1968 Crazy Ball - クレージーボール by 太東 (Taito — Crown)

Name: Crazy Ball - クレージーボール

Year: 1968

Company: 太東 (Taito — Crown)

From the Taito 40th and bursary book, Crazy Ball is listed as from 1968.

Taito 40th book

This is another catching game, where the player uses the wheel to catch the balls that fall down the playfield towards them. Small metal balls are ejected into the playfield, and shot around by the large center spinner.

English flyer:

1968 Crazy Ball - クレージーボール by 太東 (Taito — Crown)

1970 Daishogai - 大障害 by さとみ (Satomi — Sammy)

Name: Daishogai - 大障害

Year: 1970

Company: さとみ (Satomi — Sammy)

Daishogai was released in 1970, and was amongst the games listed at Expo '70.

All Japan Amusement Park 1970-11

This is a skill-based game where you rotate the knob to guide a ball down the tracks and into a winning hole on the bottom.  You can learn more about this style of game in the Niche Mechanisms 004: Rotation article, section 2-2: Rotation - Fire Escape style.  This style of game has been around since at least 1936.

なんたって18歳！ 第36話「ピリカメノコは恋の花」(1972年6月6日放送)
(via @TOO_yoshikawa)

Amusement 1973-02

flyer

In 1968, the USA company Irving Kaye released the game Steeplechase.

1968 Steeplechase by Irving Kaye

Coin Box 1968-05-18

Daishogai seemingly utilizes some of the same hardware as Steeplecase, or is at least probably copied from it.

Steeplechase has a handle to shoot the ball up on the left side, Daishogai on the front.  Daishogai has a singular goal to enter to win a prize, while Steeplechase gives you multiple balls to build a higher score for amusement's sake.

On Steeplechase, and on every other version of this style of game, the ball alternates direction on each platform.

Daishogai has two places where the ball travels down the same side, 2 levels in a row!  This seems like a mistake in the design, but I also wonder if they had a shortage of some of the parts?

I do not think Steeplechase was a big seller.  It would certainly be possible that some of their parts were purchased by Satomi, especially when we consider that Satomi seemingly has a history of purchasing parts of foreign games to build new games.

This ball path does not seem to be an error made for the flyer.  In the 1973 photo above, we can see this odd ball path:  Left, left, right, left, left, right, left, right.

A photo of the machine was taken from an auction in 2026:

 

1931 野球模擬戦機 (Baseball Imitation Strategy game) by 佐藤寛蔵商店 (Sato Kanzo Shoten)

Name: 野球模擬戦機 (Baseball Imitation Strategy game)

Year: 1931

Company: 佐藤寛蔵商店 (Sato Kanzo Shoten)

This is a candy-vending game machine.  It came up for sale on YJA. (archive)  This machine was written in the book コリントゲーム史 (History of the Corinthian Game) by Kazuo Sugiyama.  He writes that it was first registered in 1931, and the book includes an advertisement that mentions it:

advertisement from 佐藤寛蔵商店 (Sato Kanzo Shoten)
published 1932-07-04 in Tokyo Asahi Shimbun
reproduced in History of the Corinthian Game

Instead of using a pachinko-style lever, this game uses a lever (that looks like a baseball bat!) on the right side of the machine to propel the ball in to play.  

lever for shooting the ball

 

 

It appears that each of the 4 top cups are winners, that will reward the player with a candy.

一壘 = first base
二壘 = second base
三壘 = third base

 

On the left side is a knob to control the catcher mechanism.  Catching the ball returns it to play in hopes of winning on the next shot.

本壘 = home base
the catcher says ハウル (foul)
bottom hole is アウト (out)

 

I had bid on this machine and wish I won it, but it was too expensive for me.

Here is a look at the bottom of the playfield.  The hole on the left is what the catcher deposits a ball into.  This aligns with "Kicker Catcher" machines designs that were quite popular in USA. The ball falls out of the hole down and to the right of it.  On the right there are two holes by the kicker.  I believe one gives you the ball when when you insert a coin.  I believe the other hole releases the ball after winning a candy, so it could be fired again.

 

The inside of the machine, there is a track for the candy.  All of the winning holes appear to converge, and I suspect that after the payout, your ball is returned to shoot again.  In the 2nd part of this, you can see how the catcher is controlled by a belt attached to the side knob.

Labels on the outside:

 

1977 Miracle Space - ミラクル・スペース by 名宝商事 (Meiho Shoji)

Name: Miracle Space - ミラクル・スペース
Year: 1977
Company: 名宝商事 (Meiho Shoji)

Game Machine 1977-08-15

This game appears to be the same game as ビクトリー (victory) but with a nice art package.

1976 ビクトリー (victory) by 名宝商事 (Meiho Shoji)

A promotional letter from 名宝商事 (Meiho Shoji) introducing Miracle Space.  This letter identifies 3 previous games: ホッケーパンダ (Hockey Panda), ビクトリー (victory), and ドラゴンキック (dragon kick).

1973 ホッケーパンダ (Hockey Panda) by 新精電機 (Shinsei Denki) & 名宝商事 (Meiho Shoji) & 日昌企業 (Nissho Enterprise)

Name: ホッケーパンダ (Hockey Panda)
Year: 1973
Company: 新精電機 (Shinsei Denki) & 名宝商事 (Meiho Shoji) & 日昌企業 (Nissho Enterprise)

This game was also sold without the custom stand, but there is no difference otherwise.

look at those cute pandas playing hockey! 

This game has 3 companies listed on its flyer:

新精電機 (Shinsei Denki) & 名宝商事 (Meiho Shoji) & 日昌企業 (Nissho Enterprise)

The earliest I have seen this game is 1973.

Amusement Industry 1973-05

The game Miracle Space was released in 1977.  In a letter promoting Miracle Space, Hockey Panda is mentioned as a past game by Meiho Shoji.

promotional letter for 1977 Miracle Space

The game's layout was modified slightly for the game Victory.  I presume Victory came after Hockey Panda, as they introduced 7-segment score displays, and altered the ball path in a way that would be later replicated in Miracle Space.

1976 ビクトリー (victory) by 名宝商事 (Meiho Shoji)

1977 Miracle Space - ミラクル・スペース by 名宝商事 (Meiho Shoji)

~2010s ぐるぐるジャングル (round and round jungle) by 安宅商会 (Ataka Shokai) [presumed]

Name: ぐるぐるジャングル (round and round jungle)
Year: ~2010s
Company: 安宅商会 (Ataka Shokai) [presumed]

This machine seems based on a 1970s candystore game:

1977 ブラックパンサー (Black panther) by ウコー (Uko)

This modern version seems to be made by the same company that produced コロリンボール (Kororin Ball).  The handles appear to be identically machined:

I have no actual date references for this game, but there is circumstantial evidence to believe that this and Kororin Ball were released around the same time.  It is only via this circumstantial evidence, and the same control mechanisms used, that I presume this machine was also made by 安宅商会 (Ataka Shokai).

高額落札された駄菓子屋ゲーム（エレメカ）まとめ 2012 (archive)
this blog post from 2012 has a screen shot of this machine at auction, so it was definitely released by 2012.

Aplastic NOS topper

at the center of the spiral is a pin field guarding the prize hole

Compare the above to the center of Black Panther, the game from 1977 that it is based on:

1977 ブラックパンサー (Black panther) by ウコー (Uko)

internal mechanism

~2010s コロリンボール (Kororin Ball) by 安宅商会 (Ataka Shokai)

Name: コロリンボール (Kororin Ball)

Year: ~2010

Company: 安宅商会 (Ataka Shokai)

Kororin Ball is a contemporary remake of a classic candystore games from the 1970s.

1977 アクションボール (Action ball) by 楠野 (Kusuno) & 三共 (Sankyo)

There are 3 primary art variants of this game: dinosaur, dolphin, and shark.  And then there are colour variants of those 3 main graphics:

From an auction listing, we can see part of a flyer that advertised the 3 options

There are many videos of this machine at 駄菓子屋ゲーム博物館 so be sure to check their youtube channel.

The "Version 2" sign on here refers to how they made the final target easier to hit, but I am unsure if this was a company modification, or made by the DGM owner.

game instructions

For a long time Kororin Ball was a mystery.  There were many photographs of this machine in different Japanese arcades, but I could not find any solid information on it online.  The machine itself does not display a company name.  Despite this machine seeming to be a popular modern version of a candystore game, I could not locate any flyers for it, advertisements in magazines, or entries for it at arcade websites.

There is a rejected trademark application filed in 2009 for this machine's name:

コロリンボール (Kororin Ball)
filed by 梶　安宏 (Kaji Yasuhiro)
安宅商会 (Ataka Shokai)

This blog entry from 2012 shows that one of these machines was sold at auction in 2012.  This clip also identities the company as Ataka Shokai.  I would guess that this machine was released some time between 2009 and 2011.  It is possible it game out earlier in the mid 2000s and they only applied for a trademark later.  

高額落札された駄菓子屋ゲーム（エレメカ）まとめ 2012 (archive)

Searching for the company further, I found a website that lists job opportunities that had a page for this company.  (archive)

Translated, it looks like this and shows "game center management" as one role.

コロリンボール (Kororin Ball) on the right
ぐるぐるジャングル (round and round jungle) on the left

I believe Kororin Ball and Round and Round Jungle are made by the same company.

Notes the unique design of the handles: