Whats the point???

[sharmoni]

I was first attracted to (vintage) pachinkos as a kid, because they were weird and I wanted to know how all the pockets worked. When I bought one for myself last year I found I was more fascinated by the simple elegance of the mechanics, especially with the very early vintage machines.

I like playing for just a few minutes, trying to zone in on the right pressure for flipping the lever to get a few jackpots. It's a nice break from whatever I'm working on.

The newer machines don't appeal to me as much because it takes longer to really get a good fever (and then you have to scramble to keep the trays emptied and loaded), but they do appeal to my desire to win big. And the sound and lights are pretty exciting.

What's not to like about pachinko? In the late 90s, 50 million Japanese—about a quarter of the population—were playing it. Here's a great research paper on the physiological effects of playing: http://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/ahs/18/2/37/_pdf. Stripped of all it's med-speak it basically says that getting a pachinko "Fever" payout creates feelings of euphoria similar to a "runner's high." No duh!

[mudfud]

thanks sharmoni for the article. my endorphins thank you, too

[kmhamel]

I’m in agreement with DaveRob, pachinkos are Japanese art. No place in the world has created anything similar. The Japanese have blended the metaphysical with the modern. It’s like meditation, the lights, and music focus your attention on the little metal balls, as they rattle down the pins. The videos brake your attention away from the balls just enough so you don’t zone out completely and sit all night in a daze. When not being played, they turn into animated modern art. Some are weird, some are beautiful, and then some are darn right ugly, but then beauty is in the eye of the beholder. When I play pachinko, it’s a time of relaxation, I do anticipate the reaches and fevers, but I can forget about the hassles of the day and just focus on the balls. I have found that my friends divide up into two group. The first group is the “tinkerers”. They are the ones who look at the world and say, hemm….how does that work, what if I did this, or say “hey maw look what I can do”. These people sit down and are hooked almost instantly. The other group of friends are the “bored”. They need instant gratification. They look around and can’t find anything to do, and the idea of doing anything is work. The idea of sitting in one place for an hour, watching the little metal balls is shear torture. I have found that the older you get, the more you enjoy the little things, and the beauty around you.

[mudfud]

thanks kmhamel. that is my experience, too.

I think it's time for a new book... the ZEN of pachinko

[pinball wizard]

i am also amazed by the people who don't get pachinko,or even know that it exists.last fall,i had a carpenter helping me work on my house.after we finished work for the evening,i invited him down to my gameroom to play pinball.this guy is a serious gamer,both in pinball and video games.he saw my vintage pachinkos hanging on the wall and said:what in the f### are those things?i explained what they were,but he didn't seem to care.if he would have taken the time to try them,he would now probably own a few himself.

[Dragonfly]

First for me is that I love Japan, they are such a wonderfull people, kind, relaible and a great feeling for design, they give my life more value with the greatest pachinko machines you can imaging...

Every time when I hear there is a new pachinko machine out in Japan I`m getting excited and it seems that the more machines they release the better they get.

When my order arrives, for me it is just like Santa Claus, every package contains a new machine and can`t wait to open them and turn them on, looking to the design, lights, graphics and listen to the sound.
But it is not just new machines it`s also searching on the internet to get more and more information about each machine, phonecalls to friends and customers, sharing experience with other pachinko lovers is also a part of my pachinko life.
Selling machines is nice, but I love my product and not just because they sell ok.

Love to clean them so that they look like new, discover any new technic, installing transfomers, test and playing them and finally place then in my showroom waiting for my customers to see how they react when they see there new toy.

Sometimes people visit me just out of curiousity, some look weird and do not understand what it`s all about, I try to explain in the best way I could tell them what a pachinko is and does, of the many people who visited me, only 2 people walked away and didn`t want a machine.
The weird thing is that when people see my pachilso`s they walk straight to the pachinko`s and say: "pachislo`s are just gambling machines" and don`t even play them, while a pachinko is almost the same, other people walk away of the pachinko`s and prefer to play the pachislo`s, some like both, this means everyone got a different taste, and I never discuss this with my customers.

For me pachinko has a strange kind of attraction, once your infected with the pachinko virus there is no way back you want another one and another one..remembers me of a friend of mine who just bought one pachislo, after that another one, then a pachinko and another pachinko, I believe he has now about 6 or 7 machines and still looking forward to new machines.

I also got a strong feeling that more and more people discover pachinko
according to the number of people who visit me.

Personal I think that if these machines were hanging in the pub and you could win some money on it lots of people knew what a pachinko is.
Dutch gambling machines compared to a pachinko machine look rather dull and boring, still if you play with your own money every gambling machine would be more attractive and exciting.

I don`t like it when people say: "oh your the one with those Chinese things "

Anyway this is my story what attracts me on pachinko machines, they are so cool.

Regards Dragonfly

[garfield]

For me Pachinko is fond memories of three years I lived in Japan as a kid.
I rediscovered pachinko last year and since then have started collecting them.

I now have a collection of 8 of which 5 are vintage. 6 of those are in storage and only my Santa Monica and Hanabi are operational and are on top of a cubboard in our living room.

I don't play a lot, (no time) but will turn on the Hanabi, just for the display and colors.

[JACKSJE4]

well stated!!

[fronzdan]

Selling machines is nice, but I love my product and not just because they sell ok.

Love to clean them so that they look like new, discover any new technic, installing transfomers, test and playing them and finally place then in my showroom waiting for my customers to see how they react when they see there new toy.

That is my dream job...

[Moparformances]

I was first attracted to (vintage) pachinkos as a kid, because they were weird and I wanted to know how all the pockets worked. When I bought one for myself last year I found I was more fascinated by the simple elegance of the mechanics, especially with the very early vintage machines.

I like playing for just a few minutes, trying to zone in on the right pressure for flipping the lever to get a few jackpots. It's a nice break from whatever I'm working on.

The newer machines don't appeal to me as much because it takes longer to really get a good fever (and then you have to scramble to keep the trays emptied and loaded), but they do appeal to my desire to win big. And the sound and lights are pretty exciting.

very well put Sharmoni

this is how i feel Vintage is the only way to go... absolutely nothing beats a vintage.. something about newer machines that i cant get into?? might be cause i have never hit a fever with them??

fixing and making a vintage machine working is an amazing felling.. to know that machine was in someones house for years and they couldn't get it working.. then within 20 mins of getting it home im playing a new collectible...

most of my friends dont get it either.. dear in the headlights and a cordial hummm that's neat ... but any of the kids if have shown them to cant stop playing..

nice thread

[candyflip]

Tell those unbelievers that, simply, until you have played one of these things crammed into a 30 feet by 30 feet room, jammed up against other players, with all the lights, sound and RUSH of a real parlour, they will never understand.

In a way, playing 'unattached' machines is an oddity - they were never meant to be appreciated away from their 'home' parlous like we do now. Disconnected from their feeding tube (parlour ball system), they do present a somewhat disconcerting image to the uninitiated I suppose. A problem that Vegas slots and pinballs don't have.

However, the basic gameplay reamins the same and certainly any pinball player can 'get' pachinko or pach-slo within just a few minutes. The rest...well, they can discover in their own time, if at all.

I would maintain the line that owners of pachinko and pachi-slo machines in the West are part of a rare club of private individuals who own, operate and maintain gambling machines that belong in another world. It is a privilege to see one outside of Japan, especially in a functioning way, and that they are very uncommon outside of their home country, although they are found on near-every street corner in their homeland. The history of Pachinko alone is enough of a hook for most laymen, but the fact that you have an actual fully working model in your own home is both rare, and an experience that many of your visitors will never know.

If they don't get it after that, they probably never will.

[Tarnish]

I've found the easiest way to describe pachinko to the unwashed masses is by starting off saying that it's like Plinko from The Price is Right.

EVERYONE has seen that played and everyone has been glued to it by wondering, "Oooh, which way is it gonna fall ?"

Pachinko is even better cause the Plinko players only get a maximum of 5 shots at it.

I've still never played it and have to wait another 2 weeks to even try, but I'm stoked enough to have invested in 5 machines.

That said, I know what I like.

[JMSVERO]

I am an engineer and I bring work home often. Sometimes I am trying to figure something out and get totally frustrated. I will walk away to the games room and play some pinball, pachislo or pachinko and shortly thereafter I am unwound and ready to go back to work. I couldn't tell you how many times in the middle of playing, that the answer I was looking for, popped into my head. I will finish the game before I head back to work though. You have to have your priorities.
Jeff