Beach Time

About 8 years ago I saw a reference to the “Bingo Kings” in Australia  in Googles rec.games.pinball forum and was always curious as to how these machines migrated down there and wondered if I’d ever find out more a bit more about the story. Unfortunately the email address for the Bingo Kings was a dead link, but today we get another piece of the story Down Under from Mike Busetti.

Thxs Mike……….

Hi Danny

Hi from Australia.

I was born in 1958, the same year as the Beach Time bingo was manufactured, which I have in my personal collection. The reason I like Beach Time so much is that it was the first Bingo I played as a teenager (started at 13). Each day before heading to high school a group of us would visit the local cafe's, which had bingo's, pool tables and a bunch of tables where all the 'old' guys would play cards and drink coffee. As I remember, I'd get 40 cents for lunch and spend 20 cents of that on the Beach Time; mostly losing but sometime getting 4-in-line and very rarely 5-in-line - now that bought a really good lunch.

By the time I was 16 Bingo's were starting to be out lawed. I remember the playing fields being repainted as baseball fields (all green with a yellow diamond on it without hole numbers), the back glass also received the painted treatment. The ball plungers were removed and little electric baseball bats installed to launch the balls. They were really ugly machines but worked the same way (wish I had a photo of one). However, it didn't take the authorities long to decide that these machines were illegal, as they were simply bingo's repainted.

It must have been around late '70's that Bingo's started disappearing. A lot of small cafe's and establishments went out of business. I guess they were real money earners for them! Now we have slot machines in every local pub and bar however, these are controlled (government is getting their gaming taxes) so I guess they are ok!

Regards

Mike

There aren’t any good pictures of a Beach Time playing field out there, but who knows maybe Mike will be kind enough to email us one some day……..

These two killer Beach Time photos are from the Internet – If I remember correctly, the backglass detail is from Phil Hooper’s Auction Pages – Each of these photos is much larger than shown, so please feel free to take them and expand them to fit your needs

An Internet Article I recently found on Australian Law:

Legislation in Australia prohibits the possession, the sale, exchange or attempted sale, without a license (issued by the governing body for gaming in their home state) of the following: A gaming or an amusement device that is designed for the playing of a game of chance, or a game that is partly a game of chance and partly a game requiring skill.

This includes devices capable of the paying out of money or tokens or for registering a right to an amount of money or money's worth to be paid. The legislation extends to and includes any subsidiary equipment or component of a gaming device. Common items that fall within this category include Poker and Bingo Pinball Machines and accordingly these items will not be permitted for sale on AussieROO.

For information concerning the definition of a gaming device and license requirements please consult the following organizations:

NSW: Department of Gaming and Racing

ACT: ACT Revenue Office

QLD: The Office of Gaming Regulation

SA: The office of the Liquor and Gambling Commissioner

TAS: The Tasmanian Gaming Commission

VIC: The Victorian Casino Gaming Authority

WA: Racing Gaming & Liquor Western Australia

NT: Northern Territory Treasury

This page last update 02-18-2008