Wanting to play Pachinko in Tokyo?
Boozehound asked:
I am in Tokyo and I really want to play Pachinko, but it looks so hard to get going, plus it’s so noisy in there my limited Japanese is not going to be any good. I know the basics, but there are a few of things I want to know.
1. Where do I buy the balls? I don’t want to go around flashing money at the game girls because I know this is considered a little rude in Japan. Is there a specific spot I can buy the balls?
2. I heard I cannot ask how to exchange the balls for money, I must “just know” where to exchange, any help here would be great?
3. Lastly I am here with my wife, can women also play Pachinko, I never see women in there other than the game girls.
Thanks
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October 9th, 2009 at 6:37 am
pachinko
It is mostly a man thing where guys go to play and smoke. I think you can put coins in the machines to get the start balls. You won’t have to worry about getting money– it takes a while to get good at it. You exchange the balls for dolls and other “prizes” that you take around the corner to trade through a hole in the wall. Maybe just ask “Doku de?” when you get the prize.
October 12th, 2009 at 9:50 am
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1. Nowadays you buy a card (mostly in 1000s yen amounts) which looks like a telephone card at the pachinko counter and stick them into the pachinko machine. The balls will then be released into the tray in 500yen amounts.
You’ll have to twist the rotary knob to shoot out the balls and I used to jam them with a 10yen coin in the right position, but they have nowadays heat-sensors under the knob, so if you don’t touch it, the balls will stop firing.
2. You can get a confirmation (card, paper, token etc.) with the amount of the balls you won on it from the staff at the counter after the ball count also done by the staff. The price you can exchange at the counter such as coffee, cigarettes, dolls etc. are for a camouflage (of course you can take those things besides the money), cause “gambling” is illegal in japan.
There is often a small duct in the back of the pachinko parlor in a shady corner or at the parking lot where you can give through the confirmation and exchange it for money.
3. I often seen a lot of women (mostly mid-aged) in pachinko at noon, I assume they were bored housewifes
October 15th, 2009 at 6:47 am
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EDIT : For buying balls every parlor is different. But every parlor i`ve been to you slide your bill in the machine on the left side or on top (seriously been to more than 15.) There was one parlor for 1 Yen, which i had to go to this spot to get my balls by adding 100/500/1000 Yen. But i have never heard of going to the counter to buy a card or chip to play…
1. Slide in 1000, 2000, 5000 or 10,000 Yen in the machine you want to sit and play. The balls will come out from there on the tray in front of you.
For example, if you add 10,000 Yen in… There`s a digital number in red – (100 = 10,000 Yen.) Everytime you press the button to get the balls out it becomes minus 5 meaning minus 500 Yen. In other cases like for the 1 Yen machines, it`s usually minus 2, so minus 200 Yen. OR on the left panel of your machine there`s the number of how much money you have left.
If you wanna stop playing or move machines, there`s another button next to the “ball withdrawal button” to withdraw a round chip, tiny rectangular chip or a card with your left over money. You CAN exchange this back into bills or coins depending on how much you spent. There`s an exchange machine for this.
2. Again every parlor is different. Some exchange booths are located in the parlor, others adjascent to it and others outside apart from the palor. Well, after your wins of balls, call the staff by pressing the “call” button on top where statistics are displayed and tell him/ her you wanna stop (if the staff makes an “X” sign with his/ her arms knod your head.) He/ she will bring your wins to have your balls counted and you`ll get a receipt after the ball count. Then go to the counter to exchange into tokens (they come in blocked or flat shapes.)
Then take the token out in the alley or to the back to exchange into money (you can ask an employee if you don`t know where it is.) When i go to a new parlor, and not sure i ask anyways so really, no big deal.
3. SURE women can play! I`m a girl and i play all the time. There`s a alot of women playing pachinko these days from ages 18 to even 60 and beyond. Everytime i go to a parlor about half of it is filled with women. ^^
Some other details : Unless the parlor is empty, your wife or friend can`t sit beside you to watch you play.
Also if you need to pause your machine to pick up a call, go to the toilet or whatever it`s ok. If you`re planning to go out to eat a meal and you have wins behind you, tell a staff. They`ll put up a sign on your machine saying for example, “on lunch break.”
One more thing, after a win or something, when your bucket`s full call the staff with the “call” button. Wouldn`t wanna spill all that 1000 balls out on the floor now would you? ^^
And you can order coffee/ tea/ fruit drinks with your balls. It`s called “wagon service” but not all parlors have this. But in any parlor you can buy cigarettes with your balls as well as other items displayed in the parlor.