During Tofugu’s trip to Japan this year, I decided to give pachinko a try since I was finally old enough. I put in my hundred yen coin and my eyes glazed over as lights flashed, a screen lit up, and little silver balls bounced around.

I didn’t understand a damn thing that was going on, but I won a small prize and decided to retire at the top of my game.

As we’ve written about a bit before, pachinko is a huge industry in Japan. It’s raked in incredible profits over the years, and played all across Japan. When we visited, we saw people lining up at pachinko parlors before they’d even opened.

How does the pachinko industry keep people interested? After all at its core, pachinko is an extremely simple, not very interactive game. But to keep this multi-trillion yen industry afloat, the industry has a lot of incentive to keep players entertained.

Technological Advancements

The backs of pachinko machines from the 40^s and current day

The podcast 99% Invisible recently did a really interesting story about the evolution of slot machines in the US. What started out as a one-armed bandit has turned into a monstrous, complex, computerized machine that uses sophisticated algorithms to slowly bleed people of their money.

When I thought about it, I realized that the same thing has more or less happened with pachinko machines.

They started out simply enough. Even I could probably build a pachinko machine the way they were built in the early days. Get a wooden board, hammer in a few nails, drill a few holes, and you more or less have an early, primitive pachinko machine.

But if you crack open the back of a modern-day pachinko machine, you’ll see something that looks more like a computer than a woodworking. Circuit boards, wires, and power supplies line the inside power the modern pachinko machine.

The site Vintage Pachinko has a great visual history of pachinko machines from the 40^s to current day, showing both the front and the exposed back of the machines. It’s astounding to see how the electronic parts and circuitry grow exponentially over the decades.

Flashing lights and speakers on machines catch a player’s attention. Features like rapid-firing pachinko machines and motorized handles let players go through balls quicker (and therefore spend more money), and the math behind the placement of the nails within the machine have gotten increasingly sophisticated.

The technology is only one half of the equation. The variety of the machines, whether it’s the branding, the type of game, or the price, also play a big part in bringing in players and keeping them planted in front of the machines.

Variety

You can only do so much with technology; at some point, you have to go beyond the circuitry and appeal to customers in other ways.

Branding

Pachinko machines are cycled out of parlors at an astounding rate, not only to keep up with technological advances, but to also keep up with the current cultural trends too.

In Japan, I saw lots of pachinko machines that branded themselves after pop culture staples like AKB48 and the newest Evangelion movie. Foreign franchises get their own pachinko machines too, like Western movies or Korean dramas.

While your everyday pachinko addict probably doesn’t care too much if some pop star is staring back at them while little metal balls bounce around the machine, they appeal to hardcore fans and might draw people into pachinko parlors who otherwise might not be there.

Plus, it gives the parlors a sense of being current and relevant. See, we know what the kids like! AKB48! Now who wants to play some pachinko?

Games Within Games

If you don’t have the licensing rights to stick a celebrity’s face on the front of your pachinko machine, what else can you do to differentiate your game? For one, you can add on new functionality.

You’ll see a lot of machines nowadays incorporate slot machine functionality in to pachinko by using the screen in the middle of the machine. Balls landing in certain spots trigger the machine to start spinning and basically start another game altogether. It’s like a game within a game!

There’s also variance on how much you can bet on a machine. Balls for a pachinko machine vary in price a little bit, the way that slot machines do—you might have slot machines that take quarters, but there are also nickel and penny machines too.

Same goes for pachinko. Per ball, prices range anywhere between ¥1-¥4. The lower prices can lure in players and cause them to accidentally spend a lot more money. The difference in price may not seem significant, but when you tally all of the balls that players go through in a typical game of pachinko, it really adds up.

There’s nothing wrong with playing a little pachinko here and there; hell, some people are actually about to make a living out of it. But just remember that a multi-trillion yen industry has spent decades designing machines to keep your butt planted squarely in front of a pachinko machine for as long as possible. Have fun!

Read more: The big business of Japan’s pachinko parlours, History of Pachinko

Bonus

Some lovely animated GIFs and wallpapers from our illustrator Aya. Enjoy!

Wallpaper (1280×800)
Wallpaper (2560×1440)

Animated GIF (700×438)
Animated GIF (1280×800)

A Brief Synopsis of the Game

To start off, let’s explore what this wacky game is all about in the first place. Pachinko is both a form of recreation as well as a gambling device so it’s pretty comparable to slot machines here in the West. Pretty much anywhere in Japan you’ll be able to find a pachinko parlor tucked away someplace.

Pachinko machines look kind of like a vertical pinball machine, but once you shoot the ball into the thing you have no further control over it. Once the balls are in there, you just have to rely on luck and chance that they’ll end up where you want them.

If the balls go into these desired locations, something will happen that will give you the opportunity to win more balls, usually some sort of slot machine type game that shows up on the screen in the middle of the pachinko board. The object of Pachinko is to obtain as many balls as possible, so getting good slot machine rolls is a must.

The balls you win from Pachinko can then be exchanged for prizes, which in turn are then exchanged for money. The reason for this two step process is because directly gambling on pachinko is illegal. Pachinko balls cannot be exchanged directly for money in the pachinko parlor, so the balls are exchanged for small prizes (sometimes tokens), which can then be taken to a separate establishment nearby and exchanged for money there.

No, this image has not been photoshopped.

The Japanese government estimates the annual revenue of the pachinko parlor industry to be about ¥29 trillion or so (~$378 billion). This is approximately four times the total profit of world-wide (legal) casino gambling each year which is pretty impressive if you ask me. How much of this revenue is Koichi responsible for? You don’t want to know.

How to Play Pachinko

Depending on the type of machine, there will be different areas to shoot for and different ways to win more balls. The video below will give you a decent idea of how it’s done (you can just ignore the part at the end about slot machines, unless of course you’re into that sort of thing, Koichi).

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhoAdoBQsYc#t=0m17s']

Hopefully that cleared things up a bit for you. For a great visual guide on how to play (more pictures, yay!) you can check out this handy guide from Pachinko-Play.com.

More Pretty Lights and Bright Colors

Modern pachinko machines are highly customizable which keeps Koichi pachinko addicts from getting bored with them. There’s always some new video game or anime coming out that can be used for a pachinko machine theme. Some of the modern designs and themes are pretty cool. Just take a gander at some of the videos below to get a better feel for the atmosphere of pachinko.

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNxdiul3CQ4']

This is more or less what’s it’s like entering every pachinko parlor during peak hours. It is loud. With all those pachinko balls rattling around and the noises from the machines, it’s a surprise more pachinko addicts don’t go deaf in both ears.

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbuacFinzTI&feature=fvst']

And here’s some more random shots of pachinko parlors for you to check out. I only went to one pachinko parlor in Japan when I was there and it didn’t take me too long to lose ¥1,000 worth of balls. Koichi has played more games than I have, but then again he does have a *cough* gambling problem *cough cough*

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3n2cAvZZPXM&feature=fvst']

Like I said, many pachinko machines have some sort of theme, like a video game or an anime. This one is Lupin the 3rd themed. The one I played on in Japan just had some generic ocean theme with fish, seashells, and mermaids.

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODsbhYKAI0M&feature=fvwrel']

As you can see, pachinko machines certainly have come a long way. This machine is from the 1940s and it’s certainly a far cry from the machines of today with all their bells and whistles. Oh what a hard life Japanese pachinko addicts must have lived back then.

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz01xNBG3xI&feature=topics']

And just because I know some of you out there are wondering, this is how they count all those pachinko balls up when you go to obtain your prizes. Pretty speedy, no?

Pachinko Commercials

But of course, how can we forget the pachinko commercials? Some of these pachinko commercials are, uh, pretty weird. But don’t take my word for it, just see for yourself.

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKV1fTCWcQ8']

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly5DfLqT1yE']

Some of you may remember the above dude from one of our earlier posts about One-Joke Wonders. This is Kojima Yoshio, and that’s just how he do.

And of course, no pachinko post would be complete without including the ones featuring our dear and beloved Nicolas Cage. Please enjoy.

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYkw-5htPw0']

So tell me, have any of you had the opportunity to play pachinko? Did you win anything? Have any protips for the rest of us (or desire protips from Koichi)? Leave your thoughts in the comments!

Saturday Timewaster is a weekly post that features Japanese videos, music, images, or games that will certainly waste your time (some weeks more than others). We hope you enjoy!

[Header Image]