This silent film from 1928 has a wonderful avant-garde amusement center sequence, with references to some very early games.
This movie can be watched at The Internet Archive.
Please note: I have colour-balanced the screenshots to help make the still images more legible.
This whole scene is constructed with long fades between images, so there are often overlaps. It begins with this circle, which then starts spinning hypnotically.
The image then fades into a scene of balls rolling, then hands firing the balls in succession. I believe this in reference to tamakorogashi, rolling ball.
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| since we do not see the holes in the movie, it is hard to be sure, but I believe the images are meant to refer to rolling ball games. Above, French-made rolling ball tables. |
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| I am unsure about the nature of that top piece of wood |
We then fade to a scene of a man and a woman. There is a target in the distance while a man puts an arrow into a bow.
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| 矢場 (Yaba) was known as a red light district activity where sometimes the woman attendant was sometimes also a sex worker |
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| 1902~ 東京 (target gallery) [from '東京風俗志 下' by 平出鏗二郎 published by 富山房 in 1902] |
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| the scene then fades to a further-back shot of the archery |
Next, the camera pans to the right past party scenes.
The amusement center scene ends with shots of targets at a shooting gallery
Shooting galleries are one of the most long-lived arcade amusements in Japan. Targets could be hit by arrows, blow guns, or later, cork guns.
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| 1797 からくり的 (Karakuri-mato) [from 伊勢参宮名所図会 v3] |
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| 1813 からくり的 (Karakuri-mato) [2] [諸国道中金の草鞋 v2 (Shokudochu Kin no Kusasa volume 2)] |
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| 1891 射的 (shooting) [seen in 風俗画報‐二八号 ( Fuzoku Gaho No. 28)] |
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