scans: プレイグラフ Play Graph 1980-01 / 1982-01 / 1983-09

3 more Play Graph scans are now up:

プレイグラフ [Play Graph] Vol. 16 No. 1 (January 1980) (600DPI)

プレイグラフ [Play Graph] Vol. 18 No. 1 (January 1982) (600DPI)

プレイグラフ [Play Graph] Vol. 19 No. 9 (September 1983) (600DPI)

exploring the arcade in 乾いた花 (1964) / Kawaita hana aka Pale Flower

This film contains a bowling alley scene with a few arcade games in the background.  Thank you to @TOO_yoshikawa for bringing this to my attention.

乾いた花 (1964)

let's begin with the machine on the far-left, since we only see it for a fraction of a second

1961 Rifle Gallery by Midway

again on the far left, there is a machine that looks like Taito's Sportsman.  But Taito did not begin selling that machine until 1966, so this must be the machine it was based on.

for reference only: 1966 Sportsman - スポーツマン by 太東 (Taito — Crown)

1947 Deluxe Athletic Scale floor model machine by Mercury Steel Corporation

The image does not line up perfectly:  In the movie there are some striations along the top curve of the machine.  This might be a modified paint job, but could also be a geometric reflection of the lights.  The text card also seems differs, perhaps replaced with a Japanese language one.

on the left there is a pinball machine, but it cannot be identified by the door and leg alone.  Let's focus on the 2 machines at the center of the frame.

1960 Skill-Score by Bally

1958 Double Shot by Games Inc

Remember how I said the pinball machine can't be seen?  Well I was looking around online and found this photo/still, which does NOT appear in the movie.  The scene happening here is shot from a different angle, so I suppose this was a photo taken, or from a different camera?  You can easily find the moment the woman wearing black walks past that Skill-Score machine, and the angle is quite different.

Here is what we see in the film at this exact moment:

Curious!  Anyways, that extra still lets us see the pinball machine.

1955 Gypsy Queen by Gottlieb

Finally, on the far right we have a game that has piqued my interest.

It looks like a Dodge City.... but could this be the elusive Western Gun?

is this Sega's Western Gun?  Or just a Dodge City by Frantz, without the marquee?

scan: 1984 超発想集団・ナムコ・ニューメディア時代先取り企業の研究 [Research on Ultra-Creative Group Namco]

超発想集団・ナムコ・ニューメディア時代先取り企業の研究 [Research on Ultra-Creative Group Namco] (600DPI)

scans: プレイグラフ Play Graph 1978 01/02/03/05/06/08

Play Graph (プレイグラフ) was a pachinko operator magazine.  Thank you to the members of the global pachinko community that contributed funds to help us purchase 19 issues of this magazine, and thank you to @Detchibe for scanning these (as well as contributing funds).  The magazines are filled with great images of new pachinkos, arrangeball machines, gear for running a pachinko parlor,  photos of parlors, and articles about the industry and players.  

Here are the first 6 scans.  I have also posted some of my favourite pages under the cut.

If you would like to help with future magazine purchases my email (and paypal) is thetastates@gmail.com and you can also find us on the GA Discord.

Tip: If you download the "COMIC BOOK ZIP" from the Internet Archive you can rename the .CBZ file to .ZIP and then unzip the entire issue as JPEG images.  These can be easily dropped into Translate programs.

プレイグラフ [Play Graph] Vol. 14 No. 1 (January 1978) (600DPI)

プレイグラフ [Play Graph] Vol. 14 No. 2 (February 1978) (600DPI)

プレイグラフ [Play Graph] Vol. 14 No. 3 (March 1978) (600DPI)

プレイグラフ [Play Graph] Vol. 14 No. 5 (May 1978) (600DPI)

プレイグラフ [Play Graph] Vol. 14 No. 6 (June 1978) (600DPI)

プレイグラフ [Play Graph] Vol. 14 No. 8 (August 1978) (600DPI)

exploring the arcade in the トラック野郎 / Torakku yarô aka Truck Guy movies (1975-1979)

Truck Guys was a series of 10 films released in 5 years!  The wikipedia description will suffice here:

All ten films in the series were directed by Norifumi Suzuki and starred Bunta Sugawara as Momojiro Hoshi ("Ichibanboshi" or "first star") and Kinya Aikawa as Kinzo Matsushita, also known as "Jonathan". The title Torakku Yaro means "truck guys" or "truck rascals", and the films involve two truckers and their various escapades as they travel around Japan in highly decorated trucks.

The plot formula is similar to the Otoko wa Tsurai yo films. Each time Momojiro falls in love with a woman (the "Madonna") and then ends up having to help her romance with another man. The stories end with Momojiro having to race his truck to meet a deadline to rejoin the couple.

Many of these movies have arcade machines so of course we need to go exploring.

From wikipedia, a wonderful image of Momojiro Hoshi's truck on display in 2016:

This movie series also spawned 2 medal games:

1976 トラック野郎 (Truck Yaro) by 太陽自動機 (Taiyo Jidoki)

1977 特急・一番星 (Limited Express) by 太陽自動機 (Taiyo Jidoki)

On to the movies!

scans: Universal company profiles, 1981 & 1982

A friend has sent me these documents with permission to share them.

The first document does not have a year in the title.  The timeline included does not go past 1979.

The second one has "1982" on the cover, but the timeline is only one year forward, just to 1980.  My assumption is that the "1982" document was prepared near the end of 1981 in preparation for the 1982 year.  If the books of 1981 were not closed, the history makes sense to only include history up to 1980.

Based on that assumption, I am assuming the first document is the "1981" corporate profile, probably written at the end of 1980.

Download both of these from The Internet Archive.

~1981 Universal company profile

1982 Universal company profile

What intrigues me most about these is the timelines given for the machines.  Many of the early machines are on the list are ahead of when I have evidence of them being released.  Typically by a year or two, which might be expected given how spotty information we have from 1975 and earlier is. 

But there is one big mystery staring us right in the face:

scans: antique postcards from Japan

I purchased 4 old postcards from Japan.  Thank you to Detchibe for scanning them for me.  Links under each go to the uploads on The Internet Archive.

This illustration of a shooting gallery is quite interesting, and is allegedly from 1907-1909.  The auction (archive) states "滑稽新聞社発行の「絵葉書世界」＝明治40年～明治42年 石版多色刷りの絵葉書１集30枚を第1集から第26集まで発行": "Postcard World" published by the Kakaku Shimbunsha newspaper, Meiji 40-Meiji 42. A collection of 30 lithographed multicolor postcards was published from the first to the 26th collection.

室内射的 (indoor shooting) ~1908

These next two are seemingly from the same place, showcasing an archery range.  The auctions for these mentioned 山形 (Yamagata) but I am unsure if that is accurate.  This dovetails into my arcade interests since archery training was also sometimes an arcade-adjacent amusement.

瀨見矢塲ノ景 (semi yaba scenery)

瀬見矢場 (semi yaba)

And the last one is not arcade related, but I just love the huge energy it exudes.

宝塚新温泉遊戯室 (Takarazuka New Hot Springs Playroom)

On the rear it says 宝塚新温泉遊戯室 (Takarazuka New Hot Springs Playroom) and we have seen mention of the legendary Takarzauka hot springs before!  I believe this to be pre-war because the writing on the back is read right-to-left.  Probably 1930?