抄録
No discussion of play and leisure in Japan would be complete without
acknowledging the place of pachinko, a game so popular that it dominates the
leisure economy in a way no other medium does, not even videogames. Even in
decline, pachinko generates more revenue in Japan than any other leisure pursuit
and yet it is rarely discussed in game studies in the West or even in the
Japanese literature around game culture. This is largely because of the gambling
associated with pachinko and because it is unique to Japan – a national industry
with no export potential. Pachinko is at the disreputable edge of
gaming—economically, culturally, and mechanically. Above all, pachinko machines
stand out as monstrous hybrids that combine the electro-mechanical apparatus of
a pinball machine with the digital screen of a slot machine in a curious mixed
interface that seems to be an anachronism of a pre-computing era. And that is
what this paper is about – the hybrid interface of pachinko.
