1971 Mizuho eBay Pachinko Machine
This post is the second part to my previous post, so you can check that out for context
Anyway, this post will talk about the Mizuho machine that I bought off of eBay a few weeks ago. I would like to thank the PachiTalk community, especially GameXGame (he even has almost the same machine in his avatar), for helping identifying the year of my machine and teaching me some basics on using the machine!
The story actually starts from last week, when (thankfully) FedEx delivered the machine to me in one piece (no broken pieces of plastic or plexiglass). It arrived inside packaging for a bed frame and a ton of broken styrofoam (this will be important later!). The first thing I did for this machine (as I do with many vintage items) is to disinfect and clean with Lysol disinfectant and some alcohol so that I can at least touch the dirty machine. Of course, I was careful not to put alcohol in delicate areas such as the wood. I also can finally take a look at the date sticker up close now:
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Not so sure if it says "1976" or something else, I just hope GameXGame is correct on this.
Afterwards, I began testing the machine. I had a set of 600 ball bearings from Amazon to test with. In hindsight, I should have bought real pachinko balls, but at the time, that is what I had on hand. When I tested the shooter, at first, the balls were jammed, but with a little bit of cleaning and some effort, I was able to get the shooter working, though it lets two balls at a time at the first shot before using one ball at a time (not sure if this is a problem or not). When I tested the jackpot balls holder, it keeps getting jammed, but then I realized that the styrofoam from the packaging is stuck inside the jackpot transport, so I promptly removed the styrofoam using compressed air and now it is OK. The balls went through the jackpot holes OK, even the single tulip near the bottom works OK. The "center change" attraction was OK too, although the top most hole (the orange hole) does not fit through with my set of balls and the jackpot only triggers occasionally (this is the "hindsight" part...), so assuming it is the balls, I returned my set of balls to Amazon and decided to replace them with real pachinko balls for triple the price.
In the meantime, I focused on the jackpot lights. The seller was correct on the electrics of the machine, which did not work. It consisted of a really old 4 AAA battery holder, two lights, and a leaf switch to turn them on if a jackpot is won. The leaf switch was kind of messed up (which might be the reason why it did not work in the first place) and so I bent it in a way that the two metal bits will make contact again so that was an easy fix. The lights were also pretty easy to fix too. I simply replaced the original incandescent bulbs (one was working, but the other did not) with white LEDs and the 4 AAA battery holder with a modern 2 AAA battery holder. Now the lights are working:
I also took the time to 3D print a Pachinko ball tray:
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In hindsight, this was slightly too small for the 750 balls I ordered. It might be more like 500 balls. If you guys with a 3d printer are interested, you can download it here.
Afterwards, I now focused on a stand for the pachinko machine so that I don't have to hold it while using it. I simply slapped on two pieces of oak at the bottom of the machine and some braces to strengthen it. It works great:
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Although, when my mom saw me carry it around, she suggested that I should put some wheels on the oak pieces so that I don't struggle carrying it around every time I use it. It is heavy, so I took her word and reused some casters that my mom removed from an old bed frame that we had while cleaning the house together. It works awesomely and now I don't have to be Hulk Hogan every time I carry this around. Moms do know best!
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Just today (as of this post), I received my pachinko balls from the mail, I had 750 of them to play with, more than the 600 ball bearings I've had. The balls now fit through the orange center change hole and a jackpot is won every time!
And now, I have a working 1971 Mizuho Pachinko Machine for around $170! The ball shooter jams occasionally, and it still shoots out two balls at the start, but it is working alright!
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Originally Posted by Moparformances
