1954 Bally Surf-Club Bingo Repair
Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2016 9:15 pm
Here is my new bingo repair thread.
This time the "patient" is a 1954 Bally Surf-Club. Before tackling problems I will go through the features and gameplay.
It's a very fun (for a bingo machine) woodrail era bingo machine. I would consider it one of the best entry level bingo machines you can get.
The object of a bingo game is to light, by landing 5 or more balls in numbered pockets, a continuous sequence of 3, 4 or 5 numbers on one of the predetermined lines on the card(s) to win credits. Won credits are added to the credit meter. Balls that make it all the way down the playfield and drain are returned to shoot again until all 5 balls have landed in a numbered pocket.
Back in the day if you won enough credits, usually 200 or more, you could have your credits paid out by the manager of the fine establish in which you were playing. Some games were 5, 10 or 25 cents per credit. That's the dodgy part of it that made the bingo games illegal. And the fact that they raked in a ton of money that the government couldn't get their hands on.
To reset the credits back to zero, turning Off the game and back On again would start a credit reset sequence. Some games had a hidden knock off button that when pressed would start the reset sequence without having to turn off the machine.
Surf-Club is a true gambling machine. Before shooting your first ball, you can put in an unlimited number of coins for the chance of activating (winning) extra features that "improve" your chances of winning or getting better odds.
By odds I mean how many credits the machine will award you if you do get a 3, 4 of 5 in line. Surf-Club has 8 odds steps ranging from 96 credits for a 5 in line to 300 credits for the same 5 in line
Example: The first odds step
96 credits for a 5 in line
16 credits for a 4 in line
4 credits for a 3 in line
First coin starts a basic game with basic odds with a spin cycle, a bit like a slot machine for features.
Second coin steps up odds and starts a spin cycle.
Third and subsequent coins starts a spin cycle where you "bet" against the machine. You could win or advance a feature or you could get nothing. Thus GAMBLING.
Most features you win progressively. At each feature panel, there's a row of arrows that indicate (tease) how close you are for being awarded the feature. Very crafty, makes you put even more coins in the machine. After each spin cycle, a feature could advance, none, one arrow, a few arrows or all the way.
Surf-Club's fun features:
Two Super Cards: When super card feature is active, a three in line scores as a 4 in line. On Surf-Club first super card is all even numbers, second super card is all odd numbers.
Left and right playfield rollovers activate respectively first and second super card.
Corner scoring: When the feature is lit hitting (lighting) all 4 corners on the main card scores 200 credits (very difficult to hit all 4 corners)
This time the "patient" is a 1954 Bally Surf-Club. Before tackling problems I will go through the features and gameplay.
It's a very fun (for a bingo machine) woodrail era bingo machine. I would consider it one of the best entry level bingo machines you can get.
The object of a bingo game is to light, by landing 5 or more balls in numbered pockets, a continuous sequence of 3, 4 or 5 numbers on one of the predetermined lines on the card(s) to win credits. Won credits are added to the credit meter. Balls that make it all the way down the playfield and drain are returned to shoot again until all 5 balls have landed in a numbered pocket.
Back in the day if you won enough credits, usually 200 or more, you could have your credits paid out by the manager of the fine establish in which you were playing. Some games were 5, 10 or 25 cents per credit. That's the dodgy part of it that made the bingo games illegal. And the fact that they raked in a ton of money that the government couldn't get their hands on.
To reset the credits back to zero, turning Off the game and back On again would start a credit reset sequence. Some games had a hidden knock off button that when pressed would start the reset sequence without having to turn off the machine.
Surf-Club is a true gambling machine. Before shooting your first ball, you can put in an unlimited number of coins for the chance of activating (winning) extra features that "improve" your chances of winning or getting better odds.
By odds I mean how many credits the machine will award you if you do get a 3, 4 of 5 in line. Surf-Club has 8 odds steps ranging from 96 credits for a 5 in line to 300 credits for the same 5 in line
Example: The first odds step
96 credits for a 5 in line
16 credits for a 4 in line
4 credits for a 3 in line
First coin starts a basic game with basic odds with a spin cycle, a bit like a slot machine for features.
Second coin steps up odds and starts a spin cycle.
Third and subsequent coins starts a spin cycle where you "bet" against the machine. You could win or advance a feature or you could get nothing. Thus GAMBLING.
Most features you win progressively. At each feature panel, there's a row of arrows that indicate (tease) how close you are for being awarded the feature. Very crafty, makes you put even more coins in the machine. After each spin cycle, a feature could advance, none, one arrow, a few arrows or all the way.
Surf-Club's fun features:
Two Super Cards: When super card feature is active, a three in line scores as a 4 in line. On Surf-Club first super card is all even numbers, second super card is all odd numbers.
Left and right playfield rollovers activate respectively first and second super card.
Corner scoring: When the feature is lit hitting (lighting) all 4 corners on the main card scores 200 credits (very difficult to hit all 4 corners)