# Episode 279 - My EM Happenings For the Week of 12-12-15

**Source:** For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2015-12-15  
**Duration:** 14m 46s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://foramusementonly.libsyn.com/episode-279-my-em-happenings-for-the-week-of-12-12-15

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## Analysis

Nick Baldridge hosts a personal EM and bingo pinball update discussing recent machine repairs (Bikini with payout hopper), local league play, bingo gaming sessions with friends and family, and upcoming acquisitions including a Turf King restoration project. He highlights growing community interest in EM/bingo machines and offers assistance to new players and collectors.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Recently fixed a Bikini machine with payout hopper for a customer, first hopper requiring significant work with microswitch replacement. — _Nick Baldridge, direct personal experience recounted on show_
- [HIGH] Daughter Sofie achieved first big win on Nightclub bingo machine: three in a row for 18 on the red line (doubled to 36). — _Nick Baldridge describing recent family gaming session_
- [HIGH] Taylor Reese won a competitive dollar bingo tournament among four players, being first to achieve three in a row. — _Nick Baldridge recounting recent local tournament_
- [HIGH] Friend Clark has recently improved significantly at bingo play within the local league. — _Nick Baldridge observing local player performance_
- [MEDIUM] Taylor Reese has recently entered the VM (video machine) world in addition to EM/bingo play. — _Nick Baldridge noting player's expansion into new machine categories_
- [HIGH] New listeners are acquiring EM/bingo games and seeking technical assistance. — _Nick Baldridge reporting on listener engagement and show impact_
- [MEDIUM] A Keeney Towers flipperless amusement machine from 1938 is available near DC. — _Nick Baldridge mentioning available machines for collectors_

### Notable Quotes

> "It is so wonderful. When you get a big win and the replays start ticking on, it's so fast how quickly that game counts up the replays."
> — **Nick Baldridge**, mid-episode
> _Expresses enthusiasm for Nightclub bingo machine mechanics and replay counter experience_

> "I started taking his picture and he accidentally pushed the button and dumped all the balls."
> — **Nick Baldridge**, tournament discussion
> _Humorous anecdote from competitive bingo tournament highlighting real-world gaming dynamics_

> "I'm here and of course anybody is welcome to contact me if they need need a hand not that I'm the best but I'll certainly give it a shot"
> — **Nick Baldridge**, community outreach section
> _Demonstrates show's mission to support EM/bingo community growth and newcomers_

> "I'm making my way out to a listener's house and picking up a game. So I'm looking forward to that too. Picking up a Turf King."
> — **Nick Baldridge**, closing section
> _Announces upcoming machine acquisition and planned restoration project_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Nick Baldridge | person | Host of For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast; EM/bingo enthusiast, technician, and community organizer |
| Taylor Reese | person | Local EM/bingo player and podcast guest; recently entered VM (video machine) world; won competitive bingo tournament |
| Clark | person | Podcast guest and local league player; recently improved bingo game skills |
| Sofie | person | Nick Baldridge's youngest daughter; recently introduced to and enjoyed playing Nightclub bingo machine |
| Ava | person | Nick Baldridge's daughter; interested in horses; potentially involved in Turf King restoration project |
| Phil Boga | person | Podcast guest with multiple bingo machines available for sale |
| For Amusement Only | organization | EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast hosted by Nick Baldridge |
| Bikini | game | EM pinball machine recently serviced by Nick with payout hopper repair |
| Nightclub | game | Bingo machine; Nick's favorite; features rotating number display and fast replay counting |
| Caravan | game | Bingo machine; described as beautiful with distinctive win sound and loud replay counting |
| Magic Screen | game | Bingo game with fantastic artwork; available near DC area |
| Keeney Towers | game | Flipperless amusement pinball machine from 1938 by Keeney; available near DC |
| Turf King | game | EM machine being acquired by Nick Baldridge for restoration; has horse-themed appeal for daughter Ava |
| Gaiety | game | Bingo machine available in Seattle area per listener message |
| Keeney | company | Historic pinball/amusement machine manufacturer from 1930s; produced flipperless and early pinball games |

### Topics

- **Primary:** EM machine repair and maintenance, Bingo pinball gaming and gameplay, Local EM/bingo community and league play
- **Secondary:** Machine acquisition and restoration projects, Community engagement and podcast impact, Family involvement in EM/bingo gaming
- **Mentioned:** Available machines for collectors, Historic pinball machine preservation

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.85) — Nick expresses enthusiasm for EM/bingo games, pride in family gaming moments, satisfaction with community growth and engagement, and optimism about upcoming projects. No negative sentiments expressed. Tone is warm, inclusive, and encouraging toward newcomers.

### Signals

- **[restoration_signal]** Nick completed payout hopper installation and repair on Bikini machine; required microswitch replacement and described as first hopper needing significant work. (confidence: high) — Direct recounting of recent repair work with technical details about microswitch component
- **[community_signal]** Multiple new listeners acquiring EM/bingo machines and seeking technical assistance from podcast host. (confidence: high) — Nick reports 'some of them have picked up games' and is helping with troubleshooting; states goal of show is to 'get people to give these games a shot'
- **[operational_signal]** Active local EM/bingo league with multiple participants; Nick hosting competitive and casual gaming sessions with friends from league. (confidence: high) — Nick attended second league night; organized dollar bingo tournament with four players; hosted group gaming night with league members
- **[venue_signal]** Multiple EM/bingo machines available for acquisition in geographic regions: DC area (Keeney Towers, Magic Screen), Seattle area (Gaiety), and Phil Boga's collection. (confidence: medium) — Listener messages reporting available machines; Phil Boga mentioned as having multiple bingos for sale
- **[content_signal]** Podcast generating listener interest in EM/bingo machines, with direct acquisitions and technical engagement traceable to show content. (confidence: high) — Nick states 'one of the goals of the show is to get people to uh give these games a shot so I glad that starting to happen'
- **[gameplay_signal]** Detailed observations about bingo machine gameplay mechanics, particularly replay counting sounds and speed differentials between games (Caravan vs ballet games). (confidence: high) — Nick discusses 'the way it counts replays is so loud and so distinct' and 'so fast how quickly that game counts up the replays'
- **[restoration_signal]** Nick planning multi-part restoration of acquired Turf King machine with potential family involvement from daughter Ava. (confidence: high) — Nick states 'I'm looking forward to digging into that game' and 'I'm really hoping that my daughter Ava will work with me on the refurb of it'
- **[historical_signal]** Discussion of 1938 Keeney Towers flipperless machine and Keeney's historical role as pinball/amusement machine manufacturer. (confidence: medium) — Nick mentions 'a Keeney Towers, which is a game that was made in 1938, it's flipperless, and it's an amusement pinball made by Keeney'

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## Transcript

 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. Tonight I want to just talk a little bit about what's been going on in my EM world. I do this from time to time. Jim Recently, I... fixed up a bikini for a customer and got that working 100% here recently. It's a very fun game. And, uhh, this particular version had a payout hopper installed and, uhh, he wanted to leave it on coinplay, so... umm... that was pretty neat. I got the payout hopper working very well. Uhh, that's the first... I'm a little bit of a hopper that I've worked on that needed any work. The micro switch on it needed replacing and I'll do a show about that here soon because that took some doing. Aside from that, I had the second league night here with this league that I joined and I I am certainly a one-hit wonder. My score did not reflect the fantastic job that I did the meeting before, but I'm about where I suspected I would be. And other than that, I've been playing a lot of bingo. I've also been Not staying up as late as I used to, which has led to fewer late-night caffeine-fueled cleaning sessions and tweaking sessions and so forth, so... I've been playing a lot of games, so that's been very nice. Haven't won a whole lot, nothing really super exciting to speak of. I did I did get a five and a line on one of the games. I've been playing a lot of Caravan, which is a beautiful game, and I just love the way it sounds when you win. If you've been following me on Instagram, you'll see a few videos of that, and the way it counts replays is so loud and so distinct from the ballet games. It's really cool. As far as the ballet games, I've been playing mainly nightclub. You know, I just love that game so very much. It is so wonderful. When you get a big win and the replays start ticking on, it's so fast how quickly that game counts up the replays. The and so i introduced sofie my youngest to uh... nightclub and then got her to try that and she really enjoyed it she loved the rotating numbers feature she thought that was really cool and uh... she got her first big win uh... she got a three in a row for eighteen and it happened to be in the red line which was doubled She got 36 so I was pretty excited and proud and she was really happy She got paid off in jelly beans. So, other than that I had a group of local guys come over from the league, including couple guys that i've been intending to have over for a while and we had a good night of pinball and uh... really fantastic bingo session so everybody you know gave the games a shot and a few won quite a bit My friend Clark, who's been on the podcast before, has really increased his bingo game here recently. He was doing quite well. It seemed like every time he played a game, I heard the replay counter start ticking up, so that was pretty cool. Uh, and then we decided to play a dollar game on bingo, so I wanted to test out a little theory that I had about competitive bingo. And so we had a little mini tournament, and everybody started up their machine with a single button press, and that gives you the default odds for the machines that have odds. And the idea is to get three in a row on any of the machines and whoever did that first would win the pot. Now it ended up taking quite some time, believe it or not. So there were, let's see, four of us competing, including myself. So this is a pretty sad reflection of the terrible nature of my gameplay skills, but it ended up being Taylor James Rees who you might have heard on this flippin' podcast. He's also been on this show before and now he's dipped both feet into the world of VMs, which is pretty cool. But he got a three in a row, he was the first to do it and it was pretty great. I started taking his picture and he accidentally pushed the button and dumped all the balls. So if you look on Instagram and you see the picture of him holding a $5 bill, somebody The the game doesn't have a three-in-a-row mind but i hope everybody had fun there and uh... and hoping to have some more local guys over here soon and uh... get them to try the games uh... in other news you know i've really been getting in touch with some new folks and uh... they're getting interested in picking up games and some of them have picked up games Uh, which is really exciting and I'm helping a few of those guys, um, work through a few problems and get their games up and running, so that's really cool. I mean that you know one of the goals of the show is to get people to uh give these games a shot so I glad that starting to happen And has been really you know for some time so that really gratifying anytime somebody you know lets me know that they picked up a game even if they don need help fixing it up I'm here and of course anybody is welcome to contact me if they need need a hand not that I'm the best but I'll certainly give it a shot and other than that I've been working on pins around town you know the usual and I'm I've got kind of a backlog since it's the I'm a little bit busy with the holidays so I've got I think three folks I need to get out and see here soon and then we got a list of later as well just a busy time but I'm getting excited for the holiday of course I'm really excited for the kids and hope they have a good time and shortly after that I'll be making I'm making my way out to a listener's house and picking up a game. So I'm looking forward to that too. Picking up a Turf King. So I'm looking forward to digging into that game and really playing it quite a bit. And I'm really hoping that my daughter Ava will work with me on the refurb of it. I think she's gotten really into horses here recently. I think she has a classmate that does horse riding or something. And so I thought that'd be a nice bonding activity for us. So we'll see if that actually turns out or not. I'm not going to force the issue, of course. But if she wants to, the offer's there and she said that she might. So sounds definitive. So, as far as games which are available, up near DC there's a Keeney Towers, which is a game that was made in 1938, it's flipperless, and it's an amusement pinball made by Keeney. They made a few six card bingos and they made a few pinball machines, most of which had Is it intensely아끊? Is itycz Sammy payload étantari Ad 653-II7XOFU, cra ignorance at info7考 미국� distancing dichi.."段zą달�łada belonged. Fun創作 WORLDWIDE You can Visaoru- corpses- intensative Bring BadUDchi Carson The next roller derby again is a Magic ScreenBingo the game which is a fantastic game It's really super fun. It's got great artwork. Then beyond that, I got a message from a listener up in the Seattle area, and there's a Gaiety As the nickname isroc Ok so, sparePix University does not have an online account, so we could add that up as W3S2. Need to do a authentication for摄쟡. USOHL Precisely, you have some Can make access when VEGA would include on right side this tool to BIC6. Astroática Yes, will extend the theatrical grounds, The What it needs Now I would also highly recommend arguing the price down because Findinging a lockdown bar is going to be quite the challenge Let alone the playfield And Then aside from that Phil Boga month you've heard his interview here recently. He's got quite a few bingos for sale At OS wrest Lana, j cupspe grades along this 101-bit ut женyny thit completa shoddy ''j钟еj' at드�ak использовать mí thadúеference wi Groß Barcelonais gjq aquellogae Colorado howyogiñžдуěynd bronze department '' cov Suan mutete aan bizi jțavauksê a� imperson unity corners helemaalized ned 기분 w鉄añășčia, age unasfćaśæ Jerome ut r 여기서 coaktiòn iscule aćeščiušâ rasèkčia Londo 700x jegoldăgĕойдž forbidə marine Ne patəcãsók Ųg ïone godzieňbiѝitir insistsărţie, ausge who Oh Micro�xle McG� firstly included this recap Spicyant gaza até a person So, you know, hopefully some games find some new homes here and people continue to be interested in getting their first bingo. And of course, I'm here should anybody need assistance. Not that I am fantastic, but I'm here at least. So there's that. Well, that's all for tonight. Thank you very much for joining me. My name again is Nicholas Baldridge. For more information, please visit www.foramusementonlypodcast.com or call me on the bingos line at 724-BINGOS1 . You can listen to us on iTunes, Stitcher, Pocket Cast, via RSS, on Facebook, on Twitter, at bingopodcast, you can follow me on Instagram, also at bingopodcast, 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)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 90387a62-b767-43d6-82d6-659e454319ac*