Environmental effects of modern coin-ops

[coppinpr]

Interesting fact:-
Modern coin op vending machines and giant pachinko parlours kind of crept into Japanese society between 1945 and the present day without anyone really taking much notice of them. Now Japan has more vending machines (Coke has more than 150,000 in Japan) than any other country and the pachinko parlours out number all other slots in the world. Following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami which led to a massive drop in available power in Japan it became apparent for the first time that these two were causing a massive drain on the Japanese power grid. This led to laws being changed to restrict the numbers of vendors and reduce the number of gaming licences.

Because the Japanese market is so big for Coke they immediately launched the "Apollo project" (not a very original name, but they are American) to develop a coke vendor, which is of course an outdoor fridge trying to operate in Japan's increasingly hot climate, which would use a fraction of the power of the old style vendor. Using power storage and vacuum sealed insulation these machine are now in use (80,000 in Japan already). These use no power between 7am and 11pm and in total use 90% less power than the old machines, so at least something good came out of the 2011 disaster.

The Pachinko problem is two fold: the machines use a lot of power and the lights give of so much heat the air con needs to be very strong. Changing the lighting to LED has reduced the heat problems in the parlours, reducing the air con use, but only the reduction in the sheer number of machines will reduce the power they use.

[badpenny]

If it takes disasters to highlight inherent infrastructure deficits then perhaps being in the flight path of Jim Jum Ting Tongs oversized Brocks fireworks might refocus them a tad.

[pennymachines]

...but only the reduction in the sheer number of machines will reduce the power they use.

Or going back to the good ol' all-mechanical pachinkos of yore.

[pennymachines]

Interesting fact:-
Modern coin op vending machines and giant pachinko parlours kind of crept into Japanese society between 1945 and the present day without anyone really taking much notice of them.

According to Pachinko Planet's History of Pachinko, the origins of the game can be traced back to the late 1920s, but, "In 1936, the game of pachinko became an overnight sensation. In Kochi alone, 35 parlours opened in just six months".

This source claims the first pachinko was based upon a combination of features from the toy Corinthian Bagatelle (manufactured in Japan as "Korinto Gemu", in 1926) and the British Manufacturing Co's Circle of Pleasure game. It dates Circle of Pleasure to 1910 which sounds a tad too early, as it appears BMCo. didn't trade until about 1914. I don't know if there's evidence to support this 'origin of the first pachinko', or if it's just guesswork.

[coppinpr]

All above is of course true. The first machine with the name Pachinko came out in 1929. Before that many of the earlier developments were horizontal bagatelle games popular with kids. The first Pachinko named machine was, in effect, an upright bagatelle and although very very popular didn't really take off as a gambling machine until the invention of the masamura gage in the mid 1950s which made for better odds.

[pennymachines]

Pachinko-boy.com gives a brief history of the game's early technical development, including Shoichi Masamura's "Masamura Gauge" (1948), up until the 1990s. Apparently, when materials were unavailable after the war, Masamura made games from packing cases and greenhouse glass.

This fascinating article, Pachinko Nation, describes how Pachinko and government-sponsored gambling exploded in the late ‘40s and ‘50s, how gambling, though illegal in Japan, is widely tolerated in many forms, addiction ignored, and how for years pachinko helped finance North Korea's dictatorship.

[badpenny]

Jeez .....
Pachinko = North Korea
Chicago Slots = Cosa Nostra
Ollie Whales = errr ..... Ice cream van wars?

[coppinpr]

no. Oliver Whales was mixed up with the vicious football pools mob,rumor is he had the coupon collection racket sewn up in Redcar... gamble responsibly, remember what the slogan is "when your shilling is gone stop!!"