I’ve never played with a real Pachinko machine. Real, mechanical arcade machines kinda passed me by. Either that or I was too busy playing House of the Dead 2 to notice anything else while I was in an arcade. Pachinko is like pinball without the bumpers and it’s apparently a pretty big deal in Japan. The name also really makes me think of Pokémon (Pikachu, in particular).

Pachinko, I choose you!

Developer On-Core’s Pachinko hearkens back to the old school Japanese machines that were completely mechanical. All you have to do is toss the balls into the machine with a lever and let Lady Luck take over.
The trick in this game then — much like at the start of a game of pinball — is how much power to put behind the balls as you toss them into the machine. The digital lever does a pretty good job of letting you gauge the amount of power for each shot, but it’s really the only thing you’ll interact with in the game. Just swipe down on the lever and a ball will fly out and into the machine.

Pachinko machines are lined with little nubs that the ball will inevitably hit as gravity pulls them down. The balls will either get knocked around and fall into the abyss at the bottom, or fall into one of the wings, drop buckets,  or the center section. The reward for getting a ball into one of these holes is…well, more balls, as well as an increased chance of scoring more by opening the wings up (kind of like getting a longer bumper in pinball). There’s also a pretty flexible settings dialogue so you can tweak the game to be easier or harder or get rid of the ball limit altogether (never-ending game).

You win when the game runs out of balls to give you, and you lose when you run out of balls to throw around.  The game looks good (although I did find the interface rather confusing ) and the sounds…well, they’re very likely what a real Pachinko machine would sound like You can also play your own music while playing, which is always a great touch in an iPhone app.

I will say that there is a strange little hypnotic quality to the Pachinko machine. I guess it’s a bit like a one armed bandit — but it’s not something I found myself playing for longer than a few minutes at a time.  Pachinko is a good simulator of the curious arcade machine, but it’s really best for Pachinko enthusiasts or want a slot-machine type of experience with a really different look.

Either way, you can pick up Pachinko in the App Store for just $0.99. I wish every arcade machine was this affordable!

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