Mississippi Showboat

The Mississippi Showboat is a rare electro-mechanical bingo machine from Bally Manufacturing Corporation, believed to be the last bingo game the company ever produced. Its American history/boats theme draws on the imagery of classic Mississippi riverboats.

The machine features 25 trap holes and six cards on a plastic playfield, typical of Bally's bingo-style gameplay of the era.

The only known example carries a backbox serial number "EX3" dated October 1, 1981, suggesting it may have been a test or experimental unit - the letters "EX" possibly standing for "Experimental" or "Export." According to a longtime employee, a South Carolina distributor received the game from Bally to test it out; when Bally decided not to put it into production, the distributor was told to simply keep it, and the machine sat unused for decades. It was rescued from being scrapped in 2014, shortly after the distributorship's longtime owner passed away, and as of 2015 resides in a museum in the Netherlands. Its rarity and unusual history make it a fascinating artifact from the twilight of Bally's electro-mechanical bingo era.