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Episode 179 - 1955 Bally Gay Time

For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·25m 50s·analyzed·Sep 6, 2015
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.022

TL;DR

Detailed technical breakdown of 1955 Bally Gaytime's magic pockets feature ahead of York Show.

Summary

Nick Baldridge provides a detailed technical and gameplay overview of a 1955 Bally Gaytime bingo machine acquired from Vic Camps' collection. The episode focuses on the machine's distinctive features, particularly the rare magic pockets mechanism—a player-controlled ball repositioning system using electromagnetic coils and selenium rectifiers that allows vertical movement of numbers in the first four columns and horizontal movement in the top row. Baldridge emphasizes the game's engineering sophistication and its significance as one of only two Bally bingos with this feature, promoting the upcoming York Show (October 9-10) in Pennsylvania as a premier event to play these games.

Key Claims

  • Gaytime is one of only two Bally games made with the magic pockets feature

    high confidence · Nick Baldridge, stated as a distinguishing characteristic of the machine he acquired

  • Magic pockets can only be repositioned before the fourth ball is shot

    high confidence · Nick Baldridge, explaining game rules and feature activation

  • Bally used a selenium rectifier to detect whether a ball is in a hole

    medium confidence · Nick Baldridge, technical explanation of the magic pockets sensor system

  • The magic lines feature allows vertical movement of numbers in only the first four columns

    high confidence · Nick Baldridge, describing playfield mechanics

  • The York Show will be the first bingo-dedicated event of its kind

    high confidence · Nick Baldridge, promoting the October 9-10 event in York, Pennsylvania

  • Jeffrey Lawton will not be bringing personal bingos to the York Show this year but will attend

    high confidence · Nick Baldridge, discussing bingo availability at the show

  • Gaytime has no rollovers on the playfield; all features are pay-to-play

    high confidence · Nick Baldridge, explaining feature acquisition mechanics

  • The machine's maximum payout is 300 replays (corners feature)

    high confidence · Nick Baldridge, detailing reward structure

Notable Quotes

  • “It's the first of its kind that I'm aware of. and uh... I'm gonna be bringing several games uh... a lot of other people are bringing games as well so we should have a fairly good representation”

    Nick Baldridge @ Early in episode — Establishing the uniqueness and scope of the York Show as a dedicated bingo event

  • “The way that Bally created these little kicking arms is ingenious because the goal is that the game will not accidentally roll the balls down the playfield.”

    Nick Baldridge @ Mid-episode, discussing magic pockets mechanics — Highlights the engineering sophistication of the 1955 design

  • “Remember, this is 1955. So long before an MPU could tell it, hey, don't actually move that one.”

    Nick Baldridge @ Technical discussion section — Emphasizes the pre-digital sophistication of the mechanism

  • “You have to plan your shots, you have to know what you're shooting for, and you have to be able to make the machine work for you.”

    Nick Baldridge (quoting Vic Camps) @ Discussing bingo gameplay philosophy — Captures the strategic mindset required for bingo play

  • “Gaytime is quickly becoming one of my absolute favorites and I'm sure if you give it a try, it will become one of yours as well.”

    Nick Baldridge @ Closing remarks — Personal endorsement of the machine's appeal to collectors and players

Entities

Nick BaldridgepersonVic CampspersonJeffrey LawtonpersonBallycompanyFor Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcastorganization1955 Bally GaytimegameYork ShoweventMagic Screen gamesgameSun Valleygame

Signals

  • ?

    event_signal: York Show October 9-10 positioned as first dedicated bingo and wood rail game event; major community gathering for EM/bingo enthusiasts

    high · Multiple references to York Show as unique/first of its kind; Nick emphasizes broad participation from collectors; describes as 'once-in-a-lifetime event'

  • ?

    restoration_signal: Magic pockets feature requires specialized maintenance due to coil assemblies and electromagnetic kicking arms mounted under playfield; maintenance complexity cited as likely reason feature was discontinued

    high · Nick discusses how feature 'required a different type of maintenance from the rest of the playfield' and notes coils/claws are unique to this machine type

  • ?

    design_innovation: 1955 Bally Gaytime uses selenium rectifier to detect ball presence in holes without mechanical switches—sophisticated analog sensor technology for era

    medium · Nick describes 'special type of sensor' using 'selenium rectifier' to determine if ball is in a hole; notes this was 'pretty fancy' and pre-MPU era

  • ?

    historical_signal: Evolution of bingo features from single-deck scoring (Gaytime) to later multi-deck scoring; magic pockets represents experimental mid-1950s design direction that was ultimately abandoned

    high · Nick contrasts Gaytime's single-deck system with later Bally triple-deck MagicScreen games; discusses why magic pockets feature was 'taken out'

  • ?

    collector_signal: Nick Baldridge acquired Gaytime from Vic Camps' personal collection, emphasizing both provenance and relationship-building within collector community

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.077

0:00
The 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. Continuing the month of bingos leading up to the York Show October 9th and 10th in York, Pennsylvania. Again, I would urge anyone on the East Coast or even further away, anyone really, who wants to attend, see and play some of these games to make the trip, if you can. It'll be a once-in-a-lifetime event. Not trying to build it up too much, but it's pretty true. It's the first of its kind that I'm aware of. and uh... I'm gonna be bringing several games uh... a lot of other people are bringing games as well so we should have a fairly good representation so for the next few days I'm going to go over some of the games that are going to be there uh... at least at at this juncture and of course everything subject to change uh... but I wanted to talk about some of the games, their features and what makes them Atomiclvania, atomicniest.com so the first one i want to go over was one that i just picked up and that's valleys nineteen fifty five daytime now the one that i picked up came from the camps collection whom you have heard from many times on the show already and i hope you'll hear from anymore times he is a wealth of knowledge of these great games but uh... The game is a special game to me not just because it came from Vic's personal collection and one that he's had for many years, but also because it's one of only two games that balance the game with the game itself.
2:23
Thank you as곔 G fö�� raisintẹ ig taxpayersació Украї dopbildłCra alarklä behöcs frequenciesvordan bei g demoiety fishg dolls ajustarseż berõł στοłría é棟 interestingly we love backtalking about good °gč inspirígen комнаchan kut äπειá př Linga immersèneği, you can download our productive quarters protectingłosťgră removable Fernando fromApple eingemarket Gră��면 if recognizes the name and password, it's just a戰egedaczkaläńsk sprãţă ejsèk FitzCho儿czak, and act 약ă gentlemanlìnhceţ Law선컵łç Katherine poslanyăakăcy graffpun �mia Never comeでは. The game has many enticements for the player. All Bally bingo games of this era were what is called single deck scoring for lack of a better term. Later on Bally would include a feature that would allow for independent stepping of three different types of odds depending on the color of the line that you were in on the back glass. The more straightforward you only have one set of odds each of the odds is broken down into a set of three numbers so you have a really large number at the top that's lit and that's the score that you'll get for five in a row the next number down is much smaller and that's the number that you'll get for four in a row and then the number on the bottom which is the smallest is the number that you'll get for three in a row now looking at the layout of the bingo card this is a single card game which means that there are only twenty five numbers which are represented down that card there's not multiple cards with the same numbers repeated in a different pattern it's just the one card but this is a moving numbers game In the future that this game has that allows you to move the numbers is something called magic lines now magic lines are player controlled uh... movement of the numbers in gay time has for magic lines so the first for vertical columns of numbers can be moved There's always a catch to everything, right? You can only move those numbers up or down one position. So for example, if you want to move the number that's on the bottom of line one to the top of line one, then you rotate the knob at the foot rail for position one over to the right and that will cause it to wrap back up to the top this will allow you to make a three in a row where before you were all the way at the bottom of the card uh... and you otherwise wouldn't have made it so that's a fantastic feature and there are several games with the magic lines uh... I've played a few of them I really like them uh... Sun Valley Has a magic line setup as well that allows you to move all the numbers, but the way that you control them is different. In gay time, again, they only move up or down one position. So there more thinking that involved and there no such thing at this point in time as an extended time tree What this means is that uh before you shoot your fourth ball you have to have positioned all your numbers where you want them to be and then the game will lock you out of the moving numbers features The So Magic lines is one moving number feature. There's another moving number feature and this is the special one the magic pockets Magic pockets Have to be earned in the same way that magic lines have to be earned by playing nickels Now when the feature lights on the back glass The you're not automatically allowed to move the magic pockets instead you're only allowed to move them before you shoot your fourth ball and you can only move them if you have a ball in the top row so looking at a bingo playfield And with very few exceptions, they did not change the orientation of the numbers for any of the 25 whole games. You have the top row numbers 1 through 7. If you land a ball anywhere in that top row, the Magic Pockets feature will become active before you shoot your fourth ball. So in the same way that you are able to reposition the numbers on the magic lines up until you shoot your fourth ball you're only able to move the magic pockets before you shoot your fourth ball. You can't do it on your third ball, your second ball, or your first ball. It doesn't matter if you have balls in that top row or not. You can only do it one time. You have to pick your spot and then go from there. The way this feature works uh... there are two separate coils attached to most of the numbers. The ones on the end operate slightly differently. But let's take for example numbers two through six. There's a coil That moves the kick out to the left and one that moves the kick out to the right. Those are controlled from foot rail buttons and relays in the backbox. When you push the foot rail button it actuates the relay in the backbox and that handles the kicking. The way that Bally created These little kicking Arms, is ingenious because the goal is that the game will not accidentally roll the balls down the playfield. You don't want to have to find an entire new number combination accidentally. So, what Bally did was create this metal claw that fires out from left to right and right to left there's actually two of them in each hole except for number one
Strictly Six Card
product

high · Explicitly states game 'came from Vic's personal collection and one that he's had for many years'; frames acquisition as special because of history

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Bingo games require distinct strategic mindset focused on planned shot sequences and number positioning; framed as challenging skill discipline separate from flipper-based pinball

    high · Nick quotes Vic Camps on needing to 'plan your shots' and 'know what you're shooting for'; describes bingos as 'challenging games' requiring 'different mindset'

  • ?

    product_concern: Extra ball metagame feature (requiring continuous button pushing) confused even experienced collector Nick Baldridge; suggests Bally simplified UI on later games due to player confusion

    medium · Nick admits he 'didn't realize that you had to continuously push the button' and notes 'Bally obviously dumbed it down for later audiences because it certainly confused me'

  • ?

    community_signal: Active community of bingo collectors (Vic Camps, Jeffrey Lawton, Nick Baldridge) organizing and promoting dedicated events; warm collaborative tone suggests healthy niche sub-community

    high · References to repeat guests like Vic Camps; Jeffrey Lawton's traditional role bringing machines to York Show; Nick's invitation to listen to community voices on podcast

    • 10:18
    the ball actually sits right on the indentation of this claw it's shaped like a large U and it will shoot over The next hole. And it's incredibly reliable. If those clause get deformed or uh... there's a problem with one of the springs that's underneath the playfield then this feature would stop being reliable. But it would always be in one hole and you would pretty much know what was going on. You can reposition these numbers and it will actually light the different numbers on the backbox as it moves. It's so cool to watch in action. And I really do hope that many folks who listen to the show are able to make it because you'll get to play it. So, one of the best things is that the numbers 7 and 5 are right next to each other on the back glass. Also, if you have the magic lines lit, you can move 4 up, which will wrap, and push 7 up and four will take the place of four and five right next to each other this means that you can put a ball in seven and then it stops it won't kick over into the subway when you push the button it just holds it in seven the way the feature was designed it was incredibly smart uh... i mean it's Amazing what they're doing to figure this out. Remember, this is 1955. So long before an MPU could tell it, hey, don't actually move that one. It has to know, first of all, that there's a ball in any of those holes, which you can say, well, you know, if that switch in the playfield is actually actuated, then, you know. But they do it through a special type of sensor Essentially they made a feature that uses a selenium rectifier and it figures out that there a ball in one of those holes or not It pretty fancy So at any rate you can move the numbers vertically on the first
    13:19
    The first four lines if you have the features lit. And you can move the first row of numbers left and right. This allows you to make all kinds of winning combinations. And it's again just super fascinating to watch. Very unusual, I've never seen anything like it. Especially in a bingo. And I suppose I can see why they took it out. For a couple of reasons. The first is because you weren't allowed to reposition the numbers
    13:56
    except for one time during the game and that seems you know a little odd compared to most of the other features and the way that Bally presented them to the player.
    14:11
    The other thing that's a little odd about it is that The It required a different type of maintenance from the rest of the playfield the coil assemblies and Those little claws and everything are mounted underneath of the playfield holes So when you lift the playfield
    14:35
    There's a whole set of units Which are not present on any other bingo and thus when you start a game and there are balls in One of the top row of holes it has to kick them all the way over 通�� 번역 확인 나� Balance의baarCause forbij más pone 아면 몇 번의 번호를nię công 잉고내주시, T avoiding my contact, e해 모� потер 상을 laude 하여yalink tries, Ref 센스 할인 온도를 해석'D The number 10 and the number 25. Of those two, 25 is more valuable than 10. 25 is in the rightmost column of numbers and thus cannot be moved because it's column 5. There's no magic line. The number 10 is in the leftmost column. And it's important to note if you have a spotted number, a ball doesn't magically appear and block that hole from a ball falling in. So, therefore if you have the spotted number and you accidentally get one into the number 10 or 25 when it's spotted, you don't get anything extra. You just lose that ball. Or if you want to look at it another way, you lose that spotted feature. So, it's important to play for what you have. The next feature is a corners feature which will light at random. And if you get a ball in each of the four corners, you'll get 300 replays. Now 300 is the max payout for this machine. Definitely over faised Which means we will only earn 300 replays No encouraging actual game怪 siliconworx & Organでしょう리omatoyka3T & KodairwayInthe party The first button press that you do. But um... Let's move on from there. There are no rollovers on the playfield. So there are no features that are awarded by skill alone. It's all pay to play. So the next two features are the last two in normal gameplay. You have Red lines on the back glass if you get three in a line it actually scores as four now unlike a super line if you get four in that line it doesn't score as five you don't get anything extra for that so the other feature is yellow if you get three in a line it scores as four in a line. Now what's a little confusing I'm going to be talking about this if you've heard my previous podcast about MagicScreen games. Those are games with triple deck scoring. Triple deck scoring, you have red, yellow, and green odds, all of which operate independently. And so I might say three in the yellow gives you 64 replays, or whatever. Well in this case, remember there's only one set of odds. So the colors on the back glass don't correspond to separate sets of odds. Instead, they're tied directly to that super scoring feature where if you get three in a line that happens to be painted yellow on the back glass, then it'll score as four. Again, only if you have that feature lit. Normally, it just scores the normal three in a row number. So, that's all for normal gameplay features. Now, this game also has the extra ball metagame, as I call it, which happens after you shoot your fifth ball. Now, what you have to do
    19:15
    for this is push the yellow button And what makes this interesting this is the first wood rail bingo that I owned and I only ever played them at the York Show previously Jeffrey Lawton is kind enough every year to bring two bingos to the York Show. He will not be bringing any of his personal bingos this year, however he will be there and there will be plenty o' bingos to play. So that's I'm going to be excellent and um... I'm really looking forward to talking with him and all the other bingo guys that are there. If you can't tell, I'm really excited for this event and I hope that some other folks will be able to make it and we'll all get to chat. But because in a show, the games are set on free-play, when I brought this game home I didn't realize that you had to continuously C 3zentary courtes falou vielä bakalımяти Pn dispos 충erijka, but bebra form absurdly described the The That's something where belly obviously dumbed it down
    20:45
    for later audiences because it certainly confused me at first and You know, I'm not new to these games, but I'm constantly surprised with new features and
    20:59
    Differences in in how they were developed and there was certainly an evolution as you've heard from some of my interview podcasts
    21:10
    So, uh, essentially, the same thing happens, though, where the game will search and it will either step up that extra ball unit and you'll see first, extra, and ball light sequentially, or it'll just light one of those, or it'll light none of those. But when it lights ball in either first extra ball, second extra ball, or third extra ball, się tryівkiуають Coordin The reality is though that it is very difficult. You know, bingos are challenging games and they require a different mindset when you approach them. I think Vic said it best in the Strictly Six Card episode that we did recently. You have to plan your shots, you have to know what you're shooting for, and you have to be able to make the machine Coming up on aafter сколькоancia to friend at Tirances figui Goneitas grouse語 Ad miniature ap Итак in interference to Jag 9 Aal troubles with малоona about that Арhi No one wants to还有ワーplew into a ụwieみ joints Abhi Tao We successfuls. Not this month. Apparently now, I'm a once a month podcast. I'm not. I'm still daily at the moment. But...slip of the tongue there. For today's episode, this is the last mention of the York Show. But I'll be on-hand, and you can certainly feel free to talk to me. I'm happy to teach you the games. I'm sure many of the other folks that you've heard on this podcast that'll be there will be happy to do the same. And I'm really looking forward to seeing some bright, shining, smiling bingo faces there from new folks who might be interested in playing these games and seeing what they do. That's all for Gaytime. It is deceptively simple, as most of the Woodrail bingos are, and in fact, most woodrail games are. And so the other big draw, actually, I lied to you, at the orc show, the bingo row is actually going to be right beside the woodrail row. So, the wood rail row is one of the features of the Orc Show that I adore the most. There are many machines that come from all over. Beautifully restored, nicely working, and they, all different types of wood rails, flipperless, flippered, countertop games, all kinds of stuff. uh... so there's a nice variety and uh... all machines that i love and adore and uh... several that i've spoken about on this podcast previously will likely make an appearance that's all for tonight Gaytime is quickly becoming one of my absolute favorites And I'm sure if you give it a try, it will become one of yours as well.
    25:13
    Thank you again 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 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 for amusementonly.libsyn.com Thank you very much for listening and I'll talk to you next time