Brings a tear to the eye

[operator bell]

Pinball machines were also forbidden in New York for many years, the rule later being relaxed to allow machines that didn't give a replay - a whole new series of machines then appeared that awarded an extra ball instead. This was to get rid of the Bally Bingos.

When I was young I wasn't aware of the true nature of Bally Bingos, until one day I was in a cafe and saw the proprietor hand over a wad of folding stuff to a player and then turn a key that clocked off the more than 100 replays he had on the counter.

[coppinpr]

The arcade I worked in back in the early '70s paid out in cigarettes on all the pinballs and the ageing Bally Bingo (3 replays got you 6 fags, nothing for 1 or 2 replays but you could play them off).

[operator bell]

It's long been my ambition to own a Bally Bingo. I even picked out the model I want - a Silver Sails, or second preference a Golden Gate, but I'd settle for any OK Red Letter game with magic squares. Unfortunately I live in the one state in the USA where they were hardly ever used, and I'm too cheap to stump up the extra thousand dollars or so it would cost to collect one or get it shipped here from half a continent away.