Show Us Your Balls!

[Skydanz]

Ok, I know I'm new here... and I probably could have worded the title differently... but after reading hundreds of posts, I noticed there wasn't too many references to the cool little engravings on the pachinko balls. I realized that there must be thousands of parlors over the years and nearly all of them have their own special logo engraved on the balls. Each new/old machine I've picked up has had at least a few balls stuck in them somewhere and many times there are several different logos on them. While I haven't inspected every one, every now and then one catches my eye and then I find myself sifting through the tray to see what's new.

So I thought, and I could be wrong, that it might be kinda neat to post pictures of some of the rare ones (and even maybe some not-so-rare). I wouldn't mind knowing what the translation of the characters were and maybe even where they originated.

I will start this off with some of mine and if there is enough interest, I'll post more. After a little trial and error, I found my cameraphone took pretty decent photos with the balls set on a black background (black t-shirt) and indirect lighting on them. The flash would just wash out the logo. Please join me and post some pictures of your balls- pachinko balls of course. Keep it clean

Don

[ballsofsteel]

(Really) basic Japanese for Pachinko Buyers There are some links there that help with really basic translation for some markings.

[infiniteblue]

Funny enough, I'm going through all my balls and pulling samples of each right now. Not an easy task when you've got >2000 balls.

At some point, I'll be able to take a picture and will be back to show and tell. But for now, one of them is in my profile picture

[rubberratt]

WOW ! Nice Paint in the etchings. Nearly all of my balls have the paint gone, but some still have it

[ballsofsteel]

A few more...

[Skydanz]

Those are great! So what's your trick to painted balls?

[WondersPachi]

Ooooo, I had some swans at one point. Those are really cool! Vintage balls have some really great engravings.

[Skydanz]

Here's another batch. Nothing as cool as ballsofsteel's but interesting none-the-less.
20130422_152056.jpg

Don

[ballsofsteel]

Those are great! So what's your trick to painted balls?

No trick. They are what they are. For every 1 with a nice paint job there's a couple dozen with none.

[infiniteblue]

Everyone's balls are so much prettier than mine

...come on, you knew someone had to say it

[Moparformances]

Those are great! So what's your trick to painted balls?

they are blue from the factory

[Skydanz]

ok, Another little tidbit of info to mull around the grey matter. How much do the pachinko balls weigh? Here's a little video of a simple weigh in. I did a triple blind study and the best results occur when the weight of 100 balls are averaged out. Enjoy! You'd be surprised how few 100 balls actually is. I can hold 50 balls in one full hand.
20130423101230 - YouTube

Don

[jodini]

Thanks Don!

Yes, Don and I have been playing with our balls for quiet a while!

So it comes to be about 6 pounds for 500 balls for me. Just a tad over.
Haven't gotten a chance to sort thru my ball collection but what you guys have done is pretty cool! Love it!
Joe

[CarlW]

I've been using the following equation...

102 pachinko balls = 555 grams.

Sometimes I send 300 or 500 and it is easier to weigh them than to count them. I try to send 2% extra to allow for variation...

Only problem is that having a small digital scale is viewed as somewhat suspicious...

[Moparformances]

to solve the problem.. when counting Pachinko balls i use my modern machine and a Daverob dongle... nothing couts faster, better, or more accurate then a version 2 dongle ... just my two cents

i have mine set at 100 balls per push and its supper easy

[Ikaria]

[Skydanz]

Guess I'll have to get me one of them. Well guys ( and gals), no-one with any more pics? There's got to be a ton of different ones.

D

[ballsofsteel]

swiped this pic from a craigslist ad for an old single shot...