BINGO PINBALLS

 

Inside Your Bingo
Beneath the Playfield

All but the very earliest bingos had most of their active circuitry located in the large backbox with a minimum of components in the main cabinet. This article is describing the major components used in the majority of these games. Very early bingos, however, (such as Bally's SPOT LITE from 1951) had their control units in the main cabinet.


shutter panel open - balls fall through
All bingos have a shutter board mounted beneath the playfield. This board has two positions open, where all balls in playfield holes fall through and roll down into the ball trough beneath the lower part of the playfield and, closed, where balls in playfield holes operate switches that light the corresponding numbers of the backglass bingo card(s). This board is moved by a motor called the shutter motor, which also operates a series of cam operated switches.


shutter panel closed

The shutter is opened at the start of each new game when the first ball is raised, and then closed when that ball is shot onto the playfield when the second ball is raised. The period during which the shutter is open is the feature selection time during which the player may insert extra coins, or play off replays, attempting to enable game features and/or advance the odds. The cam switches on the shutter motor unit are used in conjunction with other game circuitry to enable or disable functions that should only occur during one of these two game periods - feature selection or actual play.

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