Episode 320 - 1965 Bally Border Beauty

For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·19m 0s·analyzed·Jan 25, 2016

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.020

TL;DR

Deep dive into 1965 Bally Border Beauty's innovative 20-hole design and Mystic Lines mechanic.

Summary

Nick Baldridge provides a detailed technical and historical analysis of the 1965 Bally Border Beauty bingo pinball machine, explaining how it represented a major shift in bingo game design due to legal pressures. The game introduced a 20-hole playfield with section-based scoring instead of traditional inline scoring, and featured innovative mechanics like Mystic Lines for moving numbers and quadruple-deck odds.

Key Claims

Border Beauty was the first Bally bingo produced in a year and a half due to harsh legal climate for bingo games in the United States
high confidence · Nick Baldridge, host, discussing the 1965 release timeline and legal context
Border Beauty introduced a 20-hole playfield instead of the standard 25-hole layout, with a 5x4 bingo card instead of traditional square format
high confidence · Nick Baldridge explaining the radical design departure from previous bingo machines
Border Beauty was the first bingo game to feature quadruple-deck scoring (triple-deck with blue added), though blue and green odds are tied together
high confidence · Nick Baldridge detailing the scoring system mechanics
The Star Zone positions in Border Beauty only count toward scoring if they are the fifth ball in a section, unlike traditional section scoring
high confidence · Nick Baldridge explaining the unique Star Zone mechanic compared to Magic Screen games
Bingo players at the time did not enjoy the reduced scoring opportunities created by the 20-hole layout and Star Zone restrictions
medium confidence · Nick Baldridge offering historical interpretation of player reception
The Mystic Lines feature has three individually controlled buttons (A, B, C) that move different sections of the playfield numbers in unique patterns
high confidence · Nick Baldridge providing detailed mechanical explanation of the three button feature
Maximum payout for a single color in Border Beauty is 1200 replays using the double color feature
high confidence · Nick Baldridge calculating specific payout values
The red letter game in Border Beauty is tied to red odds instead of green, making it easier to remember than previous iterations
high confidence · Nick Baldridge comparing Border Beauty's red letter game to earlier versions

Notable Quotes

“Border Beauty is also interesting because it's an entirely new type of bingo game. Instead of the 25-hole playfield that everyone had come to know and love, or at least appreciate and enjoy, now players were forced to learn a whole new layout. 20 holes.”
Nick Baldridge @ early — Establishes Border Beauty as a major design departure from established bingo machine conventions
“the legal climate for bingos had gotten rather harsh here in the United States”
Nick Baldridge @ opening — Explains the regulatory context that drove the design innovation
“there needs to be another moving numbers feature but it can't work like the magic screens and it can't work like the magic lines and it can't work like the magic squares it's got to be something entirely unique”
Nick Baldridge @ mid — Describes the design challenge that led to the Mystic Lines innovation
“most of the time you only want to move a single number and so if you don't happen to be in column A then you wind up moving all of your numbers even if you don't want to”
Nick Baldridge @ mid — Highlights the practical limitation and complexity of the Mystic Lines system
“I happen to like the playfield artwork best of all on this game if I was choosing between the cabinet, back glass, and playfield”
Nick Baldridge @ late — Personal aesthetic judgment about the game's visual design

Entities

Nick BaldridgepersonBorder Beautygame BallycompanyFor Amusement OnlyorganizationMagic Screen GamesproductMystic Lionsproduct

Signals

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design_innovation: Border Beauty introduced Mystic Lines, a three-button system (A, B, C) that moves different sections of the playfield numbers in unique coordinated patterns, representing a novel solution to moving numbers that was distinct from Magic Screens and Magic Lines
high · Nick Baldridge's detailed explanation of the A, B, C buttons and their specific column-swapping and row-shifting functions
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design_innovation: 20-hole playfield in 5x4 grid configuration instead of standard 25-hole square layout, fundamentally changing scoring approach by eliminating inline scoring entirely
high · Nick Baldridge's discussion of how the reduced holes necessitated complete redesign of scoring mechanics
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design_philosophy: Harsh legal climate for bingo games drove design innovation; manufacturers had to create new scoring systems and playfield configurations to adapt to regulatory pressures
high · Nick Baldridge's explanation that Border Beauty was first Bally bingo in 1.5 years due to legal climate, leading to entirely new design approach
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product_concern: Star Zone restriction (only counts as fifth ball in section) and reduced hole count created unfavorable odds compared to 25-hole machines, leading to poor player reception
medium · Nick Baldridge's analysis that 'bingo players at the time from my understanding didn't really enjoy this very much because...you're also reducing them further'
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design_innovation: Border Beauty introduced quadruple-deck scoring (first example), though technically triple-deck with tied blue/green odds, allowing maximum single-color payout of 1200 replays

Topics

Bingo machine design evolutionprimaryLegal and regulatory pressures on pinball/bingo industryprimaryMechanical innovation in electromechanical gamesprimaryPlayfield layout and scoring mechanicsprimaryGame artwork and cabinet designsecondaryHistorical pinball game analysissecondaryPlayer experience and receptionsecondaryMoving numbers features (Magic Screens, Magic Lines, Mystic Lines)secondary

Sentiment

positive(0.75)— Nick Baldridge demonstrates deep appreciation for the game's innovative mechanics and historical significance, though acknowledges player frustration with certain design choices. His analysis is scholarly and appreciative of the engineering solutions despite gameplay complications.

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.057

what's that sound it's for amusement only the em and bingo pinball podcast welcome back to for amusement only this is Nicholas Baldridge tonight continuing our chronological discussion of bally bingos we're skipping over golden gate and Silver Sails and Bounty, which was produced in 1963, because those were previously covered. And tonight we talk about 1965's Border Beauty. Now, a couple things are interesting about Border Beauty. First of all, it's the first Ballybingo that was produced in a year and a half. and that's because the legal climate for bingos had gotten rather harsh here in the United States. And so Border Beauty is also interesting because it's an entirely new type of bingo game. Instead of the 25-hole playfield that everyone had come to know and love, or at least appreciate and enjoy, now players were forced to learn a whole new layout. 20 holes. And because the playfield was only 20 holes the bingo card on the back glass is also not square. It is 5 by 4. So because inline scoring doesn't really make sense, you know, on a typical bingo pinball machine. You deposit your money, it lifts a ball to the shooter lane, and at that point you have a decision. Do you want to go with the default settings on the machine or try to improve your odds or add features to move numbers or do other interesting things on the machine before shooting your ball? If you do, you have to insert additional money. So these are multi-coin machines. Well, Border Beauty is no exception. However, because the bingo card itself is so vastly reduced, an entire row has gone away. Bally had to come up with a different way for you to score. So what they did is completely remove inline scoring altogether. And if you've heard me talk about Magic Screen Games and the sections that are revealed, when you move the screen from the normal bingo card position to these fancy shapes which are cut out with different colored sections, that's exactly what these 20-hole game backglasses look like. Your bingo card is made up of four different colored sections. Red, green, yellow, and blue. And rather than having to get three, four, or five in a row, your goal is to get three, four, or five anywhere in the section. But there's a catch. On your 25-hole games with section scoring, like your magic screens, 3, 4, or 5 anywhere in the section is good, and you will win. On the Mystic Lions games, like Border Beauty here, if you get 3, 4, or 5 in the section, your position does matter. There's a single position called the star zone, and this position, this particular number, is drawn differently than the rest of the numbers in that section. It's white instead of, say, blue, but there is a blue star in the corner. This star zone doesn't count for anything unless it's the fifth ball in the section. And so, if you get two other balls in the section and then you drop a third in the star zone, you don't win anything. You have to sink the additional two balls in that blue section in order for the blue to score with the star zone included So bingo players at the time from my understanding didn really enjoy this very much Because not only are your chances reduced by removing the ability to have inline scoring, but you're also reducing them further by taking away one number in each section and so you go from five in a section to four now that fifth is a very nice thing if you can get it but otherwise it's just in the way and not only that it takes up playfield real estate too and so Bally thought about this as well and here's what they came up with there needs to be another moving numbers feature but it can't work like the magic screens and it can't work like the magic lines and it can't work like the magic squares it's got to be something entirely unique and so what they decided is that they would have what are called mystic lines, and the mystic lines are made up of three different individually controlled buttons. You have A, B, and C, and these will light in sequence. So if you're playing for features, then if the machine awards you advances on your mystic lines, first it will light A, and then eventually it'll light B, and eventually it'll light C. And what this does, after you shoot your first ball, you can push the buttons on the footrail, which are arranged B, A, C. In order to match the letters on the back glass, B, A, C, letter B actually shifts the leftmost two columns. They will swap positions. Letter A will move the center column up and down two digits. And letter C will swap the rightmost two columns. and so with this ability you're able to move every single number on the back glass but there are several catches you probably already know them most of the time you only want to move a single number and so if you don't happen to be in column A then you wind up moving all of your numbers even if you don't want to well that's assuming that you press the button to do it and you have the feature awarded but let's make that assumption the other limitation is column A column A is not very helpful in certain circumstances because there are no star zones and so if you land in a star zone it's going to either be in columns for B or columns for C. And it's handy because you can swap back and forth and when you swap those star zones are not aligned directly with their neighbor and so it will then be in a different colored section but unfortunately as I was saying earlier it'll be in a completely different section, which may score a completely different amount, assuming that you can even get three in that particular section. So let's talk about how it scores. This game has the first example of quadruple deck scoring, and that is triple deck scoring with the added feature of blue. So triple-deck scoring is individually controlled odds for red, green, and yellow. Quadruple-deck scoring adds blue. Now the interesting thing there is that the blue and the green odds are actually tied together and so when one steps the other steps as well So in this way there really no such thing as quadruple deck scoring It's really triple deck scoring with an added color. So the amount of replays you can earn goes from 4 for 3 in a section, 16 for 4 in a section, and 75 for 5 in a section, all the way up to 192 for 3 in a section, 480 for 4 in a section, and 600 for 5 in a section. This game also has a feature that will allow it to double any one color, which is pretty darn handy. so in that way the maximum payout for a single color is 1200 and yes i did just say for a single color because technically you can win in more than one color utilizing the mystic lines it's very difficult to do but it is possible by default the game will lock you out of moving the mystic lines before shooting your fourth ball at random intervals it may award you the chance to move your mystic lines before shooting your fifth ball and if you're really lucky after shooting your fifth ball this game also has rollover buttons on the play field on the left hand side about three quarters of the way down you have your yellow rollover and if it's lit and you hit it with a ball it will automatically jump your time tree to before fifth on the right hand side its twin is red and the red rollover when lit and hit will light after fifth now those worthless star zones I was mentioning are actually used for two different features in the game. And these have nothing to do with the traditional scoring. But, randomly, the machine will light that if you get balls in each of the four star zones, then the machine will pay either 300 replays or 600 replays. And it's a very good feeling if you can do that. however it is very difficult to achieve usually it's easier to get that before getting your full complement of mystic lions at least in my experience and even if you did have the full complement your time tree runs out before you shoot your fourth ball and therefore you may be kind of out of luck. Now, the second feature that the star zones are useful for is your red letter game. It's back. And this time it's different, but also kind of similar. In this iteration, your red letter game is actually tied to the red odds instead of the green. And this is pretty handy. It's a lot easier to remember. but you either have to get three balls in the star zones to start your red letter game or just two and the machine will light either at random. Your red letter game, for those who do not recall, is a second guaranteed game which is absolutely free. You don't have to put any money in to start this game but it will start immediately upon search. and when it starts, all your balls drop, and the machine starts ticking up your odds and features based on the letter that was highlighted in red in the word border. And for those of you who have been listening for a while and have heard me talk about these OK games, you'll notice that they all have six letters in the name, which is the red letter name. In this case, it's border. So let talk about the artwork The artwork as one may imagine is centered around Mexico A very stereotypical Mexico, which is likely incredibly offensive. However, you've got three women at the bottom who are hanging out by a low stone wall. And on the other side are men dressed in full sombreros and tasseled outfits that are either yellow or green. these men are on horseback actually one is leading the horse and in the distance you can see some more men down by a river across the river you can see lush greenery leading up to mountains in the distance a beautiful scene the sky is yellow with blue clouds it's likely just after sunrise the cabinet is gray and it has red zigzags which are above a white line with red circles. And the valleys of the zigzags are white circles. And this pattern extends up to the head. But on the head there is a second red zigzag underneath of the white line. And there are also yellow circles in the valleys of that red zigzag. The playfield has the women from the back class in the front and a couple of mariachi players in the near distance and in the far distance you have some more men in sombreros riding horses and fording a river I happen to like the playfield artwork best of all on this game if I was choosing between the cabinet, back glass, and playfield now a couple of features which I glossed over but I realized I shouldn't have this game has the extra ball feature and that means that you can have up to 8 chances to get your 5 in a section however you have to pay additional money in order to get these extra balls and therefore after you've shot your first five balls you have to push the yellow button to put it in extra ball mode and then insert money and the game will search in the extra ball mode trying to find a chance to step up three times in order to get you your first extra ball and then it has to step up an additional three times to get your second, and three for third. This game also has pick-a-play. Pick-a-play are three colored buttons on the front of the cabinet which you can press in order to try for an advance in features and odds if you press the red button, features only if you press the green button, and odds only if you press the blue button. Playing your green or blue buttons gives you a slight advantage to advances in features or odds over playing your red button. Well, that's all 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 Bingo Podcast you can follow me on Instagram also at Bingo Podcast or you can listen to us on our website which is for amusement only dot libsyn dot com thank you very much for listening and I'll talk to you next time