There are pachinko places all over Japan, but I have seen them disappear from smaller towns in recent years. I live in Nagoya and didn't know that pachinko originated here. The nationwide pachinko companies advertise on TV. I tried it once, with 1,000 yen, 25 years ago. I lost the 1,000 yen but gained the knowledge that it wasn't much fun and that I wouldn't do it again.
this craze overwhelmed my family's Los Angeles home in 1965 when a cousin in the Navy came home from Vietnam via Japan with one. We all got hooked for about a year till coming to our senses, whew!
I find it crazy that this game is not popular enough in the US to sustain business. Maybe with American themes and american language they would be more popular?
Slot machines in the west pretty well fill the niche pachinko machines have in the east, just with direct payout instead of the rule-skirting trading of balls for prizes then trading the prizes for cash employed in Japan. Closest thing to it over here are ticket redemption games in arcades, which is pretty well kiddie gambling when you get down to it. Pachinko does have a decent following in the west, as many thousands of machines were imported from Japan to make a little more money off of them when their licenses expired (each machine can only be used in the parlors for one year, then it must be sold off or destroyed). In the west, they're mostly used as novelties or for pure amusement like a pinball machine, which overall I think is a better use for them than as a gambling device.
So you’re saying that there was enough access to pachinko to become a serious addiction problem for some people in Los Angeles in 1965, right? I had no idea it had made any impact at all outside Japan, and, briefly, South Korea. Thanks for the insight!
I play a very old version of this game, even more rudimentary than those shown in the video. You get 25 glass balls for 100 yen. That's about 60 US cents at the time of my comment. You can win, like in the video, snacks, souvenirs, etc. A few years ago, they discontinued rewards of cases of cigarettes... thank goodness. In the real modern version, it has become even more sinister; the machines are clearly rigged, and an "unaffiliated" hole-in-the-wall nearby will simply buy your balls back for cash. It's not "gambling", of course, in the same sense that Japanese adult videos are not "pornography". Occasionally after work, I play for an hour at my ultra-retro place, spending a dollar or two, and go home with a packet of crisps. The old machines are rather fun, and almost completely analogue. The modern versions feature obscene levels of sound effects, flashing lights, anime-crossover themes, etc., and are still considered parasitic, addictive money-milking machines. Actually, even more so, since this video was produced, as the ball-launching is clearly randomised according to some algorithm. I tried a modern machine once, when I first arrived in Japan 12 years ago. 1000 yen disappeared in less than 1 minute; I haven't been back.
Trust me, every ounce of thought went into exporting this world wide. And it was, in 2007, by Apple. We now call Pachinko a "smartphone", but it's way worse than pachinko ever was to collective humanity.
North Korea did too - a lot of ethnic koreans ran them and sent millions back to the hermit kingdom, and a lot of the yakuza are ethnically korean as well
I wonder what the lowest amount is and what that gets you today. Is it possible to exchange a few balls for a biscuit? How many for a bottle of whiskey?
There are pachinko places all over Japan, but I have seen them disappear from smaller towns in recent years. I live in Nagoya and didn't know that pachinko originated here.
The nationwide pachinko companies advertise on TV. I tried it once, with 1,000 yen, 25 years ago. I lost the 1,000 yen but gained the knowledge that it wasn't much fun and that I wouldn't do it again.
The way I've heard it the parlors often leave a district after they "leeched out" the most gambling-prone residents.
Did you spot the Subaru? The car company has come a long way. For those who don't know it looks a bit like an original FIAT 500 (timestamp 0:49)
✅
this craze overwhelmed my family's Los Angeles home in 1965 when a cousin in the Navy came home from Vietnam via Japan with one. We all got hooked for about a year till coming to our senses, whew!
I find it crazy that this game is not popular enough in the US to sustain business. Maybe with American themes and american language they would be more popular?
Slot machines in the west pretty well fill the niche pachinko machines have in the east, just with direct payout instead of the rule-skirting trading of balls for prizes then trading the prizes for cash employed in Japan.
Closest thing to it over here are ticket redemption games in arcades, which is pretty well kiddie gambling when you get down to it.
Pachinko does have a decent following in the west, as many thousands of machines were imported from Japan to make a little more money off of them when their licenses expired (each machine can only be used in the parlors for one year, then it must be sold off or destroyed).
In the west, they're mostly used as novelties or for pure amusement like a pinball machine, which overall I think is a better use for them than as a gambling device.
So you’re saying that there was enough access to pachinko to become a serious addiction problem for some people in Los Angeles in 1965, right? I had no idea it had made any impact at all outside Japan, and, briefly, South Korea. Thanks for the insight!
@@gilltom8034 i think he was saying that his relative brought home a individual machine, not that there were pachinko parlors or anything like that
"A type of disease"
Most apt way to describe this infernal excuse for a game.
Now it's rebranded as a "smartphone" only its a much, much worse addiction😔😏
I've got a book called Pachinko recently that I haven't read yet, and didn't know why it was called that, I do now!
Pachinko is a addictive past time in Japan to this very day.
reminder: Always clean your camera lens before you start shooting!
9:53 I have no life, no wife. So whiskey it is.
✅
パチンコはコロナ19によりかなり店舗が減りました。
Claustrophobic fire hazards. Wouldn't want to be the furthest from the fire exit in these places.
5:08
✅
Why does this looks so much like The Rutles documentary?
I play a very old version of this game, even more rudimentary than those shown in the video.
You get 25 glass balls for 100 yen. That's about 60 US cents at the time of my comment.
You can win, like in the video, snacks, souvenirs, etc.
A few years ago, they discontinued rewards of cases of cigarettes... thank goodness.
In the real modern version, it has become even more sinister; the machines are clearly rigged, and an "unaffiliated" hole-in-the-wall nearby will simply buy your balls back for cash.
It's not "gambling", of course, in the same sense that Japanese adult videos are not "pornography".
Occasionally after work, I play for an hour at my ultra-retro place, spending a dollar or two, and go home with a packet of crisps.
The old machines are rather fun, and almost completely analogue.
The modern versions feature obscene levels of sound effects, flashing lights, anime-crossover themes, etc., and are still considered parasitic, addictive money-milking machines.
Actually, even more so, since this video was produced, as the ball-launching is clearly randomised according to some algorithm.
I tried a modern machine once, when I first arrived in Japan 12 years ago.
1000 yen disappeared in less than 1 minute; I haven't been back.
Where's my Panchinko app!!!
Any app with in-game purchases would qualify here!!!
Analogue social media. Aimlessly scrolling, hunting for the next dopamine hit. Zombies.
A rare Godzilla free day in Japan.
😅
The grandchildren of these players just play Diablo IV, it's basically the same thing.
Trust me, every ounce of thought went into exporting this world wide. And it was, in 2007, by Apple. We now call Pachinko a "smartphone", but it's way worse than pachinko ever was to collective humanity.
they are Pachinko machines for kids too in Japan so there is that
IIRC the Yakuza made a lot of Yen off of the game.
North Korea did too - a lot of ethnic koreans ran them and sent millions back to the hermit kingdom, and a lot of the yakuza are ethnically korean as well
Finally, addiction to Instagram isn’t something new, in fact.
I wonder what the lowest amount is and what that gets you today. Is it possible to exchange a few balls for a biscuit? How many for a bottle of whiskey?
And I thought watching TH-cam was mind numbing ....
why’s he being so rude about it lmfao
5:08 to 5:18 : Women left the chat..
✅
yum yum look at all those reliable little Japanese rust buckets on 4 wheels rolling down the street!
But it's only MEN! Hahahaha!
i saw some women in the footage. probably single working women, not housewives like most at the time.
milking machines...
5:43