Ayu's Pachinko Debut

[truehappiness]

I don't think it's really an indicator of popularity or not since there are some big properties out there with pachinko/pachislot [pachinko+slots] machines. Not necessarily individual J-Pop stars though, haha. I mean if you look at Ayu's career right now, does it really look like she's lost her popularity?

I suppose pachinko doesn't exactly have a good connotation to it though... (probably due to the smoky atmosphere of parlors and the possibly-run-by-yakuza cash out shops)

See this Akina Nakamori article about her second "wave" of pachinko machines. Comments are a bit harsh.

Trailer for Akina Nakamori's pachinko machine:


I imagine Ayu's will have a few Ayupan? And wow, TRF has one too! But they've kinda... not had much luck in the later half of the last decade.

[AyUta]

Hm, I don't think it has anything to do with popularity either. It's just something interesting and fun .

[ownsarai]

Well, that's definitely interesting. I want to see what the machine will look like and what songs will be used.

[JackieRos]

Oo.oO lmao oh wow wow....

[ohsixthirty]

how long till ayu gets arrested in a yakuza money ring? hahaha!

[xLuna&1LOVE]

Originally Posted by ohsixthirty

how long till ayu gets arrested in a yakuza money ring? hahaha!

Wanna bet?

[zellyx]

Haha, when I go to Japan,, I'm
Gonna find it...

[adantatu2]

oh, i want some pics of this game with ayu

[Earth_maiden]

pachinko parlours aren't easy to get into as a foreigner. As far as I know, many of them really are run by yakuza, and they don't really want foreigners in their parlors because they're far less likely to play on the machines for an extended length of time. A few times we walked past the parlours and I would see parents in there with their kids lying on the floor with a blanket over them, sleeping, while the parents just played and played and played. It was really disheartening, I felt so sorry for the kids.

Also, unless you already have an understanding of the game, it wouldn't be very easy to get started. From what I heard, the way they get around the whole gambling thing is you have to buy buckets of the silver round balls, and then you take those balls and use them to play the machines. But that's if they'll sell you the balls, and like I said previously, the ones who run the system want players who will stay there for a long time so they can get the most money out of them.

I tried to go in myself in 2008 so I could look at the Gackt Gladiator machine, but I got so many evils from the staff that I didn't even try to ask how to play. It was obvious they didn't want me there at all.

[truehappiness]

It's a bit like the game center in Pokemon, haha.

You get coins/silver balls and you exchange them for prizes. Those prizes are then exchanged for cash at an "off site location" usually next door. (In Pokemon, it was run by the evil syndicate of the game)

I think there are laws against gambling for money which is why they do it in this weird roundabout way.

[SURREAL__RAINBOW]

they are like 10 years late with this? lol It would've been much better for them (AVEX, pachinko owners) to do it during her peak in 2001 :/

I hope not many ayufans get obsessed playing with this! -____-

[hayasaki]

Oh gosh! So it's true! I am working on a Pachinko machine maker and I hope I can get a sneek of what it'll look like!

[Chibi-Chan]

That's... funny... xD

[Mayayu]

I want to try that machiiine!
I'm always so excited over the silliest things, hope I get a chance to go to Japan one day.

Thanks for telling!

[kendelle]

I think it's kind of quirky and cool. When I finally get to Japan, I'll be looking for one of these for sure

[Peruseusu]

thx ^^;

Most pachinko parlours I came across with in Japan were the most God-awful places in the universe... The stench of the ever-lingering cigarette smoke was ghastly, not to mention the mindless drones on the machines. I don't really recommend going there at all unless you're into that kind of atmosphere.

[tokyoxjapanxfan]

The stench of smoke is everywhere in Japan xD

But yeah, I don't play Pachinko. Mostly because I suck at it... I was talking to a friend and he spent like $200 playing and didn't win anything. I was like, "Why not just buy something useful?..." haha. But I guess that's what gambling is all about

Originally Posted by tokyoxjapanxfan

The stench of smoke is everywhere in Japan xD

That's true, but I think the thing that irked me the most were the mindless drones that spend a ghastly amount of time at the pachinko parlour. Makes me feel more sick than the smoke does xD

[Earth_maiden]

Originally Posted by Chiban

That's true, but I think the thing that irked me the most were the mindless drones that spend a ghastly amount of time at the pachinko parlour. Makes me feel more sick than the smoke does xD

Seeing children lying on the floor with a blanket, trying to sleep while their parents gambled away like mindless drones, THAT really upset me.