Pachinko Machines

Pachinko machines, popularized in japan, are very similar to the “coin dropper” arcade games we have here in the UK, however instead of dropping coins into a machine, you drop ball bearings that you can buy and sell at a shop. The way you win these games is by getting them to drop more ball bearings than you put in in the first place, and then selling them back to the dude you originally bought them off. Strange concept initially but because of the laws in japan about gambling, they had to find a work around. Japan only allow betting forms of gambling and rule more casino style gambling as illegal, but pachinko also avoids being labelled as gambling.

Pachinko machines originated in the 1920’s, being known as “Corinth” games, said to be after the american “Corinthian bagatelle” which is an american game.  Another likely inspiration was the Billard Japonais, ‘Japanese billiards’, invented in Western Europe during the 18th century.

Pachinko machines are basically more complex, vertical pinball machines. Pachinko machines normally have the shop you buy the bearings from in a separate location to the machines which is supposedly how they bypass laws. However if you were to try and get away with doing the same trick with other forms of gambling, the Japanese law system would crack down on you. Pachinko machines reached popularity in the 1940s, as during the 20’s and then, pachinko machine parlors were closed down during the war, only to return in the late 40’s. It has remained popular since and the first commercial parlor was opened up in 1948.

My Pachinko Like Game

Today using unity i learned how to both create basic sprites as well as how to add physics such as collision, bounciness and friction. So far it looks like this

My project so far is in its earliest state possible (before even code had to be added) and so its design will change.so far the only idea i really have is that i want the balls to be destroyed after the pinball hits them enough. However unlike Peggle it won’t be about destroying balls for points and instead will be a more puzzle based game where the player must reach the end of each level, without destroying the blocks necessary to do so.

A day later, my game has some code! very simple code but you know, code nonetheless. first, i programmed the ball dropper at the top to be able to move

Once completed, this made my dropper be able to move left and right using A&D, left and right on an xbox controller and lastly the arrow keys. My second program was to allow my ball dropper to actually do its job

So now, we have a basic but functional ball dropper. The final code i did today was to allow the “basket” at the bottom to move

With this code done, it meant that the basket at the bottom of the screen would move towards the middle until it reached it. Once done, I imagine the basket to move backwards and forwards between starting and ending position and once im that far the game will be starting to take shape

I plan on adding a function that makes it so that once one of the white balls has been touched either once or twice it “pops” and you can get pinballs down the level. I also plan on making it so that you only have a limited amount of balls to drop so that each level doesn’t just become “spam A to win”. I may possibly also add a point system, a lot like in peggle, where every bubble popped gets you 100 points, however my spin might be that each ball that drops off the stage takes away points which promotes waiting before each turn and trying to get the most out of every drop.