Interesting Parity in my modern machines.

[p.opus]

A week or two back, I was in a discussion with others on this forums about the differences in "lite" and "normal" models of pachinko machines and how even though the "lite" versions paid out more frequently, Lower odds => More frequent payouts but lower Jackpots Higher odds => less frequent payouts but higher jackpots. Despite these differences, overall the machines were all set to payout identically in the long run.

I was feeling a little sad because while I love my Yamato machine, I was convinced it was "tougher" because it was so hard to "get ahead". My Star Wars, I was convinced was much more loose because I had won so much more on it. So I decided to pit each machine in a 10000 ball challenge to see how close they would come. I wasn't sure what an adequate sample size would be but I figured 10000 balls would give us a large enough sample to note a trend.

Here's some Stats for my Yamato And Star Wars Machine:

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[TR] [TD]Model Name[/TD] [TD]Yamato[/TD] [TD]Star Wars[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Date[/TD] [TD]2007[/TD] [TD]2005[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Manufacturer[/TD] [TD]Fuji[/TD] [TD]Sankyo[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Bonus Odds[/TD] [TD]1/99.3[/TD] [TD]1/496.5[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Kakuhen (Big Bonus) Continuation Percentage[/TD] [TD]65%[/TD] [TD]68%[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Bonus Rounds[/TD] [TD]7[/TD] [TD]15[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Minimum Payout Door duration per round[/TD] [TD]8 balls[/TD] [TD]9 balls[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Payout door payout per winning ball[/TD] [TD]10[/TD] [TD]15[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Minimum Total Bonus Payout[/TD] [TD]560[/TD] [TD]2025[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Post Bonus Chance Mode duration[/TD] [TD]30 spins[/TD] [TD]100 spins[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Balls per "Wing" pocket hit[/TD] [TD]5[/TD] [TD]3[/TD] [/TR]

The specs of these two machines couldn't have been more different. The Yamato clearly being a low odds "lite machine" and the Star Wars, a typical "high odds" "heavy machine".

The Yamato was clearly the odds favorite to enter a bonus round by a factor of 5, but lagged behind by nearly a factor of 4 on total payout each bonus round, had 3% less chance of continuing in Kakuhen mode. In chance mode, the Yamato was clearly outmatched only lasting less than 1/3 the number of spins the Star Wars did.

Also the Star Wars machine had the advantage of having a 5 ball "tulip" vs a 3 ball tulip which makes a huge difference in chance mode. The Star Wars also had two start pockets not counting the "tulip" and 4 10 ball non-spin pockets, whereas the Yamato had only 1 start pocket, 3 10 ball non-spin pockets and a 5 ball non spin pocket.

Overall, I gave the Star Wars an edge because the bonus rounds and playfield elements were tilted in it's favor. I Did not realize how close the actual numbers would turn out.

Here are the numbers
Balls Shot: 10000
Balls Won Yamato: 10605
Balls Won Star Wars: 10896

The Star Wars barely edged out the Yamato machine by less than 3 percent. My impression was the Star Wars was much more loose, but this did not turn out to be the case. I failed to remember those long dry spells between bonus rounds. It's the dry spell that made it so close. Had the Yamato had but one additional fever round, it would have edged out the Star Wars. Of course a Star Wars fever would have heavily skewed the numbers in the Star Wars favor.

It's apparent that pachinko manufactuers have honed this out to a science, and it appears that regardless of the type of machine you play or who makes it, you're going to get similar payouts. Like another person mentioned, however, it still all comes down to the house nail bender. The machines themselves appear to ship out of the box with very similar characteristics, and some luck and a talented nail bender is going to play the biggest role in whether or not you walk out with a wad of cash or without a shirt on your back.