I knew a guy in Tokyo who was a Pachinko professional. He spent most of his time hanging around in the conversation lounge of the English school (Adult) I worked at, then would spend a couple of hours at a Pachinko place and win enough money for dinner and the next day. He did say he had to be careful to visit different Pachinko parlors in wide spread areas, in case the Yakuza who ran the parlors got angry at him for winning too much.
@Katherine Heckerman And other then that the younger people play the poker machines that are in basically every gas stations back room.. lol I used to be an addict of those myself..
It's so amusing to see Natsuki's different "personalities" - so to speak - between him speaking English and him speaking Japanese. My Japanese language skills are probably about as decent as Natsuki's English language skills, and I've noticed that I end up doing the same when speaking Japanese vs English. It's so funny how you almost become a different person when learning a new language (within the use of that new language). It shines a light on how intrinsically tied to language is to the culture it belongs to. I find it so odd that I didn't pick up on this growing up; my grandparents were bilingual (French - different Canadian dialects - was their first language and then American English). Lol!
I as a native English speaker and being conversant in German, have found Japanese a very edifying language to try to learn. I can almost feel my brain remapping itself and it’s glorious. Kampai!
It is caused by how different languages have different gramatic structures, and that requires your thoughts to go through slightly different neural pathways. But certainly, it is interesting noticing those differences.
It’s the Sapir-Wholfe hypothesis. When you start using a different language, your brain remaps itself and it is almost like you are a different person. This why in Arrival, Amy Adams is capable of watching the past and future like the aliens, by learning the alien language
When you speak a different language from your own, your mouth moves in a different way, your tongue as well and it goes into different positions. I'm quite sure you use different muscles too, depending on the peculiar sounds you might need to make and that might not exist in your language. When I learned this it blew my mind. So yeah each language is deeply tied to the culture it represents, after all you'd have no culture without a language.
7:39 "Japanese people love the sensation of trying one's luck" AHA! I _knew_ it! Japan _does_ love RNG!! _That's_ why there's so much of it in their games!
A friend of mine (is white American obsessed with East Asian cultures) made watch Ringu and then The Ring. There was another movie out at that time that was also very popular but I can’t recall it’s name. The American versions were tame by comparison.
I came here to understand the new jujutsu kaisen chapter, but wow that was so interesting and informative! It's always so cool to learn about other cultures. Thanks a lot!
@Killerdustbunny 3 Let me explain His domain is divided in two fases, the initial one where he builds up hype and the events, where he has the chance to hit a jackpot In the initial fase he can use 3 indicators that the event is coming, the balls, the doors and the multipliers. The balls and doors are divided in four colors (green, red, golden and rainbow), the better the color the higher is the hype, with golden having 80% and rainbow 100% (he can only get rainbow in his forth try) The hype is the chances of hitting a jackpot during the event (normally the chances are 1/239, but it can increase to even 80%). During the event he calls for a Reach (when a player gets two equal numbers) and hopes for getting the third one, the events are represented by a little movie that plays on the background, if everything in the movie goes right he gets it Now, in the new chapter we saw the next form of his domain, the Change of Chances. When he hits a jackpot he has two choices for his next domain, he can go to Faster Spins, that makes the events happen faster, or go to the increased probability, where he can activate pseudo-spins, that are rolling just one of the numbers untill he gets what he wants, he basically forces a Jackpot. Since the Change of Chances has a high chance of Jackpot he can use his third indicator, the multipliers, they build up less hype, but they can somehow rewind time (we see Kashimo defeating him two times, but he breaks the “glass” and go back unharmed)
First you hear it. Then you smell it (the cigarette smoke). And finally, you stumble through a crowded room, disorientated and confused, before leaving subsequently deaf. It's an experience many foreigners in Japan have had, and I was no different. I'll never forget being bewildered by Pachinko when I discovered it 6 years ago. Now for the first time, it's time to actually work out what it is, and why it's so popular. IF YOU'VE PLAYED PACHINKO, share your thoughts on it. Maybe it'll help the rest of us make better sense of it.
To TheLobstersoup: Because Japanese people are honest. They don't even lock up their bicycles. I've walked lots with dozens of unlocked bikes. If you leave a wallet on a public park bench, they won't touch it because they think you may come back for it. Amazing.
When i went Japan me and the guys played some pachinko. At some point one of us hit the jackpot it appeared on a screen above our heads we had no idea. After a little while a lovely old lady informed one of the staff working there and he brought over like 1000 more balls for us to use in a basket. Brilliant we used like 400 of them maybe before losing interest. When we were ready to leave we gave the remaining balls to the same old lady that had helped us before. She was thrilled, a wholesome experience wonderful people the Japanese.
@Parvus Vitae Cordycepts Panchinko panchinko is so much more than entertainment. It is a beautiful construct of sounds and bings things bash boom tiktik ousshhhh sounds it is a multiple layers. Pins laid out like a journey of a positive disconstruct of movement going backwards or learning. It's maneuvers it's encounters with other players and how they have benefited certain moves layered upon their history of the player that played before you. The hands that have played this game some of the hardest workers you've ever heard of a lot of these people playing this work long long grueling hours pachinko is no order game. Is a beautiful symphony of sounds going to to one of these parlors with thousands of pachinko machines, you can't even hear your own thoughts. All you hear excitement of others in the disappointment of other. And you dare! Saying it's boring shame on you shame on you
@Parvus Vitae Cordycepts it's the fact you can get good and how You can manipulate the statistical alignments of the balls. Give a much higher output of the outcome you desire the louder the bing on a certain point. The angle of attack of a certain ping sound is what you look for. It's learning the different pitches of the sound Bing, Bing m*********** it is the absolute artistry, a sound of the angles in which it hits resonating to your ears, the people having their little celebration when you have a win, the atmosphere, the sound, the alcohol. It's just fantastic. It's the array of joy of the people around you. If the atmosphere the smell of the automatic dispenser that goes off giving you that incense smell it's so much more than a game. It's so much more than just betting it's a journey of a history, a journey of how the game grown adapted with time so that sounds boring to you that I'm sorry
Winning at pachinko requires considerable knowledge and time. If you don't know anything about pachinko, you can't see any animations, you can't win, and you just waste $10. On the contrary, the smell of cigarettes and the noise of the machine may make you sick. If you want to play Pachinko, please be careful with your health！Good luck!
It all makes sense now. In pokemon, the slot machines were in a separate building than the building to exchange the slot winnings for pokemon or TM's because of Japanese laws 😯
Reminds me of when I learned that in Chinese culture long hair was associated with your ancestory so being short haired meant not having any family. So the drawn out and dramatic nature of the Zuko hair cutting scene in avatar finally made sense to me.
I went to look up this lovely cafe to mark it as a place to go on my next trip to Japan only to find it's now closed. :( Thank you though to explain something about this game that always confused (and deafened!) me!
When I visited Japan right after I graduated high school, one of the things that made the biggest impression on me was seeing how crowded the Pachinko parlors were in Kyoto and Osaka. Truly peculiar!
In the early 80s my brother was a foreign exchange student in Japan. When he came back he brought with him an old school mechanical pachinko machine he gave to my parents. Since that time I've acquired it from my parents and took an old entertainment center cabinet I bought at a second hand store and converted it to hold the pachinko machine that's barely wider than the machine itself but standing at 6 feet tall with storage underneath. It's one of my favorite pieces of furniture in the house.
I remember competing in Tekken 2 tournaments in Fukuoka Japan in 99, on PS1. They were sometimes held in those Pachinko places. People gambling all around while we gamed on a row of CRT tv’s. It was wild.
I will never, ever be able to forget the nightmarish sound of that one time when I accidentally got lost into a building in akihabara where two stories were absolutely packed with pachinko machines, where I spent the longest 5ish minutes of my life trying to figure out how to exit this labyrinth of god forsaken loudness. How these players bear that deafening noise from hell, I don't understand. The vast majority of them don't even bother putting earplugs in or anything, it seems like they're too absorbed by the game to even hear the fuck out of satan' scream that surrounds them. I don't usually use so much biblical wording, but in this case it is the most accurate I can think of
Omg how is this so accurate!! 😭 You described it flawlessly, first time I ended up in a place that had awesome artwork on the outside and it ended up being a pachinko place, I didn’t even walk that much further in but I spent the longest time trying to figure out where the exit was and it led me to other doors with even more pachinko and I remember wondering if I’d see my grandma again. I also stumbled upon, “Don Quixote”, this way but I reveled in being in there haha
I bought a machine on ebay a few months ago and I can testify that even just one machine is super loud. I had to install DIY volume controls on the speakers before I could really play it. It's really fun now that it's set up though, much more fun than slot machines.
I walked in front of a pachinko parlor in Tokyo, and when the doors opened, the sound literally (not figuratively) blew me off the sidewalk and into the street.
Japanese countryside... the dream living place! I went to Takayama too! Everything is so quiet, so friendly, people are beautiful, walking through rice fields, under the cherry blossoms on quiet side walks, etc , it's gonna make me cry to remember those moments. Then you have Tokyo, loud, busy, stressful.
I first heard about pachinko from The Expanse books and TV show, but I had no idea how it actually worked. Now I see it's essentially the Japanese version of going to Chuck E Cheese.
My grandma has an old pachinko machine in her basement, so I've played a lot of the super mechanical version of pachinko. Because it was just at a house, there wasn't even a back to hide the mechanics, and watching those machines work from behind is very interesting.
Seeing you tackle pachinko was quite fun; I'd be interested in seeing you and Natsuki head into a 雀荘 and try to learn 麻雀 (Riichi Mahjong), if any would allow you to film there at least.
@E V Its why everyone at AA or NA meetings usually has some sort of caffeinated drink (coffee, Red Bull, Mountain Dew, etc) and most of the group is smoking cigarette after cigarette before and after each meeting… Us recovering addicts love our caffeine and nicotine.
@Aleksander Gullanger I know you're joking about it being the best tactic but it's actually really accurate to what people actually do. I know a guy who was a bad alcholic for many years and when he finally got sober he started buying stacks of lottery tickets and going to the horse track all the time. His family just figured they had an easier time keeping control of his gambling than they did his drinking, so for them it was good enough.
ive been to many strange places on earth, but i will never forget my first time walking into a pachinko, never having even heard of it before. sitting there with balls whizzing around, having NO clue what i was doing but at the end of it some guy took all my full buckets and gave me tiny gold bars in return. i left even more confused but happy with my "victory" which i have no idea why/how it happend. a truly transformative experience...
I thoroughly enjoyed this. This was awesome from start to finish. The cinematography, the editing, your hilarious and fun friend. This is one great doc. I can’t say enough good things about it.
I'm a professional Pachinko (Japanese gambling pinball machine) player, and it's normal for me to win or lose over 1,000,000 yen per day (about US$10,000). I'm married and have two kids, both of them going to international schools. It's a sustainable "job" if you know what you are doing, but of course, the risk is always there.
@Tom Foolery I think you mean English when you say British, Scottish and northern Irish accents still count as British as they are in Britain. Cockney is an English accent and an accent found in Britain, which ENGLAND is also a part of
Well, this fiiinally answered my long help question of what on earth Pachinko actually is, and it turns out it's not too complicated after all. I didn't expect something which seems soooo Japanese to originally have its roots come from America though. A big surprise but wouldn't mind having a go at it someday.
Hello there, Chris! Your videos are truly helpful and so fun to watch! I am teaching online English to Japanese and your channel has helped me a lot in understanding Japanese people and their culture. :-)
I just stumbled on your videos yesterday and I already subscribed and watched a lot! I absolutely love Japan and would love to live there!! so watching your videos is such a great insight into Japan. I absolutely love the culture and everything!! you're so lucky to live there
I got a Pacino machine around 1976 for Christmas. They sold remanufactured ones at Venture stores ( an old department store like Walmart). There was one in Cave Springs Missouri (near St Louis) . There were cigarette burns on the plastic by where the balls dropped out. Thinking about it I think the thing had a little ash tray on it. My parents are in their 70s now and it's probably in their basement right now. I remember I used some of the metal balls in my. Wrist Rocket (sling shot).
I'd never heard of the ticket being redeemed, I'd always heard that you would trade the balls for little knick knacks and things and then sold those. Maybe that's an old model that's not used anymore, but just redeeming a ticket instead of a physical prize makes the loophole sound even sillier.
Well it's a "loophole" except not really. They're not outsmarting the law, the government just lets it happen because they know people like the game. The existing laws could probably be enforced to shut it down if they wanted to.
My grandma had a vintage pachinko machine I used to mess with in summers when I was at her house .... haha. It was really meditative it was spring loaded like a pinball loved watching it in the privacy of her home in Montana.
I stayed in Ginza while I was in Japan, and there was a huge Pachinko parlour not far from the hotel I stayed at. I didn’t go in, but it was fascinating to me 😂 So many colours and lights 😂 And so so many people playing!
When I was a kid in the 70's my friend had a pachinko machine in their living room. On hinges. It was a very different looking machine. Hand painted wood. This video brought back some old memories. I've scarcely thought of those times. Thank you.
I grew up with two or three old mechanical Pachinko machines in the house. I thought they were common until I was in high school and realized that no one had ever even heard of it before.
Wow, I didn’t know Natsuki was into pachinko. I only found out about pachinko, like last year. So, I had no idea what it was. Having a diagnosis of anxiety and depression, I wouldn’t be able to stand too long being in a pachinko parlour. It’s so loud…oh my goodness.
I remember playing the original type of pachinko game as a child something like 50 years ago. It was noisy, confusing, and the money my parents gave me was wiped out quickly. But I remember it clearly.
This shop is closed. even I am Japanese I hadn't been there yet. It’s sad. I've never seen any other pachinko parlors rated as highly as this one. Because it was run to target foreigners, this shop didn't last and went out of business, probably because foreign customers stopped coming to shop because of Corona and Japanese customers were only interested in oddballs like me.
When I went to a trip to Japan, me and my group walked around the neighborhood one evening and I heard the familiar sounds. I stopped them, pointed out the window showing the lower floor of a building. I showed them the pachinko parlor and explained what it was exactly. No one else had heard about it before
@ Kellogsfrostedflake5 If you tell me Natsuki is the man you strive to be everyday, then your future is kinda dark. You can only see his outside, a good man ??? with (insert whatever you want). He has dark shits inside his broken soul. And society doesn't work like what you think
@Drugs I Love Chris isn’t a “hired” host. This is his channel and his business. Also, Chris and Natsuki have been friends for years. It’s scripted for humor, and Natsuki gets his jabs in just as much as Chris does.
I had one of these machines on my basement growing up, never knew what it was but playing with the metal balls and playing with the machine was always fun!
Wow memories! We had quite some fun one summer on a similar machine. It had a spring-loaded lever that shot the balls individually. I think they were also a bit bigger. You would buy maybe 3 or 5 balls. No idea how it was called and I was pretty terrible at it.
I went to one of these places in Tokyo, it was so freaking loud. One machine caught fire nearby and no one blinked an eye. My buddies machine was on a streak and these guys kept bringing buckets over to collect the balls. We had a dinner rez and had to leave so the locals starting arguing over who would take over the machine we were on. Good time.
Ah shame i was planning to visit Ebisu Cafe on my next trip to Japan but as its been closed since 2020 because of the pandemic i fear it might not survive this... After all 2 years is a quite long time
Making a feature really has put your production values through the roof! This video feels like a classy documentary. Looking forward to the big bike project which will undoubtedly lead to another increase in your movie making skills.
Was just about to say this is the first time it really struck me how good Chris has become at editing and just putting together videos in general. Keep up the great work Chris your videos have just been getting better and better.
I've been binging your videos for the past couple of days. your stuff is so reminiscent of classic BBC documentary shows featuring the likes of James May, Jeremy Clarkson, or Richard Hammond when they wearn't doing Top Gear
We bought a nice electric pachinko machine when I was a kid in the late 80s. I couldn’t get enough of it. My friends and I would play it for hours and hours. It’s super addicting with the lights and sounds… even though we weren’t winning anything but our own steel balls.
Gotta love that the video started with a common premise: "Pachinko is a loud, chaotic mess of a gambling game" And ended with a realization: "It turns out that pachinko isn't as much of a mindfuck as I expected it to be."
This video was really good. It felt like you managed to capture the best parts of a documentary and a KZclip video. Very informative but without it feeling like a lecture or essay. Great work Chris!
I went to the 5 story pachinko place in Akihabara and was astounded by it. It's SO DAMN LOUD! How on Earth do people stand being in that place, and surely all the employees must have hearing damage?
I'm impressed Natsuki managed to win so well, and I'm glad many Japanese have fun with it... but I really don't think pachinko is for me. Thanks for the video on the subject; it is something I am interested in.
He does emphasize how loud it is a few times, but you really gotta experience it yourself to truly understand how insanely loud it is. IT’S CAPSLOCK LEVEL LOUD
Your production value has gone way up (not that it was bad before). As much of a pain as the Natsuki movie was to produce -- it's definitely made an impact!
"Not that it was bad before" Ah... I remember those days of Chris complaining about noisy birds in his small apartment on a less than stellar camera. Good times. But yes, much improvement has been made. ^_^
When I was a kid I had an uncle that had one of these machines, this was in the late 70's or early 80's. I had actually forgotten about it until seeing this video.
They had a big "Pachinko Palace" in my area in the 1970s when I was a kid here in N. California. They sold Pachinko Machines in the USA in Sears catalogs etc back in the 70s too. They were expensive. My friend had one. They were Japanese and legit. Loud as hell and we weren't allowed to play with it in the house. lol
This is actually clever since you can give players a 120% win chance, that means they will mostly always win. But since it can only be used on goods in the store you are guaranteed to get your money back with the right prices.
I worked at a "travel plaza" that functioned this way. People would go insane trying to win tickets. But everything in the store was way overpriced. I don't think a lot of people replying to your comment understood what you were saying. Having worked at a tourist trap, I completely get it. I once saw a man spend his entire paycheck there. It made no sense to me, seeing all winnings were merchandise only. And everyone knew the merchandise was overpriced and questionable value.
@Nephew You did not calculate the time to double. And they can only win a certain amout of balls in a second. You can turn 100 into 200 but only 200 to 300 and definitelly not 200 to 400. So theoretically a "player/customer" can win 100 per hour if he plays here. Thats good marketing.
there is no guarantee 20% win, its all luck because the ball fall randomly thus considered fair although the nails placement really limit where the ball will fall. out of 100, you might even get 0 falling into the slot. about the merchandise, its usually groceries, the items cost are even lower price than sold, so the house already made some saving there :) dont expect to get rich, usually its just "won 2 pack of cigarettes" sort of thing. in the video, theres a guy who have thousands behobd him, that one probably his only job and i think he aim high.
the payout is limited, there is a sbowball/progressive jackpot at each machine, so winning is limited to what that machine have. they sometime wait/mark machines with the biggest loser (jackpot is higher). balls are pretty much standard size, why would you want to bring out the balls? just give to the keeper to count and get the voucher, easy. the 1 yen ball is kinda special, for fun, so it will not use standard ball
Does not work like that all pachinko and pachislo are set between 95% and 110% usealy but most will be around that 95% mark their will be a couple that run on 105% 0r 110% but it's hard to know what's on what as these games all play very similar or higher or lower percentages and I think total percent of whole arcade works out to around 97% which means they always make a profit long term
Yo to all my people who came here to understand Hakari I feel you dawg I don’t understand one but but these guys are hilarious and I’m wit it 💀💀💀💀💀💀 the flashing confusing lights and music fit him too perfectly
@ThatGuyFromNZ you should probably do your research. The federal law for age of consent in japan is 13 meaning that's as low as it can go but each city sets there own ages and most are either 16 or 18
When Natsuki starts speaking Japanese he transforms from a comic relief anime character into a PhD sociologist.
The content he talks about is just Pachinko though lol
dude has on/off switch lol
Yes! You said just what I was thinking.
he seems so nice to be around :)
I knew a guy in Tokyo who was a Pachinko professional. He spent most of his time hanging around in the conversation lounge of the English school (Adult) I worked at, then would spend a couple of hours at a Pachinko place and win enough money for dinner and the next day. He did say he had to be careful to visit different Pachinko parlors in wide spread areas, in case the Yakuza who ran the parlors got angry at him for winning too much.
Pp
@Ringingking 73 it's not luck, you can figure it out too but noones gonna give you the answer that's $ out their pockets
So that is why the government can't shut them down.
@Katherine Heckerman And other then that the younger people play the poker machines that are in basically every gas stations back room.. lol I used to be an addict of those myself..
@Ringingking 73 fate is just the weight of circumstances, luck is when preparation meets opportunity
It's so amusing to see Natsuki's different "personalities" - so to speak - between him speaking English and him speaking Japanese. My Japanese language skills are probably about as decent as Natsuki's English language skills, and I've noticed that I end up doing the same when speaking Japanese vs English. It's so funny how you almost become a different person when learning a new language (within the use of that new language). It shines a light on how intrinsically tied to language is to the culture it belongs to. I find it so odd that I didn't pick up on this growing up; my grandparents were bilingual (French - different Canadian dialects - was their first language and then American English). Lol!
I as a native English speaker and being conversant in German, have found Japanese a very edifying language to try to learn. I can almost feel my brain remapping itself and it’s glorious. Kampai!
It is caused by how different languages have different gramatic structures, and that requires your thoughts to go through slightly different neural pathways.
But certainly, it is interesting noticing those differences.
It’s the Sapir-Wholfe hypothesis. When you start using a different language, your brain remaps itself and it is almost like you are a different person. This why in Arrival, Amy Adams is capable of watching the past and future like the aliens, by learning the alien language
When you speak a different language from your own, your mouth moves in a different way, your tongue as well and it goes into different positions. I'm quite sure you use different muscles too, depending on the peculiar sounds you might need to make and that might not exist in your language. When I learned this it blew my mind. So yeah each language is deeply tied to the culture it represents, after all you'd have no culture without a language.
7:39 "Japanese people love the sensation of trying one's luck"
AHA! I _knew_ it! Japan _does_ love RNG!! _That's_ why there's so much of it in their games!
ITS THE HEART OF THE CARDS!
Also Americans, when you compare the American-style boardgames in contrast to Euro-style boardgames, especially German-style one
@Anareel Y O W.
Tbh when I heard that my brain clicked and went "so that's why they attacked Hawaii in 1942"
A friend of mine (is white American obsessed with East Asian cultures) made watch Ringu and then The Ring.
There was another movie out at that time that was also very popular but I can’t recall it’s name.
The American versions were tame by comparison.
Natsuki seems like such a genuinely awesome guy, I imaigne he's a lot of fun to be around. Especially in a pachinko hall lol.
I came here to understand the new jujutsu kaisen chapter, but wow that was so interesting and informative! It's always so cool to learn about other cultures. Thanks a lot!
@Killerdustbunny 3 Let me explain
His domain is divided in two fases, the initial one where he builds up hype and the events, where he has the chance to hit a jackpot
In the initial fase he can use 3 indicators that the event is coming, the balls, the doors and the multipliers. The balls and doors are divided in four colors (green, red, golden and rainbow), the better the color the higher is the hype, with golden having 80% and rainbow 100% (he can only get rainbow in his forth try)
The hype is the chances of hitting a jackpot during the event (normally the chances are 1/239, but it can increase to even 80%). During the event he calls for a Reach (when a player gets two equal numbers) and hopes for getting the third one, the events are represented by a little movie that plays on the background, if everything in the movie goes right he gets it
Now, in the new chapter we saw the next form of his domain, the Change of Chances. When he hits a jackpot he has two choices for his next domain, he can go to Faster Spins, that makes the events happen faster, or go to the increased probability, where he can activate pseudo-spins, that are rolling just one of the numbers untill he gets what he wants, he basically forces a Jackpot.
Since the Change of Chances has a high chance of Jackpot he can use his third indicator, the multipliers, they build up less hype, but they can somehow rewind time (we see Kashimo defeating him two times, but he breaks the “glass” and go back unharmed)
Same…. I still don’t know how his domain works lmao
Lmao
Same!
same
First you hear it.
Then you smell it (the cigarette smoke).
And finally, you stumble through a crowded room, disorientated and confused, before leaving subsequently deaf.
It's an experience many foreigners in Japan have had, and I was no different. I'll never forget being bewildered by Pachinko when I discovered it 6 years ago.
Now for the first time, it's time to actually work out what it is, and why it's so popular.
IF YOU'VE PLAYED PACHINKO, share your thoughts on it. Maybe it'll help the rest of us make better sense of it.
Those are balls. Not ball bearings...
To TheLobstersoup: Because Japanese people are honest. They don't even lock up their bicycles. I've walked lots with dozens of unlocked bikes. If you leave a wallet on a public park bench, they won't touch it because they think you may come back for it. Amazing.
"Hiding in my room" you tuber just made a video about you going to the same primary school!
I was going to go into the Green Peas pachinko parlour in Shinjuku, but chickened out. Probably would have had no idea what I was doing, anyway!
my machine has a ash tray that flips to dump ashes built into it
When i went Japan me and the guys played some pachinko. At some point one of us hit the jackpot it appeared on a screen above our heads we had no idea. After a little while a lovely old lady informed one of the staff working there and he brought over like 1000 more balls for us to use in a basket. Brilliant we used like 400 of them maybe before losing interest. When we were ready to leave we gave the remaining balls to the same old lady that had helped us before. She was thrilled, a wholesome experience wonderful people the Japanese.
Natsuki’s personality is so endearing, such a genuine, nice and funny guy, love him 😊
I played pachinko a few times. It's addictive and hard to stop once you get into it. At least for me it was.
@Kink Pantherif a gambling addiction could type it would write like this
@Kink Panther how high are you dude
That JAWS game looked great!
@Parvus Vitae Cordycepts Panchinko panchinko is so much more than entertainment. It is a beautiful construct of sounds and bings things bash boom tiktik ousshhhh sounds it is a multiple layers. Pins laid out like a journey of a positive disconstruct of movement going backwards or learning. It's maneuvers it's encounters with other players and how they have benefited certain moves layered upon their history of the player that played before you. The hands that have played this game some of the hardest workers you've ever heard of a lot of these people playing this work long long grueling hours pachinko is no order game. Is a beautiful symphony of sounds going to to one of these parlors with thousands of pachinko machines, you can't even hear your own thoughts. All you hear excitement of others in the disappointment of other. And you dare! Saying it's boring shame on you shame on you
@Parvus Vitae Cordycepts it's the fact you can get good and how You can manipulate the statistical alignments of the balls. Give a much higher output of the outcome you desire the louder the bing on a certain point. The angle of attack of a certain ping sound is what you look for. It's learning the different pitches of the sound Bing, Bing m*********** it is the absolute artistry, a sound of the angles in which it hits resonating to your ears, the people having their little celebration when you have a win, the atmosphere, the sound, the alcohol. It's just fantastic. It's the array of joy of the people around you. If the atmosphere the smell of the automatic dispenser that goes off giving you that incense smell it's so much more than a game. It's so much more than just betting it's a journey of a history, a journey of how the game grown adapted with time so that sounds boring to you that I'm sorry
God Natsuki is such a pleasure to watch, his inclusion of occassional english is hilarious and this dude is just such a good vibe
Winning at pachinko requires considerable knowledge and time. If you don't know anything about pachinko, you can't see any animations, you can't win, and you just waste $10. On the contrary, the smell of cigarettes and the noise of the machine may make you sick. If you want to play Pachinko, please be careful with your health！Good luck!
Thank you :)
It all makes sense now. In pokemon, the slot machines were in a separate building than the building to exchange the slot winnings for pokemon or TM's because of Japanese laws 😯
Reminds me of when I learned that in Chinese culture long hair was associated with your ancestory so being short haired meant not having any family. So the drawn out and dramatic nature of the Zuko hair cutting scene in avatar finally made sense to me.
@spazvapes Silver and Gold? what a laugh
WOW
WoW !
I always spent all my money every time I went there 😂😂
I went to look up this lovely cafe to mark it as a place to go on my next trip to Japan only to find it's now closed. :( Thank you though to explain something about this game that always confused (and deafened!) me!
When I visited Japan right after I graduated high school, one of the things that made the biggest impression on me was seeing how crowded the Pachinko parlors were in Kyoto and Osaka. Truly peculiar!
In the early 80s my brother was a foreign exchange student in Japan. When he came back he brought with him an old school mechanical pachinko machine he gave to my parents. Since that time I've acquired it from my parents and took an old entertainment center cabinet I bought at a second hand store and converted it to hold the pachinko machine that's barely wider than the machine itself but standing at 6 feet tall with storage underneath. It's one of my favorite pieces of furniture in the house.
I remember competing in Tekken 2 tournaments in Fukuoka Japan in 99, on PS1. They were sometimes held in those Pachinko places. People gambling all around while we gamed on a row of CRT tv’s. It was wild.
Came here to try and understand Hakari’s ability ☠️ I think Gege just took the medal for the most confusing ability in manga history
It’s easy to understand, but Gege explain it very poorly
That's exactly y I'm here 💀
I will never, ever be able to forget the nightmarish sound of that one time when I accidentally got lost into a building in akihabara where two stories were absolutely packed with pachinko machines, where I spent the longest 5ish minutes of my life trying to figure out how to exit this labyrinth of god forsaken loudness. How these players bear that deafening noise from hell, I don't understand. The vast majority of them don't even bother putting earplugs in or anything, it seems like they're too absorbed by the game to even hear the fuck out of satan' scream that surrounds them. I don't usually use so much biblical wording, but in this case it is the most accurate I can think of
Omg how is this so accurate!! 😭 You described it flawlessly, first time I ended up in a place that had awesome artwork on the outside and it ended up being a pachinko place, I didn’t even walk that much further in but I spent the longest time trying to figure out where the exit was and it led me to other doors with even more pachinko and I remember wondering if I’d see my grandma again.
I also stumbled upon, “Don Quixote”, this way but I reveled in being in there haha
Oh God that sounds horrifying! But with that said, I love your description. x3
I bought a machine on ebay a few months ago and I can testify that even just one machine is super loud. I had to install DIY volume controls on the speakers before I could really play it. It's really fun now that it's set up though, much more fun than slot machines.
I walked in front of a pachinko parlor in Tokyo, and when the doors opened, the sound literally (not figuratively) blew me off the sidewalk and into the street.
Coming to say exactly the same. Happen to me EXACTLY THIS.
Japanese countryside... the dream living place! I went to Takayama too! Everything is so quiet, so friendly, people are beautiful, walking through rice fields, under the cherry blossoms on quiet side walks, etc , it's gonna make me cry to remember those moments. Then you have Tokyo, loud, busy, stressful.
I first heard about pachinko from The Expanse books and TV show, but I had no idea how it actually worked. Now I see it's essentially the Japanese version of going to Chuck E Cheese.
My grandmother had one of these growing up and no one knew how valuable it probably was. Used to love playing that thing as a kid.
My grandma has an old pachinko machine in her basement, so I've played a lot of the super mechanical version of pachinko. Because it was just at a house, there wasn't even a back to hide the mechanics, and watching those machines work from behind is very interesting.
Me too! I'd go down there for fun and play, some of the best memories.
Same!
Seeing you tackle pachinko was quite fun; I'd be interested in seeing you and Natsuki head into a 雀荘 and try to learn 麻雀 (Riichi Mahjong), if any would allow you to film there at least.
Take a recovering gambling addict and get him to gamble for you 😂 how thoughtful
@E V Its why everyone at AA or NA meetings usually has some sort of caffeinated drink (coffee, Red Bull, Mountain Dew, etc) and most of the group is smoking cigarette after cigarette before and after each meeting…
Us recovering addicts love our caffeine and nicotine.
WDYM "gambling addict" ? He is a proffesional player.
He's a winner winners never recover
@Aleksander Gullanger I know you're joking about it being the best tactic but it's actually really accurate to what people actually do. I know a guy who was a bad alcholic for many years and when he finally got sober he started buying stacks of lottery tickets and going to the horse track all the time. His family just figured they had an easier time keeping control of his gambling than they did his drinking, so for them it was good enough.
ive been to many strange places on earth, but i will never forget my first time walking into a pachinko, never having even heard of it before. sitting there with balls whizzing around, having NO clue what i was doing but at the end of it some guy took all my full buckets and gave me tiny gold bars in return. i left even more confused but happy with my "victory" which i have no idea why/how it happend. a truly transformative experience...
Pachinko must be addictive & good fun if Natsuki managed to sit and play for 30 minutes without having a smoke! That's impressive going!
Extremely addictive.
My family has a really old Pachinko machine (all mechanical, no lights). I would spend hours as a kid playing. Insanely fun. Loved the video!
I thoroughly enjoyed this. This was awesome from start to finish. The cinematography, the editing, your hilarious and fun friend. This is one great doc. I can’t say enough good things about it.
I'm a professional Pachinko (Japanese gambling pinball machine) player, and it's normal for me to win or lose over 1,000,000 yen per day (about US$10,000). I'm married and have two kids, both of them going to international schools. It's a sustainable "job" if you know what you are doing, but of course, the risk is always there.
Lame
He can’t reply, he’s been dealt with
I can't imagine the Yakuza being happy with constant winners
Why does adding a British person explaining anything over stock footage and B-roll automatically become a documentary
The David Attenborough effect.
@Tom Foolery I think you mean English when you say British, Scottish and northern Irish accents still count as British as they are in Britain. Cockney is an English accent and an accent found in Britain, which ENGLAND is also a part of
Because he is not B grade.
I love the fact that everyone kicked that marc carran guy for years
Well, this fiiinally answered my long help question of what on earth Pachinko actually is, and it turns out it's not too complicated after all. I didn't expect something which seems soooo Japanese to originally have its roots come from America though. A big surprise but wouldn't mind having a go at it someday.
Hello there, Chris! Your videos are truly helpful and so fun to watch! I am teaching online English to Japanese and your channel has helped me a lot in understanding Japanese people and their culture. :-)
I just stumbled on your videos yesterday and I already subscribed and watched a lot! I absolutely love Japan and would love to live there!! so watching your videos is such a great insight into Japan. I absolutely love the culture and everything!! you're so lucky to live there
I would love to experience this, thank you for explaining it so thoroughly.
I got a Pacino machine around 1976 for Christmas. They sold remanufactured ones at Venture stores ( an old department store like Walmart). There was one in Cave Springs Missouri (near St Louis) . There were cigarette burns on the plastic by where the balls dropped out. Thinking about it I think the thing had a little ash tray on it. My parents are in their 70s now and it's probably in their basement right now. I remember I used some of the metal balls in my. Wrist Rocket (sling shot).
"Retired veteran of pachinko"
That's a nice way to say recovering gambling addict..
From now on I'll call myself a "Retired Opiate Connoisseur"
@NinjaKnight671 I work in the "retirement" industry
@wloffblizz how do "amateur" players cope with the fact most of pro players are sponsored (like big money) by casinos ?
I'll give you the +1 for the correct use of opiate rather than opioid.
@Rev the scatman Gotta corner the market homes(It's like petroleum jelly with food coloring in it).
@the Troll of Eastfarthing Woods for ten dollars? That’s cheap
I'd never heard of the ticket being redeemed, I'd always heard that you would trade the balls for little knick knacks and things and then sold those. Maybe that's an old model that's not used anymore, but just redeeming a ticket instead of a physical prize makes the loophole sound even sillier.
Well it's a "loophole" except not really. They're not outsmarting the law, the government just lets it happen because they know people like the game. The existing laws could probably be enforced to shut it down if they wanted to.
My grandma had a vintage pachinko machine I used to mess with in summers when I was at her house .... haha. It was really meditative it was spring loaded like a pinball loved watching it in the privacy of her home in Montana.
I stayed in Ginza while I was in Japan, and there was a huge Pachinko parlour not far from the hotel I stayed at. I didn’t go in, but it was fascinating to me 😂 So many colours and lights 😂 And so so many people playing!
I actually own an old mechanical pachinko machine! The mechanics are rather impressive when you get a look at them
When I was a kid in the 70's my friend had a pachinko machine in their living room. On hinges. It was a very different looking machine. Hand painted wood. This video brought back some old memories. I've scarcely thought of those times. Thank you.
Can I just say that the editing on this video was phenomenal? Lots of beautiful camera angles, and very cohesive. Den-awda-den!
It was so good that I didn't even notice anything that seemed out of place. Super fluid, great timing...you are completely right.
I agree! I really like that shot of the airplane and then the tilt down shot. I had to watch it a few times. Nicely done!
Not just editing, but great story line with a humorous drunk to boot !
I was just about to say the same! LOL
Meanwhile Garnt, Joey and Connor at Akihabara:
Garnt: *Dying noises*
Joey: *winning noises*
Connor: *Confused but winning noises*
These videos are always so interesting it’s got me wanting to go and try that out for myself 😀
I grew up with two or three old mechanical Pachinko machines in the house. I thought they were common until I was in high school and realized that no one had ever even heard of it before.
Wow, I didn’t know Natsuki was into pachinko. I only found out about pachinko, like last year. So, I had no idea what it was. Having a diagnosis of anxiety and depression, I wouldn’t be able to stand too long being in a pachinko parlour. It’s so loud…oh my goodness.
I remember playing the original type of pachinko game as a child something like 50 years ago. It was noisy, confusing, and the money my parents gave me was wiped out quickly. But I remember it clearly.
This shop is closed.
even I am Japanese I hadn't been there yet.
It’s sad.
I've never seen any other pachinko parlors rated as highly as this one.
Because it was run to target foreigners, this shop didn't last and went out of business, probably because foreign customers stopped coming to shop because of Corona and Japanese customers were only interested in oddballs like me.
@Clarise WuStop being a fool is obvious it came from china
@Unprofessional Professor lmao good one. Even better with the latest update about covid in china 🤣
Sad to heard this was an interresting place when i watch this video
@Clarise Wu This aged so poorly, it made my grandma look like a supermodel at 82.
Shame that place looked nice
When I went to a trip to Japan, me and my group walked around the neighborhood one evening and I heard the familiar sounds. I stopped them, pointed out the window showing the lower floor of a building. I showed them the pachinko parlor and explained what it was exactly. No one else had heard about it before
Im a big fan of Doco's. Ive seen all yours Chris. Well done. I enjoyed them all and learned a lot about Japan.
I want to party with Natsuki real bad. What a rad guy! I wish I spoke Japanese. I wish I spoke every language, in fact.
Natsuki seems like a person i would really get along with. great guy, funny game.
Very nicely put together video and very entertaining as well. Thanks for posting this.
Natsuki is the man I strive to be everyday.
@
Kellogsfrostedflake5 If you tell me Natsuki is the man you strive to be everyday, then your future is kinda dark. You can only see his outside, a good man ??? with (insert whatever you want). He has dark shits inside his broken soul. And society doesn't work like what you think
I thought that was lady name
@Drugs I Love Chris isn’t a “hired” host. This is his channel and his business. Also, Chris and Natsuki have been friends for years. It’s scripted for humor, and Natsuki gets his jabs in just as much as Chris does.
a gamba warlord
I had one of these machines on my basement growing up, never knew what it was but playing with the metal balls and playing with the machine was always fun!
Wow memories! We had quite some fun one summer on a similar machine. It had a spring-loaded lever that shot the balls individually. I think they were also a bit bigger. You would buy maybe 3 or 5 balls. No idea how it was called and I was pretty terrible at it.
I went to one of these places in Tokyo, it was so freaking loud. One machine caught fire nearby and no one blinked an eye. My buddies machine was on a streak and these guys kept bringing buckets over to collect the balls. We had a dinner rez and had to leave so the locals starting arguing over who would take over the machine we were on. Good time.
Please make another video like this one! 🙏I'm going into intermediate and this video helped me so much with my friends. I love your videos!!!
Ah shame i was planning to visit Ebisu Cafe on my next trip to Japan but as its been closed since 2020 because of the pandemic i fear it might not survive this... After all 2 years is a quite long time
Making a feature really has put your production values through the roof! This video feels like a classy documentary. Looking forward to the big bike project which will undoubtedly lead to another increase in your movie making skills.
Agreed..
Awesomepedia I legit thought someone had just ripped this off TV and reposted it! 😂
Was just about to say this is the first time it really struck me how good Chris has become at editing and just putting together videos in general. Keep up the great work Chris your videos have just been getting better and better.
True, the cinematography and editing felt like they got a huge upgrade lol
I've been binging your videos for the past couple of days. your stuff is so reminiscent of classic BBC documentary shows featuring the likes of James May, Jeremy Clarkson, or Richard Hammond when they wearn't doing Top Gear
We bought a nice electric pachinko machine when I was a kid in the late 80s. I couldn’t get enough of it. My friends and I would play it for hours and hours. It’s super addicting with the lights and sounds… even though we weren’t winning anything but our own steel balls.
I find the loophole fascinating. I can see why this is so addictive.
Natsuki and his explanation of why Japanese people play pachinko was perfect.
Gotta love that the video started with a common premise: "Pachinko is a loud, chaotic mess of a gambling game"
And ended with a realization: "It turns out that pachinko isn't as much of a mindfuck as I expected it to be."
This video was really good. It felt like you managed to capture the best parts of a documentary and a KZclip video. Very informative but without it feeling like a lecture or essay.
Great work Chris!
BADCompanySarge - Exactly. The balance isn't toppled.
looks fun. I've played the original mechanical ones, but those new ones look super fun.
I can't wait to visit Japan someday what an amazing beautiful place.
It always took me by surprise just how loud the Pachinko places were in Japan. Mainland loves them a lot more than Okinawa.
Wow, Natsuki is a Pachinko Master. That man has so many talents!
I went to the 5 story pachinko place in Akihabara and was astounded by it. It's SO DAMN LOUD! How on Earth do people stand being in that place, and surely all the employees must have hearing damage?
I love the rare and serious Natsuki part, explaining the obsession of Pachinko.
WhatATypicalTime the way he explained how they like taking a chance and trying their luck, the whole lucky bags thing suddenly made perfect sense.
I'm impressed Natsuki managed to win so well, and I'm glad many Japanese have fun with it... but I really don't think pachinko is for me. Thanks for the video on the subject; it is something I am interested in.
He does emphasize how loud it is a few times, but you really gotta experience it yourself to truly understand how insanely loud it is. IT’S CAPSLOCK LEVEL LOUD
@Ice Swallow a Disturbed song comes to mind
what if silence is the real loudness and pachinko is trying to liberate ur mind?!?!?
Natuski has impeccable comic timing, for example when no-look pulling the bottle of sake back.
Natsuki seems like both 40 year old and at the same time a cool teenager from the 80s.
I love Natsuki, he always has an upbeat attitude.
Your production value has gone way up (not that it was bad before). As much of a pain as the Natsuki movie was to produce -- it's definitely made an impact!
+1 on that. I'm impressed.
David Rosenthal i was thinking the same thing
Second video I watch of his but I appreciate the visual creativity.
"Not that it was bad before" Ah... I remember those days of Chris complaining about noisy birds in his small apartment on a less than stellar camera. Good times. But yes, much improvement has been made. ^_^
I love this eccentric Japanese man
I really want to play pachinko! Looks fun! ^^
When I was a kid I had an uncle that had one of these machines, this was in the late 70's or early 80's. I had actually forgotten about it until seeing this video.
They had a big "Pachinko Palace" in my area in the 1970s when I was a kid here in N. California. They sold Pachinko Machines in the USA in Sears catalogs etc back in the 70s too. They were expensive. My friend had one. They were Japanese and legit. Loud as hell and we weren't allowed to play with it in the house. lol
My uncle had a pachinco machine in his office, and I spent years just assuming it was another weird thing only my uncle knew about.
This is actually clever since you can give players a 120% win chance, that means they will mostly always win. But since it can only be used on goods in the store you are guaranteed to get your money back with the right prices.
I worked at a "travel plaza" that functioned this way. People would go insane trying to win tickets. But everything in the store was way overpriced. I don't think a lot of people replying to your comment understood what you were saying. Having worked at a tourist trap, I completely get it. I once saw a man spend his entire paycheck there. It made no sense to me, seeing all winnings were merchandise only. And everyone knew the merchandise was overpriced and questionable value.
@Nephew You did not calculate the time to double. And they can only win a certain amout of balls in a second. You can turn 100 into 200 but only 200 to 300 and definitelly not 200 to 400. So theoretically a "player/customer" can win 100 per hour if he plays here. Thats good marketing.
there is no guarantee 20% win, its all luck because the ball fall randomly thus considered fair although the nails placement really limit where the ball will fall. out of 100, you might even get 0 falling into the slot.
about the merchandise, its usually groceries, the items cost are even lower price than sold, so the house already made some saving there :) dont expect to get rich, usually its just "won 2 pack of cigarettes" sort of thing. in the video, theres a guy who have thousands behobd him, that one probably his only job and i think he aim high.
the payout is limited, there is a sbowball/progressive jackpot at each machine, so winning is limited to what that machine have. they sometime wait/mark machines with the biggest loser (jackpot is higher). balls are pretty much standard size, why would you want to bring out the balls? just give to the keeper to count and get the voucher, easy. the 1 yen ball is kinda special, for fun, so it will not use standard ball
Does not work like that all pachinko and pachislo are set between 95% and 110% usealy but most will be around that 95% mark their will be a couple that run on 105% 0r 110% but it's hard to know what's on what as these games all play very similar or higher or lower percentages and I think total percent of whole arcade works out to around 97% which means they always make a profit long term
Natsuki is so funny! Great sense of humor.
Back in the 70s a friend had a pachinko machine sent to him by a uncle stationed in Japan. It was addicting and loud.
I feel like I'm just watching a TV show or something on Netflix, and not a KZclip channel. That's how high quality this video is.
NATSUKI is the kind of friend everyone should have. I want one.
I was given a Pachinko machine at 8 years old. Definitely addicting!
When natski appears, you know its going to be amazing
Teamwork ja nai
"WILD NATSUKI. appeared!"
"COME ON BOOOOOY"
Closely followed by; "I'm drunkard".
Another t-shirt worthy quote.
Natsuki seems so much cooler and refined when he speaking in Japanese 😎
Yo to all my people who came here to understand Hakari I feel you dawg I don’t understand one but but these guys are hilarious and I’m wit it 💀💀💀💀💀💀 the flashing confusing lights and music fit him too perfectly
7:50 I really appreciate natsukis commentary on pachiko here, too me its really the highlight of this video because I always remember it.
Would love a pachinko parlor like that one with prizes
Great video! Entertaining and educational. I really learned something from it.
We give them pachinko, they give us anime.
_We’re practically related_
@ThatGuyFromNZ you should probably do your research. The federal law for age of consent in japan is 13 meaning that's as low as it can go but each city sets there own ages and most are either 16 or 18
Too bad that happened.
@AdmiralFroggy Maybe the anime you saw.
True, baseball is huge over there. And they are the best baseball players ever.
we gave em baseball too
The editing on this video is just so good.
yeh it’s not that good
Is it
Natsuki is fucking hilarious; when he gave Natsuki the balls, the dude walked away like a kid in a candy store. cracks me up
Just leaving a comment to let you know that I love Natsuki and I wish him every success.