Jan Ball Arrange Ball

[Card Shark]

Anyone should consider themselves lucky to get their hands on a machine that you refurbished. I love seeing the posts of the machines you work on.

[emmadog]

Ah well thanks. It's not hard nor does it take any particular talent. Just takes lots of time and some simple techniques.
Still no word from the seller...
I was hoping to get more info from him. Could be that doing his research he came across this forum and thread as has happened before. If he searches "Jan Ball" this thread will come up. Maybe the machine doesn't work and he doesn't want to mention that for fear of it getting posted here and negatively impacting the auction. That's just SPECULATION on my part and the more people that ask the seller questions the better.

[Card Shark]

We certainly appreciate you trying. I am still very much on the fence on this machine. Just have to see what kind of mood I am in near the end of the auction.

[The13bats]

I'm obviously one of the big collectors mentioned. Probably the biggest. If there's a machine I really, really want then I'm going to do my best to get it. That's just business and these machines do get pricey and its unrealistic to think people will hold back for a much wanted item.
Having said that, I've given away two arrangeballs, one on here along with another just as rare power roulette on a pachitalk lottery. I've sold 3 and have posted many on here from CL and YJA which many people do not scan normally and likely would not have seen them.

I know I am some oddball here not a "regular" by a long shot I do not want to give the wrong impression at what I was saying,

I understand that be it obsession, a way to earn a living or all that there will be people who have large collections of whatever the item is.
I got all lost in the spirit of camaraderie The way I was seeing it there are not that many people here at least not that many doing most of the posts, in this case it's arrange ball, if we had a real show of hands who wants one and who can and will pay going rate what would be wrong with helping that small list find them a machine? I wasn't being realistic.

I do understand why any thing found is always going to get posted here. ( unless the finder wants it, lol )
Okay babble babble, what I was saying wasn't directed at anyone, in fact I know of collectors who never come here and since you have helped people get a machine then it sure doesn't relate to you at all.

Don't down play your skills, I had a great appreciation for the time, money and hard work your put into the green one that sold in the 600's I would have jumped all over it had it been what I was looking for, while you seem to feel you took a hit in the price, okay, I admit I would pay more for the one I want, this is like another hobby of mine, specialty cars,
Not so years ago people would cash in and almost retire with the right barn find, now the same corvette can be bought already restored to ncrs mint shape for a fraction of what was invested, the economy took a dive.
You said you had far more invested in green machine, but sadly I do find ebay a great gauge of the value of hard to find things in many cases, it does get world wide exposure and people who really wanted it had the chance,
I do collect the regular vintage machines and a few new ones, I will never collect Arrange balls just want one so while from time to time I second guess not buying your green one ( when I really want something I am like you I do my best to get it, in this case my bidding would have been way over the ending price )

It will be fun to see where bidding goes.

Sorry for any misunderstandings...

[emmadog]

No hard feelings and no worries. I do understand where you're coming from its just that the "problem" is capitalism. Low supply and high demand and then there will always be someone who wants it a little more, and then someone else decides to up the offer/bid etc.
As for myself in regards to pachinko well the vast majority of vintages bore me to tears. When do you stop playing? It just goes on and on and all the pockets do the same with a few exceptions. I don't get pachislot and I'd much prefer an antique Jennings or Mills if I'm going to play something slot oriented. And moderns don't interest me either. Basically it's a large LCD screen with a few pins, the themes are too cute, plus cartoony scantily clad prepubescent looking women are just too "to catch a predator" looking. No way I could explain one of those to my girl or my buddies. Not that that really matters. But hey that's just me and my ways. So we arrive at arrangeballs. The perfect combo of electronics, true pachinko playing, short games and the requirement of actually hitting specific pockets as opposed to just any tulips as on traditional vintages. Plus they pay out tokens or whatever you want and have some of the best cel graphics and funky, retro sound effects. So I collect 'em.

[The13bats]

I understand and thanks for being cool about it,
Years back I thought I would dig Pachislo hence tomb raider in my sig, but after owning them and playing after a fever I get bored, I actually have too many of them only because each I got was too cheap, I have bought them for 5.00 and like rabbits they are all over the place.

While I find something novel in each of my old vintage machines I never looked at the couple of modern ones I have the way you do, my wife digs them all, anime is a big deal in Japan.
Okay, I admit the modern ones after I have hit a fever are soso to me, I like he history of the vintage units and their themes are less of what you said about mod units and I dig working on them cleaning and repairing as much as playing.
And I had my first at 10-12 and really have been collecting ever after,

While I really want an Arrange ball I will not collect them, too much hunting, one good working one is all I need, and why my obsession?
Back in my late teens for years I played the 8 at the local game room, there is as you say something to try for and they keep score, my wife really loves to compete and that would be so much fun for us,

But the reason I didn't jump all over your green one is it wasn't what I remember playing which was most like what I see in galleries with "Miracle" "Challenge ball" on them, they were somewhat plain compared to some, but I second guess not buying your green one daily but for me sentiment plays far more.

Besides the Arrange ball I also am in the market to buy a vintage base ball pinball and bingo pinball, neither are hard to find, just waiting for ones closer to home,

[emmadog]

Hmmm the term "Miracle" I've only seen used on Satomi arrangeballs and some of theirs are very simple such as the Lion model which is probably my favorite machine and some more complex ones like the San Diego which has 4 solenoid controlled tulips that open and close 5X in an alternating fashion. Some or all of these may open depending on conditions. Unfortunately not many Satomis seem to have made it here to the States in comparison to Taiyo although the Lion is the most common arrangeball owned by members. The word "ChallengeBall" seems to be used mostly by the Taiyo Electron company and is just their word for arrangeball. Like Satomi, their early machines were very simple and then later ones incorporated more features like the green one I sold on eBay. Which BTW, the actual name for that machine is "Full Throttle 2".

[The13bats]

Go to Lt Teddys pictures Look at oly and giant, that is what I recall they looked like but I do recall some of them with that Taiyo Electron name but I could swear they were not so much plastic more metal but you know 30 plus yo memories, so that is what I would really love to find,
They were plain to some degree but I played them for years and they never missed a beat,
The game room retired them told me they were no longer money makers, I could have bought them but timing and life, I wonder where they ended up.

So were there any modern Arepachi?

[emmadog]

Those machines you mentioned are all mid 70's and are great.
The early 80's is when arrangeball production stopped and arepachis came on the scene which has more advanced features but still had the 16 pockets along the bottom. However, no tokens were used and balls were used as the payout.

[Moparformances]

, my wife really loves to compete and that would be so much fun for us,
,

if your intersted in a game that is Pachinko and keeps score you should also keep your eye out for a computer Pachinko... IMHO i think there the next best thing to an arrange ball

[Card Shark]

Mopar is right. My computer Pachinko is a lot of fun. They are just as bad if not worse though for keeping them working properly.

[The13bats]

What do the computer pachinko look like, do you mean the converted for bars and pubs kind, I have one, it's in a thread, doesn't work,
The board is so primitive I was going to replace it with a small laptop and write a prog for it...item 101
Let me go update that thread.
In fact I would believe that collecting arrangeballs could be rather frustrating, if they work great but seems if they dont then its 75% or better they never will

[Card Shark]

You are right about the Arrangeballs being frustrating to fix. Anything can be fixed but the costs can get very high. Just ask Emmadog. I know he has invested a lot in some of his machines.

[emmadog]

Here's my take based on the 18 or so arrangeballs I've dealt with. For the large majority of them, they all worked fine. Just a general cleaning and adjustment here and there. 3 I imported from Japan had been modified to not need tokens or pay in tokens. Easily corrected and not a problem inherent to arrangeballs or their design so those don't count. Another from Japan arrived with no computer boards unbeknownst to me and represents my biggest investment by far. That was an expensive undertaking to get fixed but again doesnt represent a failure or design flaw. My Satomi Lion had a couple bad resistors but still functioned properly. I sent the entire machine off to get fixed when it was really just a dirty micro switch that was causing the issues. Still sorta new to the game then or i woulda caught it. Since it was getting serviced I had a schematic made. Unless I'm forgetting one the only machine with issues when I received it is the Satomi Buffalo I'm wrapping up a restoration on. It had 3 bad IC chips which fortunately were easy to replace. I attribute that to many years being kept in a hot, humid garage.
I'm not familiar with computer pachinkos other than the posts about them on here but they proportionately seem to have many more issues.
However, all these machines can be fixed with someone with the right know how. They're very simple electronically and many of the IC chips are still available. So my invesentment in these is mainly represented by machine cost and shipping. Especially from Japan.

[emmadog]

Heard back from the seller. He flipped the low token micro switch which did turn the light out. He then flips the incoming token switch and hears a click from what he thinks is the circuit board ( almost definitely a relay ), then a light comes on and nothing else happens. In pic 10 of the listing what I think is the ball drop solenoid is visible. A long rod comes down and connects to the ball catch lever. There's something disconnected where the rod inserts and it looks like it may be the spring that keeps the solenoid shaft in the proper position until it fires. If that's what that is then the click noise at game start sounds correct since the solenoid plunger won't move. Just my theory since its hard to tell from the pics.

[Lt Teddy]

Wish I had my machine here so I could compare. If the light coming on is still the end game light which is on in the original picture along with the low ball light then it definitely has some problems. If he packages it and ships it UPS or Fed Ex, in my opinion, they will not give it any consideration in shipping at all as the drivers do not like the weight on these machines. If you buy you should pay the extra to take it to a pak n ship and insure it in my opinion. I am not sure but the last one I had any dealings a couple of years ago was about one hundred and sixty dollars to pack and ship.

[emmadog]

There's 2 separate lights in the upper right, a red one and greenish colored one below. The top one is the low token/game over light. On my machine the lower greenish one would come on and stay on during game play and blink each time a token was paid out. One day it stayed off and I just assumed the bulb burned out.

[Lt Teddy]

The lower one on my Jan Ball is marked game over and comes on after you push the game over button and stays on till the machine resets. That is what is wrong with my Dragon machine. It plays and lights the matrix but will not payout. On the jan ball I have here in arizona which is alot like that one which I call the silk road, the lights blink each time a token is dispensed. My Jan Balls lights come on only for the lit matrix and any balls that are in the pockets. When you start a game their are never any lights on. The lower light on all of my Jan Ball machines machines are off except the Dragon which when you reset the machine the eye of the dragon and the clearly marked lower game off light stays on. That is why I know it will not payout on the dragon is that the light shows the game over even when you restart the machine.

[emmadog]

Interesting. I figured the lower light was a sort of "game in play light" based on how mine was acting.
Good info.

[pachiwall]

Last second sniping got me. I bid $200...it sold around $202. I couldn't afford it...but I tried. Hopefully a member won it!