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Episode 355 - Email Interview with Chris Dade 2-28-16

For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·15m 52s·analyzed·Feb 29, 2016
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.025

TL;DR

Email interview with UK bingo collector Chris Dade on machines, restoration, and community.

Summary

Nicholas Baldrige interviews Chris Dade, a 67-year-old UK-based bingo machine collector and restorer from Ipswich, about his experiences with bingo machines in Britain, his collection, and his work reproducing backglasses and playfield overlays. Dade discusses the history of bingo machines in the UK, their legal status, restoration techniques, and the community of bingo enthusiasts he helped organize through the Bally Bingos in Britain forums.

Key Claims

  • Bingo machines and multi-coin games are not legal to operate in the UK under current and previous gaming laws

    high confidence · Chris Dade, direct answer to legal status question

  • Most bingo machines imported to the UK after 1960 Betting and Gaming Act were 10+ years old, due to inventory stockpiled in the US after state bans

    high confidence · Chris Dade, discussing export patterns and US supply constraints

  • Bingo machines in the UK peaked in the early-to-mid 1960s and largely disappeared by the late 1960s when authorities realized they were illegal

    high confidence · Chris Dade, on timeline of machine presence in UK

  • Chris Dade began his collection in 2002 after purchasing a Parade bingo machine for £200 following redundancy and financial security from severance

    high confidence · Chris Dade, personal history of collection origin

  • Dade has been reproducing backglasses and playfield overlays for bingo machines, with Kooz in the Netherlands now providing superior one-piece foil reproductions

    high confidence · Chris Dade, on his backglass/overlay work and current state of reproduction

  • Pat's Cafe in Norwich operated four bingo machines until it closed two years ago (as of 2016)

    high confidence · Chris Dade, on remaining operational locations in the UK

  • The Bally Bingos in Britain forums were started to provide a centralized resource for bingo fans to seek advice rather than relying solely on Chris Dade

    high confidence · Chris Dade, on motivation for starting the forum

  • Dade's past experience in auto repair, including welding, was useful for restoring bingo machines

    high confidence · Chris Dade, discussing restoration background and skills

Notable Quotes

  • “I first saw a bingo in 1961 when I was 13. It was in a cafe called The Dimpy in Stalmarket, Suffolk, where I lived at the time.”

    Chris Dade @ ~08:30 — Establishes Dade's personal connection to bingo machines and the cafe culture that housed them in the UK

  • “From the time I first saw a bingo and watched it being played, I was hooked.”

    Chris Dade @ ~12:00 — Illustrates the immediate appeal of bingo machines to players and Dade's lifelong passion

  • “The bingos and other U.S.-made slot machines flooded into the U.K. after the 1960 Betting and Gaming Act relaxed the gaming laws. Most of the bingos were ten years or more old when they arrived here.”

    Chris Dade @ ~22:30 — Key historical insight into the supply chain and timing of bingo machine imports to the UK

  • “I get more pleasure from restoring and owning them than playing.”

    Chris Dade @ ~37:00 — Reveals the core motivation driving Dade's collecting and restoration work

  • “The sound of a hundred replays being clocked off after getting a cash payout, followed closely by the sound of them clocking up in the first place.”

    Chris Dade @ ~55:30 — Evocative memory highlighting the sensory experience of playing bingo machines on location

  • “Under current and previous gaming laws bingos and other games with multi-coin operating are not legal in the UK or ever have been.”

    Chris Dade @ ~62:00 — Clarifies the legal status of bingo machines in the UK, addressing a key historical question

  • “I would like to thank the good old US of A for making it all possible.”

    Chris Dade @ ~75:00 — Closing sentiment expressing gratitude to American manufacturers for the machines that shaped his life

Entities

Chris DadepersonNicholas BaldrigepersonPaulette DadepersonFreddie BaileypersonPhil HooperpersonChris HowardpersonFranz PilgerpersonKoozpersonKevinpersonBallycompany

Signals

  • ?

    historical_signal: Documentation of US bingo machine export to UK following 1960 Betting and Gaming Act relaxation, with machines predominantly 10+ years old due to US state bans creating inventory surplus

    high · Chris Dade detailed account of machines being 10+ years old when imported, attributing this to stockpiles from US state bans

  • ?

    historical_signal: Bingo machines were never legal in the UK under gaming law, despite operating widely in early-to-mid 1960s; authorities cracked down by late 1960s, causing machines to largely disappear

    high · Chris Dade: 'Under current and previous gaming laws bingos and other games with multi-coin operating are not legal in the UK or ever have been'

  • ?

    restoration_signal: Chris Dade pioneered two-piece laminated vinyl backglass reproductions in the UK bingo community; Kooz in Netherlands has since advanced the field with superior one-piece foil reproductions with mirrored areas and direct printing, using Dade's digital files

    high · Chris Dade: 'Kooz is a very clever man...his one-piece foil is an excellent substitute for a poor glass...they're better than my two-piece laminated prints...Kooz does use my digital files for a lot of his work'

  • ?

    community_signal: Bally Bingos in Britain forums established by Chris Dade to centralize advice and community discussion for UK bingo machine owners; complemented by regional open days and gatherings at locations like Pat's Cafe in Norwich

    high · Chris Dade: 'The motivation for starting the forum was the need for somewhere that bingo fans can seek advice with problems, etc.'

  • ?

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.048

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 tonight i have a very special email interview my interviewee is chris dade from the uk who runs the bally bingos in britain forums and has been instrumental in work scanning and reproducing backglasses and playfield overlays for the Ballybingo community.
0:37
Question 1. Please provide your name and age. My name is Chris Dade from Ipswich, UK, and I am 67 years old. I have a very understanding wife called Paulette and four sons. 2. When and where did you see your first pinball machine, bingo or flipper? As a follow-on, when and where did you see your first bingo?
1:01
He answers, I can't remember when I first saw a pinball, but it must have been in the 50s. They didn't interest me at all back then, although I'm beginning to enjoy them more now that I have some, but still second to bingo.
1:13
I first saw a bingo in 1961 when I was 13. It was in a cafe called The Dimpy in Stalmarket, Suffolk, where I lived at the time.
1:24
And he provides a note for us American folk. What we call cafes in the UK are more or less the same as your diners, where they normally serve fried or grilled food and cups of tea. Coffee wasn't popular over here back in the 60s.
Keeney Games Inc.
company
AMIcompany
Bally Bingos in Britain forumsorganization
Paradegame
Miami Beachgame
Varietygame
Broadwaygame
Blue Spotgame
Bally Treble Chancegame
Bally Carnivalgame
The Dimpyvenue
Pat's Cafevenue
For Amusement Onlyorganization

venue_signal: Pat's Cafe in Norwich, which operated four bingo machines and hosted annual bingo community gatherings, closed approximately two years prior to this February 2016 interview

high · Chris Dade: 'Although they pretty much died out in the 1970s, a few remained, and up until two years ago, we used to have an annual visit to Pat's Cafe in Norwich, which still operated four machines but sadly it's now closed down'

  • ?

    collector_signal: Chris Dade derives more pleasure from restoring and owning bingo machines than from actually playing them; views restoration as a primary motivator for collecting

    high · Chris Dade: 'To be honest, I get more pleasure from restoring and owning them than playing'

  • ?

    restoration_signal: Chris Dade has been reproducing playfield overlays for bingo machines, originally created to replace poor-quality overlays during restoration; still supplies them through his website

    high · Chris Dade: 'I do still supply the playfield overlays, although I haven't done as many of these, but they are all shown on my website'

    • 1:40
    They're also fondly known as greasy spoons. Question three. What was your first experience playing a bingo?
    1:49
    Answers. From the time I first saw a bingo and watched it being played, I was hooked. So I played as often as possible, even truanting, from school, until my money ran out. Two games that I distinctly remember were Variety and Broadway, but I only ever played wooden-legged or railed machines, and stopped before the Magic Screen games came on the scene.
    2:09
    Did you ever play on location? Were you skilled enough to fairly consistently win? I played the bingos in the Dimpy regularly from 1961 to 1965 when I found other interests like girls, beer, and cigarettes to keep me occupied. However, I was hooked on slot machines and still lost my money in them. As for winning, yes, I did sometimes win, but overall there's only one winner and it certainly wasn't me.
    2:35
    Question five. I know next to nothing about the export market for bingos. How common were they to find on location in Great Britain?
    2:44
    They could be found in places that working people frequent, mostly cafes and pubs, bars to you. Before many of the motorways were built in the UK, the major roads had lots of transport cafes that are like your truck stops, and these normally had at least one bingo machine and one or two slots as well. I can't confidently say that there are no more on location in the UK, but there certainly aren't many.
    3:07
    My next question. Were they exported all through the bingo run to Great Britain, or was there a definite peak? The bingos and other U.S.-made slot machines flooded into the U.K. after the 1960 Betting and Gaming Act relaxed the gaming laws. Most of the bingos were ten years and more old when they arrived here. I've been informed this was due to the vast numbers that were stored in the U.S. after your various states outlawed them, but I cannot be entirely sure. By the late 60s, when the authorities realized the bingos were illegal, the Magic Screen games were being imported. There are very few 20-holers here, and I suspect most of them came in from Belgium.
    3:44
    The flasher slots, mostly made by Keeney Games Inc. in Bali, were new machines and had big jackpot payouts. They were also located in cafes and members clubs such as golf military and working men associations During the mid some British companies got in on the act and offered competition to the U makers whose imports of these machines more or less stopped in the 70s More changes to gaming laws limited payouts to machines in the cafes to 10 coins, so the big payout machines were only found in the members clubs.
    4:14
    An aside here from Nick, what he's saying about only importing machines 10 years or older, Makes a ton of sense, because as he says, as the state started cracking down on the bingos here, there would be a huge inventory stockpiled. Operators would have a whole lot that they couldn't use anymore, and so it makes sense that they would try to sell it off, probably to fill shipping containers and so forth. Okay, back to the interview. Question 7.
    4:50
    Your collection is beautiful, and I will link to Chris Dade's site in the show notes. Please check it out. He has got some very beautiful machines that he has meticulously restored. How did you get started on the path of owning and repairing these machines, flashers, slot machines, and other coin-operated equipment?
    5:12
    Thank you for your kind words about my collection. I am very proud to be the owner of these classic machines, many rescued from the scrap heap. All through my adult life, I wanted to have a slot machine and jukebox in my home, but this didn't happen until I was made redundant from work in 2000, and the payoff and pension left me financially secure. In 2002, I came across an ad for a Parade bingo machine for 200 pounds, and on contacting the seller, I was so pleased that it hadn't already been sold. This was the beginning of my collection, and there have been many to follow. I mentioned earlier that I was hooked on the high payout slot machines, and this led me to collect the U.S. made flashers and bandits from that period. I also managed to get an AMI Continental jukebox to complete my wish list. The machines are all housed in summer houses and log cabins in my garden, but the jukebox is indoors. Have you ever become acquainted with operators or distributors for Bally products in the UK? Answers. I've met a few operators over the years. Most of them are well into their 70s and 80s now, and they all admit to making a lot of money from the machines. One operator from the UK, Mr. Freddie Bailey, is still in the business and now lives in Edgewater, New Jersey. I had the pleasure of meeting him whilst on holiday in New York a few years ago. I was also fortunate enough to meet Phil Hooper while visiting Las Vegas.
    6:28
    Next question. You restore cabinets and other cosmetics of your machines. How long have you been doing that detailed work?
    6:35
    After purchasing the parade in 2002 and the honeymoon period was over, I realized it looked like a heap of scrap, and the only thing I could do was attempt to make it look something like it did originally. After completing the restoration, it then made my other machines look tatty, so I had to restore them as well, and so it goes on. To be honest, I get more pleasure from restoring and owning them than playing.
    6:57
    You've also been instrumental in scanning, color correcting, and printing back glass images on vinyl, as well as scanning and color correcting playfield graphics for overlay production. What inspired you to undertake this massive project?
    7:09
    I soon realized that if a glass gets broken, then the machine is of no use to anyone, so I got a printing company to scan and merge my Miss America 57 back glass for me, and I set about repairing the damaged areas using Photoshop and creating the masking layers using a reversed image. Once it became generally known that I was reproducing the glasses, I got inquiries from them from all over the world, and if I was able to get one for scanning, I did them on request. In the UK, many of the machines had replacement glasses hand-painted on Perspex, or plexiglass. As they had to be done as a mirror image, the numbers were often painted so that from the front they were facing the wrong way. I have one or two examples of these.
    7:50
    Next I note that folks are referred to coups in the Netherlands for translates these days from bingo Is there anything you like to accomplish in the future with the artwork
    8:01
    For example, are you selling playfield overlays still? Kooz is a very clever man and seems to find a solution for any problem. He has taken the Backlash Revival to a different level, and his one-piece foil is an excellent substitute for a poor glass, and of course he's produced some with mirrored areas and direct printing. although these are not shipped and have to be collected from him in Holland. Quite simply, they're better than my two-piece laminated prints, and I only want customers to have the best, although Kuz does use my digital files for a lot of his work. I do still supply the Playfield overlays, although I haven't done as many of these, but they are all shown on my website. I originally did these to replace some poor-quality ones during the restoration process.
    8:41
    Question 12. As far as games, I see there's a parade in your collection. I've never seen one in person. What do you think of the gameplay? Do the extra lines offer enough of a scoring advantage?
    8:53
    He answers. As Parade was the first bingo I'd seen for over 35 years, it has always been very special to me and will never be sold during my lifetime. It's quite fun to play, and with the treble and quad scoring, it can pay out some decent wins. The extra lines obviously increase the chances of winning, and you can achieve a six in a line, but it'll only pay out on five. It was also the first time I got all three extra balls from one press of the yellow button. But, on a side, that is a magical feeling when that happens. Okay, back to the interview.
    9:24
    Number 13. Miami Beach with the magic curtains is another. What are your general thoughts on the gameplay?
    9:30
    Like nearly all the early machines, it had a unique feature with the magic curtain, but to be honest, I rarely play it, or many of the others for that matter, because for me, the pleasure is in the owning and restoring. When I have visitors, I usually play a few games while we're talking shop.
    9:45
    What's been your most challenging restoration? They nearly all present some kind of challenge or another, but the parade being the first was a tough job. I hadn't tackled anything like it before, but my past experience in the auto repair business was pretty useful, including being able to weld on occasion. Miami Beach was very tricky because of the complicated cabinet artwork and also variety for the same reason. I always strive for 100% perfection, but rarely achieve it.
    10:12
    Next question. and flasher games also feature prominently in your collection. What are some of your favorites, and why? I love some of the artwork that I've seen on your site, but I've not had much experience with those types of slot machines.
    10:25
    As with bingos, the flasher games cropped up everywhere in the early 60s, and with their jackpots of 500 coins, became very addictive to a lot of people, including myself. The worst thing that can happen is to have a big win, and that's the start of the addiction. Nowadays, the addictions are from a different source. My favorites are the ones from my past, which are Keeney's, Blue Spot, and Bally Treble Chance. The Treble Chance was made for export to Europe with the soccer, football in the UK, theme, but whoever designed the backflash didn't realize that soccer pitches do not have five-yard lines.
    10:58
    Number 16. You also have a gorgeous original Bally Carnival in your collection, which is a flipper game. I adore the artwork on the backflash. What do you think of the gameplay? It was only acquired near the end of last year, and I had to get the backlash renewed urgently as the print was about to fall off, so I haven't really played it yet. All of my machines are outside in unheated accommodations, so it's too damn cold at the moment.
    11:24
    What's your fondest memory of playing games on location? The sound of a hundred replays being clocked off after getting a cash payout, followed closely by the sound of them clocking up in the first place. Are Ballybingos illegal to operate in the UK? Again, my apologies. I know absolutely nothing.
    11:44
    Answers. Under current and previous gaming laws bingos and other games with multi operating are not legal in the UK or ever have been My belief is that the similarity with pinballs was exploited as nobody here knew the difference Don forget they had the amusement notices prominently displayed in the cabinet and of course they didn't have a visible payout system.
    12:05
    If they were not illegal, where are the good places to play? Although they pretty much died out in the 1970s, a few remained, and up until two years ago, we used to have an annual visit to Pat's Cafe in Norwich, which still operated four machines but sadly it's now closed down.
    12:22
    You started many years ago the Ballybingos in Britain forums which are a great place for information and discussion of game maintenance, restoration, etc. What was your main goal in doing so? The motivation for starting the forum was the need for somewhere that bingo fans can seek advice with problems, etc. and not just email me and I then have to try and direct them somewhere else. I am not the fountain of all knowledge and have to seek guidance myself on many occasions. Chris Howard and Franz Pilger are very clued up and are always willing to offer good advice where needed. And here, Nick has to make an aside again. Franz, if you happen to listen to this, I apologize if I butchered your name just now.
    13:03
    Hopefully I did not. Back to the interview. Question 21. With the Bally Bingo in Britain forums, I see there are bingo parties called Open Days in the UK. Sounds like a great time. Do you have a favorite memory or game from some of those get-togethers? Do you host any open days yourself?
    13:20
    There have been a few open days where owners have hosted get-togethers for Bingo Buddies and other people to visit. A few years ago, we had an annual meeting at Pat's Cafe in Norwich, and we had people travel there from far and wide, including some of our friends from the Netherlands.
    13:34
    Just a note here is some of your listeners will have no real idea of how big the UK is, so if you can imagine that Texas is three times the size of the UK, that may put it into perspective. No place in Great Britain is more than 75 miles from the coast, and the farthest points are less than 700 miles apart.
    13:51
    In more recent years, Kevin, who also lives in Suffolk, has hosted a number of them in his business premises, which is much appreciated by those who regularly attend.
    14:01
    I've hosted a two-day event at my home, but the wife doesn't appreciate having strangers wandering in and out to use the bathroom. I often have three or four visitors to see and play on the machines, which doesn't present any problems. I do not play the machines very much, but enjoy circulating and talking to my buddies.
    14:17
    Any other memories of these great games that you'd like to share? What makes them special to you? They played a very important part in my teenage years, and with the great music from the late 50s and early 60s from both sides of the Atlantic make me feel very nostalgic. It's now good to look back at those times when you reach an age where there's more time behind you than in front.
    14:37
    And Chris concludes with this. Nick, I would like to thank you for giving me this opportunity to be part of your podcast, especially now that I know what one is. It's very comforting to know that the younger generation like you will be moving these classic games forward. I would also like to thank the good old US of A for making it all possible.
    14:55
    I want to thank my guest, Chris Dade, for agreeing to do an email interview. I'm very excited to learn some of the history of bingos in the UK. As I stated multiple times in that interview, I know absolutely nothing.
    15:12
    Chris, your time is very much appreciated, and I hope you all enjoyed this. And 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-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 forumusementonly.libsyn.com. Thank you very much for listening, and I'll talk to you next time.