Bingo Pinballs

Created on 05-02-2014

_ Check out my Who’s Who from some other great posts by Phil _

Phil has fixed plenty of these games, so I was happy when I received this email that confirm what we have all come to learn: That Bally made various “gear combination” to help owner/operates change up how “tight” the reflex units regulate the payout:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

by Phil B on May 5, 2005, 9:54 pm 0 GMT

Heff, there were a number of ways the operators could tighten the machines to make it tougher to win. In the case of the machine being tougher to get odds and features after a big hit, the "reflex" unit is the cause. This unit is usually located at the bottom left side of the back door. As the machine racks the free games, the reflex steps up and circuits needed for game advantages are no longer live, meaning what would have been an odds or feature advance turns into a big fat nothing. As the replays are played off, the unit steps backwards, making it easier to win again. Bally was considerate enough to supply different gear ratios for the step up and down, so many operators stepped the unit up a lot faster than it reset. There were other methods used on this unit to make it tougher on the players, like using pin stops to prevent full reset.

There are a number of adjustment plugs in the bingos which accomplish the same thing but do not react to the play like the reflex does. For example, the extra balls can be made easier to get simply by moving the plug to make more circuits potentially active.

The really unsavoury operators would just cut wires to make things impossible to get lit. A Roller Derby I recently finished had the two in blue wire cut at the coil. Another method was to tighten springs so steppers could not advance beyond a certain point. For example, if red odds won't step beyond 64, always check the tension before messing with the circuitry.

Phil

~