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Yesterday I went to play Pachinko with my friend Yoski. Pachinko is the heart and soul of modern Japan. Every city has at least one smoky, noisy, intoxicating Pachinko parlour. The object of the game is to get the small balls into the start hole and set the pictures on the small screen spinning in the hope of lining up 3 identical images. The balls are fired by turning a small dial at the bottom right hand corner of the machine. If you're lucky enough to line up 3 identical images then the balls start pouring out of the machine where you place them into a tray. One tray full of beads is worth around 6,000 Yen (35 British pounds). The catch is that in Japan gambling is illegal. This means that you can't exchange your beads for money within the confines of the Pachinko parlour. The good news is though you can exchange them for little blocks which in turn you can take next door to exchange for money! Like a lot of things in Japan, the label is important: Pachinko isn't gambling. Anyway it is really quite fun urging the little balls into the start hole and watching the little cartoon characters wiggling about, all the time anticipating a big win. I won one tray full of balls but then - following the gambling way- I put them back in. Yoski won 3 trays and being such an affable fellow gave me some of his winnings. I declined with all the will of a mosquito but happilly to no avail: we both came away winners!!
posted by PA on Wednesday, June 11, 2003
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