A visit with an old friend
Last month (6/27/08) I took a little trip to Willis, Texas to pay a visit with Gaku and pick up Death Valley pachislo. Gaku's reputation in the Pachislo world is widely known and his machines and service are hard to beat. What is not so widely known is his vision in the pachinko arena. As some of you old timers know, Gaku spent a lot of time developing his Pachinko system, a fully cyclic game fitted in a custom seamless laminated cabinet with a custom designed Pachi-Counter system to keep track of how bad you are doing. I my opinion, it was an Americanization of pachinko, a simple to understand approach with great game play and no fuss. You just turned it on, reset the counter, twist the knob and hit the start pocket and watch the fun as you go and reach for a fever round. Sadly, Gaku's vision never really took off, he built a few systems at great cost but at a time when pachinkos were being dumped into the market at $80 or less Gaku's systems were too rich for the average buyers blood. Gaku has sold his remaining inventory of pachinkos to another dealer and this brief chapter in pachinko history will soon come to a close.
But, I am happy to say that I am a proud owner of one of Gaku's Pachinko Systems, The Spiderman sn. SP0001, and let me tell you, this game is a blast. Even my wife, who has really not cared much for pachinko in the past enjoys it. Why? Because of how simple it is, no handling balls back and forth. Her first time playing she hit multiple fever rounds and won 15000 "balls" . The digital counter keeps track of how long you have played, how many balls shot, how many won and how many lost.
The pachinko purist will frown on the system, the games are heavily modified and the digital payout system is defaultly set at 10 balls regardless of which pocket you hit. But remember, this is a simplified system for the masses who may not fully understand all that is pachinko. It is not for the purist although he would no doubt enjoy playing it.
The systems are true to Gaku's professionalism, well designed and built like a tank. Every aspect of the game is there from the battle reaches with Spidy's foes to the red web action feature of the game. The major difference is in the digital payout being set to 10. But that can be easily changed with a dip switch setting. Set it to 1 and see just how good you are big boy! The original wooden frame is incorporated into the cabinet and laminated as well. Power is supplied by a really beefy transformer with a detachable power cord (3 prong grounded like used on PC's). On top mounted into an etched name plate are the Pachi-Counter, reset button, on/off switch and volume controls. All in easy reach and neatly done.
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Originally Posted by compirate
I didn't ask about the counters. I have one on my Freddy vs Jason which gives me an actual count of winnings since I have it tied into the payout system of the machine. Keep your eyes open, there may be a chance to grab history.
