Maybe you could have multiple 1's and 0's on the same image? Like maybe a 2X2 grid of 1's and 0's? That way you can have a large amount of numbers but a smaller number of Actors. The scenario is nice so far though!

You could also see if creating the arrays of bits at start-up (or before the level they are used in) and adding them to the world when neccessary would help (keep intersecting code in player class, so bits can be without an act() method).

It seems the most lag is when the bits are getting to where they need to go. If you could simplify the bits' "get to bottom of screen" method, that might also help.