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Thread: Pachinko Parlors in The U.S.

  1. #61
    Blind Shooter Leorules's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pachinko Parlors in The U.S.

    I think you should think twice before offering FREE anything. People have a way of taking advantage of this. Instead offer your pachinko players half priced items. Trust me I've went through all the free drinks and snacks idea, so I'm trying to help you out here.

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    Default Re: Pachinko Parlors in The U.S.

    Checked out your site, it looks nice, you may want to change the price from 1c to 2c or you will have people playing all day off of a few dollars. I know you want them to have fun, as do I, which is why we kept ours low at 2c, but 1c you will be slow to make any money, especially with just a few machines.

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    Blind Shooter danno66's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pachinko Parlors in The U.S.

    Hi Leo,
    I learned a few things when I ran the SFO club, the first and most important one was to have every place on camera or... people will
    find where there isnt one and fall and sue you.

    Here we tried a new approach, the machines are sealed in a wall with airflow, the tube from the emergency fillers are S shaped.
    There is a Central Hopper and ball lifters feeding the machines, in the event the central goes empty the ball lifters can be made to direct
    fill. In the event someone wants to hijack the cards this could be a problem. Each card has on it a sticker, in turn that sticker houses a sensor
    which is the same one we attach to pharmaceutical jars to prevent theft, it's not hackable by the average person. If anyone inserts a card
    into the wall slot and it has no sensor, the machine won't play and then, we see a light on the console which basically means throw this
    person out. I have roaming staff who will be watching as will the cameras so I hope we're ok. I could always use cards to activate the shooter and
    give balls out at a counter but it's a lot of work. When we have large jackpots I can see the main hopper going dry, it holds 6K and that's it, the machines hold a little enroute but it's reused, we tell staff to catch jackpots and start filling the emergency feed before the rest of the place
    gets dry, if it were only one side I could put a car sized hopper but the split means one side of the room has 6K, the other has around 2500.
    The one thing that bit me in SFO and will bite me here is theft of balls, I would lose 20 a day, it adds up, this time I have better surveillance so
    with any luck the patrons will not want a souvenier. I also have doubts about people being mature enough not to try and bounce pachinko balls off of
    my full sized pinball playfield glass. But, the penalty is lifetime ban, if they break it they get prosecuted. In a year I will be allowed to use bill
    changers, our laws are bad, local laws are worse, I could wait and open next year with bill validators (escrow units), I have plenty of them but
    even arcade games need the permit so I operate free play by the hour for now on the arcade machines, it's not the rule which angers me it's the
    wait time, I was told it could be "as fast as 8 months" and that was 2 months ago however 6 months is still too long.
    Thanks for the help, I should add that I put each machine on a power system which is way overkill, but I barely pull 1 amp under maximum
    play and 3 reaches (it took a lot of work to get this) it's so nice when a transformer does not get over it's posted temperature 60C, my other place got very hot and needed aircon all the time, hereit won't, I ducted the air properly.

    Do you guys ever get people stealing the balls?? If so how do you stop them or is my attitude of "Cost of doing business" normal..

    Cheers, Dan

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    Blind Shooter danno66's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pachinko Parlors in The U.S.

    Leo you're right, I figure we could test the waters and run past beta mode for a few months before costs are adjusted. I really WANT this place to be full all the time, even if it doesn't make much money, if I can fill it up I can get funding to build the giant parlor free. The giant one goes to 2c immediately, also trying to push movies on the wall in the giant one, we'll see. I have the machines now in San Pedro but not released, just need to prove there's a reason to move forward. My luck puts me 1 block from a retirement hirise (not a nursing home), 40% of the people are from Japan, this is our demographic, I guess someone likes me either that or I'm in bad trouble
    hah.. What if.. 100 professional players come in to revive their skills, I'll go out of business fast (not being funny about the pro players, I've heard
    it's a problem in Japan so it could make its way here)..

    The point is sorta moot, we make most of our money doing film shoots, I get many requests for arcades and pinball parlors, I've had to replace or move games for "Era" correctness but shoots aside it does ok without the pachinko so it should be better with it.

    The place also looks bigger with the pachinkos inside, actually it's because of the shiny metal, I really think we'll be asked to cover them for
    our future shoots, the space prior to this was used by empty wall on one side and a broken game on the other, incidentally, the broken game being
    tekken and I have a tekken pachinko if I really wanted to bring it back I'd install tekken pachinko hah, also have it on the MAME so it's not going to be missed er.. it never worked so nobody knows if they miss it..

    Pachinko is very cool because the blank wall space sticks out, there's no room for a pinball or arcade unit but 3 pachinkos fit perfectly!

    I have a small spare list for now as well,, Kamen Rider, Biohazard, Superman Returns, Avengers (a second one), Titanic, a second Ring, and then the older ones:
    Kiss, Indiana Jones, Sea Story 2, Chaplin, Freddy Vs.Jason alas the last 2 on the list don't play well with the high volume feed so I won't be
    able to use them with any real success, it has to do with the size of the hopper pipe, the older machines might possibly overflow but the new ones
    have a slightly taller side panel and there is no overflow. Also I noticed the new DAICHI machines actually have a ball ramp built into their frame, how cool is that?!?!? Very Smart!

    I did a safety check yesterday, I found 2 protruding wood screws and an uncovered fan, both were fixed, it makes me appreciate the delay in
    opening, it gives me 7 days to tear this thing apart making sure it meets all electrical safety, personal safety, and comfort standards. I would of been
    saddened if someone had grabbed a pointed screw or put their hand in a fan of course its 4 feet back and you'd need to do it on purpose but after the
    sfo charade I have to be careful.

    This I reiterate, in SFO we had a dark spot on camera, my workers always talked about it and whether it was their associate or someone who overheard this, I had someone come in, go right to the area off camera, fall and hurt their back and we had 4 chairs occupied right there who were
    all "turned around" and saw the whole thing, my insurance refused to settle it so I had to, this time not a place you can go we don't have you on
    4 cameras from 4 angles, if I had cameras in SFO I'd still be in SFO but I hear it's now tightly regulated to the point arcades are no longer happy..

    Leo I have to seriously Honor you and what you've done, one day I'll come through there during a stormchase and say hi, you're welcome here but don't expect much until we open the larger space OR if we toss out all the video game consoles and add more games (please please please work)..

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    Blind Shooter danno66's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pachinko Parlors in The U.S.

    Quote Originally Posted by Leorules View Post
    I think you should think twice before offering FREE anything. People have a way of taking advantage of this. Instead offer your pachinko players half priced items. Trust me I've went through all the free drinks and snacks idea, so I'm trying to help you out here.
    You have a great point, I hope it doesn't come across that you can have an unlimited number of free drinks, that's not financially doable, the first one
    is free if you play minimum 5$, the next one is not free unless you play another 5$ and there's no bargaining, it might be better not to do it
    since it would cut down on bathroom trips.

    What kinda scams did they pull, I know the one which has someone saying "My friend just left but asked for a pepsi he'll be right back" hah...
    the second part of the scam has someone selling the drink unopened to a patron for 50 cents or tokens (balls in our case)..

    I suppose it could turn into a dead idea, we aren't operating pachinko yet, starting today I have to do all the stuff I hate doing, the rules, training,
    SOP manual, arranging prize closet, copying a lot of cards and letting the trigger glue dry (nasty). In a few days I'll know exactly where things
    stand, gonna get "interesting" before it gets good..

    This is really 50/50, I either make it or I don't, if I don't, as long as I don't get complaints from film shoots, I don't care, if I do and if I fail, I'd have to
    remove the machines but they look so cool, they look even cooler with the house lights off (I can't imagine your place in the dark, send us a picture one night)..

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  11. #66
    Blind Shooter Leorules's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pachinko Parlors in The U.S.

    I love what you're doing and I wish you all the best. You may want to show the video done here on Pachinko World about the studies on Pachinko and how studies show that seniors that play Pachinko on a regular basis are 2 and a half times less likely to develop Alzheimer's or Dementia. Sounds like you have the right demographic that's for sure. I can't believe you can't have bill acceptors, they have some crazy laws there. We can't pay cash but we are allowed to give VISA gift cards up to $400 as a prize. If you email me I will give you some great advice I know you'll thank me later for, some trials and tribulations I've learned over the last almost 2 years. I work in the film industry here in Wilmington NC, we are known as Hollywood east. I've been trying to locate a BioHazard machine. If you ever want to sell or trade please let me know. My email is webmaster@freedomchat.net I look forward to hearing from you.

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    Blind Shooter Leorules's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pachinko Parlors in The U.S.

    Oh I forgot to answer your question about people stealing our balls. Since we use the new gold balls we haven't had ANY problems with that. If you use the older used silver balls from the actual Pachinko parlors you will have that problem because people actually collect those balls because of the different parlor markings. Use the new gold balls and you shouldn't have a problem. By the way, we have over 200,000 balls at Pachinko World.

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    Default Re: Pachinko Parlors in The U.S.

    I forgot to include the link in my last post, here ya go: http://www.wwaytv3.com/2016/08/17/ex...e-brain-games/

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    Sandwich Shooter Goobie777's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pachinko Parlors in The U.S.

    Danno,

    i would love to visit your parlor one day. I know you guys have the IC card system, do you have ball counters to go with them? Here in Japan one of the parlors I go to uses a IC chip system which is interesting. For people that come a lot, have you thought of a membership/loyalty program? Most parlors here in Japan do this. You can rack up points to trade for little goodies here usually different from the normal prize selection. This program you could use to give out drinks/snacks and whatnot.

    One thing I will warn you about are the people I like to call the "jammers." The people that jam a coin or something into the ball shooter to hold it in place. The problem is so bad here in Japan that one of the machines I play on a lot had the shooter broken due to someone doing that.

    I see you have a lot of newer models (some that are still in parlors here) most of the foriegeners here really like the machines with a lot of mechanics to them, like the GARO machines, lupin the third (the model with the gun), or some of the hanemono machines. You should atleast add one or two of them.



    I really hope you can get a full size parlor going one day!

    -J

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    Blind Shooter danno66's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pachinko Parlors in The U.S.

    Hi Leo! I really am happy to be doing this again, I hope it works out. Our laws are amazing, the DBA rule is only because theres a problem with proving I am NOT a vending route, if I am a vending route I have a whole other set of rules which are really not my cup of tea so I have to get an exemption. To make matters even worse, if I ran a route and operated it out of an adjacent city, I wouldn't have a care in the world. This was originally my plan, to have the games one place and the office another, the problem with this plan is, everyone wants their tax share so I'd lose a lot of revenue, better to wait. I'll definitely be contacting you via email, I too was in the film industry but on the engineering side, eventually I switched to aerospace it's easier, better rewarded, but not any fun (thus the Pachinko and arcade!). Thanks for your advice it's really nice of you, I'll be in touch in a day or so today is a busy day at the arcade, I hate telling people no but without the completed signs and the rest of my chairs, the pachinkos will be dark today.

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    Default Re: Pachinko Parlors in The U.S.

    Wow! Beautiful, I'll order some soon, actually it makes a lot of sense. If I think back, there was a time in SFO I bought a large drum of 11mm bearings, these were unmarked and for about a month I had less theft (as in, the level indicator was not down an 1/8").. but eventually the old and new
    mixed so they went after them again. Gotcha! You know, I'm not an ogre, if someone wants a free ball to keep, that's fine. However, please don't take a lot of them, however if they're collecting, our sources are widespread so people will need to have every type. I guess it's like bottle cap collecting, gotta have the diet, regular, and cherry coke bottle caps.

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    Default Re: Pachinko Parlors in The U.S.

    I love to get an email like this! Thank You! I do indeed have counting mechs on each machine, they are not perfected yet because two of them are awaiting parts but by the time we open we will have them, I think a loyalty program would be great, I'd do it as an option, we run as a "Club" and membership although free, does not always sit well. There are quite a few people we have as regulars who do not want their name to be used or written on anything, maybe if I have enough prizes they'll change their attitude. Part of the reason for the scare is a lot of people get scammed and they may think I could lose or even sell their name and address, I treasure their trust and would never release it (and I hope I wouldn't lose it), we'll see.

    Wow! I had heard about coins being put in shooting knobs, I thought it was very isolated, one of the machines I received had a shooter which was sticking, it worked fine but it would stick sort of like it had no spring, the problem turned out to be there was some sort of Japanese credit card jammed in and broken off at points around the orbit, I fixed this easily but knew why they did it.

    I was so happy I didn't need a new shooter but then I had a temporary leg break off an adjacent machine, this ended up costing me one anyway (different title though), oh well, we did 10 days of work, 19 hours a day and towards the end everyone was tired and weak so it happened out of
    overwork versus being clumsy.

    Right now I have only pulled a few games out of the container, I also love the ones with the toys attached, I think this is because people like pinball and the more complex the playfield, the more they like it (example Star Trek Vengeance or Wizard of Oz come to mind, also Dialed-In)...

    When looking for cool machines I only found one in my container (but I only looked for 6), the one is Kamen Rider with the handlebars, it's a fun game and eventually I'll put it in during rotation, also I think I saw a Garo but it's very far back, now that I now this I'll make it a point to add at least 2 games of this nature.

    Everyone who hears about my place is wishing me well, I too hope I can justify growing it otherwise you'll see a large number of machines for sale out of my house hah.

    By all means, if you ever get stateside come and visit, I will be going to Tokyo later this year, it's for work but I added 2 weeks on the end, I'll be visiting Pachinko places and Anime Places as much as is humanly possible. When I come over I'd love to meet another fan, I'll let the community know when my vacation gets scheduled, it would be a nice way if you guys want anything brought over from the USA, glad to help out.

    Cheers -- Dan

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    Sandwich Shooter Goobie777's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pachinko Parlors in The U.S.

    @danno66

    that would be awesome to have someone else join me at pachinko. Let me know when you decide to come out. California is where I'm from, so when I ever come back I'll try to swing by. I have a feeling if you make your parlor bigger it would attract more people. Good luck on your business.

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    Default Re: Pachinko Parlors in The U.S.

    Just so you know, Pachinko World has a loyalty program as well. For every $20 tray they purchase they get a scan and a stamp on their VIP card. Once they've bought 10 trays their next tray is FREE! Also we have something Japan doesn't have, Progressive Jackpots and Hotseat awards! Whenever 5 or more people are playing our machines the wheel will spin about every 15 to 20 minutes. If it stops on the yellow wedge(Community Jackpot) then everyone splits that prize. If it doesn't stop on community Jackpot then someone will be a hotseat winner. The computer will select one of the machines that's being played(there's a number above each machine) and that player will win $5 to $20 in free play depending on how many people are playing. Here's an example of our screen when there's a jackpot winner and Hotseat winners:https://youtu.be/fIXO2Rk1kKk <- Jackpot winner and Different countdowns: https://youtu.be/Pl27VQJ-lGI Hotseat winner screen: https://youtu.be/s676RZPT8X4
    Last edited by Leorules; 03-20-2017 at 03:45 PM.

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    Blind Shooter danno66's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pachinko Parlors in The U.S.

    Wow!! The progressive is so cool!! I was curious about how
    California would treat this, the legal answer is: "unless you are
    operating on Native American land, it comes under the definition of a Sweepstakes and has
    a 1-5 penalty but if you
    Hang a monitor outside and make it free to everyone, then you can operate legally
    once a year provided you become 501 nonprofit"..
    Typical, our laws are nuts. In any case
    The graphics are awesome!! Your parlor looks beyond amazing.

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    Default Re: Pachinko Parlors in The U.S.

    Today I finished everything on the list, I'm waiting on my custom ball counter cart (have the counter) and I have 6 "insert Card Here" signs at the printers.

    So... I was playing all 6 machines as hard as I could with the help of staff, after about 40 mins I realized just how addictive this game can be.

    My machine was Transformers, what a cool machine, I also was watching Star Wars next to me, the guy got to level 3 and then hit a jackpot, he went crazy in a great way.

    What a wonderful game, I forgot just how good it can be. It must be amazing to see the parlors in Japan, I can't wait to go over there, I hope I don't
    overspend hah....

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    Default Re: Pachinko Parlors in The U.S.

    Oh trust me I love the parlors here. I am typing this message while I'm at a pachinko parlor. I like the community in the parlors here. The only thing you have to worry about is the shipping costs. Are our machines starting to be a hit ?

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    Blind Shooter Leorules's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pachinko Parlors in The U.S.

    So arcades there don't have progressive jackpots on their ticket games?
    Last edited by Leorules; 03-31-2017 at 12:22 PM.

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    Default Re: Pachinko Parlors in The U.S.

    In California outside of Los Angeles Incorporated County it would be legal, so arcades in Rosamond would be able to do it..

    My problem is, I'm also stuck with the local bylaws, if (or when) I get more than 6 machines, I'll apply for the waiver.

    I was advised about the city I'm in using a strip club comparison, sorry if this is offensive to anyone but it's relevant here goes...

    Los Angeles Un-Incorporated Areas: Topless and Bottomless
    Los Angeles Incorporated Areas: Topless
    Los Angeles Pasadena or Local Religious Areas: Pasties at best usually lingerie only

    This place has been wrecked for any types of arcade or pseudo-gaming activities because of the Las Vegas versus Indian Casino fall out, 10 years ago there
    was a vicious campaign and it was ended to someones satisfaction I guess, the problem being the laws were manipulated to make it go the way they wanted, these laws remain
    today.

    My suspicion is, if we weren't close to Vegas all of this would be a non issue.

    I know I could probably get away with doing anything I want however, I'm small and trying to grow big, it's best not to rock the boat until the boat is a giant cruiseship and even then I won't be 100% unsinkable hah they'll try to "titanic" me.

    The one thing I learned was that I needed to make this 100% safe on paper, I followed every rule and request made of me, I had to address a town council and also an
    irate group of religious people who for some reason, thought I was opening a gambling hall.

    These same religious people passed a law getting the slot machines which pay out arcade tickets removed from local arcades citing it was bad for kids and lead to a corrupt life
    as a gambling degenerate (those exact words).

    Hah Arcade operators know this trick but if they want used ticket slots, they pop up in large numbers here in socal at auctions...

    One day, I pray this legal mess is over and I can run a decent sized place.

    One thing I'm doing is to have gold balls with codes in each machine, the machine has a paper on the front which says what has been loaded in that machine (same on all of them) and the minute the prize is awarded, the machine lists on the front that the particular machine has paid the ball for the day so they would not be winning the gold ball prize.

    If I fail to post the disqualification, I get legal problems, I only am going to do this on off days because of the legality, it's a lot of undue work.

    It's cool you guys can award the prepaid visa card, out here thats the same as $400 cash, any place else it's a piece of plastic worth ten cents or something, they can
    argue actual value versus perceived value or something like that.

    All this trouble is supposed to make it not worth running an arcade, Pasadena also went after movie theaters, 8 years ago they won, then... they begged to get them back, very stupid... they want the city to be free of gang hangouts and bad areas, the tricks didn't work so obviously the problem is not the movie theaters and definitely not the arcades.

    I feel sad because the theater I proposed to my wife at is now a store, they had their permit to operate witheld 8 years ago along with 4 others, so much for good memories..

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    Default Re: Pachinko Parlors in The U.S.

    How is the parlor coming along man?

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