Understanding Bingo Machines.

Many people mistakenly believe that bingo machines are similar to pinball machines, or even that all pinball machines are bingo machines. However, bingo machines are gambling machines, whereas pinball is purely for entertainment—you pay to play and enjoy the game.
Bingo machines function entirely differently. You insert money, often receiving more gameplay features when you add more, and the goal is to win credits or money. While payouts aren’t always legal, location owners usually have methods to reset the credit counter and distribute winnings.
 

Unlike pinball machines, bingo machines lack flippers or interactive components. Their playfields feature numbered holes where balls can drop, and the only control a player has is nudging the machine carefully when the ball rolls down, hoping to direct it into a winning hole.

There are various types of bingo machines, each with different win conditions. The simplest versions require the player to complete a row of numbers (three or more) in a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line. More advanced machines offer extra challenges, such as lighting all corners of the card or forming unique patterns.

Older bingo machines usually featured a single bingo card in the backbox. Some models allowed players to shift number positions or change win conditions.

The most popular bingo machines in Belgium since the 1980s have been six-card bingo machines. These display six fixed-position bingo cards in the backbox. Players who insert more money activate additional features, increasing their chances of winning. Not all machines disclose upfront how much extra money is required to unlock certain options, making some gameplay aspects unpredictable.

Bingo vs. Pinball: A World Apart

The bingo machine industry is vastly different from pinball. In Belgium, operators must pay €3,500 per machine per year just to place them on location, ten times more than the license cost for a pinball machine. Despite this, bingo machines remain common in bars and pubs because they generate substantial earnings, whereas pinball machines are harder to find.

This also has its implications for collectors who want to repair games. Pinball manufacturers are open and provide a lot of schematics, collectors have made repair manuals available, ..

This financial difference extends to collectors. Pinball manufacturers provide schematics and repair manuals to enthusiasts, but the bingo industry is highly secretive. Many companies closely guard repair knowledge, and finding technical documentation for these machines is difficult.

Security measures also make repairing bingo machines challenging. Unlike pinball machines, they feature electronic keys and security codes that prevent tampering. If the battery dies or cables are disconnected (such as when separating the machine’s head from the body), the bingo machine may lose its memory and refuse to start, requiring special tools for reactivation.

Anyway, as far as I know, the Wimi Miss Bowling has a protection which most people have a problem with. Part of the security code is kept in RAM. This means that if the battery dies, or, which happens most, if you disconnect cables (e.g. you disconnect the head from the body to move the machine), the machine will loose this memory and refuse to start.

If you switch the machine now on, it's 'in code' and will only show specific numbers on the display. Nothing else happens. It thinks it has been tampered with, and requires the operator to initialize the machine. Without the correct tools, it is impossible to start this machine ever again !

I did get hold of a manual which explains a bit about the security. However I've never seen exactly how to restart a bingo machine, so what I write here is what other people told me, some things may be wrong..

First, I know you need a special small box with which you can disable the checks so the bingo machine will start up. But.. I also heard that these bingo machines can be protected using an 'electronic key'.

This actually is a keychain with an eprom on it, holding the 'missing' settings. This key may even belong to the machine (so you probably can't use the key of another machine). If the bingo machine has the electronic security key activated, you need this eprom keychain or you will never be able to start it ?!

Again, I don't know how accurate all this information is. I have seen a (broken) eprom keychain, so I know they exist. I haven't tested it.. it may be possible to start a bingo machine without the keychain using only the box mentioned above, it may not.. I don't know..

If you have a working bingo machine, take care of it and do not remove the head unless you really have to (but don't complain if it won't work anymore).

Buying and Repairing Bingo Machines

If you plan to purchase a bingo machine, be cautious. While non-working units might seem like bargains, they could be impossible to repair.

Tips for buyers:
Research extensively before making a purchase.
Prices vary among operators, some refuse to sell, while others offload machines due to changing gambling laws.
Investing in a newer machine with available spare parts is far more practical than struggling with an unrepairable 20-year-old model.

Electro-mechanical bingo machines are extremely complex. Even experienced pinball repairers often avoid them. If you're interested in learning repairs, start with electro-mechanical pinball machines first before attempting bingo machine restoration.
Even electro-mechanical bingo machines had a 'memory' of how much money was put in them an paid out, and do various 'calculations' to decide how many credits can be won by a player or how many extra money has to be inserted into the machine before a specific option becomes available. Don't underestimate their complexity.

Update: Some technical information about a Wimi Miss Bowling De Luxe:
Code EE51 is about the number of balls on the playfield, there need to be 10 in the collector underneath the playfield. In combination with error code 21, this means the game thinks there are too many balls in the game: 10 underneath the playfield and one in hole 21.
So probably this means the switch of hole 21 is broken/stuck closed and therefor the game does not want to start.

Click here to download the manual of GAA Continental Magic bingo.

Click here to download the manual of Wimi Miss Bowling bingo (in dutch).

Click here to download the manual of Wimi Miss Bowling Golden bingo (english).

Click here to download the manual of Wimi Miss Bowling Turbo 1989 (english).

Click here to download Wimi bingo schematics - unknown model.

Click here to download Wimi bingo cpu schematics - unknown model.

Click here to download Wimi bingo schematics - unknown model, year 1989.

If the manuals are useful, please feel free to donate for my time scanning them (and website hosting) :