Matrix is just absurd.. I wish I could find one and not have to pay 600+ for it.

We've had a few pachinkos, I've even dabbled in repair for them. The last one I had, I actually figured out how to enable free play with a simple wire jumper and no longer needed the dummy dongle! That was nice, as it was sold a few days later.

We still have one, my kid broke it then insisted we keep it, and I have no bloody idea how the hell to fix it. It needs a new LCD screen but the bigger issue is that he jacked up the tension spring for the kicker arm. =\

If you're older like me and like Ultraman check this one out. About the 10 min mark will give you a good feel about how far advanced pachinko video and lighting is vs. pinball. $100's of millions of gambling profits drives a lot of innovation. There may be miles of wire in a Stern but there are a lot more parts and electronics in a modern pachinko. But pinball requires skill and is far more fun.

I have four of them. Started fixing these before getting into pinball. First I built a MAME, then pachinko, now pinball.

Even the older models have a great light show(Western and Thunderzone). The other two are newer but still old (Star Wars and Rogue Galaxy) and have an even better show. The recent ones look amazing but pachinko is pachinko...nobody ever really plays them during a get together.

Is that some kind of attract or test thing? 25 minutes and not a single ball fired near as I could see...

They make promo videos to attract players and help sell machines. You can wire in a button to "spin the reels". Most apartments and homes are so small in Japan, that they take apart used machines to make desk top units with just the video and a few buttons for fans of the theme.

I also have Thunderzone. Would still take it over almost any of the newer machines. No where near as fun as pinball, but also a fraction of the cost.

I do love Thunderzone. There is just something about it. The system 11's of the pachinko world.

Put a set of flippers in that thing and i guaranty you won't be able to move them fast enough. I've owned two or three of these and they are fun. The problem i had with the last one which was a X-Files game is don't speak Japanese so i had no idea what was going or, for the most part. Exciting though..

Were the early say 50s & 60s vertical pinball games always called Pachinko? In Australia I cannot recall that name being used in that era.

They make 100k's of machines a year from over a dozen manufacturers. There are probably over 100 different models introduced each year, usually with beautiful models at a launch party. They cost a few thousand or more new, but are mostly scraped after several months in the parlors. A few popular models can last much longer. Used ones go for a few hundred in Japan, but hard core pachinko players will buy new ones sometimes to learn the game. The programming is probably deeper than pinball with 1000s of scenerios on some machines. Pachinko is the largest industry from a revenue standpoint in Japan; bigger than cars. They can be pretty fun, more than just art, once you know what's going on and get deeper into the game. Like pinball, they're becoming more popular with the younger crowd as they make pachinko type bar-cades.

I have a classic Nishijin wallmounted in my gameroom. I have always wanted to get IJ or SW in the digital kind of machine.

I have never found one to put time in on. Someday after I decide I like the newer kind of pachinko I will buy and mount one side by side.

Thanks for sharing

Actually they cost parlors $30+Thousand per machine new. You read that right.

How do I know ? I have seen Parlor invoices from major MFGs

Imagine what a $30,000 pin would be like?

The only reason I thought they cost several thousand was because the online stores in Japan and Yahoo Japan sometimes have models that recently came out for sale at around that price. Like these:

http://japamart.com/auctool.php?url=http://category.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/list/2084046951/?p=%E3%83%91%E3%83%81%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B3%E5%AE%9F%E6%A9%9F&mode=1&tab_ex=commerce&select=02&n=100

But I guess the parlors pay a hefty premium to be the first to get the machines, and it doesn't surprise me that they cost a lot given all the computing power, licensing and profits involved. Never knew that I have a million dollars of pachinkos sitting in my attic

I remember you from Pachitalk about 10 years ago. Think I sold you a Maturi Apollo banner.

Was that you ? LOL I look at it every night as its on the wall next to my bed right across from the machine!

Yes some machine sell for as high as $80,000 so we are rich LOL