Tuesday, 6 December 2022

Rich-Ball - リッチボール by サニック (Sunic)


Name: Rich-Ball -  リッチボール
Year: 1973 or earlier
Company: サニック (Sunic)


The company サニー東京 (Sunny Tokyo) renamed to サニック (Sunic) in 1970, so we know this machine (flyer says Sunic) existed 1970 or later.

This machine can also be seen in the movie 愛欲の罠 / Aiyoku no wana aka Trapped in Lust (1973) so we know the machine came out between 1970 and 1973.

still from 愛欲の罠 / Aiyoku no wana aka Trapped in Lust (1973)


The game is a direct copy of Super Match, a German machine from 1967 that that also found great popularity in the UK.

The Super Match games that were imported into the UK underwent modifications for the Japanese market.  It seems that the improvements on the import models were incorporated into the Rich-Ball design. 

For example, the instruction plate on imported Super Match is very similar to the instruction plate on Rich-Ball.

imported Super Match instruction plate, refers to the original German "Tor" and "Ecke" on the playfield


Rich-Ball refers to "Gate" and "Edge", which substitute for Tor and Ecke on the original playfields.  


There were many iterations of Super Match over the years, but no other playfield I've seen uses Gate and Edge on them.

The imported Super Match machines also had been modified to include a payout slot, which is very similar to Rich-Ball's:

imported Super Match reward slot


Rich-Ball reward slot


No other Super Match machines have a reward hole.  In every other iteration, Super Match machines would just award a reply if you got 6 goals.


It is awkward to see a machine with a swastika on it, at least post WW2, but it should be noted that the swastika is facing the opposite direction than the version the Nazis used.

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