IS THE 873 THE KING OF EM'S? YOUR OPINION SOLICITED...

[OldReno]

Sorry guys, it appears copy and paste don’t work well here....

[chedderboy]

I bought tokens for my machine, but I have to say I prefer the Ike silver dollars.  They run about $1.30/ea on eBay and you can buy a bunch of them in a lot :-)

[RiseLikeRa]

Tokens!? Perish the thought!  Tokens are only appropriate for those  fake Japanese amusement games that are a dime a dozen.  A real American slot machine deserves American minted coin money.


Remember as always  my opinion is free and worth every penny.


Ra

[rdaniel]

 Except for the dollar machines, I fully agree with you Ra. I do not understand why people would want a dollar machine in the home. Best to covert it to something more financially friendly.

[smoothgrh]

Ra,

I guess I haven't been keeping up because I totally missed this thread until now!

YES! I love my Bally 873! 

In the '90s I had a Bally Gold Rush EM, which I loved because of the artwork, but the gameplay got boring. I also had some other slot machine that was like a Bally, but was just forgettable. I sold them both.

The Mrs. got me the 873 for an anniversary present, and I love it! I later got a Game King that I play more, but I still admire the look and feel of the 873 more. In fact, if I had to choose between them, it'd be a tough decision.

I consider the Bally 873 a piece of art—to look at as well as to play, and I enjoy both aspects.

I could go to nearly any casino and still play a Game King. I'd really miss that mechanical feel of gripping the ball and pulling the handle!

One thing that I've always been curious about is that my machine pays 3 on a single cherry, so I win 6 coins when it lands on any line besides the 1st line (I always play 5 coins)—my guess is that it's because my machine was made in 1978, when inflation made 20 cents not enough to get excited about?

As you can see, I love talking about my slot! Thanks for asking!

[RiseLikeRa]

Smooth:


That 3 coin for a single Cherry is very interesting.  Does the glass reflect that payout difference?  I have a friend that is looking for a glass with that same variation.  The game he has is a Lucky 7 or Lucky Twin or somebodys Luck something, I am getting older and forget more.  We could not figure out why the machine paid differently that 95% of other Bally machines.  His game has no particular casino affiliation that would possibly explain the difference.  I heard that the big shops had enough pull to compel Bally to make games with custom reels, graphics and payouts. 


Enjoy your 873 as I do mine.  Whatever you do DONT CRACK THAT GLASS.  It probably would be impossible to find a OEM replacement.  A Picture of your 873 odd ball would be nice for us.  Please...




Ra

[smoothgrh]

Here's a video of my "best slot hit at home"! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jo9IPF8p1iA

[RiseLikeRa]

VERY nice game! Thank you for the video. I love when the small round lights come to life on the 873.  I have never seen the external bell before. I wonder if it was an afterthought or add on? You have a great one.  Never let that one go.

[smoothgrh]

Not sure about the bell. Seems like bells are typically inside the cabinet, not outside.

I do have questions about it:

1) Does your bell ding when you insert the 5th coin?

2) Does your bell ring on all pays, or just jackpots? I think this can be adjusted.