Gathering all of my research notes in to this one page.
Research Notes
- There is a famous catalogue "日本娯楽商報" and they say it is from around 1936.
- Kazuo Sugiyama points out the catalogue lists "国際劇場 (International Theater)" as the delivery destination. 国際劇場 (International Theater) was apparently completed in 1937, and the entertainment room in 1938.
- Until we find more information, I will assume the catalogue is from no earlier than 1937.
- from page 361 of Kazuo Sugiyama's Birth of Pachinko:
- Japan has a law for Control and Improvement of Amusement Business. This law defines categories of entertainment, Number 1 through Number 8. Number 7 and Number 8 are for game play entertainment.
- Pachinko, arrange ball, smart ball, and mahjong parlors belong to Number 7. These games are thought to need to be controlled because they can easily be diverted into illegal gambling. Those games are for adults.
- Number 8 is a category for arcade games. Medal game, Pinball, Video game, and other coin operated games.
- The law was revised in 2016. Number 7 changed to number 4, and Number 8 changed to number 5.
Company notes
- セガ (Sega), or specifically Sega Enterprises, came into being in 1965 when they acquired Rosen Enterprises.
- The early history of Service Games is quite complex, please see They Create Worlds by Alexander Smith. (archive)
- 1960-05-31: One subsidiary, Service Games Japan, was replaced with two companies in Japan:
- 日本娯楽物産 (Nippon Goraku Bussan): maintained the Service Games distribution and operating business in Japan, also did business as Utamatic Inc.
- 日本機械製造 (Nippon Kikai Seizo) continued the Service Games manufacturing operation, sometimes did business as "Sega Inc", and used the brand "SEGA", a contraction of Service Games.
- 1964-06: 日本娯楽物産 (Nippon Goraku Bussan) absorbs 日本機械製造 (Nippon Kikai Seizo)
- 1965-07-01: 日本娯楽物産 (Nippon Goraku Bussan) acquires Rosen Enterprises and rename to セガ・エンタープライゼス (Sega Enterprises)
- YM Lucky is believed to have been founded around 1949.
- ホープ (Hope)
- Hope (1951) became Hope Motor Co., Ltd (1954). Started with amusement equipment in 1963. Renamed to Hope Co., Ltd. (1974) (wikipedia)
- old website (archived)
- ジャパンオーバーシーズビジネス (Japan Overseas Business)
- 1973: began importing UK machines to Japan
- 1977: went out of business
- シグマ (Sigma):
- "Nitten" was a brand of 日本展望娯楽社 (Nihon Tenbo Entertainment Company)
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| ニッテン = Nitten |
- "Game Mate" was a brand of 日本自動販売機 (Japan Vending Machine)
- "Sammy" was a brand of 株式会社 さとみ (Satomi Co., Ltd.)
- variant name "Samy" was used on Sonar Attack
- after bankruptcy, 株式会社 さとみ (Satomi Co., Ltd.) became reformed as 現在のサミー (Sammy). Different legal company, same person behind it.
- "Kasco" was a brand of 関西精機 (Kansai Seiki)
- 中村製作所 (Nakamura Seisakusho) became Namco
- 太東貿易株式会社 (Taito Trading) became タイトー (Taito) in August 1972. [Taito 40th book]
- 日本自動販売機 (Japan Vending Machine) was acquired by タイトー (Taito) in 1971 and became a subsidiary. In 1986, Taito merged with Japan Vending Machines and Pacific Industries.
- レジャック (Leijac) formed in 1975 and was fully acquired by コナミ工業 (Konami Industry), now コナミ (Konami), in 1981. More on Leijac over at gdri (archive).
- Logo:
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- 東洋娯楽機 (Oriental entertainment machine) became トーゴ (Togo)
- サニー東京 (Sunny Tokyo) became サニック (Sunic) early in 1970. We are assuming any advertisement that says "Sunny Tokyo" is from the 1960s, and any that say "Sunic" are from the 1970s.
- Bear is a brand for 友栄 (UA)
- Togo Amusement Machines is a subsidiary of Toyo Gorakuki and Toyo Trading Co
- アルゼ (Aruze) became part of Universal (1)
- 大平技研 (Ohira Giken — Yuvo)
- ワイプ (Wipe) used to be called 本木 (Motoki). The earliest Wipe machine we have is currently 1974.
- こまや (Komaya): I have very little early information on Komaya and would love to find a list of their machines from before 1980.
- Able Corp's old website begins in 1998 on the Internet Archive.
- カトウ (Kato): old website on the Internet Archive.
- フジ (Fuji):
- 高砂電器商事 (Takasago Electric) logo is this distinctive bird:
- 関西企業 (Kansai Kigyo) has 2 different logos, using the clown one up until ~1977, and using the map of Japan logo from 1977 onward. It appears the two logos coexisted in 1977, and even appears on machine being sold in 1979. Those machines might have been made in 1977, but I have yet to find evidence of them existing earlier.
- パブコ (Pavco) uses a kangaroo logo:
- Jaleco began as a brand of 日本レジャー興発 (Japan Leisure Development) but became ジャレコ (Jaleco)
- ユウビス (Yubis) archive of company history.
- founded as シンコー娯楽産業 (Shinko entertainment industry) in 1971-06, mostly selling prizes but also renting and selling machines
- 1973-12 they became カワクス (Kawakus) and their main business became selling game machines for other manufacturers.
- 1992-02 their "trade name" became ユウビス (Yubis), though we've seen Yubis branding on games from the 1980s, though those are machines that were still being sold after the name change.
- 遠藤嘉一 (Kaichi Endo) founded 遠藤美章商会 (Endo Bisho Shokai) which became 日本娯楽機製作所 (Japan Amusement Machine Mfg. Co., Ltd.) aka 日本娯楽機 (Nihon Gorakuki)
- Esco trading was founded in 1968 [via Sega Arcade History book]
- スリースター (Three Star) became サンセイ (Sansei) according to an advertisement in Play Graph 1982-01
- Need to sort out / confirm:
- 遠藤美章商会 (Miaki Endo Shokai), ニチゴ (Nichigo)
Years Notes
- 中村製作所 (Nakamura Seisakusho) aka Namco have released guides to the years of their machines. There is some minor variances between their publications and I will try to address those on individual game entries.
- Machines 1975+ tend to have entries in Game Machine magazine. Their first appearance might not be their "release year", but we are currently using first appearance. Many machines will never have a photo or mention in Game Machine.
- Sega release years are mostly verified by the company's publications. Some dates were confirmed by retired employees who shall remain unnamed.
- Many machines pre-1975 are only known from their appearances in the Machine Directory of a year, and so we use those directory dates as their "anchor year", knowing that they were released AS EARLY as then. Many machines will appear in the directories, but were actually released years before.
Some of the Yumio / Coin Machine Directories were published in the year preceding their title, We will use the year of publication for those games when we can confirm print date. Print dates: - 72: 1971-09-20 (year prior)
- 73: 1972-10-01 (year prior)
- 74/75: 1974-06-15
- 76: 1975-11-25 (year prior)
- 78: 1978-03-15
- 79: 1979-10-01
- 80: 1980-10-01
- 82: 1982-09-30
- 83: 1983-09-28
- We are desperately seeking any references to help us date machines from before 1975. Newspapers, photographs, press releases, sales receipts, catalogues, etc. We have a separate page asking for research materials.
- There is an article on the history of 関西精機 (Kansai Seiki) and while it does not give exact years, it tells us the order of the gun games. It implies (but does not confirm) that Red Gun came first, "after 1962", followed by Marine Gun, Birdie Gun, and then Ultra Gun and Combat Gun followed but I do not know which of those two came first. The article also states that the ray gun トーテムチェンジ (Totem change) came out before Red Gun, but it does not say when it was made.
- We have seen a flyer from 関西精機 (Kansai Seiki) that is quite intriguing but we are unsure of the year. I think the flyer came out between 1966 and 1968, and I would like to outline my reasoning. Since I want to differentiate that these machines came out before the "~1969" machines from the 1969 machine directory, I am placing them as "~1968" until I can get further information. [NOTE: I actually now think this flyer is from ~1967. See point 3 below]
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| 関西精機 (Kansai Seiki) flyer I assume is from some time around 1966-1968 |
- the movie machine シネレッタ (cineretta) lists various films available, and I have put the premier date for each title. The latest was Gulliver's Space Travel, which came out 1965. There is no way this flyer could be before then.
- 白蛇伝 (Legend of the White Snake) (premiered 1958)
- 風のフジ丸 (Wind Fuji Maru) (aired June 7, 1964 to August 31, 1965)
- わんぱく王子の大蛇退治 (Naughty Prince's Orochi Extermination) (1963)
- わんわん忠臣蔵 (Wanwan Chushingura) (1963)
- 少年猿飛佐助 (Boy Sarutobi Sasuke (1959)
- ガリバーの宇宙旅行 (Gulliver's Space Travel) (March 20, 1965)
- Rabbit Game and Western Tag Game are included in this flyer, but Punch - パンチゲーム and ワッショイゲーム (Wasshoi game) are not. Punch and Wasshoi are in the 1969 machine directory. The Punch and Wasshoi came out after Rabbit Game and Western Tag Game, based on this text on the flyer for Punch and Wasshoi: "ラビット、タグのキャッチング・ゲームに対して、今度はタマを打つゲームを作りました。名づけてパンチとワッショイ。" ("Rabbit, for the tag catching game, this time I made a ball hitting game. Name them Punch and Wasshoi.")
Note: the exclusion of Punch and Wasshoi does NOT guarantee this flyer is before them. For example, this flyer which includes the 1972 Mini Drive also includes Rabbit Game and Western Tag game. But based on the age of the machines in the Kansai Seiki flyer, I still think it is before 1969.
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| 1972+ |
- In the Minidrive Encyclopedia, Punch and Wasshoi were given as 1968. Since they aren't included here, this flyer might be from 1967. The book says that Rabbit Game and Western Tag Game are from 1966, so this flyer might be from 1966, but I think it is safer to consider it "~1967". (reminder: when I use ~ for a year I am basically saying that the year could be +/- 1 year)
Cigarette packs
Cigarette packs can useful for identifying years. In 1972 legislation required health warnings on cigarette packs, so any packs without them are from before 1972. Thank you to EM好きおじさん for the help with cigarette research.
Sites that assist with research:
- Game collector sites:
- Japanese sites:
- General auction sites:
- aucfan.com - search old auction listings
- https://aucfree.com/ - sometimes does not work
- LiveAuctioneers - archived auction house listings
- Morphy Auctions - hosts rare coinop auction, but also the auctions are usually archived on LiveAuctioneers.
- The Sale Room - another site that archives auctions
- Pic click gives condensed ebay summaries: Canada, USA, UK, Spain, Italy, Australia, France, Germany
- Ebay links, by region: Canada, USA, UK, Spain, Italy, Australia, France, Germany
- Proantic - French antiques
- Drouot - French antiques
- Côte basque enchères - French antiques
- Berard-Peron - French antiques
- La Gazette Drouot - French antiques
- worthpoint - this site kind of sucks since their images are tiny
- Spicers - UK Auction results
- Stock Photography companies sometimes have useful historical photos:
- https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/
- The Arcade Flyer Archive
- Gaming History
- Highway Games keeps a database of recent commercial arcade machines in North America
- Internet Pinball Database
- Pinside machine archive covers post-ww2 pinball well
- Trade Stimulator Price History
- The Torrence Collection
- Taiwan Electronic Game Console Directory lets you browse Taiwanese certifications by year
- Magazine archives:
- Newspapers and archives:
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