Buying a machine for home
Thinking of owning a Japanese pachinko or pachislot machine? Where they're sold, 100V power and transformers, home-use conversion, and what to check first.
Home machines
Collectors
Real Japanese cabinets, at home. Start with the buying guide, then join the long-running English collector communities for repairs and manuals.
Collector guides
Importing a machine by country
Importing a Japanese pachislot or pachinko machine to the US, Australia, UK, Canada, EU, Taiwan or Korea: laws, customs, shipping and power to check first.
10 min read
Background for collectors
Pachislot generations
What 4号機, 5号機, 6号機 and 6.5/6.6号機 mean, how each rule change reshaped pachislot, and why collectors care about which generation a machine belongs to.
9 min read
History of pachinko
How pachinko grew from European wall games and festival stalls into a postwar boom, how pachislot arrived in 1964, and the rules behind today's halls.
10 min read
Pachinko machine types
What 'middle', 'light middle' and 'amadeji' mean on a pachinko machine, how odds like 1/319 and 1/99 shape the experience, and what Lucky Trigger (LT) is.
8 min read
Shipping, power, manuals and repairs
Country-by-country shipping, customs and transformers are covered in the importing guide. Home power (Japan’s 100V), step-down transformers and conversion checks are in the buying guide.
PachiPass does not host translated machine manuals or a parts catalogue yet. English-speaking owners usually find mode guides, fault threads and vendor recommendations on the forums below — treat any repair advice as hobbyist, not professional, and mind electrical safety.
English collector communities
- PachisloDB: database and forum for owners of home pachislot machines (16,217 members, 4 Oct 2026).
- PachiTalk: long-running hobby forum for pachislo, pachinko, vendors and tech support.
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