This poor photograph is the only image I have ever seen with Sega's Shuffleboard. Note: This might also be called "American Shuffleboard".
Sega's Shuffleboard must be electromechanical, as the articles mention lights and sounds, and that it plugs in. It notes that it is smaller than a typical shuffleboard, but regulation shuffleboards can be 12 to 20 feet in length. Typically, "arcade" shuffleboard machines are 9 feet long.
1966-09-25 San Diego Union
Transcription:
SHUFFLEBOARD
Western Game Thrills Japanese
By PHIL GLICKMAN Copley News Service
TOKYO The girl in the red ski sweater dipped her knees. clenched her fists and jauntily jerked sideways.
Her companion raised his hands in front, as if to ward off a fast throw to first base, gritted his teeth and kicked his right foot in back, looking like Charlie Chaplin disposing of a crumpled newspaper.
Across the room, similar twists, shrugs, jerks and physical manifestations were occurring accompanied by the Japanese counterpart of "Go, man, go!"
The crowd was young, not only in years but in spirit. Most were in their late teens with a few "oldsters" in their 30s plus one or two "venerable ancients" in their 40s.
The strains of a Western "love-chant" beat to a snare drum melody as the lyrics related a tale of adolescent passion. The lighting was moody.
In short, it was a "cool" evening.
Dancing? No.
Just the opening of something American. Another cultural exchange between the nations of the West and Japan. Shuffleboard has come to the Orient.
Not the traditional shuffleboard formerly found aboard the S.S. Post Depression bound for Havana, but compact, highly transistorized and ultramobile variety that can be plugged into any 110-volt house current, complete with musical victory march and pyrotechnic salute to the winner.
Sega Enterprises, one of Japan's leading manufacturers of coin-operated amusement devices, developed this latest entry in the battle to combat boredom.
Gambling that anything American would prove both financially and culturally beneficial to all, Sega's adventure into the realm of room-sized athletics has proved to be a winner on the Japanese amusement scene.
The opening-night crowd for "American Shuffleboard" was slightly less than the turnout for the opening of the Oklahoma Land Rush - but only slightly. Crowds packed themselves around the six shuffleboard facilities.
They waited in line more than two hours just to take a fling at pushing a steel hockey puck down a powdery waxed table.
By closing time, the waiting line had diminished to only 1 1/2 blocks in length.
PHOTO CAPTION: Japanese girl joins in shuffleboard craze sweeping Japan. --Copley News Service Photo
1966-12-24 Billboard magazine
Transcription:
Shuffleboard For Japanese Coin Market
LOS ANGELES - Sega Enterprises, one of Japan's leading manufacturers of coin-operated amusement machines, has introduced shuffleboard to the Japanese market.
Not the traditional shuffleboard found in America, according to an executive of Sega Enterprises, but rather a compact, transistorized and mobile variety that can be plugged into any 110-volt house current.
Shuffleboard-Orient style comes complete with musical Victory marches and pyrotechnic salutes to the winner.
A spokesman for Sega, traveling in the United States on a buying mission, said his company manufactured the machine in the amusement battle for the Japanese yen. "The amusement market in Japan is highly competitive," the Sega executive said, "and we gambled on shuffleboard because it pushed the company into the realm of room- sized amusement devices. A field we want to fully explore."
"We also gambled that most anything American would prove financially beneficial." American servicemen stationed in Tokyo, he said, have also stimulated interest in shuffleboard.
Sega introduced six shuffleboard machines in several Tokyo nightclubs recently and watched both Japanese and American servicemen and tourists wait in line for more than two hours to play.
Rifleman is an iconic shooting game released by Sega in 1967. It gives the player a chance to shoot 5 targets, marks the paper with their results, and gives the player their recorded results. It appears to be based on a German machine that was released 1966 but patented 1958. The first mention I've found in the English-language press is of the appearance of Rifleman at the 1967 MOA show.
Cash Box 1967-11-11
1969 machine directory entry
Japanese flyer, from the Sega official website
Cashbox 1968-07-07 the photo shows a a lineup of 6 Rifleman machines
The article does not actually mention Rifleman, I have only included it for the great photograph. But here is the transcription anyways:
SEGA, TOHO CELEBRATE 10TH ANNIVERSARY FRIENDSHIP ALSO, 10TH BIRTHDAY OF UMEDA ARCADE - 300 ATTEND
OSAKA An anniversary party to mark 10 years of close cooperation was sponsored jointly here last month by the directors of the Toho Motion Picture Company and Sega Enterprises Ltd. The occasion also marked the 10th birthday of Sega's 150-game Umeda Arcade in the Toho Theater Building in Osaka.
Over 300 guests from the amusement, recreation, and entertainment industries attended a buffet luncheon. Film stars under contract to Toho were invited, and their presence added greatly to the spirit of the occasion. The guests were each given a specially inscribed souvenir.
Toho and Sega have cooperated- always with success in several distinct areas of the amusement/recreation field. Further, most of the arcades established by Sega during the past 10 years have been in collaboration with Toho.
The Umeda arcade is one of the world's largest and busiest with more than 3,000 visitors per day. It is situated in a structure devoted to all types of recreation. Cinemas, mah-jong rooms, Olympia Centers, and restaurants are found throughout the massive building. The arcade, itself has 4 separate entranceways from several levels.
Anniversary toasts at the party were given by Toho Director of Operations Mr. G. Inoue and Sega President David Rosen, who both, in their remarks, looked forward to expanding cooperation on the sound basis of the many successful joint ventures inaugurated during the past decade.
Toho has its major studio in Tokyo and produces scores of films each year for showing in the company's hundreds of motion picture theaters in Japan and overseas, as well as on commercial television. In recent years they have successfully diversified into allied areas of the leisure industry.
Sega is Japan's largest manufacturer, distributor, importer, exporter, and operator of coin machines.
[PICTURE CAPTION]
The 150 game Umeda Arcade is one of the world's busiest, with 3,000 visitors per day.
Rifleman in the center, behind the man in the grey hacket
Rifleman in a USA arcade
Some through-the-lens gameplay footage:
English flyer, front
English flyer, back
Converting the specifications to metric: Height 5'4" = 163 cm Width 1'10" = 56 cm Depth 2'7" = 79cm
Rifleman appears to be Sega's version of the German-made machine Schützenstand.
The patent was filed in 1958, and while you can translate the German text, focus on the mechanism on page 4. It is exactly the same mechanic as Rifleman.
German patent DE1268893B - page 1
German patent DE1268893B - page 2
German patent DE1268893B - page 3
German patent DE1268893B - page 4
There are actually 2 machines, but they appear to be basically the same. The earliest, according to automatix-club.de, is Rehbock Schützenstand from 1966. (archive)
1966 Rehbock Schützenstand by Helmut Rehbock, Hamburg
1966 Rehbock Schützenstand by Helmut Rehbock, Hamburg
From 1962 onwards, Kansai Seiki Seisakusho also began developing and releasing gun games.
The company first developed the "Red Gun," which had a jungle theme and had a bright red gun in its casing, as the name suggests, followed by the sea-themed "Marine Gun," which was equipped with an underwater gun, and then a bird-catching gun. Developed a themed "Birdie Gun".
That article says they began development of gun games in 1962, but in the Mini Drive Encyclopedia, we are told that Red Gun was released in 1963:
During this period, a domestic gun game using the "Dale Gun" mechanism was also created. In 1961, the first gun game under the SEGA brand, ``Jungle Gun'' (manufactured by Nippon Kyoto Bussan), was released, and Kansai Seiki Seisakusho also developed ``Red Gun'' in 1963, followed by ``Marine Gun.'' and “Birdie Gun” have been released one after another.
The Kansai Seiki gun games of the 1960s all use a cabinet that appears to be based on a German machine from 1957:
The size is important, because the Kansai Seiki gun games are listed as 56cm wide:
from a Kansai Seiki flyer, around 1968
While the Genco gun games were a major stylistic influence, I do not think Kansai Seiki modeled their cabinets after Genco. The German gun game is 175 tall x 60 wide x 90 deep, much more in line with what the Kansai Seiki catalogue shows.
Now let us compare details of the head. They both share the same soft borders around the marquee, and share nearly identical sizes/proportions.
(image flipped for demonstration purposes)
I do not have proof of this, but I believe the Kansai Seiki gun games, or at least the cabinet design, were based off German machines. Since they share the same cabinet design, this would include all 5 of the Kansai Seiki gun games from the 1960s.
from Amusement Journal 2018-08 1963 Red Gun - レッド・ガン by 関西精機 (Kansai Seiki) [~1965 Marine Gun - マリーンガン by 関西精機 (Kansai Seiki) ~1967 Birdie Gun - バーディガン (Bird gun) by 関西精機 (Kansai Seiki)
~1968 ウルトラガン (Ultra gun) by 関西精機 (Kansai Seiki) ~1968 Combat - コンバットガン (Combat Gun) by 関西精機 (Kansai Seiki) ~1967 Birdie Gun - バーディガン (Bird gun) by 関西精機 (Kansai Seiki) 1963 Red Gun - レッド・ガン by 関西精機 (Kansai Seiki)
Name: Basketball - バスケットボール Year: 1966, new cabinet + dome 1968, old cabinet + dome ~1971 Company: セガ (Sega)
Sega's Basketball is one of the most iconic arcade machines of the electromechanical era. It is among the first Japanese machines to use a plastic dome. This article will discuss the original 1966 Basketball, with the angular dome, the 1968 release which with the smooth dome and iconic body that most people know, and another edition that has the original body and smooth dome, that we see in 1971.
At first, I thought Basketball was a Sega design. Then I discovered that at the 22nd Amusement Trade Exhibition there was an identical basketball game, but being sold by a UK company called Jollymatic, which is many months before Sega's Basketball first appears in the public record. Researching Jollymatic, I found they were selling imported / rebranded machines from Italy!
So where do we begin?
Italy and L'automatico
Pallacanestro Elettrica by L'Automatico
Pallacanestro Elettrica by L'Automatico
These L'Automatico machines must be at least 1965 because they were rebranded for Jollymatic (UK) to appear in January 1966 for ATE 22. The control panels of the above machines show a slight design variation, but I do not know which would have come first.
article on L'Automatico and the Ugolini family. Coin Slot 1966-03-26
This article mentions their basketball game, as well as their Water Pistols game. Both of which were picked up by Jollymatic in the UK for the ATE 22 show.
Jollymatic's Basketball
The 22nd A.T.E. show in London, England took place at the start of 1966. The 23rd A.T.E. show would occur at the end of 1966, as they were shifting when it should occur on the calendar. So 1966 was the awkward year where they had 2 A.T.E. events.
At the 22nd A.T.E. a company called Jollymatic showed off their Basketball machine.
Automatenmarkt 1966-03
Transcription:
Ein Basketball-Gerät von Jollymatic Ltd. fand aufmerksame Betrachter. Das Spielfeld (unter Kunststoff ist in Vertiefungen aufgeteilt, aus denen der Ball seine Stöße erhält. Zu beiden Seiten des Spieltisches befinden sich etwa fünfzehn numerierte Knopftasten, mit denen die Spieler ihren Ball in Bewegung setzen und versuchen, ihn der Spielregeln entsprechend in den Korb des gegenüberliegenden Tors zu bringen. Bel einem anderen Gerät, in dem der Spielablauf ebenfalls unter einer Glashaube stattfand, konnte der Ball mit jeweils zwei feinen Wasserstrahlen bewegt werden.
Viel Zuspruch fand ein TorpedoSchießgerät. Der Spieler tritt an eine verchromte, dem U-Boot-Original nachgebildete Stereoskopsäule und blickt nach dem Einwurf einer Münze auf das Diorama einer periskopierten Meeresszene. Langsam fahren am Horizont magisch erleuchtete Schiffe vorbei. Beim Abdruck wird die Blasenbahn des abgefeuerten Torpedos als Leuchtspur sichtbar. Nach einigen Abschüssen ist zwar der Vorhaltewinkel bekannt, doch das nächste Schiff gleitet mit anderer Geschwindigkeit vorüber.
caption: Basketball mit Knopfdruck
Machine translation:
A basketball device from Jollymatic Ltd. found attentive viewers. The playing field (under plastic) is divided into depressions from which the ball receives its impacts. On both sides of the gaming table there are about fifteen numbered buttons with which the players set their ball in motion and try to get it into the basket according to the rules of the game opposite gate.
In another device, in which the game also took place under a glass hood, the ball could be moved with two fine jets of water.
A torpedo shooting device was very popular. The player steps up to a chrome-plated stereoscope column modeled on the original submarine and, after inserting a coin, looks at the diorama of a periscoped sea scene. Magically illuminated ships slowly pass by on the horizon. When the print is made, the bubble path of the fired torpedo becomes visible as a tracer. After a few shots the lead angle is known, but the next ship glides past at a different speed.
caption: Basketball at the push of a button
Basketball by Jollymatic Automatenmarkt 1966-03
1966-01-29 Coin Slot "The currently popular water pistol game was presented by the firm, and yet another novelty was a basket ball two-player game on show for the first time in England."
Jollymatic advertisement for ATE 22. 1966-01-22 Coin Slot
Jollymatic is an obscure company. They exhibited at the 22nd show at the start of 1966 where they had Basketball, but were not in the 23rd show at the end of 1966. But at the 23rd show, at the end of 1966, that is when Sega unveiled their Basketball game, which looks exactly like the Jollymatic version from earlier in the year.
Jollymatic were not listed as exhibitors at the 20th A.T.E. show in 1964. I have yet to find a listing for 1965's show (21st).
A.T.E. 20 listing (part 1) does not have Jollymatic - Billboard 1964-02-01
A.T.E. 20 listing (part 2) does not have Jollymatic - Billboard 1964-02-01
Jollymatic is listed as an exhibitor at the 22nd A.T.E. - Coin Box 1966-01-29
the exhibitor list was also printed in Billboard (1966-01-29) and it gives Jollymatic's address as 42 New Compton Street, London, .W.C.2
Jollymatic is NOT listed as an exhibtor at the 23rd A.T.E. - Cash Box 1966-12-03 Sega is not listed here either, but their products were being exhibited by Mar-Matic, IIRC
This is the last positive mention of Jollymatic I was able to find, February 1966.
Billboard Magazine 1966-02-12
Jollymatic allegedly did not pay taxes on their imports/exports, and ended up in court. I'm assuming that was the end of them.
In the English-language press, the earliest mention I've found of Sega's Basketball is in reporting on the 23rd A.T.E. show in London, England.
1966-12-17 Cash Box
1966-12-17 Cash Box excerpt: "Among other games the Sega basketball found favour with visitors,"
From May 1967, this article discusses Sega's plans for low-priced amusement machines, a desire to co-exist with USA companies instead of just compete with them, and how U.S. manufacturers are interested in licensing Sega's games to make them available in the USA.
1967-05-27 Billboard magazine
Magazine readers also get their first image of Sega's Basketball, which is unlike what most people think of:
Sega's original Basketball 1967-05-27 Billboard magazine
We then see this model in advertisement a month and a half later:
1967-07-08 Cash Box
1967-07-08 Cash Box by the buttons it says "SEGA BASKET BALL"
Note: in this 1971 version there is no gap between BASKET and BALL in this detail of a control panel
Already we have seen 2 variations in the scoreboards:
Look at the 1967-05-27 photograph, the scoreboard resembles this:
"SEGA BASKETBALL" is visible on the scoreboard in red letter on black. Top scores are red and white, and bottom scores are black and white.
And from the 1967-07-08 advertisement, the scoreboard is like this:
no space above the two lines of scores, but an area that can light up saying "BASKET BALL" in the white space beneath.
A brief mention in this article confirms Sega's Basketball appeared at the Paris Fair 1967:
1967-06-17 Cash Box
1967-07-22: Midway is showing interest in licensing Basketball from Sega for the USA market.
1967-07-22 Billboard
1967-07-22 Billboard excerpt: "Seeking other areas of innovation, Midway has shown licensing interest in various games developed by the big Japanese firm, Sega. It has been reported that Midway will manufacture a basketball game under license to Sega for the U. S. market."
It is hard to see in this photo, but between the two people, beneath the man's extended arm, you can see Sega's Basketball with the angular dome.
1967-10-21 Cash Box
For the MOA show in 1967, this confirms Sega has yet to decide on how to deal with the USA market, but they are expected to announce things for the show.
1967-10-28 Billboard relevant transcription: "The firm has not announced that it will market its low-cost games in this country, but during the show make known whether it will appoint its own distributors in the U. S. or license a U. S. game manufacturer to pro- duce and market its games. One of the new games to be shown by Sega will be a basketball game widely tested in the U. S. President David Rosen and a large staff will be on hand to meet U. S. operators."
1967-10-28 Cash Box advertisement announcing Sega at the MOA show.
From the MOA show, we read that Taito was also there with their similar Crown Basketball machine
1967-11-11 Cash Box
At the show it was revealed that Williams would be getting the licensing deal:
1967-11-18 Cash Box
Transcription: [emphasis mine]
Williams to Wholesale Sega Games in U.S.
CHICAGO - During the recent MOA Trade Show, it was disclosed that Williams Electronics, Inc. had entered into an arrangement with Sega Enterprises and president David Rosen to distribute Sega's line of amusement equipment in the United States through the Williams distributor network.
It is the first deal of its kind involving the distribution and marketing of a Japanese made amusement line in the United States. Sega is expected to take on a prominent role in the U.S. as a result of the deal.
Rosen recently announced that Sega would begin introducing five new games per year, to be manufactured in their multi-million dollar plant in Tokyo.
The three Sega games ready for delivery now are the Sega Basketball Game, Sega Punching Bag and the Rifleman... a gun game that vends a target to let the shooter know how accurate his aim is.
1967-12-16 Cash Box confirms that Williams is distributing Sega machines, with some Basketball units sold within the USA by mid-December
But that is not the last of Midway in this article, for 2 months later there is buzz about Midway's new Basketball game. I do not feel it is a coincidence that the game is positioned as a lower priced machine, a strategy Sega announced for their Basketball game in May of the prior year.
1968-02-03 Cash Box
And soon after, we can see a photograph, show
1968-02-17 Billboard
It appears Midway has taken Sega's Basketball design and given is a sleeker look. The buttons panels are on a slight angle towards the player, but the big difference is the smooth dome top. Sega's basketball has wooden legs more common to pinball machines of the 1950s while Midway's legs were pointed and modern. Please note: while KLOV lists 1964 as the year for Midway's Basketball, the correct year is 1968. SegaRetro has it correct.
1968 Basketball by Midway
1968 Basketball by Midway
1968-07-07 Cash Box
So did the licensing deal with Midway fall through, and then Midway retaliated by releasing their own improved version of Sega's Basketball? Did Midway steal the design from Taito's Crown Basketball?
1968-07-07 Cash Box
While Midway's machine has buttons that resemble Sega's Basketball, the cabinet and dome design more matches Taito's Crown Basketball, which has a different style of buttons:
1967 Crown Basketball by Taito
I do not know if Sega was responding to Midway, or if Sega had shown them the idea for the dome top. My instinct is to say that Midway stole Sega's game design, so Sega stole Midway's cabinet design, but it'd be hard to discount the influence Taito had then too.
By August 1968, we see a photograph of Sega's domed Basketball redesign.
This brings us to the iconic flyer and machine design that almost everyone knows:
English flyer
It is featured prominently on the cover of the 1969 machine directory, with this wonderful photo of Sega's showroom:
1969 machine directory
scoreboard detail
control panel
1969 machine directory entry
The 1972 machine directory features BOTH versions of Sega's Basketball games:
1972 machine directory entry
1972 machine directory entry
In the index, they are both listed as by Sega. Did Sega continue manufacturing the old-style basketball game domestically while simultaneously selling the 1968 redesign?
In the company directory of the 1969 machine directory, here is a portion of Sega's listing:
1969 machine directory
In the company index of the 1969 machine directory, Sega lists
"バスケット・ボール(ドーム式・スタンダード)", "Basketball (dome type/standard)". The
assumption here is that the smooth dome one with the sloped control
panel is the "dome type", and the angular top with the flat control
panel is the "standard". And this tells us the standard (angular) version was still for sale in 1969.
The domed-top machine appears in the 1973 directory, but the angular version does not.
Sega's 1971 price list catalogue shows the early cabinet design, except with the domed top:
Sega 1971 Price List
For the time being, I am considering this a separate model and slotting it in 1971.
The original / angular version of Sega's Basketball appears in many iconic Japanese arcade photographs.
Sega's Basketball also (seemingly) made waves across Europe. I do not know for sure that these machines all came after Sega's machine, but I am readily assuming so.
Were these machines built from Sega parts? Faithful copies? I do not know, but they give us a detailed look at some of the common design features.
Pallacanestro Elettrica by L'Automatico
Note that inside the dome, the corners of the playfield look like a wooden panel. We see this on Sega's machines, sometimes with a cutout area that can light up.
Sega's Basketball
Sega's Basketball
You can see the corner wood panels, and illuminated cutouts, well on this version. Mind you, note the slight angle to to the control panel, suggesting this one is a copy and not using the Sega chassis.
International Basket
International Basket, where the corners say "International Basket"
Another one with the same corner design:
Basket by Walmatic the corner lights up to say "Hop Ball"
