Ethernet port in the back of pachinko...

[thcrw7391]

I didn't think about asking this till now, but i noticed there is a ethernet port in the back of my pachinko machine...What was it used for and can it be used for anything now, like software updates etc? Thanks...

[Peteybob]

The port was for use by the manufacturer and/or the parlors in Japan as a comunication port. Perhaps even the Japanese gaming authority to verify aspects of the machines. I haven't read of any use of it on the hobby level.

[thcrw7391]

Thanks i figured it was something like that...

[FrogFortyFive]

I would think all the new machines would have one. It would make it a lot easier to manage your parlor.

[daverob]

It's not ethernet, or any other common communications protocol. The socket is too small for an ethernet cable (socket is a 6P jack, ethernet is 8P).

It's a proprietary, encrypted, point to point serial protocol, more similar to I2C or SPI than any networking protocol. There are readers available that can connect to this port to verify that the firmware/software running on the CPUs that control the gambling aspect of the machine is original and hasn't been modified to affect payouts.

This allows police and any 'gambling regulators' to walk up to any machine in any pachinko hall, connect a reader to this socket and get an instant verification that this machine hasn't been modified to cheat the players.

The CPU's connected to this port are one time programmable, so while this port could be used to read out the software/code stored in them (if you knew the protocol and encryption used), you could not use it to perform any updates (unless you had replaced the chip with a new blank one!).

At the time I was researching this connector (a good few years ago), there was a Korean company that produced re-programmable clones of this chip. So you could replace the original chip with one of these clones, and then alter the payout maps in the software to change how the machine behaved. The 'official' reason was that machines that had been exported from Japan could be modified so that their stakes and prizes would be compatible with local gambling regulations, but there was a lot of concern in Japan that these modified machines would find their way back into pachinko halls and cheat the players.

The Korean website no longer exists (which is a shame, as it contained a lot of interesting information about the internal operation of pachinko machines, and how the machine determines wins/losses/reaches etc), and the social media accounts of the guy who ran the site have been dormant since 2012.

[thcrw7391]

Thanks for the run down

[Peteybob]

Yes thank you daverob, very informative as always