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Episode 35 - Clark Fraley Interview 4/12/15

For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·18m 27s·analyzed·Apr 15, 2015
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.021

TL;DR

Clark Fraley discusses his first EM purchase and bingo machine acquisition experiences in arcade repair.

Summary

Nick Baldridge interviews Clark Fraley about their recent acquisition of a 1972 Valley Ticker Tape bingo machine and Clark's upcoming entry into EM pinball ownership with a Target Alpha. The discussion covers the condition of the bingo machine, Clark's prior experience in arcade and coin-op retail shops, entertaining stories about unusual items found in arcade machines, and Clark's growing personal game collection spanning EMs, solid-state pinballs, and classic video games.

Key Claims

  • The 1972 Valley Ticker Tape bingo machine had three different serial numbers across cabinet, head, and playfield components

    high confidence · Nick Baldridge describing the machine they acquired; noted as a regional Maryland assembly practice

  • Clark is about to make his first EM purchase with a Target Alpha, a four-player machine

    high confidence · Nick Baldridge stating Clark's upcoming EM acquisition

  • Clark's personal game collection includes Black Knight 2000 (previously owned), Bride of Pinbot, Target Alpha (incoming), and a Crystal Castles cocktail arcade cabinet

    high confidence · Clark Fraley discussing his collection during interview

  • The Ticker Tape bingo machine has dead rubbers and requires shopwork but started immediately when plugged in

    high confidence · Nick Baldridge describing condition after acquisition and setup

  • The first shop Clark worked at was an operator/retail shop with mixed inventory including pinballs, jukeboxes, and classic video games

    high confidence · Clark Fraley describing prior work experience

Notable Quotes

  • “Only amusement, though. That's right. No gambling allowed whatsoever. Absolutely no gambling. There's no way to get paid off on those.”

    Nick Baldridge and Clark Fraley @ early in episode — Establishes the legal/recreational nature of bingo machines vs. gambling machines

  • “I did find a completely clean mouse skeleton. And so it hadn't been picked clean? Yeah I felt like maybe I needed to run it up to the Smithsonian for display”

    Clark Fraley @ mid-episode — Humorous anecdote about oddities found inside arcade machines during repairs

  • “The cabinet, head, and play field all had three different serial numbers. So just an interesting factoid there about how in Maryland they would actually get three different serial number components and assemble them and put them out on the street.”

    Nick Baldridge @ early-mid episode — Historical observation about regional assembly practices and mixed-component machines

  • “this ticker tape's got a double or nothing feature, which is pretty interesting... If you get three, four, or five in a row on a particular card, this is a six-card bingo, then it will light double or nothing”

    Nick Baldridge @ late episode — Technical description of specific bingo machine gameplay mechanics

  • “I've seen the inside of quite a few bingos, and this was by far the cleanest. prior to that I think Double Up was the cleanest one and it's it looks like it's been sitting in a barn compared to this one”

    Nick Baldridge @ late episode — Assessment of machine condition compared to other bingo machines encountered

  • “Well, you never know what falls in your lap. Start small.”

    Nick Baldridge @ mid-episode — Advice about entering EM collecting and repair

Entities

Nick BaldridgepersonClark FraleypersonValley Ticker TapegameTarget AlphagameBlack Knight 2000gameBride of PinbotgameCrystal CastlesgameHoopsgameF-14game

Signals

  • ?

    product_launch: Clark Fraley acquiring a Target Alpha EM pinball as his first EM purchase and third pinball overall

    high · Nick Baldridge: 'Clark here works for an operator and he is about to make his first EM purchase... He's starting with an easy one. It's a Target Alpha, which is a four-player'

  • ?

    restoration_signal: 1972 Valley Ticker Tape bingo machine in exceptional cleanliness with dead rubbers requiring replacement

    high · Nick: 'this was by far the cleanest... The wiring was flawless... some cleaning that needs to happen some some oiling but overall not not too bad'

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Clark Fraley transitioning from arcade retail/repair observation into hands-on EM pinball repair and ownership

    high · Nick: 'Clark here works for an operator and he is about to make his first EM purchase... I've given him a little briefing on some of the problem areas that he'll likely experience'

  • ?

    historical_signal: Maryland-region arcade machines from this era commonly assembled with mismatched serial numbers across cabinet, head, and playfield

    medium · Nick: 'had the um Mixed matched serial numbers that tend to be prevalent in this region... The cabinet, head, and play field all had three different serial numbers. So just an interesting factoid there about how in Maryland they would actually get three different serial number components'

  • ?

    operational_signal: Arcade retail shops in the 80s managed mixed showrooms with multiple attract-mode machines creating cacophonous noise environment

    medium · Clark: 'you know 15 pinball machines in the showroom... it's just this cacophony every uh so many minutes... three F-14s in there at the same time... switched on on a breaker at the same time'

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.055

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 and i have a special treat today my buddy clark fraley is here good afternoon clark helped me pick up a bingo today uh 1972 valley ticker tape What do you think of the weight of that one? The weight was reasonable. I don't have a whole lot of experience moving bingo machines around. A few came through a shop I worked in years ago, and I could tell by some of the metal reinforcement on it that probably not the lightest thing that has been made for amusement. You're correct. Only amusement, though. That's right. No gambling allowed whatsoever. Absolutely no gambling.
0:55
There's no way to get paid off on those. So the one we went to look at today was actually one I had posted on Facebook. And it was a little bit prettier in the pictures than it was in person. But not exceptionally bad. The wiring was flawless. It looked like it just came off the factory floor. No dead rodents. No dead rodents, no. There's some dead bugs. but you know pretty clean too bad the back glass is nice yeah couple cobwebs and the tilt bob was taken out yeah that's yeah where's this thing go it's a go on the foot that's what the guy said that guy was a character yeah you know everybody's character in their own regard so got it back to the arcade here set it up and moved the tilt mechanism, which had been folded down, the metal ring, and saw that three of the balls, well, I saw this before we left, but three of the balls were stuck in the lifter area. So I took those out before we left, but I have a feeling that he moved the machine from the antique shop that he got it from and left the back box on, left all the balls in. So they all just jammed up the the lifter area but once i uh undid that plugged it in turned it on and that sucker fired right up yeah yes can't go wrong there yeah uh i was expecting quite a bit more of a shop job but uh it all appears to be working pretty well there's some cleaning that needs to happen some oiling but uh overall not not too bad yeah yeah but also uh and as you notice had the um Mixed matched serial numbers that tend to be prevalent in this region, right? Yeah, yeah. The cabinet, head, and play field all had three different serial numbers.
For Amusement Onlyorganization
  • ?

    community_signal: Experienced collector (Nick) offering hands-on mentorship and repair guidance to newcomer (Clark) entering EM ownership

    high · Nick: 'I've given Clark a briefing on drop targets and player units... I offered to help if you get stuck or you want me to just come show you where to start'

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Valley Ticker Tape bingo features six-card layout with rapid replay counter and double-or-nothing feature with randomized payouts

    high · Nick: 'this ticker tape's got a double or nothing feature... six-card bingo, then it will light double or nothing... randomized award... The replay counter is lightning fast'

    • 2:57
    So just an interesting factoid there about how in Maryland they would actually get three different serial number components and assemble them and put them out on the street. I don't know how that worked around law, but it did. have to investigate in that. Yeah.
    3:20
    I'm not an expert in coin-op law, though. So, Clark here works for an operator and he is about to make his first EM purchase. That's the way it's looking. Yeah. If the machine makes its journey back from a few hours away, then that could be happening pretty soon. That's exciting. That's going to be an interesting launch into EM repair.
    3:50
    Yeah, he's starting with an easy one. It's a Target Alpha, which is a four-player god lead. I've given him a little briefing on some of the problem areas that he'll likely experience, but it's a lot of cleaning, especially if it's sat for a while. Yeah, no telling what we'll find in there, but I'm ready. Hopefully no rodents. Yeah, I've found some interesting things in games over the years. Well, do tell.
    4:19
    Well, you know, on the rodent scene, I did find a completely clean mouse skeleton. And so it hadn't been picked clean? Yeah I felt like maybe I needed to run it up to the Smithsonian for display Yeah immaculate Slightly yeah immaculate Slightly disturbing A little bit And that the worst thing too is on occasion you're trying to reach something in the back of the game, you're not really looking, or it's dark. That was not the case here. I could only imagine. Like, what's that? I'm scared. Yeah, that was an interesting one. I've got a story that I'll try to keep short and try to not incriminate anyone with.
    5:09
    That'd probably be good. So there was a shop that did retail games and pinballs and jukes and that sort of thing. And they would, of course, get people coming in trying to sell machines. And so one day, an early 80s Atari machine was brought in.
    5:36
    And so the guy working there was checking it out, opened the back door and just making sure all the boards are there and what have you. And so he saw kind of hiding in the corner a little bit a tape, like a videotape. And so he's like, well, that could be interesting. So he slid it underneath the coin box. And so the person that brought it in came around the back to see what he was looking at, did not see that the tape was in there. And so the game is acquired and the person leaves. And so then, of course, the tape is thrown in the player to see what sort of goodies may be on this tape. May appear, huh? you know so it's pretty much everything you would hope for or wish you had never seen one of the other uh bit of both yes everything you could want uh yeah it involved um homemade um erotica if you will excellent uh it involved uh ghetto life um you could say and uh the intersection thereof.
    6:55
    A Christmas morning with lots of presents and a tree. This sounds fantastic. Yeah. Just all this stuff and small children. Now, I will say the small children and the erotica did not intersect, thankfully. I just made a face. Yeah, Nick was very disturbed when that proposition that, you know, we're clear and there was no intersection of those two segments of the video. Is that already too much? No, no.
    7:27
    This is great here. And I don't know. I probably can't do it any more justice from this point, but that's probably all you need to know. I've heard stories of adult toys being found in them, not new in the wrapper.
    7:46
    Gosh. There have been a bunch of good threads on KLOV and some of the other coin-op-centric websites and such. So if you just search them, you'll find some more good stories about that. I think I posted that one on at least one of them at one point. But yeah, good times. Excellent. Class of games. See what you find out. It's always an adventure.
    8:12
    So did you see many EMs come through, or have you ever had to do any work on any? I really have not had to do any repair work. I've seen them worked on some by others I've worked with, but I have not really done much with that myself.
    8:30
    And the first shop I worked at was an operator slash retail kind of shop. They'd have a showroom with a mixed bag of pens and jukes and classic videos, that sort of thing. and they really didn't do much uh retail of em stuff and they would uh you know do warranties and such so i think that might have been part of it i don't think they were trying to you know offer a you know year warranty on the on a bingo on a yeah but we did we did get some that would come through for repair um a couple of bingos i remember coming through um and you know and here and there an EM uh pinball Uh and then also you know here and there NEM pinball And then also you know jukes of similar era as well
    9:21
    And it was a great time to work there. You know, we really got an interesting mix of things that came through and some of the stuff I worked on, some of the stuff I got to see some of the elders there work on. and uh the bet one of the best things about uh working um that particular shop was they uh had a lot of pins coming through over the years and uh you know a lot of the you know a-list williams stuff came through there as well as a lot of the uh you know bottom of the barrel uh you know stuff like uh hoops was probably one of the rougher ones that came through Are you familiar with that one? Oh, yeah. It's Premiere. Yeah. Godly. Not the most exciting thing. Kind of amusing. Street level, right? There's no ramps. No, it's pretty basic.
    10:13
    Art package is, I don't know. Functional? 80 tasks. Would you describe it as functional? Yeah, the art package was functional. and so one of the one of the more amusing things that is thinking about that pinball some of the other ones is they would all have the attract mode on and so you're talking about you know 15 pinball machines in the showroom in the showroom oh wow and so it's just this cacophony every uh so many minutes and that one would be like a basketball bouncing like and this dude goes in your face and like that i don't know that was highly entertaining like You'd just be in the middle. You'd have your head in the back of the game, working on something. Then all of a sudden... In your face. And then there was another time where there were three F-14s in there at the same time. Oh my gosh, really? And so they were all switched on on a breaker at the same time. So there was slight difference in timing. Yeah. So it would be like this crazy, super attract mode that went on.
    11:14
    Yeah, lots of fun. so did they all have problems and fire off the knocker five times when they got started uh when they first got in or was there was there a show room area that was for finished most of the stuff in the showroom usually was chopped out ready to to sell uh but there you know occasionally if someone would bring one in and there was not too much stuff already back in the shop area they would just kind of set it up there so yeah you could have some fun things happen that way too.
    11:46
    So, well, are you looking forward to Target Alpha? As much as I've seen of it, yes. I think it'll be a nice addition to my small but growing game collection at the house. It's been much bigger over the years, more video heavy certainly.
    12:06
    But yeah, I'd buy... So this is your second pin? This will actually be my third pin. I had a Black Knight 2000 was my first pin, which I wish... I wasn't aware. Oh, yeah. No, I wish I still had that game, but I had it for a while and enjoyed it. Yeah.
    12:22
    Nearly killed myself getting it up a flight of steps one time, which is... Excellent. You earn your game, you know. Yeah. You got to bleed a little to play. But, yeah, that was a great game. I've got a bride of Pinbot now, which I like quite a bit. But, yeah, this will be number three. mostly had a lot of early 80s Atari stuff and other 80s era classic videos. On the video side, right? Yeah. And only got one that's actually working in the house now, which is a Crystal Castles cocktail, which is cool. That's not the most common game in the world for a cocktail. And that one actually is serial number 18, which is kind of neat.
    13:10
    So, yeah, that's probably a keeper. Yeah. That sounds excellent. Yeah. This is not the... The video arcade. This is not the Atari Classics podcast. No, no. But I am impressed that your third game is going to be an EM. Yeah.
    13:25
    And a four-player at that. Yeah, well, you never know what falls in your lap. Start small. So I've given Clark a briefing on drop targets and player units. Yes. And, yep. And there'll probably be more discussion to come. I believe so.
    13:44
    And Clark as you know I offered to help if you get stuck or you want me to just come show you where to start Yeah all of the above sounds fantastic Or clean it up for you As long as you let me play it, I'm fine. Always welcome.
    13:59
    And, yeah. So you played a game on ticker tape. I did. Yes, I did. What did you think? I liked it. I did not do very well.
    14:12
    It's difficult right now. it hasn't been shopped out so it needs new rubbers and everything all the rubbers are completely dead so it's very nudge heavy but there's no tilt right now so I should have been a little more heavy handed although seeing that backlash shadow would be unfortunate I might be banned from Nick's game room permanently for such things you helped me move it You're in for life.
    14:45
    But, yeah. And there may be some new old stock ones out there. The six cards, especially, it's more common to find back classes and so forth. So, or at least I've seen them out there. So just go buck wild. Yeah, go buck wild. That's right. Smash it. Hit it with your fist as hard as you can.
    15:05
    But, yeah, this ticker tape's got a double or nothing feature, which is pretty interesting. It has not served you very well so far. I've gotten it twice. Well, you know, it could be worse.
    15:17
    But if you get three, four, or five in a row on a particular card, this is a six-card bingo, then it will light double or nothing, and you choose with footrail buttons either to get your regular replay amount or try for double. But it's a randomized award, and it'll either give you double or nothing. I've also, this is the first six-card I've ever played, and the replay counter is lightning fast. It's bump, bump, bump, bump, bump, you know, counts them up. There's no slow, deliberate count-up like there is on Magic Screen Games. Yeah, it's very machine-gun fast. But I will say, as I said, I've seen the inside of quite a few bingos, and this was by far the cleanest. prior to that I think Double Up was the cleanest one and it's it looks like it's been sitting in a barn compared to this one is nice so I'm not sure if I'll post pictures on Facebook or wherever but there will be some pictures on Pinside I'll post some there in the podcast thread so aside from that if you ever get a bingo let me know I'll be happy to help you move it. Yeah, I'll be waiting.
    16:42
    At least it wasn't up 15 flights of stairs, huh? Yeah, no steps were involved. We did have pretty flat, even areas to remove it from its previous residence as well as get it into yours. So I've been involved with much worse. Many stairs in the past. Pool tables and steps, not a good time. Ouch. uh yeah any uh atari uh particle board cabinets uh by yourself not so good uh yeah i've had rougher parties well that's good that's good i'm glad the police were out oh my lord yeah yeah we apparently um traveled through uh an area where they were holding uh civil war reenactments and And I think the state police must have thought that there may have actually been a real war going on because they were everywhere, like every exit in the whole area.
    17:37
    Yeah, it was a sight. We were on our P's and Q's. Yeah, speed limit only, which I always do. All right. I expect no less from you. Well, yeah. What can I say?
    17:56
    All right. Well, thanks for joining me, Clark. Thanks for having me. I enjoyed it. Absolutely. Anytime you want to help me move a game, you can let me know.
    18:05
    All right. Well, thanks for joining me. This was Nick Baldrige. You can listen to For Amusement Only on Stitcher, iTunes, Pocket Casts, and you can find us on Facebook or on our website, foramusementonly.libsyn.com. Thanks for joining me, and talk to you next time.