# Episode 250 - 1951 United Leader

**Source:** For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2015-11-16  
**Duration:** 18m 42s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://foramusementonly.libsyn.com/episode-250-1951-united-leader

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## Analysis

Nick Baldridge analyzes the 1951 United Leader, a three-card bingo machine that was among the first to adopt the extra ball feature (following Bally's Coney Island). The episode covers the machine's unique single-button coin-up mechanism, distinctive back glass artwork with concentric bread-like designs, and innovative playfield layout with wooden lamp covers and rubber-stretched posts between rows. Baldridge speculates on the machine's operation without access to schematics, noting its use of standard 1-1-16 inch pinballs and its appeal to operators as a direct response to Bally's success.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] United Leader was a three-card bingo game with extra ball feature, added in response to Bally's Coney Island success — _Nick Baldridge, episode opening; directly confirmed from game documentation_
- [MEDIUM] United's implementation of extra balls required continuous coining-up before game start, rather than during play like Bally's design — _Nick Baldridge, speculation based on cabinet layout; stated explicitly as educated guess due to lack of schematic access_
- [HIGH] The Leader used standard 1-1-16 inch pinballs, unlike later United games and Bally bingos which used 1-1-8 inch balls — _Nick Baldridge, technical specification discussion_
- [HIGH] The playfield used wooden lamp covers instead of invisible light towers, and rubber-stretched posts instead of coiled springs — _Nick Baldridge, playfield design analysis with reference to IPDB photo submission by Russ Jensen_
- [HIGH] United Leader had no visible replay counter, using illuminated circles around the bottom of back glass instead — _Nick Baldridge, back glass design analysis_

### Notable Quotes

> "United quickly saw that this was a good thing and so they added it to their leader and in typical United fashion they did it in a different way than Bally did"
> — **Nick Baldridge**, early in episode
> _Establishes United's philosophy of adapting successful features with proprietary implementation_

> "the reflex unit is engaged and I've spoken about the reflex unit before which will make the machine get into a state where it's harder to earn an extra ball if you've already won a lot of replays"
> — **Nick Baldridge**, mid-episode
> _Explains the mechanical governor preventing runaway high-payout games, a design philosophy balancing player appeal with operator revenue_

> "I think taking the ballet playfield design at least for the most part was a very smart move I also think taking the extra ball feature and running with that was a very smart or shrewd move"
> — **Nick Baldridge**, conclusion
> _Summarizes United's strategic product development approach in early bingo era_

> "Starting with orange, going to red, back to orange, and then yellow, and finally green. And so if you think of slices of bread stacked behind each other, then perhaps you'll get the picture of what this looks like."
> — **Nick Baldridge**, mid-episode
> _Vivid description of the back glass artwork aesthetic that became characteristic of this machine_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Nick Baldridge | person | Host and analyst of For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast; deep knowledge of electromechanical bingo machines and their design; owns and maintains vintage equipment |
| United Manufacturing | company | Historical pinball manufacturer competing with Bally in the early 1950s bingo era; known for distinctive design choices and proprietary implementations |
| Bally | company | Rival pinball manufacturer to United; pioneered the extra ball feature in bingo machines with Coney Island (second bingo game) |
| 1951 United Leader | game | Three-card bingo machine with extra ball feature; subject of this episode's analysis |
| Coney Island | game | Bally's second bingo game and first to feature the extra ball mechanic; direct predecessor to United Leader in design philosophy |
| United Caravan | game | Later United bingo machine mentioned in comparison; used 1-1-8 inch balls (smaller than Leader) and demonstrated United's design evolution |
| Russ Jensen | person | Submitted playfield photo of the 1951 United Leader to IPDB; community contributor to documentation |
| For Amusement Only Podcast | organization | Dedicated EM and bingo pinball podcast focused on historical machines, design analysis, and preservation; 250+ episode run |
| IPDB | organization | Internet Pinball Database; community-maintained archive used for historical machine documentation and reference |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Early bingo machine design and innovation, Extra ball feature implementation and mechanical variations, United Manufacturing vs. Bally competitive positioning, Playfield layout and artwork design philosophy
- **Secondary:** Reflex unit and operator revenue protection mechanisms, Pinball size standardization across manufacturers, Back glass design and visual aesthetics
- **Mentioned:** Electromechanical bingo machine history and preservation

### Sentiment

**Neutral** (0)

### Signals

- **[design_innovation]** United Leader implemented a unique single-button coin-up system for extra balls, requiring pre-game coining rather than mid-game selection like Bally's design (confidence: medium) — Nick Baldridge's analysis: 'there's only one button on the front of the cabinet and this button is your game start button or spend credit button' and speculation that extra balls light only during coining phase
- **[design_innovation]** Leader used wooden lamp covers and rubber-stretched posts between playfield rows instead of standard coiled springs and light towers, creating unique ball trajectory challenges (confidence: high) — Direct description: 'the lamps that illuminate the playfield, instead of being invisible light towers or lamp shields, are actually covered by pieces of wood' and 'uses sets of posts with a rubber stretch between them'
- **[historical_signal]** United Leader represents a direct competitive response to Bally's Coney Island, adopting the extra ball feature concept but with proprietary implementation (confidence: high) — Nick Baldridge: 'United quickly saw that this was a good thing and so they added it to their leader and in typical United fashion they did it in a different way than Bally did'
- **[design_philosophy]** Reflex unit engaged in extra ball games to prevent runaway payouts and incentivize players to restart with new coin drops rather than chase higher payouts on single game (confidence: high) — Nick Baldridge explains reflex unit makes 'machine get into a state where it's harder to earn an extra ball if you've already won a lot of replays' and notes this is 'a natural impediment against someone who's trying for a 5 in a line'
- **[product_strategy]** United's strategy of rapidly adopting competitor innovations (extra balls) while maintaining design differentiation through proprietary implementation approaches (confidence: high) — Nick Baldridge's repeated emphasis on 'typical United fashion' of doing things differently, applied to extra ball mechanism and playfield construction
- **[historical_signal]** Different pinball sizes used during era: United Leader used 1-1-16 inch (standard), while later United games and Bally switched to 1-1-8 inch for bingo machines (confidence: high) — Direct specification: 'This uses the standard 1-1-16 inch pinball Instead of the normal bingo size pinball that's 1-1-8' with reference to United Caravan using smaller size
- **[design_innovation]** Leader featured distinctive concentric 'bread slice' design with alternating color rings (orange-red-orange-yellow-green) as backdrop for bingo cards and ball count display (confidence: high) — Detailed description: 'concentric pieces of bread...Starting with orange, going to red, back to orange, and then yellow, and finally green' with colored fields for ball count ovals
- **[design_innovation]** Playfield featured four distinct colored rows (light blue, green, yellow, dark blue) with contrasting numeral fields, all with distinctive red trap holes characteristic of United design (confidence: high) — Detailed section-by-section breakdown of playfield colors: rows 1-7 light blue background with white numerals, rows 8-13 green, rows 14-18 yellow, etc.
- **[design_innovation]** Leader eliminated traditional visible replay counter in favor of illuminated circles surrounding bottom of back glass that light as replays are won (confidence: high) — Nick Baldridge: 'early United games that had no visible replay counter and leader also appears to have no replay counter. Instead, there are lighted circles that surround the bottom of the back glass'
- **[historical_signal]** 1951 Leader was available in both 5-cent and 10-cent coin options, representing significant per-play cost during the era (confidence: high) — Nick Baldridge: 'this was available for purchase with either a 5 cent or a 10 cent option, which would have been big money per play back in 1951'

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## 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. Tonight I wanted to talk about a United game, for a change. 1951's Leader by United. This was a three-card bingo, which had the extra ball feature. Now, if you'll recall, if you've heard for some time now, I've talked about Coney Island, which was Bally's second bingo game, and the first game with the extra ball feature. United quickly saw that this was a good thing and so they added it to their leader and in typical United fashion they did it in a different way than Bally did there's only one button on the front of the cabinet and this button is your game start button or spend credit button. Now, unfortunately, I don't have a copy of the schematic or manual to reference, so I can't tell you exactly how this feature works, but I'm going to guess based on the cabinet's arrangement and what I know about all other bingos. and I'm going to guess that the game awards you extra balls only as you coin up and not after you've finished shooting your game. In a typical bingo, you push the yellow button to play for an extra ball. Normally, you can only do this after the main game has finished, after you've shot your fifth ball. But in this United game, because there is no yellow button, it appears that you have to continuously drop in coin until you light the 6th, 7th, and 8th ball on the back glass and then start playing. Now one thing that's kind of nice about that in Bally bingos with the extra ball feature and of course later United bingos, the reflex unit is engaged and I've spoken about the reflex unit before which will make the machine get into a state where it's harder to earn an extra ball if you've already won a lot of replays. Now the thing about this is, of course, that it means that the machine will get more money, but also it's kind of a natural impediment against someone who's trying for a 5 in a line and got a nice four-in-a-line payoff on the same game. The idea is that you start a new game and you start coining back up and trying to do something different rather than getting progressively higher payouts on the same game. Now, this is a three-card bingo. And again, without the manual or schematic, I'm not sure. But the second and third card may light on the second and third coin drop, or they may light on mystery intervals, just like I assume the extra balls light. Now the backlash for this game is a little different than many of the other games of the era. You have three bingo cards, which are sort of no-frill bingo cards. And then you have two ovals which say number of balls On the left you have 5 and 6 and on the right you have 7 and 8 Now, by default, it's going to light number 5. As you earn 6 or 7 or 8, it will light those instead. so there's likely a stepper inside that's counting the balls to play and that's going to change the illumination on the back glass now I've talked before about early United games that had no visible replay counter and leader also appears to have no replay counter. Instead, there are lighted circles that surround the bottom of the back glass and those will illuminate as you win replays. So let's talk about the back glass itself as far as artwork. The bingo cards are dark blue on light blue with the numerals in white. United's leader is up at the top. And there are concentric pieces of bread. I guess that's the easiest way to describe it. Starting with orange, going to red, back to orange, and then yellow, and finally green. And so if you think of slices of bread stacked behind each other, then perhaps you'll get the picture of what this looks like. Now, down towards the bottom I mentioned those circles. they're actually woven around by the yellow layer of that bread stack and it's actually very attractive and I really like the ovals with the balls to play I think those look very good each digit is surrounded on the left and right side by a dot. The top digit, so 5 or 7, 5 on the left, 7 on the right, is in red on a white field. The bottom digit, 6 or 8, left or right, is yellow on a blue field. Again, I think the back glass is pretty attractive. Now I've seen a picture of the play field. And this is a United game that cribbed the Bally style playfield. But they had some differences. The first being that the lamps that illuminate the playfield, instead of being invisible light towers or lamp shields, are actually covered by pieces of wood. The second thing that's different or unusual is instead of the typical coiled spring that you think about when you think of a Ballybingo's playfield with the light shields, this uses sets of posts with a rubber stretch between them in between each layer of the playfield on the left and right. So for example if you recall the numbers 1 through 7 are the top row of numbers in any bingo playfield with 25 holes that follows the standard valley format The second row is 8 through 13 Now, in between 1 and 8, the leftmost numbers on the top and second row, there are two posts which have a rubber stretch between them. This is going to change the trajectory of the ball if it goes down below the number 1, and will prevent it from dropping straight into number 8. So with this layout, it takes some skill in order to maneuver the ball from the left-hand side into the number 8. In fact, I think it takes a lot of skill looking at this. Now this uses the standard 1-1-16 inch pinball Instead of the normal bingo size pinball that's 1-1-8 That's an important difference to remember between United and Bally Especially in the early games Later on United would switch to using 1-1-8 inch balls Like on my United Caravan Also of note the play field that I can see, there's a photo that Russ Jensen submitted to IPDB It has two ball gates up at the top Now in the Bally style this ball gate would contain a switch which would help with enabling the ball lifter which would increment the timer, lift the ball and so forth. In this instance with the double ganged ball gates, I am not certain what it's actually doing. Now this ball gate that it has looks like a typical United ball gate for their amusement pinballs, their typical flipperless pinballs. But I'm really curious to know electrically what's going on. There has to be some cue to lift another ball, and I just wonder what that is. Now this playfield is very attractive as well. Instead of the slices of bread, we have four different colors descending the playfield and operating as a backdrop for each of the sets of holes. So starting with 1 through 7, the background is light blue. The numbers in this section are white on a dark blue field. And all of the holes are this beautiful red color that United was known for. And even on their flipperless pinball machines that were not bingos, they use the same red in many of their trap holes and kick outs. Surrounding the red is a circle of yellow in this first row. And then moving down, 8 through 13 are on a field of green. The numerals are blue on a yellow field. and the circles around the holes beyond the red are dark blue. Moving down to the next row, we have 14 through 18. That's on a yellow field. The numerals themselves are white on light blue and the circles surrounding the red of the trap holes is white. Moving down 19 through 22 on a dark blue field The numerals are light blue on a yellow field and the circles are surrounded by green and yellow And then we come down to the last row 23 through 25 This is on the same shared dark blue field that 19 through 22 uses, and the numerals are white on green, and the surrounds are yellow. Now this game has a ball return just like any of the other standard bingo playfields used. And the ball return is called out in dark blue on a yellow field. Now, in between each numeral on the playfield there is a diamond shape that's inset. I think that's fairly attractive with the colors used, and of course that alternates between green and white and blue and white in order to prevent one side or the other from disappearing into the background color. Now up at the very top, you have the entrance into the playfield, and I have already mentioned the unique looking ball gate. But bingo playfields using the standard layout have a set of four posts, which are arranged in a diamond shape. Using these to your advantage is crucial in order to gain access to the numbers that you want. In some instances, you want a soft plunge and avoid them altogether. Sometimes you want to have a medium plunge and go straight through them in order to come out on the other side. And in other instances, you want a hard plunge and go all the way to the left and come down, again, attempting to avoid those posts. But the way the artwork is laid out on this, you have what looks like wings sprouting up from the center post above the number four and splaying out to either side of that diamond pattern that's put on with the posts. It's very attractive. Now, looking at the flyer, I can see that this was available for purchase with either a 5 cent or a 10 cent option, which would have been big money per play back in 1951. overall I think this game looks very fun and certainly quite a bit different from the early attempts by United to start earning money on these bingo pinball machines I think taking the ballet playfield design at least for the most part was a very smart move I also think taking the extra ball feature and running with that was a very smart or shrewd move because that's enticing to a player. You want to have the ability to extend your game if you choose. Sometimes you just want to drop in a few nickels and play the game as it lies. Other times you want to build up a big game and see what happens. Well, that's all for tonight. Thank you very much for joining me. My name again is Nicholas Baldridge. You can reach me at 4amusementonlypodcast at gmail.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, Pocket Casts, via RSS, 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 forumusementonly.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: e51e4392-6964-41d5-8c62-2ee6e8e19c84*