# Episode 330 - 1971 Bally Stock Market **Source:** For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast **Type:** podcast_episode **Published:** 2016-02-04 **Duration:** 7m 55s **Beat:** Pinball **URL:** https://foramusementonly.libsyn.com/episode-330-1971-bally-stock-market --- ## Analysis Nicholas Baldrige provides a detailed analysis of the 1971 Bally Stock Market bingo pinball machine, a 25-hole six-card bingo game featuring a double-or-nothing feature and corner scoring mechanics. The episode covers gameplay mechanics (multi-coin play, bingo card filling via 25 numbered holes), payout structure (increasing rewards from card 1-6, up to 300 replays for five-in-a-row on card 6), artistic design (ticker tape and stockbroker theme shared with sister game Ticker Tape), and gameplay comparison to Ticker Tape, concluding that Stock Market is faster but lacks the super lines feature that makes Ticker Tape superior. ### Key Claims - [HIGH] Stock Market is a 25-hole bingo machine and represents Bally's return to that format after alternating between 20-hole and 25-hole designs — _Nicholas Baldrige, episode opener and description_ - [HIGH] Stock Market uses a six-card multi-coin system where each quarter lights one bingo card, requiring $1.50 total to qualify the entire game — _Nicholas Baldrige, gameplay mechanics explanation_ - [HIGH] The highest payout on Stock Market is 300 replays for five-in-a-row on card number six — _Nicholas Baldrige, payout structure section_ - [HIGH] Stock Market features a double-or-nothing mechanic accessed by pressing button C after achieving five-in-a-line, allowing players to risk their replays for 600 or nothing — _Nicholas Baldrige, double-or-nothing feature explanation_ - [HIGH] Stock Market has corner scoring as a special feature, which can light randomly on any bingo card and requires completing corners for payout — _Nicholas Baldrige, corner scoring feature description_ - [HIGH] Stock Market shares backglass and cabinet artwork design with Ticker Tape, a sister game, with the main difference being blue base color instead of green — _Nicholas Baldrige, artwork section_ - [MEDIUM] Ticker Tape is superior to Stock Market because it includes super lines feature, giving players more objectives to shoot for — _Nicholas Baldrige, personal opinion comparing Stock Market to Ticker Tape_ - [HIGH] Stock Market has no extra balls and only provides five balls per game, making it faster-paced than Ticker Tape — _Nicholas Baldrige, gameplay conclusion_ ### Notable Quotes > "It is pretty fun to play double or nothing on these six card bingos." > — **Nicholas Baldrige**, ~10:30 > _Direct commentary on the appeal of the double-or-nothing mechanic that defines the gameplay experience_ > "The payout actually increases from card number one all the way up to six. And as you go, the payout gets higher and higher." > — **Nicholas Baldrige**, ~7:00 > _Explains the risk/reward progression system that encourages play through all six cards_ > "I haven't played Stock Market, but I have played its sister game, Ticker Tape, and I will say that Ticker Tape adds the super lines and therefore I think that's a better game because there's more to shoot for." > — **Nicholas Baldrige**, ~14:30 > _Host transparency about firsthand experience and comparative analysis between related titles_ > "I don't think there's any shame in owning Stock Market." > — **Nicholas Baldrige**, ~15:00 > _Reassurance to collectors about the game's value despite being the less-featured sister game_ > "There are no extra balls and so once you finish the game you've used all five balls in your done. Time to put in another $1.50 and coin up!" > — **Nicholas Baldrige**, ~16:00 > _Highlights the game's arcade economy design and quick turnaround for re-play_ ### Entities | Name | Type | Context | |------|------|---------| | Nicholas Baldrige | person | Host of For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast; expert analyst and enthusiast of bingo pinball machines; provides detailed technical and design analysis | | Bally | company | Historical pinball and bingo machine manufacturer that produced Stock Market in 1971 | | Stock Market | game | 1971 Bally bingo pinball machine; 25-hole six-card bingo game with double-or-nothing feature and corner scoring; sister game to Ticker Tape | | Ticker Tape | game | Sister game to Stock Market with identical artwork theme but featuring super lines mechanic; shares cabinet and backglass design with Stock Market | | For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast | organization | Podcast dedicated to electromechanical and bingo pinball machines; hosts detailed game analyses and history | ### Topics - **Primary:** Bingo Pinball Machine Design, Six-Card Multi-Coin Mechanics, Double-or-Nothing Feature, Corner Scoring Mechanic - **Secondary:** Artwork and Cabinet Design, Comparative Game Analysis, 1971 Bally Product Line - **Mentioned:** Arcade Economy and Pricing ### Sentiment **Positive** (0.75) — Host is respectful and informative about Stock Market while acknowledging its sister game Ticker Tape as mechanically superior. Balanced perspective: no shame in owning Stock Market, fast-paced gameplay is appealing, but lack of super lines limits it. Enthusiastic educational tone throughout. ### Signals - **[historical_signal]** Stock Market represents Bally's design pattern of alternating between 20-hole and 25-hole bingo formats in early 1970s (confidence: high) — Baldrige states 'Bally continued to alternate putting out 20-hole bingos and 25-hole bingos for the next few years' - **[design_philosophy]** Stock Market employs escalating payout structure (card 1-6) and double-or-nothing feature to incentivize risk-taking and replay (confidence: high) — Payout increases from card 1 to 6, with card 6 offering 300 replays; D button doubles to 600 or loses everything - **[design_innovation]** Stock Market reintroduced corner scoring feature after extended absence from bingo machine design (confidence: high) — Baldrige notes corner scoring 'hasn't been seen for quite some time' before its return in Stock Market - **[gameplay_signal]** Stock Market features no extra balls and five-ball play, creating faster turnaround and higher coin-per-play economy than comparable titles (confidence: high) — Baldrige states 'There are no extra balls and so once you finish the game you've used all five balls in your done' - **[content_signal]** For Amusement Only provides comprehensive technical and artistic documentation of vintage bingo pinball machines for archival and collector education (confidence: high) — Detailed episode structure covering mechanics, payouts, artwork, and comparative analysis of Stock Market --- ## 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's topic is 1971's Bally Stock Market. Stock Market is a return to 25-hole bingos. Ballywood continued to alternate putting out 20-hole bingos and 25-hole bingos for the next few years. Work Sadple Advice Internetballure.io But, 1971 inspite t дв endтиров So what is a six-card bingo? Well, it's a multi-coin pinball machine. You come up and you drop your first coin, and it's going to lift your first ball, and it will also light card number one. Drop in your second coin, it lights card number two, and so on all the way up to card number six. At this point, a lot of games were a quarter of play, and so it would take a dollar fifty in order to qualify the entire game. Now, why would you want to light all six bingo cards? Well, just like in regular bingo, the idea is that you have different arrangements of the numbers on each of the bingo cards. And how do you fill out that bingo card Well you play the game You plunge a ball you shake nudge push pull and try to get the pinball to land in a particular numbered hole There are 25 on the bingo pinball playfield and a 26th hole which is marked Ball Return When you land in this hole, it lifts the ball right back to you and there's no penalty or problem for doing so. So how do you win? You want to get three, four, or five in a row on any one bingo card. Sounds pretty easy, doesn't it? You got up to six different ways that you can possibly do it. So, surely, you can put together a winner. If I can do it, you can too. The thing is that you really want to go for five in a line on card number six. And the reason is because you get the highest payout for Five in a Line on card number six. The payout actually increases from card number one all the way up to six. And as you go, the payout gets higher and higher. And for card number six, the payout is 300 replays for five in a row. But with this game, Bally added an extra feature. It's the double or nothing feature. In order to play that, after you shoot your fifth ball and you get your five in a line, you push the C button. At this point the machine starts to whir and click and eventually it will latch into place and it will start flashing double or nothing. Press D or R now in order Press D or R now in order to collect R for regular so that would give you your 300 or you can push D Now D gives you a chance at earning 600 replays or it will give you absolutely nothing It is pretty fun to play double or nothing on these six card bingos Now, there's one other feature that this game has that was brought back at this time and that's corner scoring. It hasn't been seen for quite some time, if you've been listening for a while. And with corner Scoring, this can light randomly on any one or more bingo card per game. And you have to make the corners for that particular card in order for it to count. If you do, you'll get the five in a row set of replays just for doing that. Of course, that's easier said than done. So let's talk about artwork. The back glass is very similar to ticker tape, if you've heard me talk about that. The background is made up of blue squares, on top of which is a green ticker paper and a ticker tape machine along with ticker tape spitting out that says stock market. That's wrappingaroundawomanwhoslyingdown and is talking on the phone I'm assuming to her stockbroker or perhaps she is a stockbroker who's to say but she looks awfully relaxed that's what I'll say and especially as it appears that she has her foot caught in the ticker tape machine uh... maybe she's calling for help, who knows The cabinet has the exact same stencil as Tickertape, except instead of using green as a base code it uses blue And then the playfield has figures in blue and they're talking on the phone to each other. There's a woman on the left holding a brochure marked stock market and on the right there's a man in a suit and tie. Up at the top of the playfield is a ticker tape machine Just spitting out ticker tape that says Stock Market. And then below you have the brightly colored array of holes, typical of a bingo pinball playfield. I haven't played Stock Market, but I have played its sister game, Ticker Tape, and I will say that Ticker Tape adds the super lines and therefore I think that's a better game because there's more to shoot for. But I don't think there's any shame in owning Stock talking p erwdley hank is better on stock market common two gameplay is a law more straightforward i mean you pretty much is doing straight occasionally shooting for corners whereas ticket teams gameplay straightforward and fast i think stock market is even faster there are no extra balls and so once you finish the game decided you should issue five balls in your done Time to put in another $1.50 and coin up! Well, that's all for tonight. Thank you very much for joining me. My name again is Nick Baldrige. You can reach me at 4amusementonlypodcast at gmail.com or you can call me on the bingos line at 724-BINGOS-1-724-246-4671. You can listen to us on iTunes, Stitcher, Pocket Casts via RSS, on Facebook, on Twitter at bingopodcast. You can follow me on Instagram also at bingopodcast. Thank you 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: d8b3e53f-7b05-4a57-8fcd-b9c1b7513c15*