Wednesday, April 2, 2025

scans: 10 more Amusement Journals

Over the past few months we were able to pool our resources and buy a few stacks of Amusement Journal and Coin Journal issues, mostly from the aughts.

Detchibe has been scanning hard and here are 10 more issues of Amusement Journal:
2002-12
2003-04
2003-09
2003-10
2003-12
2004-08
2007-07
2007-10
2008-02
2008-03

Amusement Journal Vol. 2 No. 12 Issue 20 (December 2002) (600DPI)



Amusement Journal Vol. 3 No. 9 Issue 29 (September 2003) (600DPI)

Amusement Journal Vol. 3 No. 10 Issue 30 (October 2003) (600DPI)

Amusement Journal Vol. 3 No. 12 Issue 32 (December 2003) (600DPI)

Amusement Journal Vol. 4 No. 8 Issue 40 (August 2004) (600DPI)

 Amusement Journal Vol. 7 No. 7 Issue 75 (July 2007) (600DPI)

Amusement Journal Vol. 7 No. 10 Issue 78 (October 2007) (600DPI)

Amusement Journal Vol. 8 No. 2 Issue 82 (February 2008) (600DPI)

Amusement Journal Vol. 8 No. 3 Issue 83 (March 2008) (600DPI)


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This blog stands in protest against the horrific eliminationist policies being enacted by the USA to remove trans people from society.  Trans people have always existed, in every society, but this fascist 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 abused 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 being terrorized by a president who has declared them to be threats that must be eliminated. 

Link: Trans Justice Funding Project

Please read: Trans Woman Arrested, Sent to Men’s Jail For Entering Florida Capitol Bathroom by S. Baum

exploring the arcade in 下町の太陽 (1963) aka Shitamachi no taiyô (The Sun of Shitamachi)

This movie was pointed out by TOO_yoshikawa, who somehow is always able to take clearer screenshots than me.

下町の太陽 (1963)

There is a short scene at 花やしき (Hanayashiki) in 浅草 (Asakusa).

We begin with some pinball.

when you see "Spin" on a bumper, that means its a game with a roto-target

That's all we get, but it's more than enough.

via ipdb

via pinside

 

But the showcase here is an entirely NEW GAME that we've never seen or heard of before.  It's a large shooting gallery that I believe uses photo cels / light gun technology.



Part of the text at the top is cut off, but we can see most and I'm told it says ララミー砦の決戦






My guess is that you have to shoot the light when the target is above it.

I'm combining 3 of these frames into one image for the eremeka database:

ララミー砦の決戦 (The Battle of Fort Laramie) [Shooting Game - seen in 下町の太陽] by アートポイント社 (Art Point)

 

I am unsure if this rotating robot is related to a game, but considering the decorative light board on the right and the two connected spheres on the left, it is probably just a a decoration at the venue.




 

 Then, there is bowling:



There are not many clues here, but let's work with what we've got.  This is a floor bowler game, probably by Chicago Coin.  We know David Rosen was importing all sorts of these in his 1961 catalogue.  The front pin area pushes out in a triangle, but has flat parts on either side.  There is a stripe that goes from the flat part out to the pin triangle.   We can see rollover switches underneath the dangling pins.

There is an inner stripe that runs the length of the gutter.  The instructions at the front of the lane are the same shape on both machines, a rectangle with a darker rectangle at the top.  The metal bar on the ball return appears to be common amongst all of their models.  At the end of the ball return there is no coin box.   The balls appear to be the 4.5" variety.  Clay's excellent article on bowling arcade games on his pinrepair site has been extremely useful here.

These clues help narrow down the options from well over 10 probably bowlers to about 3 that share those visible features, particularly the design of the instructions at the front.

On pinrepair we learn that T.V. Bowling League and Lucky Strike are contact bowlers with no rollover switches, so we can rule those game out.

So this is most likely Classic Bowling League.

1957 Classic Bowling League by Chicago Coin
(restoration by Res Meister)
(archive)
 

 

And we'll leave off with some amusement park shots




 


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This blog stands in protest against the horrific eliminationist policies being enacted by the USA to remove trans people from society.  Trans people have always existed, in every society, but this fascist 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 abused 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 being terrorized by a president who has declared them to be threats that must be eliminated. 

 



Monday, March 31, 2025

how things get scanned here

This blog has gone heavy into scanning and preservation.  I do a bunch of flatbed scanning myself, but the bulk of the magazines you see posted here are scanned by the likes of Detchibe and Hubz, and we coordinate at Gaming Alexandria.  These are ongoing collaborative projects where we all chip in money, time, and sweat equity, all at various levels, with the goal of preserving gaming history for future researchers and historians.

But this post is about highlighting that "sweat equity".  Maybe blood equity? (Scanners cut themselves so many times...)  They also endure magazines that smell like old cigarettes and blood, magazines that are falling apart, magazines that have pages stuck together, etc.

2 timelapse videos from Detchibe....  like debinding Coin Journals:


 Or chopping the spines off Amusement Journal issues:


A longer video from Detchibe, they take us through How to Debind, Scan, Process, and Upload Japanese Magazines


 

Hubz cautions that this is an older video and some of his methods have improved, but it is a great overview from him:


 

There are also others who send me in their scans.  Thank you very much for those.  Have something to preserve and share with the game research community?  Many of my sources have requested anonymity, or I can post with full credit.  Please get in touch at thetastates@gmail.com

 

Adding:

A scanning guide from Detchibe 


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This blog stands in protest against the horrific eliminationist policies being enacted by the USA to remove trans people from society.  Trans people have always existed, in every society, but this fascist 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 abused 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 being terrorized by a president who has declared them to be threats that must be eliminated.


Wednesday, March 26, 2025

scans: Pacific Coin Machine Review 7 issues from 1934, 1935

It has come to my attention that I forgot to make a post about some of the earliest Coin Machine Review scans I uploaded, so let's rectify that now.

Pacific Coin Machine Review 1934-06

Pacific Coin Machine Review 1934-08

Pacific Coin Machine Review 1934-09


Pacific Coin Machine Review 1934-10


Pacific Coin Machine Review 1935-02

Pacific Coin Machine Review 1935-04

Pacific Coin Machine Review 1935-06



Some highlights...











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This blog stands in protest against the horrific eliminationist policies being enacted by the USA to remove trans people from society.  Trans people have always existed, in every society, but this fascist 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 abused 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 being terrorized by a president who has declared them to be threats that must be eliminated. 

Please watch:

This video does a great job understanding how conspirational thinking works.  It does not get deep into current politics, but lays the framework for how the world is understood by the cranks that now control the USA.