1970 Apollo Plan - アポロプラン by 東光遊園設備 (Toko Amusement Park Equipment)

Name: Apollo Plan - アポロプラン
Year: 1970
Company: 東光遊園設備 (Toko Amusement Park Equipment)

Apollo Plan appears to be the exact same game as スキールロール (skill roll), just with the new name and a different company. We have no date information for skill roll, but we do you have an indication that Apollo plan was at Expo'70.

Expo'70 reported game list excerpt, Apollo Plan in the center

Apollo Plan also appears in the in 1972 machine directory, guaranteeing that it existed in 1971.

1972 machine directory

 

Address information from the Apollo plan flyer: 

 

Transcription:

東光遊園設備株式会社
■本社■東京都杉並区堀ノ内3-52-3:佐藤ビル〒166
電:03:313-8661-2(代)

■西日本支社■岡山市西大寺町109 東光ビル 〒700 0862 24-0601

■営業所■東只,「葉松戸,西伊豆、名古屋、伊勢
烏羽二見。大阪汐江,岡山,金山,看水瓶。十地広島・杉山圖工場圖東京、名古屋、岡山

Machine translation:

Toko Amusement Equipment Co., Ltd.
■Head Office■ Sato Building, 3-52-3 Horinouchi, Suginami-ku, Tokyo 166
Tel: 03-313-8661-2 (Main)

■West Japan Branch■ Toko Building, 109 Saidaiji-cho, Okayama City 700-0862-24-0601

■Sales Offices■ Higashi-Tada, Hamatsudo, Nishi-Izu, Nagoya, Ise
Uwa Futami, Osaka Shioe, Okayama, Kanayama, Kansuibing, Hiroshima, Sugiyama Factory Locations Tokyo, Nagoya, Okayama

Compare this with the locations on the skill roll flyer, and there is no overlap. It is just my assumption that the skill role model was built before the Apollo Plan model. perhaps one is the manufacturer, and the other is a distributor? Perhaps one company is copping the other? perhaps one company purchased the other. I have no other clues to go on now.

スキールロール (skill roll) by 日本娯楽機械 (Japanese entertainment machine)

Name: スキールロール (skill roll)
Year: ~1960s
Company: 日本娯楽機械 (Japanese entertainment machine) 

This this machine appears on a flyer that has the title "SKIRU ROLL", the phonetic pronunciation, but that title does not appear on the machine.

Skill Roll is a game released by Bally in 1956. you flick your nickel through each stage of the course, collecting 10, 20, 30, or 50 points from each flick. 

1956 Skill Roll by Bally [from my collection]

The design of the cabinet matches quite well. The Japanese version has six knobs, the original has eight. The Japanese version also does not score at each level, only at the end. So instead of accumulating a score, and perhaps getting to the end of the course in lighting the "star" in the American version, the Japanese version has a single prize it dispenses at the winning slot. This would make construction far more cheaper, as it would require many less microswitches, and far less logic circuits.

There are two microswitches visible at the non-winning holes at the bottom, so perhaps there is a smaller prize dispensed with them.

The following images are from _QtQ_. Thank you for sharing these. Photos taken at 中古タイヤ市場.

 

 

Image from the flyer:

 

I do not have much information about the company, but 日本娯楽機械 (Nihon Gorakukiai) is just one additional character away from 日本娯楽機 (Nihon Gorakuki) and I can assure you they are not the same company.

Company info from the flyer:

Transcription:

日本娯楽機械株式会社
本社 名古屋市東区七小町79番地 電話(052>962-0982
工場 春日井市松河戸町段下1489番地
東北営業所 仙台市沖野字砂押46の3 電話<0222>86-5322

Machine translation:

Japan Amusement Machine Co., Ltd.
Head Office: 79 Nanakomachi, Higashi-ku, Nagoya, Tel: 052-962-0982
Factory: 1489 Danshita, Matsukawado-cho, Kasugai, Tel: 052-962-0982
Tohoku Office: 46-3 Sunaoshi, Okino, Sendai, Tel: 052-86-5322 

The only other game I have by this company is Shovel Dozer, which I have a flyer of.  The only other reference I have for Shovel Dozer is a game room photo that I estimate is from 1971.

By the looks of the advertisement in the cabinet, I am guessing 1960s, and the only real year anchor I have is that the renamed version of this game, Apollo Plan, which apparently was at Expo 70.

I am assuming that Apollo Plan came out after スキールロール (skill roll).

This game would go on to set the template through a flurry of coin flick games in the 1970s, including the always popular Shinkansen games.

While not exact, Shinkansen Game II does have a version that uses a very similar outerspace background.

1977 新幹線ゲームⅡ・宇宙 (Shinkansen Game II; Space) by 九娯貿易 (Kyugo Trading) & ニシキ製作所 (Nishiki Seisakusho)

1976 新幹線ゲームⅤ (Shinkansen game V) by 株式会社 九娯貿易 & ニシキ製作所 (Kyugo Trading & Nishiki Seisakusho)

Name: 新幹線ゲームⅤ (Shinkansen game V)
Year: 1976 
Company: 株式会社 九娯貿易 & ニシキ製作所 (Kyugo Trading & Nishiki Seisakusho)

I have never seen an advertisement for this game.  I cannot confirm the year, but the DGM web page (archive) says it is 1976 as well.  That is an incredibly busy year for this company!  The First Generation Shinkansen game was released, the model II was released, and then model V!

There are no records of models III or IV existing.

What makes model V different from model II?  I really cannot tell.  Perhaps there were internal improvements, but there are very few visual changes.

There are at least 2 different graphics that are used for the bottom.  The gentle green hills probably started existing somewhere during the run of Model II machines, as it was also used in 新幹線ゲームⅡ・宇宙 (Shinkansen Game II; Space).  Because of this, I wonder if Model V is actually from 1977 or later.  I do not have any other evidence though, so for the time being I will leave it as being from 1976 as the DGM website says.

And this graphic with Mount Fuji and the train:

Sometimes manufacturers will improve on their machines in ways that are not apparent to the player, but are important to the operator.  I hope to find a press release or advertisements about model V some day.

We are lucky to have this lovely video from one of our favourite game video makers:

1976 新幹線ゲームⅡ (Shinkansen Game II) by 株式会社 九娯貿易 & ニシキ製作所 (Kyugo Trading & Nishiki Seisakusho)

Name: 新幹線ゲームⅡ (Shinkansen Game II)

Year: 1976

Company: 株式会社 九娯貿易 & ニシキ製作所 (Kyugo Trading & Nishiki Seisakusho)

Shinkansen Game went through a number of iterations and improvements... All within the same year!  The first version of Shinkansen Game has metal rails, and so is simple to distinguish.  

The marquees for Shinkansen Game II have the train facing to the left.

The changes did not happen all at once.  Take a look at this advertisement that shows the First Generation marquee, but has the expanded window:

Game Machine 1976-04-15: ベンドジャパン (Vend Japan) distributed many machines
It is hard to say if this counts as First Gen or II.

Very few games with the building graphics still there can be found today.  The following 2 photos have a building graphic, but it seems it was cut out and inserted, and you can only see 1 story of the building we were looking at in regards to the First Generation machines.  Perhaps they graphic was modified further over time?

Earlier version of Shinkansen Game II have the backing graphics on paper.  In this screen shot you can see the texture of the paper.  Of course, these would fade quite quickly over the years.

I am assuming the following machine does not have a paper background.  If I see a machine that is not heavily faded, chances are it is the upgraded graphics.

excellent colour!

This picture of the operator's instructions is from the DGM book:

It tells us that the operator can make the final winning shot harder by raising the middle bar, or easier by lowering it.

In the first generation machines, this shot was fixed by screws and does not seem to be easily changed:

first generation

In the Shinkansen Game II, and other models, the shot can be adjusted by the operator:

Model II with adjustable difficulty

A digital version of this game was made.  It is no longer available, but here is the cleaned-up graphic that the game used:

digital Shinkansen Game II

1976 新幹線ゲーム [初代] (Shinkansen Game [first generation]) by 九娯貿易 (Kyugo Trading) & ニシキ製作所 (Nishiki Seisakusho)

Name: 新幹線ゲーム [初代] (Shinkansen Game [first generation])
Year: 1976
Company: 九娯貿易 (Kyugo Trading) & ニシキ製作所 (Nishiki Seisakusho)

The first version of this iconic game seems to be defined by the metal rails used.  Later versions had white acrylic rails.

The earliest marquees are black and have the train pointing to the right:

some have the writing in red, some yellow.

This style of marquee is not exclusive to the metal rail version.

From the DGM book

A quote from the book mentions that the train line opened in 1975:

このゲームは、昭和50年に東海 道新幹線・山陽新幹線が東京~博多 間で全線開通したのをきっかけに誕 生した。
This game was born in 1975 when the Tokaido Shinkansen and Sanyo Shinkansen were fully opened between Tokyo and Hakata. 

 

The lower portion of this version seems to have a smaller visible window area.  Later versions had a larger window, and would have art to cover part of it.  Look at the gap separating the bottom rail to the window frame.

first gen

II

The first generation machines also seem to be the only ones that have metal trim around the machine's edges.

At some point during this initial run, the trim was switched from metal to a fake wood trim.   There are also numerous advertisements that show the original marquee, but with the rails already upgraded to acrylic. 

I believe this flyer is for the first generation of the game.

first gen

While the other photos above do not show the cityscape graphic at the bottom, this advertisement shows an important detail.  Please note how on one of the buildings you can only see 2 stories of windows:

The later models had a larger window area at the bottom, and on those machines you can see 3 stories of windows on this building.

This flyer has the first generation marquee, but has the building graphics and larger window that aligns with model II.

This model is also painted white, which you do not usually see.

1977 新幹線ゲームⅡ・宇宙 (Shinkansen Game II; Space) by 九娯貿易 (Kyugo Trading) & ニシキ製作所 (Nishiki Seisakusho)

 

Name: 新幹線ゲームⅡ・宇宙 (Shinkansen Game II; Space)

Year: 1977
Company: 九娯貿易 (Kyugo Trading) & ニシキ製作所 (Nishiki Seisakusho)

The year and companies listed here are taking from the DGM website.(archive).

They have a picture of the serial number plate that gives the manufacturer as ニシキ製作所 (Nishiki Seisakusho):

The name is just listed as 新幹線ゲーム (Shinkansen Game) and the Type Approval Number is 91-13366.  This is the exact same plate that appears on the regular 新幹線ゲームⅡ (Shinkansen Game II) as well as on 1976 新幹線ゲームⅤ (Shinkansen game V).  I am unsure if there are any differences between these games!

The only difference here is that the game uses the same art as 1977 コインロケット (coin rocket) by ユニバーサル (Universal) & ニシキ製作所 (Nishiki Manufacturing):

1977 コインロケット (coin rocket) by ユニバーサル (Universal) & ニシキ製作所 (Nishiki Manufacturing)

Coin Rocket came out in 1977, and so it is easy to say that Shinkansen Game II: Space is a variant that came out in 1977 as well.  Perhaps Coin Rocket did not sell well, and Nishiki decided to reuse the remaining artwork?

I do not know if "Space" is included in the official name, but it is a useful name for us to use.

This version of Shinkansen Game has unique artwork on the plexiglass where you win:

Photo from the DGM book:

1977 コインロケット (coin rocket) by ユニバーサル (Universal) & ニシキ製作所 (Nishiki Manufacturing)

 

Name: コインロケット (coin rocket)
Year: 1977
Company: ユニバーサル (Universal) & ニシキ製作所 (Nishiki Manufacturing)

In the Dagashiya Game Museum book, this game is listed as by ニシキ製作所 (Nishiki Manufacturing).  In advertisements, it is sold by ユニバーサル (Universal).

advertisement from Game Machine 1977-05-15

Game Machine also announces as it being from Universal:

Game Machine 1977-01-15

This is not uncommon!  Many machines, especially from the 1970s and before, are made by a manufacturer and then sold (distributed) by another company.  

There is a variant of the popular 新幹線ゲーム (Shinkansen Game) called 新幹線ゲームⅡ・宇宙 (Shinkansen Game II; Space) and we know 新幹線ゲームII was manufactured by ニシキ製作所 (Nishiki Seisakusho).  The "Space" variant reuses the art from コインロケット (coin rocket)!

from the DGM book:
新幹線ゲームⅡ・宇宙 (Shinkansen Game II; Space) by 株式会社 九娯貿易 & ニシキ製作所 (Kyuho & Nishiki Seisakusho)
same artwork as コインロケット (coin rocket)

A wonderful gameplay video:

A thorough tour from DGM: