"Pachipro" - Making A Living Playing Pachinko
I didn't know where else to put this so I hope this is the right place. BTW this is a great site and why didn't I discover it before?
Pachinko is a "legalized" form of gambling in Japan where gambling is illegal and today, if one is lucky and knows when to quit, it is still possible to make a living out of playing it. This is the story of how I survived for about ten months playing only pachinko.
I started playing Pachinko while in the military back in 1973 when, out of curiosity, I entered a small place near the base. It soon became one of my favorite past times when I had nothing better to do. Since I was so green to Japan at the time with barely any knowledge of the language, I never won more than a couple of thousand yen on the rare days that I did win. Back then yen was 300/US$1 so my winnings never totaled more than $10-$13, but it was still good money when your monthly salary was about $360 a month and a beer cost 300 yen at a bar.
Also, all the machines were manual at the time in that you had to shoot the balls by operating a lever with your thumb and hope the balls would fall into one of the five or so "tulips" placed strategically on the board where you would win 15 balls for opening the tulip and 15 more for closing it (which was much easier than opening it.) 30 balls cost 100 yen. I found it intriguing and it was a good way to pass a rainy Saturday afternoon or kill some time before hitting the nightspots as a few hours playing this game seemed like a few minutes. Also, it was interesting to see how lucky one could get. Most of my friends found it boring, but I enjoyed it.
I had heard that gambling was illegal in Japan and since I had only a rudimentary knowledge of Japanese at the time I didn’t know that you could convert your winnings into cash. Therefore, I only took my winnings in the prizes like lighters, cigarettes, or food and snacks that I would store in my room on the base. After I heard about the loophole in the law from my Japanese friends that you could win cash by exchanging small packets of flint at a little kiosk off the premises, I always took my winnings in cash. Winning cash seemed to make it that much more interesting and fun. After all there was only so many lighters or "Cup O' Noodle" one could have. At this time I also did not know any of the techniques of playing the game like looking at the width of the pins above the tulips or judging the speed of the balls. I just watched where everyone else was placing their ball when maneuvering the lever and I did the same.
I continued playing it every now and then and became an avid player in my college days beginning in 1977. I didn't win much and on some days I would lose two or three thousand yen or more while on others I would profit anywhere from four to seven thousand yen for a minimum investment of maybe a couple thousand yen or less. I didn't play but maybe 2-3 times a week, but I usually won more than I lost as I learned how to "read" the machines by the width of the pins and the speed of the balls.
By 1980 all machines had been converted to automatic in that there was now a handle that one turned to adjust the placement of the balls instead of a manually operated lever that often left regular players with a calloused thumb and middle finger and the speed of the balls was controlled electronically by computer.
Also, instead of just tulips for the balls to fall into, the center area had things like the wings of an airplane that would open once or twice in less than a second when a ball fell into one of three holes and this increased the speed of the game and your winnings. If a ball fell onto one of the wings and entered the center piece when the wings closed and then fell into a small center hole (which was only the width of the ball itself) in this center area, a "bonus" would be paid in that the wings would open 10 times in succession.
For each ball that fell in, 15 would come out. And, during this "bonus time", if another ball happened to fall into the center hole before 10 balls fell into the other two wide holes, you could continue up to 10 times. If this happened 5 or 6 times in a short period of time, you would win about 2,500-3,000 balls which was equal to about 5,000-7,000 yen in winnings. The machine would be closed and you either left with your winnings or continued playing on another machine. Also, it usually took anywhere from an hour or two to five, six, or maybe even seven hours to "close" a machine if you were lucky enough to find a "good" one.
If anyone knows anything about Pachinko it is this: YOU ALWAYS WIN ON THE FIRST FEW DAYS OF A PARLOR INSTALLING NEW MACHINES. The machines are loose and maybe 90% of the people win to entice them to come back with their winnings. After a couple of days things return to normal. About 2-3 times per year a parlor will install new machines. Not all the machines are replaced. Maybe 20-50 or more depending on the size of the parlor, but it's enough to fill the place with customers for a few days as all machines are loose.
Sometime in early 1981 a new type of pachinko machine was introduced called the "Fever" and "Bravo" type that would change the industry forever.
I was in my senior year at Sophia University and a contract I had teaching had just expired and I was in between jobs and wondering what I was going to do for money. Do I sign a new contract with them or maybe find something different closer to home or that paid more?
I had just gotten off the train about 5pm and was walking home when I heard the familiar music of a pachinko parlor indicating that they had new machines. Back then they used to hire a group of musicians in traditional garb who played the flute, drums and a cymbal like instrument outside. Now they just have a bunch of huge artificial flowers outside and include fliers in the newspapers. One can always tell when a place has new machines when you see 100 or so people lined up outside about 3 or 4pm on the first day and around noon on the second and third day.
Why not give it a shot I thought. It was free money and I could always use 4 or 5,000 yen. The place was already opened and I went in. Practically 75% of the machines had been replaced with a new type that I had never seen before. They were called "Bravo" and "Fever" machines. They were the first computerized, digitalized pachinko machines and would change the industry, the speed of the game, and payouts, forever. Instead of the familiar wings of an airplane or something else in the center that would open when a ball went into a special slot, this was a new type that had what looked like a slot machine in the center.
The "Bravo" type of machine had three digitalized numbers, and the "Fever" type resembled a slot machine in that the center three reels would spin. The place was packed and luckily I found an empty "Bravo" machine. I looked around and saw that a lot of people had large boxes of balls sitting on the floor. More than I had ever seen before. Wow, I thought, this place is really loose.
I sat down and put in my usual 200 yen for 60 balls. This was pretty cool. When a ball went into a hole in the middle, under the numbers, the three sets of numbers would spin like a slot machine. The directions said that if the numbers stopped on "333" or "777" it would pay out a "Big Bonus" 15 times. If it stopped on "337" or "773" a "Small Bonus" would be paid. I didn't understand this, but continued to play. I lost my 200 yen and put in more as I knew I would eventually win. This was really cool and was more interesting than the other types of machines.
After investing about 1,000 yen I hit "777". Bells went off and the machine lit up like a Christmas tree. A small tray opened up on the bottom and balls flew in. For each ball that went in I received 15 bonus balls. Balls were coming out like crazy and so fast that I had a hard time scooping them into the small box. An attendant came over and gave me a big box that I knew held 2,500-3,000 balls. I thought I broke the machine or something as something like this had never happened before. After 10 balls went in, the tray would close and open again. 10 more balls and so on until it did it 15 times. All in all the machine spit out about 3,000 balls as a jackpot. I had a huge box of balls that I knew was worth about 7,000 yen at the exchange rate of 2.5 yen per ball.
To my surprise they didn't close the machine on me like they usually do when you win that many balls. Usually when you won about 2,500-3,000 balls they would close the machine and sell it for 500 yen later in the day. A closed machine indicated that the pins were open quite wide. This was unbelievable! It used to take at least 3-5 hours or more with the other types of machines to win this many balls. And I did it in a matter of minutes!
I continued playing and within 20 minutes I hit "333". Jackpot! Another 3,000 or so balls. The machine was closed, a cart was brought, and my 2 boxes of balls were wheeled to the counter. Wow! I knew I had about 15,000 yen here. I opted for cash and came out with about 14,000 yen in profit! I'm going to try this again.
Back in I went, found another empty machine and within 2,000 yen I hit it again and about 45 minutes later I hit it again! Closed again and this time about 13,000 yen in winnings. This is unbelievable.
Back in I went. This time it took a little longer to hit the Jackpot. Maybe about an hour or more, but the funny thing was that I only put in 500 yen. Balls kept falling in the center hole like crazy as the pins for this hole to spin the numbers was quite open. For every ball that fell in, 15 more would come out. Honestly, the machine never stopped spinning. I closed that machine and took away another 14,000 or so yen in about 3 hours. I decided not to push my luck, but I sure as hell would be coming back tomorrow. All in all I profited that day over 40,000 yen. That was 10,000 yen more yen than my rent! Previously, I never won more than 10-12,000 in a single day before, and that was extremely rare.
The next day I was there at the noon opening time. I spent about 4 hours there and profited over 20,000 yen. (I invested about 4,000 yen) I would've stayed longer, but I had to get to classes at the university that night.
The next day I was there at noon and came away with another 20,000 or so yen in about 5 hours. Wow, this is unreal. Can these new machines be really that loose? Here I was after three days with about 80,000 yen in profit. About 2 1/2 times my rent and two-thirds of my monthly take home pay from teaching English.
Of course I was there the following day at the 10am opening. Now the honeymoon was over. Things should be back to normal. Within a couple of hours and 4,000 yen invested I closed another machine. I continued playing all day until about 6pm and came away with over 15,000 in profit. Maybe one can really make a living out of this, I thought. I heard about the so-called "Pachipros" who did nothing, but play pachinko all day, everyday. I thought it would be boring to play everyday, but this type of new machine was fun and the payouts were fantastic.
I continued going everyday (except Sunday as that was always the most crowded day and a day I reserved for my girlfriend) and became a regular. Some days I stayed 12 hours, but mostly I stayed until about 6pm; about eight hours. Some days I did lose 10-20,000 yen, but the majority of days I profited a minimum of 10,000 yen and the really great days I came away with 50,000 yen or more in winnings.
A couple of the regular "Pachipros" taught me a few rules on how they profit. For example:
- Never lose more than 10-20,000 yen. Just walk away and come back tomorrow.
- Set a limit on winnings. Say 10-30,000 yen. When that is reached leave, no matter how early it is (that is easier said than done!) as, more than likely, you'll lose some of it back. Aim for an average profit of 10,000 yen per day and you can live well.
- If a machine is spinning well but not hitting the jackpot, take a break and go to lunch or something. They will hold the machine for 45 minutes. It might hit later as it's controlled by computer.
- Always look in the ashtray. If it is full with the same type of cigarette or looks like it has been used heavily, the machine is probably a good one. (This turned out to be true more often than not.)
There are more "rules", but I won't go into them here.
As I also became a daily patron there I made a few friends and I was given the name "Pachipro" by the regulars and welcomed into their group. There were about 15 "Pachipros" at that place who did nothing but play pachinko all day, everyday. No job, no nothing. Their only income was from pachinko and/or Pachislo, a slot machine. I now completely understood how that could be done as, for almost a year I never worked, ate out everyday, paid all my rent and bills and had money to burn at the bars at night and on the weekends, with the income from Pachinko. And it was a helluva lot of fun too.
Also, the parlors don't mind having a few "Pachipros" as it brings in customers if they see others winning. Also, the place I frequented kind of enjoyed having a foreigner as a regular Pachipro.
These days, when I make my yearly trip to Japan I only play Pachislo. The pachinko type machines have become really sophisticated and it is really hard to win if you don't invest 10-20,000 yen or more. You can lose that in 45 min. Of course you can win with less than that invested, but not too often. (I've hit a jackpot with only 1,000 yen invested more than a few times.) They also tease you too much as there is no "small bonus" for two of three numbers anymore which comes up quite often. And instead of 15 balls coming from a spin, you now only get 5-7 depending on the machine so you have to constantly feed the machine. But, when you win, you really win. Also, they don't close machines these days. I've seen guys, and women sitting at machines with 8, 9, 10 or more boxes and I myself have had that many! At about 4-5,000 yen per box, that is a lot of money. My best day was a couple of years ago when I won 120,000 yen in 8 hours!
The Pachislo's are, in my opinion, a lot easier and I know that some Japanese would beg to differ. I guess it all depends on ones preference, but even the pachislos are becoming more like pachinko machines in that they tease you too much and most machines usually quit after 3 or 4 jackpots so you have to be disciplined in knowing when to leave a machine. On more than one occassion I have foolishy put back about two boxes of coins (worth $3-$400!) hoping for that jackpot streak of 5 or 6 in an hour or two. I have thus learned my lesson and leave after 3 jackpots or so.
The strange thing about Pachislo vs. Pachinko though is that the Pachislos always give you a "hint" by the position of the reels as to when they will hit the jackpot. This makes them that much more interesting in that you always think that the next spin will reveal the hint. The only bad thing is sometimes you receive the hint when you put in your last three coins and you have no money left!
In the long run though, you can still make a living out of playing pachinko and pachislo these days as some of the "Pachipros" I knew back then are still playing and winning regularly, and after 25 years too! With no taxes to pay it is a damn good income if you play smart.
I never did go back to teaching English that year. I graduated from Sophia University in March, 1981 and since my visa didn't expire until December, I stayed and played pachinko everyday and enjoyed every minute of it up until the day I left.
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Enjoyed the read, very much! And, WELCOME to Pachitalk, Pachipro!
"I've stopped fighting my inner demons, we are on the same side now." 
Originally Posted by hanabi
"This is My Personal Opinion and no others"
