Pachinko

Pachinko is one of Japan's favorite pastimes and seems to be very popular with the salaryman for after hours entertainment. One of our last nights in Tokyo, we decided to venture into a Pachinko parlor, as we had passed by these establishments everyday and they are rahter mysteriuos venues. Pachinko is often described as Japanese pinball with a slot machine twist. Actually, the only thing that resembles pinball is the steel balls that are used. We weren't exactly sure what to do, and the constant clinging of the pinballs and the smokiness of the place is almost mind-boggling....it is LOUD and smoky. Hello 2nd hand smoke! We first had to purchase balls, which entails feeding the machine money thought the slot. The balls then come out of the machine into a loading area at the bottom. To play, you insert the balls and then turn the shooter knob to the right which adjusts the speed of the ball. From there, the ball is shot somewhat rapidly and fall through pins and other contraptions where the goal is to...well, I'm not really sure. There is a video at the top of the machine that I'm sure somehow relates to the game if we only knew Japanese. Confusion ended the game quickly for us and we just basically wanted to be able to say we had played pachinko, so we gathered our balls and hunted for the place to convert the balls to money or prizes though we never found either, so we just left the little balls behind. See, gambling is illegal in Japan but everyone knows that pachinko is played for money. To get around this, balls are exchanged for prizes (like at Chuck E. Cheese...though I've heard that some give tickets for the prize). You then take the prize around the corner to a small window in the wall (I never saw one so I'm sure they are hidden really well), and exchange it for money money money. Sure is sneaky but rather clever! Here is me "playing" pachinko...the seriousness of my face is actually a look of confusion.