My Journey in Live Mid-High Stakes
11-23-2016
, 07:21 AM
The gamb00ling in Japan...
So there is no official gambling in Japan but I've observed many ways in which you can get your degen on..
These stupidly cute collectible figurines. You buy a box, which contains 1/x of the characters from a serie, and you get one at random without knowing which until you open the box. You gotta keep buying them until you get the one you wanted (or the whole collection). Good thing I binked most of the ones I liked right away
.
(not my photo)
Crane machines/UFO catchers - they have dozens and dozens of them in arcades.. They rely on the exclusivity of the prizes, and the strategically placed "lures" (it's always aaaaalmost falling!!) to get you hooked. The return on investment for the house is some kind of pre-determined estimate for the average # of moves it takes to gradually move the toy into the drop box (= the coins that went in). I've seen people putting a LOT of money into a machine - and the more you put in, the more invested you become, to keep playing until you win. Rent's expensive in Tokyo.
An interesting/surprising observation is that these arcades seem to draw every kind of customer. There isn't a "stereotype" that you might expect to see (eg. Kids/teens, or couples on dates). There are people who look like parents (but by themselves), the elderly, and salary men just getting off work and still in suits, all trying to win those cutesy anime toys. It was the same in the pokemon go picture that I posted earlier. It was the norm for people from every demographic to deeply participate in gaming. (Whereas in north america someone might be judged for it).
"Pachinko" parlors. Aka Japanese slot machines based off legal loopholes.
This interested me probably the most out of all things uniquely Japanese. I visited a few when I could (they are usually unbearably loud and overwhelmingly smoky) and read up quite a bit on them.
Like slots, the basic idea is that you buy tokens for a machine, and on average the machine spits back out xx% of what you put in. Like slots, you get treated to some kind of visual display that are socially relevant and entertaining. Like slots, people end up sitting there for hours on end; a major social problem.
It's like a pinball machine where you try to hit targets, except you start with hundreds of tiny balls. Your goal is to win more balls than you start with. You then trade the balls in for cash, each one worth about 10 cents (you would have like thousands+ of them).
I didn't play it, as I couldn't understand any of the flashing symbols and the dense instruction manual (although I would've put in couple hundred yens just for the experience). I'm not sure how anyone can stand the seizure-inducing strobing lights. Maybe their strategy is to keep your senses overstimulated so much that you can't look away.
Apparently there are pachinko pros ("puros") who make the equivalence of a few thousand dollars every month from this. (Imagine someone calling themselves a slots pro). Apparently, the winning strategy involves picking the right machine (great table selection?), and leaving when you are up a certain amount (strong mental game?). Oh, and an expert can also affect the placement of the balls (imagine pulling the lever back to launch a pinball) to increase their winrate. Try placing a pin to lock the lever at an optimal position without the employees noticing.
Major heater - this guy (with the trays of balls behind him #racksonracksonracks) is on a serious upswing!
Will post some foodpr0n next.
So there is no official gambling in Japan but I've observed many ways in which you can get your degen on..
These stupidly cute collectible figurines. You buy a box, which contains 1/x of the characters from a serie, and you get one at random without knowing which until you open the box. You gotta keep buying them until you get the one you wanted (or the whole collection). Good thing I binked most of the ones I liked right away
. (not my photo)Crane machines/UFO catchers - they have dozens and dozens of them in arcades.. They rely on the exclusivity of the prizes, and the strategically placed "lures" (it's always aaaaalmost falling!!) to get you hooked. The return on investment for the house is some kind of pre-determined estimate for the average # of moves it takes to gradually move the toy into the drop box (= the coins that went in). I've seen people putting a LOT of money into a machine - and the more you put in, the more invested you become, to keep playing until you win. Rent's expensive in Tokyo.
An interesting/surprising observation is that these arcades seem to draw every kind of customer. There isn't a "stereotype" that you might expect to see (eg. Kids/teens, or couples on dates). There are people who look like parents (but by themselves), the elderly, and salary men just getting off work and still in suits, all trying to win those cutesy anime toys. It was the same in the pokemon go picture that I posted earlier. It was the norm for people from every demographic to deeply participate in gaming. (Whereas in north america someone might be judged for it).
"Pachinko" parlors. Aka Japanese slot machines based off legal loopholes.
This interested me probably the most out of all things uniquely Japanese. I visited a few when I could (they are usually unbearably loud and overwhelmingly smoky) and read up quite a bit on them.
Like slots, the basic idea is that you buy tokens for a machine, and on average the machine spits back out xx% of what you put in. Like slots, you get treated to some kind of visual display that are socially relevant and entertaining. Like slots, people end up sitting there for hours on end; a major social problem.
It's like a pinball machine where you try to hit targets, except you start with hundreds of tiny balls. Your goal is to win more balls than you start with. You then trade the balls in for cash, each one worth about 10 cents (you would have like thousands+ of them).
I didn't play it, as I couldn't understand any of the flashing symbols and the dense instruction manual (although I would've put in couple hundred yens just for the experience). I'm not sure how anyone can stand the seizure-inducing strobing lights. Maybe their strategy is to keep your senses overstimulated so much that you can't look away.
Apparently there are pachinko pros ("puros") who make the equivalence of a few thousand dollars every month from this. (Imagine someone calling themselves a slots pro). Apparently, the winning strategy involves picking the right machine (great table selection?), and leaving when you are up a certain amount (strong mental game?). Oh, and an expert can also affect the placement of the balls (imagine pulling the lever back to launch a pinball) to increase their winrate. Try placing a pin to lock the lever at an optimal position without the employees noticing.
Major heater - this guy (with the trays of balls behind him #racksonracksonracks) is on a serious upswing!
Will post some foodpr0n next.
Last edited by Snowball2; 11-23-2016 at 07:31 AM.
11-23-2016
, 09:22 AM
11-24-2016
, 03:23 PM
New goal, move to Japan to pursue being a pachinko pro. 
11-24-2016
, 03:48 PM
11-25-2016
, 09:38 PM
Keeps getting postponed 
My friend and I have been planning this for awhile but I think I'm going to have to give up on going with him if I'm ever going to make it there myself.
Last year I watched a documentary called Tale of an Osaka Love Thief; so how was your high end Japanese male escort?
My friend and I have been planning this for awhile but I think I'm going to have to give up on going with him if I'm ever going to make it there myself.
Last year I watched a documentary called Tale of an Osaka Love Thief; so how was your high end Japanese male escort?
11-28-2016
, 02:54 AM
Quote:
Keeps getting postponed
My friend and I have been planning this for awhile but I think I'm going to have to give up on going with him if I'm ever going to make it there myself.
Last year I watched a documentary called Tale of an Osaka Love Thief; so how was your high end Japanese male escort?
My friend and I have been planning this for awhile but I think I'm going to have to give up on going with him if I'm ever going to make it there myself.
Last year I watched a documentary called Tale of an Osaka Love Thief; so how was your high end Japanese male escort?
I'll have to watch that
11-28-2016
, 04:45 PM
12-07-2016
, 01:19 PM
