Rules, Gameplay, and Artwork Of Bally's 1973 CIRCUS Electromechanical Pinball Machine #7

[@nsr60ster85]

My best friend and I used to play this all day long. (The replay scores were exactly the same.) When shooting, we would line up the plunger with the top of the third arrow, and the ball would consistently hit the top center rollover, lighting both lanes. Great memories! (Edited to add: the Extra Ball light came on at 10,000, 15,000 and 18,000 bonus.)

[@MrButtonpresser]

Memories! Saturday night 1970's Australia. As a kid, walk around to the local fish and chip shop, order for the family, play a pin ball machine while waiting for your order. Hand any incomplete games to any kids standing around.

[@jamesthompson-dx1yl]

I just bought this same pinball machine. I'm looking forward to watching this playlist of you repairing it. Thanks for what you do.

[@tonytavary3388]

What a fun machine! Love those classic EM pinball games.

[@LyonsArcade]

This is a great era for them, early 70's.... thanks for watching Tony!

[@wackyworldofwindios3476]

Good Friday morning Joe. We made it through another week. Have a great weekend .

[@LyonsArcade]

Thank you Windios, we appreciate it!

[@JohnLaidlaw]

The sounds are classic pinball. Those chimes are pure nostalgia.

[@LyonsArcade]

Good stuff!

[@Potts1966]

That curve is a killer! Loving the fixing video's almost as much as the playing video's. That machine is a nice return to simpler times without huge speakers and digitised sounds. Really lovely.

[@johnmichael1979]

EMs are great, thanks for sharing the history of this machine. I hope it will stay in the family and continue to be enjoyed for another generation. How cool would it be to play the SAME pin that your grandfather and his friends had played!

[@PRRGG1]

I love the action on this game. The old chimes are good memories. I LOVED "Pioneer" as that takes me back to being 4 years old and playing pinball for the first time. Anytime I saw Pioneer somewhere, I would play it. This lasted into about the 5th grade then the game vanished. Isn't it amazing how a game can transport you like a time machine? Great job on the restoration and your paint work wasn't too bad either.

[@LyonsArcade]

Thank you PRRGG1 we appreciate you watching! I'll have to get a Pioneer in the shop....

[@tjsogmc]

Awesome! I really miss playing pinball. There's only one sandwich shop in my area that has a pinball game. It's a Southpark machine, but it doesn't work anymore. I don't even remember when they went extinct.

[@tonymo4220]

45 yrs ago i played this game, i love it.

[@markjackson1444]

You’ve done it again Ron..... a great series of videos. I just love the troubleshooting/schematics videos. You are educating the world! Thanks so much.

[@cthlhu]

Another great job! This game looks and is playing great! Thanks again for taking all the time to film ,edit, and publish this content.

[@LyonsArcade]

Thanks Jason we appreciate you watching man!

[@SpearM3064]

This really does hearken back to a simpler time. I remember our family camping at a KOA Kampground up in Oklahoma, and they had a pinball arcade. It was full of old EM games and a few of the early solid state machines. If I remember correctly, the EM games were all set at a dime per play. I probably would've spent most of the trip there if I hadn't been 10 years old at the time (and therefore had to rely on dad for money). He made sure I had fun doing _other_ things too (e.g. swimming, mini-golf, etc.), whether I wanted to or not, LOL!

[@scottgm321]

What a fun game. I think my favorite part of the artwork is the balloons with the bonus numbers. great job.

[@LyonsArcade]

Yeah I love the art, old school clown art is pretty cool, lol Thanks for watching Scott

[@OSXMan]

The quirks take it from simplistic to epic! I'm playing Apple Arcade's latest pinball game on my iPad, and really fancy games have these as features. The table is a work of art and you've done an excellent job of bringing it back to life.

[@LyonsArcade]

Thank you Michael, I think it was well designed personally. Fun little machine!

[@OSXMan]

@@LyonsArcade Of course it's well designed. I just meant the quirks imparting all of that english on the ball multiplies the action and the difficulty. It looks like an absolute blast to play!

[@badone65]

Actually Ron, I'm watching the channel because i am facinated by the work y'all do! It's possible I may have played this pinball at the bowling alleys where my dad used to play with his league when I was 10-12 years old in 1975-77. Keep up the great work!

[@MrUSFT]

Great job on that old beauty! Love how you work!

[@LyonsArcade]

We try, thanks for watching John!

[@russmeigs1100]

Great game. Really enjoyed circus repair series.

[@LyonsArcade]

Thanks Russ, glad you enjoyed it!

[@weyayemanjoe3082]

Great video Ron, Nice to see you & Donnie are getting the hang of that router 👍

[@LyonsArcade]

We broke it again this weekend, but we're going to keep going with it :) Thanks for watching Wey Aye Man Joe!

[@MRNBricks]

Pretty cool game. Can’t wait to play it!!

[@simondempsey1]

Nice job Ron, Looks good, sounds good, plays good.

[@TheHobbyWorldofDrMike]

This machine has a lot of gooood action (that's right 4 Os!). My uncle had one of these machines and the action was not this good. I was happy he gave me a machine, I thought was faster acting. I know now how the angle of the play field can really effect the game play. It may be nice in your videos to talk about how to adjust the angle of the play field through the leg adjustments for the best play. Nice video, it shows how the game could have been played. Thank you.

[@mcostafernando]

Great game and great job! Have no problems at all with clowns, I think they're cool :)

[@LyonsArcade]

Thank you Fernando, we appreciate it man like always!

[@steinbecktheman]

Thank you

[@RetroGamingWithHopper]

Very fun game Ron. Great Job Thanks.

[@LyonsArcade]

I really like this one, and plus with the horror movies that have came out it's a little edgy too, haha Thanks for watching!

[@madmax2010ok]

Looks like you chased those 'ol ghosts out of the machine. I do like that random wig-wag down the insert bonus lane!

[@victorsvarietychannel2459]

Love it, what a classic! Thanks Ron

[@KoolKman]

Great job!

[@danijelcar5184]

Working like a champ😎👍

[@LyonsArcade]

It's definitely humming along :)

[@Petri547]

Nice playing there! You got it finally working. Have a nice weekend. I have day-off tomorrow. Gotta Take pork neck out of the oven right now.

[@LyonsArcade]

Very nice :) Have a good day off, and we'll see you bright and early Monday for our next video :) Thanks for watching Petri547!

[@brucetlustos2604]

sounds and acts just like my Delta Queen. awsome.

[@martyc8971]

Thank you SO much . I am a new subscriber and you helped me get my Bally Nip It machine up and running just great. Only left with how to get the bonus to start at 1000 on start up like your Circus machine in this video. I just love these videos and I just love EM pinball machines. I appreciate any help and learning all I can about these machines. I hope I can figure out why my Nip It does not start at default 1000 bonus. Any help is welcomed. LOVE these videos!!!!

[@LyonsArcade]

Marty C, thank you for watching! There is a switch on the bonus unit, when it gets to 0, that it closes, and then when the score motor turns a little bit that switch being closed makes you advance up to 1000 to start out. so that switch is likely misadjusted and isn't quite closing when you get to 0. With the game off, press the coil in until the bonus unit gets to 0 and then see if the little bar on the side of the bonus unit touches a switch and closes it. There may be another one there too that opens at the same time!

[@martyc8971]

I checked and re-checked but still no default bonus. Everything else works perfectly. I may just have to get used to it starting at zero bonus. I checked all the gapping , cleaned lubed the stepper, with the lube I purchased form amazon last week. Thank you for leading me in that direction. I watch your videos almost every night. I hope some day with the help of your videos, I get it to 100% again. It used to work , but that was some time ago. I checked index relay, and advance bonus and its all gapped properly. The actual switches on the bonus unit are also gapped to your specifications. Its fun to work with , and a mystery to figure out. That's why I LOVE EM Pinball machines and my Nip It. The only thing I have not really played with is the score motor. I believe its cam 10 A. That scares me because I don't want to cause any disruption to the scoring. Too many switches that I can mess up lol. I am located in Canada, can I make purchases directly to you. Do you carry and parts specific to Bally Nip Nit?

[@lic2kil007]

I spent hours on Circus and yes I was called a Pinball Wizard.

[@Columbiastargazer]

C'mon Joe, Just one more game, you know you want to ... :)

[@LyonsArcade]

I played a bunch more after you left :) Thanks for watching BC Stargazer!!!

[@Foxonian]

Those warped plastic playfield inserts make the ball behave a lot like the spinning disk on a Bally's Fireball machine.

[@TORCHish]

googled the art and it was Dick White who did the art on the back glass on the 1973 circus

[@LyonsArcade]

I haven't seen much from him (I don't think).. but I like it! Thanks for watching TORCHish!

[@GHILLIESARCADEANDMORE]

Cool

[@karakenio]

kudos

[@davidg-m1768]

Just one more…. Just one more…. How did it get so late?!? The sign of a good game for sure.

[@steinbecktheman]

Hey Joe, any suggestion for books to educate myself on electromechanical pins or arcade games that go over basics in baby steps. I have been reading a lot and watching a lot of videos. Enjoy the hobby

[@LyonsArcade]

The only ones I've seen are ones that have pictures and things but I haven't seen any that tell you how to work on them unfortunately. There may be some though....

[@fred_derf]

It looks like if you come close to straight down the middle, the inserts (being cupped) will direct the ball back to the middle.

[@LyonsArcade]

Just a little charm added to it by time, thanks for watching Fred!

[@myob214]

"This guy did not miss leg day" LOL!

[@thierrydelage1681]

Just for info, today i had the opportunity to play a very nice Bally Circus one of my friend just restored and i've noticed that the user manual shows there are in fact 2 flashing bulbs (455) behind the backglass. One behind the clown red nose and one behind the drum the guy is holding on the opposite side which lights up the Bally logo. So seems you're missing one 😀. Just my 2 cents though...

[@davidmcgill1000]

How much power do those flippers draw? Started to notice the lights would dim when you activated them. Probably not noticeable in person.

[@madmax2010ok]

41:37--The bonus stopped advancing when you hit the upper side advance buttons....

[@Kaavoort]

I think I fixed some things on my Big Show (2p version) just by watching this video. For instance, I thought the game wasn't resetting properly because the dead bumpers weren't' turning off on balls 3 and 5.

[@LyonsArcade]

They often designed things in that would only happen on certain balls (usually 3 and 5), that's an old school thing they carried over for many years...

[@fitts224]

I really enjoy your videos. Is there a way to fix the sunken overlay?

[@LyonsArcade]

There is but it’s a lot of work because you have to paint the circle back around it when you put it back in, then clear it all. It can be done though… for the cost I’d have to charge most customers wouldn’t be happy with the trade off 😀. Thank you for watching!

[@GreenDemonMan]

Man Ron those kickers are thumping big time! Did you do anything to them special? I like the game play on the Circus and it turned out great! Do you have any pinball games at home or just use the ones at work?

[@eddievanbasten1751]

Hi from Wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿. Can you please explain how the Match system works? Thanks.

[@LyonsArcade]

At the end of the game, the match unit which has been spinning everytime you score 10 points is sitting on a number, let's say 30. Each score reel (at the 10's position) is also sitting on a number... when the score motor goes around the last time if power is connecting through the 30 on the match unit and through the 30 on the score reel, there is a switch that closes on the score motor allowing power to step up the credit unit giving you a free credit. It has 4 different switches so you can score an extra credit for each player but it only works if the score reel is on the correct number to match. Neat little concept, we'll explain this further when we do our video on the "Night Rider" pinball machine next to this one.... Thanks for watching Eddie!

[@daveweston5158]

Hi Ron! A mildly off-topic question for you today; I noticed in the previous video that someone had asked about the Evaporust product, and you mentioned that you had done a review. Would you happen to have a link handy? I'm interested in what you had to say about this product. As always, an amazing transformation, from the condition it was in when you began this series, to the finished product (sometimes I wonder how often, if at all, there might be times when a machine comes into the shop, and you just have to say 'Nope' because it's too far gone... I imagine that's a rarity...😃

[@LyonsArcade]

Here you go: kzbin.info/www/bejne/f5fXh6yohr2VgrM If you're ever trying to find a specific video by somebody, if you go to their 'channel' which you can get to by clicking their name there is a magnifying glass over on the right on their channel that lets you search through just their videos! Thanks for watching Dave

[@claudehebert3131]

Thing about the ring leader's legs; he's wearing jodhpurs, older English/Indian horse riding trousers that had a lot of loose cloth between the knee and the belt. There were no "stretchies" at the time.

[@LyonsArcade]

That makes sense, thank you Claude!

[@bhuff123]

So did you ever replace the pinball in this machine

[@LyonsArcade]

Yes sir we put a brand new pinball in it, you can see how clean it is when we play the game :) Thank you for watching Clark!

[@AvengerII]

@@LyonsArcade What did you do with the old rusted pinball? How big are those things, anyway? Could it be tapped and used as a balltop handle for a joystick lever? Standard balltop handles (Japanese spec) are 35mm in diameter but they also have them undersized (30mm) for children and oversized (45mm). The American Wico balltop handles were 38mm spec. There's a company that sells replicas of those with an adapter (for 6mm joystick handles) so that you can use the Wico handle on a Japanese joystick. I have a Hori joystick with a Wico replica balltop handle. I'll be honest -- I've used both bat tops and balltop handles and I think I like the Japanese style (balltop) better.

[@lileveretteyoakumiii]

Yodelayheehoo

[@LyonsArcade]

YODELAY HEE WHO?

[@naytch2003]

We still wave ol glory down at the courthouse

[@senilyDeluxe]

Lol Magna Save prototype @ 25:49 Edit: And 33:10

[@digital4282]

Are you going to make videos on the Night Rider machine that's beside it?

[@LyonsArcade]

Yes we will, they're coming up soon. thanks for watching Telvana!

[@neilh2669]

When are you going to work on the organ? 😁

[@izzynutz2000]

Man cave