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#D[A: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/

I love these foreign machines that no one in the U.S. knows exists. I'd love more info on Sega machines from the 60s and 70s but that seems harder to come by.

If you ever make any connections that might yield some cool games, hit me up. I may be in for a Titan or Mr. Black.

So I punched in some numbers on UPS.com to see what the cost of shipping would be. I may have done it wrong but shipping cost was $8,334.27 to Indiana. Probably not going to do that.

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.

I didn't look at the LTD machines but I like the Star Wars knockoff called Force.

image-4_(resized).jpg

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

Here's an article on pinballs in Brazil.

https://historiadosgames.wordpress.com/2010/09/15/%E2%80%9Cdo-atari-ao-zeebo-a-historia-dos-videogames-no-brasil%E2%80%9D-2/

An interesting quote with a bad google translation,

"However, import taxes on machinery soared from 30 to 70%, then to 120% and reaching 220% before they have a totally banned imports in 1976.

Taxes and a ban on imports in Brazil caused the Taito, that this time it was considered the largest manufacturer in the world machines, make a new plan for the business in Brazil: the company would manufacture their own machines in the country. "

I was thinking if I bought one, I might buy two. One in good condition and one parts machine if it's available.

Well it looks like we could fill a container. Who's gonna take a trip to Brazil?

That's an awesome story.

Count me in if you get some games together. I would prefer original themes but some of the knock-offs are cool too.

I don't think $2k covers shipping.

Very cool.

I figured as much in reference to the build quality and required maintenance. I'm a fan of old video games and pinball machines so the sounds wouldn't bother me as much. Some of the sounds are neat like Mr. Black or Titan. While watching vids of Taito machines I found this vid from the 80s.

When comparing machines, sure, the sounds are the best. People like to compare machines that came out at the same time frame and that makes sense as well. But for people who weren't there when these machines were released, it's easier for us to judge a game on it's own merits rather than compare it to better machines. Knockoffs, generally, aren't better than the games they are replicating but I think they are still interesting. Space Invaders knockoffs come to mind as something that isn't better but interesting to see.