Friday, December 16, 2022

exploring the arcade in ワンパク番外地 / Wanpaku Bangaichi (1971)

TOO-san has given us another wonderful arcade thread! (archive)  This is from the TV show ワンパク番外地 第1話「ワンパク勢揃いの巻」(1971年4月8日放送) (Wanpaku Bangaichi Episode 1 "Wanpaku Lineup Volume" (broadcast on April 8, 1971))


First let's look at the two pinball machines.





The one on the left is Royal Guard

1968 Royal Guard by Gottlieb

And the 2nd machine, the one we see gameplay of, is Cross Town

1966 Cross Town by Gottlieb


2 young men are cleaning out a crane machine so the proprietor comes to inspect it.


More screenshots that includes the crane, we can see how on both sides it slants downward.




This is most likely a Taito crane.  They released 3 models within a 2 year span that all basically look the same, but more often than not it is a 603 crane.

1966 Crown 603 - クラウンクレーンゲーム (crown crane game) by 太東 (Taito)




Probably the most iconic feature in any old Japanese arcade is the Sega Punching Bag.  The proprietor has a contest posted that you can win 11,000 yen if you can reach a power level of 2000.  This woman is supernaturally strong and smashed the punching bag off its chain.  When the owner does not pay her, she starts trashing the place.


trust me, he deserved it.





A+ mugging for the camera


1962 パンチングバッグ (punching bag) by セガ (Sega)

One key note about Punching Bag is the thickness of the rim around the bag.  Sega re-released Punching Bag in 1973 and that model has a more padded rim.


The show strongly reinforces that the owner is a creep.




In the back corner of the arcade there is a very imposing-looking gun game.  It appers to be a 1965 Texas Ranger, except that the white lines on the main unit are at a slightly different angle.  The star is there on the gatling gun, and the lines at the bottom of the cabinet even line up.  Perhaps it was repainted?  The handle bars are near there, so I could see that being a common wear spot.



The final machines are the most interesting to me because they are currently mysterious Japanese games from the 1960s!  Please go revisit the arcade exploration of the 1966 movie 黒い賭博師 悪魔の左手 to get up to speed.


When the woman attacks the man, he tears a steering wheel off a driving game.


the text seems to read ドライブ (drive)

I have a whole series on the Mini Drive games by 関西精機 (Kansai Seiki).  It was iconic.  I am not surprised there were numerous imitators.  The above machine has a different ratio backglass size than the Mini Drive machines.  I do not have any more information, but I hope to discover more some day.  I still have hope that someone will provide me with materials from the 1960s Japanese arcades.
The most iconic edition is the 1958 ミニドライブ M型 (Mini Drive M type) by 関西精機 (Kansai Seiki) and if you compare any of the details between Mini Drive and the games here, everything is slightly different.

in shots like these you can see how the cabinets have been cheaply repainted for the TV show.

the cabinets are probably empty of all mechanisms.  They move as if they are quite light.

I enhanced this image to better show off the backglass

at the end of the scene, the owner graciously shows us that the steering wheel is 3-pronged.


In 黒い賭博師 悪魔の左手 we have this shot that shows us the same driving game.



It is very encouraging to see this driving machine in 2 different places!  I hope to discover many more machines from the mid 1960s.

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