A huge pack of schematics from Japanese monitors. The GMM-8 and GMM-20 also had copies labeled Taito, so I assume they were used in Taito games. Thank you to John at Flippers.com for the scans.
To my readers in the USA: This blog stands in protest against the horrific eliminationist policies being enacted by your administration to remove trans people from society. Trans people have always existed, in every society, but this administration has declared a war against reality and says that trans people can no longer be allowed to exist. Trump's executive orders say that trans children should be constantly terrorized at school, in their home, in public, and at hospitals. Trump's orders are a decree to destroy all traces of trans existence from society, and that all trans people are subhuman threats and liars who should not be allowed to exist publicly. He is attacking children, he is attacking families, and he is delighting in his sadism.
This blog stands in solidarity with all of the youth who are terrified by a president who has declared them to be threats, a danger to themselves and others that must be eliminated.
Recently we purchased a fairly large lot of Amusement Journal issues from 2007 to 2009. These are being scanned by Detchibe who also played a significant part of the costs. I paid for a portion of them, and the rest was chipped in by a handful of donors and people on the Gaming Alexandria Discord. If you would like to support work like this, please consider making a donation to Detchibe towards further efforts.
This post is a smattering of those issues, 10 in total.
To
my readers in the USA: This blog stands in protest against the horrific
eliminationist policies being enacted by your administration to remove
trans people from society. Trans people have always existed, in every
society, but this administration has declared a war against reality and
says that trans people can no longer be allowed to exist. Trump's
executive orders say that trans children should be constantly
terrorized: at school, in their home, in public, and at the hospitals. Trump's
orders are a decree to destroy all traces of trans existence from
society, and that all trans people are subhuman threats and liars who
should not be allowed to exist publicly. This is nazi-style cultural
genocide and everyone needs to do what they can to stop it. He is
attacking children, he is attacking families, and he is delighting in
his sadism.
It is very hard to continue working on hobby shit in
the face of the extreme Christofascist horrors being inflicted upon
millions. This blog stands in solidarity with all of the youth who are
terrified by a president who has declared them to be threats, a danger
to themselves and others that must be eliminated.
I am delighted to present another batch of Coin Machine Review issues! batch This spans 1936-11 to 1938-03.
Some incredible articles, but the quality of the print advertisements is absolutely beautiful. highly recommended. Please share widely.
I really love all of the photograph covers here. What an amazing stylistic time capsule. The first issue here is missing the cover. If you have this magazine, please scan your copy or at least scan the covers pages for me? thetastates@gmail.com
To
my readers in the USA: This blog stands in protest against the horrific
eliminationist policies being enacted by your administration to remove
trans people from society. Trans people have always existed, in every
society, but this administration has declared a war against reality and
says that trans people can no longer be allowed to exist. Trump's
executive orders say that trans children should be constantly
terrorized: at school, in their home, in public, and at the hospitals. Trump's
orders are a decree to destroy all traces of trans existence from
society, and that all trans people are subhuman threats and liars who
should not be allowed to exist publicly. This is nazi-style cultural
genocide and everyone needs to do what they can to stop it. He is
attacking children, he is attacking families, and he is delighting in
his sadism.
It is very hard to continue working on hobby shit in
the face of the extreme Christofascist horrors being inflicted upon
millions. This blog stands in solidarity with all of the youth who are
terrified by a president who has declared them to be threats, a danger
to themselves and others that must be eliminated.
To my readers in the USA: This blog stands in protest against the horrific eliminationist policies being enacted by your administration to remove trans people from society. Trans people have always existed, in every society, but this administration has declared a war against reality and says that trans people can no longer be allowed to exist. Trump's executive orders say that trans children should be constantly terrorized: at school, in their home, and at the hospitals. Trump's orders are a decree to destroy all traces of trans existence from society, and that all trans people are subhuman threats and liars who should not be allowed to exist publicly. This is nazi-style cultural genocide and everyone needs to do what they can to stop it. He is attacking children, he is attacking families, and he is delighting in his sadism.
It is very hard to continue working on hobby shit in the face of the extreme Christofascist horrors being inflicted upon millions. This blog stands in solidarity with all of the youth who are terrified by a president who has declared them to be threats, a danger to themselves and others that must be eliminated.
中村製作所 (Nakamura Seisakusho) would later become Namco, and for a period they distributed games made by こまや (Komaya). These two flyers appear to be from around 1970.
1969 Base Ball - ベースボール by こまや (Komaya) 1970 Ronin - 浪人 by こまや (Komaya) [presumed] 1970 Play Land - プレイランド by こまや (Komaya)
~1968 Let's Go Moon! - レッッゴームーン by こまや (Komaya) ~1967 Indy Game - インディゲーム by こまや (Komaya) 1965 クレイジー15ゲーム [クレイジーフィフティーンゲーム] [マークII] (Crazy 15 game [mark II]) by こまや (Komaya)
The games and the second flyer are older, so it might be from before 1970. But we have solid evidence that two of the games of the first flyer were released in 1970.
To my readers in the USA: This blog stands in protest against the horrific eliminationist policies being enacted by your administration to remove trans people from society. Trans people have always existed, in every society, but this administration has declared a war against reality and says that trans people can no longer exist. Trump's executive orders say that trans children should be abused at school and at home, they should be ripped from their loving parents and sent to conversion therapy, that all traces of trans existence should be purged from society, and that all trans people are subhuman threats and liars who should not be allowed to exist publicly. This is nazi-style cultural genocide and everyone needs to do what they can to stop it. He is attacking children, he is attacking families.
It is very hard to continue working on hobby shit in the face of the extreme Christofascist horrors being inflicted upon millions. This blog stands in solidarity with all of the youth who are terrified by a president who has declared them to be threats, and a danger to themselves and others that must be eliminated.
Another movie that I found via Sugiyama-san. This 1962 movie gives us a glimpse of a famous amusement park, but in the background we can get blurred glimpses of machines.
This movie has many interesting and inventive shots, and gives us an incredible view of 二子玉川園 (Futako Tamagawa Garden). Here are a few shots of the amusement park attractions, including the 宇宙飛行 (Space Flight) tower
these shots from the ride are lovely.
From a tweet: そこは浅草松屋屋上遊園地であった。花屋敷は日本の遊園地の嚆矢である。松屋のスポーツランドは、屋上遊園地の嚆矢である。二つは互いに影響し合いながら発展し、浅草の名物となった。そこには各種ゲームマシンが置かれていたのであった。浅草松屋については、拙著『コリントゲーム史』をお読みいただきたい。
Machine translation: It was the rooftop amusement park of Asakusa Matsuya. Hanayashiki was the first amusement park in Japan. Matsuya Sports Land was the first rooftop amusement park. The two developed while influencing each other, and became famous attractions in Asakusa. There were various game machines installed there. For more information about Asakusa Matsuya, please read my book "The History of Games in Corinth."
These telescopes are coin-operated and on a timer, so when the time runs out everyone struggles to find another coin.
Enough sightseeing, let's look at games...
this shot is the back of the pachinko parlour, which we can see into through the right-hand doors. On the right in the foreground is a large drum being spun by a motor. This is a machine for washing pachinko balls.
パチンコホール (Pachinko Hall)
wait a second, what's that in the background?
We can see this machine in another scene.
Even though it is hopelessly blurry, this is still a very exciting find. This game looks similar to the two player racer games that first became popular in the 1920s in the the UK. It looks like a cabinet and they all certainly looked like a fine piece of furniture.
Here is a postwar example:
1954 Helicopter Racer by Ruffler & Walker
There were a number of Japanese games built in this similar cabinet style in the 1930s.
~1937 フートボール競技 (football competition) by 日本娯楽機製作所 (Japan Amusement Machine Manufacturing)
Here is an early example of a similar style game from the UK. These machines were often "coin back" machines where each player put in a coin and whoever won the race would get theirs back.
1921 Jolly Fireman Racer by Charles Ahrens
1921 Jolly Fireman Racer by Charles Ahrens photo from pennymachines.co.uk
I cannot make out any real details here. For all I know the big red mass could be a bucking bull and there could be someone pulling on it on the left. there does at least to seem to be too metallic holes in the middle of the game, which suggests to me that this is a racer game. If anyone has an idea please let me know.
Perhaps the red circle is the bottom of the bell as it swings to the right. At the very top of the pole you can almost make out an image of a large silver bell, but it is too difficult to say for sure.
unknown 2-player game [seen in ひとりぼっちの二人だが] by unknown
I don't usually pause for the coin-op rides, but since this is such an early film I should probably document them here:
It is quite unfortunate that we do not get a better glimpse of the arcade, but let's squint at the smudgy shapes in the distance and see if we can figure something out.
On the left we have two pinball machines. The rightmost pinball machine is actually fairly easy to identify, because we can see the broad colours smudges that are at a very particular angle.
1956 Derby Day by Gottlieb
The machine on the left is a lot harder to see however. There is some methodology in trying to discern machines from very little visual information. You have to consider how the camera and lighting can smudge far-off images, and take notes of how the broad strokes might align. We can see the a large red line along the bottom with a white smear above it. There is also a central reddish mass and smear of yellow somewhere up at the top.
After much searching, I originally thought it was 4 Roses by Williams. But then I realized that 4 Roses came out in December 1962, and this movie came out in November 1962.
Then I thought might be 3 Coins, which came out in February 1962. I was a bit apprehensive about saying this title, as many of the pinball machines in Japan at this time were from the mid-1950s.
To the right of the pinball machines is a ride which is probably a version of Sega's Single Pony.
grey mass to the right of the pinball machine is a horse ride, then a funhouse mirror to the right, then a jukebox
1961 Single Pony by 日本娯楽物産 (Nihon Goraku Bussan) & 日本機械製造 (Nihon Kikai Seizo — Sega)
To the right of the pony ride is a tall funhouse mirror. Here is an example of similar mirrors at an amusement centre, in a different movie made 16 years later:
The next item to the right appears to be a jukebox. A primary distinctive feature we can see is that the glass curves to the back and then ever so slightly down. There are very few jukebox designs that look like that.
To my readers in the USA: This blog stands in protest against the horrific eliminationist policies being enacted by your administration to remove trans people from society. Trans people have always existed, in every society, but this administration has declared a war against reality and says that trans people can no longer exist. Trump's executive orders say that children should be ripped from their parents and sent to conversion therapy, that all traces of trans existence should be purged from society, and that all trans people are subhuman threats and liars who should not be allowed to exist publicly. This is Nazi shit and everyone needs to do what they can to stop it. He is attacking children, he is attacking families.
It is very hard to continue working on hobby shit in the face of the extreme Christofascist horrors being inflicted upon millions. This blog stands in solidarity with all of the youth who are terrified by the president who has declared them to be threats, and a danger to themselves and others that must be eliminated.
If you do not know much about trans people and what is going on, please begin with the videos below.
