If someone knows how to import from Brazil, maybe I could help...
(Topic ID: 147985)
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Quoted from robertmee:I'll take one each of everything you can find Taito
I can find them all 
Quoted from ForceFlow:A shipping container would probably be cheaper.
I got a friend who's got an office that handles some import/export stuff at Rio's pier docks..... Not sure what he does exactly, but I'll find out!
Quoted from vid1900:» YouTube video
Ive always wanted one of these Haunted Hotel
Me too.... But that's another old manufacturer (LTD).
Quoted from ForceFlow:I'm betting Taito recycled their sound board technology from their video games. It's interesting to hear 70s/80s video game style audio on a pin.
Taito's sounds are absolutely awful.... Take for instance Zarza (clone of Xenon), and Sure Shot (clone of Eight Ball), and compare!
I was once interested on acquiring a Zarza, and asked the restorer if he could use Xenon's sound instead. He said it's very, very difficult to do it (please don't ask me why), so I gave up...
Quoted from dmbjunky:Funny Forceflow. I was looking at these today too. Spent about 2-3 hours just clicking on Brazilian websites. It started with amendes thread on that funny looking CV and I thought maybe amendes could help me import some. Here's what I found...
After amendes thread I started looking on that Mercado Livre site which seemed like a Brazilian CL. I bookmarked a pinball search and thought I might start listing some in the SS for sale thread.
http://lista.mercadolivre.com.br/pinball#DA:pinball-
This site seemed to have a bunch of schematics and technical stuff. I didn't dive fully into it yet but it was one I bookmarked.
http://www.tabalabs.com.br/pinball/esquemas.htm
This site had a listing of all of the pins made by Spanish companies and had some flyers which I thought about putting on IPDB. This didn't have anything to do with Taito but a pin Vid showed me was Terrific Lake, which I think looks so awesome, and this site had a flyer.
http://www.tecnopinball.org/doc_biblioteca.php
A Spanish arcade forum. Again looking for info on Terrific Lake.
http://www.retrovicio.org/contacta-nosotros
This was a site I found that seemed to sell parts for Taito machines. They had a "sell machines" category but nothing in it yet. I thought it may be interesting to contact them to see how easy it would be ship a machine.
http://www.jswpinball.com/
A Brazilian pinball forum
http://www.pinballbrasil.org/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1
This was a site dedicated to Jose Batalha. He worked for Taito for 35 years.
http://www.pinballgames.com.br/
An interesting article on the origins of Taito de Brasil. It has some really cool pictures including flyers.
http://augustocampos.net/taito-brasil/
1) Mercado Livre is kinda like Craiglist.... it's too risky, you can never completely trust those listings.... I take a look at it now and then, but you have to know who's on the other side....
2) Jose Batalha worked at Taito Brazil and after the company was closed he kept many, many machines and parts.... He then sold and restored many pins, but died a couple of years ago. I heard that the stuff he still kept was lost (thrown away by his family) 
3) You'll have a hard time trying to interact at the brazilian pinball forum, it's kinda abandoned and most of the guys don't speak english... In addition, unfortunately the pinball community here in brazil is not as tight and friendly as in the rest of the world....
Quoted from Schusler:I asked about these Taito pins on RGP years back. Well, it was more of a "wanted to buy' post.
I basically got the same response as it's on here. No one has one; no one has even seen one in the states. And this was coming from some heavy hitters on the scene.
The only way to obtain one is importing.
The one I really love to own is this Taito Polar Explorer.image-7_(resized).jpg
That's one of the best Taito pins ever made!
Quoted from vid1900:Since some of the Taito say "Made in USA" on them, who made them and where? Bally, Gottlieb, Stern, Williams or......?
Does anyone have a closeup picture of the flipper mechs?
??? They were all made in Brazil!!! I don't remember the city now but the factory was located at the state of Sao Paulo.... Taito Brazil was the only subsidiary of Taito Japan ever to build pinball machines!
Quoted from dmbjunky:You may start a new side business exporting pinball machines. Do you know anything about JSW Pinball? Their website was English as well as Portuguese and it stated they may even start making new machines. Thanks for all the info
The sound quality didn't seem real great but I like hearing the original different sounds that those machines make. Mr. Black has a nice creepy tune in the background.
Yeah, I know the owners.... one of them is the restorer that told me about the impossibilty to use Xenon sounds at Zarza.... they've got big plans for 2016, including building a whole new pinball game and brand new Taito replicas..... of what I know by now is that unfortunately these new machines won't come cheap, in the range of 4K to 5K dollars.....
Quoted from SergioJ:Is the Pinball Club still going? I remember seeing pics of that some time ago.
Yep, one in Rio and 2 in Sao Paulo!
Quoted from vid1900:Does "Made in U.S.A." mean something different in Portuguese? Because in English, it means Made in United States of America.
This is from a pin called Titan (1982).
Made-in-USA_(resized).jpg
Now you got me..... Never noticed it and I really don't know why is it.... I'll try to find out....
Quoted from davjoszie:they probably just meant the game they ripped off was made in the USA
hehe... maybe!
If I can recall, I think the very first ones were imported as parts machines and reassembled in Brazil..... anyway, if there were ever that kind of deal or not I'm not sure, and now you guys got me curious.....
Quoted from dmbjunky:Here's a cool flyer
catalogo-taito-brasil-650px-72214_(resized).jpgcatalogo-taito-4a-10190_(resized).jpgcatalogo-taito-2a-84915_(resized).jpgcatalogo-taito-3a-53968_(resized).jpgcatalogo-taito-1a-11664_(resized).jpg
Nice finding!
Quoted from Collin:Somebody find me a HAWKMAN!
pinball-fliperama-hawkman-taito-alphapinball-875201-MLB20297634669_052015-F_(resized).jpg
Quoted from ForceFlow:Interesting article.
Here's a link for a translation for others who might be interested: https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=https%3A%2F%2Fhistoriadosgames.wordpress.com%2F2010%2F09%2F15%2F%25E2%2580%259Cdo-atari-ao-zeebo-a-historia-dos-videogames-no-brasil%25E2%2580%259D-2%2F&edit-text=&act=url
OK - Officially a rip-off!
May I say that, a couple of years ago, US$ 1 was quoted about R$ 2 to R$ 2,3 (brazilian "reais")... Now the quotation is almost the double (about R$ 3,8 to R$ 4), so if anyone is serious about acquiring brazilian pinball machines, the time is NOW!!!
Like I said before, "brazil cl" is not that trustworthy.... there are some crazy dudes there as well.... this one in particular, personally, I wouldn't recommend!
I'd say that it's possible to find a reasonable taito pin for about US$ 1,5K to US$ 3K!
Hey Amarildo, yeah, I realize how difficult it can be with customs everywhere, speacilly in Brazil..... so, are these machines with you at Rockford?
Quoted from dmbjunky:I didn't look at the LTD machines but I like the Star Wars knockoff called Force.
image-4_(resized).jpg
Nice old artwork!
Quoted from ForceFlow:Compared to the other more musical Taito titles, I was expecting a little more pizzazz with the sounds. Oh well.
Dude... I just can't be fond of these sounds.... take for instance Taito's Sure Shot or LTD's Cowboy Eight Ball.... now, I'm not sure which one, but one plays "happy birthday to you", while the other actually plays some samba music?!?!?!?!... Absolutely disgusting....
Quoted from vid1900:Titan (really badass) Made in USA if you want to reimport duty free.
» YouTube video
About US$ 2K...
http://produto.mercadolivre.com.br/MLB-732783253-fliperama-taito-titan-frajola-pinball-_JM
Quoted from ForceFlow:I just stumbled across a video of a taito pinball machine and started looking into what they had produced.
They had several knock-offs including gorgar, firepower, black knight, xenon, and a standard body version of flight 2000 (with a layout similar to centaur).
And here's your Flight 2000, or GEMINI 2000, which actually is a clone of Bally's Centaur - About US$ 1,8K:
http://produto.mercadolivre.com.br/MLB-732656911-fliperama-taito-gemini-2000-frajola-pinball-_JM
LTD's Columbia - the widebody rip-off of Flight 2000:
Wow, I found pinsider kaneda here:
http://forum.jogos.uol.com.br/a-historia-da-taito-taito-do-brasil_t_1470536
3 weeks later
2 weeks later
Quoted from girloveswaffles:That playfield lay out looks a lot like Skateball.
Pretty much the same...
1 week later
3 weeks later
Quoted from dmbjunky:I don't think $2k covers shipping.
You're absolutely correct. What pinsider amarildo failed to notice is that's an ad posted in a brazilian website for brazilian people. My post was just a tease. Not my ad, not my machine, I don't even know the seller.
I actually dislike a lot (hate is a such a strong word) taito pinball machines... So poorly built, and as I've said before in this very same thread, the music and sounds are absolutely awful (go to youtube and check it out). Obviously I've had plenty of chances of adding taito pins to my collection, but the maintenance issues are enormous!!!!
Quoted from KenLayton:Glad you posted those pictures of the playfield assemblies. Interesting how they did things. Looks well built to me. Plus, each coil has a fuseholder next to it. Those flipper assemblies look like oversized Stern generation 2 units and could easily be replaced with Williams system 11 assemblies if need be.
Any pictures of the inside of the coin door and the interior of the backbox showing the board sets?
By chance do these machines use standard 21 x 43 pinball playfield glass?
You're looking at a completely re-done machine! 
PS: I'm not here to putting taito machines down, but it's just not my cup of tea..... try comparing (as for example, there are many others), Taito's Zarza sounds with Bally's Xenon and you'll see what I'm tallking about.....
5 months later
So.... did anyone manage to send taito machines to usa? I finally had a very good conversation with my buddy who works with import/export here in Rio, and we're seeing a light at the end of the tunnel....
Quoted from CaptainNeo:amarildo knows about importing from brazil. He has 3 taitos.
Yes, he brought them with him when he moved abroad.
Quoted from CaptainNeo:but he knows about the procedures on how to get games out of brazil. It's a PIA and lots of paperwork. They do not like to export anything.
I'm not saying it's easy, but my buddy will help me out when/if I need!
And... I'm also playing with the thoughts of selling my own machines...
5 months later
Quoted from doghouse:My Brazilian buddy is headed back for a one month vacation in June. We are going to try to get enough machines together to make a container. If you are serious about acquiring one or more Taitos, please PM me. The Brazilian REAL (their dollar) is 3.99 to our 1.0 right now, so it may be a good time to buy.
Just wondering if this initiative went anywhere... 
1 month later
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