• Winning Pachinko •
YENBOOKS are published and distributed by
the Charles E. Tuttle Company, Inc.
with editorial offices at
Osaki Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 141-0032
© 1991 by Charles E. Tuttle Publishing Co., Inc.
All rights reserved
First edition, 1991
LCC Card No. 91-65056
ISBN: 978-1-4629-0431-0 (ebook)
Printed in Japan
• Contents •
FOREWORD by Robert J. Collins 7
1. The History of Pachinko 15
The Evolution of the Game 16
The Boom in the Eighties 24
The Pachinko Machine 35
Layout of a Typical Parlor 39
The Business of Pachinko 42
Pachinko-Parlor People 45
3. The Basics 55
The Object of the Game 55
How to Play 57
Another Word on Deji-pachi and Ippatsu-dai 64
Post Play: Profiting from Pachinko 82
4. Strategy 89
The Fundamentals of Nail Placement 89
How to "Read" the Nails to Select a Machine 91
Other Criteria for Machine Selection 100
Where to Aim 102
Playing Strategy 108
5. Beyond the Basics 113
Tips from Pros and Other Strategies 113
When and Where to Play 116
The Psychology of Pachinko 126
GLOSSARY 131
SOURCES 137
• Foreword •
by Robert J. Collins
"OK, here's the plan. We'll take a flat board, maybe a foot and a half by a couple feet, and we'll paste colorful pictures on it. Airplanes, and things."
"Gotcha."
"Then we'll drill a half dozen or so holes in the board, and surround the holes with little nails—a half-moon pattern of nails below the holes and one or two nails above the holes."
"I'm with you."
"Next, we'll stand the board on end and put a glass cover over it."
"Why would we do that?"
"To keep the balls from falling in your lap."
"What balls?"
"Oh yeah, I forgot that part. We'll take some shiny steel balls, about the size of marbles, and shoot those critters up to the top of the board and let them trickle down bouncing off the nails and now and then going into the holes."
"Why?"
"Because we'll angle the nails so that some of the... "
"No, I mean why are we doing all this?"
"We're creating a game—maybe one of the most popular games the world will ever know. Pay attention."
"All right. Some of the balls go into the holes. Then what?"
"Well... good point. Let's see. We could let people play until all the balls go into the holes and then everyone can go home."
"That doesn't sound like much fun."
"You're right. Wait, I've got it. Every time a ball goes into a hole we'll arrange to have some more balls shoot out as a reward."
"Great idea. Then everyone can take the balls home as prizes, and... ah..."
"Yeah, that could be a problem. One could fill up a house pretty quick with those balls. There must be another way. Hold it. This is it. We'll give out prizes based on how many balls a player wins."
"Trips to Spain, vacations in the South Pacific, imported automobiles, bags of diamonds... "
"No, no, no. Too expensive. What we'll do is give out prizes like... soap."
"Soap?"
"And cigarettte-lighter flints, golf tees, key chains."
"Are you out of your mind? We go to all this trouble with boards, pretty pictures, drilling holes, pounding in a bunch of nails, covering the whole thing with glass-do you realize how much glass costs? We go through all the trouble of getting people to buy balls and shoot them all over the place, and you are planning to give out
"I know, I know, but here's the thing. We'll find a way for the prizes to be redeemable."
"Redeemable?"
"Yeah. For cash."
"Ah, now you're talking."
Talking indeed. It is estimated that thirty million Japanese—one fourth the population of the entire country—are occasional or steady players of pachinko. Imagine that! Thirty million people. Flipping balls into holes.
And if you eliminate children under eighteen, who are not allowed to play anyway, the thirty million figure really represents nearly one half the nation's adult population. (And if you eliminate women, who are a growing but still minority portion of the total, we're talking about approximately three out of four Japanese men slipping off at one time or another for a session at the local gaming parlor.)
What's going on? Why is more money being spent on pachinko than is spent, for example, on national defense? Are we missing something here? I mean, anything else done by a significant portion of any population is scrutinized, analyzed and theorized to the point of distraction. ("Eleven point seven nine percent of adult males enjoy dressing up in silk underwear and parading...") The game of pachinko is truly a phenomenon in Japan, but what exactly is it?
Eric Sedensky tells us. "Hooked" as a relative newcomer to Japan, Sedensky-san strips off his international businessman persona at 5:00 p.m. (note to his employers—7:00 p.m.) and explores the highs, lows, ins and outs ofJapan's national, but secret, pastime. He has been interviewed on radio and television, and currently writes a monthly column in Pachinko-Jutsu— -the most innovative magazine dedicated to ball-in-the-hole aficionados.
There is money to be made playing the game—for some professionals the money approaches several hundred dollars a week. Sedensky-san has done that. (Note to his employers—forty or fifty dollars.)
Students, between classes, can pick up enough money to keep noodles and beer in the larder. Sedensky-san has operated at that level too. (Note to his employers—never mind.)
"Salary men," waiting for the next appointment or the train home, can justify the time spent in a pachinko