For Sale - Gaku's Pachicounters

[MrGneiss]

If I'm remembering correctly everyone was always telling Gaku (pachislo dealer extraordinaire) to start selling pachinkos, but he didn't really "get" pachinko..didn't really think it was fun..so thats why he designed his cool Pachinko Game with scoring and such..

[musky]

Do you still have any available?

Yes I do!! A few hundred at least.

[musky]

If I'm remembering correctly everyone was always telling Gaku (pachislo dealer extraordinaire) to start selling pachinkos, but he didn't really "get" pachinko..didn't really think it was fun..so thats why he designed his cool Pachinko Game with scoring and such..

Yep, it was something like that but he was worried about small children choking on the balls, thats why he came up with his system, he really would have sealed the whole thing if he could. The fact that his system didn't give an actual count and the cost was pretty high pretty much killed it from the get go, I have a couple of his original game systems and a couple of custom ones that do give an accurate count, and I must tell you, they are pretty sweet!

[p.opus]

If I'm remembering correctly everyone was always telling Gaku (pachislo dealer extraordinaire) to start selling pachinkos, but he didn't really "get" pachinko..didn't really think it was fun..so thats why he designed his cool Pachinko Game with scoring and such..

It's all about the balls... Win as many as possible... For vintage machines, you can get away with putting 500 to 750 balls in a machine and play on. For moderns, 500 balls gets you almost nowhere (especially in fever mode). So if you own a modern, you either have to deal with handling 1000 balls or more, or modify the machine to be semi cyclic or cyclic so that you don't deal with them. But once you modify the machine to by cyclic or semi cyclic, then the balls become no longer serve as currency. So what do I do? Use a counter like Gaku's to become the new currency.

I have two vintage machines that have just over 500 each in them. My goal is to "break the bank". That is when I put all the ejected balls back into the jackpot hopper, the machine still shows a low supply tray. That means I won.

So why do I want the counters? I want to keep running score. I don't want to count all my winnings after each time of breaking the bank and start over. The Gaku counters are great for that. I can play for an hour or more and see what my "score" is. All without counting my winnings. Does this mean I mean to turn my vintages cyclic? No, not likely. But it does mean that I'm fine with 500 balls in each machine...

[Card Shark]

I prefer games that keep score or allow you to "win". This is why I love my Computer Pachinko and Arrangeball. This is also why I have been converting my PowerFlash into a type of Computer Pachinko. The Game Carl came up with is the next step in that evolution. My modern machine is a lot of fun but doesn't really allow me a way to keep score easily. I will be working next to try and incorporate a GAKU counter on it to hopefully give me a better scoring system. I am really hoping to find a way to add one of Carl's games to it after getting the GAKU counter to work and set it up so people will be able to compete on the machine. I have not converted any of my machines to cyclic, however adding the ball lifter to my JAWS machine made it much better. I think I will probably be adding a lifter to the PowerFlash as well.

[p.opus]

Don't really know much about these or what the designer was trying to do, but the simple cure would be to count the drain instead of the shooter. If it hits the drain, it counts as a shot. If it hits the jackpot, it counts as a jackpot and a shot.

Yes, I had thought of that but the range of the sensor is only approximately 1/2 inch or so. Also, if more than one ball passes the sensor simultaneously, it can't pick them both up. These two issues make putting them on the exit chute problematic.

Putting them at the beginning of the launch race like you see in the pics is more accurate, but again, undershot balls do present a problem. If you simply use the wins value, then you can just keep score and ignore the balance display and balls shot display since you are simply counting how your wins.

If you are most interested in your "net" winnings (wins minus balls shot) then you need to be careful not to undershoot the ball. Again, I simply chalk it up as a penalty point. Sure, you don't lose the ball, so you have another opportunity to shoot it, but you do lose a point in your score.

But really these are nitpicks. I got mine today and they are neat pieces of tech for the price. Very little work necessary to setting them up. The instructions are pretty clear and if you can solder two wires together, you've got it made.

Hell, I paid more for a ball bucket than I paid for these.

[musky]

Glad you got them ok, I guess the CD worked ok for you? Enjoy the counters!!

[p.opus]

CD was fine. I simply printed out the instructions when I got home and went to work. The reset push buttons are very heat sensitive. I ruined one of them trying to solder a wire to it. My fault. I'm going to radio shack today to pick up a replacement. Other than that, they came fast, everything was there, and it was shipped amazingly fast.

Thanks...

[CarlW]

From the data sheet for the FAIRCHILD - PHOTOTRANSISTOR REFLECTIVE OBJECT SENSORS QRB 1134 QRB 1133;

... the nominal (optimal) distance from the reflective surface to the sensor is .15" (3.81 mm).

If a pachinko ball is 11 mm in diameter; the nominal distance from the track or ramp below to the sensor is 11 + 3.81 = 14.81 mm or 9/16".

I forget who asked the question!

Fairfield_QRB1134.zip

[browne92]

Another thing I would do differently is narrow the passage where only one ball could pass at a time, and use an emitter on one side, and a detector on the other so the ball has to break the beam. I'm not real crazy about the reflective pickup idea. But, again, I'm not familiar with the design or implementation of the counter.

[p.opus]

I have found that the counters are very accurate as they are. As long as the sensor is properly installed it catches all the balls that go by it. I am sure there are possibly better ways to perform this. But there are not many ways that are as financially reasonable and easy to install.

I got the counters installed in the machine in less than an hour and that included all of the soldering. The sensors are fairly small and can be easily positioned on my machine.

Considering one kit cost only 10 bucks plus shipping I could not have imagined setting up counters for that reasonable a cost.

Gaku's Pachicounters may not be the most accurate way to count balls in and out of a machine, but they excel in three areas.

1. Ease of Installation
2. Cost Effectivess
3. Accuracy.

That makes them a winner in my book.

[pachiwall]

A pachicounter question. The 3 dip switches. Gaku's instructions say "don't change". I know one of them changes how the shot sensor reads. What does each switch change? I could play with it, and figure it out...but so many other "important" things consuming my time. I have seen at least one thread where this has been discussed...but can't find it.

[Wayne-Ooo]

In the Default Setting, (all 3 dip switches down), each ball that passes the pay sensor counts as 1.

By putting the dip switches in the UP position, you can count each ball as 5, 10 or 15, depending how many dip switches you put UP.

[pachiwall]

Thanks WayneOoo! Still adjusting sensor placement. I'm looking at a dual track payout zone. Was hoping that one of was X2, so I could "see" 1 ball and register as 2.
Once I get my camera/tablet fued handled...I'll post pics in my "pengun" thread.

[Wayne-Ooo]

I have a couple of machines that I converted to play points only. There are 2 different channels for the balls to exit. One channel is for the lost balls and the other is for the scored balls. All the balls return to the shooter tray.

The balls that enter the start pocket and pay pockets get counted by the win sensor and are scored at 5 points apiece. The lost ball channel has no sensor, so they won't be counted.

These are great machines for younger players or someone who just doesn't want to mess with any type of ball management. Like I said, all the balls return to the shooter tray, so all you need to know about playing is just turn the handle and you never run out of balls or have to refill anything or move balls around.

It seems like they understand the points scoring system, much better than ball management.

[musky]

Ok, life got a little crazy for me and my presence here has been dismal to say the least. Sorry that I have missed some requests for the counters. Bad Musky, bad bad musky. I still have some left and if anyone is still interested then PM me. I will be checking in on a regular basis, promise!

[takethecastle57]

Bump ,any more Gaku Pachicounters left musky ?

[LJB]

I'm interested

[ruddog800]

I would like 4 Gaku counters