Bally : Spot Lite

Game Parameters
Game Type one-card
Game Number 539
Manufacture Date 1951
Number of Holes 25
Number of Odds Steps 10
Max Payout 200
Max Extra Balls 2
Features


Spot Lite

The third game out of the pipe, and we are starting to see the things that made bingo's interesting. Brought over from the later one-ball games was the advancing odds/scores, so now you could insert more coins to improve your maximum payout.

Free spotting (lighting) of numbers and extra balls further improve your chances of winning. Uniquely, enabling extra balls happens when you are cycling the game for scores/features before shooting the first ball. In addition, you can cycle for extra balls after shooting the 5th ball.

pick-a-play buttons originated on this game, were used on the follow-on game Palm Beach, and then disappeared for 9 years or so.

Spot Lite also has separate scores for horizontal vs. vertical vs. diagonal 3-in-line wins. Diagonals paying more as you have less chance of getting them.

The manuals for the early bingos didn't have details on the unit wiring. Fortunately, the Pacific Pinball Museum had a spot-lite needing a little work and loaned it to me, so the unit diagrams were created and posted.

one-card games

The game has one main card, usually a 5x5 grid of numbers.

Usually, at least three numbers next to each other on either a horizontal, vertical, or the main 5 number diagonals are required to win.

There were, however, a few variations that occured over the years. The dimensions of the card, 2-in-line winners, and winning on the other diagonal combinations were all features that were used.

Another common feature was corners scoring.


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