Coney Island

Coney Island is an electro-mechanical bingo machine from the Bally Manufacturing Corporation, designed by Don Hooker. Though the facts on file omit its exact production year, its place in bingo history is well documented: it was the first bingo machine from Bally to feature an automatic ball lift (United's 'A-B-C' bingo of 1951 had introduced the feature a few months earlier, though without a conventional bingo playfield), and it was the first bingo machine from any manufacturer to offer an 'Extra Ball' feature - an idea that would become central to the entire bingo genre.

As a bingo machine, Coney Island has no flippers; instead, players shoot balls into a playfield of 25 trap holes, trying to light numbers that form winning lines on the bingo cards displayed on the backglass. Play costs a minimum of 5 cents for 5 balls: the first nickel qualifies one of the three cards on the backglass, and additional cards can be purchased for 5 cents each before shooting the first ball. In a nice touch, all cards light during play even if they were not purchased, showing players what they might have won.

With its pioneering extra-ball concept and automatic ball lift, Coney Island represents an important early step in the bingo machine boom of the 1950s, and it remains a machine of genuine historical interest for collectors of Bally's non-flipper output.