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Episode 426 - Multi-Bingo Animation Update, Jones Plug Issues, 1949 Gottlieb Double-Shuffle

For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·26m 48s·analyzed·Jul 19, 2018
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.030

TL;DR

MultiiBingo animation progress, Jones plug troubleshooting tips, and 1949 Gottlieb Double Shuffle profile.

Summary

Nick Baldridge updates on MultiiBingo animation progress, detailing technical differences between United and Bally animation systems and documenting remaining games needing animation work. He also discusses troubleshooting Jones plug issues affecting multiple EM machines, previews MultiiBingo's appearance at White Rose Game Room Show in October, and profiles the 1949 Gottlieb Double Shuffle as this episode's classic game spotlight.

Key Claims

  • United games Generation 2 and 3 use a flash motor with 25 positions and 2-3 rows of rivets, while Bally games use a spotting disc with 50 positions and multiple rows

    high confidence · Nick Baldridge explaining animation hardware differences he discovered while working on MultiiBingo animations

  • MultiiBingo has less than 20 games left to animate, including undocumented ones

    high confidence · Nick Baldridge progress update on MultiiBingo project

  • Jones plug misseating or improper connection can cause critical game malfunctions including tilt lockup and erratic button behavior

    high confidence · Nick Baldridge describing two specific troubleshooting cases he helped diagnose

  • MultiiBingo will appear at White Rose Game Room Show October 12-13 in the free play area

    high confidence · Nick Baldridge announcing upcoming show attendance

  • United jumped from 2 mixers in Showboat directly to 4 mixers in the next game

    medium confidence · Nick Baldridge discussing United's design evolution based on studying schematics and manuals

Notable Quotes

  • “If I recall correctly, it has to do with the reset button that's on the inside of the game. For the Light of Name games, you can reset the Light of Name, and for the other early games, you can reset the position of Reflex Unit 2.”

    Nick Baldridge @ early in episode — Identifies the specific hardware difference between early United game generations that required studying physical machines, not just schematics

  • “Which design is superior? They're both equally valid. They're just different.”

    Nick Baldridge @ during animation system comparison — Demonstrates the host's balanced analytical approach to comparing competing animation technologies

  • “Linda Rant was no fool as far as designing these games because it made it very easy for them to make a new game”

    Nick Baldridge @ discussing United game design philosophy — Credits United's designer with elegant engineering that simplified game production

  • “I had the person inspect the fuse block and the fuses. Everything looked okay there. so the next thing was the jones plugs and they they happened to look at that because it's right near the fuse block and uh one of them was partially unplugged well what do you know plug that jones plug back in everything comes to life”

    Nick Baldridge @ troubleshooting segment — Real-world diagnostic example that becomes the basis for general guidance to listeners

  • “So he unhooked that and all was well. But it goes to show you how easily the games can get out of whack. you have to pay careful attention when you're plugging and replugging these Jones plugs because if you make a mistake it can cost you quite a bit of time trying to troubleshoot something.”

    Nick Baldridge @ Jones plug troubleshooting section — Distills practical maintenance wisdom from a specific case study

  • “There are a lot of fans of it, but I've never seen one. It's a pretty interesting game. It's not something which I'm immediately drawn to.”

    Nick Baldridge @ discussing Tahiti game animation remaining — Shows the challenge of animating games the host has never physically encountered

Entities

Nick BaldridgepersonButch LaudapersonMike LaudapersonJim HolderpersonDonpersonLinda RantpersonMultiiBingoproductMulti-RacesproductRoboFrenzyproductVictory Derbygame

Signals

  • ?

    design_innovation: Detailed comparison of United flash motor animation system (25 positions, 2-3 rivet rows, mixer step-up offloading) versus Bally spotting disc system (50 positions, multiple rivet rows, spring-loaded arms)

    high · Nick spent significant time documenting and comparing mechanical approaches, consulted with Butch and Mike Lauda, reviewed schematics and video references

  • ?

    restoration_signal: Multiple real-world cases of Jones plug misseating causing catastrophic game failures (complete tilt lockup, erratic button behavior); host provides specific troubleshooting guidance

    high · Two detailed case studies from Nick's recent customer support work; clear cause-and-effect relationship demonstrated

  • ?

    product_launch: MultiiBingo nearing completion with less than 20 games remaining to animate; scheduled for public exhibition at White Rose Game Room Show October 12-13

    high · Nick states '<20 games left to animate in total' and confirms White Rose attendance with specific dates

  • ?

    community_signal: White Rose Game Room Show's Bingo Row expanding annually with more participants traveling and broader game variety; established as major annual bingo pinball community event

    high · Nick reports 'bigger and better than ever', 'more people flying in', 'more bingo folks', and mentions giving away 'fantastic prizes'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Nick analyzes United/Leida game design as exemplifying elegant engineering that reduced production complexity; contrasts with Bally's more complex single-unit approach

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.080

0:00
what's that sound it's for amusement only the em and bingo pinball podcast welcome back to for amusement only this is nick baldridge well it's been another couple weeks and things have been absolutely insane uh the big work project that i've been working on wrapped up, so that was good. And I've transitioned back into working on the multi-bingo.
0:33
When I last left off with that project, I hadn't yet figured out how to animate the early United games with animation. So this is what I call Generation 2 of the United games and Generation 3. From the schematics and manuals, I wasn't aware of a difference, but when I met Butch and Mike Lauda, they showed me that there was in fact a difference between some of those early games with animation and some of the middle ones with animation. There's a slight hardware difference. So that hardware difference came about the time that Leida name was introduced. And again, if you just look at the schematics, you would never really know, you'd have to look at the physical machine to know. If I recall correctly, it has to do with the reset button that's on the inside of the game. For the Light of Name games, you can reset the Light of Name, and for the other early games, you can reset the position of Reflex Unit 2.
1:40
At any rate, the interesting thing is that the animation works the same for all the United games in Generation 2 and 3 until you get to Generation 4, which is when United switched to, essentially, Bally internals. The Bally internals work exactly the same as a Bally. There's a spotting disc, and the spotting disc is released by a latch coil, and wipers rotate across it, and as they rotate, it sweeps this animation.
2:11
Pretty straightforward, and exactly how I've been doing the Ballys. But the United games are different. They have a small carousel motor called a flash motor, and this motor has four arms, which are in the shape of a cross, and they will sweep across this much smaller unit. So instead of 50 positions with multiple rows of rivets, instead it's only 25 positions, and with only two or three rows of rivets.

  • “It only took a little bit of time. Previous owner was a good EM guy, and it just needed a little bit of touch-up, basically, and a couple units fixed.”

    Nick Baldridge @ Victory Derby update — Indicates quality maintenance practices of previous owners affect restoration ease

  • “So this Victory Derby, as I mentioned last episode, is destined to be turned into multi-races.”

    Nick Baldridge @ Victory Derby discussion — Confirms the host's next multi-game project after MultiiBingo

    • Double Shufflegame
    Coney Islandgame
    Tahitigame
    Miss Universegame
    Showboatgame
    Atlantic Citygame
    Yacht Clubgame
    Gay Timegame
    Ticker Tapegame
    White Rose Game Room Showevent
    Pyprocproduct
    Unitedcompany
    Ballycompany
    Gottliebcompany
    For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcastorganization
    Gaming on 10 Minutes a Weekproduct

    high · Nick credits 'Linda Rant was no fool' for designing system where mixer step-ups enabled feature variation without modifying main animation unit

  • ?

    machine_intel: Multi-Races project timeline: parts acquisition at York show, then design phase; RoboFrenzy will proceed after York; both projects use Pyproc framework

    high · Nick states 'I won't expect any movement on that game until after York' and outlines sequential work schedule

  • ?

    product_strategy: Nick's strategy of sourcing quality EM machines (Victory Derby noted as well-maintained by previous owner) and converting them into novelty multi-game machines

    medium · Victory Derby acquisition, planned Multi-Races conversion; previous owner's maintenance quality directly enabled quick restoration

  • ?

    content_signal: Nick launching new video game podcast 'Gaming on 10 Minutes a Week' with Don (formerly of Pinball Podcast); diversifying content beyond EM/bingo focus

    high · Explicit announcement at episode end with distribution channels (podcast apps, dedicated website)

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: 1949 Gottlieb Double Shuffle features dual-side symmetrical scoring, cascading bonus mechanics, skill shot potential, and backglass animation integration; analyzed as sophisticated design for 1949

    high · Nick provides detailed playfield breakdown including bonus sequences, special mechanics, scoring asymmetries, and artistic integration

  • ?

    operational_signal: Nick providing extensive remote troubleshooting support to EM game owners via email; cases suggest widespread issues with Jones plug maintenance awareness

    high · Nick mentions 'helping a lot of folks with their games online via email' and highlights recurring Jones plug issues as diagnostic pattern

  • ?

    historical_signal: Discovery that physical machine inspection reveals hardware differences in early United games not visible in published schematics; demonstrates gaps in historical documentation

    high · Nick states 'From the schematics and manuals, I wasn't aware of a difference' but Butch and Mike Lauda 'showed me that there was in fact a difference'

  • ?

    restoration_signal: Remaining MultiiBingo animations include several undocumented/poorly documented games (Atlantic City, Yacht Club, Tahiti, 18-hole Continental); requires video references and physical machine study

    high · Nick notes 'I just have absolutely no idea how that one's supposed to go' for Atlantic City; Tahiti and Yacht Club similarly lack clear documentation

    • 2:47
    So, vast difference in how quickly the unit can rotate and exactly how much action goes into it. Another difference is, instead of the animation being handled by the flash motor itself directly, some of it is offloaded to the mixers. On each of the mixers, there is a step-up switch. When the switch is closed, it will animate something on the back glass.
    3:15
    There are four different mixers. United jumped from two mixers in Showboat all the way up to four directly afterwards.
    3:24
    So they jumped up to a much more complex mechanical setup pretty quickly. But the beautiful thing about it is that it's very straightforward. forward. So United kept essentially the same animation routines from game to game. And that has enabled me to crank them out pretty quickly. Despite the animations themselves being different, because they're handled by this discrete set of units within the game, it makes it very easy to program. Because I can say, alright, instead of matching, you Rivet A on the flash disk goes here. I've already done all my matching for that. So as the flash disk rotates around, it forces the mixers to step. In the Bally games and the Generation 3 United games, or Generation 4, depending on how you look at it, in those games, the mixers actually rotate at the same time as a spotting disk. they have their own set of spring-loaded arms that will stop the rotation at random intervals. In the United games, they're just steppers. Much simpler mechanically, but the only issue is that there's a lot more that can go wrong between, say, the flash disk and the mixers than can go wrong in the ballys. Which design is superior? They're both equally valid. They're just different. So in the ballys, you have this big clutch-driven affair, and the clutches will allow those units to rotate.
    5:14
    But in the Uniteds, you have this direct stepping action that's caused by the rotation of the flash unit. so again both valid both cool and I really like the way that the lit elements are offloaded to these mixer step ups so for example let's say you have a bingo just a general bingo this bingo is going to have several things that are wrapped up in its animations it's going to have extra balls which are going to flash in some particular pattern it's going to have let's say spotted numbers and odds. All right, so if I were to make a series of bingos and I had planned out a series of, say, five different bingos that I was going to make, all of them would have those features. Then for each of the five bingos, I would create a new set of features for each one. So United did this, let's say, with diamond diagonals or with something like rollovers. pretty straightforward feature, but not something that is on every game.
    6:28
    Supercards, special cards, any of those things would be triggered by these mixer step-ups. And it pretty interesting to see the evolution from game to game and how they did it Linda Rant was no fool as far as designing these games because it made it very easy for them to make a new game On the Bally system, where you have, again, 50 different positions on this one massive unit, and you're changing one rivet on this thing, it's a lot more complicated than doing it in this united way so I've got to say that I'm enjoying doing these animations and I'm still learning just a ton about these games Mike Lauda and his father Butch also have been a huge help and they have provided me with a couple of videos which allowed me to confirm what I'm seeing on the schematic because the manuals don't have the flash unit documented. I had to make sure that for the positions that I was calling, it was animating appropriately, especially on those mixer step-ups. So, so far so good. And I've got to say, it's looking great. And each new game that I do just really energizes me and makes me really excited to keep working on this game. So I've got less than 20 games left to animate in total.
    8:02
    That includes undocumented ones. So I'm getting down to some really weird ones. I have a few early ballets, which I need to go back to, that have some placeholder animations. Things like Coney Island. I have an animation in there which is relatively good. But unfortunately it doesn't zip across all three extra balls. Each time you play, it only blinks the next one that you can get, which is not quite right. So I've got some more to do there. Atlantic City, I just have absolutely no idea how that one's supposed to go, so I need to look at a video and see how that one works. Yacht Club, that's another one where I'm unsure of exactly how that needs to work. And other than that, I've got sample videos of things like Tahiti. I've never seen one of those in person. So as maligned as that game is, it's funny. There are a lot of fans of it, but I've never seen one.
    9:08
    It's a pretty interesting game. It's not something which I'm immediately drawn to. The most appealing aspect of it is the Mystic Lines feature and the fact that it can step out of order. But, yeah, it's kind of funny.
    9:24
    No one I know seems to have one. But yeah, I'm looking forward to getting that animated. And I just received from Jim Holder, thank you to Jim, a video of Miss Universe. And I'll use that video in order to do the animations for the 18-hole Continental, which there's no evidence it was ever built, but I've built one. So we'll see how that looks. and that will be a 5 ball 18 hole game which is something that never existed Miss Universe was only 3 balls and that was the huge knock against it you only have 3 balls and you have to rely on spotted numbers to win because it requires a minimum of 3 in a row to win very difficult unique playfield layout so it's not like you're really getting used to it and it really sucks the money from your pocket in order to light the spotted numbers.
    10:23
    Tough game. Well, in other EM news, I don't think in the last episode I had the Victory Derby working yet. I think I had just picked it up.
    10:36
    If you've already heard this, go ahead and stop me. But on July the 4th, I sat down and got Victory Derby working. It only took a little bit of time. Previous owner was a good EM guy, and it just needed a little bit of touch-up, basically, and a couple units fixed. And then it was good to go. And I had a really hard time putting that game down. It is extremely fun to play.
    11:09
    There's what they call a belly bar, which is essentially a rod that resets the baffle. but it's locked so that you can only do that when you've put in a coin. Very clever little mechanism, and it's pretty neat. So this Victory Derby, as I mentioned last episode, is destined to be turned into multi-races. So I'm still working on the plans for that. I want to finish the animations and some sounds for the multi-bingo, and then I'm stockpiling money at the moment so that I can buy the boards that are needed. And once I have the boards, then I'll start working on the design and layout of the multi-pingo, or multi-races, rather.
    12:00
    So many multis. Hard to keep them all straight. So multi-races, I'm going to build off of Pyproc Game, which is what I used for the multi-pingo. and the reason I'm doing that is that I already have this kind of framework set up to run these individual games.
    12:22
    It works very well. I should be able to port the one-ball gameplay and portioning over to this very easily. I'll take the time and fix some of my design mistakes as far as the programming goes and that should be pretty awesome. I'm looking forward to that. there's so many interesting one ball games that I've never played.
    12:46
    And I would wager that most people haven't played all these different games. So I'm looking forward to getting that done and sharing that with the public as well. The multi-bingo, speaking of sharing with the public, will be at the White Rose Game Room show in New York, Pennsylvania again this year. It is October 12th and 13th, and the multi-bingo will be in the free play area for the entire show.
    13:15
    I will also be bringing Gay Time I believe We ticker tape I haven decided yet but probably Gay time And we doing Bingo Row again So each year Bingo Row bigger and better than ever
    13:33
    This year, we've got more people flying in, more bingo folks, and we should have a good variety of bingos as well.
    13:42
    Looking forward to seeing everybody again and teaching some more people about the bingos, how to play them, what they are, and hopefully giving away some fantastic prizes. And I've been working on the prizes,
    13:59
    and I think you'll all be very excited when you see them, as I am, every year, to give them away. So hopefully we'll be giving a lot of them away, and expect to hear more about that soon. In other EM news, I've made a deal for the parts that I need for RoboFrenzy. I'll be picking those up at the York show, so I won't expect any movement on that game until after York. But my path should be pretty clear after York to work on that.
    14:31
    And multi-races will be yet another thing that I do in between stuff on RoboFrenzy. So I'm looking forward to getting back into wiring that. That's been a fun challenge, and adding these extra relay banks will really open up some new possibilities as far as the design goes. So I'm looking forward to getting that in place and then really sitting down and thinking about that. I haven't had much of a chance to do that in the past few months. It's been insane for me, but things are finally calming down, and I'm really looking forward to October already. I've got some other fun stuff coming up I expect to hear more about that soon And unfortunately at this point I need to get moving I have more animations to write But before I go, a couple of things First I've been helping a lot of folks with their games online Via email and everywhere that I can And I'm really excited when all your games come to life for you That's fantastic But I wanted to highlight a couple of problems that I've helped people with here recently.
    15:42
    The first was an issue with a game. The game suddenly threw to tilt, and it was stuck there, and nothing would work, and everything was messed up. The game was totally dead.
    16:00
    I had the person inspect the fuse block and the fuses. Everything looked okay there. so the next thing was the jones plugs and they they happened to look at that because it's right near the fuse block and uh one of them was partially unplugged well what do you know plug that jones plug back in everything comes to life uh it's a good reminder and uh it's a reminder for all of us make sure to check your jones plugs if you're getting weird behavior if the plug is backed out or you didn't seat it properly or you put the plug in between the plug receiver, which happens.
    16:41
    Any of those things can cause some pretty crazy behavior. So it's worth checking even if you know you did it properly.
    16:50
    So the next thing would be a yellow button acting like it was on free play on a bingo. and this is something that is pretty unusual unless you have the game set for free play. It shouldn't happen.
    17:08
    I advised the person to check their Jones plugs again. So in this case, they had taken out the plug for the coin door and when they put it back, they actually hooked the thin wire which allows the tilt bob to be more sensitive and it's just a thin bare copper wire and plugged it into their Jones plug, and it happened to bridge two terminals, one of which was the yellow button and the other was part of the coin switch.
    17:36
    He just lucked into free play, but only for that one button. So he unhooked that and all was well. But it goes to show you how easily the games can get out of whack. you have to pay careful attention when you're plugging and replugging these Jones plugs because if you make a mistake it can cost you quite a bit of time trying to troubleshoot something. So make sure your plugs are good and all will be well. Alright so the last thing I wanted to leave you with was a game. We're no longer in the year of flipperless. There's no amazing echoey sound I notice when I say it. Today's game is Gottlieb's 1949 Double Shuffle. Double Shuffle is a wood rail game, 1949, with flippers, again 1949, and it has a pretty unique playfield layout. It is symmetrical, but similar to Twin Bill, there are two different scoring mechanisms that are functional at the same time. We have red and green. The left side of the playfield is devoted to green and the right side devoted to red. As you enter the playfield, you'll notice that in the center there's a rollover at the top and it's marked advance red and green. It will advance the red and the green scoring by one no matter where they are. So if you've already advanced red several positions that will advance it to the next one. The thing about the sequence for this is that you have to hit it in order. So the bumpers are laid out 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 on the left hand side and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 on the right hand side for red. As you hit them it's going
    19:37
    to advance a bonus value which is shown down at the middle of the play field. As you hit carry down the playfield from that upper rollover, there's two pops and a post in the middle. By the way, that upper rollover is a two-way rollover, so you can bounce off the post and go back up and down it a few times advancing multiple times And because that your skill shot ideally you going to have a little momentum behind that So you will get a couple of advances just from the plunge which would be great. If not, you need to make sure that you're going to one side or the other because the numbers have to be hit in order. So on the play field, underneath that area, There are two pop bumpers flanking that post, and below that is a rollover. The rollover is marked special when lit. When it is not lit, you earn a mystery award, just a mystery number of points.
    20:45
    Down below that, you have the two bumpers, four and five, on either side. and if you are to go between them and the rubbers that line the walls, you will earn your rollover value and spot the numbers 3, 4, and 5.
    21:05
    That's extremely helpful, especially if you're coming off the plunge and you manage to hit 1 and 2, you spot 3, 4, and 5, you're in pretty good shape. as the numbers are spotted this bonus mechanism which is shown in the center of the play field will count up so you've got values which are lit 100, 200, 300, 1 special and 300 points, 2 specials and 300 points, 3 specials and 300 points or 3 specials and 300 points so if you complete the entire sequence of one side and you hit that rollover that corresponds with that color side, then you'll earn three specials and 300 points, which is a pretty good deal for a single target.
    22:00
    Now, the cool thing is you can advance both sides and earn multiple specials that way, but in order to collect them, you have to advance both sides seven times. So once both have carried that bonus all the way down to light three specials for 300 at the bottom, it also points to the kick-out hole, which is lit extra special,
    22:28
    and awards you, I'm sure, an adjustable number of replays. Down below the flippers, the flippers are in the center, and they're pointed outwards, as was common at this time.
    22:41
    But down below the flippers is that kick-out hole. So right in between the flippers, as you're losing the ball, it's going to hit that kick-out pocket, and it's going to score extra special.
    22:54
    But on top of extra special, you get a half million points, but only if your bonus is all the way down. On the left and right-hand side, down at the bottom, right before the out area, you have two stand-up light towers, which have a switch inside. And the switch will advance either the green bonus or the red bonus.
    23:19
    So that's how you would get your number six and seven advance on there, if you didn't get it from the rollover up top.
    23:31
    So let's talk about the artwork on this game. On the play field, it's very visually distinct. You've got kind of a checkerboard type layout for either color, and those are kind of separated very nicely by this large bonus area in the center.
    23:54
    Up above that, you have this beautiful geometric design, lots of semicircles of different colors, of blue, different shades of blue, I guess you'd say, that are surrounding this yellow area, pointing down towards that bonus area. And I think it's very attractive. Looking at the back glass, the back glass has a shuffleboard. So this is Double Shuffle is the name of the game, and there is back glass animation.
    24:28
    Depending on which numbers you have hit in the sequence, the puck is going to move down that shuffleboard area. Cool idea, and because you have that dual scoring feature, it's going to move on either side.
    24:45
    And the area where the shuffleboard sits is on top of another checkerboard motif. You've got several people who are watching the shuffleboard game with a lot of interest, and on either side there's a team of a man and a woman. the man wearing a full outfit, the woman wearing some kind of bathing suit, which seems a bit odd and incongruous with the rest of the artwork. And your score is posted along with the game's title up in the upper right, and it looks like a scoreboard for a shuffleboard. The cabinet has the geometric designs that Gottlieb was known for at this time In this case, diagonal stripes Which go through from the head down to the cab And to the front of the coin door Where they meet in a V Cool looking game I'd sure like to play one one day And it looks like it'd be a lot of fun if you're playing with somebody as well Well, that's all for tonight thank you very much for joining me. My name again is Nick Baldridge. You can reach me at 4amusementonlypodcast at gmail.com or you can call me on the bingos line. That's 724-BINGOS1, 724-246-4671. You can listen to me 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 me on my website, which is foramusementonly.libsyn.com Also, I've started a new podcast about video games with my friend Don, formerly of the Pinball Podcast. If you'd like to hear that, it's called Gaming on 10 Minutes a Week, and you can find that on your podcatching device or at gamingontenminutesaweek.libsyn.com Thank you very much for listening, and I'll talk to you next time.