Where are the vintage pachinkos?

[Rival]

Believe it or not, I know the answer, for the US at least! After running google analytics on my website for the last few months, I finally have a large enough sample of visitors to tell where the interest (and ergo, the machines) are located. There were no real surpises for those who buy machines. Here are the top 10 states in the US:

California: 16%
Illinois: 8%
Texas: 6%
New York: 6%
Indiana: 5%
Florida: 5%
New Jersey: 4%
Pennsylvania: 3%
Michigan: 3%
Washington 3%

Worst places? North and South Dakota.

California makes sense, this is where they arrived in the US from Japan. Illinois, heck, thats Chicago, home of arcade games and pinball. Texas, well, Pachinko Palace set up shop there, and besides, Texas is just HUGE! The rest, well it sort of makes sense with the great-lakes area and arcades, boardwalks and whatnot from the 60's and 70's, and in Florida, people from the great lakes brought them with them when they retired.

I really don't get Washington state though. Not sure why any would have ended up there.

At the least, I have some interesting demographics that actually tell a little story.

[JACKSJE4]

Interesting statistics. I have a searchbot set up to scan craigslist daily for pachinko machines all across the U.S. and Canada. I find the majority of machines for sale are located in California (Bay area and L.A. basin) or Oregon. Texas would be third on the list.

(Not a scientific poll; just my personal observations)

[owennewton]

I wonder if the ports in Seattle may have something to do with Washington having a large number of machines.

I have seen a lot here in Orygun that people brought back or had shipped bu a friend/family member that was over seas. The two Kyoraku machines I have had all my life were shipped here by one of my moms coworkers that has a son in Japan at the time. I think he sent around 100 to the states in 77, most were Kyoraku or "different" models that he scrounged for and he sold them for $25 shipped and sold balls for 10 cents each.

[mxfaiman]

Of course the most are in California. (I'm hoarding them all )

Hey jeff that search bot thing you were talking about sounds cool. Where do I find that? I'd like to use it because it sounds way faster.

(Also your right about them in LA basin area. I'll probably be going to pickup another one in long beach on sunday.)

[JACKSJE4]

Hey jeff that search bot thing you were talking about sounds cool. Where do I find that?

There is a sticky at the top of the Craigs List forum that offers tips on searching all of craigslist. Post #7 has the details about using a searchbot.

http://www.pachitalk.com/forums/crai...-one-time.html

[Moparformances]

coastal ports are where the machine were brought

sanfrancisco bay
LA docks
seattle docks..
chicago
texas etc etc

also states with large military bases make sense as well

[mxfaiman]

coastal ports are where the machine were brought

sanfrancisco bay
LA docks
seattle docks..
chicago
texas etc etc

also states with large military bases make sense as well

Port of Long Beach not LA. Long beach port is where most were imported. (or in San Diego) Most companies were based in the LA - San Diego area. Manily why they are so abundant here in California.

[kurisu]

Hey guys, new to this forum. I wonder if the stats included Hawaii since Japanese have a major population there. Anyways, you guys have a lot cool stuff posted, I'm looking forward to getting my first machine pretty soon.

[mxfaiman]

Hey guys, new to this forum. I wonder if the stats included Hawaii since Japanese have a major population there. Anyways, you guys have a lot cool stuff posted, I'm looking forward to getting my first machine pretty soon.

There probably wasn't many sent to Hawaii due to the fact that there aren't many big ports there so no companies really want to be based there. Also it makes it difficult to ship machines to the rest of the states. But it could have been possible to have a few that were shipped over there.

p.s. If you need any help with a machine or anything I'm not to far away from San Diego. (I'm in the Irvine area)

[Moparformances]

Hey guys, new to this forum. I wonder if the stats included Hawaii since Japanese have a major population there. Anyways, you guys have a lot cool stuff posted, I'm looking forward to getting my first machine pretty soon.

Welcome to Pachitalk

[SteveFury]

There seem to be a fairly constant trickle of fixer-upper vintage Pachinko's to the Atlanta CraigsList. Some are predictably outrageously expensive but some are more reasonable.

[kurisu]

There probably wasn't many sent to Hawaii due to the fact that there aren't many big ports there so no companies really want to be based there. Also it makes it difficult to ship machines to the rest of the states. But it could have been possible to have a few that were shipped over there.

p.s. If you need any help with a machine or anything I'm not to far away from San Diego. (I'm in the Irvine area)

Oh cool, you are pretty close, I actually ended up buying a machine off craigslist. I told myself I would try to make a good decision and not buy the first one I looked at but when I saw it, I had to have it. It took me a while but with a guide I found online but I think I got it working. It isn't in the best shape, but like probably most of you guys, fixing is half the fun. I only got about 60 balls though, any tips on where to buy some, looking to buy 500-1000 depending on how much it would be. Thanks.

Thanks for the welcome moparformances.

[emmadog]

eBay.

[JACKSJE4]

Search ebay for the seller goldenstatetraders1. He is located in So. Cal and sells balls fairly cheap. If you can get them shipped for .05 or .06 cents per ball after shipping costs are factored in, then you got a good deal.

Welcome to the forum and the insanity...er...hobby.

[Microbus99]

There probably wasn't many sent to Hawaii due to the fact that there aren't many big ports there so no companies really want to be based there. Also it makes it difficult to ship machines to the rest of the states. But it could have been possible to have a few that were shipped over there.

p.s. If you need any help with a machine or anything I'm not to far away from San Diego. (I'm in the Irvine area)

I sort of disagree. I believe they werent imported like in the 70's but I remember them as a child in the late 60's and early 70's. My Father was stationed in Japan in the late 50's, early 60's and talked about how crazy Pachinko Parlors were. Of course many of them were probably veterens who brought them in. I grew up in Hawaii.

Several of our neighbors in Kona on the Big Island had them. I can only imagine there were many others who were stationed at Pearl Harbor got their hands on them. I was a Navy brat because my Father stayed in Hawaii after his term of service. How many are left would be an interesting statistic.