# Episode 93 - Bally Crosswords

**Source:** For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2015-06-12  
**Duration:** 5m 41s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://foramusementonly.libsyn.com/episode-93-bally-crosswords

---

## Analysis

Nick Baldridge explores Bally Crosswords, a rare and unique electromechanical pinball game with a bingo-style playfield where players spell three- or four-letter words by shooting balls into lettered positions. The game features dual star holes that act as score multipliers, a two-digit credit counter with a maximum of 90-99 replays possible, and a pedestal cabinet design that allows increased nudging. Baldridge speculates the game may have influenced later word-spelling games from Williams and Tic-Tac-Toe games from Gottlieb and Williams.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Bally Crosswords has a playfield layout and gameplay similar to Bally bingo machines — _Nick Baldridge, opening description of the game mechanics_
- [HIGH] The game features two star holes positioned at the number 1 and number 7 positions that act as score multipliers — _Nick Baldridge, describing playfield layout and star hole mechanics_
- [HIGH] The credit counter on Bally Crosswords is only two digits, maxing out at 90 or 99 depending on mechanical limits — _Nick Baldridge, explaining the credit counter design based on instruction cards_
- [HIGH] Making a three-letter word earns two replays; with one star hole, three replays; with both star holes, 16 replays — _Nick Baldridge, citing instruction and score cards from IPDB_
- [HIGH] Dennis Dodell's Bally Crosswords example is housed in a pedestal-style cabinet with a floor-length backbox — _Nick Baldridge, describing the physical cabinet design of the example machine_
- [LOW] Bally Crosswords may have influenced later Williams spell-a-word games like Ding Dong and Gottlieb/Williams Tic-Tac-Toe games — _Nick Baldridge, explicitly stating 'wild speculation' about potential design influence_

### Notable Quotes

> "Crosswords has a playfield layout similar to a bally bingo and it has gameplay, which is also similar to a ballet bingo. The idea being that you can light puzzles on the back glass."
> — **Nick Baldridge**, early in episode
> _Establishes the core mechanic comparing Crosswords to familiar bingo machine design_

> "The rest are all letters And as you descend the playfield the letters increase in order So A is in position 2 on a typical bingo play field for example"
> — **Nick Baldridge**, mid-episode
> _Explains the alphabetical layout system unique to Crosswords_

> "I've never played one of these, so I'm just going based off of photos and the score and instruction cards, which are on IPDB, courtesy of Mr. Dennis Dodell."
> — **Nick Baldridge**, early episode
> _Establishes source credibility and disclosure of limitation in firsthand experience_

> "The credit counter only goes up to double digits so the max credits on this game would be either 90 or 99 depending on the mechanical limit of the score counter"
> — **Nick Baldridge**, mid-episode
> _Highlights an unusual mechanical constraint of the game's reward system_

> "Dennis's example comes in a pedestal-style cab, where the back box is floor-length, and the front has a little foot that juts out. This would give you more nudging ability than having a full front"
> — **Nick Baldridge**, later in episode
> _Describes unique cabinet design and its gameplay implications_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Nick Baldridge | person | Host of For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast; creator of Multi-Bingo; primary speaker analyzing Bally Crosswords |
| Bally Crosswords | game | Rare electromechanical bingo-style pinball game featuring word-spelling gameplay; pedestal cabinet design; two-digit credit counter |
| Dennis Dodell | person | Owner/operator of a Bally Crosswords machine in pedestal-style cabinet; documented game photos, score cards, and instruction cards on IPDB |
| Bally | company | Historical pinball manufacturer; creator of Crosswords and bingo-style pinball machines referenced in the episode |
| Williams | company | Pinball manufacturer; potentially influenced by Crosswords design; created spell-a-word games like Ding Dong and Tic-Tac-Toe variants |
| Gottlieb | company | Pinball manufacturer; potentially influenced by Crosswords; created Tic-Tac-Toe style games |
| IPDB | organization | Internet Pinball Database; source of Bally Crosswords documentation including instruction cards and score cards courtesy of Dennis Dodell |
| For Amusement Only Podcast | organization | EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast hosted by Nick Baldridge; Episode 93 focuses on Bally Crosswords |
| Ding Dong | game | Williams spell-a-word pinball game; potentially influenced by Bally Crosswords design |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Bally Crosswords game mechanics and design, Electromechanical (EM) pinball machine history and design evolution, Bingo-style pinball gameplay and rule systems
- **Secondary:** Cabinet design and physical construction (pedestal vs. standard), Rare and obscure pinball games documentation, Word-spelling pinball game variants across manufacturers
- **Mentioned:** Playfield layout standardization in pinball design

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.82) — Nick Baldridge expresses genuine enthusiasm and curiosity about Bally Crosswords. He describes the game as 'really fun to play' and expresses a desire to experience it firsthand. The tone is appreciative of the game's uniqueness and mechanical innovation, with no negative criticism. Speculation about historical influence is presented as interesting conjecture rather than definitive or critical.

### Signals

- **[historical_signal]** Nick Baldridge speculates that Bally Crosswords may have influenced later word-spelling games from Williams (Ding Dong) and Tic-Tac-Toe games from Gottlieb and Williams (confidence: low) — Baldridge explicitly states 'this is just wild speculation' when making this connection
- **[historical_signal]** Bally Crosswords is a rare and unique game with limited known examples; documentation sourced from IPDB and operator Dennis Dodell (confidence: high) — Nick Baldridge states 'I've never played one of these' and relies on IPDB documentation and photos from Dennis Dodell's machine
- **[gameplay_signal]** Bally Crosswords features unique reward multipliers (star holes) that significantly increase replay payout, with maximum of 16 replays for four-letter word with both stars (confidence: high) — Detailed breakdown of replay payouts: 2 replays (3-letter), 3 replays (3-letter + 1 star), 16 replays (3-letter + 2 stars)
- **[design_innovation]** Bally Crosswords uses a two-digit credit counter, limiting total possible credits to 90-99, creating an unusual constraint on maximum game rewards (confidence: high) — Baldridge notes the counter 'only goes up to double digits' and compares design to standard Bally score counters
- **[design_innovation]** Bally Crosswords pedestal-style cabinet design with floor-length backbox and jutting front foot increases nudging ability compared to standard full-front cabinets (confidence: high) — Baldridge describes Dennis Dodell's machine as pedestal-style and notes this design choice affects gameplay physics
- **[content_signal]** For Amusement Only Podcast Episode 93 dedicated to detailed analysis of rare Bally Crosswords game based on historical documentation (confidence: high) — Episode title and full episode content analysis of a single obscure historical game

---

## Transcript

 what's that sound it's for amusement only the em and bingo pinball podcast welcome back to for amusement only this is Nicholas Baldridge today i wanted to talk about a unique and rare game bally crosswords crosswords has a playfield layout similar to a bally bingo and it has gameplay, which is also similar to a ballet bingo. The idea being that you can light puzzles on the back glass. Each puzzle lights with an additional coin drop. So similar to a six-card bingo in design. And the goal is to spell words. Now the words that you spell can either be three characters or four characters And then there are two star holes One at the number one position on a typical bally bingo in the upper left And one in the seven position on a typical bally bingo in the upper right The rest are all letters And as you descend the playfield the letters increase in order So A is in position 2 on a typical bingo play field for example And the interesting thing is you get five balls, and those star holes are like bonus multipliers, kind of, in that they increase your score. Now, when you've shot all the balls, the game will start counting. And I've never played one of these, so I'm just going based off of photos and the score and instruction cards, which are on IPDB, courtesy of Mr. Dennis Dodell. So, if you were to make a three-letter word, you would win two replays. If you got one star hole with a three-letter word, you'd get three replays. Now, if you made a three-letter word and got two of the star holes, then you'd get 16 replays. Now what interesting is that the credit counter only goes up to double digits so the max credits on this game would be either 90 or 99 depending on the mechanical limit of the score counter It happens to bear a very striking resemblance to the Bally score counters, except that it's only two digits. so on the instruction card of course it's printed for amusement only sure um but i will say that it is rather low scoring so i'm not sure what kind of payouts would exist on this, just because you're not racking in hundreds and hundreds of replays. So, the game looks really fun to play. I would love to play one of these. Dennis's example comes in a pedestal-style cab, where the backbox is floor-length, and the front has a little foot that juts out. This would give you more nudging ability than having a full front similar to one of the one ball horse racing games I do hope one day to get to try one of these Some examples of words that you can make are bade sir tend sire made bin cart There's a surprising number of combinations, actually. And this is just wild speculation, speculation, but perhaps Valley's Crosswords influenced other games like the Williams spell a word style games like Ding Dong or possibly some of the Gottlieb Tic-Tac-Toe style games or the Williams Tic-Tac-Toe style. I'm not sure, but again, if you run into one, give it a shot. And it looks like it's quite fun. So thank you again for joining me. My name again is Nick Baldrige. You can reach me at 4amusementonlypodcast at gmail.com. You can listen to us on iTunes, Stitcher, Pocket Cast, via RSS, on Facebook at 4amusementonlypodcast, on Twitter at bingopodcast. You can find me on Instagram at nbaldrige. Or you can listen to us on our website, which is for amusement only dot libsyn.com. Thanks very much for listening and I'll talk to you next time.

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

---

*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 3aaf78fb-a934-484b-84b2-7771b15b6352*