How to Play Pachinko: Rules, Prizes and the Law in Japan

In short: Pachinko is a Japanese vertical pinball-style game in which players rent steel balls, shoot them into the playfield and try to land them in a start pocket that spins a digital slot reel for a jackpot paying more balls. Cash prizes are illegal, so balls are swapped for prizes, some of which are sold for cash at nominally separate exchange shops. Pachislot is a related slot-machine game played with tokens.

Japan is full of culture, colors, flavors, and new experiences. Its urban and suburban landscapes are brightly lit and loud, and pachinko parlors are among the most easily spotted the fixtures that form those landscapes and that cannot be seen anywhere else.

And it should be noted that pachinko parlors are oftentimes the source of the flashing lights and the chip-tune chimes that are ever-present across Japanese cities.

While they might have first emerged many decades ago, pachinko machines are still a popular pastime and gambling activity in Japan. Very much like pinball machines, players need to release balls into the play field. Very much like slot machines at casinos, players are not required to do much more than to press a few buttons and turn a few knobs to get the game going and hope for the best outcome.

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And once again very much like slot machines, pachinko machines are themed around popular movies, J-pop bands, iconic anime characters, and other trendy things in Japan.

But how are pachinko games played, are they legal in Japan, and why are they so huge there? Here is more about these popular gambling devices.

What is pachinko?

Pachinko is a type of mechanical game that developed in Japan in the 1920s from the Western bagatelle game, the forerunner of pinball. While a pachinko machine loosely resemblesget vertical pinball machines, the differences between the two types of gaming devices are more than their similarities and have grown in number as the pachinko industry has developed over the years.

A pachinko machine uses small steel balls that players rent at pachinko parlors to play. The balls are not only the active object in a pachinko machine, but they are also a player’s stake and their prize.

And it is namely the balls that trigger the slot machine features of pachinko games, which brings us to the most important question of all – how to play pachinko games.

How to play pachinko?

Pachinko machines can be found in pachinko parlors all over Japan. There are also many Japan-themed online casinos that feature digital versions of this locally popular pastime/gambling activity.

Machines in pachinko parlors are sorted by price and the probability for a player to hit a jackpot. Players can see the odds at the top of the machines. Each machine’s jackpot probability (for example 1/319) is listed on the machine, while a data display above it shows statistics such as spins since the last jackpot and the number of jackpots that day.

Novice players are highly recommended to stick to one-yen-per-ball machines. It is also a good idea for players to choose machines that are marked with 1/99. This means that they have one in 99 chance to hit the jackpot per spin.

Depending on the parlor, players might need to purchase a prepaid IC card in order to be able to play. Once a player has chosen a pachinko machine, they need to insert banknotes or their IC cards into a special slot on the side of the machine. Then they need to push a special button on the right side of the center console of the gaming device to receive their first set of balls.

The game starts when the player turns the round knob located at the bottom-right of the machine. This is the only action that requires some technique since the degree to which the knob is turned determines the velocity of each ball and how it is released into the playing field through one of the top corners.

Getting balls into a small hole (the start pocket) in the middle of the playing field triggers the slot machine-features of pachinko games. When a ball enters the start pocket, it spins the game’s three digital jackpot reels. As in classic slot games, the three reels should stop on three identical icons in order for players to win the jackpot, aotari. If this happens the player is rewarded with more balls.

When a player wants to redeem their prize, they need to push the refund button to claim any money they might have left in the machine. Then they need to push the call button to summon a staff member who will carry the balls to an automated counter.

The staff member then gives the player a card that shows the number of balls won, which they should bring to the exchange center to collect their prize. There is an array of prizes available at the prize counter, including items known as special prizes, tokushu keihin. These special prizes be exchanged for cash at outside establishments located in the vicinity of the parlor the player has played at.

Are pachinko machines legal?

Most gambling is banned under Japan’s Penal Code, apart from state-run betting on horse, bicycle, boat and motorcycle racing, lotteries, football pools and casinos in licensed integrated resorts (the first, in Osaka, is due to open around 2030), but this has not prevented the pachinko sector from thriving.

Pachinko parlors get around the rules by rewarding players with prizes instead of money. As mentioned above, some of these prizes can be exchanged at special establishments outside but near the pachinko facilities.

This so-called three-shop system is tolerated because pachinko is licensed as an amusement business under the Act on Control and Improvement of Amusement Business, and the establishments where players can get cash for their pachinko prizes are in most cases independent from the gaming parlors.

In the past, it was widely believed that the Yakuza were in charge of Japan’s pachinko parlors. However, nowadays the gaming establishments are more tightly regulated by the government and a lot of effort has been put into reducing gangsters’ influence on the sector.

In Tokyo, for example, the independently owned Tokyo Union Circulation (TUC) sells shiny plastic cards to pachinko parlors which players take to TUC Shop windows to exchange for money. The TUC then trades the cards back to pachinko parlors.

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What is pachinko?

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Are pachinko machines legal?

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