Golden Gate

The Golden Gate is a bingo machine designed by Don Hooker and manufactured by Bally, with a confirmed production run of 850 units. Unlike conventional pinball machines, bingo machines have no flippers: players shoot balls into a field of trap holes - 25 of them on this game - trying to light numbers in winning patterns on the backglass card.

Golden Gate carries two of Bally's signature bingo features. The Magic Screen is a shifting overlay on the backglass that lets players reposition the card for better winning combinations, and the OK Feature offers additional chances to improve a game's outcome. Together they gave players meaningful decisions beyond simple ball-shooting skill, which is a large part of why Bally's bingo line was so successful.

One surviving example, serial number A2792, shows what appears to be an original factory cabinet paint job with a sailboat depicted on the coin door - artwork not seen on other known examples, and it remains unknown whether other machines share this alternate front cabinet art. For collectors of Bally bingos, Golden Gate offers a representative look at the Magic Screen era of these fascinating machines.