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Pachinko | PachinkoGame |
PachinkoMachine | Pachinko in Japan
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Pachinko is a
device used for amusement and prizes and is related to pinball machines.
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Pachinko Machines
Although originally strictly mechanical, modern
pachinko machines are a cross between a pinball machine and a
video slot machine. Pachinko is said to have been invented sometime
after World War II in Nagoya, though the date is sometimes questioned.
Pachinkomachines are widespread in Japan
in establishments called pachinko parlors, which also often
feature a small number of slot machines.
How big is the pachinko business in Japan? Well, it employs a
third of a million people, three times more than the steel industry; it
commands 40 percent of Japan's leisure industry, including restaurants
and bars; and with 30 million regular enthusiasts coughing up more 30
trillion yen a year (a higher turnover than the car industry), it's very
big business indeed. (Source:
Japan-Zone)
The player purchases a large number of
small steel balls which are inserted, in bulk, into the machine.
Originally, machines had a spring-loaded lever for shooting the balls
individually, but modern machines use a round "throttle" that merely
controls how quickly an electrically fired plunger shoots the balls onto
the playfield. |
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| The balls
then drop through an array of pins, and usually simply fall through to
the bottom, but occasionally fall into certain gates which make the
machine pay out more balls. |
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Most current machines include a slot
machine (these are called "pachi-slo"), and the big winnings are
ultimately paid not from the balls falling into gates, but from the slot
machine matches that follow. In many modern machines the balls have
nothing to do with determining winnings, which are based strictly on
electronic random number generators.
The winnings are in the form of more balls, which the player may either
use to keep playing, or exchange for tokens or prizes such as pens or
cigarette lighters. Under Japanese law, cash cannot be paid out, but
there is virtually always a small exchange centre located nearby (or
sometimes in a separate room from the game parlor itself) where players
can conveniently exchange tokens for cash.
Such pseudo-cash gambling is theoretically
illegal but from the sheer number of pachinko parlors in Japan it is
clear that the activity is at least tacitly tolerated by the
authorities. |
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Pachinko | PachinkoGame |
PachinkoMachine | Pachinko in Japan
Pachinko is a
device used for amusement and prizes and is related to pinball machines.
|