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The
document is a 1959 parts order for a 1953 Beach Club _ In looking at this,
I can easily see a 6yr old machine being worn out
and
needing refurbished to keep it on-line a few more years and I can easily
believe that a slick-operator (one connected-up)
would know about any
Reflex Options that existed!!
Check
Line #12 ordering “Reflex Gear #2” _ Huh? _ An “A-463-23” part number.
Well
back-in-the-day I had written everyone I knew about the Reflex and always
got the same basic response: “No where in the
Bingo
Documentation
were there any details on the Reflex Unit” _ Neither drawings or
instructions.
~
Mr.
Jensen was one of the 1st to respond:
Hi Danny – I just
talked to my old friend Marc Fellman in NB and he
gave me some more info on the Reflex unit.
First he said in all his years working with coin machines and bingos he has
never seen anything printed on how to change the Reflex Unit. It was
apparently some "secret" knowledge passed on only to people with
the "need to know".
Anyway, I was wrong. What you have to do is change the gears on the unit to
change the odds. So you must have all the proper gears to do it.
All for now.
Russ
~
Well at the
time and I never published any of this for some reason, and also Mr.
Raymond Watts and Mr. Jeffery Lawton sent me a
few things I overlooked that really
answers the question and more importantly, ties a few other things
together!!
A “jackpot” if
you please on another bit of the History behind the times and these games!!
Now prior to
the bingos, the main games coming out of Bally were the One Balls and they
were definitely gambling nickel games.
As far as I
known, the last One Ball to be released was Bally’s Grandstand _ A
magnificent pinball machine!!
Well almost to
the day it was released the U.S. Congress signed and passed the Johnson
Act, which was the first death-knell
for the bingos
“making it illegal to transport gambling machines across state-lines” _
Directly following this Bally shifts-gears
and release the 1st bingo
pinball Spot Lite in 1951.
Hmmm _ Is the
timing then right to start playing politics and start being a bit
conservative _ laugh _ In everything we have
seen, they should have invented the
phrase “Politically Correct”……
OK, I rattle on
a bit here but there is a very good reason, which is to help “future
history hounds” to track down some of these things!!
It has been
said and repeated “that if you want to know about the present, just read
about the past” and it is very apropos!!
So let’s image
that Bally puts the word out to it’s design teams
to “limit all references that could be tied to gambling” and they
do. The bingo’s meters are never
documented or discussed and neither is the Reflex – etc. They only sell
(and limit) games
through “distribution”
outlets – etc. They hold training classes for the new games (bingos)
through “invitation only”
OK, the “Hush”
is on and starting to be enforced!!
Back-to-Point
When was the
Reflex designed-and-deployed and can we use this to our advantage _ In
retrospect, the answer is Yes!!
~ Raymond sent
me the documents years ago and I missed it _ Sorry Raymond!! ~
Here is the link to his Bally Grandstand: http://rwatts.cdyn.com/Machines/grandstand.html
_ Look at the last pics (internals)
Yes!!!!!!!!!!!
_ That is the same Reflex designed into the Bingos!!!!!!!!!
He sent me
excerpts of the Manual:
 
Now check out
those “A-463” part numbers up top _ Dah! _ Of course you can change-up the
Reflex by affecting the gear-ratios!
Now, was the
Peach State order for a “–23” the “default gear Bally configured the bingos
with??””
Good Question
and that is why I reference Mr. Lawton.
As you can see
on my “Reflex Plug” page, Jeff told me all about the late-model games…….
But back-in-the-day, Jeff also
sent me a clue
I missed, when he responded to my question “as to if the Reflex was shown
in any Bally docs”
………Well it is
and he sent me the previously unpublished Green Book………
Now the Green
Book is the most detailed document of any of the Bally’s and I have always
been curious as to why!!!
Any Ideas???
Anyway, the
20-hole bingos emerged in 1962 and Safari (which documents the bingos in
the most detail) was released in 1969 _ Hmmm!!
Now, check out
that right column above where they specify a “-20A” gear for the
“step-down” gear “Item 20” _ (64 Steps)
OK, the Peach
State order is for a “-23” gear which based upon the “Grandstand” info,
would mean “greater than conservative”
~ laugh ~
No where is the “-23”
listed _ Cool _ But, as we know, these were “gambling machines design and
deployed to earn money”
What? _ Years
later did Bally get directed the design-teams to “tighten up the machines
even further” ????
~
Regardless _
The answer is “Yes, the Reflex Unit can be adjusted through gear-ratio of
course!!”
And of course,
“Bally designed in this provision”
~
And as I have
stated before, I am sure that Bally also learned from United _ Yes!!
I’d bet that
Bally’s later use of “plugs” (as pointed out by Jeff) was a direct result
of United’s use of “Switches and Plugs”
Associated Links
http://danny.cdyn.com/reflex.htm
http://danny.cdyn.com/unitedreflex.htm
http://danny.cdyn.com/bernie5.htm
http://danny.cdyn.com/reflex101a.htm
So
_ Dah!! _ Now is anyone out there clever enough to make us some gears???
I’ll
buy some _ C.O.D Baby!!
~
The Hunt Goes On ~
May
19th, 1960 Billboard
Now
I think it is a pretty good bet that this cat holds a few Bingo Goodies _
Got a copy anyone??
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