Gay Time

Gay Time is a fascinating piece of electro-mechanical history from Bally Manufacturing Corporation, designed by Don Hooker. It is not a conventional flipper game but a bingo machine: a single-player game with one bingo card and four Magic-Lines, where players land balls in a field of 25 trap holes to complete winning patterns.

The standout feature is the top row of seven Magic-Pockets, player-controlled kick-out holes that can transfer balls left or right along the row. During play, holes 2 through 6 perform as two-way kick-out holes, while hole 7, though built with two-way capability, kicks only to the right at the start of a game, sending leftover balls into a nearby ball return hole to drain quickly rather than rolling slowly down the playfield. This ball-transfer mechanism was covered by Patent No. 2,864,620, 'Ball Transfer and Switch Means,' filed March 12, 1956 by Donald E. Hooker and Charles G. Troeller.

Gay Time refined ideas introduced on Bally's earlier 'Gayety', which had Magic-Pockets but lacked the upper ball return hole. As an example of Hooker's inventive mechanical problem-solving, it offers a distinctive glimpse into the bingo side of Bally's mid-century output.