A good goal is 20 for every ¥1,000 you spend. Your job is to find a sweet spot where the balls jump consistently into that little hole at the bottom. Tiny adjustments change the ball’s path as it bounces down through the pins. Here’s the trick: the amount you twist controls the speed at which the balls shoot out the top.
Grab the wheel at the bottom right with your right hand and twist. Feed money into the top left of machine and press the button near the bin sticking out like a big bottom lip near the bottom it will fill up with your balls. Play could not be simpler-or more deceptively difficult. It’s the only thing besides choosing which machine to play that gives any control of the experience. Watching this parade is, for the most part, what has everyone so entranced. Most balls fall meaninglessly into the bottom of machine. When the doors are closed, one ball can slip through when they’re open, three or more can. Eventually, they drop toward bottom center, where there’s a hole protected on both sides by two small doors. The balls cascade down, bouncing off and directed by a series of pins. Often described as “pinball turned vertical,” pachinko machines shoot small silver balls at a wicked pace.
