What not to buy into on eBay.

[Tulsa]

First let me preface with I think pachinko_pallace is a great company and they deliver on their product. Now I've read a whole lot of BS in my day on eBay ads but this one has simply got to take the cake.
It's for a Hanabi Hyakkei...

Here the claim of only 7 sold last year is trite at best but in this ad they claim that only 550 of these machines were ever manufactured. Now I don't own one myself and can't check a serial number but.. HUGE BUT... It doesn't take rocket science to know they aren't going to go through all the R&D and tool up to manufacture a particular machine and only run 550 of them. Basic economics.

Would someone with one of these share your serial number?

Here's the text from the ad. I've highlighted the BS portions in red. There may actually be other portions that are BS but since I don't have this machine I can't say.

Link to auction

Here it is.... I'm going to find Al Cappone next... I first saw this model while sipping my rice noodles and drinking a beer in the Ginza.... When I saw it... I thought I had better put the beer down... This model is so rare, only 7 were sold on Ebay in the entire year of 2004!

Here was the most amazing and revolutionary model in Slot Machine History... As you can see there is a holographic projector that not only covers the entire reels... but it also functions as a full color LCD video screen and is 18" on the diagonal... !! Now.. keep in mind that these holographic LCD's are even more expensive than your computer flat LCD monitors... and that an 18" LCD computer monitor is over $550... That is why this machine is the most expensive ever made... this retailed at close to $8000... and there were under 1000 ever MADE..!!!! This makes this model of slot machine... not only the most expensive... but also one of the rarest EVER. I had to beg... plead... and buy several rounds at the Karaoke bar to get my hands on this one... and you are looking at the 1st and ONLY model ever to be sold on Ebay...

Video Clip Here


The holographic images float over the reels... fireworks dance as you play... and the jackpot is just flawless.... simply the most impressive I've ever seen. The Hanabi and it's twin Neo Planet... are the only two slot machines ever to have this technology. You just have to see it in person. The other interesting thing is that the holographic images are a representation of the 4th of July celebration in New York City. Apparently programming was began prior to 911 so you can clearly see the Trade Center in the display... Yet another thing to make this machine all the more collectible.

I can also tell you.. that since only 550 were made... and the hardware alone is worth 5X more than the average slot machine... you will not see this slot machine on Ebay for long.. This is the last one that we have in stock. This is a brand NEW model... I predict that this model will become one of the most sought after in Ebay history. These were only made in limited numbers and production has finished. Now's your chance to own slot history. Good luck...

[ZCore13]

OH MY GOD!! Tulsa, you've seen the light. I've been saying the same thing for the last year and you've always "poo poo'd" me. They lie in almost every add, some even worse than this one. Welcome back from the dark side Luke!

[johntofva]

The serial number on mine is : 109521

[luckydog]

maybe they forgot a few zeros on that total.

my sinbad adventure is serial number 041993,

[Tulsa]

Somehow Z I knew you'd be the first to respond to this! LMAO!

Yes, I have made many attempts to look past things in order to support our good vendors but there is just so much blatant BS in this ad I could no longer justify it.

When it's really trivial like how many sold.. Eh.. I really don't think anyone is buying for this reason. However, once we get into talking about the number manufactured it's a whole new ballgame. This is blatant misrepresentation of the product and has to be brought to light.

As John just showed us, his serial # is over 100,000. That's hardly 550!!!!

Jeez, I really think Sean their copywriter has gone off the deep-end on this one.

[johntofva]

"... This model is so rare, only 7 were sold on Ebay in the entire year of 2004!........
.............you are looking at the 1st and ONLY model ever to be sold on Ebay..."

Ahhhhhh...........don't these two statements contradict each other.

[Tulsa]

If you look closely at the portion under the title on the ad it says only six were sold in 2004.

[johntofva]

:lmao: If you are going shovel :bsflag: , shouldn't you at least proof

read it. Like you said though, it is a great company. I can only assume that

he was "sipping his rice noodles and drinking a beer" while typing the ad.

[Tony Junior]

I'm going to play devils advocate here.

Is it possible the ad WAS true, only written when they first got the machines in?

It's much eaiser to copy and paste an ad with a lot of graphics in it than it is to rewrite it, even though rewriting shouldn't be THAT difficult.

[Tulsa]

In a word, NO!

The ad was written this year as it's clearly showing what was purportedly sold on eBay in 2004. Since everyone and his mother were selling these machines last year to even slightly assume only 6 or 7 (since they can't make up their minds) were sold is poetic license at it's highest form.

The ad also states it is their last one in stock. So if this is true and I say a big IF here since I can find no other actual factual statements in that ad, then this was written most recently. If it was copied, then they've been selling their last one for a long time now.

[logicprobe]

Somehow Z I knew you'd be the first to respond to this! LMAO!

Yes, I have made many attempts to look past things in order to support our good vendors but there is just so much blatant BS in this ad I could no longer justify it.

AMEN!

Our leader has seen the light, and heard the call.

(I'll bet you thought I'd be the SECOND one to respond, right? I would have been the first, but was gone all day yesterday!!!)

The BS copywriter didn't just go over the edge... they've been running this crap, and crap just like it, for a LONG time, and I'm sure cheated (YES... CHEATED) people out of their money for quite a while. False advertising is cheating. It's wrong. It's ILLEGAL. PERIOD!!!

As I pointed out before (and also been poo-poo'd) , there are other things you can highlight in red from that ad.

A) There is no "holographic projector". Only R2D2 has one of those. It's a transparent LCD.

B) The LCD is NOT 18" on the diagonal... it is 15". The full reel glass itself if 18" diagonal, but all of them are. When I asked them PERSONALLY about this, I was told, "18 inches or 15 inches... what's the difference?". And my reply was, "THREE INCHES". Now the TRULY sad thing about this, is that other dealers that typically DON'T BS have followed with this BS. Perhaps they figured that this exaggeration was accepted, and might help them boost their selling price somehow. It only proved to weaken their credibility in my own mind. Lies are lies.

C) It is NOT a fireworks celebration over New York, and those are NOT the Twin Towers. Anyone that has that machine will tell you that there at least 3 or 4 sets of skyscrapers shown in that intro. And anyone familiar with the NYC skyline can tell you... that AIN'T NYC. You'd think a dealer that close to NYC would know that!!! 9-11 was a national catastrophe. People that milk that disaster for the sake of a few dollars, where human life was destroyed by madmen on our own soil... make me sick.

Their ads have been BS for a long time. Only one other dealer exceeds the level of crap they throw. There's a line between creative advertising and lying, and they both cross it... not just with a step, but with leaps and bounds. It's one thing to be a wordsmith, and a whole other thing to be a liar.

*RANT MODE OFF*

[dattia]

I'm so glad to see that no one has a strong opinion on this matter.......

[azlew]

What gets me that even our best dealers continue to claim that Japanese Pachislos come from Casinos. We have tried to prove this correct and all we have ever seen is that they are from PARLORS ! Casinos are not allowed in Japan. Yet most of the dealers call Pachislos SLOT MACHINES from Casinos. Some continue to even claim they come from Cruise Ship casinos(another one we have tried to prove)

What would happen if these we advertised as Japanese Pachislos ?

[Tulsa]

What would happen if these we advertised as Japanese Pachislos ?

We would all faint from hearing something we've not had dished up to us before. The truth!

Hmm, now that I'm apparently "back from the dark side" I should change my avatar!

[RKnarr01]

Azlew,
I contacted my guy in japan and he has never heard of these being on cruise ships either so that basically confirms that its a myth

[johntofva]

Hmmm.............Just checked, they sold 7 within the last month using pretty much the same ad.

[dattia]

A new avatar for Tulsa's return from the dark side???.........perhaps he could find a "Cuke Skywalker"

[dattia]

Ok, I thought it was funny.........

[logicprobe]

A new avatar for Tulsa's return from the dark side???.........perhaps he could find a "Cuke Skywalker"

LMAO!!!

LOVE IT, DATTIA!!!

[Tulsa]

And here it is..

http://www.storewars.org/flash/index.html