Pachinko Parlor (2005-08-06)
My friend's husband is a frequent customer of their local Pachinko parlor, the place where a Japanese gambling game is played on vertical pinball machines. I never understand how to play this complicated-looking game, nor am I ever interested in finding out. I'll be darned if I am to pour our hard-earned money down the gambling drain.
Anyway my friend and I got to talking about this peculiar pastime of
her hubby and she told me the "best" seats in a Pachinko parlor are the
ones closest to the entrance. Those machines closest to the door
are rigged to enable higher winning odds for the player. The more
they win, the more silver balls the machines spit out, so the gambler
can stack up trays after trays of winnings behind their seats--which is
always where the trays full of siver balls are placed.
The display of prolific winnings by fellow gamblers, which is
clearly visible from the streets, is a ploy to entice passersby into
the parlor. Afterall, what attraction is there to play Pachinko
when nobody seems to be winning? And it is in one of the few
"outside seats" in a particular Pachinko parlor that you'll find my
friend's husband on his days off work.
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