Sea Fair

Sea Fair, produced by Bally Manufacturing Corporation in 1956, is an electro-mechanical bingo machine built around a Music - Pageantry theme, tied to the annual Sea Fair festival held in Seattle, Washington. It is in fact a custom version of Bally's 1956 'Big Show', re-named and re-issued for use during the festival.

Gameplay centers on 25 trap holes, Magic Squares, and a Bally Hole, along with the ability for players to press buttons to rearrange the numbers on the backglass card before the 4th and 5th balls are shot, if those features were purchased -- adding a layer of strategy to how the payout combinations line up. The highest payout value silkscreened on the backglass is 160; this cap reflects a real regulatory quirk of the time, as bingo machines operated in King County (where Seattle is located) were limited to a maximum payout of 160, with any higher numbers on the backglass painted over.

Little is documented about the designer or artist behind Sea Fair specifically, but its story -- a rebranded Big Show tailored to a local festival and local gambling law -- makes it a distinctive piece of regional pinball and bingo-machine history.