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Ben’s Bingo
These
detailed pictures from Ben, not only show us that the High Flyer with the
Skyline Paint Job is from 1978 (one year after the Original High Flyers
were released) but more importantly show that these pins were target for a
Spanish Speaking country, which may just explain why these machines weren’t
assigned an official Bally Model Number and that very little is known of
them.
Note #1 inside the backbox highlighting the need
to periodically use oil lubricate the clutch washers on the motor:
Note #2 inside the backbox telling about the
importance properly connecting the terminal connections for 50hz operation
if needed:
Note #3 inside the backbox, giving instructions
on how to wire the machine’s input voltage for 230 VAC operation:
Note #4 inside the backbox highlighting the search
relays:
Playing field note highlighting the red rollover:
Playing field note highlighting the yellow rollover:
Playing field note highlighting the patent list
inside the machine, which was required by U.S. law to export the device:
Labeling for the ball return hole:
~ An
Interesting Bingo Pinball ~
Benjamin was also kind enough to send along some great
history and notes:
My name is Benjamin Lee Barchik, but my friends call me Ben. I am
probably the youngest binger here, because I am only 23! I have always had
an interest in Bingo/six card machines because of my uncles. As kids and
teenagers growing up in the 1970’s they had fond memories of playing six
card machines in Wilkes Barre, PA. My uncles would tell me stories of how
they always enjoyed playing the machines, and winning money.
Their stories created a bingo spark inside me, and so I was on the
lookout for preferably cheap six card machines. I was in luck to find a
person that lived close to me who had a warehouse full of not only six
cards but pinball machines as well, although most were in partially working
condition. I contacted him and
bought eight bingo machines off him, two High Flyers, two Shoot a Lines,
Dixieland, Ticker Tape, Stock Market, and hybrid High Flyer.( as discussed
later on) The machine were sold to me at very reasonable prices. I got a
few of my cousins to help me cart the games down three flights of stairs to
a rented U-Haul van. I can tell you that we all deserved milkshakes and
cheeseburgers after all that work!
I new nothing about six card machines, but as luck would have it, one of
my uncles worked for an amusement company near my home. I asked him for his
help and he graciously obliged. He showed me how the game worked, as well
as the logic behind it. Originally, I was afraid of using the soldering
gun, for fear I would do something wrong to the game, or even burn myself.
But after all the soldering I had to do on the six card machines, I am not
longer afraid and would rate myself as quite proficient at it. If not for
my uncle helping me out, there is no way I would have bought those
machines. So I would like to say a big bingo thank you to Uncle Steve.
I’m sure all of you bingers know the different hack jobs that people did
on these six card machines, well my games were no exception. Some of the
hacks, were easy to undue but some were rather difficult. The easy hacks to
undue were the search wipers, which had tape on them to prevent the game
finding winners. However some of the other hacks, still have me bewildered,
but hopefully some of you bingers can help me out. To date, my uncle and I
have got Dixieland, both High Flyers, Ticker Tape, and one Shoot a Line to
work well.
As a side note, I am still kicking myself for throwing away the original
bingo balls that came with my game. The balls were stainless steel, but I
didn’t know that at the time because they were so badly marked up and
filthy.
Here are the pictures taken. They are of my hybrid High Flyer, which was
one of the many six card machines I purchased. I know that the person whom
I bought the games off, had them on route in the Harrisburg area for a long
time until the early 90’s whereupon he stored them away. I did not ask about
this machine, so that is all the history I can give you. All I remember is
that he had two or three games like this one, but they were so beat that
they were not work taking. Danny told me that these machines were sent down into New
Orleans, Texas, and Mexico for trials but no other information is know
about them.
You can see the Spanish
wording on the playfield and the cards inside the back-box. There were
stickers over the Spanish, where the wording is that tells you to roll over
the target to light the Super Line or the Four Corners. The stickers were
disgusting, so I pealed them off, but to my surprise, there was the Spanish
underneath.
I have two hybrid back-box
heads, and you can see the hack that was preformed on the second head. I
believe that the multi play coil is completely wired out of the game,
however someone added a stepper unit, as well as a coil controlling a pair
of contacts. The wiring looks so neat around where the multi play coil used
to be, that I tend to think it was factory made that way. However, I am mostly certain that
the stepper was added later. I don’t know if you can tell by the pictures,
but if you have any idea why this was done, then by all means please
contact me. Thanks for reading, Enjoy!
Serial numbers and date codes on the heads:
Plugged hole for the cabinet reply relay:
One of the many mods / hacks in the machine, wires
that went to a coin-stepper unit / coin-limiter unit:
Another hack, the multiplay coil is missing:
Someone whom knew what they were doing set these
machines up, and all of those cards look exactly like the cards Bally used,
so…………….
Thxs Ben – You Rock!
This page last update 04-01-2008
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