Cypress Gardens

Cypress Gardens is a classic Bally bingo machine designed by Don Hooker and released in 1958, near the height of Bally's bingo era. Named after the famous Florida attraction known for its water-ski shows, the game carries a fitting theme of swimming, water skiing, and glamorous women. As a bingo machine rather than a conventional pinball game, it has no flippers - players instead shoot balls into a field of 25 trap holes, trying to line up numbers on the bingo card displayed in the backglass.

One of the standout aspects of Cypress Gardens is its Magic Squares feature, which added a genuine layer of strategy to the format. If the features were purchased with additional coins, players could press buttons to rearrange numbers on the backglass card - before shooting the fourth ball, before shooting the fifth ball, or even after shooting the fifth ball - manipulating their chances in real time and creating a rare sense of agency and skill for a game of this type. The playfield also includes two rollover buttons and A-E Ballyhole lights that carry features over to the next game.

With its blend of resort-themed presentation and sophisticated late-1950s bingo mechanics, Cypress Gardens is a distinctive find for collectors and historians of Bally's bingo machines.