Bally Bingo Cypress Gardens

[GORGAR 1]

I recognise these from 70 Lygon Street East Brunswick!

I saw them in storage there about two years ago.  The location was then a vacant downstairs shop downstairs, and a boarding house upstairs for young Italians on working visas (I presume they were legal).

The then owner of the shop, and presumably those pins, owns DOC's on Lygon St Carlton, Faraday St Carlton and Mornington.  Nino:  From that info your dad could probably give you the history of where those pins were operated, and perhaps who obtained them from him?

When the vacant shop became a shop again, I held hope the machines weren't trashed.  I'm pleased to see someone got them for the purpose of attempting to restore them.

That's a cool story thanks for sharing :) I never get sick of operator story from years ago

[ddstoys]

So are these bingos legal now niño?

[Austwide]

I recognise these from 70 Lygon Street East Brunswick!

I saw them in storage there about two years ago.  The location was then a vacant downstairs shop downstairs, and a boarding house upstairs for young Italians on working visas (I presume they were legal).

The then owner of the shop, and presumably those pins, owns DOC's on Lygon St Carlton, Faraday St Carlton and Mornington.  Nino:  From that info your dad could probably give you the history of where those pins were operated, and perhaps who obtained them from him?

When the vacant shop became a shop again, I held hope the machines weren't trashed.  I'm pleased to see someone got them for the purpose of attempting to restore them.

I got the Blue cabinet one and a Hawaii (The other in pic is off the net to show the bat setup) from a house in Brunswick about a year ago, the owner was moving to Mornington. Sorta fits in with your post. Was there a Hawaii there? Here's a pic of it when I put it together.

I need some info on the wooden rails. Nino said they could easily be removed but mine were chiselled off. See photo. Can anyone post a close up of the rail profile or measurements or even better both?

[Strangeways]

So are these bingos legal now niño?

To own = Yes.

To operate = No. But there's no one left over from the Gaming and Lottery "squad" that used to seize the machines. They appear on eBay from time to time. 10 years ago they were pulled, but now they are not.

I recognise these from 70 Lygon Street East Brunswick!

I saw them in storage there about two years ago.  The location was then a vacant downstairs shop downstairs, and a boarding house upstairs for young Italians on working visas (I presume they were legal).

The then owner of the shop, and presumably those pins, owns DOC's on Lygon St Carlton, Faraday St Carlton and Mornington.  Nino:  From that info your dad could probably give you the history of where those pins were operated, and perhaps who obtained them from him?

When the vacant shop became a shop again, I held hope the machines weren't trashed.  I'm pleased to see someone got them for the purpose of attempting to restore them.

I got the Blue cabinet one and a Hawaii (The other in pic is off the net to show the bat setup) from a house in Brunswick about a year ago, the owner was moving to Mornington. Sorta fits in with your post. Was there a Hawaii there? Here's a pic of it when I put it together.

I need some info on the wooden rails. Nino said they could easily be removed but mine were chiselled off. See photo. Can anyone post a close up of the rail profile or measurements or even better both?

Cypress Gardens would have the woodrail configuration. Hawaii is a 70's Bingo and you would need to research the machine to find out if it had both configurations.

http://bingo.cdyn.com/

The chances of finding original woodrail rails - zero - you would need to make a set up.

[Austwide]

The Hawaii has metal ones and is complete.

I am going to make the Cypress Gardens ones, that's why I need the details, size and photos.

[Brunswick Brawler]

I got the Blue cabinet one and a Hawaii (The other in pic is off the net to show the bat setup) from a house in Brunswick about a year ago, the owner was moving to Mornington. Sorta fits in with your post. Was there a Hawaii there? Here's a pic of it when I put it together.

I need some info on the wooden rails. Nino said they could easily be removed but mine were chiselled off. See photo. Can anyone post a close up of the rail profile or measurements or even better both?

History
I recall the following:
- Two old machines
- One backless that was shattered, but on in one piece (don't recall which game, or even if the other machine had a glass).
- One was painted Blue, as your photo.
- One had metal rails.
- One was a baseball theme.

...So it was definitely these two.  I'd imagine they were either:
- Operated at 70 Lygon St brunswick a long time ago, But that is a very small shop front. Or
- It may have came from a nearby coffeeshop that a boarder new the coffee shop.  Many of the boarders work in the near by coffee shops and restaurants.

Cafe L'Amore (76 Lygon St Brunswick) was shut down a few years ago, and got merged into neighbouring Gelobar (74 Lygon St Brunswick).  The old classic Cafe L'Amore was gutted and 'renovated'.  Gone is its rear mens private room that was larger then the main public 'front' of the coffee shop.  (I know nothing!).  Up to L'Amore closing down, you could still find old Italian men playing cards at the back, but most wouldn't know there was a room behind that out of the way door.

If the person you bought if from had an Italian accent, I wonder if he resurrected it from the closing of Cafe L'Amore.  If he was Italian looking, slim build, mid 40s, but with an Aussie accent then he was likely the owner of 70 Lygon St boarding house and he could have got the machines from his dad.  Moving to Mornington would mean he was the owner or an employe of Doc's.  The owner had many of his 'of the boat' employees living at 70 Lygon St.  Though the person showing me the machine lived at 70 Lygon, but didn't know whose machines they were.  He had the gall to try and sell them to me not knowing who's they were.  Can trust these greasball Italians!  (It's politically acceptable for me to say that).

Parts
Regarding the wood rail, PBResource sells replica woodrail for old Gotliebs.  You should be able to route off part of the underside rail if it is to narrow for your cabinet.  Have a look at the following page:

http://www.pbresource.com/siderails.html

[Austwide]

Very interesting

I think the guys name going by ebay was Carlo Lipari whom I purchased them from, he said he had bought them, I don't know how long earlier.

One backless that was shattered, but on in one piece
I don't know what shattered, but on in one piece means, the only glass with them had the 2 bottom corners broken off but intact with sticky tape.

Thanks for the woodrail link, I get the shape idea but need larger wood to cover the top edges of my cabinet.

[Brunswick Brawler]

Rail:
I would have thought the wood would be more than wide enough for your edge?  The curved part of the Wood is up facing, now sideways.  It more flat then high.  Only a small edge goes over the glass, with the bulk overhanging the side of the machine.  (It is unlike a metal rail that is high higher than wide.)  The main photo is the correct orientation for the right side of the cabinet - It should sit on the top right edge of the cabinet as photographed.

History:
What I meant by 'shattered, but one piece' was that it had countless cracks on it, and was likely only held together by the artwork 'grey' backing paint.  Given your backglass was essentially in one piece, it means the one I remember as shattered was thrown out.  It was not repairable, but if retained it would have been a reproducible by http://www.greatpinball.com/products.html in Canada.


Carlo Lipari:  I'll ask someone on Sunday if he is the owner, but I think I would have remembered his name if I heard it.  Likely an employee of Doc's.  With a name likely taken from the island of 'Lipari' between mainland Italy and Sicily, would I be guessing right that his was not tall, dark skinned, bowed legs and deep black & think hair?  Its a very small island, with everyone there related to each other!

[Retropin]

Ill measure the wooden rails today... You'll know for sure then

[Austwide]

Hi Brunswick Brawler

Where these fit on to the cabinet, mine has been hacked away.
At the footrail end, where the cabinet sides are correct, there is a 7 x 10 mm wooden edge sticking up.
Looking at the new rails, the RHS one would normally sit on that as described with the routered section going over the glass and the balance overhanging the side.

The problem is that only a small section of the side has that 7 x 10 edge, and other in sections the wood is up to 15mm below the flat area that the glass sits on. The new wood would be sitting in free air along the majority of the side.

I can either make new rails that can sit over and down the sides of the machine giving me a fixing point and covering the missing wood or try to repair the sides and fit new side rails. I am not sure of my routing ability to do that and any hidden nails will present problems. May have a little play and see how it goes.

[Retropin]

The wooden rails from PBR need to be cut to length and so will be oversized.

Rails on a STD GTB single player game are:
110mm X 35mm.
Outside edge of rails hang over the cabinet by 15mm leaving 20mm from cabinet edge to inside rail edge

[Austwide]

Thanks Retropin

I've been looking at a lot of pics on the net, but none really show a good profile of the wooden rails.
The Bally Bingo ones appear as almost round, about 35mm dia with 90 degrees cut out (end profile like a big mouthed pacman). Sort of like the GTB ones if they continued around another 90 degrees on the outside edge.

This would allow them to cover the glass and go down the sides a bit. That would also explain the damaged sides, as removing the GTB profile would be unlikely to damage so far down the side.

Can anyone confirm the profile?

Brunswick Brawler, the guy was 6' tall, didn't look at his legs, dark skinned and black hair.

[Retropin]

They are glued on and a bugger to remove... if not done carefully, then there will be plenty of damage to the cabinet.
Ill take a pic of the profile today. They will be exactly what you are looking for as the rails for the Bingo's would have also been used for the pinball machines... keeps manufacturing costs down


Profile pic  below:

[Austwide]

This pic shows although not very clearly the woodrails on an old bingo and they seem to be different, what do you think?

[Retropin]

Yep... I stand corrected.
They look like a piece of wide dowel with a 90deg cut