Pinball machines in the pool halls.

R

richiebalto

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I know alot of you guys must remember these machines.

Nickel a game and almost every pool player in my home room played them for days, banging away trying to get that little silver ball in the number to win games.

Some that i can remember are the Laguna beach and Ballarina, laguna had the oks on them and the Ballarinas had the 2 in the blue and many other ways of winning points.

I can remember a few pool players having their hands all beat up after playing one of those machines for hours and hours.

There was a few certain guys that did have the ability to beat them, of course they were the smart ones that would jack the machine up on one side (without the house man seeing them of course) so all the balls would roll to that side they wanted.

Those were the days!
 
richiebalto said:
I know alot of you guys must remember these machines.

Nickel a game and almost every pool player in my home room played them for days, banging away trying to get that little silver ball in the number to win games.

Some that i can remember are the Laguna beach and Ballarina, laguna had the oks on them and the Ballarinas had the 2 in the blue and many other ways of winning points.

I can remember a few pool players having their hands all beat up after playing one of those machines for hours and hours.

There was a few certain guys that did have the ability to beat them, of course they were the smart ones that would jack the machine up on one side (without the house man seeing them of course) so all the balls would roll to that side they wanted.

Those were the days!
Click to expand...

The ole Bingo machines --- Galaxy -Ms America - Red White Blue
Fun to play - plus make a hit


bill
 
I miss them

Aha...one of my first introductions to gambling....teenage years....smoking and banging those bingo machines for 3, 4, 5 in a row.....listening to the games clicking on and on when you hit a big one....Some machines I remember......names.....Pixies, Triple Play, Monaco, Laguna Beach, Manhattan Beach....features included....selections, OK, umc buttons, super cards (3 in row scores 4 in row), Lite a name, 4 corners scores 5 in row....on those nickel machines you could dump rolls and rolls of nickels into just to jack up the odds and get all the features; end up playing one game for 5, 6, 7 bucks a game....wish they were still around.....I used to go to Reno Nevada just to play them in some casinos.....all gone now....
 
The big gambling crackdown!

vasilios said:
The ole Bingo machines --- Galaxy -Ms America - Red White Blue
Fun to play - plus make a hit


bill
Click to expand...

In 1968 (an election year), the state of Wisconsin decided to crack down on gambling. Undercover agents moved around the state for six months, culminating with mass arrests for such things as giving free games on pinball machines. I'm not making this up! I was arrested for selling a $2 tip on a Packer game to an undercover agent!

Interestingly, an employee at one of the local pool halls was a bookie and he used to actually post the Vegas odds on pro sports on the top of the glass candy counter. I watched the local sheriff place bets from this sheet. Of course, he was not included in the above-described sting operation...
...some things never change!
 
I heard pinball was banned in NYC until 1976. So even if Ames wanted, they couldn't legally have pinball machines.

Back in college, my fraternity got a free pinball machine. It broke down within a month. 1/3 of the brothers studied electrical engineering, and you figure it was a piece of cake. None of them were able to get it working again. :-(
 
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AZers always talk about gambling and hustling at pool.

But for me, it was pinball that paid for lunch and dinner. Either I'd bet $10 on a 3-game high score, or just put in 25 cents, run up 31 games (max) and sell the box to some guy for $2.

But today's boxes are boring; all flash but no skill.
 
This is true, if you can even find one, way to many magnets screwing up the newer games play. way to many bells and whistles. Bring back all the classic pin ball games. I remember going down to the corner store in Cheswould DE ( no I can't spell ) and they had an early pinball game . No electric plug, all mechanical, 8 balls for a nickel. This was just one of my favorite games of all time. BRING BACK PIN BALL PLEASE!!!!!
 
different games

When pinball is discussed, some people seem unfamiliar with the old bingo type gambling games without flippers........those are the ones I used to favor; not your common flipper type games which do not pay out.....I remember in San Francisco at the old Palace Billiards on Market St.....you would climb these long stairs to the 2nd floor and the first thing to greet you was about 6-8 of these pinball machines side by side......the next to greet you was any one of several hustlers coming up to you, asking if you wanted to play some; even before you reached the front desk to get pool balls..........
 
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Pinball

I remember the guys playin one ball low score ,saw a lot of
twenty dollar bills change hands back then , 1966 - 1969 best rob
 
Fun way

wahcheck said:
Aha...one of my first introductions to gambling....teenage years....smoking and banging those bingo machines for 3, 4, 5 in a row.....listening to the games clicking on and on when you hit a big one....Some machines I remember......names.....Pixies, Triple Play, Monaco, Laguna Beach, Manhattan Beach....features included....selections, OK, umc buttons, super cards (3 in row scores 4 in row), Lite a name, 4 corners scores 5 in row....on those nickel machines you could dump rolls and rolls of nickels into just to jack up the odds and get all the features; end up playing one game for 5, 6, 7 bucks a game....wish they were still around.....I used to go to Reno Nevada just to play them in some casinos.....all gone now....
Click to expand...

In the room I played in the machine was called Fun-Way many of the players were hooked on it.
 
vasilios said:
The ole Bingo machines --- Galaxy -Ms America - Red White Blue
Fun to play - plus make a hit


bill
Click to expand...

These were the 20 and 25 numbers pinball machine?

The nickel on the string worked for awile, until they put the cutters down in the nickel slot, that would cut the nickel off of the string and your nickel would drop in the box (that was the only way i could win or cheat i shal say).
 
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richiebalto said:
I know alot of you guys must remember these machines.

Nickel a game and almost every pool player in my home room played them for days, banging away trying to get that little silver ball in the number to win games.

Some that i can remember are the Laguna beach and Ballarina, laguna had the oks on them and the Ballarinas had the 2 in the blue and many other ways of winning points.

I can remember a few pool players having their hands all beat up after playing one of those machines for hours and hours.

There was a few certain guys that did have the ability to beat them, of course they were the smart ones that would jack the machine up on one side (without the house man seeing them of course) so all the balls would roll to that side they wanted.

Those were the days!
Click to expand...



In the late 60's i got 2 dollars on the weekend , my Dad would pay for my pool time as a plus sometimes but he hated to see me spending money on the pinball machines . The pinball machines is wear guys would put their arms when playing chicken with a cigarette , don't think they wagered anything .:smile:
 
I never was really good at pinball but it'll keep you hooked for hours. When I was a teenager, anywhere I'd go and see a pinball machine I had to play it, it would call my name from across the room.

As a side note, there is a Pinball Hall of Fame in Vegas that my wife and I came across with rows and rows of pinball machines from all eras and genres. There were even a few pool themed machines. Really cool, if you're ever in Vegas and wanna kill some time look it up, it's not too far off the strip. We spent a couple hours in there feeding quarters into the many machines, good times.
 
ctyhntr said:
I heard pinball was banned in NYC until 1976. So even if Ames wanted, they couldn't legally have pinball machines.
Click to expand...

I dont think so. In Queens we had them all over the place, we used to have tournys on Sat afternoons in this candy store with the grand prize, a whopping $5 !
Also had a bar box in the same place, we got ahold of the keys to it one day and copied them and we used to rob the quarters out of it once a week, lol.
This had to be about 74-75.
 
Mad Dog Christensen

From 1988-96, my basement not only had a pool table, but it also had a Bally Monte Carlo pinball machine. The scoreboard glass was painted by Dave "Mad Dog" Christensen. The glass was worth more than I paid for the machine. Without schematics, it would go for 6 month stretches when I couldn't make it work. But I always found the bad contact after a bit of effort. I sold the machine when I moved from the area. The guy who bought it, still owns it and it still works.

http://www.flippers.be/books/book_maddog.html

Great memories!
 
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