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.
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| ひとりぼっちの二人だが |
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
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| 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."
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| 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...
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| 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. |
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| 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:
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| 1954 Helicopter Racer by Ruffler & Walker |
There were a number of Japanese games built in this similar cabinet style in the 1930s.
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| ~1937 フートボール競技 (football competition) by 日本娯楽機製作所 (Japan Amusement Machine Manufacturing) |
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| ~1937 日本大競馬場 (Japan big racecourse) [卓上競馬機 (tabletop horse racing machine)] 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.
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| 1921 Jolly Fireman Racer by Charles Ahrens |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 1962 4 Roses by Williams |
Looking again, I think the machine might be 3 Coins, which came out in February 1962. I am a bit apprehensive about saying this title, as many of the pinball machines in Japan at this time were from the mid-1950s.
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| 1962 3 Coins by Williams |
But my main apprehension here is that the white line does not curve up at the edges. If you have a better idea as to what machine it could be please do let me know.
To the right of the pinball machines is a ride which is probably a version of Sega's Single Pony.
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| 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:
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| exploring the arcade in the 1978 movie 鬼畜 / Kichiku (The Demon) |
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.
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| 1954 Wurlitzer 1600 AF - via (archive) |
If we look into the very far left of the shot we can see a row of smartball machines.
Here is a representative example of this style of smartball:
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| 1950s スマートボール ローズマリー号 (smart ball rosemary) by 西陣 (Nishijin) |
In this shot we can see lines of pachinko machines in the background.
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