Old Pinball Bingo machines

Mickey made mention of his playing Pinball Bingo in the 70's and it made me think about how I first learned about these games. My father would take me to a club that had these every Saturday morning and I would watch him and friends play one for hours while I got to play regular pinball. One guy would play and shake the machine trying to get the balls in certain numbers as another guy would call out needed numbers in order to fill cards. You could then cash your credits out with the bartender. Before Video Poker machines, these were the gambling machines in PA and were almost in every bar. Then VP came in and was everywhere for a while until the state did a big crackdown and increased the fines for them if they had a credit knockdown button on them.

The Pinball Bingo machines can still be found in some backwoods bars in PA in certain counties and no one in legal seems to care.

There are a few for sale on Ebay. http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_sacat=0&_nkw=bally+bingo+pinball+machine

Anyone else remember playing these?

The only place I ever saw these was at the Pike in Long Beach, CA in the mid-late 70's. They would let us play them even though my friends and I were only 15-16, and I know once or twice we won a little, maybe $20 or so.

I remember these when I was 14-15. There were a couple in a pool hall near my middle school.

California tends to crack down on these with a passion; the version I heard was, they don't hesitate smashing them when they find them. I don't think they're covered under California's "you can own a slot machine if it's 25 years old or older" law, either.

The Pinball Hall of Fame in Las Vegas used to have one, and it may still be there (although they won't buy back your credits - there's even a sign on it saying so).