| Broadway / IPD No. 381 / June 15, 1951 / 1 Player | [ Submit Changes ] |
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Sound: knocker
The schematic part number is W-348c showing an issue date of 1951.
The earliest Billboard ad that we found for this game (not shown here) is a distributor ad dated Sept-1-1951 page 85 and it referred to this game as "new". We have not found any ads placed by the manufacturer.
The pictures in this listing show that Bally's six-card Bright Lights bingo game from April 1951 was reused to make this one-card game by mounting in the backbox the light board for a single large bingo card directly onto the front of the in
We don't know how many units of this Model 535 were made, and since the game pictured here reportedly is the only example that anyone has found, we do not know if other examples would have the unusual backbox insert modification. Even so, we have no reason to believe this modification and deeper backbox were not produced by Bally. The mirrored backglass is an original design and does carry the brand name. We suggest that any unauthorized party making a backglass would not have risked using the brand name or have bothered with the added expense of mirroring.
Interestingly, although the schematic defends Broadway as a replay game, Bally's internal documentation identifies Model 535 as a "5-ball novelty" while clearly listing other machines of this type as "bingo". It is hard to know what Bally was thinking, when we find no ads placed by them, and the old Billboard ads we do find are minimal notices placed by distributors located in Los Angeles and other territories where replays were legal. The score cards imply a replay unit payoff, but could also be used in restricted territories to direct the location to pay off the player when law enforcement was not looking.
Bright Lights and Broadway were Bally's first two bingo machines following a gap of many years since their very first one in 1937, Line-Up.
Bally later made a different bingo game with the same name and a different backglass. See Bally's 1955 'Broadway'.
(click to zoom)
 Backglass* 545x536 [Dennis Dodel] |
 Playfield* 430x640 [Dennis Dodel] |
 Score Card* 1200x900 [Dennis Dodel] |
 Score Card - Game Name* 1200x671 [Dennis Dodel] |
 Cabinet - Right* 526x477 [Dennis Dodel] |
 Cabinet - Front View* 329x582 [Dennis Dodel] |
 Backbox Serial Number* 1200x824 [Dennis Dodel] |
 Cabinet Serial Number* 1200x900 [Dennis Dodel] |
 Backbox Insert - Front* 561x531 [Dennis Dodel] |
 Inside Backbox* 1200x900 [Dennis Dodel] |
 Inside Upper Backbox* 1200x900 [Dennis Dodel] |
 Backbox Door Lowered* 1200x900 [Dennis Dodel] |
 Stepper Units Disabled* 1200x900 [Dennis Dodel] |
 Search Unit Disabled* 1200x800 [Dennis Dodel] |
 Under Playfield* 1200x1600 [Dennis Dodel] |
 Inside Backbox - Detail* 1200x1600 [Dennis Dodel] |
 Score Cards* 1062x809 [Dennis Dodel] |
 Schematic* 1160x771 [Dennis Dodel] |
 Schematic Part Number* 1180x776 [Dennis Dodel] |
 Schematic Date* 1200x900 [Dennis Dodel] |
