Pachinkos in America: where are they?

Many people in America have pachinkos in their basements, garages, and attics. But they were placed there years ago by parents, or former residents, or maybe they were picked up at garage sales or flea markets. How did these crazy standing Japanese pinball machines end up in America? The history of the Pachinkos in the United States is quite amazing.

As the owner of a website dedicated to the repair and restoration of pachinkos, I have learned quite a bit about where they are today and how they got there. Using tools like Google Analytics, I have been able to compile some statistics that allow us to know where they are today. Thousands of people have visited my site and they are all looking for information on these rather strange games. The origin of these inquiries, combined with the orders and sales data, provides a pretty clear picture that I will share with you below. But first, a little background on how all these pachinko machines got here.

Japanese pachinko salons for decades only allowed the machines to remain in service for about a year before they had to be removed and disposed of. This led to a large number of used machines available in Japan, and most were simply destroyed. However, it was not unusual for the US military to send them or bring them back to the states as souvenirs. The numbers that came in were spread out from our main military installations, but in the 1950s and 1960s these numbers were small, somewhere in the thousands. Few of these pachinkos have survived today.

In the early 1970s, some enterprising gentlemen had a good idea to use all those piles of expired pachinkos. They formed a company called Target Abroad LTD, and began buying them by the thousands and filling shipping boxes with them. They then shipped thousands of these boxes to America and sold them through major chain stores like Woolworth, K-Mart, and even Sears. Several other smaller companies were formed and quickly opened specialty pachinko stores across the country. Two of the most successful were Pachinko Palace and The Pachinko Factory, and many old-fashioned pachinkos in America still wear their stickers. Literally millions were sold between 1972 and 1976, but sales began to plummet when video games were invented and then mass-produced. By 1978, almost all imports of pachinkos into the United States had ended, and the retailers sold their inventory and closed their doors for good.

The largest concentration of these vintage pachinko machines in the United States is California with 16% of the total. While California is a highly populated state, the ports of San Francisco and Los Angeles were the main delivery points for pachinkos shipped from Japan. It makes sense that many are sold there.

The second largest concentration is in Illinois at 8%. For decades, Chicago was the place where most arcade and pinball machines were made, and the port and transportation infrastructure was an obvious distribution point for populations in the Midwest. Even today, aged pachinkos seem to be plentiful in the suburbs there.

The third highest population is Texas with just over 6%. Texas has a population going for it and several good ports as well. Several of the distributors had major outlets in Texas, and the dry climate appears to have preserved the Pachinkos in a superior way.

Next at number four is New York at 6%. As usual, a state with important ports with access to important population centers. Pinball machines were banned for decades in New York, so it seems only natural people would turn to pachinkos as an alternative to entertainment on boardwalks and arcades. Eventually, they came into private hands when video games replaced them.

The worst states in the continental United States for pachinkos should come as no surprise. North Dakota and South Dakota score last. No ports, little population, and little general interest in some silly-looking pinball games from Japan.

So now you know where the ancient pachinkos are and how they got there. If you’re willing to find one, try San Francisco or Chicago, and you can get the best deals and the best selection. But if you’re in North Dakota, you’d better order pachinkos online, because it may take quite a while before you find one at your local flea market.