Parlours outside Japan?

[Scoresby]

I'm curious whether anyone has heard of any parlours outside of Japan. I recently found out about the machines and thought I might try to open a small parlour in Canada. Do you think there would be interest in other countries since gambling is actually legal here?

[luckydog]

you may need a casino license, unless they are setup full cyclic.

then just charge for playing time

[arbycoffee]

check with your gaming commission

[takethecastle57]

If and when you open I'll do a trip up there to play your machines

[hanabi]

Welcome to PachiTalk Scoresby!!




That's a really interesting idea, I have wondered why there appears to be
no Pachislo or Pachinko Parlours elsewhere in the World too...

Or if there are, they are keeping them VERY quiet

[Sid]

welcome to pachitalk...

There is a parlour open in Canada,

Happens to be in Manitoba as well..

Dishpan's Pachi Parlour!

[Scoresby]

Thanks for the comments and the welcome!

I recently played my first pachinko at a local Japanese restaurant where you could play for free as you waited to be seated. Needless to say, when my table was called I was kind of disappointed.

After I got home I did some quick research and decided to hit up the local parlor only to find there wasn't a single one in my city... or province... or country... or continent? I was fairly surprised at this seeing as how popular it appears to be in Japan.

At this point I considered opening a parlor. So far things are going fairly well in my quest for the pachinko parlor. I haven't found any info on my local gaming comission but I know that some bars have slots so I may not need a casino license, either way I'm sure there is a legal way to do this as long as minors (Age of majority is 18 in Manitoba) aren't allowed in. Since gambling is legal here, I won't need a next door exchange store. I've also found several importers of used machines which I think I'll be able to spin a deal with. I hate the idea of taking out loans so I'd have to start small, maybe 50 machines max but I've brought up the idea with some friends who say they'd be willing to chip in and one who even said he'd work there so who knows.

But there's a few questions I've thought of. 1. How do they count your balls at a Japanese parlor when you 'cash out'? Is there a machine counter or does it go by weight? 2. How much would you charge per ball? I read somewhere it's like 4 yen for one so does that equal around 4 cents? 3. I've read you can adjust how 'loose' a machine is, would you recommend starting high to draw people in and then tighten up? I've heard this is what Japanese parlors do when they get new machines.

P.S. I had to laugh at this comment "no Pachislo or Pachinko Parlours elsewhere in the World too...

Or if there are, they are keeping them VERY quiet"

I have a hard time imagining quiet pachinkos, the one I played was making quite a racket all on it's own!

Thanks again for the interest, I'll be sure to keep you guys posted with my progress (or possibly lack thereof)

[Scoresby]

Gah, my entire post just got deleted again, but Sid, I can't seem to find the place you mentioned either online or in the phone book. Do you know the address?

[MrGneiss]

Other than the gambling and legal issues you may encounter, one thing to remember is that very few people outside of japan know what a pachinko is or "get it" so be prepared for confused people...plus it doesn't help that everything on the machines is in Japanese written and spoken, so that doesn't make things easier!!

One other thing is that while machines are relatively easy to get cheap, I'd think all the ball handling/counting/cleaning equipment could be expensive or hard to get shipped??



Good luck and keep us posted!!

[MrGneiss]

Sid is just being a nut (as usual) and referring to our very own Dishpan, a PT member!!

Our most obsessed Canadian Pachinko addict!!

[drcrippen324]

could you work around a casino licence wiht the same principle as chucky cheese ect by fitting a ticket driver running on the pulsed output from the machine then you just redeeming tickets for prizes ???

[compirate]

Like MrGneiss said, the support equipment for pachinko would be expensive/hard to obtain. Might be better to start with pachislo as they're free standing. A common coin counter can be adjusted to count tokens. People could come to the counter to get their tokens or you can get a central token dispenser. If you use all the same type token, it would be better to prevent someone from coming in with other tokens to play. You could exchange for cash, but better would be a Dave and Busters type thing where the tokens are exchanged for prizes (get a lot of cheap stuffed animals and stuff), or people can have the option of one or the other.

One possible alternative with pachinko would be to have the machines fully cyclic, with the upper tray covered by a piece of plexiglass. A counter could be attached to the machines that would count 'wins (I believe Gaku, a member here, has a nice counter for this purpose). A coin operated timer would start/stop the ability to shoot balls. Then, when the person is done, they press a button, making a light flash on the top. An attendant comes over, writes out the person a receipt and with a key, resets the counter. Kinda arcade style.

[dishpan]

welcome to pachitalk...

There is a parlour open in Canada,

Happens to be in Manitoba as well..

Dishpan's Pachi Parlour!

Shhh! I was trying to keep this vewwy vewwy quiet so that the wife doesn't find out.

[arbycoffee]

[Sid]

Shhh! I was trying to keep this vewwy vewwy quiet so that the wife doesn't find out.

You mean your wife doesnt know your in Manitoba!!!

[dishpan]

We originally settled in Saskatchewan but were slowly pushed across the border by the ever growing stack of Japanese Pachi "Crack".

[jwegger]

Sometime in the early 70's there was a small parlor in downtown Las Vegas. It had from my best recolection about 50 machines. I do know that it didn't last too long as we were there all summer visiting my grandparents and when we went back at Thanksgiving it was closed down. If I remember correctly it was near the Golden Goose casino.
On a side note, I was downtown for the first time in many years a few months ago when we took my son to Vegas for his 21st birthday and was very disappointed to see that many of the smaller casinos downtown were either closed or turned into tourist shops.

[Meathead]

Vegas used to be a bargain. Not anymore. Unless you visit places off of the strip, you'll be paying top dollar for everything. The markup on stuff as simple as souveniers is sometimes 5 or 6 times what you can purchase it for off the strip. Meals, lodging, everything has gotten outrageous there.

[janbari]

I dont see why you couldnt make a parlour outside of japan, you'd definately have to choose the machines you put in carefully though as with the whole japanese language thingy as mentioned above.

As for in japan when you cash in, they put the balls through a laser counting system, not mechanical as dusk and stuff could effect the counting and people get crazy when you dont count their balls right.
You then recieve a receipt which you take to the counter and you then recieve your money value in gold which is sealed in plastic containers and with any odd balls you can get some snacks/candy. You then take the gold in plastic to another building usually right outside and convert the gold to cash.

The fact that the conversion from balls to money isnt direct and isnt in the same building is how parlous in japan get around the gambling thing. i'm sure it would be the same overseas but i think you would have to know someone who knows the laws well because i can imagine there are loopholes and so forth.

If you do make a parlour i will visit! And bring a camera crew and all to film and promote your parlour to the japanese pachinko community! People here would love the idea of being about to play pachinko overseas!!

[daverob]

If anyone is considering opening a Parlour outside of Japan, make sure that you know all the local gambling laws that might be relevant (and preferably take professional legal advice first) before investing any money in your venture.

Just because gambling might be legal in your area doesn't mean that there isn't a whole load of rules and regulations that you have to follow (and inevitably taxes to pay!). For example here in the UK it would be very difficult to open a parlour, as there are strict regulations on the value of the stake and prize and the payout percentages that machines have to comply with, and machines must be proved to comply with the rules for a particular category of machine before they can be used. Something that would be very difficult to accomplish without direct access to information from the manufacturer, and they would only be likely to release this kind of information if you are going to buy lots of full price brand new machines from them.