{"id":316841,"date":"2022-04-15T16:00:32","date_gmt":"2022-04-15T21:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jbsgame.com\/?p=316841"},"modified":"2022-04-15T13:15:42","modified_gmt":"2022-04-15T18:15:42","slug":"famicom-friday-pachio-kun-gambling-retro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jbsgame.com\/famicom-friday-pachio-kun-gambling-retro\/","title":{"rendered":"Pachio-Kun is a cute way to introduce children to Japan’s favorite addiction"},"content":{"rendered":"

We’re definitely not gambling this Famicom Friday<\/h2>

From a young age, video games have covertly been teaching me to gamble, which is funny because I don\u2019t. I think my parents took me to a casino for my 19th birthday. I won $300 on a slot machine and decided to never gamble again. That means I beat the system. I beat it for $300.<\/p>

I think video games have just taught me how boring gambling is. Why leave winning up to random chance when I can use my big beefy thumbs to take me up gratitude lane? Even games that mix in some skill aren\u2019t that interesting when I can play against Sam from Sam & Max<\/i> in Poker Night in the Inventory<\/i>. Oh, I guess you can\u2019t really buy that anymore. Okay, then against bikini\u2019d women in Xtreme Beach Volleyball 2<\/i>.<\/p>

I digress; video games have been at it essentially since video games became a thing. It was no different in Japan, except they also had Pachinko games. Take Mezase Pachi Pro: Pachio-kun <\/i>for example, which is potentially the cutest way to feed a burgeoning addiction.<\/p>

\"Pachio-Kun<\/p>

If you don\u2019t know what Pachinko is, I\u2019ll tell you this: it definitely isn\u2019t gambling. Gambling is illegal in Japan, after all. No, this is nothing like it. You win balls, not money, then you take those balls and trade them for a special token. You can then take that special token somewhere else (completely unrelated to the pachinko establishment, I assure you) and sell it for money. See? Nothing like gambling.<\/p>

Despite not being gambling, a not insignificant percentage of Japan\u2019s GDP<\/a> is generated by Pachinko and Pachislot. It\u2019s rooted in the country\u2019s culture, and like gambling over here, it\u2019s ruined some lives.<\/p>

So here\u2019s Pachio-kun<\/i> to teach you the basics. Like in, say, Casino Kid<\/i>, you roam the parlor as an anthropomorphic pachinko ball. There are rows of machines \u2013 72 in all. Only three machines are really unique, but each has different angles for its pins, affecting how the balls bounce. Your goal is, I\u2019m told, to drain all those balls. Each machine has a set amount, and you need to suck them all dry. Listen, it\u2019s very monotonous, and my brain had ample time to start thinking up juvenile analogies involving balls.<\/p>

\"Pachio-Kun<\/p>

You adjust the strength that the balls are ejected, then you just\u2026 hold the button down, making small adjustments and trying to get them into the machine\u2019s various holes. Because of the various ways that the pins are bent, it\u2019s impossible to just find the right vector and stick to it. Even after finding a vague spot where you find consistent success, the lever loosens over time, so you have to stay awake and just keep moving it back to where it was.<\/p>

You can inspect the pins, and maybe that will give you some way of strategizing the quickest way of defeating the machine, but this is an 8-bit system. Chances are that lever has 255 settings, and most of those are too strong or too soft to really matter. It is not difficult to find a sweet spot, and then it\u2019s just a matter of keeping your eyes open to keep the balls flying to the right place.<\/p>

\"Another<\/p>

There were at least twelve of these Pachio-Kun<\/i> games: five on the Famicom and three on the Super Famicom. On top of that, there were another three on the PC-Engine CD and one on the PC-FX. That seems a little excessive, but at least on the Famicom they\u2019re cheap and fun to collect.<\/p>

They\u2019re also interesting for maybe ten minutes, and after that, if you\u2019re still playing, it\u2019s probably for that constant endorphin rush of seeing numbers go up. I guess some people have more desire for that than I do. Games that are entirely just slot machines are still created to this day, and those just involve pressing a button and passively awaiting the results. At least Pachio-kun<\/i> lets you annoy the other patrons.<\/p>

Speaking of which, there\u2019s a shocking amount of text in Pachio-Kun<\/i>, but I think most of it is for flavor. I looked for a translation and found hints that one was being worked on but couldn’t find the finished product. Still, it\u2019s perfectly playable without needing one. The language of balls is universal.<\/p>

Check out previous Famicom Fridays right here.<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":316851,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"article_type":"","gamurs_wordpress_blocks_hide_tags":false,"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[141],"tags":[1668,468,1815,19236,1025,1312,19132,172],"internal-label":[],"invoiceable_action":[],"article_type":[],"coauthors":[{"id":17,"display_name":"Zoey Handley","user_login":"Adzuken","user_nicename":"adzuken"}],"class_list":["post-316841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-japan","tag-also-cocks","tag-destructoid-originals","tag-famicom","tag-famicom-friday","tag-feature","tag-features","tag-japan","tag-retro"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPachio-Kun is a cute way to introduce children to Japan's favorite addiction<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Pachinko is definitely not gambling, it just resembles it in every way possible. 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She got her start blogging with the community in 2018 and hit the front page soon after. Normally found exploring indie experiments and retro libraries, she does her best to remain chronically uncool.","url":"https:\/\/jbsgame.com\/author\/adzuken\/"}]}},"apple_news_notices":[],"raw_content":"We're definitely not gambling this Famicom Friday From a young age, video games have covertly been teaching me to gamble, which is funny because I don\u2019t. I think my parents took me to a casino for my 19th birthday. I won $300 on a slot machine and decided to never gamble again. That means I beat the system. I beat it for $300. I think video games have just taught me how boring gambling is. Why leave winning up to random chance when I can use my big beefy thumbs to take me up gratitude lane? Even games that mix in some skill aren\u2019t that interesting when I can play against Sam from Sam & Max in Poker Night in the Inventory. Oh, I guess you can\u2019t really buy that anymore. Okay, then against bikini\u2019d women in Xtreme Beach Volleyball 2. I digress; video games have been at it essentially since video games became a thing. It was no different in Japan, except they also had Pachinko games. Take Mezase Pachi Pro: Pachio-kun for example, which is potentially the cutest way to feed a burgeoning addiction. If you don\u2019t know what Pachinko is, I\u2019ll tell you this: it definitely isn\u2019t gambling. Gambling is illegal in Japan, after all. No, this is nothing like it. You win balls, not money, then you take those balls and trade them for a special token. You can then take that special token somewhere else (completely unrelated to the pachinko establishment, I assure you) and sell it for money. See? Nothing like gambling. Despite not being gambling, a not insignificant percentage of Japan\u2019s GDP is generated by Pachinko and Pachislot. It\u2019s rooted in the country\u2019s culture, and like gambling over here, it\u2019s ruined some lives. So here\u2019s Pachio-kun to teach you the basics. Like in, say, Casino Kid, you roam the parlor as an anthropomorphic pachinko ball. There are rows of machines \u2013 72 in all. Only three machines are really unique, but each has different angles for its pins, affecting how the balls bounce. Your goal is, I\u2019m told, to drain all those balls. Each machine has a set amount, and you need to suck them all dry. Listen, it\u2019s very monotonous, and my brain had ample time to start thinking up juvenile analogies involving balls. You adjust the strength that the balls are ejected, then you just\u2026 hold the button down, making small adjustments and trying to get them into the machine\u2019s various holes. Because of the various ways that the pins are bent, it\u2019s impossible to just find the right vector and stick to it. Even after finding a vague spot where you find consistent success, the lever loosens over time, so you have to stay awake and just keep moving it back to where it was. You can inspect the pins, and maybe that will give you some way of strategizing the quickest way of defeating the machine, but this is an 8-bit system. Chances are that lever has 255 settings, and most of those are too strong or too soft to really matter. It is not difficult to find a sweet spot, and then it\u2019s just a matter of keeping your eyes open to keep the balls flying to the right place. There were at least twelve of these Pachio-Kun games: five on the Famicom and three on the Super Famicom. On top of that, there were another three on the PC-Engine CD and one on the PC-FX. That seems a little excessive, but at least on the Famicom they\u2019re cheap and fun to collect. They\u2019re also interesting for maybe ten minutes, and after that, if you\u2019re still playing, it\u2019s probably for that constant endorphin rush of seeing numbers go up. I guess some people have more desire for that than I do. Games that are entirely just slot machines are still created to this day, and those just involve pressing a button and passively awaiting the results. At least Pachio-kun lets you annoy the other patrons. Speaking of which, there\u2019s a shocking amount of text in Pachio-Kun, but I think most of it is for flavor. I looked for a translation and found hints that one was being worked on but couldn't find the finished product. Still, it\u2019s perfectly playable without needing one. The language of balls is universal. Check out previous Famicom Fridays right here.","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/jbsgame.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/FF_Pachiokun.jpg?fit=2268%2C1701","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"latest_revision":{"revision_id":316852,"modified_date_gmt":"2022-04-14T15:42:10"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jbsgame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jbsgame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jbsgame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jbsgame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jbsgame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=316841"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/jbsgame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316841\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":316852,"href":"https:\/\/jbsgame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316841\/revisions\/316852"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jbsgame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/316851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jbsgame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jbsgame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jbsgame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316841"},{"taxonomy":"internal-label","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jbsgame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal-label?post=316841"},{"taxonomy":"invoiceable_action","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jbsgame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/invoiceable_action?post=316841"},{"taxonomy":"article_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jbsgame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_type?post=316841"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jbsgame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=316841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}