiful custom "Nightmare Before Christmas" machine (https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/the-nightmare-before-christmas) - and the creator also learned about bingos in turn.

I'm looking forward to York now, and how I will implement the improvements planned (and maybe a couple of surprises)!

Today's Year of Flipperless game is United's 1946 "Sea Breeze" - a beautiful fun-looking game with multiple sequences.

http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=2079

Apr 25, 2018

Allentown is coming next week - 5/3-5/5/18.  I will be there with the Multi on Saturday only 5/5!  Come say hello and try the game.  I look forward to seeing everyone there.

I talk about some of the development challenges in getting the game ready to show the new animations, including the small touches like flashing the insert lamps on coin flash.

 

Today's Year of Flipperless is 1938's Bally "Arcade".

http://ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=3650

Apr 11, 2018

Discussion of some of the difficulties with animating the coin flash for each game.  Some discussion of outstanding bugs.

Today's Year of Flipperless game is 1938's Chicago Coin "Swing".

I love games with mechanical diverters as well as the captive ball feature.

 

http://ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=2481

Mar 29, 2018

Robo-Frenzy is coming along, awaiting some new parts.  I discuss a bit about how difficult it is for me to wire up a stepper from scratch.

The Multi is progressing on several fronts, and I'm working on adding coin flash for every game.

Our Year of Flipperless game is 1939's Exhibit Avalon.

A very beautiful and interesting looking game, with uniquely shaped bumpers.

http://ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=117&picno=5616

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