introducing... サーカス (Circus)

It's here and it's awesome.  I'm so happy to say I finally have a Japanese 10¥ machine in my collection!  Yes, it's Circus aka サーカス from Taiyo Sangyo in 1978.

When I got into Smart Ball (スマートボール) I started also discovering the world of 1970s Japanese 10¥ arcade machines.  These were games that you'd find in candy shops and would dispense tokens that could be exchanged for sweets or prizes.

It seems like lots of them did not survive.  Many were operated outdoors at the front of shops.  Sometimes under an awning, sometimes not.  Just lined up front along with vending machines.  Japan's a relatively small island with lots of coastline, so atmospheric conditions in many parts were probably not conducive to long-term preservation.

But what's really special about this one is that it is "New Old Stock".  It seems like a small number of Circus machines (and a game called Home Run Fever) popped up on Yahoo Japan Auctions.  Here was a chance to own a nearly brand-new 10¥ game from the 1970s, probably the only chance I'll ever have to get one in this condition too.

10¥ arcade machines do come up on occasion, but very rarely, they're often in quite poor condition, and they sell for hefty sums of money.

Enough preamble, let's open it up and take a look!

First thing to note was that the machine was in excellent condition and had definitely never been played before.  But sitting wherever it did for 42 years, some of the exposed metal had a white crust.  My friend says it was the zinc-coating oxidizing.  Metal parts that were painted or stainless steel were perfect.

rear of the front door

inside the cabinet

The inner latch handle to open the outer glass has a lot of the oxidization that I had to clean to improve movement.   But one thing to note was that the latch has a screw into it for shipment so that it doesn't accidentally unlatch and open.  

screw on the right needs to be removed for latch to work

One of the joys of getting something old that is still untouched is that you get to see how things were all those years ago.  Getting older things NIB is extremely rare.  2 years ago there was a Silver Sails unboxed at the York show.   Recently 2 different Wild Cycles from 1970 were unboxed, one on video, and one written up here.  There isn't MUCH to note about a new Circus, but still nice to know.

First up was that the D cell batteries (wired in parallel not series!) were from 1977, and thank goodness they hadn't leaked everywhere.

The big thing to attend to was the payout motor.  The white oxidization had it entirely seized, and had no idea what parts of it if any worked.

The underside also had a bit of a surprise:

Sankyo 2sb474 transistor

What's the transistor doing there?  Looking to the other side, we see it's not attached to anything.

hello leggies

My friend pointed out that these kinds of transistors probably weren't super cheap in 1977, so curious to have a superfluous one. 

I'll spare you all the struggles of disassembly, needless to say I want to invest in better size 0 tools.

With the motor detached I found it ran fine!

the gear box, cleaned somewhat and operating!

I can't imagine the anguish of messing up that gearbox!  gah look at those adorable tiny cogs.

Originally I was going to use these to clean and lube the gearS:

But a friend passed me this newer lube NYE 140-B instead, in hopes it will last longer.

Cleaned, lubed, and reattached, time for the test!

When a ball enters the goal on the playfield it hits a switch that causes the motor to advance.  When rotating disc advances it hits another switch by the motor.  This reverse the motor.  When the ball has left the first playfield switch the reverse signal takes hold and the motor reverses to the position it was originally.  So a coin is advanced, and then we return to receive the next coin in line.

And the coins!  There is a track along the back for prize tokens.  I had some larger pachislo tokens that measured 26.85mm, but the track and mech is for larger coins:

size is an obvious problem.

So these probably dispense 30mm prize tokens.  I'm ordering some.

The track inside though?  

 

Right away the game didn't play very well, but then I realized it wasn't level, and was in fact almost 2 degrees leaning forward.  It really has to be level, or slightly (1 degree) back or else the ball can get stuck in the trails and needs to be shaken out.

The plunger was having a LOT of trouble getting the ball to the top.  Part of this was the lean of the machine, but part was the spring being 42 years old.  They did have a good design for this though:

reverse of the shooter mech, which gets power via the spring extending to the right

pretty long spring!

they have multiple holes so you can vary the spring tension!  I made it one notch tighter.

Coin mech was made in West Germany? 

shiny coin mech!

Here is video of it being played at 駄菓子屋ゲーム博 (Dagashiya Game Museum)

And a really great (and shorter) gameplay video here:

He says it's one of the hardest games there.   I've looked at lots of 10¥ games while so many are just wacky and cool, there's very few that would have real staying power.  I'm happy the one I was able to get does have a lot of skilled gameplay, and is alluring for kids and adults alike.

Let's run some of the text through a translator:

front instructions

How to play the circus ★ If you insert a 10-yen coin from the slot on the upper right, you will get one ball. ★ When you launch the ball, it will stop on the seesaw. Turn the round handle on the right side gently to the left to enter the chucker. ★ 5 You can win the award by rolling it down with a danshiso. If you go inside the windmill at the top of the seesaw, you will come down two steps. When you enter the tulip, a ball will appear in the seesaw one step below. ● You can play the game again when you enter the beginning. ● When you enter the prize, a beautiful commemorative metal will be given as a prize.

Oh I guess I forgot to describe the game mechanics?

Coin goes in, ball comes out at the bottom  You shoot the ball to the top.  At the top of the top circle there is a hole you can enter and it takes you to level two.

Control the metal platforms by rotating the knob, getting the ball into the rooster pocket to advance down to the next stage.  If it goes into the top 2 tulips on the left it takes you down to the next stage.  If you enter the third tulip on the left, you get to try again from the shooter.  Likewise if your ball enters the tulip at the very bottom right, you also get to try again.  The tulips to the left and right of that?  Your game is over.

Get the ball into the trophy cut tulip and you will be awarded a token into the front tray.

label beneath the motor

Taiyo Sangyo Co., Ltd. Sasebo / Fukuoka: Osaka Tokyo High Standard / Design Utility Model Patented MODEL T 522 1189