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FAQ - Pachinko
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If you're new to pachinkos, this is the place to start.
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Pachinko - Modern Day Operation
For those who are new to Pachinko it can be a little confusing about how to play and what to expect from your machine. To that end, we are providing a basic how-to-play description to attempt to answer any questions you may have.
Modern Day Pachinko
Often referred to in the American market place as "vertical pinball". As Americans understand pinball, this is an incorrect analogy. Both units do use steel balls for their operation but that is where any similarities end.
Modern day pachinkos come in a basic 3 variety configuration:
- LCD Video (Liquid Crystal Display) - Where the slot formation of matching 3 numbers is presented digitally.
- LED (Light Emitting Diode) - Where the slot formation of matching 3 numbers is presented by a series of small lights.
- Slot Reels - Traditional reels like a slot machine, some may actually have 4 reels.
Before Play
Load the top rear hopper with balls and the top front ball tray with balls. Then plug your unit into the wall and verify it's alive by movement or lights on the machine.
Shooting Balls
In modern day pachinko, the machine will allow you to either shoot only one ball or it will allow you to rapid fire. You simply load the top ball front ball tray with balls and turn the knob to the right. Without intervention by the player at this point the unit will rapid fire. Somewhere, and again this will vary with manufacturer, there is a button near or on this knob. Pressing this button will cause the balls to cease being shot even with the knob turned. By pressing this button and depressing this button while the shooter knob is turned you can control how many balls the machine can shoot.
Basic Play
The play of the 3 will vary but what does not vary is basic operation. The center pocket with the "wings" or "flippers" is called the activation pocket. It is this pocket that will activate the reels to spin, whichever type you may have. Once the reels have begun to spin, the music will begin to play and the lights will give you a nice light show. As an added bonus, when you land a ball into this pocket you will receive a reward of balls. This number will vary with machine but generally 3 to 5 can be expected.
All pachinkos have other, "outer" pockets. These pockets will also pay out like the center pocket. However these will pay out more. On average from 8 to 15 balls. While these pockets do pay more, they do not activate reels.
On the face of your machine somewhere near the center are four small lights. You will notice these lights coming on one at a time after a ball has entered the center activation pocket. These are your banked spin lights. You are allowed up to four spins of your reels "banked" or "stocked". The reels will continue through their sequence even if you stop shooting until all "banked" or "stocked" spins are complete.
How to Win
Just as with a slot machine you must match 3 to 4 symbols, be they numbers or pictures or whatever your particular machine uses in a row, across or diagonally. With a slot machine the items you've matched determine the payout, as "7" is generally considered a winner and takes you into a Big Bonus round. Three bar symbols conversely will take you into a Regular Bonus round.
In pachinko, matching any of the symbols or numbers will take you into a "Fever Round". A fever round generally consists of 15 rounds where you get 10 to 12 balls into the "trap door", a hidden pocket beneath the center activation pocket that will open once this round begins. You receive on average 12 to 15 balls for each ball that lands into this hidden pocket and once you have 10 to 12 landed, you move to round 2 of the "Fever Round". This continues until you have exhausted all 12 to 15 rounds on your machine.
Once in a fever round, pay close attention to the number of balls you have in your top rear payout hopper as this will be diminishing quickly. You will have a lot of balls to move as an average fever round will generate a payout of 1500 to 2500 balls returned to your top front ball tray.
Expectations
Expect your machine to:
- Be quiet during non play time. It will generally have a "demo" or "attract" mode but more often than not, these modes are quite silent.
- Be loud during play. Not only the sounds from the speakers but the balls hitting the nails and being shot. The shooter is mechanical and will make noise. Metal on metal, balls hitting nails will make noise.
- Be quiet as far as sounds from the speakers until you have hit the activation pocket. Once the reel spinning sequence is complete, it will be silent again.
This basic how-to is based on a "Parlor Ready" machine. There is also a variety of machines just now becoming popular here in America called "Cyclic". There are advantages and disadvantages to both and you have to determine for yourself which kind your prefer. Personally I like them both. What is different is the number of balls required to play. With a parlor ready machine, you will need at least 2000 to play effectively without reloading constantly. With a cyclic machine you only need 50 to 100 balls and you never have to reload the top rear hopper as there probably isn't one any longer. This is a major plus as you can concentrate more on the actual play since there is no down time reloading.
The disadvantage to a cyclic machine is your payout pockets do not payout. Since all balls shot in a cyclic machine return to the player, there is no point in having pocket hits send balls to the player. You goal solely becomes to hit the center pocket and spin those reels to win and get into a fever round. For some players this detracts from their enjoyment. While I can understand this, when my young nieces come over and want to play, I don't have to stand there and reload the top rear hopper all the time.
Pick a machine with a theme you like, theme is everything. Enjoy your new toy and if you have questions or issues please make a post and you will get answered very quickly by some of the most knowledgeable people in America.
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FAQ - Pachinko
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