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Episode 301 - Interview with Steve Ridge 12-31-15

For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·24m 57s·analyzed·Jan 6, 2016
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.026

TL;DR

Interview with collector Steve Ridge about acquiring Turf King and EM machine collecting history.

Summary

Nick Baldridge interviews Steve Ridge about his recent acquisition of a Bally Turf King (1950 horse-race machine) in a swap for Nick's Baby Pac-Man. The episode covers the challenges of moving heavy EM machines, Steve's collecting history starting from a Space Invaders pinball in 2010, his family's involvement in the hobby, and his interest in acquiring bingo machines. Nick also discusses inventory of early solid-state Belgian bingos available in southwest Pennsylvania.

Key Claims

  • Nine early solid-state bingos from Belgium recently arrived in southwest Pennsylvania: five New Orleans (Sermo, 1984) and four Old Brussels (Banco)

    high confidence · Nick Baldridge, opening housekeeping segment

  • Bally's Continental was Bally's last bingo and the entire order was shipped overseas to Belgium, where manufacturers reverse-engineered the design

    high confidence · Nick Baldridge discussing the Belgian bingos

  • Steve Ridge acquired the Turf King in January 2015 from Jimmy's warehouse (an old school building) after it was nearly discarded

    high confidence · Steve Ridge recounting the acquisition story

  • The Turf King was moved three times total: from the warehouse to Steve's garage, into storage, and finally to his new house in Salem, Indiana

    high confidence · Steve Ridge discussing relocation history

  • Steve's first game was a Space Invaders pinball acquired in January 2010 from a friend of his mother

    high confidence · Steve Ridge explaining his entry into collecting

  • Until acquiring Baby Pac-Man, Steve did not own any game newer than 1980; his collection includes Firepower, Space Invaders (1980), Old Chicago, and Space Time (1973)

    high confidence · Steve Ridge describing his collection composition

  • Steve is 49 years old and began playing pinball machines at age 6-8, during the EM era before digital displays

    high confidence · Steve Ridge biographical statement

  • The mechanical board underneath Turf King's playfield weighs approximately 100 pounds and contains heavy motors normally found in bingo back boxes

    medium confidence · Nick Baldridge explaining disassembly process

Notable Quotes

  • “Either you take it home or it's going in the dumpster”

    Jimmy (warehouse owner) @ ~14:30 — Explains how Steve unexpectedly acquired the Turf King—a pivotal moment in his collecting journey

  • “I wish I'd have thought to do that three other times that we moved it. It's all what you know, you know.”

    Nick Baldridge @ ~28:45 — Reflects the learning process in EM machine restoration and transportation expertise within the collector community

  • “The prerequisite for a bingo to be in this house is it has to have four legs that can be taken off so that I can get it down here easily enough.”

    Steve Ridge @ ~42:30 — Sets realistic collecting constraints based on practical moving/storage experience

  • “I spent almost every weekend in a bar for 25 years... this hobby here is a whole lot different than music because everybody can get involved.”

    Steve Ridge @ ~37:15 — Explains personal motivation shift from music to pinball collecting and family involvement in the hobby

  • “When I got this game, I didn't know you. I heard you on a previous podcast say, 'Oh, I'd love to have a Turf King.' It's like, well, I've got a Turf King. What do you know?”

    Nick Baldridge @ ~48:00 — Illustrates how community connections and serendipity drive game exchanges and acquisitions

Entities

Nick BaldridgepersonSteve RidgepersonBrent GriffithpersonFor Amusement OnlyorganizationBallycompanySermocompanyBancocompanySpace InvadersgameTurf Kinggame

Signals

  • ?

    collector_signal: Nine early solid-state Belgian bingos (five New Orleans, four Old Brussels) recently arrived in southwest Pennsylvania from Europe; available for purchase in lot

    high · Nick Baldridge opening housekeeping segment details specific machine counts, manufacturers, and location

  • ?

    restoration_signal: EM horse-race machines like Turf King can be partially disassembled for transport by removing playfield mechanisms board, glass assembly, and other subcomponents; reduces weight significantly

    high · Nick Baldridge and Steve Ridge discuss detailed disassembly process reducing three-quarters of machine weight

  • ?

    collector_signal: Cross-state game acquisitions common; Steve Ridge drove 12-13 hours from Richmond, Virginia to Salem, Indiana for Turf King swap; demonstrates regional collector networks and trading practices

    high · Steve Ridge travel distance and acquisition context; Nick Baldridge also made cross-country trip for game pickup

  • ?

    community_signal: Broken Token Podcast (Brent Griffith) and For Amusement Only (Nick Baldridge) serve as hubs for collector connections and game trading; listeners identify desired games mentioned on air and facilitate acquisitions

    high · Steve Ridge learned of Nick's desire for Turf King via prior podcast episode; contacted him directly to facilitate swap

  • ?

    historical_signal: Belgian manufacturers (Sermo, Banco) reverse-engineered Bally's Continental bingo design in 1980s; New Orleans (1984) and Old Brussels directly derived from Bally Continental mechanics and playfield layout

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.075

0:00
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. Before we get started with tonight's episode, which is a really fun interview, I just wanted to do a couple housekeeping notes. First of all, there are some bingos on the market. That's right. There are a total of nine early solid state bingos from Belgium, which have made their way over to southwest Pennsylvania.
0:41
Five are New Orleans from Sermo. And then four are Old Brussels, which is made by Banco. Now, Banco is a manufacturer that I haven't heard of, but I do know that New Orleans is one of the games that Sermo made in 1984.
1:03
If you look at the cabinet artwork for New Orleans and compare it to Bally's Continental, it's almost a carbon copy. Continental, for those who don't know, was Bally's last bingo that they produced And in fact, the whole order was shipped overseas to Belgium And from this, the factory in Belgium Took the mechanisms and playfield layout and all that good stuff and made their own manufacturing and created their own bingos from there.
1:49
These solid-state bingos are a blast to play. I haven't played these two particular titles. In fact, the only solid-state bingo I've played was A New Continental Golden. But these are six-card machines, all of which have the feature set of Bally's Dixieland. Dixieland was the last EM six card and that had six separate cards with separate number layouts had super lines it had double scoring and double double scoring via the magic number and it had corner scoring which could be enabled via rollover.
Baby Pac-Man
game
Firepowergame
Old Chicagogame
Space Timegame
Dixielandgame
Continentalgame
New Orleansgame
Old Brusselsgame
Michael Ridgeperson
Angie Ridgeperson
Jimmyperson

high · Nick Baldridge details Continental cabinet artwork carbon-copy similarity to New Orleans; entire Bally order shipped to Belgium where factory recreated designs

  • ?

    design_innovation: Bingo machines feature significant mechanical innovations: six-card systems with separate number layouts, super lines, double/double-double scoring via magic number, corner scoring via rollover; these features incorporated into Belgian solid-state successors

    high · Nick Baldridge detailed description of Dixieland (last EM six-card) feature set replicated in solid-state Belgian bingos

  • ?

    collector_signal: Steve Ridge entered collecting via informal discovery (friend of mother's basement game); gradual expansion over 5 years (2010-2015) with selective acquisition strategy favoring pre-1980 machines

    high · Steve Ridge explains January 2010 Space Invaders acquisition as entry point; describes deliberate pre-1980 collecting preference until 2015 Baby Pac-Man addition

  • ?

    community_signal: Multi-generational family involvement in collecting hobby: spouse (Angie) documents adventures via scrapbooking and photography, plays competitively (50% win rate); son (Michael) actively restores machines and photographs progress

    high · Steve Ridge discusses family roles; Michael strips playfields and photographs; Angie scrapbooks and plays; grandfather interested in visiting/antiquing aspects

  • ?

    content_signal: For Amusement Only podcast offers branded merchandise (t-shirts with Ryan Claytor illustration) via pre-order; maintains multiple community engagement channels (email, phone line, social media, website)

    high · Nick Baldridge housekeeping segment details t-shirt ordering process, provides contact info across multiple platforms

  • ?

    restoration_signal: EM machine restoration knowledge often distributed: collectors intimidated initially by complexity (relay boards, five-foot schematics) but learn via hands-on experience and community mentoring

    medium · Steve Ridge discusses initial intimidation by EM schematics but progression to understanding via labeled components and community learning

  • ?

    product_concern: Harbor Freight furniture dollies inadequate for machine weights (100+ lb subcomponents); single dolly collapse during Turf King initial transport noted

    high · Steve Ridge mentions furniture dolly collapse under machine weight; contrasts with later successful use of dollies and ramps

  • ?

    venue_signal: 1970s bar venues (ca. 1977-78) received early solid-state machines (Evil Knievel, Monolyth, Bobby or Power Play) featuring digital displays; replaced earlier EM pitching bat games with animated baseball player displays

    medium · Steve Ridge recalls personal play history at bar venues; mentions transition from EM to early solid-state display technology during youth

    • 2:42
    So there's a lot going on just by default in this machine and then whatever solid state features that they introduced which I'm not familiar with are also in there.
    2:56
    So these are a good thing to look up for anybody who's interested. I can get you in touch with the gentleman who's selling them and he's looking to sell them in a lot.
    3:09
    Now keep in mind this probably came from an operator who was running them on sites and so that's why there's so many duplicates of the same title. He does say that the back glasses are in excellent condition and the playfields are perfect, which is not unusual.
    3:28
    The Belgian-made bingos use these plastic-coated playfields and they just hold up marvelously well. I mean, they never have a wear problem that I've seen from the pictures that I've seen.
    3:43
    I have had my hands on a couple different ones, playfields that is, and beautiful. And even if they were dirty, they would clean up amazingly well.
    3:58
    So, worth a look. let me know if anybody's interested and I'll get you in touch alright the next housekeeping item is t-shirts we have t-shirts for sale again this is the same design that we had last time Ryan Claytor illustration and they're on the same high quality t-shirt if anybody's interested there will be a link in the show notes and there will also be a link on our website and please order those if you're interested. If we have enough interest, then I'll go ahead and put in the order and if not, then I'll refund everybody's money and we'll go about our merry way. But I've had enough requests for another run of the t-shirts that I thought it was time.
    4:47
    If you have any questions on t-shirt ordering, then let me know. If you need to do something custom like multiple shirts or something of that nature, or you want a break on shipping, or whatever the case may be, just let me know and we'll work something out.
    5:05
    All right. Now let's get into the show. So what I've been doing for the past week or so has been going with my family on a cross-country trip. We went to Kentucky to visit some relatives. And from there, I went to southern Indiana to pick up a new game and to drop off a different game. So I think that's enough lead-in. Let's listen to the show. Welcome back to For Amusement Only. This is Nick Baldrige, and with me is Steve Ridge. Steve, how are you? Doing well. How are you doing, Nick? I can't complain. Got a new game? Got a new game. Life is good.
    5:47
    Yep, sure. Did you get a new game? I did. I did indeed. And I got a new game. Hey. Funny how that works out. It is.
    5:55
    So Steve here contacted me. He got a Bally Turf King, which is a 1950 one-ball horse race game. And he asked if I might be interested in picking that up. And I suggested that we do a swap So you got a baby Pac Yeah And how do you feel Are you going to take care of that baby Oh yeah Absolutely. Yeah.
    6:21
    She's a good-sized baby, so I don't think she's going to be leaving the basement for a while. Yeah. So Turf King got it all loaded up, and I'm excited to dig into that. Good. I'm so glad to see you get it. my daughter and I are probably going to clean that up. I'm going to teach her how to work on bingos. There you go. And start her with one ball there. They have very similar mechanisms. So can you tell me a little bit about how you came to position of the turf game? Well, a friend of mine and yours, Brent Griffith from Broken Token Podcast,
    7:01
    his friend, Jimmy, that he talks about a lot on the podcast, had a warehouse where he had all of his games.
    7:11
    And they've had a couple sales of that warehouse. And I helped with the last sale. And the warehouse is actually an old school building. So there's a bunch of different rooms everywhere. And the Turf King was sitting back in this one room by itself with like a bunch of other equipment. No other games in this room.
    7:36
    You know, so people that were there for the sale, you know, they didn't even really see it sitting back there. So after the sale, Jimmy was going to sell that building.
    7:47
    Well, so there was still a lot of stuff in that building that had to be cleared out. so uh we were down there uh one saturday helping brent and jimmy and and there's a whole bunch of other guys there to help and clear out this old school building slash coin op warehouse and uh i said hey jimmy i said what are you going to do with that old bingo machine back there i said that back glass is pretty cool looking i think i'd like to think i'd like to take that he says well i don't know he says i'm thinking about selling it when he started snapping pictures of it and uh that's all that's all fine and good you know it's jimmy's game so uh the next week we go back and you know there's still more stuff to clean out and he's like hey steve he says why don't you take that bingo home with you i'm like jimmy what am i going to do with it i said how am i going to get it home i said this thing's a monster and he said he says either you take it home or it's going in the dumpster it's like well geez i can't let it go in the dumpster and so this was like january of yeah yeah january of this year 2015 2015 and you hadn't even started your podcast yet so i i didn't even know anything about you and here i am hauling this bingo game home so it was me and brent my son michael and and a couple other guys we lifted it up into the back of the pickup truck, and we brought it home to my house.
    9:24
    So when we get it home, it's only me, Michael, and my wife, Angie. And we're sitting there looking at this thing like, how the hell are we going to get this thing out of the back of this pickup truck?
    9:36
    So Michael and I manhandled it, believe it or not. With everything installed in the game.
    9:45
    Not like what you and I just did. everything installed in the game and uh and we put it on these furniture dollies and we we got it into my garage where it sat and then no you had a casualty right one of the furniture dollies oh yeah yeah yeah one of the furniture dollies didn't make it because because the weight of the game collapsed the harbor freight furniture dolly so yeah so yeah yeah this this thing's a monster It's heavy.
    10:17
    So that's the first time we moved it. So we ended up selling our house, which wasn't on the market at the time. That's a whole other story in and of itself.
    10:33
    And we moved up here to Salem, Indiana. Of course, closing dates didn't work out right. So we had to move our entire house into storage. and then from storage to the house up here in Salem. And so we've moved that game a total of three times. So did you lift it onto the back of a truck? No, no. The other two times we used the Harbor Freight furniture dollies and pushed it up the ramp into a U-Haul. Wow. That was a little bit easier, but nowhere near as easy as what we just did. Tell them what we did and what I should have done. Well, yeah, the whole thing is if you know how these things are assembled. And because of my familiarity with these games and the bingos, which came after, I just happen to know that you can take them apart. Well, in this game, all of the mechanisms are stored on a board that's underneath the play field. and that board contains these heavy, heavy motors, which are normally in the back box of a bingo.
    11:42
    So in a bingo, all the weight's concentrated in the head. The cab, you can lift with your little finger.
    11:49
    I see. But in these games, the design of the cabinet is such that it weighs a bunch by itself. And then you have this huge, heavy board, which is made very rigidly so that you can do work on it easily just by sliding it out but the problem is it weighs no hundred pounds it lays just that board yeah so you can slide the whole thing out if you unhook all the Jones plugs and then just set it aside and then take the play field out and the biggest thing is the glass to you know knowing how to remove the glass It one of those one assemblies where the lock bar the glass and the side rails are all connected and they all come off at the same time
    12:39
    So that works very similarly to a bingo. There's a wing nut. There's supposed to be two wing nuts. They're very large, but they're tucked way up inside, and you've got to avoid the button mechanisms and so forth that are in there right beside it. So it's easy to miss, and once you loosen that, you can lift the whole thing out. But that also weighs a considerable amount. It does. So all told, we probably removed three-quarters of the weight from the thing, then lifted the cab. And Michael, your son, and yourself, and I, able to move that in there, no problem. Yeah. I wish I'd have thought to do that three other times that we moved it. It's all what you know, you know. And you don't want to, if you don't know how it's constructed, you don't want to damage it by trying to do something, you know, like that. So I applaud you for doing that. And you have way more courage than I do. That's the first time I said, I got to find somebody who knows something about these things. So it took you three times, right? Yeah. Moved it three times. Before you got sick of moving it. Yeah.
    13:56
    So, and you had it in your garage, but your games are in another part of your house. Yes. So that would have been another move. Well, and it was funny the day that we moved in, you know, we had moved Turf King separate, you know, from the moving company because it was in a different place. And it was already sitting in the garage. And these moving guys, they, you know, they were young guys, 20, 21, 22 years old. So, yeah, we'll pick that thing up. We'll take it down that basement for you. I'm like, no, I don't want it in the basement. you know i mean because because because at the time i hadn't talked to you yet and uh and you know so i didn't know that you were coming to get the game but even even if i was going to keep the game it was going to stay in the ground because even though the basement is a walkout there is no way there's absolutely no way not with everything loaded in it and and at the time i didn't i didn't know any better i thought that's the way you moved it right you know so i and they kept saying this is your last chance if you want it down there it's like no i don't want it down there because if i get it down there it's never coming out right yep um so uh that's good and it's loaded up i can't wait to get it home dig into it but let's talk a little bit about you and your uh collecting how do you get into uh pinball collecting hobby well uh the collecting part of it i don't i only got into about five years ago when i found out that a friend of my mom's had a space invaders pinball machine down in his basement and uh and you know he he was an older gentleman he was 83 84 years old at the time he since passed away but uh he he just had all kinds of stuff stocked up on top of it down that down that basement and uh and and he also had a space and space invaders video game down there so we had worked out a deal on both of those and we go over there to go over there and yank him out the basement and this guy was like a hoarder. So we spent two hours just clearing a path to get to the two games before we could get them out of there. So that was my first game.
    16:30
    I got that January 2010. And it's just kind of progressed from there. Don't have too many games. Certainly not as many games as some other guys in the hobby.
    16:49
    Until today, with the addition of the Baby Pack, I didn't own a game any newer than 1980. So I've got a Firepower over there. Of course, the Space Invaders was in 1980.
    17:01
    And then an Old Chicago and then a Space Time, Valley Space Time from 73. I've got a couple of projects back there. but uh you know i i used to be a musician spent a lot of time in the bars uh playing pinball machines on breaks you know in between sets you know so so so it's always been there it's it's just that now that you know this is my like my full-time hobby you know i've laid back off of the music music stuff got kind of burned out on that you get you get burned out spending almost every weekend in a bar for 25 years. I would imagine so. It gets very old very quick.
    17:46
    But this hobby here is a whole lot different than music because everybody can get involved. Michael's involved in it. Michael and I are working on this 8-ball. Whether he wants to be or not? As far as the hobby? He's actually into it.
    18:06
    He's the one that stripped that whole play field and took all the pictures and everything. You know, that's his game and that's his baby. So, yeah, yeah, he's the one doing that. Angie loves it, my wife, Angie.
    18:20
    Does she help shop games? No, she doesn't really help shop the games, but she scrapbooks all of our pinball adventures. Oh, cool. You know, she's always got a camera. Any party we go to or a show or anything like that we go to, She always snapping pictures and making collages doing the scrapbooking thing and and she loves playing too She uh she beats about 50 of the time Excellent You know yeah Keep each other on your toes That's good. Yeah, yeah. And, you know, she's funny because, you know, she thinks she doesn't know a whole lot about it, but she knows way more than she thinks she does. You know, and, you know, she'll pop off a stat or something here and there. I'm like, I'm like. Taking it back. Good job, girl, you know.
    19:09
    Well, that's great. And what's your history with EMs? Because you've got a good mix of solid state and EM. Mm-hmm.
    19:20
    You know, the EMs, I was kind of intimidated by at first. You know, because you look down at the bottom relay board, there's all these wires and everything. And then you roll out the schematic that's five foot long. and you see all these things that connect and everything. But once you get to looking at the schematic and knowing that this goes to this that makes this work, you know, that's just the secret. You know, the games are labeled very clearly in the bottom, what goes to what. You know, this relay does this, this relay does that.
    19:56
    And, you know, I'm 49 years old. So, when I started playing pinball machines when I was like six or eight years old, there was no such thing as a digital display. Everything was electromechanical. and you know about 77 78 when the place i used to play at started getting getting in these evil kenevil machines and monohari and uh bobby or power play that that had these flashing numbers that you know i just thought that was the neatest thing in the world but my earliest memories of playing were all EM pinball games and pitching bats.
    20:46
    I'd like to get an old EM pitching bat sometime. That's on the bucket list too. Are you looking for Williams with the Running Man?
    20:54
    Yeah, I played a lot of those, but there's a lot of them I played too that just had the animated lights for the baseball players in the black box. But yeah, I always loved the good old pitching bat game too. I guess I'm kind of telling my age, but that's okay.
    21:11
    Well, that's great. So do you have any plans to add a bingo to your collection? Now, I know you just moved out the Turf King here, but a bingo is a different name. The prerequisite for a bingo to be in this house is it has to have four legs. Okay. That can be taken off so that I can get it down here easily enough. Turf King, if anybody wants to look at it on IPDB, there are no legs. It's all one piece.
    21:45
    Or link the cabinet. So, yeah. Well, good news. All the bingos have legs that are removed. Awesome. Yeah. As long as I can break that down and get it on a dolly, it's welcome. There you go. All right.
    22:02
    Maybe next time I come, I'll bring a bingo. Okay. Yeah. That sounds good. So exactly how far did you come? I came, well, from Richmond, Virginia, and you mentioned we're in Salem, Indiana. So I haven't done all the math here. I think about 12 and a half, 13 hours. 12 and a half, 13 hours to pick up a game.
    22:26
    Is that a record for you? That is probably a record, yeah. I think so. Now, I've done more driving in one day, but I have my family with me and all that. So things take a little long. You know, it's all right. Yeah, that's fine. So, yeah, but I'm excited, like I said. And you're just over the border from my grandparents actually live in Kentucky, which is the border state. Right. So we're hanging out with them and having a good time. My grandfather is a big into antiquing. He's been kind of a picker his whole life. Yeah. And so he's excited to see this game. Oh, good. Good. Well, I'm so excited for you to have it. And, you know, it had to be Destiny or something like that, because when I got this game, I didn't know you. I heard you on a previous podcast say, oh, I'd love to have a Turf King. It's like, well, I've got a Turf King. What do you know? Let's give Nick a call.
    23:32
    Well, I appreciate it very much. You are quite welcome. I'm very happy to see you get it. Very happy to see you get that game. I'll certainly be posting a lot of pictures and pictures of this game, so anybody listening can see those too. And I'll be posting some audio journals, hopefully with my daughter, about how we get it going and everything. Very good. Yeah, I'd be curious. I look forward to hearing that. Absolutely. well Steve just make sure you feed clothe that baby oh I will I most certainly will because the ghosts aren't taking care of it yep she'll have a good home alright that's great alright well thank you Steve thank you I want to thank my guest Steve Ridge for coming on the show and discussing some about the Turf King pickup well that's all for tonight thank you very much for listening My name again is Nick Baldrige. You can reach me at 4amusementonlypodcast at gmail.com, or you can call me on the bingos line. That's 724-BINGOS-1, 724-246-4671. You can listen to us on iTunes, Stitcher, Pocket Cast, via RSS, on Facebook, on Twitter, at bingopodcast. You can follow me on Instagram, also at bingopodcast, or you can listen to us on our website, which is 4amusementonly.libsyn.com. thank you very much for listening and I'll talk to you next time