two pachinkos in exchange for a donation?

[sandsmuseum]

I restore antique coin operated games at the Sands Mechanical Museum. I am cleaning out years worth of accumulated "stuff" and have two pachinko machines that need to find good homes.

One is a Masamura, perhaps from the 1950s. The other has no obvious name but appears to be a one ball conversion and has Sophia on a sticker in the back. You can see pictures here:

Museum

The games have been sitting for a long time and are dusty and dirty. Neither has glass and both suffer from some surface corrosion. I believe them to be complete, but cannot be certain.

(The third pachinko is a Nishijin and belongs to my wife's family. She plans on getting it working again, so for now, we will keep it.)

I would like to basically give them away. All I ask is that the new owner make a reasonable donation to this website. (Can you help me determine what reasonable is?) I prefer not to ship but I can deliver to the local packing store and the new owner can make arrangements with them directly to package and ship. I am located in Sunnyvale, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California.

Mudfud was helpful identifying the games and pointed to this site. She has first right of refusal for the Masamura. That means the "Sophia" or Las Vegas as Mudfud calls it, still needs a home.

Please let me know if you are interested and what you think a reasonable donation is.

Michael

The Sands Mechancial Museum

[hanabi]

Welcome to PachiTalk!!

How wonderful that you have found your way here and offered these to our Members

A great way to ensure that they find a good home

[Microbus99]

Wow...Mud is so lucky!!!

[mudfud]

hey guys. I want to pick up the masamura tomorrow or sunday.

if someone from pachitalk wants the las vegas, I will box and ship for $25. (to continental US, that is... if you want it sent far away, I'd have to get a fedex quote)

[digital1]

What is a good donation?

[Microbus99]

Hello Michael,

You're museum looks great! I love mechanical things. In fact, I'm obsessed with them.

Occasionally I travel to Oakland and Livermore. I'll make a point stop by there sometime!

[GB_Jax]

hey guys. I want to pick up the masamura tomorrow or sunday.

if someone from pachitalk wants the las vegas, I will box and ship for $25. (to continental US, that is... if you want it sent far away, I'd have to get a fedex quote)

Beautiful machine! Any idea on the date?

btw, the Nishijin is almost identical to the machine I have had for over 35 years...

[mudfud]

no, but when I get my hands out it, I'll look for stickers, of course. late 40's, early 50's?

I agree that from the pix, it looks great. we'll see.

[jimhansen66]

I am interested in the Nishijin if it's still available! What would a fair donation be?
ps- Working at the Sands Museum sounds like my dream job!

[mudfud]

hey jimhansen,

I have someone who already wants it. will let you know if anything changes.

chewy

[GB_Jax]

late 40's, early 50's?

That seems right - looks older than my Monako. Does the use of plastic on the back provide any hints on date? i.e. if a machine is all metal on the back, would it be older? That is only logical to me.

[mudfud]

yeah. I thought plastics weren't much in use until after WWII, then johnny pointed out to me that they were invented in the mid 1800's, so it's hard to know.

I would guess that you are correct, though, that the original pachinkos had no plastic. it was probably much cheaper to use sheet metal.

[sandsmuseum]

The games are now spoken for. Mudfud has been very helpful, even volunteering to pick up the games and arrange shipping for a reasonable price.

She and I are arranging to have her pick up the games, perhaps as early as Sunday. I suggested a donation to Pachitalk.com of $25 for the Masamura and $12 for the Sophia (Las Vegas). Hopefully that will keep you running for a couple of hours.

Visitors are always welcome here at the Sands Mechanical Museum, he says with a smile. However please understand this is just our home! Most of the museum is virtual but we usually have various games around for restoration. You are welcome to come and look but please do not expect to see much.

Have fun,

Michael

The Sands Mechancial Museum

[mudfud]

hey guys. I picked up the 2 pachinko's today.

michael is quite the nice guy, and he restores old arcade games and pinballs. I'm thinking he would be a great resource on how-to for some of the mechanicals we come across.

the masamura is similar to the matoya that I picked up in new york. it has nicer pockets, that look to be cast rather than stamped out of metal. the cell is painted and a little cracked, but not blistering.

it's belted into my front seat right now, since I had to come into salinas to work. i will get it out for pix in the morning, since I have to post on my new baby.

the back has tin and just a small amount of plastic for chutes. will have to straighten and resolder a few areas.

the vegas machine is a standard nishijin A with the "meat grinder" conversion (that's johnnynormal's name for the tray). I will ship it to microbus later in the week.

gotta keep those pachi's moving.