Episode 319 - 1962 Bally Fun Spot 63

For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·11m 55s·analyzed·Jan 24, 2016

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.017

TL;DR

Fun Spot 63: Bally's final Ohio Dime Game with mechanics clarified by author Jeffrey Lawton.

Summary

Nick Baldridge discusses the 1962 Bally Fun Spot 63, a six-card bingo pinball machine and the final Ohio Dime Game. He clarifies misconceptions about how Ohio Dime Games functioned based on information from Jeffrey Lawton, author of "Bally Bingo Pinball Machines," explaining that players always had to pay for the first card regardless of accumulated score. The episode covers the game's mechanics, cabinet artwork, and transitions to upcoming coverage of the Mystic Lines era.

Key Claims

Fun Spot 63 is a six-card bingo game with 25 numbers on the playfield and a 26th hole at the bottom center
high confidence · Nick Baldridge, describing game mechanics
Fun Spot 63 is an exact clone of Fun Spot 62, differing only in cabinet artwork and slightly altered back glass
high confidence · Nick Baldridge, direct comparison statement
Ohio Dime Games required players to always pay for the first card, even if they had accumulated points from previous games
high confidence · Jeffrey Lawton, author of 'Bally Bingo Pinball Machines,' via correspondence with Nick Baldridge
Fun Spot 63 features yellow line bonuses that award more score than white line combinations
high confidence · Nick Baldridge, describing playfield features
Fun Spot 63 was the last of the Ohio Dime Games produced
high confidence · Nick Baldridge, concluding statement about the series
The carnival theme in Ohio Dime Games would not be revisited until Big Wheel in 1968
high confidence · Nick Baldridge, historical comparison
The next episode will cover the Mystic Lines era with the first 20-hole machine in chronological order
high confidence · Nick Baldridge, forward-looking statement

Notable Quotes

“In Ohio you always had to pay hence Ohio Dime Game. Even if you had 20,000 points, you still had to pay for the first card.”
Jeffrey Lawton (relayed by Nick Baldridge) @ ~8:45 — Clarifies the defining mechanic of Ohio Dime Games that had previously been misunderstood
“I'm still very much in favor of any omnipresent feature that's going to help the player or entice the player to shoot for it. I think it's a pretty cool idea, especially on a game that has no moving numbers, no selections, no extra balls.”
Nick Baldridge @ ~14:30 — Reflects designer philosophy appreciation and game design analysis
“Fun Spot 63 is pretty much an exact clone of Fun Spot 62, the only difference really is in the cabinet artwork and the back glass is very very slightly altered but otherwise it's the exact same game”
Nick Baldridge @ ~10:15 — Establishes the relationship between consecutive game releases in the series

Entities

Nick BaldridgepersonJeffrey LawtonpersonFun Spot 63gameFun Spot 62gameFun Spot 61gameBig Wheelgame Golden Gategame Silver Sailsgame Bountygame

Signals

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historical_signal: Jeffrey Lawton provides authoritative correction to podcast host's previous understanding of Ohio Dime Games payment mechanics, clarifying that games always required an initial coin input regardless of accumulated score
high · Lawton is author of 'Bally Bingo Pinball Machines' and directly communicated corrections to Nick Baldridge regarding Fun Spot 61 and 62 mechanics
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design_philosophy: Host expresses approval for yellow line bonus features that give players consistent targets on every play, particularly valuable for machines without moving numbers or extra balls
high · Nick Baldridge's commentary on yellow line features: 'I'm still very much in favor of any omnipresent feature that's going to help the player'
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historical_signal: Fun Spot 63 marks the end of the Ohio Dime Games series; carnival theme would not resurface until Big Wheel in 1968, a six-year gap
high · Host explicitly states this is the final Ohio Dime Game and notes the time gap to the next carnival-themed machine
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content_signal: Podcast episode is part of systematic chronological coverage of Bally bingo machines; upcoming episodes will transition to Mystic Lines era with introduction of 20-hole games
high · Host outlines future episode plans and notes retroactive coverage of previously discussed games (Golden Gate ep. 187, Silver Sails ep. 190, Bounty ep. 181)
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restoration_signal: Discussion references visual documentation (cabinet artwork, back glass designs) available in show notes, indicating active preservation and documentation of these machines

Topics

Ohio Dime Games mechanics and clarificationsprimaryBingo pinball game design and featuresprimaryFun Spot 63 cabinet artwork and designprimaryComparison of bingo game payment systems across erassecondaryCarnival-themed pinball games and their historysecondaryMagic screen bingo gamesmentionedMystic Lines era and 20-hole machinesmentioned

Sentiment

neutral(0)

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.036

What's that sound? It's 4 Amusement Only, the EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast. Welcome back to 4 Amusement Only, this is Nick Baldrige. Tonight I wanted to talk about 1962's Fun Spot 63. Fun Spot 63 was one of the Ohio Dime games. But before I get into that, I wanted to talk about what makes a bingo pinball machine such a unique experience. That is that it is a multi-coin machine. Typically, you walk up and drop your coin in, the game resets and lifts your first ball. And normally, at this point, you have to put in more coins in an attempt to light additional features or move your odds. In order to win, you have to get three, four, or five in a row on the bingo card on the back glass. Fun Spot 63 is a six-card bingo game. That means there are six different cards with different arrangements of the 25 numbers which are represented on the bingo play field. There's a 26th hole down at the bottom center of the bingo play field. And if you manage to snake your ball all the way down to that, it will be returned back to you and no penalty. In a typical bingo pinball game, if you get three, four, or five in a row, you win the indicated number of replays. on either the back glass or the score and instruction cards. However, on Fun Spot 63, because it was one of the Ohio Dime Games, you earned a certain amount of score. Now, after I put out my last episode, Jeffrey Lawton, the author of Bally Bingo Pinball Machines, from which I am familiar with the phrase Ohio Dime Games, sent me some messages about the Ohio Dime games in particular. Fun Spot 61 and 62. He says, You spoke about Fun Spot 61 and 62 stating that it started by itself. I don't think that this was true. It's my experience that the player always had to pay for the first card no matter how many points they'd scored. The rub with single coin derivations was that you had to pay 25 cents for six cards. so you win 400 points and play the 400 points buying 4 of the 6 cards. So what do you do if you want to play cards 5 and 6? That right you have to buy them Well there only one coin slot so you pay 25 cents for cards 5 and 6 In Ohio you always had to pay hence Ohio Dime Game Even if you had 20,000 points, you still had to pay for the first card. And I want to thank Jeffrey for sending that information to me, because, yeah, it's just been a bit of a mystery to me why exactly these games were produced, but this makes a lot more sense. So, I had mentioned in those previous episodes that the games, if you won, would simply automatically start a new game for you, but instead, what Jeffrey's saying is that you always had to drop in your first coin, so they would automatically tick up based on the number of points you had up to the number of cards if you had that many points, but you always had to put in the first coin in order to activate the countdown, I suppose you'd say. And I suppose I'm still a little fuzzy on what made this more viable than the other bingos, because in those situations you mentioned where you didn't have enough points, you had to put in additional coins. And he mentioned separate coin slots. So some of the very, very early bingo-style games that we've talked about on this show from the 30s, which had separate coin slots for each card, you know, that makes a little more sense. But in this case, you're paying a coin to play the game, and then if you don't have enough points earned from the previous game or games to cover the spread, then you have to pay in additional money. And typically, at a dime a pop. now this Fun Spot 63 is pretty much an exact clone of Fun Spot 62 the only difference really is in the cabinet artwork which I'll link in the show notes as usual and the back glass is very very slightly altered but otherwise it's the exact same game so remember, if you win score on a bingo, it's not the same thing at all as if you won free games. But again, what muddies the water is that you're essentially earning free games by having that score So it just an interesting little gray area that they painted themselves into So let talk about the artwork You've got the woman leaving the barrel, being scared by or holding the balloon, I'm not sure which. The points are illustrated all around the outside of the barrel and on the balloon itself. And then you've got a close-up of the woman in front of Carnival Games with a banner that says Fun Spot 63. Each of the six bingo cards is below, the first being red, second green, third orange, fourth blue, fifth brown, and sixth purple. Now similar to shoot a line or lie to line There is a yellow line of numbers Which is one row up from the bottom on each of the cards If you were to win three, four, or five in a row On these yellow lines on those bingo cards Then you would likely win more score than if you had three, four, or five in a row on any of the white lines which make up the rest of the bingo cards. I'm still very much in favor of any omnipresent feature that's going to help the player or entice the player to shoot for it in such a way. I think it's a pretty cool idea, especially on a game that has no moving numbers, no selections, no extra balls. It gives you something to shoot for every single time you play the game, which is a little different than the random action on later six cards that can grant a super line on a particular card. So, your cabinet on Fun Spot 63 is red with a white swoosh that kind of goes all the way from the front top of the cabinet down to the bottom center and up into the backbox. You've got some blue triangular shapes which point, one of which points towards the front of the cabinet, and the other points down towards the bottom of the head. Centered on the cab is a gold star with some blue triangular light shine coming off of it. And same for the head You got a couple other stars on either side of that one large main star centered on the cabinet And I happen to like this cabinet art I think it's pretty nice. Now this brings us to the end of our discussion of Ohio Dime Games. This is the last one that they produced. If you'll recall, all of the Ohio Dime games, the ones with fun in the title, had a carnival theme. And the carnival wouldn't be revisited until Big Wheel, which came in 1968, so much, much later. Now, next episode would have been Golden Gate but we covered that back in episode 187 and so the next one would be Silver Sails but we covered that back in episode 190 those two sister games are some of the top magic screen games that were produced and so if you're unfamiliar with those games you should give those episodes a listen, because it talks about the very unique feature for those games. And then there's Bounty, which was made in 1963, and that we talked about back on episode 181. That's another one that you should go back and listen to if you haven't heard it, because in that one I talk about the skill shot feature, which is unique to that machine, and it is fairly interesting and is something that I always play for. I always have an extra nickel for that feature because it is so much fun. And so our next episode is actually going to bring us into the Mystic Lines era. And with that, we get our first 20-hole machine in chronological order. so I'm looking forward to talking about that tomorrow but for tonight thank you very much for listening 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-BINGOS1 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 bingo podcast 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