Southampton
As of (I think) the 14th September website update my flag disappeared from under my avatar.
I'm not sure if my location has left Japan, or the Japanese flag is borked, but either way it's a bug 
(Topic ID: 106112)
Madison, WI
Sana'a
I'm still trying to figure out why pinball is not popular in Japan, it sure seems like a game/hobby they would enjoy.
Quoted from TigerLaw:I'm still trying to figure out why pinball is not popular in Japan, it sure seems like a game/hobby they would enjoy.
That's.. a complicated question. I think the 'for amusement only' nature of it conflicts with the japanese desire to gamble on things: I believe that bingo games did quite well here, and pachinko obviously does. On my walk to the station I walk past three or four pachinko places, depending on my exact route, and each of them has probably 500 or more pachinko machines. There's also a lack of japanese language support for games (except for the native sega games, which are hard to find), which makes figuring out what's going on fairly difficult for the locals. There's also the sheer fact that importing them has always been the only option, and they're not cheap to ship.
Homes here are also small, which makes the home-collector market nonexistent.
There's a small but dedicated community in the greater Tokyo region, plus another one in Osaka/Kyoto. Unfortunately, the market is small enough that the new arcade in Osaka has drained much of the country of pins: they'll buy anything they can get their hands on, it seems, which has meant that pins are disappearing from bars and so on around the country.
Villejuif
Litvinov
Quoted from Excalabur:That's.. a complicated question. I think the 'for amusement only' nature of it conflicts with the japanese desire to gamble on things: I believe that bingo games did quite well here, and pachinko obviously does. On my walk to the station I walk past three or four pachinko places, depending on my exact route, and each of them has probably 500 or more pachinko machines. There's also a lack of japanese language support for games (except for the native sega games, which are hard to find), which makes figuring out what's going on fairly difficult for the locals. There's also the sheer fact that importing them has always been the only option, and they're not cheap to ship.
Bearing on mind the Japs are pretty creative and at the cutting edge of technology, you'd have thought that they'd have come up with a pinball themselves... obviously ignoring the rest of the world and taking it to a new level of complexity, probably using much smaller balls so the playfield can be more packed with features, and from what you say, with a gambling slant...
The Czech flad is also missing by the way... probably stolen by the theiving politicians here!!!
Quoted from pinballslave:Bearing on mind the Japs are pretty creative and at the cutting edge of technology, you'd have thought that they'd have come up with a pinball themselves... obviously ignoring the rest of the world and taking it to a new level of complexity, probably using much smaller balls so the playfield can be more packed with features, and from what you say, with a gambling slant...
Unfortunately for us, such devices lack three features that western pinball players enjoy:
1. Flippers
2. Nudging
3. Having any idea what's going on.
Quoted from Excalabur:Unfortunately for us, such devices lack three features that western pinball players enjoy:
1. Flippers
2. Nudging
3. Having any idea what's going on.
They wouldn't lack them if the Japanese made them...
By the way, I was in touch some years ago with a Japanese collector of pinball flyers... seeing as you're over there and in touch with the Japanese pinball scene, do you know anyone who collects the flyers?? I have 1000's of trades and am trying to find most of the old Jap-Sega flyers...
Quoted from pinballslave:By the way, I was in touch some years ago with a Japanese collector of pinball flyers... seeing as you're over there and in touch with the Japanese pinball scene, do you know anyone who collects the flyers?? I have 1000's of trades and am trying to find most of the old Jap-Sega flyers...
I can ask around at the next tournament. The organiser hands out random flyers at the end of each event, so I assume that someone likes them. I'm never quite sure what to do with a random Xenon flyer (or what have you).
PM me and I'll get back to you eventually; I'm not sure I can make this month's tournament.
1 week later
Quoted from Excalabur:I think the 'for amusement only' nature of it conflicts with the japanese desire to gamble on things
That really explains it there along with the size constraints in Japan.
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