Bingo Pinballs

Created on 04-16-2014

_ Keith on 4-Coin Meter and 40-Coin-Limit Bingos _

~ Very Cool Keith _ Thank you! ~

From: Keith Nickalo <knickelson67@>

To: Danny Leach <bingopinballs@

>

Sent: Friday, July 8, 2011 7:37 PM
Subject: Re: Flyer

Hi Danny.

Tahiti did indeed have the kumbacky or later play key. I think the key was introduced on the 1st ring game and most of them had it after that. I just went through nine Tahiti's and I can say definitively that key is there. The big problem with the later play key is that it is wired into a bunch of the circuitry. If the switch gets out of whack (if somebody sticks the key and there and forces it to turn even though it's all seized up) then the switches don't return to their previous position and now you got problems.

I met a guy with a Miss America Supreme. It seemed to be having all kinds of bizarre problems. I didn't think I could fix it for him at his house so I took it home with me only to figure out he forced the key switch...broke it and then tried to rewire it himself. Took like ten minutes to fix after it was in my basement. DOH!!! I literally fixed it before I put the head on. I had balls or something rolling around in the cabinet so when I got the cabinet in I opened up the door and shined a flashlight in there and saw that switch.. Fixed the switch, brought the head in and put it on.....Everything worked just fine. Took it back apart and took it back to him. It was a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

What I really wonder about this feature is....Was it ever really used??? If a game or credit were worth five cents each and you gave the cashier a fin, is he really gonna go over there and give that key 100 strokes. My God that would have to take at least ten minutes. Maybe longer. You get one credit per stroke. You can't just hold it open and let the meter roll up. I just don't see this happening in real life. I think it was just a farce so they could claim they weren't really gambling. In my opinion it was all part of the cat-n-mouse game that was bingo pinballs post Corpan.

I also wonder about what you said concerning the forty coin limit. As far as I know this was only on Tahit, Mystic Gate and Bonanza. Do you know of any other games it was on? The reason that I ask is because I have heard from several different sources now that there are some forty coin games where you can play as many replays as you want but you can only deposit forty coins. I've never come across a game like this. All the 40 coin games I have had (Well Mystic Gate and Tahiti) steps up the coin unit every time the timer cams spin or every cycle if you prefer. I checked the schematic on Bonanza and it's the same. Also, the coin unit itself is directly in the proportioning of these games. On Tahiti for example, you have no chance to light one of the mystic lines on the first five coins/replays. None at all. So if the coin unit isn't advancing, you are kind of stuck not being able to win anything other than what that one position on the coin counter that will award. Pretty much, the coin counter must advance for proper game proportioning. These forty coin games don't have a regular mixer like the old bingos. The proportioning on them works differently.

Couple years ago I thought I'd just take the coin unit out of a Tahit and play as many coins as I felt like. I was going to just unsolder the step up coil but couldn't get to it so I cut it with some snips. (Yes I was pretty sure of myself at that time) Well I should have looked at the schematic first. After I did that the game just pounded the odds all the way up to the top in maybe the first eight or nine coins. Double stepping them and everything. Then once they maxed that it was it. Nothing else would happen. You could feed it a thousand quarters if you felt like it. No mystic lines ever got enabled. No "4 stars scores..." no "Hold" ...nothing. So that's when I learned about the forty coin unit. I had to take the unit out and do some contortionist soldering to get it back to working order. Anyway, I was just wondering if there really is a game where the forty coin unit doesn't come into play like Tahiti and Mystic Gate.

Alright, well my son just called and he's on his way into town. He's having some call problems and it sound like he's dropping into his safety net so I'm heading out to the garage.

Keith

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