Review

The long awaited Vol. 2 of Alan Marriage's Bally Bingo Service Guide is out. It is a serious learning tool. Fear not though, Alan does intersperse some humor through out the DVD.

This DVD combined with Bingo Repair Vol. 1 will really help the bingo game owner understand his game operation. The Bingo game owner who doesn't have the in-depth knowledge will be able to go directly to the chapter he wants to know more about and be able to see real games, real parts, real explanations. This doesn't teach "experience" and it doesn't show how to take apart various components; rather, it shows you how to determine where your trouble is.

Below is a breakdown of each chapter. I apologize in advance for going into so much detail but the quality of Alan's effort warrants me taking the time to describe each chapter.

1. 2 min: intro
2. 20 min: review and revival. This section is a little long but it is invaluable for a person who is trying to learn bingo machine operation basics.
3. 6 min: Play checking. I liked this section because Alan spots problems & shows the viewer how to deal with them right then. This section has some humor, which I personally enjoyed.
4. 21 min: Scoring revisted. A long section but scoring is so complicated that time needs to be spent on it. Personally, I like the extra detail offered in this section. Alan shows a good modification for the Search Lock Index switch stack to prevent future troubles.
5. 17 min: Dead machine arrival. The person who has just bought a bingo and is checking it out for the first time will really appreciate this section. Alan shows the game right at initial set up and goes through bringing it back to life. Alan gives Shaggy & Norm (This Old Pinball series) a plug about cosmetic restoration. Alan doesn't do any cosmetics on this DVD.
6. 19 min: Shutter motor/Ball lift. Alan jumps between the manual pages & the actual component. This helps the viewer associate the real game to his reference material. Alan also shows the ball trough switches in detail.
7. 3 min: Ball count/Timer unit. Great detail actually showing all critical unit & relay operation as the balls are being played. To a person who is not familiar this is truly enlightening.
8. 5 min: Power up Dead Machine. Chapter starts with a serious failure then shows some relay operations from a working machine.
9. 10 min: More Unit Discussion. This is a follow up to the serious failure that occurred during the previous chapter. Alan shows the damaged clutch that caused the actual failure then shows similar clutches to describe how a clutch should look.
10. 31 min: Trouble Shooting. Starts with a common "no start on coin" problem, reviews schematic reading, wire color identification, etc. Alan shows how he identified the suspected switch that caused the trouble, went to the switch and proved the cause. Alan goes through other troubles in detail, showing trouble, identification technique, and solution. What I like is that Alan finds the troubles, finds the solutions just as a normal person would encounter similar problems.
11. 5 min: Closing sources & Slide Show. Shots of really nice games, some old, some rare. Great review of bingo game history.
12. 10 min: Special feature - One Ball 5 Cents. If you've never seen One Ball games from bygone days, you will love this section. I know I did.
13. 1 min: Try that again. Out-takes, funny.