What's in a name?

[Planedoc]

OK! Noob dumb question time! As of now I have 4 vintage machines. I'm curious as to where I find the name for these machines! Example: I have a Nishijin A that I assumed was called "It's A Beautiful Day" because that's what's printed on the sticker. After looking over other Nishijin A pictures posted here I've noticed the same exact sticker on other machines that look nothing like mine! So my question is where do I find the machines name? Assuming that each model was named! Or could it be that the machines were known only by their model number???

[JACKSJE4]

In the absence of a medallion or obvious printed name on the machine, I think most of us kind of make names up based on the ornamentation or themes the machines have. For instance, the "Frog" or "Owl" machines have a center ornament that is designed to look like a frog or owl, but there are no markings that label the machine as such. Conversely, the "No More War" machines have a medallion/ornament that says "No More War", thus the name was easy.

If you were to post pics, I'm sure we would be able to help you with names for your vintages.

Jeff

[Planedoc]

Here's the machine in question.

[Planedoc]

The sticker:

[djcasper_bpm]

i cant help ya with the name but i am sure somebody around here knows what it is. nice lookin machine by the way

[compirate]

That one looks like a 'Bill', 'William' in formal situations.

[wrkey]

I think the blue 'blobs' on the cell looks like a P and an lowercase 'a' and 'c'. But the stars all over it add to it as well.

I'd call this one a PacStar machine.

But William works to.

[candyflip]

Hi Planedoc,

I'm pretty sure this machine's official name is not - "Its a Beautiful Day'. That was actually the company slogan for Nishijin for this particular time period and that's why it appears on the Nishijin sticker itself in english. As you said, there are other different machines from Nishijin around this time period with the exact same sticker.

You raise a really interesting question though - how does one actually tell? Well, almost every vintage machine ever produced *does* have an official japanese name (often written in katakana). Only thing is, a lot of the time it was used internally by the Maker only, and not used by the general public once it got to the USA or other territories. The only way I have been able to verify the names of machines (that aren't immediately obvious in other ways) is to look them up in Japanese language books on these machines. You can see in my machine gallery on PachiTalk ( http://www.pachitalk.com/forums/memb...1960-1980.html ) that for those particular vintages, the names I have posted are the actual maker's official machine names that I have been able to confirm from those sources.

However, assigning your own name seems just as valid to me. Indeed, if the general collecting public outside of Japan decide something is called 'Tulip Flower', because that's the main feature of the machine, and they've got nothing else to go on, then why not? Unless your talking back to the Japanese about their own machines (which we don't do that often), I guess it doesn't matter much?

I like to use the official name when I know it, but otherwise, "Beautiful Day" seems fair enough to me.

[compirate]

Until we get someone to go to that pachinko museum in Japan and ask the guy who should know these things (and the date of manufacture question, and probably a couple others - perhaps a thread about what should be asked, in case someone goes so they can print it out and write down answers?), I personally don't think they did have names till the electronics age. If they did, only the manufacturers know what they are now.

[candyflip]

Until we get someone to go to that pachinko museum in Japan and ask the guy who should know these things (and the date of manufacture question, and probably a couple others - perhaps a thread about what should be asked, in case someone goes so they can print it out and write down answers?), I personally don't think they did have names till the electronics age. If they did, only the manufacturers know what they are now.

Do you know - in July this year I was just one tiny frickin suburb away from it, and was on my way there, but my 3 month pregnant fiance was in the worst phase of her later first Trimester, and the plane was leaving for Paris in just a few hours, and my lunch with my old Japanese teacher went longer than we had planned, and DAMMITT!! ... I decided better for her that I not go!!!

I don't regret that decision as it was best for her that I not go, but god-in-heaven, I really missed a huge chance that day!!!

[GB_Jax]

That one looks like a 'Bill', 'William' in formal situations.

That's hilarious, I was going to post the same thing. I was going to say: oh, that's "Bill". I swear it...

[NJ_Mike]

I would go with Rusty's advice as far as a name is concerned. Not that I have anything against William, but I think PacStar fits better.

[Planedoc]

I guess when you get right down to it really the only difference between the older machines of a particular brand is the art work on their face! So there really was no reason to name their machines. A simple model number would have worked simply to denote which parts would work with that particular model. The modern machines are named just for the marketing of that particular machine. Robocop, Star Wars or whatever! Seems logical enough!

[digital1]

I was thinking the Pacstar route also, but I could go with Bill too, it is very Bill like