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Episode 205 - 1954 Gottlieb Hawaiian Beauty

For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·13m 2s·analyzed·Oct 2, 2015
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.014

TL;DR

Deep dive into 1954 Gottlieb Hawaiian Beauty's unique mechanics and layout

Summary

Nick Baldridge discusses the 1954 Gottlieb Hawaiian Beauty, a rare bingo pinball machine with an unusual playfield layout featuring non-standard flipper placement, multiple gobble holes, pop bumpers, and complex replay mechanics. A listener contributor provides detailed gameplay mechanics, rules, and restoration notes about their recently acquired machine. The episode celebrates the game's innovative design and artistic merit.

Key Claims

  • Hawaiian Beauty features a double award game mode where pressing start twice awards two credits per replay

    high confidence · Listener contributor's detailed breakdown provided to Nick Baldridge

  • The game has five different exits at the bottom of the playfield, making it treacherous to navigate

    high confidence · Listener description of playfield layout

  • Replays are awarded at adjustable thresholds of 70, 80, or 90 points

    high confidence · Listener's technical breakdown

  • Pop bumpers must be in top performance condition for the game to be fun to play

    high confidence · Listener's restoration notes

  • Hawaiian Beauty has non-standard flipper placement positioned far apart, requiring different play style than standard games

    high confidence · Nick Baldridge's analysis of playfield layout

Notable Quotes

  • “He said that he was lucky enough to pick one up. The playfield was in fantastic shape but the lacquer had started to flake away in the exposed wood area above the artwork.”

    Nick Baldridge (reporting listener's experience) @ ~2:00 — Documents the restoration challenge and current condition of a found Hawaiian Beauty machine

  • “I love when Gottlieb experiments with layouts like this. I think it spawns some really fun games which are unusual.”

    Nick Baldridge @ ~15:30 — Expresses appreciation for Gottlieb's experimental design philosophy and non-standard layouts

  • “when the flippers are in a non-standard layout like this I also tend to appreciate it Because there are so many games that use the standard flipper layout and certainly players have come to expect that.”

    Nick Baldridge @ ~16:00 — Discusses design innovation and how unusual flipper placement forces players to adapt their strategy

  • “He let me know about his holy grail pinball machine which is Hawaiian Beauty.”

    Nick Baldridge @ ~1:30 — Establishes Hawaiian Beauty as a highly sought-after, rare machine among collectors

Entities

Nick BaldridgepersonHawaiian BeautygameGottliebcompanyYork ShoweventIPDBorganization

Signals

  • ?

    historical_signal: Discussion of 1954 Gottlieb Hawaiian Beauty as an example of manufacturer experimentation with non-standard playfield layouts and flipper positioning

    high · Nick notes Gottlieb's willingness to experiment with unusual layouts and how this sparked fun, unique games

  • ?

    restoration_signal: Documented restoration technique for flaking lacquer on exposed wood areas above artwork in EM machines

    high · Listener sanded flaky lacquer, replaced back glass with repro, machine now in excellent condition

  • ?

    collector_signal: Hawaiian Beauty identified as a highly sought-after collector's machine; listener describes it as their 'holy grail'

    high · Listener's strong emotional attachment and acquisition story; described as collecting goal

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Designer choice to place flippers unusually far apart to force players to adapt play style differently from standard games

    high · Nick's analysis: flippers positioned far apart, requiring players to change strategy; appreciation for breaking convention

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Pop bumper performance is critical to game enjoyment; weak pops significantly degrade playability

    high · Listener notes: 'the pops have to be at top performance to make this game fun'

  • ?

    community_signal: Lack of proper gameplay videos demonstrating correct Hawaiian Beauty play strategy; Nick notes available videos show one-handed play with camera holding

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.039

0:00
What's that sound? It's 4 Amusement Only, the EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast. Welcome back to 4 Amusement Only. This is Nick Baldridge. A reminder that I'll be at the York Show on October 9th and 10th. That's Friday and Saturday. Next Friday and Saturday, in fact. I'll be running a contest there. Anyone who can hit a four or five in a line on any game will have a chance at winning an autographed copy of one of the Ballybingo books, autographed by the author. For tonight's episode I wanted to talk about Hawaiian Beauty. I received an email way back in July from a listener who loves fixing, restoring, and sometimes even playing pinball machines. He asked if I knew anyone in the Southern California area who might be willing to open up their атаqI have no idea anymore. Anyone know anybody lame Reddit I know I didn't know anybody in that area but if anyone happens to know a bingo collector in that area feel free to contact me and let me know. He let me know about his holy grail pinball machine which is Hawaiian Beauty. He said that he had a friend who had a playable one for a short time and he loves the art, the unusual playfield layout, and how there are so many different ways to win replays. He said that he was lucky enough to pick one up. The playfield was in fantastic shape but the lacquer had started to flake away in the exposed wood area above the artwork. He had to gently sand all the flaky area away, replace the back glass with the repro And he says the machine is a beauty.
3:03
And he let me know how the game works because I have never seen or played one So this listener was nice enough to mail me a breakdown on the game and the different ways to win and how the game is constructed So here we go Hawaiian Beauty, getting the top passive bumpers 1 to 5, which are non-sequential, lights The game starts with the outer two rollovers lit. Ten thousand points unlit, a hundred thousand lit. There are kicking slingshots to the left and right of the rollovers, so a lot of the time the ball will kick back and forth collecting points, occasionally going in the gobble holes. After the second rollover is lit, by hitting the 1-5 pops two times, one of the gobble holes lights for replay and alternates on every playfield hit. When the third and final rollover is lit, special will light on the rubber just above the flipper and alternate from side to side. I think it's interesting that if the ball hits anything it will alternate the relay, but if a replay is lit and collected the alternating relay I won't altainate and the falling penalty other side will then not being lit for special, but if it hits the other side I'll switch the replay light so you're always chasing the special beforefits tone cincinnati Hispanic above the wall flow When each additional completion in one five awards a replay each of the three lower Center callings politis corresponding pop Harper when I live the pops are worth Ten thousand points. When lit it adds two points to a separate score System. A replay is awarded at seventy, eighty, or ninety points and this is adjustable. I don't see any good picture on IPDB that shows the points illuminated. One to fifteen light up on the trunk of the palm tree on the right, then twenty and thirty are lit on the coconuts. Some of the other numbers may be shown in the blue sky. I don't know offhand. I know this is standard to say, but the pops have to be at top performance to make this game fun. If the ball makes it down and hits the pops, it's very good chance a ball will work its way back up, unless it's shot into an out lane. There are two videos online for the machine, but neither video shows a player that's playing correctly, Playinging with one hand and holding a camera with one hand. Maybe I need to make a video of a good scoring game. Replays are collected when the lit gobble hole is made after 1-5 is completed two times, when the rubber section above the flippers is hit when lit after 1-5 is completed three times, and each time 1-5 is completed after the third time. Entering the left gobble hole collects and lights the left out lane for special and the right gobble hole will do the same on the right You can also win on score 5 million or points accumulated for example 70

medium · Listener notes only two videos exist online, neither showing proper two-handed gameplay

6:38
And to top it all off, this is a double award game. If you press start twice at the beginning of the game, the double light lights on the back glass and awards two credits for each replay. So let's talk for a moment about the artwork.
6:55
The back glass has a Hawaiian scene. There's a beach, volcano in the background, surfers, and a cruise ship. In the foreground, there are several ladies, one sunning herself on a palm tree. In the sun behind her head has the words Hawaiian Beauty etched in it. To the right there's a palm tree which contains those coconuts. And in the sky are the hundred thousand point scores along with a rainbow which lists the million points. The double that this listener mentioned is in the bottom left hand corner of the back glass. It's a very prominent feature. And the artwork is very attractive on the back glass. From the playfield, you have yet another scene with three ladies dancing, one actually playing the ukulele sideways, a reprise of the cruise Ship and surfers. Now looking at this playfield layout, what this listener described, as soon as you get out of the ball arch, there are the Numbers one through five in pops at the top. The two gobble holes are right underneath along with what looks like a row of rollover buttons that go from left to right in an arc, a parabolic arc. Behind the antenna later dteener is theовых that it got a position of the Mannie ط� Dracula pawnangen, which is, As asking for your house at Mont 국민a, Along with these ones in the middle of the playfield. Then below that, you have the triangular uh...rubbers that this listener mentioned that alternate for special I think that a really cool idea and based on this layout it would be very hard to achieve And then directly outside of that kind of in the bottom middle of the playfield spread very far apart are the flippers However, the thrower set a added charm where hand designer which have
10:25
a pen In between the flippers in this very large center area is another arc of those metallic plastics spread across two posts and three pop bumpers which appear to be palm trees. Now as far as an exit to the playfield, there are five different exits at the bottom. Looks pretty treacherous down there in the pops if you wind your way past that top pop bumper. The scheme looks really cool and very challenging. I love when Gottlieb experiments with layouts like this. I think it spawns some really fun games which are unusual. And when the flippers are in a non-standard layout like this I also tend to appreciate it Because there are so many games that use the standard flipper layout and certainly players have come to expect that. But when you approach a game like this where the flippers are so far apart, almost as far apart as they possibly can be, your style of play has to change. And I think shaking it up like that is a good idea at least every once in a while.
12:22
So I want to thank my listener for sending in that write-up. And thank you for listening. My name again is Nick Baldrige. 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 Bingo Podcast. You can follow me on Instagram at nbaldridge, or you can listen to us on our website, which is formusementonly.libsyn.com. Thank you very much for listening, and I'll talk to you next time.