Hokoku Pachinko Rescue
Yesterday, I went to take a look at some pachinko’s that we for sale. The seller and I had communicated through email that he wanted to sell his 2 machines that were in his attic. Prior to arrival I had received some pictures of the machines he wanted to sell. Both vintage, one a new gin with a dog/seal center feature, and one that was a Hokoku?
I have seen newgins before and one with the same center feature, but the Hokoku was quite interesting. The back of the machine does not resemble the common “B” type mechanics that are seen every day. After attempting to do some research, the only thing I found was mudfud’s 70’s Hokoku videos on YouTube, and Jeff’s 50’s video. The same story when searching the site, not much information there to work with. Needless to say, this got me pretty excited knowing I was going to take a look at the machine in person and see how it works.
When I arrived to take a look at the 2 machines, he said his son had found another one in the attic; it was the sibling to the hokoku! The original hokoku that I had pictures of, which I will refer to as H1 was in decent shape, dirty, missing a few covers, missing the shooter spring, bent levers and broken leaf switches, but mostly intact and fixable. The other machine, H2 was missing the glass. Upon examining the carnage, after the glass was 3 broken tulips, a missing win pocket, pretty intense water damage about the pins, bent nails, and as luck would have it, a stiff shooter spring! Overall the back has most everything there except where someone tweaked the leaf switches and cut out a chunk from the center.
Long story short, I worked out a deal for H1 and H2 because I have a feeling that making parts for this machine will be more difficult than average. I said to the seller, if someone only buys H1, you will never be able to sell H2, they almost have to be sold in a pair. My goal is to start with H1 and use H2 for reference and parts if need be. The backs of the machines are almost identical, as well as the lower tray in the front. Their differences are in the ball play tray and the playfield. I believe I have all of the pieces for at least 1 clean and working machine, and we will see where it goes from there.
Okay anyone ready for some pictures??
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