Skip to content
The Classic Pinball Podcast
The Classic Pinball Podcast
140 episodes tracked since 2019 about →
Copied!

#98 6 Million $ Man - The Classic Pinball Podcast

PodcastAnalysis updated 3d ago1 hr 46 min listenBy George
From the creator

Another Bally 6 Million Dollar Man is in for service. What’s up Doc? An email asking for a flipper recommendation. George has a list. Not that list! Dave’s Christmas songs: both new and old. They...

Listen on The Classic Pinball Podcast

Highlights

  • Six Million Dollar Man produced over 10,000 units, making it a significant commercial success for Bally in the late 1970s.
  • Bally's first production run with seven-digit displays was 1980's Skateball, which came 17 pinball games after Six Million Dollar Man (spanning 1978-1980).
  • The 555 bulb sockets introduced in Six Million Dollar Man were initially defective; feature lamps were failing in less than a month in showroom games, requiring multiple production runs to correct the problem.
  • The 444 bulbs and sockets from earlier Bally games are superior to the 555 variants because they resist corrosion better due to larger surface area and more compatible metals.
  • Six Million Dollar Man is one of only two Bally games with a center post ball save feature; the other is Bobby Earl Power Play.
  • Dave is currently working on multiple Six Million Dollar Man machines for different customers simultaneously, part of a pattern where he receives 'deluges' of the same game title.
  • Harlem Globetrotters is the Classic Pinball Podcast's most popular episode by a significant margin, which is surprising given the game's relatively low secondary market value 10-15 years ago.
  • The rectangular target pieces used in Six Million Dollar Man are rare and difficult to source; Dave needed to purchase an entire playfield to obtain one for a Kings of Steel restoration.

Notable quotes

“We're going to make $6 Million Man. We'll make it a six-player game, and we'll just sell the crap out of it and get rid of all these displays. Clear out the warehouse.”
Dave
“30, 40 years later, the 555s are crap compared to the 44s. They're a way better bulb and a way better socket.”
Dave
“You can actually take them out, take a small file, file off the corrosion on both sides of the socket and the bulb, put it back in and you're back up and running again on the 555 bulbs.”
Dave
“Harlem Globetrotters is still our number one podcast. It's by a long shot too. I mean it's not even tight.”
George
“Perhaps this is not the show for you.”
George (responding to listener Todd)
“Theater of the mind is not an easy thing to pull off, especially going from memory.”
George
“The bead color designated the batch so we could tell the runs apart.”
Dave
“I always like being in front of the game because I've got the cheat sheet in front of me, but it's easier to talk about the rules.”
Dave

Entities

  • Bally· company
  • General Electric (GE)· company
  • Jersey Jack Pinball· company
  • Spooky Pinball· company
  • Stern· company
  • Big Lebowski· game
  • Bobby Orr· game
  • Captain Fantastic· game
  • Dolly Parton· game
  • Evil Knievel· game
  • Gorgar· game
  • Harlem Globetrotters· game
  • Ice Review· game
  • Kings of Steel· game
  • Phoenix· game
  • Scooby-Doo· game
  • Six Million Dollar Man· game
  • Stargazer· game
  • Wizard of Oz· game
  • Dave· person
  • Eric Stone· person
  • George· person
  • Jim Patla· person
  • Scott· person
  • Todd· person

More from The Classic Pinball Podcast

→ All content from The Classic Pinball Podcast
Contact us about this coverage