# Episode 191 - 1978 Bally Dixieland **Source:** For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast **Type:** podcast_episode **Published:** 2015-09-17 **Duration:** 10m 17s **Beat:** Pinball **URL:** https://foramusementonly.libsyn.com/episode-191-1978-bally-dixieland --- ## Analysis Nick Baldridge hosts a deep dive into the 1978 Bally Dixieland, a six-card bingo pinball machine he considers the most feature-rich EM bingo game ever produced. The episode details Dixieland's gameplay mechanics, including the magic number system, double-double scoring, corners feature, and super line, explaining strategic depth and replay potential. Baldridge also promotes the York Show (October 9-10) where Dixieland may appear in Bingo Row, and mentions a 1961 Bally Bikini bingo machine being offered for sale. ### Key Claims - [HIGH] Dixieland was the last EM six-card game produced by Bally — _Nicholas Baldridge, direct assertion about Dixieland's production timeline_ - [HIGH] Dixieland had the most features of any six-card bingo game — _Nicholas Baldridge, credited to Vic_VP's characterization of Dixieland as 'the king of all six card games'_ - [HIGH] The 11th coin feature in Dixieland doubles or quadruples scores for randomly lit cards when the magic number is hit — _Nicholas Baldridge, detailed explanation of Dixieland mechanics_ - [MEDIUM] Bingo machines cost three times the per-play cost of quarter-operated flipper games in 1970 — _Nicholas Baldridge, historical pricing comparison_ - [MEDIUM] A Dixieland machine may come to York Show's Bingo Row, converted to single coin operation — _Nicholas Baldridge, conditional statement about upcoming show participation_ - [MEDIUM] Single coin bingo games were created when operators modified factory machines with custom backglasses and functionality changes — _Nicholas Baldridge, explanation of operator modifications to bingo machines_ ### Notable Quotes > "Dixieland as Vic_VP says is the king of all six card games and that's because it was the last EM six card game produced and it had the most features" > — **Nicholas Baldridge**, early > _Core thesis of the episode—establishes Dixieland's significance as the pinnacle of six-card bingo design_ > "your best scenario is to hit the magic number on ball one. This lets you get a five in a line on any of the cards including the one or ones which are lit double double" > — **Nicholas Baldridge**, mid > _Explains core strategic element and high-scoring potential of Dixieland gameplay_ > "this game is incredibly fun I played one at the camps house and it's very challenging and you have to shift your strategy almost constantly in order to win well on it" > — **Nicholas Baldridge**, mid-late > _Personal experience validates the game's depth and replay value despite era and mechanics_ ### Entities | Name | Type | Context | |------|------|---------| | Nicholas Baldridge | person | Host of For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast, producer/expert on bingo pinball machines | | Vic_VP | person | Referenced expert on six-card bingo games who characterized Dixieland as 'the king of all six card games' and was known to win consistently on route-operated machines | | 1978 Bally Dixieland | game | Six-card EM bingo pinball machine, last EM six-card game produced, subject of episode | | 1961 Bally Bikini | game | Vintage bingo pinball machine, being offered for sale, potential participant at York Show | | Bally | company | Historical pinball manufacturer, producer of Dixieland and other bingo games | | York Show | event | Pinball event held at York Fairgrounds, Pennsylvania, October 9-10, features Bingo Row exhibition | | Bingo Row | event | Dedicated bingo pinball exhibition section at York Show | | Super Podcast Brothers | content | Video game podcast that occasionally discusses pinball, bimonthly format, discovered by Nicholas Baldridge | | For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast | organization | Nicholas Baldridge's podcast focused on EM and bingo pinball machines | | Nashville | game | Six-card bingo machine directly preceding Dixieland in Bally's lineup | ### Topics - **Primary:** Six-card bingo pinball game design and mechanics, EM (electromechanical) pinball history and evolution, Strategic gameplay depth in vintage bingo machines - **Secondary:** Bingo pinball community and shows (York Show), Operator modifications and single-coin conversions - **Mentioned:** Pinball podcast ecosystem and cross-promotion ### Sentiment **Neutral** (0) ### Signals - **[content_signal]** Nicholas Baldridge discovers and endorses Super Podcast Brothers (video game podcast with pinball discussions), indicating cross-pollination between pinball and adjacent gaming content communities (confidence: high) — Host describes discovering Super Podcast Brothers and explicitly recommends listeners check it out - **[event_signal]** York Show Bingo Row scheduled for October 9-10, with potential lineup including Dixieland (converted to single coin) and confirmed sale of 1961 Bally Bikini (confidence: high) — Nicholas Baldridge confirms York Fairgrounds dates and mentions both machines as likely/confirmed participants - **[gameplay_signal]** Dixieland exhibits significant strategic depth requiring adaptive play styles across multiple balls and random feature lighting (confidence: high) — Detailed explanation of magic number, double-double, corners, and super line features; host's personal testimony of gameplay difficulty - **[historical_signal]** Dixieland represents the culmination of Bally's six-card EM bingo design line (Nashville → Dixieland), incorporating iterative feature additions (confidence: high) — Nicholas Baldridge traces feature lineage from Nashville through Dixieland, identifies Dixieland as final EM six-card title - **[restoration_signal]** Single-coin conversions of Bally bingo machines represent community-driven operator modifications involving custom backglass etching and gameplay rule adjustments (confidence: medium) — Nicholas Baldridge describes operator groups creating modified machines as alternative entry point to standard multi-coin gameplay - **[market_signal]** At least one Bally Bikini (1961) bingo machine listed for sale; Dixieland converted machine expected at York Show, indicating ongoing collector/venue interest in vintage bingo titles (confidence: high) — Nicholas Baldridge mentions sale of 1961 Bally Bikini and potential Dixieland appearance at York Show --- ## Transcript The End What's that sound? It's 4 Amusement Only, the EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast. Welcome back to 4 Amusement Only. This is Nicholas Baldridge. Before we get started tonight, I wanted to talk about a new podcast that I discovered, which also talks about pinball, a subject which I happen to enjoy. It's called the Super Podcast Brothers and that is spelled like Super Mario Brothers. It's a duo that talks about mostly video games. They record bimonthly and it's a very long format show but the conversation turns to pinball and I enjoy what they have to say. So, you can check them out at superpodcastbros.com. So, for tonight's episode, continuing in my series on games which may come to the York Show to participate in the Bingo Row. The York Show is in York, Pennsylvania at the York Fairgrounds on October 9th and 10th, Friday and Saturday. Game RoomShow and the URL is theyorkshow dot com. I look forward to seeing everybody there and playing some bingos. Now, I also want to mention that there will be at least one ballet bingo for sale and that's the 1961 ballet bikini. I wanted to talk tonight though about the 1978 1978 1978197819781978Bally six card game Dixieland1978197819781978Dixieland as VicCamp says is the king of all six card games and that's because it was the last197819781978 EM six card game produced and it had the most features in a pretty good recently after strictly six card I talked about Nashville Nashville was the six card directly before Dixieland so all the features present on Nashville which include six coins to coin up the individual cards the seventh and eighth coin which allow you率ач And finally, the feature that they added in Dixieland, the 11th coin. When you put in the 11th coin, it double, doubles or quadruples your scores for any of the cards which are randomly lit in that section of the back glass when you hit the magic number. So, your playing strategy, as I mentioned in the Nashville episode, can shift. Right after you shoot your first ball, the game is going to spin and look for the magic number, which is going to be one or two numbers. And if you manage to hit that with your first, second, third, fourth, or fifth ball, it will light the double-double feature on The game is a game of cards, and you can play it with a random assortment of cards, but it will double all the scores on all the cards. So, your best scenario is to hit the magic number on ball one. This lets you get a five in a line on any of the cards uh... including the one or ones which are lit double double. So you want to do that because the amount of replays that you're going to win is going to be tremendous compared to what you would win with a normal five in a line On top of that Dixieland has the corners feature where if you get a ball in each of the four corners of the bingo card then you win as if you got five in a line on that card And there also the Super Line Now the Super Line is a particular line of numbers on each of the cards It arranged differently on each card And if you get three in a row, it scores as if you had four in a row. And if you get four in a row, it scores as if you had five. So when this feature lights, it's often a good idea to try and shoot for that. Out-kickiyoruz, Oy, Out-kickasuryus, Out-kickÜNDNIS Ö Out-kick disadvantinstureșččěščěščě Loveiciones, Out-kick disappeisn'tomišččěš ногiudo, Out-kickMissyjéščěščěščěščěščěščëssæ live lentens Legisl disparowsrzčskłą women´s Interありがとうございました ofShman lanç, Out-kickweile этомlikrzčič prákopł isolice, The the magic number will light double double on card six that means you can get up to twenty four hundred replays off of a five in a line on card six if it doesn't and you put in ten coins are eleven coins then it's going to be doubled if you had the magic number and that's pretty five in a line So, that is pretty powerful. The only exception to this kind of rule about the magic number is if you hit the magic number and then you hit all four corners and that score or that feature is lit or you hit four in a row in the super line and that feature is lit. Now those light randomly but they are also awarded by rollovers which are on the playfield in the positions for the extended time tree on magic screen or magic squares games that have that feature but those are also lit randomly so this game is incredibly fun I played one at the camps house and it's very challenging and you have to shift your strategy almost constantly in order to win well on it you can typically The when these were operated in nineteen seventy it costs almost three fully light the game That's a chunk of change per play compared to the quarter of play for flipper games at the time. So that's quite a difference. But the staggering potential number of replays that you can win certainly makes up for that very minor shortcoming. Especially if you're good, like Vic Camp again. He could consistently win on these when he was playing them en route. Makes a big difference. All right, well, hopefully this one makes it to the bingo row. The one which may come has been converted to a single coin. Now, single coin games were manufactured as regular ballybingos, and then a group of operators apparently got together and etched their own backglasses and changed out some of the functionality poly anyway we can approach a video in itself and feature video hopes you to see why these algorithms can't help you. In fact, TikTok is a program to help you properly get to the direction These are the titles of the the uh... And it should have the same awesome gameplay. It'll just be easier to start. So, that's all good. Alright. Well, thank you very much for joining me. My name again is Nick Baldrige. You can reach me at 4amusementonlypodcast at gmail dot com, or you can call me on the bingos line. That's 724-BINGOS-1. 724-246-4671. You can listen to us on iTunes, stitcher, pocketcasts,vrss, on facebook, on twitter, at bingopodcast, you can follow me on instagram at nbaldridge, or you can listen to us on our website which is foramusementonly.libsyn.com. Thank you 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: 5ed946d3-9d43-47d1-99ff-eb23a71e5659*