If anyone would do it, it would be Homepin .

I dont know about china but they could be big in japan! Seriously they have amazing arcades there that fill high rises

Only if there was a wager involved i.e.; love their gambling.

No. Mainly because pinball doesn't really grab them. We have a big site here right near Chinatown. Pool tables full arcades /online gaming full......and not a soul on ten pinball machines. It just doesn't seem to grab their attention.

I think Mike from Homepin is going to make some strides in China. I'm sure that he will give it his best shot in any case, and I'm sure he has some plans on that front.

Or if you could play it while crouching and spitting between your legs

Unless you turn them back to a gambling machine, no. Without chance of winning, it's thought of as loss

I believe they tried it already with Stern NBA. A very simple pin with Yao Ming (prominently) on the backglass.

I think it was originally going to be made for China only, but they decided to release it in the regular markets. Not sure if this was because of a poor reception in China or not.

Gambling and gambling machines are 100% illegal and banned in China.

The pinball machines you see on Alibaba (and the 40 thieves) are not pinball machines as we know them. They are not even really bingo machines as we know them. They are pretty shitty random ball shooting machines with no theme, plan, objective or any clue as to what a pinball machine or even a bingo should do.

The Chinese have zero understanding of what a pinball machine is - none at all. I include amusement machine manufacturers in there as well, they have no idea.

Also, the Chinese will NEVER pay the ridiculous prices being asked currently for pinball machines.

Stern had a few new releases on display at the last Guangzhou amusement show (GB, AS and some others - I have the brochure here somewhere). They were observed curiously by some but when told of the price they actually laughed out loud.

It is a pointless exercise trying to sell western themes to the Chinese. They have never heard of Aerosmith, Metalica, AC/DC etc etc etc so they certainly will not pay $10K for one (that was the asking price at the show).

Homepin has a plan for pinball machines into China but it isn't a traditional pinball machine as we would think. We are working closely with a couple of firms here to produce a machine that Chinese will understand and actually pay money to play.

Breaking into the Chinese market for any company is not easy - to attempt to force product down their throats (by selling current western themed machines to them) will never, ever work. It is also pretty much a requirement to be on the ground here. To crack this market from the outside - well, good luck is all I can add to that thought.

Aside from collectors pinball is almost dead in the US so the idea it will be able to uptake in a culture that doesn't have the 70 year history of flipper games seems unlikely.

The recent uptick in location games has been nice but it's a small blip compared to the heyday of the mid-90s. I don't see a push into China unless a big pop culture element came with it (like a movie featuring prominently a pinball machine) and made its way over there. But I mean that's just as unlikely given Hollywood studios are risk averse.

Anyways as yourself the reverse; when are pachinko machines gonna catch on here? Never.