so I bought a pinball machine

Monday, December 2, 2024

scans: 1960s Japanese arcade flyers

Mike Minchew has provided us with some incredibly rare flyers from Japan from the late 1960s and early 1970s. Taito's Crazy Ball is one I have never seen before, and it's always exciting to pull together tidbits of history from a massive company like Taito that might've otherwise been lost to time. As of writing this, there are 3 Taito games from the 1960s that we do not have any photograph of. (link is to the full Taito timeline)

1967 Crown Soccer Special - サッカーゲーム701 (soccer game 701) by 太東 (Taito)

~1967 サッカー8 [エイト] (Soccer 8) by カトウ (Kato)

1968 Crazy Ball - クレージーボール by 太東 (Taito — Crown)

1969 Let's Go! Bazooka - レッゴー・バズーカ by ホープ自動車 (Hope Motor Co — Hope Star)

1970 Baby Gang - ベビーギャング by ホープ自動車 (Hope Motor Co — Hope Star)

1970 Torpedo Shark - 魚雷シャーク by ホープ自動車 (Hope Motor Co)

~1975 Play-Mate - プレイメイト by コパルマシン (Copal Machine) & 新潟ジューク (Niigata Juke)

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For my readers in the USA: The only way for this blog to continue in the face of the crushing authoritarian moral panic against trans people in your country is for me to continue to make space for the struggles of my friends and family staring down the horrors of hundreds of millions of dollars funneled into hate campaigns to vilify and lie about them. Trans people have existed across all recorded civilizations, and suddenly the Christofascist powers have decided they want to eradicate trans people from society by whatever means necessary.

via Transfigure

Wednesday, November 27, 2024

scans: Amusement Sangyo 1975-05 & Computopia 1968-01

Two very cool magazines out of Japan. The first is an extremely rare issue of Amusement Sangyo that I bought along with 2 others at Gaming Alexandria. Thank you to Detchibe for scanning them.

The second is the first from a stack of Computopia・コンピュートピア issues we were able to purchase thanks to a donation. When I went to Pinball Expo 40 I got to meet many wonderful people. I was talking about our archiving efforts with a man named Patrick and he mentioned his interest in early computing, and I relayed a story about a stack of Computopia on YJA that we had seen, but didn't have the funds for. Thanks to Patrick's generosity and trust, we were able to purchase the stack and this issue is the first of the lot. 1968!! It even has an article on 21st century computers and artificial intelligence.

アミューズメン産業 (Amusement Industry) 1975-05

Computopia・コンピュートピア 1968-01

For my readers in the USA: Your incoming administration has embraced a moral panic and have put forward legislation to make the existence of trans people illegal. If you proudly support these anti-science oligarchs who delight in torturing the minorities they demonize, then please do not come back to my blog. My efforts are not for you, they are in SPITE of you.

Do not tell me I am sub-human and unworthy of dignity and then thank me for my work on pinball history.

If you're able to understand that maybe over a million people shouldn't be arrested for using the bathrooms they've been using for years/decades, then I highly suggest getting active locally to see what you can do to protect trans people and other marginalized groups in your community from the incoming administration and their brownshirts. Please read this article by Julia Serano: Planned Action for LGBTQ+ & Allies in Response to Democrats Capitulating on Trans Rights

thank you Knifewear

Saturday, November 23, 2024

scans: Pacific Coin Machine Review first half of 1936

6 issues of the wonderful Pacific Coin Machine Review! I would post more covers but really they all have the same design, and only 2 issues even use a different colour. :)

Pacific Coin Machine Review 1936-01

Pacific Coin Machine Review 1936-02
Pacific Coin Machine Review 1936-03
Pacific Coin Machine Review 1936-04
Pacific Coin Machine Review 1936-05
Pacific Coin Machine Review 1936-06

Note for readers in the USA: Your incoming administration promised to make life hell for LGBTQ people in your country and have put forward legislation to make the existence of trans people illegal. These science-deniers offered a Gilead-on-steroids vision for America and you voted for it, embracing the promise of destroying maternal health, gutting scientific research, censoring black and LGBTQ history, destroying the environment, and making life untenable for trans folks.

You have to figure out what you can do to stop the genocidal lust of these authoritarians and limit the damage of their moral panic. If you proudly support these anti-science oligarchs who delight in torturing the minorities they demonize, then please do not come back to my blog. My efforts are not for you, they are in SPITE of you. Do not tell me I am sub-human and unworthy of dignity and then thank me for my work on pinball history. I hope one day you develop the compassion to understand the horrors you have unleashed on my friends and family. I hope that you are just marks that were duped by the most embarrassing conman, and that the seething hatred he embraces has not calcified your soul.
To LGBTQ people in the USA: I am sorry you live in a world that is declaring war on you. I am sorry the richest people in your country spent hundreds of millions spreading lies about you and then proposed dehumanizing legislation based on those lies. Please stay alive.
Please stay alive, despite the lies being screamed at you by the powerful bigots in your country. Please stay alive, despite the violence of their ideology trying to tell you that you are worthless and hated. You are loved and you are valid. Love can win. Brace yourself as best you can, there is a whole lot of terror about to be unleashed.