Year: ~1959
Company: 東京中機 (Tokyo Chuuki)
In an interview with 加藤イサム (Isamu Kato) published in Amusement Journal, he reveals that this was the first machine he made.
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| Amusement Journal 2015-11 |
Transcription:
加藤氏が最初に手掛けたのは「クレーンピック」という名前のゲーム機。時は昭和30年代中ごろである。完成した正確な年数は不明だが、クレーンゲームとオリンピックを合わせたような製品名からせたよう察すれば、東京オリンピックの開催が決定し、日本中がその喜びに大きく沸いた昭和34年ごろではないかと思われる。ゲームの内容は、模型のクレーン車を操作してボールをつかみ、フィールド四隅の穴に入れていくというもの。クレーン車の周囲に小さなボールが散らばっており、クレーン車を回転させたり前後に動かしたりしながらボールを捕りにいく。上手くつかんで穴に落とせば1点獲得。時間内に5点取れれば再度遊ぶことができる内容だった。
Machine translation:
Mr. Kato's first game machine was a game machine called ``Crane Pick.'' The time is the mid-Showa 30s [1955-1965]. The exact year it was completed is unknown, but given the name of the product, which is a combination of crane game and Olympics, it seems that it would have been around Showa 34 [1959], when the decision to hold the Olympics in Tokyo had been confirmed, and the whole of Japan was excited about it. The game involves operating a model crane truck to grab a ball and place it into the holes at the four corners of the field. Small balls are scattered around the crane truck, and you try to catch the balls by rotating the crane truck and moving it back and forth. If you grab it well and drop it into the hole, you get 1 point. If you got 5 points within the time limit, you could play again.
While the article spells the game with an extra 'ー' character, which makes it sound more like 'crane', we can see from the game itself that the character was not there. At least, not in the image we have of it.
The description of the game matches the pictured machine precisely.
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| Amusement Journal 2015-11 |
Transcription:
加藤氏が冒頭の「クレーンピック」の アイデアを思いついたのは、集金や修理 に各所を駆け回っていたとき。開発意欲 に駆られた加藤氏は、早速そのアイデアを具現化すべく作業にとりかかった。エ 業高校出身なので、簡単なものなら電気 回路は自作できる。クレーン車は市販の 玩具を流用した。「筐体はどうやって作るのかわからないんで、近くの板金屋に お願いして、作りに来てもらいました。 守屋さんの部屋は八畳あったのですが、 生活するならともかく、筐体を製作する にはちょっと狭かったですけどね」。試行錯誤を繰り返し、結局、完成するまで に一年かかった。それでも素人がほぼ自 作したものとしては素晴らしい出来であ る。ただ一つ問題だったのは、筐体が大 きすぎて部屋から出せなかったこと。「階 段は狭くて降ろせないんで、窓を壊して、屋根から降ろしましたよ」。そんなちょっ とした失敗もあったが、ともかく「クレー ンピック」は完成した。
これを守屋氏の会社(東京中機)で売り出したところ、思いのほか売れたという。当時は関西精機製作所の名機「ミニドラ イブ」が大ヒットしていたが、まだ国産 のアーケードゲームは数えるほどしかな い時代。百貨店の屋上遊園地を主体に200~300台は売れたという。
Machine translation:
Mr. Kato came up with the idea for the ``crane pick'' mentioned at the beginning when he was running around collecting money and making repairs. Mr. Kato, motivated by the desire for development, immediately began work to make his idea a reality. Since I graduated from an engineering high school, I can make simple electrical circuits myself. The crane truck was a commercially available toy. ``Since he didn't know how to make the casing, he asked a nearby sheet metal shop to come and make it for him.Mr. Moriya's room was 8 tatami mats in size, but if he was going to live there, he wouldn't be able to make the casing. Although he was a bit limited in his ability to produce it.'' After much trial and error, it took a year to complete the project. Still, he says it's a great result for something that was mostly made by an amateur. The only problem was that the case was too large to be moved out of the room. ``The stairs were too narrow to get him down, so I broke the window and got him down from the roof.'' Although there were some small failures, the ``crane pick'' was completed.
When Mr. Moriya's company (Tokyo Chuuki) put it on sale, it sold better than expected. At that time, Kansai Seiki Seisakusho's famous machine ``Mini Drive'' was a big hit, but there were still only a handful of domestically produced arcade games. It is said that 200 to 300 units were sold, mainly at the rooftop amusement park of a department store.
This gives us the name of the company at the time, 東京中機 (Tokyo Chuuki).
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