book: ミニドライブ大百科 (Mini-Drive Encyclopedia)

I am very excited about this new book I received from Japan!

ミニドライブ大百科
Mini-Drive Encyclopedia
by オニオン製作所 (Onion Seisakusho)

Order this book through Beep Shop!  (There are links for international shipping)

These page images taken from the Beep Shop page:

You are probably familiar with Onion Software via their youtube channel.  They are a legend of game history!   Their website lists many things they have published.

I am very grateful for this book.  It contains a few bits of information that I previously did not have.  It includes a very special photograph: the Playtron cabinet!  Kansai Seiki (Kasco) showed off this prototype in 1973 and had it gone to production, it would have been the first colour videogame.  Up until today, I had never seen a picture of the cabinet.  No one I knew, even in Japan, had seen this before!

1973 Playtron - プレイ トロン [prototype] by 関西精機 (Kansai Seiki — Kasco)

Thank you so much, Onion-san!

Other pieces of information that are new to me:

• It has an amazing photo of a games parlor in Japan from the 1910s!!  That is the earliest photo of a coin-operated arcade setup in Japan that I have ever seen.
• It has the Kansai Seiki gun-series flyer from the 1960s in colour!!  It is a small reproduction, but it fills me with hope that one day I can get a proper scan of that flyer in colour.
• It shows off a different version of "Western Tag Game - タグゲーム" that is just called "Tag Game".
• It says Rabbit Game and Tag Game were both from 1966, and that ワッショイゲーム (Wasshoi game) and Punch - パンチゲーム are from 1968
• I only had Clay Shooting - クレイシューティング as being 1974, but this book says it was 1973.
• It shows a photo of the prototype ミニドライブ [アップ ライト] (mini drive upright) that preceded ポルル君の旅行 (Poluru's trip).  I had never seen it before.
• It says Indy 500 [M] was 1968, a year earlier than I had found it.  And it says Indy 500 [W] was 1969, where I only had info giving it as 1970.  I'm grateful to have this improved accuracy.
• Gave 1968 as the year for Caliber-50 - キャリバー50 by 三共 (Sankyo) when I previously only had it as ~1969
• Verified the year of 1963 for Red Gun - レッド・ガン, which I previously only had as ~1963
• gives 1968 as the year for Caliber-50 - キャリバー50 by 三共 (Sankyo)

I highly recommend purchasing this book if you are in to electromechanical games.  Thank you Mr. Onionsoft.