How did it happen?

[p.opus]

Ok guys, how did you all become such Pachinko addicts.

My story probably started when I was 7 or 8. My parents got me a Mattel Slingin' Slots for Christmas. It was a pachinko like machine that used coins instead of balls. You launched the coins into the play field and watched them fall through the pins to either the dead coin area, or a payout that would either pay out 2 to 1 or 4 to 1. If you were lucky you could hit a jackpot and get like 10 to 1 from a separate jackpot hopper.

I played that game to death.

I had also always had a fascination with pinball, especially the EM machines. I loved pinball as a kid and always wanted my own machine. Never was able to save up for it though. I had a few table-top models and cheap toy pinballs, but always wanted the real thing. I also loved slot machines as a kid and my uncle had a little slot machine that I loved throwing tokens in and hoping for a payout.

A neighbor had an old Nishijin 'A' recycler with the external front tray overload. He found it why he was stationed in Vietnam and brought it back with him. That's when I was first exposed to Pachinko. I just loved watching the balls drop and the jackpot hits. Pachinko had some of the coolness of pinball and the payout of slots. It was a perfect storm.

Around that time frame, Pachinko's started showing up in Sears catalogs and a Pachinko Palace opened up. As soon as I saw them, I knew what I wanted. I asked my dad and step mom for a machine, and it was one of those "all I want for Christmas deals"

A Pachinko was perfect because it was small enough for my room, and didn't cost an arm and a leg. Our house had no place to put a full sized pinball machine so that was out of the question.

My dad bought my step sister and I our own Pachinko machines for Christmas and promptly regretted it I'm sure. Mine was a Nishijin "B" Shark Diver model. I still have a fondness for that machine, but to be honest it's center feature was a little simplistic. Still, I played that machine to death all throughout my teens.

When I graduated high school and went to college, I didn't bring the machine with me. Then I went in the Navy and lost track of it. My dad either still had it or my mom did. Anyway I'm sure one of them got rid of it.

I still have the desire for a real pinball machine, but my current housing situation (3rd floor apartment) and their high cost have made such an item prohibitive.

I was recently thinking about Pachinko Machines again, and started browsing Ebay and was floored by how much people were asking for them. The affordable ones all looked like hell, and the halfway decent ones were several hundred dollars before shipping.

So I figured I'd look on Craigslist. Lo and Behold, someone had a LOT of pachinkos for sale, and within 25 miles of me. Well, I just had to check them out and ended up leaving with two of them. I was tempted to get an electric he had for sale, but I knew nothing about them. I had grown pretty familiar with my Nishijin "B" growing up, so I figured I had a better chance getting a vintage one working instead.

Boy am I glad I did.

So, there's the start of my addiction story. It looks to continue as I finish up the clean up on my Nishijin A, and a neighbor has a pachinko in his garage that he says has been their since the 60's. I can't wait to see it and I may have to see if he'll part ways with it.

So, guys, how about your addiction stories? How did you become hooked, and why pachinko of all things?

I look forward to your stories.

[sanyoman]

I had an uncle who passed away recently. He was a "lifer" in the Air Force and served in Southeast Asia, lived in the Philippines for many years, and was very immersed in Asian culture. When he returned to the states he had a couple of pachinko machines in his rec room. I played them a few times with my cousins, but remember thinking there was no point to it, and that it wasn't as much fun as pinball. My uncle told me that it really wasn't a game for kids. I remember that he was really upset when my cousins used most of the balls for their slingshots and lost them - apparently replacements were not easy to come by back then. I didn't see another machine or even give pachinko a thought for many years after that. My wife and I started an antique shop business before we had kids. Every once in a while I'd see a machine - usually in very poor condition, no balls, no instructions, and typically the owner would have no real idea what it was or how it worked. I liked the aesthetics of the machines and considered buying them just for decoration, but it was really the Internet & eBay that got my interest up in finding a working machine. I have been a guitar collector for many years and have done a lot of buying and selling on eBay. I began to see that there were working machines out there and people who had knowledge. I exchanged email with a pinball guy who told me that in his experience many pachinko machines were, in fact, not broken as the owners thougt but simply did not have enough balls to work or the owners lacked the knowledge to reset them for play. He gave me some tips on what to look for and soon after I scored my first vintage pachi! I brought it home, cleaned it up following instructions I found online, bought some balls and...it promptly jammed. Determined to make good on my purchase, I dove in and did some repairs and had it working after much trail and error. My wife and I played it for hours after I got it working reliably and after that I was hooked. What seemed pointless to me as a kid makes real sense to me now - I guess my uncle was right. Vintage pachinko just seems so...perfect. It is delightfully "Rube Goldberg", challenging, and exciting. I am trying to learn all the history I can. THANKS PACHITALK for satisfying my thirst for information about vintage pachinko. I love reading the translated info for Japan about the old machines, designs, and origins of pachinko and the culture surrounding it.

[luckydog]

I used to go to the local flea market and 2 guys were selling pachislos. whenever I stopped to look at them they gave me some tokens to play

I didn't really like them that much til I hit a bonus on their Gung Gung pachislo and I was hooked

I won a Glogo13 on ebay and before it was delivered I had bought 3 others on ebay!!

members here were talking about how great pachinkos were, thats when I saw one one ebayer with local pickup I had to have it.

It was my first love a Y & O Nurse Betty or Hospital pachinko, I still have it

my collection grew to 40, but I have whittled it down to 8 pachislos and 8 pachinkos

[MrGneiss]

I think my story is in one of these threads..

How'd you get into pachinko/pachislo?

How did you get hooked?

[hanabi]

Good question

I think mine is in one of those threads too

Maybe both

[Card Shark]

I started out with a co-worker looking for some outdoor furniture for his deck. I had just put new furniture on mine and had a bar and some stools that I wasn't using and told him he could have them. He said he didn't feel right not giving me something in return and asked if I would want a slot machine. I thought it would make a cool addition to my poker game room so I took it.

It was an older pachislo in really good shape.



I fell in love with the machine and wanted to learn more, that is what led me to this site. I have been addicted to the machines ever since. I have had around 11 different machines since. 4 of which I have sold and 6 are in my game room. I have tried to keep some variety in my collection. 1 Modern Pachinko, 1 Computer Pachinko, 1 Arrangeball, 1 PowerFlash and 2 Pachislos. I also have a Hanemono that I intend to go over thoroughly and sell.

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[takethecastle57]

1st to the Fun Addiction of Pachi's ! I started wayyyy back in 1976 when I got a model B "Castle" or "Royal " vintage and was happy until 1981 when I sold the 2 I had and joined the U.S.Army and didn't think that much about the machines until 2002 when I was brought back to active duty and had some extra $$$ and checked Ebay and got the old "Royal" back and working on my own . I have at last count around 7 Vintage and 20 + Modern Pachinko's but I haven't played any of them for a while cause of some things coming up but maybe sometime soon I will get one of them setup and play it for a while