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Episode 306 - 1957 Bally Beach Time

For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·22m 0s·analyzed·Jan 11, 2016
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.023

TL;DR

Deep dive into 1957 Bally Beach Time bingo machine with gameplay mechanics and art analysis.

Summary

Nick Baldridge's Episode 306 of 'For Amusement Only' features a congratulatory call from Rod McElodge marking 300 episodes, followed by an in-depth technical analysis of the 1957 Bally Beach Time bingo pinball machine. The episode covers the game's mechanics, features (triple deck scoring, magic squares, magic lines, stop and shop), artwork, and gameplay strategy. Baldridge announces plans to transition from daily to weekly/bi-weekly episodes at the 365-episode milestone.

Key Claims

  • Beach Time was released in 1957 and is the first game discussed from that year in the series

    high confidence · Nick Baldridge states this directly when introducing the game

  • Beach Time features triple deck scoring with red, yellow, and green colors that move independently

    high confidence · Baldridge provides detailed technical description of the scoring system

  • The show will transition from daily to weekly or bi-weekly at 365 episodes (approximately 2 months away)

    high confidence · Nick Baldridge makes explicit announcement of this commitment to himself and his wife

  • Beach Time has magic line F that allows repositioning of every single number on the back glass, similar to Sun Valley

    high confidence · Baldridge describes the chain-driven mechanism and compares it favorably to Sun Valley

  • Bingo pinball games typically cost a nickel to start and required multiple coins to earn features and increase odds

    high confidence · Baldridge explains the business model of bingo games as gambling devices in bars

  • Nick Baldridge has never played Beach Time personally

    high confidence · Baldridge states 'I've never played Beach Time either' directly in the episode

  • Many listeners have told Baldridge that the daily episode schedule produces too much content to keep up with

    high confidence · Baldridge acknowledges feedback from listeners about content volume

Notable Quotes

  • “Your podcast buffering so much? My wife thought your pronounced pensive pauses were download glitches.”

    Rod McElodge (caller, relaying wife's comment) @ Opening segment — Humorous anecdote about Baldridge's distinctive speech pattern being mistaken for technical issues

  • “when i got to 365 if i was able to make it that far without missing an episode that I would slow down”

    Nick Baldridge @ Mid-episode — Confirms major production change coming in approximately 2 months

  • “they made a billion different EM games. You know, I've been focusing pretty solely on the bingos here recently. And that's just because I love them so much”

    Nick Baldridge @ Mid-episode — Explains the podcast's content focus and Baldridge's passion for bingo games

  • “what makes a bingo a bingo... you pay a nickel typically to start your game... you want to put in a lot of money to try to earn a lot of money”

    Nick Baldridge @ Gameplay explanation — Core explanation of bingo pinball's gambling-based business model

  • “The amazing thing about triple deck scoring is that those all move independently. So you can have different payout levels depending on which color, which completely changes the strategy from ball to ball.”

    Nick Baldridge @ Technical analysis section — Key insight into Beach Time's strategic depth

  • “I think Beach Time is more fully featured because it has that magic line F that allows you to reposition every number on the back glass, just like Sun Valley. And Sun Valley is one of my favorite games of all time.”

    Nick Baldridge @ Late episode — Establishes Beach Time's parity with a highly-regarded game in Baldridge's assessment

  • “You have stop and shop before third, fourth, or fifth, and that is randomly awarded. Now what this lets you do is before shooting one of those balls you can put in more money to try and increase your odds”

    Nick Baldridge @ Feature explanation — Describes an innovative mid-game feature that differentiates Beach Time from earlier bingo games

Entities

Nick BaldridgepersonRod McElodgepersonBeach TimegameBallycompanySun ValleygameCypress GardensgameMiss AmericagameFor Amusement Only

Signals

  • ?

    content_signal: Nick Baldridge announces transition from daily to weekly/bi-weekly episodes at 365-episode milestone; previously announced as goal made to himself and his wife

    high · Baldridge states: 'when i got to 365 if i was able to make it that far without missing an episode that I would slow down. And this was also a promise that I made to my wife. So I'm going to probably at 365 go from a daily show to once weekly or perhaps twice weekly.'

  • ?

    community_signal: Baldridge acknowledges multiple listeners expressing difficulty keeping up with daily episode schedule; podcast volume cited as excessive

    high · Baldridge states: 'Now I know this is a big change...And I hope that comes across in the podcast. So in this game, you have your typical before fourth...I've heard from a lot of listeners as well is, you know, just the sheer amount of content that I'm putting out is too much. And many have told me that they're just not able to keep up.'

  • ?

    design_innovation: Beach Time (1957) features innovative stop and shop mechanic allowing mid-game feature purchases; magic line F provides full board repositioning capability; triple deck independent scoring systems

    high · Baldridge describes: 'You have stop and shop before third, fourth, or fifth, and that is randomly awarded. Now what this lets you do is before shooting one of those balls you can put in more money to try and increase your odds...magic line F is a vertical orientation that allows you to move every single number all the way around. And that is a chain-driven affair.'

  • ?

    historical_signal: Systematic documentation of Bally bingo game catalog by year; Beach Time identified as first 1957 title in series; series currently covering 1957 chronologically

    high · Baldridge states: 'Beach Time was made in 1957. This is our first game from that year...Yesterday we talked about Cypress Gardens. And for those of my listeners who are really plugged in to the Ballybingo world, you'll know that I skipped over two.'

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.066

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 we got a call on the bingos line greetings nick this is your old pal rod mclodge calling i'd like to wish you and your listeners a very happy new year and send a special congratulations on 300 episodes. You're an asset to the EM Collector community, and I hope you'll continue to foster the bingo and electromechanical love within the hobby, as you've done throughout the life of the podcast thus far. I'm calling to share with you an anecdote I acquired over the holiday season while listening to For Amusement Only. Picture this. It was Christmas Eve. The kids were tucked away in bed, and I was sitting at the kitchen table preparing the stuffing for our Christmas turkey. with the episode of the podcast and a glass of bourbon keeping me company. My wife entered the kitchen, stood for a second, and then asked, is everything okay with our internet connection? And I said, yes, I think so. And to that she followed up with another question, then why is your podcast buffering so much? My wife thought your pronounced pensive pauses were download glitches. If nothing else, you've got a distinctive style. I'll bid you farewell for now, Nick. Take care, and here's to 300 more episodes.
1:50
because they're fairly easy to see, you know, in wave form. But over time, I just left them in, thinking that it would give people time to digest what I had said previously.
2:02
But as FakeNickBaldridge and NowYourWife have pointed out, perhaps I paused a little too much. So I'm trying to do a little better about that, but I guess, as you say, it gives me a signature style. So maybe I won't try too hard. uh as far as the episodes thank you yes uh 300 uh was a big milestone for me uh the biggest milestone is going to be 365 i made a little wager with myself uh when this started and i was able to keep it up for a daily show that when i got to 365 if i was able to make it that far without missing an episode that I would slow down. And this was also a promise that I made to my wife. So I'm going to probably at 365 go from a daily show to once weekly or perhaps twice weekly.

  • “it is quite conceivable that Bally put in some extra circuitry to make it harder to achieve step-ups in the odds by using that stop and shop feature. It's unlikely that they did, but it is possible.”

    Nick Baldridge @ Technical speculation — Shows Baldridge's analytical approach to reverse-engineering game mechanics

    • organization
  • ?

    design_philosophy: Bingo games designed as 'thinking person's games' requiring strategic planning; feature lockout mechanics create decision points before certain balls; odds management core to gameplay

    high · Baldridge explains: 'That's part of what makes a bingo such a thinking person's game. You know, you have to actually plan out what you're doing in order to succeed. It's also what makes them so near and dear to my heart is just how much thinking you have to do, how much complexity there is in the mechanisms and how much complexity there is in the gameplay.'

  • ?

    historical_signal: Bingo pinball games operated as gambling machines; players exchanged replays with bartenders for cash payouts; multi-coin economy where players invested coins to increase odds and payout potential

    high · Baldridge describes: 'when they were operated, they would pay out. You could go to the bartender and ask for money in exchange for the replays you had earned. These were gambling devices, yes, but what makes them amazing is the amount of engineering, ingenuity, and gameplay that is involved with every single title.'

  • ?

    content_signal: Baldridge planning to complete Bally bingo catalog analysis, then shift to flipper games, followed by United bingo analysis; series structured game-by-game through Bally catalog

    high · Baldridge states: 'my eventual plan is to swing back around to Flipper Games once I finish kind of going through game by game on the Bally bingos. And then I will circle back and start talking about United bingos.'

  • ?

    community_signal: Caller Rod McElodge demonstrates deep listener engagement; shares personal anecdote connecting podcast experience to family life; acknowledges Baldridge's role as community asset to EM collectors

    high · Rod McElodge states in call: 'You're an asset to the EM Collector community, and I hope you'll continue to foster the bingo and electromechanical love within the hobby, as you've done throughout the life of the podcast thus far.'

    • 3:01
    Now I know this is a big change. It probably won't change the length of my episodes any. but just a heads up that that is coming. So you got a good solid two months with me here. But like today, for example, I've got a head cold. And in that instance, or some of the instances that I've recorded in the past 300 plus days, I probably shouldn't have. And this will give me an excuse to just sit back for a minute and enjoy life. So I've also got a couple of really exciting things planned once the show starts slowing down a little bit. And I'll of course be revealing details about that on the show. So be on the lookout for that. But for now, let us continue on with our discussion of Ballybingos. there are so many Bally bingos and that's just Bally. So what's really exciting, especially with this podcast, people have asked me many times, you know, how do you have so much to talk about? And the answer is, you know, they made a billion different EM games. You know, I've been focusing pretty solely on the bingos here recently. And that's just because I love them so much and I have gotten to play and work on a wide variety here even more since I started the podcast and it's really fueled my interest in these games. So, you know, my eventual plan is to swing back around to Flipper Games once I finish kind of going through game by game on the Bally bingos. And then I will circle back and start talking about United bingos.
    5:06
    Kind of the differences between the two. I've done a brief episode about that previously. So, that's some behind the scenes stuff. kind of what's going on in my head right now. Like I say, you got a good couple months here with me and then you will be without me for a few days a week at which time you be able to certainly listen to any of the 365 previous episodes if you feel the need for daily Nick Now what I heard from a lot of listeners as well is, you know, just the sheer amount of content that I'm putting out is too much. And many have told me that they're just not able to keep up. And of course, the thing about a podcast is, you can listen to it at any time. So it doesn't matter if it's three months, a year, two years down the road, when you finally download episode, you know, 235 or whatever, it'll still be there. So that's kind of the power of the medium and something that I enjoy about podcasts. So no one says you have to listen every day. Of course, it doesn't hurt because there are sometimes sensitive announcements.
    6:24
    But it is what it is. So let's continue today. What are we talking about? Yesterday we talked about Cypress Gardens. And for those of my listeners who are really plugged in to the Ballybingo world, you'll know that I skipped over two.
    6:42
    And the two that I skipped over were Sun Valley and Miss America. Now, I've talked about both of those games on previous episodes. Sun Valley was a very early episode, and Miss America was fairly recent, around, I believe, October of last year. But today, the next game after Cypress Gardens was Beach Time.
    7:08
    Beach Time was made in 1957. This is our first game from that year. beach time has great uh 50 style uh details on the back glass um but what makes a bingo a bingo well bingo pinball is a five ball game you pay a nickel typically to start your game the first ball is lifted to the shooter lane at that point you have a decision point do you want to shoot the ball and play for default odds with no features, or do you want to attempt to earn features and increase your odds so that you can win many, many, many multiple replays? Typically, you want to put in several other coins. These are multi-coin games, so it's not a situation where you just drop in a nickel and then play your game like typical flipper pinball from the time. You want to put in a lot of money to try to earn a lot of money. See, the thing about these games is when they were operated, they would pay out.
    8:15
    You could go to the bartender and ask for money in exchange for the replays you had earned. These were gambling devices, yes, but what makes them amazing is the amount of engineering, ingenuity, and gameplay that is involved with every single title. So, beach time. Your goal is to get three, four, or five in a row. If you get three in a row, you get the minimum amount of replays, which start at four for three in a row and go all the way to 192. If you get four in a row, depending on your odds, it starts at 16 and goes all the way up to 480. And if you get five in a row, it goes from 75 all the way up to 600 replays, quite a bit. This game has triple deck scoring, which means that there are three different colors of lines that make up vertical, horizontal, and diagonal on the back glass. And you have three different sets of odds that go from those numbers at minimum all the way up to maximum, as I just mentioned. So you have red, yellow, and green. The amazing thing about triple deck scoring is that those all move independently. So you can have different payout levels depending on which color, which completely changes the strategy from ball to ball. If, for example, you start shooting for green because you have your green odds way up and then wind up with a set in the red, a set is two in the red, then you probably want to shift your strategy towards shooting for the red unless the odds are way, way down on the red.
    10:04
    So this game also has a feature that allows you to reposition the numbers on the back glass. As I mentioned in my last episode, which I think was fairly descriptive, if you play regular bingo, as you might at a corporate function or at a bingo parlor or with friends or family or whatever, you typically have fixed number cards. Early bingo games, as I've been over in the series, had fixed number cards, but they would keep things interesting with features like spotted numbers, where it would give you one number for free, or super cards, which were subsets it's kinda like buying extra cards would be well this game allows you to reposition every single number on the back glass this makes it a fantastic player in my opinion but there more than that but first let talk about how you reposition the numbers This is a Magic Squares game Many of the previous games that we talked about for about the last 15 or so episodes have been Magic Squares games. Magic Squares are simply clusters of four numbers arranged in a quadrant. When you earn the Magic Square feature for that quadrant, the player can move those numbers in a clockwise rotation. So for example, let's take letter A for the magic squares on beach time. That is in the upper left of the bingo card. If you have that feature earned and you press the A button on the foot rail, it will move the number that is in the upper left corner over one space, and each of the other numbers moves in a circle to replace the number that is now missing from each of the other numbers. This game has magic squares A, B, C, and D. Now A is in the upper left, as I mentioned. B is directly below A. C is directly to the right of A, and D is directly below C. This game also has two magic lines. As I mentioned, these magic lines are different than the first moving numbers feature that Bally came out with, which were the single position magic line movements up and down. In this case, magic line E is a set of four numbers, and they move in a circle. It's just that half of the circle is completely invisible to the player. And then you have magic line F. Magic line F is a vertical orientation that allows you to move every single number all the way around. And that is a chain-driven affair, if I recall correctly.
    12:52
    So, as you rotate F, the bottom number falls off and shows back up at the top. now this game has corner scoring if you manage to put a ball in all four corners then it will score the green five in a line odds it also has an extended time tree so typically you know the disadvantage of the moving numbers features is that they're locked out from the player after shooting a certain ball. The game doesn't just give you free reign to move the numbers whenever you choose. That's part of what makes a bingo such a thinking person's game. You know, you have to actually plan out what you're doing in order to succeed.
    13:41
    It's also what makes them so near and dear to my heart is just how much thinking you have to do, how much complexity there is in the mechanisms and how much complexity there is in the gameplay. And I hope that comes across in the podcast. So in this game, you have your typical before fourth. That is when most of the moving numbers features are locked out by default before shooting your fourth ball. You also have before fifth and after fifth. Those are randomly awarded or can be earned through the use of rollover buttons near the bottom of the playfield on the left and right. You have a yellow rollover, which will award before fifth, and a red rollover, which will award after fifth. Those are lit at random. It is not guaranteed that either will be lit just because you have the moving numbers feature and before fourth lit. Now, this game also has what they call a ballyhole. The ballyhole is number 16. When you land a ball in number 16 and the valley hole is lit. It will award all of the moving numbers features automatically for the next game. That's right. The moving numbers features are not automatic. You don't just get them. You have to earn them through the use of coins. So as I said, when I started the show here, your first coin qualifies the game. It just starts it. Then from there, additional coins played will earn the features, increase your odds, or play for extra ball. Did I mention extra ball? Well, this game has up to three extra balls. Now, in order to earn an extra ball, you have to pay in coins, typically a lot of coins. And what the game will do is light first and then extra. And when it lights ball, it will actually lift a ball to the shooter lane. It'll do the same for second and third. It is very unusual to put in a single coin and have it light first extra ball, all in one set of steps. Typically, you have to put in, you know, maybe 10 coins, something in that range, and of course, it's totally random.
    15:53
    Now, if that wasn't enough, this game also brings back the stop and shop feature from Cypress Gardens. And this is a feature which I really want to play. I think it is a phenomenal feature. You have stop and shop before third, fourth, or fifth, and that is randomly awarded.
    16:18
    Now what this lets you do is before shooting one of those balls you can put in more money to try and increase your odds I think that a fantastic idea If you having a game where you get a really good set say you get the best set that you can possibly get, and you think everything is going to be great, it's usually a good idea to have your odds up high. Well, in every game that doesn't have Stop and Shop, you have no ability to increase your odds once the game has started. You're locked into what you got.
    17:03
    Once the game has started for these, Cypress Gardens and Beach Time, you can plug in more money to try and increase your odds. Now, I don't know what effect that doing Stop and Shop has on the odds. in many cases on a bingo, it will look at the state of the game, meaning where are the odds and where are the features. I don't know how much that is taken into account and also the position of the timer, meaning how many balls have been shot, because it's quite conceivable that Bally put in some extra circuitry to make it harder to achieve step-ups in the odds by using that stop and shop feature. It's unlikely that they did, but it is possible. So like I say, I really want to play one of these games with the stop and shop feature. I've never played Beach Time either.
    17:58
    I think Beach Time is more fully featured because it has that magic line F that allows you to reposition every number on the back glass, just like Sun Valley. And Sun Valley is one of my favorite games of all time. So I think this is a great game. So let's talk about art. Beach time, as you might imagine, we're on the beach again. In this case, we're in the same little alcove that we've seen a couple other times. There's a lighthouse in the background, a whole lot of blue sky, and you've got four blonde ladies all posing for the camera. In the background, you can see a couple walking through the shallow water, and then another lady who's just walking through the shallows. There are several boats, which are in the background. And then a big beach umbrella and a float in the foreground. The cabinet uses some of the same beachy-style graphics that we've seen previously. I can't swear that this is not the same stencil as another beach-themed game. there are the same large beach umbrellas all with a different pattern a gold base for the sand and then blue sky white clouds and white and gold waves on the back box you have gold green and red palm trees. Quite beautiful, as is typical. I just love the valley cabinet stencils. I think they are gorgeous. The playfield is a beach scene, as you might imagine. There are, I believe, eight women hanging out on the beach. A couple are playing in the water with the beach ball.
    19:53
    One is just walking in the shallows, and then five are actually hanging out on the beach. four of them are staring right at you as if to say, boy, you're pretty terrible at this game, aren't you? Person who's playing this game. And one is staring off into the distance.
    20:11
    What's unusual about this particular beach scene is that you have pails and shovels and seashells. Normally, the beach-themed artwork doesn't include that level of detail, especially on the play field. So I happen to really like this art package, and I think it's pretty cool. You also get a reprise of Weird Float from the back glass down here. This one looks kind of like a horse, like a seahorse or something, stylized.
    20:44
    And I think it's quite beautiful. You got the transistor radio lying on one of the beach towels that the woman is lying on. and I just think it is a great overall art package.
    20:59
    Well, I'm going to cut this off before I cough anymore, and I will talk to you next time. Thank you very much for listening. My name again is Nick Baldridge. You can reach me at 4amusementonlypodcast at gmail.com, or you can call me on the bingo's line, as our friend Rod McElarge did. that phone number is 724-246-4671 or 724 bingos1 you can listen to us on itunes stitcher pocket cast 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.libsyn.com at which at this very moment you can buy your very own for amusement only t-shirt the t-shirts are only available for a very limited time so get them while you can all right thanks very much for listening and i will talk to you next time