PAN-ロンド (Pan-Rondo) [import, 1964] by NSM-Löwen & Sanko Trading & エスコ貿易 (Esco Trading)

 

Name: PAN-ロンド (Pan-Rondo)
Year: imported & modified 1971, originally from 1964
Company: NSM-Löwen & Sanko Trading & エスコ貿易 (Esco Trading)

The original:

1964 Rotomint Bingo Royal by NSM-Löwen (archive)

If you zoom in on the Pan Rondo label you can see the original lines of the Rotamint were painted over.

The earliest appearance I have seen of this machine is the 1972 machine directory, which came out late 1971.

All of the ad copy for acknowledges it was a design from Europe.  The main flyer is from Sanko Trading and they list themselves as 輸入総発売元 (Importer and distributor) and I presume they attached the new graphics and converted it to medal / yen play.

Esco Trading has advertisements selling it, and the Sanko Trading flyer has Esco stamped as the distributor. The only advertisements I've seen are from Esco Trading.

1972 coin machine directory, which came out in late 1971

1972 Tropicana - トロピカーナ by 太東貿易 (Taito Trading)

Name: Tropicana - トロピカーナ
Year: 1972
Company: 太東貿易 (Taito Trading) 

The earliest appearance I've found of Tropicana is in a 1972 issue of Amusement magazine.  It is not mentioned in any of the Taito books that I have seen.  I think that is because it wasn't designed by Taito, but a machine they imported and redid the appearance of.  This was probably one of the final machines before Taito changed their name from 太東貿易 to タイトー.

Tropicana is a new art package, but appears to be the same game as Star-Match and Bingomat, both machines by NSM-Löwen in 1971.  I am unable to see any differences between these two besides the name.

1971 Star-Match by NSM-Löwen (archive)

1971 Bingomat by NSM-Löwen (archive)

from the 1973 machine directory, which was published in October 1972.

The stand was an optional feature when ordered.

Since it is a new name and new artwork, I am not listing this one as an "import", but it is a grey area.

1972 Football - フットボール [import, 1971] by 太東貿易 (Taito Trading) & NSM-Löwen

Name: Football - フットボール [import]
Year: 1972, originally 1971
Company: 太東貿易 (Taito Trading) & NSM-Löwen

This is a German machine by NSM-Löwen, and Taito wasted no time bringing it to Japan.

1971 Football by NSM-Löwen (archive)

This machine also seems to have been exported to North America, where Football means something quite different, and so the name is changed to "Goal".  (I assume it's North American because of the "10c" price.)

Taito first offered the original import model, as seen in this flyer from what I believe is 1971.

Football, as listed in a [presumed 1971] Taito flyer.
This appears to be the original model.

But I am keeping the date of 1972 on this post as that is when I think Taito began selling their modified version. The Japanese version adds an instruction plate on the right, a painted stand, and a side vendor.

1974/1975 machine directory

The custom stand is quite nice, and is similar to the one Taito made for Big Strike Bowling.

If the only catalog appearance of the special Taito version is in 1974, how do we know it existed in 1972?  We have an arcade exploration of a promotional video from Sea World circa 1972.  The 1973 machine directory (printed in October 1972) has the direct import version, but the subsequent year's directory had the modified version.

In that post we actually just see the stand in the arcade.  It is interesting to think they were probably setting up that machine but had not finished when the filming took place.

scene from 鴨川シーワールド (Kamogawa Sea World) (1972)

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1970 Cycle Rider - サイクルライダー by 太東 (Taito)

Name: Cycle Rider - サイクルライダー
Year: 1970
Company: 太東 (Taito)

 

Cycle Rider is fairly obscure but there is evidence of it having been exported outside Japan.

We can find an entry for it in the 1972 Machine directory:

One mystery around Cycle Rider is the appearance of an exact copy but with a wildly psychedelic paint job.  This photo, which features a machine by Oriental Kogyo that is an obvious repaint of another company's machine (please see: Phantom-F-108 [Phantom II-108] by オリエンタル興業 (Oriental Kogyo)) is extremely curious and it makes me think that this painted Cycle Rider is the work of Oriental Kogyo as well:

unknown game [same cabinet design as Cycle Rider - サイクルライダー by 太東 (Taito)] by unknown

Every detail of that cabinet we can see appears to be exact to Cycle Rider, suggesting to me it was just repainted in a manner similar to Phantom-F-108.

~1971 Sky Fighter by オリエンタル興業 (Oriental Kogyo)

Name: Sky Fighter
Year: ~1971 [assumed]
Company: オリエンタル興業 (Oriental Kogyo)

I do not have any date reference for Sky Fighter, but it appears on this flyer that nazox20126 posted.

via nazox2016

We know that Wild Cycle, Super Match, Invasion, and Monte Carlo were all at the 1970 amusement industry show.

We know that Oriental Crane was around in 1969, if not earlier.  

Given those dates, I'd wager that Sky Fighter was from 1970 or 1969, but no later than 1971.  For the time being, I am assigning the year ~1971, and I hope to find further evidence that would help us confirm the year.

While not an exact copy in any of the specifics, Sky Fighter seems like it was copied off of the late 1960s game Battle King - バトルキング by 児童遊園設備 (Children's Amusement Park Facilities)

Battle King - バトルキング by 児童遊園設備 (Children's Amusement Park Facilities)
1969 or earlier

Both have a very similar, though not identical, gun with dual white handles.  Sky Fighter has 2 dials on the front, Battle King 3.  Their cabinets have a nearly identical design style in regards to how the front protrusion is designed.   Battle King has 13 circles for score, going from 10 to 130.  Sky Fighter has 11.  Battle King appears to have pinball-style score reels, and Sky Fighter has 3 circles that makes me thing it has nixie tubes for scoring.

The Battle King cabinet flares forward in the marquee area, while Sky Fighter's cabinet rises straight up from the gun mount area.

It seems obvious that Oriental Kogyo copied the Battle King design, but in this example they seemingly reworked everything slightly.

1970 Monte Carlo - モンテ カルロラリー (Monte Carlo Rally) by オリエンタル興業 (Oriental Kogyo)

Name: Monte Carlo - モンテ カルロラリー (Monte Carlo Rally)

Year: 1970 

Company: オリエンタル興業 (Oriental Kogyo)

Monte Carlo was seen at the 1970 amusement show:

AJAP 1970-11

Monte Carlo appears to be a near exact copy of  a version of Indy 500 by Kansai Seiki.

Indy 500 [W-type] - インディ500 [W型] by 関西精機製作所 (Kansai Seiki Seisakusho)

While Indy 500 was first released in 1968, 1969 is the earliest appearance of this style of cabinet, called W-type.  This was the export model.  Did Oriental Kogyo purchase a bunch and then redo the marquee and some of the cabinet details?

The vertical lines are missing on the Oriental Kogyo version, but the foot pedal area seems almost exactly the same.

The side art checkered flag decal was replaced with a similar one saying Monte Carlo, but the car decal is gone.

The marquee looks somewhat similar, and all of the displays and location seem to line up. 

There is a sticker on the Oriental Kogyo cabinet, maybe that's a track map?  But it does not appear on the Kansai Seiki original.  It says "Monte Carlo Grand Prix" at the top and has a map of the course which I think it is safe to assume does not represent the gameplay.

same map shape

1970 Wild Cycle - ワイルドサイ クル [import, 1970] by Allied Leisure & オリエンタル興業 (Oriental Kogyo)

Name: Wild Cycle - ワイルドサイ クル
Year: 1970, imported [?] 1970
Company: Allied Leisure & オリエンタル興業 (Oriental Kogyo)

Wild Cycle was released by Allied Leisure (USA) in 1970.  By the end of the year, it appeared in Japan as a machine being sold by Oriental Kogyo

AJAP 1970-11

Oriental Kogyo flyer shared by nazox2016

Luckily for us, pindude152 purchased a NIB Wild Cycle by Allied Leisure and we can see it first coming out of the box.  The whole series of posts, or go to the first unboxing post.

image from pindude152

Notice anything different?  Well yes, a whole lot is different here, actually!  The Japanese version is VERY different, almost to the point where I suspect whether the Oriental Kogyo machine was simply INSPIRED by the Allied Leisure machine.

But note: this Japanese version came out the SAME YEAR of the Allied Leisure one.  That's a pretty fast turnaround time to steal an idea or even import and modify a machine.

From the pinrepair page (archive) on Wild Cycle, the side of the cab is blue, and an entirely different shape

The handle bars are entirely different.

The Japanese one also has those odd white squares at the bottom of the window?

The Allied Leisure one (top) cabinet art, and then the Japanese one is an obviously repainted copy.

And then the marquee art?  On the Allied Leisure copy we have motorcycles that look like they are accelerating off a jump, but the Oriental Kogyo one looks like it's a parade of bikers all "popping a wheelie" simultaneously.

The Allied Leisure version also has that window in the upper right.

Can we safely assume that the Oriental Kogyo one is based on the Allied Leisure one, but not an import?  It is hard to say without further information.  I am going to leave this listed as an "import" for the time being.

admin note: 81 machines have shifted year

We have received new information about the Machine Directories.  3 of them were found to have publishing dates in the prior year.  Any machine that was being linked to a year based on one of those Machine Directory entries can now be safely shifted to the year it was published, instead of the year of the Directory, as the game would have had to existed in the year the directory was published.

The Directories affected are 1972, 1973, and 1976.   Each of those was published in the prior year, 1971-09-20, 1972-10-01, and 1975-11-25 respectively.

This information has been added to the Research Notes -> Year Notes page.

I performed a diff on the game list, and here are the machines that were shifted:

1993 Scotfield - スコットフィールド by シグマ (Sigma)

Name: Scotfield - スコットフィールド
Year: 1993
Company: シグマ (Sigma)

Scotfield is probably the largest single electromechanical arcade game ever built.  It is like all of Sigma's prior derby games, where electromechanical horses ride around a track and numerous players bet on them.  It is a very simple kind of idea that spawn decades of iterations.  Derby games from the 1920s were run off bellows, had mechanical horses, and allowed multiple bets.  This is the same idea, writ grand.

The image I am using for this game is from a flyer for Rongo Rongo, a multi-floor arcade that featured a casino on floors 1 and in the basement, Scotfield occupying floors 2 and 3 to accommodate the tiered seating, and then the legendary BATTLETECH immersive multiplayer game set up on the floors above it.  More on Rongo Rongo from nazox2016. (archive)

Rongo Rongo map:

~1971 Phantom-F-108 [Phantom II-108] by オリエンタル興業 (Oriental Kogyo) [presumed]

Name: Phantom-F-108 [Phantom II-108]
Year: presumed ~1971
Company: オリエンタル興業 (Oriental Kogyo) [presumed]

There is currently only a single clue to this game existing, which accs2014 has shared:

I am assuming the game is by Oriental Kogyo because of the "ORIENTAL" written on the marquee.

We have seen this brand in other machines released by Oriental Kogyo:

    

Super Match

Magic Hat

Super-Scope - スーパースコープ

This game cabinet is an exact copy of Air Fighter:

1970 Air Fighter - エアーファイター by 関西精機 (Kansai Seiki  —  Kasco)

Here is Air Fighter from a different angle.  The image isn't great, but the perspective is perfect for us to compare it to Phantom-F-108.

This is a very mysterious photo.  The 3rd game (from the left) is an exact copy of the cabinet for 1970 Cycle Rider - サイクルライダー by 太東 (Taito).  The art is beautiful and psychedelic.  Maybe a company like Oriental Kogyo were releasing copies of other games?

I wonder if this was a taste location they had prototypes at?  I would love to find more evidence about this mystery..